David Online

Al Gore states emphatically, “The science on global warming is settled.” Mr. Gore assures us “The debate in the scientific community is over.”

“Our home – Earth – is in grave danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is not the planet itself, of course, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings,” warned the Goracle to Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday. “I urge the Congress to quickly pass the entirety of President Obama’s recover package,” said Gore as an icy winter storm gripped half the nation.

In President Obama’s stimulus package which passed the House yesterday without a single Republican vote calls for $400 million for global warming research and another $2.4 billion for “carbon-capture demonstration projects.”

If the science on global warming is settled and  the debate in the scientific community is over, why do we need $400 million to research a “science” whose conclusions have already been stated as fact?

“On the day millions of Americans were freezing their collective backsides off, Democrat Henry Waxman, our new Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, announced that Congress would fast-track climate change legislation. Waxman said, inaction on the climate issue is causing uncertainties that make it more difficult to emerge from the recession.”

In other words, according to Waxman our “inaction” to address global warming has had a fundamental impact on the economic downturn. Waxman joins the Al Gore fear-mongering chorus line chanting doomsday fantasy scenarios of the “supposed” global warming taking place as we are once again experiencing record-setting cold in so many parts of the nation.

If you think energy is expensive now, wait until Waxman gets his way. Playing on the public’s fear of “global warming,” we are about to almost certainly see a nationalized energy policy and price controls through cap and trade and carbon credits.

“The late economist and journalist Henry Hazlitt once wrote that those who attempt “to lift the prices of particular commodities permanently above their natural market levels have failed so often, so disastrously and so notoriously” that no one admits to wanting to try it. Then again, in those heady days, the Energy and Commerce chairman’s job was actually assisting Americans with their energy needs, not making it more expensive.”

The day Waxman delivered his statement, the National Weather Service issued a warning for Chicago about wind chill somewhere in the vicinity of 25 to 40 below zero. In Maine, citizens are expecting something around 40 below zero. And Iowans were warned that temperatures could drop as far as 27 below zero.

Apparently Sen. Henry Waxman expects these pitiful, frozen American citizens to pay higher energy prices to shield themselves from Arctic cold in the name of global warming.

 The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday to raise federal tobacco taxes and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The bill proposes to increase the Federal tax on cigarettes by $0.61 a pack over the current $0.39 bringing the total to a $1.00 a pack.

The $33 billion would raise federal taxes on cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products to help fund the expansion. House Democrats have enthusiastically backed the expansion saying it will bring health care coverage to an additional four million lower-income kids.

What the House Democrats failed to mention was that this tax burden will fall on the shoulders of the poor and lower income folks – not the middle class and not the wealthy. 

The vast majority of smokers in the United States have historically been the poor – the very same group this legislation is intended to benefit. Taxing cigarettes then becomes nothing more than a “bait and switch” regressive tax on the poor. In other words, what the poor think they are getting as free or greatly reduced cost heath care for their children, will cost them instead in disproportionately higher Federal taxes.

To get this “free” health care, the new tax would add an additional $222.65 per year Federal tax burden for a single-parent smoking household; assuming the parent smokes only one pack per day. This is almost a week’s take-home pay for a minimum wage worker. If both parents are smokers then it equals to two weeks of income per year just to pay the additional Federal tax increase.

Taxing the poor is political cowardice on the part of the Democrats. It is also ethically and morally bankrupt to use Federal taxes as a tool of social engineering. It is a use of government force to alter personal, non-rights violating behavior to punish people for engaging in activities that do not violate rights. And yet, that is exactly what this tax does.

Senator Hillary Clinton’s senate confirmation for Secretary of State which began yesterday was more of a mutual love-in festival  and photo-op than the constitutional exercise of  “advice and consent.”

Even the liberal political reporter for the Washington Post, Dana Milbank, said senators came up with a new interpretation of the Constitution’s “Advice and Consent” clause. This one could be called the “Admire and Congratulate” clause.

Clinton’s senate colleagues stood in line to gush over her qualifications to serve as the Secretary of State. “In Senator Clinton, President-elect Obama has boldly chosen the epitome of a big leaguer,” gushed Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana.

“I truly appreciate all that you are poised to do and what you have done in the past,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, sounding like a Hallmark card sentiment. Clinton’s fellow New Yorker Sen. Chuck Schumer informed the candidate that she’ll “be a brilliant secretary of state” – and then put an arm around her.

Sen. John Kerry said he spoke for “every member of the committee” when he called Clinton “extraordinarily capable and smart.” “She’s and excellent choice,” asserted Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. “There couldn’t be a better person to represent our nation,” Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland amended.

Clinton’s listened to the senators go into raptures over her virtues and admirable qualities for 45 minutes before she returned the affection in a 33-minute statement that sounded much like Sally Field’s famous academy award acceptance speech, “You love me. You really love me!”

“I love the senate,” Clinton told her adoring fans. “It will be hard to say goodbye.”

Just before the hearing was over, one senator thought maybe they should ask Clinton a question. Showing courage and bravery few men have, Sen. Richard Lugar gently told Clinton he did have some concerns about the conflicts of interest with her husband’s fundraising activities. “Having said that, I’ve indicated that I support your nomination,” said Lugar tempering his criticism and hastening to add, “because your qualifications are remarkable.”

Clinton wowed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Today the committee voted overwhelmingly to install Clinton as the next secretary of state. The vote was 16 to 1, with only Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana dissenting.  

Democrats and liberals are still blaming President Bush for everything from global warming to global recession but al-Qaida has, as Bill Clinton used to put it, moved on.

Al-Qaida No. 2 honcho Ayman al-Zawahiri released a new audio message yesterday blaming Israel’s incursion and offensive in Gaza on President-elect Barack Obama. Al-Zawahiri’s comments described Israel’s actions as a “crusade against Islam and Muslims” and called it “Obama’s gift to Israel” before he takes office later this month.

“This is Obama whom the American machine of lies tried to portray as the rescuer who will change the policy of America. He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection.”

Welcome to the White House President Obama.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was right. There is a “culture of corruption” in the political arena. Unfortunately for Senator Pelosi, it is the Democrats. To paraphrase the great cartoon social philosopher, Pogo, “We have met the enemy and they is us.”

It appears comedian Al Franken has stolen the senate seat from incumbent Republican Norm Coleman by double counting his ballots and discarding Coleman’s votes. Just what the country needs – another comedian in Congress.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has withdrawn his nomination as Barack Obama’s Commerce Secretary in the face of a grand jury investigation into state corruption.

Unable to find a buyer for Barack Obama’s senate seat, Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich is about to be impeached and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is readying federal indictments for corruption.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charley Rangel has apparently found the ways and means to avoid paying income taxes on his Caribbean villa among other improprieties being investigated by the House Ethics Committee.

The New York Times reports that a “New York developer donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton’s foundation around the same time Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman’s mall project.”

Pelosi said she was going to end the Republican “culture of corruption”. She just forgot to mention it was going to be replaced by the Democrat “culture of corruption.”

CNN’s latest “news” is the inclusion of Governor Sarah Palin on their list of 8 politicians who “fell from grace” in 2008.

Gretta Van Susteren posted the story on her blog and linked it to Warner Todd Huston who provided additional information including this **UPDATE**

Before we get into this op ed, I have to relate a bit of history first. I originally posted this on Sunday on my NewsBusters.org posting. It raged all day Sunday and into the night among Palin fans and center right bloggers. Lucianne.com, FreeRepublic and many other sites linked to the story. Gretta Van Susteren even posted about it on her FoxNews blog (It garnered 4 pages of comments there, too).

Well by the time Monday morning arrived, CNN quietly and without explanation or apology erased Sarah Palin from the article I describe below.

“Showing they have no sense of morality, no grasp of corruption and no understanding of what defines a criminal, CNN gives us another one of those ubiquitous year in review stories, this one titled “Politicians who fell from grace in 2008.” In this one, CNN has decided to reveal for us their top eight politicians that found 2008 to be a “career-buster” because of their “crimes and misdemeanors” or their outrageous controversies.”

“CNN features corruption mired Rod Blagojevich, the sex crazed Elliot Spitzer and John Edwards, and the criminal bribe taker Ted Stevens among four others. Each of these men in the CNN list have either been convicted of criminal actions, are indicted for corruption, lost their positions, been drummed out of their party, or are soon to face jail time. Among these eight criminals, however, is a name that doesn’t belong among this class of serial abuser of the public trust. It won’t be shocking to note that among the worst sex criminals, bribe takers, liars and thieves in politics for 2008, CNN ridiculously included the name of Governor Sarah Palin.”

“Palin, however, has done nothing remotely like what these other political ner-do-wells have done. She did not take bribes, she did not indulge in sexual dalliances with co-workers or call girls, she did not get booted from her party or lose her job as Governor. She is not under indictment nor does she face jail time, yet CNN includes her in a list with Rob Blagojevich, John Edwards, Kwame Kilpatrick, Larry Langford, Tim Maloney, Elliot Spitzer and Ted Stevens.”

So who are these other felons, criminals and sex addicts CNN compares Sarah Palin to?

• Rob Blagojevich (D-IL)- Caught in a criminal bribe taking pay-to-play scheme to sell Barack Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder
• John Edwards(D-NC)- Had an affair with an underling as his wife was dying of cancer, an affair he hid from public knowledge as he ran for president
• Kwame Kilpatrick (D-MI)- Sentenced to 4 months in jail for obstruction of justice for impeding a criminal investigation into his actions as Detroit’s mayor
• Larry Langford (D-AL)- Birmingham, Alabama mayor arrested on charges of bribery, fraud, money laundering and filing a false income tax statement
• Tim Mahoney (D-FL)- Replaced sex crazed Rep. Mark Foley in Florida while hiding his own extra-marital affairs from the voters, then lost his bid for reelection once the truth came out
• Elliot Spitzer (D-NY)- Caught with a prostitute, lost his job as governor of New York
• Ted Stevens (R-AK)- Faces jail for bribery and making false statements to the feds

Is there left-wing bias in the media? Nah…it’s just part of Hillary Clinton’s “vast right-wing conspiracy” to discredit liberals.

"Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation," reports Connie Hair in Human Events.

"Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office."

Nancy Pelosi’s rule changes for "fairness" in the House of Representatives will…

• bar Republicans from offering alternative bills
• bar Republicans from proposing amendments to Democratic bills
• bar Republicans of open debate for any legislation during the entire 111th Congress
• repeal the six-year limit for committee chairmen
• repeal other House Rule reform measures enacted in 1995

In other words, Speaker Pelosi is telling Republicans to sit down and shut up.

Barely a week before the November 2008 election, Senator Pelosi said,

"Elect us, …and if the Democrats win, and have substantial majorities, [the] Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan.”

Pelosi’s definition of “bipartisan” is when a Republican like Senator John McCain votes with Democrats. When a Democrat like Senator Joe Lieberman supports the President’s policies in Iraq and the war on terrorism, that is treason. 

Environmental buzzwords are getting the axe this year. "Green" and "going green" received the most nominations as words that should be banned reports Lake Superior University.

This year’s list comes from thousands of nominations received through the university’s website in its 34th annual list of words that should be Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.

The ubiquitous ‘Green‘ and all of its variables, such as ‘going green,’ ‘building green,’ ‘greening,’ ‘green technology,’ ‘green solutions’, ‘green jobs,’ ‘green living,’ ‘green homes,’ and more green, drew the most attention from those who sent in nominations this year.

Green used to be a noun. Now it can be a verb as in, “We need to think about greening our office.

In spite of Global Warming Guru Al Gore’s Hollywood Oscar for “Best Crockumentary Feature” and Nobel Peace Prize, ‘Carbon Footprint’ or ‘Carbon Offsetting’ was close second. 

Other words and terms making the list of words that should be banished are ‘Maverick’, ‘First Dude’, ‘Bailout’ and ‘Wall Street to Main Street.’ The complete list can be found here.

“Most of the problems we face are caused by politicians creating solutions to problems they created in the first place,” wrote economist and author Walter Williams earlier this year.

On top of its regular taxpayer subsidies, the ethanol lobby is now seeking $1 billion in short-term credit from the U.S. Taxpayer to help ethanol plants stay in business and up to $50 billion in loan guarantees to finance expansion.

The energy inefficiencies of corn ethanol require high oil prices to be competitive. With plummeting oil prices and the recent bust in commodity prices, the price of ethanol at the pump has fallen nearly in half in recent months to $1.60 from $2.90 per gallon. This new lower price barely covers production costs even with federal subsidies. Three major ethanol producers are now in or near bankruptcy.

A December 24, 2008, editorial in the Wall Street Journal says the ethanol industry wouldn’t even exist without the more than $25 billion in taxpayer handouts over the last 20 years. “Congress only recently passed new energy and farm bills that further greased ethanol production with a 51 cent a gallon tax credit, corn subsidies, and increasingly stringent biofuel mandates. We were told, as usual, that profitability was just around the corner.” 

“The uglier realities of corn ethanol are at least becoming more widely recognized, even on the political left. The Environmental Working Group and five other environmental organizations said this week they oppose a bailout because subsidies "for corn-based ethanol have produced unintended, yet potentially catastrophic environmental consequences, with little or no return to taxpayers in energy security [or] protection from global warming."

As the WSJ says, ethanol may never be profitable in the real world, but in Washington its a lucrative business that provides jobs, and more importantly, votes.

Like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ethanol is a business created by Congress that now has to be bailed out to save Congress from embarrassment.