{"id":322771,"date":"2010-02-15T12:42:45","date_gmt":"2010-02-15T17:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/?p=31300"},"modified":"2010-02-15T12:42:45","modified_gmt":"2010-02-15T17:42:45","slug":"blame-bush-%e2%80%93-global-warming-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/322771","title":{"rendered":"Blame Bush \u2013 Global Warming + More"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_31301\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 260px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31301\" title=\"VancouverOlympics_10-02-15-brief\" src=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/02\/vancouverolympics_10-02-15-brief.jpg?w=250&#038;h=167\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"167\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vancouver Olympics<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/\" >The Patriot Post<\/a> Brief<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>The Foundation<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against  absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the  sport of every wind.&#8221; &#8211;Thomas Jefferson<\/p>\n<p>Vancouver Olympics<\/p>\n<h2>For the Record<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;NBC (which is owned by General Electric) [has begun] broadcasting  the 2010 Winter Olympics from Vancouver, Canada. &#8230; [But some] events  will be difficult to pull off. Why? There is no snow in Vancouver. And  International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge knows exactly  what is to blame: global warming. Rogge tells AFP: &#8216;Global warming of  course is a worry, it is a worry for the entire world.&#8217; Considering that  NBC\/GE  has already received billions in TARP bailout cash from the  Obama administration and is actively lobbying for a global warming  energy tax bill so that it can receive billions more in government  green-energy subsidies on top of the millions it already receives, we  are sure to hear lots from NBC announcers about how the lack of snow in  Vancouver is just another reason Washington needs to act now to stop  global warming. But back in Washington, the global warming scare-monger  crowd is singing a slightly different tune. Facing record snowfalls,  Time is reporting: &#8216;Snowstorm: East Coast Blizzard Tied to Climate  Change.&#8217;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &#8230;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<span id=\"more-31300\"><\/span> But do not confuse this headline with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.&#8217;s  column from two years ago claiming that global warming was causing  &#8216;anemic winters&#8217; in the Washington region. No snow, too much snow. It  does not matter to the enviroleft crowd. For them, global warming always  is to blame.&#8221; &#8211;The Heritage Foundation <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/2010\/02\/11\/morning-bell-global-warming-is-there-anything-it-cant-do\/\" >&#8220;Morning  Bell&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Washington&#8217;s Birthday<\/h2>\n<p>In some circles, today is observed as &#8220;Presidents&#8217; Day,&#8221; jointly  recognizing Presidents <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/historic\/documents\/49\/\" >George Washington<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/2009\/02\/13\/lincolns-legacy-at-200\" >Abraham  Lincoln<\/a>, but it is still officially recognized as the anniversary  of  &#8220;Washington&#8217;s Birthday&#8221; &#8212; and that is how we mark the date in our  shop. (Washington&#8217;s actual birthday is next Monday, February 22.)<\/p>\n<p>As friend of <cite>The Patriot<\/cite>, Matthew Spalding, a Heritage  Foundation scholar, reminds: &#8220;Although it was celebrated as early as  1778, and by the early 19th Century was second only to the Fourth of  July as a patriotic holiday, Congress did not officially recognize  Washington&#8217;s Birthday as a national holiday until 1870. The Monday  Holiday Law in 1968 &#8212; applied to executive branch departments and  agencies by Richard Nixon&#8217;s Executive Order 11582 in 1971 &#8212; moved the  holiday from February 22 to the third Monday in February. Section 6103  of Title 5, United States Code, currently designates that legal federal  holiday as &#8216;Washington&#8217;s Birthday.&#8217; Contrary to popular opinion, no  action by Congress or order by any President has changed &#8216;Washington&#8217;s  Birthday&#8217; to &#8216;Presidents&#8217; Day.&#8217;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In honor of and with due respect for our first and (we believe)  greatest president, arguably our nation&#8217;s most outstanding Patriot, we  include two quotes from George Washington which best embody his  dedication to liberty and God. The first from his First Inaugural  Address, April 30, 1789, and the second from his Farewell Address,  September 19, 1796.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of  the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply,  perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of  the American People.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political  prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain  would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to  subvert these great Pillars of human happiness &#8212; these firmest props of  the duties of Men and citizens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>These quotes aptly sum up <cite>The Patriot Post<\/cite>&#8217;s mission and  purpose.<\/p>\n<h2>Opinion in Brief<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Two centuries ago, King George III was told that President George  Washington, who had eight years earlier turned down the opportunity to  be the king of the United States, was planning to give up the presidency  at the conclusion of his second term and return to his farm in Mount  Vernon. The astonished monarch, who had lost a war to General  Washington, said, &#8216;If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the  world.&#8217; Washington did, and he was. Does anything more clearly  illustrate how far we have fallen in 210 years?&#8221; &#8211;columnist <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/opinion\/burt-prelutsky\/2010\/02\/08\/it-used-to-be-a-wonderful-life\/\" >Burt  Prelutsky<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Government<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Government is taking us a long way down the Road to Serfdom. That  doesn&#8217;t just mean that more of us must work for the government. It means  that we are changing from independent, self-responsible people into a  submissive flock. The welfare state kills the creative spirit. F.A.  Hayek, an Austrian economist living in Britain, wrote &#8216;The Road to  Serfdom&#8217; in 1944 as a warning that central economic planning would  extinguish freedom. &#8230; Hayek meant that governments can&#8217;t plan  economies without planning people&#8217;s lives. After all, an economy is just  individuals engaging in exchanges. The scientific-sounding language of  President Obama&#8217;s economic planning hides the fact that people must  shelve their own plans in favor of government&#8217;s single plan. At the  beginning of &#8216;The Road to Serfdom,&#8217; Hayek acknowledges that mere  material wealth is not all that&#8217;s at stake when the government controls  our lives: &#8216;The most important change &#8230; is a psychological change, an  alteration in the character of the people.&#8217; This shouldn&#8217;t be  controversial. If government relieves us of the responsibility of living  by bailing us out, character will atrophy. The welfare state, however  good its intentions of creating material equality, can&#8217;t help but make  us dependent. That changes the psychology of society. According to the  Tax Foundation, 60 percent of the population now gets more in government  benefits than it pays in taxes. What does it say about a society in  which more than half the people live at the expense of the rest?&#8221;  &#8211;columnist <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/opinion\/john-stossel\/2010\/02\/10\/hurtling-down-the-road-to-serfdom\/\" >John  Stossel<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Re: The Left<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;ve been paying attention to the left-wing punditry these  days, you may be under the impression that the nation&#8217;s institutions are  on the verge of collapse. Or that the rule of law is unraveling. Or  maybe that this once-great nation is crippled and nearly beyond repair.  You know why? Because the 40 percent (or so) political minority has far  too much influence in Washington. Don&#8217;t you know? This minority, egged  on by a howling mob of nitwits, is holding <em>progress<\/em> hostage  using its revolting politics and parliamentary trickery. &#8230; President  Barack Obama, after his agenda had come to a halt, claimed democracy is a  &#8216;messy&#8217; process &#8212; as if that were a bad thing. Actually, &#8216;democracy&#8217;  is not only messy but also immoral and unworkable. The Founding Fathers  saw that coming, as well. So we don&#8217;t live under a system of simple  majority rule for a reason, as most readers already know. The minority  political party, luckily, has the ability to obstruct, nag, and  filibuster the majority&#8217;s agenda. Otherwise, those in absolute power  would run wild &#8212; or, in other words, you all would be living that <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/perspective\/2010\/02\/11\/file-audis-green-police-ad-under-creepy\/\" >Super  Bowl Audi commercial<\/a> by now. &#8230; [T]oday&#8217;s argument that the ruling  party doesn&#8217;t have enough power is a reflection of a nearly spiritual  belief in the wonders of government, not democracy.&#8221; &#8211;columnist <a href=\"http:\/\/reason.com\/archives\/2010\/02\/10\/just-say-no-to-democracy\" >David  Harsanyi<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/02\/obamablamesbush_10-02-15-brief-cartoon.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31303\" title=\"ObamaBlamesBush_10-02-15-brief-cartoon\" src=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/02\/obamablamesbush_10-02-15-brief-cartoon.jpg?w=475&#038;h=358\" alt=\"Obama Blames Bush\" width=\"475\" height=\"358\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Political Futures<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;How could such smart people do so many stupid things? That question,  or variations on it, is being asked in Washington and around the  country about the Obama administration. The same people who directed the  campaign that defeated Hillary Clinton and routed John McCain, a  campaign that raised far more money and attracted far more volunteers  than any before it, have within a year come up with a legislative  program that is crashing in ruins and that, to judge from recent polls,  has left the Democratic Party weaker than I have seen it in almost 50  years of closely following politics. &#8230; Team Obama failed to realize  they were no longer running in Chicago or in the Democratic primaries or  facing an electorate fed up with Republicans. And, more important, they  failed to realize that vastly expanding government goes deeply against  the American grain &#8212; and against the basic appeal of their successful  campaign.&#8221; &#8211;political analyst <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/opinion\/michael-barone\/2010\/02\/11\/with-absolute-power-team-obama-grows-stupid\/\" >Michael  Barone<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>The Gipper<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;There are those, of course, who claim we must give up freedom in  exchange for economic progress. Well, pardon me, but anyone trying to  sell you that line is no better than a three-card-trick man. One thing  becoming more clear every day is that freedom and progress go hand in  hand. Throughout the developing world, people are rejecting socialism  because they see that it doesn&#8217;t empower people, it impoverishes them.&#8221;  &#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/reagan2020.us\/\" >Ronald Reagan<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Liberty<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Most of us want to be fair, in the sense of treating everyone  equally. We want laws to be applied the same to everyone. We want  educational, economic or other criteria for rewards to be the same as  well. But this concept of fairness is not only different from prevailing  ideas of fairness among many of the intelligentsia, it contradicts  their idea of fairness. &#8230; This more hands-on concept of fairness gives  third parties a much bigger role to play. But whether any human being  has ever had the omniscience to determine and undo the many differences  among people born into different families and cultures &#8212; with different  priorities, attitudes and behavior &#8212; is a very big question. And to  concentrate the vast amount of power needed to carry out that sweeping  agenda is a dangerous gamble, whose actual consequences have too often  been written on the pages of history in blood.&#8221; &#8211;economist <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/opinion\/thomas-sowell\/2010\/02\/11\/the-fallacy-of-fairness-part-iii\/\" >Thomas  Sowell<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Culture<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Seventeen years ago, General Colin Powell, then chairman of the  Joint Chiefs of Staff, helped formulate the policy that has come to be  known as &#8216;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell.&#8217; It allows gay men and lesbians to  serve in the armed forces, provided that they keep their sexual  orientation to themselves. Today, Powell is in favor of repealing the  policy he crafted and advocated. Well, he was right then, but wrong now.  According to Powell, &#8216;attitudes and circumstances have changed&#8217; since  &#8216;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8217; was adopted. Sure, attitudes toward  homosexuality have changed in the culture at large. But what hasn&#8217;t  changed is the need for &#8216;order and discipline in the ranks,&#8217; to use  Powell&#8217;s own phrase, and the possible impact of allowing openly gay  people to serve in the armed forces. &#8230; The bond between men in a sound  military unit is more like agape &#8212; the love that moves men to  sacrifice their lives for their buddies. &#8230; Allowing openly gay men  threatens this cohesion by raising the possibility of a different kind  of love &#8212; eros &#8212; which is &#8216;individual and exclusive.&#8217; &#8216;All for one and  one for all&#8217; could give way to &#8217;sexual competition, protectiveness and  favoritism,&#8217; with disastrous military consequences. Nothing has happened  in the last 17 years that makes this less possible or the possible  consequences less dire. All that has changed is that many Americans now  see everything through the prism of &#8216;rights.&#8217; For them, sexual rights  and personal autonomy trump everything else. Thus, any opposition to  changing military policy must be the result of &#8216;bigotry&#8217; or  &#8216;homophobia.&#8217; I suspect I&#8217;m not alone when I say a military unit which  openly celebrates the gay lifestyle in the trenches is not a military  unit I want to serve in.&#8221; &#8211;commentator and author <a href=\"http:\/\/www.breakpoint.org\/commentaries\/14379-goodbye-dont-ask-dont-tell\" >Chuck  Colson<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Reader Comments<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;When I watched that <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/perspective\/2010\/02\/11\/file-audis-green-police-ad-under-creepy\/\" >Audi  ad<\/a> my jaw literally dropped open. Other&#8217;s watching it thought it  was funny or at worst cute. I was sitting there thinking to that there  exist people in the nation that would LOVE to see a green police become  the law enforcement of the land. Very scary indeed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My neighbors have been shoveling over 50 inches of snow so far (the  last three snow falls) and we are going to get four more inches today of  &#8216;inconvenient truth.&#8217; Everything has been paralyzed for almost a week.  God works in wonderful ways, always with a plan, yet the  liberal\/progressives started spinning immediately this across-the-nation  record snow and cold into evidence of global warming. How one&#8217;s mind  can make such a connection, it is unbelievable. Liberalism is a mental  disorder, to quote a famous radio talk-show host.&#8221; &#8211;Ileana<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Man-made global warming is the greatest hoax of all time. It has  nothing to do with the planet, and everything to do with concocting  excuses for bigger government to take greater control of our lives.&#8221;  &#8211;MichaelSSEC<\/p>\n<h2>The Last Word<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;In lecturing us about blowing our money, The Great Ozbama displays  breathtaking gall. Given that he is blowing trillions of our money, not  his, and burying us in debt as no president in history, silence on the  subject would seem more reasonable. To be nit-picky about it, since he  is in citing trips to Vegas as particularly objectionable, I hold in my  casino chip-calloused fingers a list procured from CanadaFreePress.com  of Mrs. Obama&#8217;s staff and their salaries. She reportedly has a staff of  22 assistants. Yes, I said <em>twenty-two<\/em>. (Previous First Ladies&#8217;  dedicated staffs were in the single digits). Michelle&#8217;s little army  includes a Chief of Staff costing $172,000 a year; a Deputy Chief of  Staff at $90,000; a Director of Policy and Projects at $140,000; a  Director of Communications at $102,000; a Deputy Director of Scheduling  at $62,000; two Social Secretaries &#8212; mysteriously, one at $65,000, one  at $64,000; an Associate Director of Correspondence at $45,000, an  Assistant to the Social Secretary at $36,000, and more, in total  consuming $6.3-million annually thus $25-million during her 4-year term.  Not to mention a make-up artist and hair stylist. I have one assistant.  Answer my own correspondence. Keep my own calendar. &#8230; Mr. President,  sir, if you are going to lecture me about blowing <em>my<\/em> money in  Vegas or turning down my thermostat or inflating my tires, do you think  you could reign in your wife&#8217;s blowing of my money just a teeny bit?&#8221;  &#8211;columnist <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessandmedia.org\/commentary\/2010\/20100210113159.aspx\" >Dan  Kennedy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more excellent articles at <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/\" >The Patriot Post<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Filed under: <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/111th-congress\/'>111th Congress<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/barry-soetoro-aka-barack-hussein-obama\/'>Barry Soetoro (aka Barack Hussein Obama)<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/environment\/climate-alarmists\/'>Climate Alarmists<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/conniving-politicians\/'>Conniving Politicians<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/demo-gogues-democrats-politics\/'>Demo-gogues<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/'>Democrats<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/environment\/global-warming\/'>Global Warming<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/junk-science\/'>Junk Science<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/liberals\/'>Liberals<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/marxists\/'>Marxists<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/news-and-views\/'>News and Views<\/a> Tagged: <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/tag\/annie\/'>Annie<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/tag\/the-patriot-post\/'>The Patriot Post<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/gocomments\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/comments\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/godelicious\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/delicious\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/gostumble\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/stumble\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/godigg\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/digg\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/goreddit\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/reddit\/papundits.wordpress.com\/31300\/\" \/><\/a> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/stats.wordpress.com\/b.gif?host=papundits.wordpress.com&#038;blog=174708&#038;post=31300&#038;subd=papundits&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vancouver Olympics The Patriot Post Brief The Foundation &#8220;Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.&#8221; &#8211;Thomas Jefferson Vancouver Olympics For the Record &#8220;NBC (which is owned by General Electric) [has begun] broadcasting the 2010 Winter Olympics [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-322771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}