The Conservative Point's topics - tribe.net

the myth of cutting pork to help balance the budget

2010-01-01T02:53:28Z

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/what_percentage_of_the_national_spending_is.html
Q:

What percentage of the national spending is pork?
A:

About 1 percent.

Pork-barrel spending is funding allocated for legislators' pet projects, often without public hearings or a request from the president. Citizens Against Government Waste, an anti-pork watchdog group, estimated that pork projects cost $29 billion in 2006. (CAGW defines "pork" as "a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures.") The Office of Management and Budget's historical tables show a federal outlay of $2.66 trillion that year, so pork would represent 1.1 percent of the total spending. In 2005, CAGW identified 13,997 projects costing $27.3 billion that met its definition of pork spending; as in 2006, that was about 1.1 percent of total spending.

Most pork spending comes in the form of "earmarks," which are items inserted in federal spending bills at the specific request of a House or Senate member. For 2005, the OMB offered a tally of 13,492 "earmarks" costing $18.9 billion out of $2.47 trillion in outlays, or about 0.77 percent of total federal spending. But earmarks aren't the only form of pork. For example, CAGW counts as pork any spending project that isn't requested by the administration and also isn't awarded through competition. Hundreds of spending items meet CAGW's definition even though they are not earmarks.

– Jess Henig

posted in The Conservative Point - 14 replies

I represent the "real" Left.

2009-12-31T18:15:20Z

The thing that pretends to be the left is not left at all.

The Left is that ideology that insists that people be let along free of government intrusion and coercion to live the lifestyle that best suits their own dictates.

Today the left is not left. They are the Neo-Left. A new era of Nazism and Stalinism. The Neo-Left is all about the abuse of police power of government to coerce by any means blind obedience to ideology.

The Left today is not left. I am left. They are Neo-left.
They are the worst evil this planet has ever seen. They are the new Nazis.
http://tribes.tribe.net/america/thread/e62b9205-f26d-4f66-8b35-90eeb9931c71?newpostingid=ec1e63ce-3bb1-4db4-80fd-181c1c974344#ec1e63ce-3bb1-4db4-80fd-181c1c974344

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

Russia's Deep Impact

2009-12-31T18:10:32Z

beware of killer asteroids

lol

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091230/world/eu_russia_asteroid_encounter_1

MOSCOW - Russia's space agency chief says a spacecraft may be dispatched to knock a large asteroid off course and reduce the chances of earth impact, even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely.

Anatoly Perminov told Golos Rossii radio on Wednesday that the space agency would hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis. He said his agency might eventually invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project.

When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated its chances of smashing into Earth in its first flyby, in 2029, at 1-in-37.

Further studies have ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 18,300 miles (29,450 kilometres) from Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters.

NASA had put the chances that Apophis could hit Earth in 2036 as 1-in-45,000. In October, after researchers recalculated the asteroid's path, the agency changed its estimate to 1-in-250,000.

NASA said another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact.

Don Yeomans, who heads NASA's Near-Earth Object Program, said better calculations of Apophis' path in several years "will almost certainly remove any possibility of an Earth collision" in 2036.

"While Apophis is almost certainly not a problem, I am encouraged that the Russian science community is willing to study the various deflection options that would be available in the event of a future Earth threatening encounter by an asteroid," Yeomans said in an email Wednesday.

Without mentioning NASA's conclusions, Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. "I don't remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032," Perminov said.

"People's lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow us to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people," Perminov said.

Scientists have long theorized about asteroid deflection strategies. Some have proposed sending a probe to circle around a dangerous asteroid to gradually change its trajectory. Others suggested sending a spacecraft to collide with the asteroid and alter its momentum, or hitting it with nuclear weapons.

Perminov wouldn't disclose any details of the project, saying they still need to be worked out. But he said the mission wouldn't require any nuclear explosions.

Hollywood action films "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," have featured space missions scrambling to avoid catastrophic collisions. In both movies, space crews use nuclear bombs in an attempt to prevent collisions.

"Calculations show that it's possible to create a special purpose spacecraft within the time we have, which would help avoid the collision," Perminov said. "The threat of collision can be averted."

Boris Shustov, the director of the Institute of Astronomy under the Russian Academy of Sciences, hailed Perminov's statement as a signal that officials had come to recognize the danger posed by asteroids.

"Apophis is just a symbolic example, there are many other dangerous objects we know little about," he said, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

GARY JOHNSON 2012

2009-12-31T00:16:04Z

http://ouramericainitiative.com/

I like Ron Paul and I supported him in 2008, but said all along I thought Gary Johnson would make a better candidate. I just hope he is seriously considering a 2012 run.

posted in The Conservative Point - 7 replies

I'm a union member, and this is still wrong.

2009-12-30T18:46:32Z

So the State of Michigan can just decide for you that you are in a union, as a private contractor, and start taking dues out of your payments? What the hell is this crap?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703478704574612341241120838.html?mod=djemITP

posted in The Conservative Point - 6 replies

I'm feeling badly for Dustin

2009-12-30T00:50:54Z

He got hissef da modoraturship ofur at dat ShttleEast Pulydiks tribe
And the fukin animuels are in full tilt revolt mode.

Iran terrorist shit sucking Inna is calling the poor fuker out as a miserable failure and the cast of usual suspects are piling on.
I tried to step up and stick up for the poor guy, but he wou'n't haf none of it.
Poor muthyuhafukah prolly wants to take the high road. HA HA HA wot a jok~!!
He don realuishish dat dem's filth and vermin don't eben know abouts no high roads.

Dems jus animules and dat's dat.

But like Ron - perzakly like Ron Morales poor fukin Dustin El Guapo is try'en to be dis heayuh stand up guy.

'Ceptin dems fukin animueles don't got no respek fur nuthin.
Nefuh did, nefuh weel

So Iees bees feewin badly fo po Dustin.

posted in The Conservative Point - 23 replies

US debt limit increase signed into law

2009-12-29T23:31:09Z

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/091228/us/politics_us_usa_debt_obama

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday signed into law an increase in the U.S. national debt limit to $12.4 trillion, the White House said in a statement.
ADVERTISEMENT

Congress approved an increase in the debt limit from $12.1 trillion on Thursday, winning two more months of funding for a record U.S. deficit as Obama tries to stimulate economic growth after the country's worst recession in 70 years.

Critics say Democrat Obama is making the deficit worse, but the White House blames the recession and unfunded cuts in taxes and prescription drug aid, which were all inherited from his Republican predecessor George W. Bush.

The U.S. government posted a record $1.4 trillion deficit in the fiscal year ended September 30 and is on track during the current fiscal year to spend at least $1 trillion more than it collects.

The debt has more than doubled since 2001, thanks to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tax cuts and the recession, which has caused tax revenues to plunge and safety-net spending to rise.

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

Good recent films

2009-12-28T08:40:05Z

This one was good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others

About the Stasi (among other things) during the 80s. Won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2006. I recommend it.....

posted in The Conservative Point - 39 replies

gay mayor

2009-12-27T20:55:55Z

congratulations to the city of houston for electing their new mayor.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1947648,00.html

so not only does this prove that gays can be a normal part of society but it also proves that gays adopting don't ruin children's lives.

posted in The Conservative Point - 8 replies

The way News should be reported

2009-12-27T19:07:45Z

LOL

http://youporn.com/watch/14632/naked-news-michelle-pantoliano/

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

TL rates Dustin as Moderator of the Mideast Politics Tribe

2009-12-27T16:32:11Z

http://metromix.blogs.com/enginehead/images/jgirlwave.jpg

and I mean it too.

posted in The Conservative Point - 5 replies

The left becomes more and more angry

2009-12-26T22:31:36Z

As their clown of a president falls in the polls and the American people express disapproval of his ridiculous ideas.

The only reply the left has is more unfocused pointless anger.

You can sense it on the internet and here on tribe and pretty much every where else.
The rage and frustration of the communist party and their idiot minions is at an all time high.

If they didn't like you before they really hate you now.

It's sad that so many people are so utterly incapable of critical thought.

And oddly notice how communism world wide is surging again in all the same old places?

Russia is reviving Stalin as a hero
How coincidental that when America has elected a Marxist communist president that Russia is rehabilitating the image of evil.

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

Christopher Caldwell on Muslim Integration

2009-12-26T20:20:25Z

"Muslims aren't integrating as well as many Europeans would like to believe. American political journalist Christopher Caldwell, author of a recent book on Islam in Europe, argues that taboos and wishful thinking prevent an honest discussion of the issue."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,668750,00.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 7 replies

For the Anglophiles

2009-12-26T17:03:33Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvhXgCPtqw8

now get the fuck off tribe and have a wonderful Christmas. that goes for the Atheists, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Daoists, miscellaneous too. not happy holidays. Merry Christmas. wishing someone the best based on what a person values is not and never will be an insult.

and remember. if you're here that means I don't think you're a complete idiot.

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

Naughty & Nice: A History of The Holiday Season

2009-12-25T20:46:25Z

Merry Christmas everybody.

http://www.backstoryradio.org/2009/12/happy-holidays-a-history-of-the-season/

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

Yellow Machinegun......this is for you TL

2009-12-24T07:05:36Z

Enjoy:

Lost - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvpE9kOpdPA&feature=PlayList&p=D5DEC4F7F77C69FC&index=28

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

Madness Prevails in Richmond, CA

2009-12-24T06:22:06Z

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_13738059

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_13743411

posted in The Conservative Point - 9 replies

CA is #.....

2009-12-24T06:08:28Z

http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

More Insight into CA's Budget Crisis -- Extreme Overtime by Prison Health Workers

2009-12-24T02:42:42Z

"Rampant overtime, mostly for nurses, is the norm in this state, accounting for nearly 20 percent of all wages for prison nursing care."

"In New York prisons, by contrast, nursing overtime accounted for just 10 percent of wages. As a result, New York prison nurses earned about $100 per inmate in overtime for the full year, compared with about $300 per inmate in California."

"About 95 percent of prison nurses worked overtime last year – a higher proportion than for employees of any other state department"

but wait. it gets better.

"Vanessa Avila, a registry medical assistant at Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, worked a schedule that, even by prison standards, was superhuman: 26.5 hours a day on average."

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2391456.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 7 replies

Rhee takes on DC

2009-12-23T20:37:29Z

"As part of a series of reports on how educators are attempting to reform urban schools, education correspondent John Merrow reported in 2007 on the efforts of Washington, D.C., school chancellor Michelle Rhee to turn around the city's troubled school system."

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec07/dcschools_11-19.html

<<<JOHN MERROW: To bring the same bottom-line accountability to the central office that she's already put in place for principals, Rhee asked the city council in October for power to fire central office employees at will.

MICHELLE RHEE: I need this authority for the long term to make sure that, anytime there's any employee who's not producing results and who's not doing the right thing for kids, that we're able to move them out of the system.

GEORGE PARKER, Washington Teachers Union President: She has some views that may present some problems for teachers, in terms of trust.

JOHN MERROW: Teachers union president George Parker is watching Rhee closely.

GEORGE PARKER: We have to move the discussion away from hiring and firing of ineffective employees and begin to move the discussion to what kind of supports are we going to put in place in our district to support teachers and children.

JOHN MERROW: While Rhee was seeking greater control over her central office, the contract with the teachers expired.

JOURNALIST: Chancellor Rhee, could you tell us, are you seeking the similar type of authority to allow you to fire teachers in the future?

MICHELLE RHEE: Absolutely. We have to ensure, in whatever contract that we have, that we are able to remove ineffective teachers from their positions.

JOHN MERROW: Rhee will have to negotiate a new contract with the teachers union in the coming months. Many expect her to focus on hiring and firing.

GEORGE PARKER: The chancellor already has more than enough authority to remove from the system any teachers that are deemed ineffective or incompetent. I cannot at this point imagine what additional authority the chancellor would need in order to remove ineffective teachers.

ARLENE ACKERMAN, Former D.C. Public Schools Superintendent: I think we make often an assumption, in a very naive way, that when you enter a broken school system that the people are broken who work there.

JOHN MERROW: Rhee's critics include Arlene Ackerman, former head of the D.C. schools.

ARLENE ACKERMAN: I would say take a look at the systems that are in place; make sure you've done everything to fix those. It's easier to focus on people than to actually fix a broken school system.

MICHELLE RHEE: For me, this is not about firing people and that's going to solve the problem. What's going to solve the problem is creating a culture of accountability in the central office first, and then eventually everywhere in the school district.>>>

posted in The Conservative Point - 10 replies

Clashes reported at funeral of Iranian dissident cleric

2009-12-22T11:58:34Z

kind of interesting. at least to me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8423794.stm

posted in The Conservative Point - 5 replies

Lieberman is a stand up guy

2009-12-21T22:49:34Z

He has a notion of responsibility when it comes to spending other people's money.

posted in The Conservative Point - 11 replies

The Power of Nightmares

2009-12-19T04:31:25Z

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4602171665328041876&hl=en&emb=1#docid=-1433149975726132762

posted in The Conservative Point - 22 replies

Islam: What the West needs to know

2009-12-18T22:59:22Z

Is this video biased? Fuck yes. Does it make some excellent points nonetheless? Fuck yes.

Enjoy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-871902797772997781&ei=rt0pS5CKE4maqAPDgrz_BA&q=islam+what+the+west+needs+to+know#

I have this on DVD and I've given away a few copies. If you would like one, let me know.

posted in The Conservative Point - 19 replies

leaked emails spell doom!

2009-12-17T07:23:20Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/nov/23/global-warming-leaked-email-climate-scientists
It's no use pretending this isn't a major blow. The emails extracted by a hacker from the climatic research unit at the University of East Anglia could scarcely be more damaging. I am now convinced that they are genuine, and I'm dismayed and deeply shaken by them.

posted in The Conservative Point - 42 replies

more iranian kids brutalized --- american online politicos couldn't give a shit

2009-12-17T07:18:12Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8398615.stm

posted in The Conservative Point - 18 replies

The Trap

2009-12-17T04:51:51Z

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=404227395387111085#

posted in The Conservative Point - 6 replies

in CNN this AM

2009-12-16T18:08:31Z

That Radigan fellow ( who is about as unreliable ad Steve Doocy) is claiming that Iran is finishing up their nuclear bomb.

I only caught the teaser line.

This idiot is one of the leftist morons (like Ed of the Ed show) whose monologue is shot through with leftist lingo and code speak as well as out right, far psycho fringe, talking points.

For example he claims that Goldman Sachs has stolen money from the USA in the form of the TARP in spite of the Fed having offered it freely.

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

Lesson 9: Anti-Bullying Classes in Alameda County

2009-12-16T11:27:26Z

Alameda school board adopts respect-gays class

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/27/MNUH17R9K4.DTL

http://www.alamedasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6135&Itemid=10

clearly, this is the single most important issue facing our schools. the fact that CA 4th graders rank towards the bottom in reading and math skills pales in comparison. thank God that our administrators and the Teachers Union are on top of this.

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

watching the religious zealots twist in the wind

2009-12-16T11:26:25Z

http://tribes.tribe.net/environmentprotect?_click_path=Application[tribe].Tribe[39d83e8e-f929-417d-9a2f-ba8ecdeddc0f]

I got some posts about the East Anglia thing, BoZo gore, warming etc.. .

The usual suspects are all about pretending that there's nothing there nothing interesting move along now.

When that doesn't work they get froggy and accuse me of having no evidence.
The emails are the evidence.
How stupid can people be?

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

Is the far right crippling the GOP?

2009-12-16T02:53:30Z

So, I've asked this question a couple of times over in !Politics! but no conservative has answered, so I thought I'd come to y'all's home turf and ask your opinion.

This first came to mind during that special congressional election in NY where Palin and a bunch of other prominent national right-wingers decided the GOP candidate was too moderate and publicly backed an extremist 3rd party candidate, causing a Demo to win the seat for the first time ever since the district lines were created over a century ago.

Meanwhile, the far right is making serious challenges in Senate elections in moderate and liberal states like Florida and California, and Kay Bailey Hutchinson says she'll run against incumbent governor of Texas, whacko almost-seccesionist Rick Perry, to " save our party". Sarah Palin is easily the most prominent national Republican figure right now, and she's showing her looney bent more and more with comments supporting the Birthers, denying the science of human-induced climate change that even Bush eventually accepted, and of course giving the "death panel" propaganda a huge push. And RNC chair Michael Steele has openly declared the GOP should stop health care reform any way they can, taking his cue from the "tea party" fringe rather than all the polls saying Americans do in fact want some kind of reform.

And today Senator DeMint of South Carolina just declared that the GOP leadership is "too liberal" and needs to move right to get in line with mainstream America.

Seems to me that the GOP is refusing to learn anything from the failures of the Dubya years and is rushing headlong into being the party of the old Confederate borders and not much more. What do you all think?

posted in The Conservative Point - 7 replies

Spiegel interviews Volcker

2009-12-14T07:41:09Z

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,666757,00.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

David Cameron on New Labour's Pre-Budget Report

2009-12-14T06:35:53Z

see any parallels to extending TARP and the stimulus package? I see a light at the end of the tunnel for the UK. at least they are having meaningful discussions. alas, we're awash with Tiger Woods and Banker Bashing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yth4VjsXRlU

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

Stumbles has embraced war at Oslo

2009-12-13T02:07:30Z

Stuumbles has announced that war is necessary, that exhortation is never sufficient, that the consequences of war must always be a component of ensuring peace, that the USA has throughout history been the single greatest force for peace brought about by the blood of Americans around the globe, that it is irresponsible to insist that only diplomacy can be effective, That WARFARE for human rights is righteous.
He seemed to be channeling General George Marshal's speech from 1953.

And then he accepted a peace prize

In case you didn't know, This is the George Marshall who developed the famous "Marshall Plan."

http://www.marshallfoundation.org/library/doc_marshall_plan_speech.html

And Stumbles has gone to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace prize with war on his lips.

posted in The Conservative Point - 9 replies

EU Timebomb -- Greek Debt

2009-12-12T07:43:05Z

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,665679,00.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

CA Union Solution to improving Education -- more oversight of charter schools and less parent choice

2009-12-12T03:01:04Z

typical.

"The bills have different approaches to meeting these requirements. The Romero bill included provisions to give parents a stronger voice in how schools are run, while Brownley's bill would establish more oversight for charter schools, among other differences."

take one guess which bill passed the assembly... with union support. can someone please explain how more oversight of charter schools will improve our public schools?

http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2384521.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

More Effective Use of Stimulus Plan Money (your tax dollars)

2009-12-11T07:37:53Z

"Specifically, the report questions whether it's wise to spend $2.2 million to pump recycled water to a golf course that "might not exist much longer" — a reference to the fact that San Francisco has been under threat of a lawsuit by environmentalists who favor converting the 18-hole course into a nature preserve for the sake of two federally threatened species that live there. Golf lovers have fought equally hard to keep the public course, which is owned by San Francisco and located in Pacifica. "

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_13964270?source=rss&nclick_check=1

2.2 million to irrigate a golf course in SF/Pacifica. *tap* *tap* *tap* what do you think?

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

The real driving force of Medical costs is technology

2009-12-11T03:28:47Z

Think on it.

I have a Hospital bill in JPEG form from the 1950's for a live birth procedure.
It was like $150. I think there'sa copy if it in the Photos section of that ridiculous masturbatory shit hole that Mickey is Modding IPD.
The Technology growth since then is astonishing

Today there's be all manner of high tech analytical and diagnostic and other equipment along with the squads of technically trained experts to run the equipment, perform the tests and read the results.
The reason things are so costly is simply the wild proliferation of expensive and worthy toys and techniques with which the medical industry uses.

People simply do not look at technology as having driven cost but it has.

And then there is the hospital's need to use it as much as it can. Some people blame it on defensive medicine and to some degree that may be true but the fact is these things are all very expensive and when a hospital has enormous loans ( multi million dollar machinery and labs galore) to service to purchase and maintain and staff all this shit they are backed into the corner where they have no choice but to use it as much as possible.

Think of this way: you run some kind of business. You have some huge mortgages on a mess of trucks and machinery that you can use to serve your customers. Do you use the heavy expensive equipment and charge them for it or do you use Handy Andy day labor which might be cheaper but would not pay the mortgages on all that expense equipment?

Hospitals also are in the position of having no choice about whether to obtain all that equipment and labs and technical people and staff their facility with the most expensive professionals they can get.
They have to. If they don't they risk becoming that dark and dingy place where no one in their right mind wants to go for care because they are so backwards.

The Caligula solution to this is simply to take a huge step back in time and not use all these fancy expensive things. Let them sit idle let the banks repossess them and sell them for pennies on the dollar in India, and tho discourage the development of new more expensive wonderful equipment, techniques and methods.

He famously told one girl whose mother was dying of cancer that she should just "take a pill" instead of having spent a ton of money on an expensive treatment and ultimately a cure.
I hope he has to tell his wife that her mother should just "take a pill" when her mother is dying of some god awful illness that might possibly be treatable if only the money were spent on the techniques and equipment. and experts.

"Take a pill." That is the Caligula Health Care .

Already he's demonstrated his desire to start killing people off telling women that they should not even receive education about self examinations for breast cancer and that they should not be medically examined till they are 50.

The super powerful communist regime in America wants women to stop examining them selves and to deny them the ability to even examine yourself. They want to tell Doctors NOT to educate their patients.

And the new one about PAP smear tests? Did you hear that? They want to put that off too.

This is all going to end in blood death and tears.

posted in The Conservative Point - 27 replies

Massacre at Pakistan mosque

2009-12-10T19:33:30Z

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan – A Taliban suicide squad targeted Pakistani military officers and their families praying at a mosque Friday close to army headquarters in a gruesome display of the militants' ability to strike at the center of power in this U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed nation.

The barrage of bombs and bullets left 37 people dead, including seven senior officers and 17 children.

The deaths of so many top brass inside a heavily fortified area a few miles from the capital was a major coup for the Pakistani insurgents, who are under pressure as the army pushes an offensive against their stronghold of South Waziristan along the Afghan border.

Friday's carnage also dramatized the risks Pakistan faces if it steps up its support for the United States in the war against Islamic extremists on its side of the border with Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama believes Pakistan is a key partner in that war, but critics contend that Pakistan, hedging its bets in the event the Taliban eventually regain power in Kabul, has held back against Afghan insurgents who use the lawless border region as a safe haven.

The attack on the mosque, which was largely reserved for military families, was the latest in a relentless Taliban onslaught against mostly military targets across Pakistan. It came nearly two months after the brazen siege of the army headquarters on Oct. 10, when insurgents held dozens hostage in a 22-hour standoff that left 23 people dead including nine militants.

By targeting a packed mosque during Friday prayers, the militants showed they cared little about igniting a possible backlash in this overwhelmingly Muslim country. Authorities urged clerics who had so far avoided publicly criticizing the militants to do so.

The attack began shortly after 1:30 p.m. when the assailants lobbed hand grenades to break through a checkpoint close to the mosque, said Yasir Nawaz, a police official at the scene.

Witnesses said two of the militants then stormed the mosque, while others ran into buildings nearby.

They wore suicide belts under traditional baggy Pakistani clothes, lobbed grenades and sprayed automatic weapons at worshippers.

"They were killing people like animals," witness Nasir Ali Sheikh. "Whoever they saw they shot at. They were well trained and moved very quick."

At least four attackers took part in the attack, which left the walls of the mosque smeared with blood and victims lying on abandoned prayer mats.

Security forces exchanged fire with the assailants for an hour, killing them or watching them blow themselves up. Reporters were prevented from getting close as helicopters hovered overhead and trucks carrying commando teams and ambulances raced to the scene.

The dead in Friday's attack included a major general, a brigadier, a colonel, two lieutenant colonels, one major and a retired major as well as three regular soldiers, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. Seventeen children — 11 of them army kids — and 10 civilians also were killed.

Another witness, Ameeruddin Sheikh, cried when describing the corpse of a young boy.

"He was hardly 12 or 13 years of age. His face was fresh and blood was all over his body. His eyes were open and it was as if they were asking all of us what kind of jihadis would kill people when they were praying."

Many of the military families who use the mosque, which had about 150 worshippers, live in army housing close by. Residents said that to enter the mosque people need to show military identification and were frisked by guards.

The commander of the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to the BBC's Urdu service, saying the mosque was targeted because it was used by the army. A military spokesman said he was aware of the claim.

The army launched the South Waziristan offensive in mid-October, pitting some 30,000 troops against about 10,000 militants. It has been more successful than many people expected and the soldiers now control what was once a sanctuary for local and foreign al-Qaida militants. Many of the insurgents — including their leaders — appear to have fled to other parts of the lawless border area.

The army has so far enjoyed broad public support for the offensive.

But the repeated Taliban attacks risk hurting the country's resolve as well as the morale of the army's poorly paid rank and file. Some politicians and many ordinary Pakistanis believe the government should negotiate with the militants — not fight them — and blame the United States for pressing Islamabad to act.

The United States is unable to send troops into the border region, but has struck at militants over the last year with at least 60 missile strikes at targets there. The attacks have scores of alleged insurgent commanders but fueled anti-American sentiment.

U.S. officials said Friday they were considering increasing the frequency of the missile strikes and expanding them to the western province of Baluchistan, something that would likely prompt a furious response from Pakistani officials and strain already tense U.S.-Pakistani ties.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091204/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

A Carbon Tax Is Better Than Cap-And-Trade

2009-12-10T14:01:26Z

old article. worth bringing up again.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/05/obama-carbon-tax-cap-and-trade-opinions-columnists_republicans.html

and from today.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/12/09/pm-frum-commentary/

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

Woodrow, we hardly knew ye......

2009-12-10T12:10:48Z

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_10_34/ai_98125294/

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

Unparalleled bridge, unprecedented cost

2009-12-09T21:15:22Z

When completed, the new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will be not only the most complex engineering feat in California history, but also the most expensive, with a cost never subjected to public scrutiny.

Although today’s price tag stands at $6.3 billion, the figure accounts for only salaries and hard materials—things like concrete and steel and cranes. When all is said and done, the new Bay Bridge will wind up costing tax- and toll-payers more than $12 billion—a figure that leaves even the officials in charge “staggered.”

Much of the difference comes from interest and other financing charges—money that commuters will be paying off until at least 2049. Little attention has been paid to billions of dollars not included in the direct construction cost projections published in glossy public reports.

Why the price has skyrocketed is a tale of politics, bureaucratic bumbling, and unforeseen construction problems—all classic ingredients of California public works projects. It is a tale of obscure but powerful agencies, legislative bickering, and four successive governors grappling with a project so massive and complex that one consultant suggested the human mind might be unable to grasp, or accept, “the magnitude of the undertaking and the time and resources required to complete it.”

While public attention is focused on something new and grand. replacing the aging and increasingly unreliable existing east span with an iconic edifice that will define the San Francisco Bay into the next century, it is easy to overlook other aspects of the Bay Bridge project that contribute to spiraling costs. Caltrans officials are expected to announce this week that problems in Asia, where the majority of the bridge is being manufactured, will push those costs even higher. Among those are problems with fabrication and shipping of critical steel components in China that could add $100 million or more to the final price tag, and international bickering over design drawings and blueprints that could ultimately cost tens of millions more.

It is impossible at this point to account for every dollar spent on the Bay Bridge project so far. While nearly $500 million has been paid for seismic retrofitting of the west span and construction of a new west approach—work already completed—bills continue to roll in for the east span which is expected to take until 2013 to complete. Public records show that through September, $3.8 billion in expenses have been incurred on the east span construction and at least $1.9 billion more in expenses are expected soon.

Since 2005, when the state auditor completed the last examination of Bay Bridge spending requested by the Legislature, there has been no independent fiscal oversight of the project. What audits there have been are internal examinations conducted by the various agencies involved in managing the project.

Still, while it will be years before a final accounting is made, Brian Mayhew, the chief financial officer for the Bay Area Toll Authority—which allots money for the project—insists that audits of the Caltrans payment process are conducted every two years and if there is anything amiss, it will amount to honest mistakes.

“Caltrans is a big bureaucracy and they’re very complex to deal with, but they’re not fraudulent,” Mayhew said. “They’re not stealing money. The risks involved with Caltrans are mostly accounting errors,” using money for the wrong project or over-assessing overhead and other expenses. Categorized as “capital outlay support,” by September, $771.9 million had been spent on Caltrans overhead and other support costs, and that is expected to rise to $1.2 billion by the end of the project.

Some of the most expensive overhead involves keeping qualified Caltrans engineers and contractors on the ground overseas to ensure bridge components can stand the test of time and the next big earthquake. Much of the steel fabrication and know-how for the self-anchored suspension span—the project’s crown jewel—has been outsourced to at least seven countries: Canada, China, England, Japan, Norway, South Korea and Taiwan. In previous eras it would seem inconceivable that the major steel components for such a project would be built in China, but that is exactly what is happening.

Randy Rentschler, director of legislation and public affairs for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area’s lead transit planning agency, said the extensive foreign involvement is simply because “we’re just not doing anything anymore as a country.”

After the last of America’s great building booms, when the expansive federal highway system was constructed in the 1950s, a growing disdain for big government took the wind out of politically mandated public works projects.

This project has outlived many a political career, including those of San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and Governor Gray Davis, and countless other legislators from the Bay Area and in Sacramento. Most of the officials who green-lit the project are long gone, and the lack of continuity in state and local leadership represents a challenge all its own. There aren’t many lawmakers in Sacramento with a long history in their current positions, and fewer who know much about the Bay Bridge.

This lack of governmental memory on such a marathon construction project—combined with knowledge that many costs can be pushed far into the future—and coupled with overly optimistic cost estimates, helps to explain why the stated price of construction has grown nearly fivefold, from the $1.3 billion estimated in 1996 to more than $6.3 billion today. When finance charges are taken into account, the actual cost paid for the construction and financing of the bridge, when it is paid off in 2049, will be more than $12 billion. That is almost twice what any state agency has previously acknowledged.

Yet when reached at his office Friday, Brian Mayhew, the chief financial officer of the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA), which raises revenue for the bridges, said that officials have long known the bridge would cost roughly twice direct spending when including interest.

“The usual rubric we use is you take the principal and you just about double it for principal and interest,” he said. “We’ve got very low-cost money, so we really feel very good about that fact. But it’s true, interest is just the price of borrowing money.” Mayhew added that the full cost of the Bay Bridge is not a subject he often discusses publicly. “I’ve discussed it at the board a couple of times,” he said. “My boss is staggered by it. I don’t think we’re hiding it. Just no one has ever asked before.”

BEATING THE NEXT BIG ONE

Few people refer to the Bay Bridge by its proper name: the James Rolph Bridge, named for the longest-serving San Francisco mayor, who went on to become California governor at the height of the Great Depression in 1931. “Sunny Jim,” as he was known, died during his first term as governor, before he could see his dream of the first bay crossing realized. The span opened to traffic in 1936, after three years of construction that cost $77 million.

For the next half a century, millions of commuters took the bridge for granted, navigating its 4.5 miles between Oakland and San Francisco. That all changed in 1989, when the magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake collapsed a section of the east span and disrupted commuting patterns for a month.

But the temblor did more than simply unseat a critical section of the Bay Bridge and pulverize other portions of the Bay Area transportation infrastructure. It sounded alarm bells in the halls of state government and triggered a shockwave of spending that continues to this day.

San Francisco has a reputation for rebuilding in the wake of disaster, from the early frontier days of the Barbary Coast to the 1906 earthquake and the quick rebuilding of the Marina District in 1989. When the forces of nature render reality utterly unrecognizable, there is always the opportunity to start anew.

When the Loma Prieta dust settled, engineers took a look at the east span, igniting a debate that in typical California fashion lasted for years, about whether to seismically retrofit the structure or to replace it with something new and grand.

In 1990, Caltrans contracted with Abolhassan Astaneh, a professor of civil engineering at the University of California Berkeley, to conduct a study. The three-year study concluded that a retrofit would be safe and would make fiscal sense. Then, in 1994, the Northridge earthquake damaged a retrofitted bridge near Los Angeles. This prompted Caltrans to again consider the replacement option for the east span of the Bay Bridge. Over the next few years, both options were weighed simultaneously. In 1996, Caltrans estimated that it would cost $1.3 billion to retrofit the existing structure. The agency also concluded that for a few hundred million more, an entirely new east span could be constructed. This would have a longer lifetime and would require less maintenance.

A decision to replace the span percolated its way up from the depths of Caltrans to the desk of the secretary of Business, Transportation, and Housing—essentially Caltrans’ boss—who recognized a replacement project would need gubernatorial and presidential support to wade through the muck of environmental studies, permits, and financing.

Citing time, safety, and cost, then-Gov. Pete Wilson recommended a “skyway” design—a graceful term for a freeway on stilts such as the Antioch Bridge that spans the San Joaquin River connecting eastern Contra Costa County to Sacramento County. Bay Area leaders pushed back, calling for a more singular design, one to rival the Golden Gate Bridge.

There was one catch. If the Bay Area wanted a signature design, they would have to chip in for the cost. Originally, a mixture of state and federal funds would have footed the bill for a simple and less expensive design (the skyway was estimated at $1.5 billion). A more elaborate design was then estimated to cost $1.7 billion. In retrospect, Rentschler said, there was no doubt which option the politicians would push for.

“There was just no way that the Bay Area wasn’t going to do something special on the bay—there was just no two ways about it,” he said, particularly when you considered that the difference in cost estimates at the time was just $200 million, or about 18 months worth of tolls. “Of course we’d say yes to that,” Rentschler said.

“Every time we touch the bay, it has to be improved,” he said. “We’re going to have an internationally recognized piece of sculpture on the bay that’s functional and that’s absolutely in tune with what the Bay Area has been doing since the 1930s,” when both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge debuted.

So a lengthy process of proposals and designs began, with the MTC at the center. Everyone, it seemed, had a vision of what that sculpture could be, with the design panel deliberations often resembling a circus during the 16-month selection process.

Though the initial estimate for a signature span was $1.7 billion, there was much political bickering, agency dysfunction, and bureaucratic snafus to come, and all the while, the bridge’s price tag would spiral ever-upward.

LOOKING FOR CASH UNDER EVERY ROCK

From the moment in 1997 when Governor Wilson finally announced his support for Caltrans’ plan to replace the east span, the Bay Bridge took center stage in a Sacramento political drama that has yet to see its final curtain—or price tag. Just a year earlier, in 1996, voters had approved the sale of $2 billion in bonds to pay for the seismic retrofit of state-owned highways and bridges. Yet only $650 million of that was earmarked for the rehabilitation of all toll bridges in the state, including the Bay Bridge. So Wilson’s decision to replace the east span, a decision made after voters had approved funding that did not include the replacement project, had the makings of a budget-buster.

Recognizing a financial crisis in the making, lawmakers began scouring nooks and crannies of the state treasury, looking for ways to pay for a project they believed would only continue to increase in price.

Quentin Kopp, then a state senator from San Francisco, quickly introduced two bills in December 1996 providing $2.6 billion in funding specifically for retrofitting or replacing seven of the state’s nine toll bridges—five bridges in the Bay Area and two in Southern California.

Kopp’s bill was followed by more than seven years of heated debates between Bay Area legislators and their counterparts statewide, who believed that if the region wanted a new bridge, its own residents should pick up the tab.

Kopp, now a retired San Mateo County Superior Court judge and board member of the California High Speed Rail Authority, lays the blame for the protracted political bickering and subsequent cost increases squarely on Caltrans.

“The Bay Bridge is part of the state highway system and the cost should be paid from state highway funds,” he said recently. “It started with Caltrans. These cost overruns evolve from Caltrans’ performance and its original negligent cost estimate.”

“It’s not Caltrans’ fault that the bridge was delayed and the costs went up,” MTC’s Rentschler said. “Caltrans’ role in this is often misunderstood. Caltrans is an organization that is going to do what the governor and his administration tells them to do.

It was really the administration that was using this as a way to try to deal with the budget problem,” he said. “It wasn’t ever a design problem.”

Ultimately the dispute over who would pay for the construction of a new, aesthetically enhanced bridge led to a compromise between Wilson and Bay Area lawmakers providing that costs would be split between state and local funding, with a third of the money derived from bridge tolls.

Kopp’s legislation, along with two other Senate bills, also added additional elements of Bay Area control over bridge design and spending. The legislation designated the Metropolitan Transportation Commission the stewards of the bridge design selection process, and it created the Bay Area Toll Authority as an independent subsidiary agency of the MTC. The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) would be charged with managing toll collections and financing the multibillion-dollar Bay Area seismic retrofitting program.

Thus BATA, an obscure agency that few taxpayers even knew about, and the MTC emerged as the nexus of power in overseeing everything from accounting for toll collections to design and construction activities.

THE WILLIE FACTOR

The origins of the current design are murkier than one would expect for such a high-profile project. Between May 1997 and June 1998, designs volleyed back and forth between a cluster of advisory panels and decision-making bodies at both the MTC and Caltrans before a design resembling the current plan appeared.

It started with the MTC’s engineering design advisory panel—a 34-member collection of engineers, architects and academics chosen by the MTC to inform its design task force, which in turn advised the MTC’s decision-makers. In May 1997, the panel whittled down 13 submissions to two options for further study: a cable-stayed option and a self-anchored suspension option.

Eventually the self-anchored suspension option, though very complicated and difficult to build, was deemed the winner. The MTC commissioners approved the choice by an 11-1 vote.

Caltrans then hired T.Y. Lin International to complete the design, to the tune of $81 million. In another five months, by May 1998, T.Y. Lin and Caltrans presented the MTC with a rough working design for the self-anchored span.

That’s when real political trouble began to brew. When he saw the design for the new bridge, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown sought to block its construction. He claimed that its alignment would interfere with his plans to develop Treasure Island, a manmade island located adjacent to Yerba Buena Island that had been bestowed on the city by the U.S. Navy after closure of its base there. Brown had recently unveiled a $12 million development plan for Treasure Island, which envisioned a casino, marina and resort. At Brown’s urging, the Navy refused Caltrans access to the islands to conduct soil testing for mandatory environmental studies. This delayed the project two years and added millions to the cost.

continued at link: http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2009-12/unparalleled-bridge-unprecedented-cost

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

AU: URGENT Action Alert

2009-12-09T00:22:39Z

AU: URGENT Action Alert

"URGENT: The Senate will vote on the Nelson-Hatch amendment TOMORROW! Please take action NOW!

A few weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the destructive Stupak-Pitts amendment thanks to the powerful influence of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishops demanded a new ban on abortion coverage in any insurance plan participating in the new insurance "exchange," and the Church hierarchy even threatened to use its clout in Congress to derail the entire healthcare reform package unless its particular religious view was enshrined in the legislation.

Now, the Senate is poised to vote on an identical amendment proposed by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and a number of co-sponsors. Please remind your Senators that this restrictive language is unacceptable. For those of us who believe deeply that religion and government must function separately, this is hese events are highly disturbing. As supporters of Americans United, you are well aware that the Constitution mandates a separation between church and state. Yet recently, the Catholic bishops have used their immense power to undermine constitutionally guaranteed rights.

This is unacceptable, and your Senators need to hear from you. We simply cannot allow the interests of a politically powerful religious denomination to undermine the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to Americans of all faiths and none. Your Senators will vote tomorrow -- so please share your views NOW!

Tell Your Senators to OPPOSE the Nelson-Hatch Amendment

--------------------

Keep Religious Doctrine Out of the Law

"A few weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the destructive Stupak-Pitts amendment thanks to the powerful influence of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishops demanded a new ban on abortion coverage in any insurance plan participating in the new insurance "exchange," and the Church hierarchy even threatened to use its clout in Congress to derail the entire healthcare reform package unless its particular religious view was enshrined in the legislation.

Now, the Senate is poised to vote on an identical amendment proposed by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and a number of co-sponsors. Please remind your Senators that this restrictive language is unacceptable. For those of us who believe deeply that religion and government must function separately, this is hese events are highly disturbing. As supporters of Americans United, you are well aware that the Constitution mandates a separation between church and state. Yet recently, the Catholic bishops have used their immense power to undermine constitutionally guaranteed rights.

This is unacceptable, and your Senators need to hear from you. We simply cannot allow the interests of a politically powerful religious denomination to undermine the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to Americans of all faiths and none. Your Senators will vote very soon -- so please share your views NOW! "

http://www.capwiz.com/au/issues/alert/?alertid=14439586

* Join the Separation of church and state tribe
http://separationofchurchstate.tribe.net

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posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

Searching in Vain for the Obama Magic

2009-12-08T20:55:38Z

"It was the least truthful address that he has ever held. He spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics. He demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,664753,00.html

leave it to the Germans to nail it right on the head.

posted in The Conservative Point - 6 replies

Healthcare -- A Question of Values

2009-12-08T06:39:31Z

"The unregulated market wants to direct capital to the productive and the young. Welfare policies usually direct resources to the vulnerable and the elderly. Most social welfare legislation, even successful legislation, siphons money from the former to the latter."

"But, alas, there would be trade-offs. Instead of reducing costs, the bills in Congress would probably raise them. They would mean that more of the nation’s wealth would be siphoned off from productive uses and shifted into a still wasteful health care system."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/opinion/24brooks.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

Fearful Mexicans Flee Juarez

2009-12-08T05:08:04Z

http://www.theworld.org/2009/11/03/fearful-mexicans-flee-deadly-city/

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

Arnold Rave

2009-12-08T02:57:05Z

posted this a long time ago. didn't want to forget it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkbB-X9654s

posted in The Conservative Point - 16 replies

The Politics of Tribe

2009-12-08T00:56:19Z

There is as much hate on this site as there is in the Middle East.

OKAY

That's all I have to say right now!!!

posted in The Conservative Point - 9 replies

Can India afford renewable energy?

2009-12-08T00:42:28Z

A thin coat of coal dust covers everything from trees to houses in Korba, a coal mining town in central India which lies at the heart of the country's struggle to balance economic growth with climate change concerns.

The air is heavy with smoke and dust spewing out of numerous mines and power plants in a region that powers hundreds of factories in the country's industrial west and lights up millions of homes

Although India has announced a new climate plan which identifies renewable energy such as solar power as key elements, coal remains the backbone of energy supply in a country where almost half the 1.1 billion population still has no electricity.

"Coal-fired power will stay for the next 20-25 years at least," said R.D. Sonkar, chief engineer at one of Korba's many thermal power stations.

"Look at the high cost of solar and wind energy. Can we afford? Power from renewable energy will have to wait, I think."

As the world meets in Copenhagen for crucial negotiations on a global pact to fight climate change, part of the debate will be on how developing countries such as India tackle the use of fossil fuel without hampering their growth.

India, the world's fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter though still low on per-capita emissions, is under pressure to cut pollution to battle climate change while demand for power increases as its middle class clamours for more cars, TVs and housing.

India set a goal on Thursday for slowing the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, saying it was willing to rein in its "carbon intensity" -- the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted per unit of economic output -- by between 20 and 25 percent by 2020, from 2005 levels.

Economic Engine

The big emerging economies have often insisted that rich nations have caused global warming by spewing out greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution, and want to see deep cuts by these rich nations before joining the effort.

Current global pacts do not require developing nations to cut emissions, but rich countries are obliged to do so.

The Dec. 7-18 U.N. talks in the Danish capital are aimed at settling a legally binding deal after arguments between rich and poor nations about who should cut emissions, by how much and who should pay.

As the world discusses the implications of climate change and plans to cut emissions, experts say it is coal towns such as Korba that will shape India's efforts to eradicate poverty.

"There is a lot of focus on clean coal and super critical technology to increase efficiency, but coal will remain central," said Sunita Narain, member of the prime minister's council on climate change.

"There are two aspects -- affordability of coal in a country where there is a lot of poverty and largescale generation that is required to reach power to a huge portion of the population."

Coal is seen as the solution to India's power shortage, a daunting barrier to development in a country where massive rural poverty means people cannot afford costly electricity produced from renewable sources.

Last year, the country faced a 16.6 percent shortfall during hours of peak consumption and a 9.9 percent gap for energy generation, World Bank figures show.

The country has 10 percent of the world's coal reserves, the biggest after the United States, Russia and China, but it also imported about 70 million tonnes of high grade coal this fiscal year, mostly for making steel.

The country plans to add 78.7 gigawatts of power generation during the five years ending March 2012, most of it from coal, which now accounts for about 60 percent of India's energy mix.

Renewables

In comparison, renewables such as wind, solar and bio-mass contribute only 8.8 percent to generation and, though there are plans to scale up solar power generation to 20 gigawatts by 2022, it depends on international finance and technology.

A landmark nuclear deal with the United States may herald a new chapter in clean energy in India, but long gestation periods for nuclear reactors and high cost are a deterrent.

Even if the country is on track with its renewable energy plans, coal will still account for about 55 percent of its power supply by 2030, according to Indian government figures.

"Clearly, it's not a question of choice for India. Coal will remain at the core but what will change is there will be more thrust on clean coal technology," said Ashok Sharma, climate change expert at Halcrow Consulting India.

India issued a national climate change policy last year, identifying renewable energy like solar power, and energy efficiency as key elements.

Already, its carbon and energy use per unit of GDP are both below that of the United States and China. And India had only about 12 vehicles per 1,000 people in 2007 compared to over 800 in the United States.

India's industrial electricity tariffs are, on average, the highest in the world, a measure aimed at deterring wastage.

"India's focus is a combination of improved coal, enhanced efficiency, some use of gas, solar and wind power ... eventually it's about positioning yourself for the future technology," said Nitin Desai, one of the architects of India's climate policy.

"You can't immediately say I won't use coal -- you have to look at the balance of energy security."

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/features/can-india-afford-renewable-energy_429370.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

politics lesson in how to get it wrong: acupuncture

2009-12-08T00:19:27Z

http://uspolitics.tribe.net/thread/08f761cd-5fdb-4481-b251-218f26f8eef8#49d1bd74-5bf1-4b33-a0cd-ba606c24ee42

"While it's true that the three acupuncture groups were fairly well blinded, as far as studies like this go, there was no blinding at all between the "usual treatment" group and any of the acupuncture groups."

"That makes any comparison between the two virtually worthless, other than as an estimate of what the placebo effect was during the study."

"In fact, the very fact that there was a difference between all the acupuncture groups and the "usual treatment" group is best described as being due to the placebo effect. The reason? There was no restriction on "usual care" among the acupuncture groups."

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/05/another_acupuncture_study_misinterpreted.php

I'm banished from that tribe so it is impossible to argue against such incredible ignorance. and if I do, I guess I'll destroy the social cohesion that makes such a heady place worthwhile... and in so doing, validate all the accusations made by the membership that I'm a troll. obviously, my closed-minded cowardice doesn't mix with their tolerance and courage.

but should you or any of your close friends feel the need to right yet another wrong, feel free to link to this post. or you could simply post a rebuttal in your own words.

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

Soccer Fans and Sportsmanship

2009-12-07T23:20:01Z

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/gallery/im:urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,getty:20050301:sow,photo,8771599ddb426e29e91d031618e2024f-getty-fbl-brazil-curitiba-fluminense:1

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

California official exempted himself to drive state car home

2009-12-07T17:09:54Z

"Fred Aguiar, then secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency and now deputy chief of staff to the governor, received a special state permit that authorized him to use a $34,000 state Honda Accord hybrid for weekend trips between Sacramento and his residence in Central California."

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2373500.html?storylink=omni_popular

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

Huckabee handed out pardons like candy

2009-12-07T03:37:04Z

"I am especially angry at Huckabee because I support the pardon system. With so many nonviolent, first-time drug offenders serving long federal sentences, there should be more - not zero - sentence commutations from the Obama White House.

But the pardon system works only when executives do their homework lest they release inmates who are violent or sure to re-offend."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/03/ED0J1AT88D.DTL#ixzz0YvmZ32Sn

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

Swiss vote to ban minarets

2009-12-06T22:42:13Z

Hint to US:

Swiss vote to ban minarets

http://www.freethoughtnation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=183:swiss-vote-to-ban-minarets&catid=36:islam

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posted in The Conservative Point - 41 replies

Cop-killer being helped by friends and family

2009-12-06T03:05:12Z

and I guess we're supposed to have compassion for the kind of scum that would aid a murdering, pedophile psychopath.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091201/ap_on_re_us/us_officers_shot

posted in The Conservative Point - 7 replies

you have got to be kidding me.

2009-12-06T03:00:45Z

I can't even fathom the idiocy. just read it and weep. maybe it's a hoax. it just has to be.

http://www.examiner.com/x-10711-Raleigh-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m11d25-Obamas-getsoft-PC-agenda-slaps-Navy-SEALS

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

Boomers Doomers: insane CA proposition of the month

2009-12-06T02:58:22Z

after bankrupting the state, they decide they don't want to pay anymore property taxes:

"ELIMINATES STATE INCOME AND PROPERTY TAXES FOR ALL RESIDENTS 55 YEARS OLD AND OLDER. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Exempts California residents who are 55 years old or older from paying state income and property taxes."

http://www.sos.ca.gov/admin/press-releases/2009/db09-074.pdf

coming to a failed state near you.

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

Infamous Islamist Imam Forswears Terror

2009-12-04T19:08:48Z

"In 2001, imam Mohammed El Fazazi of Morocco preached that it it is a Muslim obligation to "slit the throats of non-believers" in a Hamburg mosque."

after admitting he was wrong he goes on.

"Muslims living in Germany, he said, should draw attention to themselves and their issues through "peaceful demonstrations, strikes and protests that are far removed from indiscriminate attacks" and the "killing of innocent people with the argument of killing kuffar," or non-believers."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,658175,00.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

how CA justice works

2009-12-03T14:07:04Z

victim #1: woman who was chased by some deranged asshole off a MUNI bus... deranged asshole proceeds to beat her up and take two of her teeth. of course, no witnesses come forward.

"Despite having health insurance, Aronson says she was saddled with more than $11,500 in hospital and medical bills - including the $4,500 it cost for her replacement teeth.

Aronson went to the district attorney's victim assistance program for help, but she says they turned her down, citing a lack of evidence."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/29/BA701ARFS4.DTL

victim #2: lowlife asshole that accosted passengers on BART who was escorted off the train by a cop. when the cop threw the louse up against a glass protector, it shattered.

"The officer has been placed on paid "industrial leave" - meaning he is unable to perform his duties because of injuries, officials said."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/23/MN9V1AORMM.DTL

"The lawyer for the BART rider whose videotaped arrest by a transit police officer resulted in injuries to both men when the suspect was pushed into a glass window says he will sue the agency for civil rights violations and police brutality."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/24/BA4V1AP5MJ.DTL

posted in The Conservative Point - 11 replies

Why, Cliff?

2009-11-30T20:40:57Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iru9plRmF-4&feature=player_embedded

posted in The Conservative Point - 9 replies

the legal extortion of Michael Jackson

2009-11-30T18:40:03Z

"Jones argues convincingly that the case against Jackson amounted to nothing more than a media-made, tax-paid scandal, and she makes an impassioned call to action for the public-at-large to think critically, question the integrity, and demand the truth in “the news”."

http://michaeljacksonconspiracies.com/2009/06/hello-world/

i.e. how the legal system allows rumor and innuendo to be used to destroy a man's life. but it made a few lawyers rich so it's OK.

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

Sounds like something the NEA would be interested in.

2009-11-29T01:24:29Z

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article6923486.ece

Once again, subsidies should ALL be ended. This is another example of people being forced to pay for things that they don't believe should ever happen.

posted in The Conservative Point - 7 replies

Can somebody tell me,

2009-11-26T22:12:30Z

Why this country continues to pour huge quantities of money down this hole, and give up our national sovereignty to these people?

http://frontpagemag.com/2009/11/25/the-un-kicks-out-a-leading-critic-by-joseph-klein/

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

Ok, in news other than CA incompetence

2009-11-26T18:12:02Z

It seems Florida has enough incompetence to go around, too.

http://cbs4.com/local/florida.government.building.2.1298697.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

DNC Frontman plays down malpractice reform

2009-11-26T07:33:23Z

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-october-12-2009/cnn-leaves-it-there

posted in The Conservative Point - 18 replies

holiday cheer scuttled: legal risk if volunteer effort performs work that should be done by union labor

2009-11-26T03:52:52Z

"On Monday, Oakland city officials informed Marco Li Mandri, executive director of two business community benefit districts in downtown Oakland, that it could not accept a volunteer offer to place holiday decorations on city-owned properties and streets.

The city could open itself up to potential legal risk if it allowed a volunteer effort to perform work that's supposed to be done by union labor, wrote Alizia Gallo, business services development manager for the Oakland Community and Economic Development Agency, in an e-mail declining the group's offer."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/20/BAT61AN0K3.DTL&tsp=1

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

another example of litigious bullshit run amok

2009-11-26T03:44:06Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091120/ts_alt_afp/healthustobaccojustice_20091120140259

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

Countdown to Default: CA idiots (voters) charged up credit before crash

2009-11-26T03:33:56Z

"Before the economy went bust, California voters authorized multibillion-dollar charges on the state's infrastructure credit card."

"estimates now show that debt service could consume as much as 10 percent of the annual general fund budget by 2014-15 "

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2343598.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 9 replies

Pages already stuck together in my copy of Going Rogue

2009-11-26T03:18:26Z

But can you blame me?? I am just squirting with excitement over this strong conservative women leading us to certain landslide-destruction in 2012.

posted in The Conservative Point - 5 replies

the EU chooses insignificance

2009-11-26T03:01:22Z

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14941824&source=most_commented

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

time for churches to lose their tax exempt status

2009-11-26T02:59:37Z

http://www.sacbee.com/977/story/2327135.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/opinion/l13abortion.html

if the catholic bishops want to force the Stupak-Pitts amendment into the healthcare bill... or the mormon church needs to make sure gays are denied the right to marry, then I don't see why I as a taxpayer need to subsidize their political lobbying.

posted in The Conservative Point - 22 replies

30 Senators Voted Against Rape Victims

2009-11-25T05:52:18Z

short video telling who voted against victims rights. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd8gVRMio_E&feature=player_embedded

posted in The Conservative Point - 36 replies

21 journalists and politicians murdered by vermin in Southern Philippines

2009-11-24T07:42:23Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8373770.stm

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

Right-wing activists storm TV station over 'bias'

2009-11-24T07:41:44Z

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/20/india.tv.attack/index.html

In India!!

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

anoither hot chick guitartist c vocalist singer songwriter

2009-11-23T16:13:15Z

This is that hot blond babe who stands so statuesque next to Michael Jackson with her long blond hair blowing her legs apart and her guitar slung just so.
Orinathi Panagaris
She's a child at 23, Australian babe

http://www.myspace.com/orianthi

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

so long as the gap is smaller they'd rather have the poor poorer

2009-11-23T07:29:41Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv5t6rC6yvg

blast from the past. some Thatcher greatness.

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

Law firm files suit to stop compensation owed to Dallas County DNA exoneree

2009-11-20T08:13:53Z

"A law firm this week sued the state comptroller to stop compensation owed to a Dallas County man who was wrongly convicted and then exonerated by DNA testing."

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/11/law-firm-files-suit-to-stop-co.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

You get more of what you subsidize

2009-11-20T06:42:57Z

"For all the recent talk of “greed”, the greatest stain on our economy comes not from the imprudent executive. His fate awaits him in the marketplace. Rather, the real shame comes when the state saves the reckless and the venal at the expense of the upright and the decent."

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2009/04/the_extortion_economy.html

old article worth resurrecting.

posted in The Conservative Point - 6 replies

Dan Walters: California's port dominance slipping away

2009-11-20T06:28:09Z

file this under 'G' for more California genius.

"East Coast ports have been expanding their ability to handle waterborne shipments directly to and from Asia, without cargoes having to be transshipped by rail or truck."

"Meanwhile, California politicians, especially those representing the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, have largely adopted the posture that ports are a nuisance, creating noise and air pollution. They have championed new fees to offset the impacts."

"Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, meanwhile, is carrying water for the Teamsters union, trying to force independent truckers to become employees and join the union under the rubric of fighting pollution."

http://www.sacbee.com/walters/story/2326095.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 8 replies

Zulu: excerpts from one of the best war movies ever made

2009-11-20T05:44:12Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOV63yLPYEA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx7KzuXz4AM

and the main theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQD5zhS045o

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

paid sick leave

2009-11-20T05:43:14Z

http://drummajorinstitute.org/library/report.php?ID=91
--
In 2007, the city of San Francisco became the first place in the U.S. to require that employers provide their workers with paid sick days. The law guarantees that every person working in San Francisco will receive paid sick leave, including temporary and part-time employees.

posted in The Conservative Point - 8 replies

Dispatches: Inside Britain's Israel Lobby

2009-11-19T08:19:19Z

cross-posted from the Middle East tribe moderated by Dustin. I felt this is pretty interesting. please view with an open mind and let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POtk6G7q4Bw

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

obamacare

2009-11-19T05:32:50Z

www.harpers.org
<cut>
Which perhaps is one reason why the insurers themselves have always favored the central elements of the Democratic plan. As long ago as 1992, when Hillary Clinton was formulating her own approach to reform, the Health Insurance Association of America(now America's Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP) announced that insurers would agree to sell insurance to everyone, regardless of medical condition (guaranteed issue) if the government required every American to buy that insurance, and used tax dollars to subsidize those who could not afford to do so (universal mandate)...

...put an end to underwriting by making insurers sell insurance to everybody in a given community for the same price.
</cut>

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

Hiring Surge -- restructuring mortgages

2009-11-19T04:50:19Z

"Four of the most aggressive renegotiators -- Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo -- have collectively hired almost 17,000 people this year to work out new mortgage terms that keep payments coming in and people in their homes."

http://www.fins.com/Finance/Articles/SB125856932103854055/Hiring-Surge-Banks-Enlist-Thousands-to-Fight-Foreclosure?Type=0

posted in The Conservative Point - 0 replies

Private Equity Firms

2009-11-19T03:55:52Z

background:

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/05/12/no-carried-interest-but-obama-tax-plan-still-would-hit-private-equity/

today's Fresh air:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120391729

seems like a bad idea to allow private equity firms to deduct payments on interest in order to acquire and gut healthy companies.

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions

2009-11-18T23:44:09Z

ROFLMAO -- gotta love The Onion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXQTaWjMoFw

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

Death Panels in preparation

2009-11-18T23:33:53Z

The President's henchmen have already begun to ration health care in anticipation of the bill's passing the Senate. They are laying the groundwork to deny more than half of woman's breast cancer screening and save the money.

A government panel of Presidential political hacks and cronies ( and not one single oncologist) had issued a recommendation that Breast Cancer Screening be halved to once every two years and that it should not begin until age Fifty.

Even Doctor Sanjay Gupta once thought to be a shoo in as Surgeon General has come out against it trying to soft pedal his appalled reaction by talking about the distinction between "public health" (read money) and personal health.
Several institutions

This panel which includes not one single cancer specialist is nothing but a political hack machine designed to target costs. The costs in question are women. Clearly if you have a ten year period during which you have a cancer developed but the Fed has refused to pay for your exams you have been dealt a Death Sentence.

The benefits of this Death Sentence ate that your government won't spend so much on your health care when you die.
In all probability your "treatment" will amount to palliative care - as Obama once famously said about a woman who had cancer, you should just "take a pain pill."

This is nearly identical to the British problem of refusing to allow young women to have a pap smear because the UK government has decided that the number of women who die from ovarian cancer below a certain age is just not sufficient to justify the costs.

It is all about money.

You really trust these people ?

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

the perennial seth flare-up begins now

2009-11-18T22:46:34Z

http://uspolitics.tribe.net/thread/5bbc6862-44cf-4774-a463-f58529726729

the Seth show is opening tonight. see what the critics have to say.

"shockingly predictable."

~ Roger Ebert

"how many idiots can you fit into one forum?"

~ Larry King

"If one original thought in all my life I had,
I do repent it from my very soul."

~ anonymous *politics* tribe member

posted in The Conservative Point - 29 replies

CA furlough savings mitigated by CONTINUED HIRING???

2009-11-18T22:37:22Z

http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/2274983.html

trading part-time workforce for more long term liabilities. yep. we're fucked.

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

Transparency International 2009 Corruption Index

2009-11-18T20:24:35Z

http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2009

http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2009/cpi_2009_table

posted in The Conservative Point - 3 replies

Dial Mumbai for Murder

2009-11-18T14:47:38Z

"There's ample cause for that emotion, both in the video surveillance footage that captures the terrorists in action and in the testimony of those who survived. It will be hard to forget the young boy who survived the Victoria Terminal attack that left him without his mother—or his wondering, bitter question: Why did the attackers have to kill so many people?"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704576204574530142902187118.html

remember.

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

CA Budget hole grows to $21 billion

2009-11-18T14:37:57Z

"Lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger failed to reduce the corrections budget enough to balance the budget, underestimated school funding by $1 billion, overestimated savings in the massive Medi-Cal health program for the poor and counted $1 billion from the sale of the State Compensation Insurance Fund that will not occur. Moreover, courts have blocked some cuts in transit programs and the in-home care program."

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2331721.html

and the state employee unions are still clawing for every penny of other taxpayer's money they were promised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b26BD5KjH0

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

Beard on Beard

2009-11-17T08:21:29Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck-VIA1GUCY

posted in The Conservative Point - 1 reply

It only happens rarely,

2009-11-16T22:10:50Z

but when it does happen, I believe in giving credit where credit is due. The New York Times printed an editorial about the Muslim murder at Fort Hood that actually contains some common sense.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/opinion/10brooks.html?th&emc=th

posted in The Conservative Point - 39 replies

Jackpot: Lawyers earn fees from law they wrote

2009-11-16T17:00:14Z

"Every lawsuit filed or even threatened under a California law aimed at electing more minorities to local offices - and all of the roughly $4.3 million from settlements so far - can be traced to just two people: a pair of attorneys who worked together writing the statute, The Associated Press has found."

"The law makes it easier for lawyers to sue and win financial judgments in cases arising from claims that minorities effectively were shut out of local elections, while shielding attorneys from liability if the claims are tossed out."

http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/2327030.html

12 months tops and I'm out. any of you dumbasses that were stupid enough to buy a house in CA... well too bad for you.

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

Chavez at it again

2009-11-15T20:57:33Z

what a fucking buffoon

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/091112/world/international_us_colombia_venezuela

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia brought what it called threats of war from neighboring Venezuela to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday after Hugo Chavez, leader of the neighboring country, told his army to get ready to fight.

For months Chavez has said that a military pact signed in October between Bogota and Washington could set the stage for a U.S. invasion of Venezuela from Colombian territory.

The United States and Colombia dismiss that idea, saying their cooperation is aimed strictly at combating drug traffickers and Marxist insurgents within Colombia.

During a televised address on Sunday, Chavez ordered his military to prepare for war as the best way to preserve peace.

Colombia responded with a letter to the U.N. Security Council "about Venezuela's threats of using force against Colombia," a foreign ministry statement said.

"The Colombian government asks that the letter be distributed among all member nations of the Security Council," the statement said.

The formal complaint could further anger Chavez, the fiery leftist revolutionary who once called former U.S. President George W. Bush "the devil".

Recriminations have increased recently, with Colombia accusing Chavez of not helping to combat drug-running rebels hiding out on Venezuela's side of the border and Chavez characterizing Colombia as a lap-dog of the U.S. "empire".

"Prepare yourselves for war," Chavez told his military commanders during his regular Sunday TV program. "If you want peace you have to be ready for war."

He has since softened his rhetoric, and on Wednesday said the media had manipulated his words.

"Venezuela's military is pacifist," he said, adding that all nations use their armies to defend against invasion.

The spat is unlikely to lead to armed conflict along the lengthy border separating the countries. But the tensions have reduced bi-lateral trade, which amounted to more than $7 billion last year.

Both Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe tend to get domestic political mileage out of the verbal sparring.

Washington sees Uribe as a buffer against Chavez and other leftists in the region such as President Rafael Correa of Ecuador, which also shares a border with Colombia.

posted in The Conservative Point - 19 replies

Rival union accuses SEIU of ballot manipulation

2009-11-15T20:42:08Z

"A competing union has accused the Service Employees International Union of changing ballots and threatening to report workers to immigration officials in a contentious battle to represent more than 10,000 home health care workers in Fresno County."

http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2324676.html

posted in The Conservative Point - 5 replies

Million Dollar Murray

2009-11-15T20:38:04Z

sorry. this is an old article. only the abstract is freely available.

"Writer tells about Murray Barr, a homeless alcoholic man in Reno, Nevada. Two local police officers, Steve Johns and Patrick O'Bryan, tracked chronic inebriates for six months and found that just one of them ran up a bill of a hundred thousand dollars at a single hospital. For the ten years he had been on the streets, Murray had run up a medical bill as large as anyone in Nevada…"

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/02/13/060213fa_fact

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

SEIU Beatdowns

2009-11-15T08:28:26Z

http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/09/exclusive-police-report-on-gladney-beating-by-seiu-thugs/

http://newsrealblog.com/2009/11/07/ca-state-worker-says-seiu-thugs-beat-him-up/

http://digg.com/politics/Violence_Erupts_at_Protest_SEIU_Beat_Black_Man_Video

a thug by any other name would be just as sweet.

posted in The Conservative Point - 4 replies

Cherry Bomb

2009-11-15T07:50:33Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kysHHrWKlTI

posted in The Conservative Point - 2 replies

The Conservative Point's topics - tribe.net

the myth of cutting pork to help balance the budget

I represent the "real" Left.

Russia's Deep Impact

GARY JOHNSON 2012

I'm a union member, and this is still wrong.

I'm feeling badly for Dustin

US debt limit increase signed into law

Good recent films

gay mayor

The way News should be reported

TL rates Dustin as Moderator of the **Mideast Politics** Tribe

The left becomes more and more angry

Christopher Caldwell on Muslim Integration

For the Anglophiles

Naughty & Nice: A History of The Holiday Season

Yellow Machinegun......this is for you TL

Madness Prevails in Richmond, CA

CA is #.....

More Insight into CA's Budget Crisis -- Extreme Overtime by Prison Health Workers

Rhee takes on DC

Clashes reported at funeral of Iranian dissident cleric

Lieberman is a stand up guy

The Power of Nightmares

Islam: What the West needs to know

leaked emails spell doom!

more iranian kids brutalized --- american online politicos couldn't give a shit

The Trap

in CNN this AM

Lesson 9: Anti-Bullying Classes in Alameda County

watching the religious zealots twist in the wind

Is the far right crippling the GOP?

Spiegel interviews Volcker

David Cameron on New Labour's Pre-Budget Report

Stumbles has embraced war at Oslo

EU Timebomb -- Greek Debt

CA Union Solution to improving Education -- more oversight of charter schools and less parent choice

More Effective Use of Stimulus Plan Money (your tax dollars)

The real driving force of Medical costs is technology

Massacre at Pakistan mosque

A Carbon Tax Is Better Than Cap-And-Trade

Woodrow, we hardly knew ye......

Unparalleled bridge, unprecedented cost

AU: URGENT Action Alert

Searching in Vain for the Obama Magic

Healthcare -- A Question of Values

Fearful Mexicans Flee Juarez

Arnold Rave

The Politics of Tribe

Can India afford renewable energy?

*politics* lesson in how to get it wrong: acupuncture

Soccer Fans and Sportsmanship

California official exempted himself to drive state car home

Huckabee handed out pardons like candy

Swiss vote to ban minarets

Cop-killer being helped by friends and family

you have got to be kidding me.

Boomers Doomers: insane CA proposition of the month

Infamous Islamist Imam Forswears Terror

how CA justice works

Why, Cliff?

the legal extortion of Michael Jackson

Sounds like something the NEA would be interested in.

Can somebody tell me,

Ok, in news other than CA incompetence

DNC Frontman plays down malpractice reform

holiday cheer scuttled: legal risk if volunteer effort performs work that should be done by union labor

another example of litigious bullshit run amok

Countdown to Default: CA idiots (voters) charged up credit before crash

Pages already stuck together in my copy of Going Rogue

the EU chooses insignificance

time for churches to lose their tax exempt status

30 Senators Voted Against Rape Victims

21 journalists and politicians murdered by vermin in Southern Philippines

Right-wing activists storm TV station over 'bias'

anoither hot chick guitartist c vocalist singer songwriter

so long as the gap is smaller they'd rather have the poor poorer

Law firm files suit to stop compensation owed to Dallas County DNA exoneree

You get more of what you subsidize

Dan Walters: California's port dominance slipping away

TL rates Dustin as Moderator of the Mideast Politics Tribe

politics lesson in how to get it wrong: acupuncture