No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Fraction in Past 160 Years, New ResearchHopefully, the recent climategate email fiasco will move this debate back into the realm of science uncorrupted by politics and money.... I'm not entirely hopeful, but at least for the time being, that looks like at least a possibility.
After a sleepless, overnight flight to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, President Barack Obama made a not altogether surprising admission. He was tired.
Who could blame him? The president was on his ninth foreign trip to his 21st country; he added a 10th trip the following week. The year had been bookended by the two most intense periods of his young presidency — the early decisions to bail out the nation’s banks and automobile industry, steps the president deemed unpopular but necessary, and his December orders to deploy 30,000 additional U.S. troops to fight the war in Afghanistan.
Throw in an unemployment rate in the double-digits, a health care bill still stuck on Capitol Hill, and last-minute negotiations on a global climate change agreement, and aides say it’s no secret that the president is tired, and looking forward to recharging during his year-end family vacation in Hawaii.
Not that the commander in chief really thinks he can escape his duties, even on an island. Amid golf, tennis, gym workouts and dinner, Obama has been called on to monitor the airliner attack in Detroit last Friday and what appeared to be another attack on Sunday — that incident turned out to be a false alarm. On Monday, Obama worked out in the morning and played tennis before making his first public remarks on airline security, then hit the golf course.
So much for putting aside the stress of work. Obama himself has been candid about the pressures of being president during what he has called an “extraordinary year.”
“You have a convergence of factors that have made this a difficult year not so much for me but for the American people,” he said in an interview with CBS News last month. “Absolutely that weighs on me.”
The first 20 or so seconds of this video about sum it up!
Over the weekend, four Afghan detainees were transferred to their home country. Two Somali detainees were transferred to authorities in Somaliland, the semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia. Six Yemeni detainees also were sent home.Let's see. Afghanistan continues to see heavy fighting. I'm sure none of the turds going home will soon be pulling the trigger against our troops. Somalia continues to be a hotbed of terror - remember all of the pirates from this summer? And the Yemini contingent? I'm sure it is completely and totally a coincidence that our massively corrupt Attorney General's law firm was representing Yemenis who were being held at Gitmo. Follow the money, because if I were a betting man, I'd have to say that I'd expect a large donation to be made from the Yemeni government to Holder's firm in the future. After all, it's the Chicago way.
I shoot this way because I'm training for real life and not this game.And I cannot tell you how nuts this makes me. Shooting poorly, yet tactically, is not an excuse for sucking. And it gets used as an excuse constantly.
At an emergency meeting convened at the Bella Center this morning, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown assembled 26 heads of state in an attempt to revive a deal. But China's Premier Wen Jiabao did not attend and was replaced by vice foreign minister He Yafei.And oh, it gets better, friends:
This afternoon, the US president and his secretary of state Hillary Clinton called another meeting with China, but were snubbed again when only three low-level Chinese delegates arrived.The man-child running this country get his feelings hurt a bit:
According to a high level source, the US president clearly regarded Premier Wen’s absence as a major diplomatic insult, and snapped: “It would be nice to negotiate with somebody who can make political decisions.”You see, when you are neither respected nor feared, no one tends to listen to or care what you have to say. Let's see... so far, the Chinese have snubbed the great one. The Iranians have snubbed the great one. The Cubans have snubbed the great one. And Chavez continues to poke the great one in the eye at every opportunity. That's some leadership there, fellas, let me tell ya.
Blizzard Dumps Snow on Copenhagen as Leaders Battle WarmingBy Christian Wienberg
Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders flying into Copenhagen today to discuss a solution to global warming will first face freezing weather as a blizzard dumped 10 centimeters (4 inches) of snow on the Danish capital overnight.
“Temperatures will stay low at least the next three days,” Henning Gisseloe, an official at Denmark’s Meteorological Institute, said today by telephone, forecasting more snow in coming days. “There’s a good chance of a white Christmas.”
Delegates from 193 countries have been in Copenhagen since Dec. 7 to discuss how to fund global greenhouse gas emission cuts. U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive before the summit is scheduled to end tomorrow.
Denmark has a maritime climate and milder winters than its Scandinavian neighbors. It hasn’t had a white Christmas for 14 years, under the DMI’s definition, and only had seven last century. Temperatures today fell as low as minus 4 Celsius (25 Fahrenheit).
DMI defines a white Christmas as 90 percent of the country being covered by at least 2 centimeters of snow on the afternoon of Dec. 24.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net
(t)he failure of a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile during testing was the cause of the spectacular, spiraling, blue lights seen early Wednesday in the skies over northern Norway, analysts said.How ironic that the man who's stated goal is to rid the world of nuclear weapons was greeted in Norway with a (failed) test of a Russian ICBM. I'm sure that the test's timing was purely coincidental....
"I was surrounded by about six SWAT guys armed with shotguns and assault rifles," he said. "Once they confirmed I wasn't packing any Lego heat, I walked backwards towards them, was then cuffed, pulled into the stairwell and thrown against the wall."The last couple of sentences sum up a PC gone crazy world:While two members of the SWAT team kept Mr. Bell pressed against the wall, he explained that there was a Lego gun in pieces in his office. Sure enough, a few minutes later, an officer confirmed it.
"We found it ... it's Lego," Mr. Bell recalled the officer saying, as the police promptly uncuffed him.
It turns out police were tipped off by a neighbour whose apartment looks in on Mr. Bell's office. Police say a call came in shortly after 5:30 p.m. with the caller reporting that a man was sitting in his office with a gun on his desk and the door closed (Mr. Bell had been on an earlier conference call so had closed the door).
As for why he bought the toy gun in the first place, blame it on a love for Lego.
"I've always been a fan of Lego, so I decided to pick it up," Mr. Bell said. "I wish I had a decent reason for purchasing it, but I don't. For shame, I suppose."
All around the world, blue whales aren’t singing like they used to, and scientists have no idea why.I hope someone in a position of authority is checking out ALL the possibilities here.The largest animals on Earth are singing in ever-deeper voices every year. Among the suggested explanations are ocean noise pollution, changing population dynamics and new mating strategies. But none of them is entirely convincing.
SEN. HERB KOHL: In the worst case scenario and the trial does not result in conviction, what would be your next steps?So is Holder saying that KSM will be found guilty, regardless? Do you think the islamists are going to be happy with American justice - since after all, the Attorney General of the United States is on record of saying that KSM is going to be found guilty, because failure's not an option, right? How's that going to sit with the infamous arab street? So much for Chairman Obama's attempt to get the arab world to love us.
A.G. ERIC HOLDER: Failure is not an option.
GRAHAM: We’re making history here Mr. Attorney General. I’ll answer it for you: the answer’s no. The Ghelani case, he was indicted for pre-nine…for the Cole bombing before 9/11 and I didn’t object going into federal court. But I’ll tell you right now, we’re making history and we’re making bad history. And let me tell you why. If Bin Laden were caught tomorrow would it be the position of this administration that he would be brought to justice? … When does custodial interrogation begin in his case? If we capture Bin Laden tomorrow would he be entitled to Miranda warnings at the moment of capture?
HOLDER: Again, I’m not… it all depends.
GRAHAM: Well it does not depend. If you’re going to prosecute anybody in civilian court, our law is clear that the moment custodial interrogation occurs, the defendant, the criminal defendant, is entitled to a lawyer and to be informed of their right to remain silent. The big problem I have is that you’re criminalizing the war. That if we caught Bin Laden tomorrow, there are mixed theories and we couldn’t turn him over to the CIA, the FBI, or military intelligence for an interrogation on the battlefield because now we’re saying that he is subject to criminal court in the United States and you’re confusing the people fighting this war. What would you tell the military commander who captured him? Would you tell him you must read him his rights and give him a lawyer? And if you did tell him that would you jeopardize the prosecution in a federal court?
According to the government's broadest measure of unemployment, some 17.5 percent are either without a job entirely or underemployed. The so-called U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994.
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
I sincerely appreciate you joining us at Fort Hood, Texas, last week for the memorial ceremony honoring the victims of the horrific November 5 attack. Thank you for your participation and your moving, heartfelt words. In the wake of this massacre, my prayers remain with the fallen, the injured, and their families, as I know yours do.
I look forward to questioning Attorney General Holder on Wednesday about the role that federal law enforcement agencies played in this particular case, as well as what actions they are taking to prevent radical Islam from finding a home in the U.S. Armed Forces. The federal government has a fundamental duty to our men and women in uniform to safeguard them against avoidable harm in the course of their service. We must protect the protectors whenever and wherever we are able, especially at home in the United States. Our government failed the brave Americans who were killed and wounded at Fort Hood. The devastation inflicted on them was preventable, and it is of paramount importance that we ascertain exactly where the system broke down.
The question of how this could ever happen on U.S. soil must be answered as soon as possible, so as to foreclose the possibility of future attacks of this nature. I understand that a myriad of investigations are underway, and I appreciate the importance of ascertaining the facts before making any judgments. Nonetheless, it seems increasingly likely that Islamist terrorism is to blame for this senseless attack. I was pleased that you alluded to this in your remarks at Fort Hood, stating that, “no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor.” I could not agree more.
Islamist terrorism represents one of the single most dangerous threats to the national security of the United States. As you know, this enemy seeks the complete and total destruction of our nation, our government, and our entire American way of life. As the 9/11 Commission stated in its report, “The enemy is not just ‘terrorism.’ It is the threat posed specifically by Islamist terrorism, by Bin Ladin and others who draw on a long tradition of extreme intolerance within a minority strain of Islam that does not distinguish politics from religion, and distorts both.”
Al Qaeda, in a 1998 fatwa signed by its leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, instructed that: “to kill the Americans and their allies—civilian and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it . . . .” Similarly, in a 2006 propaganda video, al Qaeda specifically urged viewers to "go on a shooting spree” at a key military installation. As more and more facts surrounding the Fort Hood attack surface, it looks increasingly probable that the alleged attacker, Major Nidal Hasan, heeded these terrorist calls to violence, compelled by a fanatical religious ideology. If Islamist terrorism was the driving force behind the senseless violence at Fort Hood, as it seems to be, this attack must serve as a call to action for the Federal Government.
The Fort Hood mass murder would not be the first time our service members have been violently assaulted from within their own ranks by an individual driven to act primarily by his religious ideology. As you may know, on March 23, 2003, during the initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, an Army Sergeant named Hasan Akbar attacked his fellow service members in Kuwait with grenades and small arms, murdering two of them and wounding more than a dozen others. Akbar’s diary passages illustrated a strong religious motivation behind his actions: "I will have to decide to kill my Muslim brothers fighting for Saddam Hussein or my battle buddies. . . . I may not have killed any Muslims, but being in the Army is the same thing. I may have to make a choice very soon on who to kill."
We must not blame Islam as a whole for this attack or others of its kind; yet at the same time, we cannot ignore the indisputable fact that some followers of Islam interpret their religion’s scriptures and teachings as a mandate for the mass murder of innocents. Evidence indicating that terrorist activity may be in the offing must always be run to ground; federal agencies must follow every lead and look into every possible threat, regardless of whose particular sensitivities might be offended in the process. We must never allow the safety of those who defend our freedom to be made a secondary priority to political correctness.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
Now if only the president and his cronies would listen.
How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow
Apparently, the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful country on the planet hasn’t quite grasped the concept of deferential treatment of heads of state.
This is a mortifying embarrassment to America. To whom does the President of the United States owe obeisance? Judging from this sophomoric behavior, it would appear that both the king of Saudi Arabia and Emperor of Japan. I think perhaps not.
This is why. This. Caramba.
And, oh yeah - SoA means Soldier of Allah. Someone, anyone, please tell me how this turd wasn't booted out of the service?When writing the name of God (Allah), Muslims often follow it with the abbreviation "SWT." These letters stand for the Arabic words "Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala," or "Glory to Him, the Exalted." Muslims use these or similar words to glorify God when mentioning His name.
Definition: When writing the name of God (Allah), Muslims often follow it with the abbreviation "SWT." These letters stand for the Arabic words "Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala," or "Glory to Him, the Exalted." Muslims use these or similar words to glorify God when mentioning His name.Pronunciation: sub-han'-a-hoo wa ta a laAlso Known As: Subhanahu Wa Ta'alaAlternate Spellings: subhana wa ta'ala; subhanna wa ta'alaExamples:Muslims believe that Allah SWT created the universe.
OBAMA: Please, everybody, have a seat. Let me first of all just thank Ken and the entire Department of the Interior staff for organizing just an extraordinary conference.Now, considering it was Obama himself who awarded Dr. Crow with the Medal of Freedom and not the Medal of Honor, one would think that the smartest man in the world, Nobel Peace Prize winner, most eloquent President in the history of mankind, the most powerful man since Julius Ceaser, and the chosen one would know the difference between the two medals but perhaps that's asking a bit much for someone who has so much on his mind....I want to thank my Cabinet members and senior administration officials who participated today. I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow (ph) was around, and so I want to give a shout out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you.
Big. Brass. Balls.
For a girl, I mean. Did I mention she’s HOT?
This made me laugh. Hard.
TO Digs At Tony Romo, Still Stuck In Buffalo | NBC Dallas-Fort Worth
T.O. is such a doofus. Buffalo couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Dramatic video of a fireball at the bottom of an impact crater on farmland outside the town of Mazsalaca was shown all over the world, taken by a group of film students who said that they had heard the meteor strike.
But experts who examined the scene were less star-struck. Dr Ilgonis Vilks, chairman of the scientific council at the University of Latvia’s Institute of Astronomy, said: “It’s a fake. It’s very disappointing, I was full of hope coming here, but I am certain it is not a meteorite.”Gotta say that beats the poop out of any prank I've ever done....
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”The Obama machine is working directly from the Goebbels handbook, folks. The time for niceties and polite discourse is over. If the Republican party doesn't pull its collective head out of its ass and stop supporting liberal RINOS, we are all totally and completely screwed. Read it again:
...VITALLY IMPORTANT FOR THE STATE TO USE ALL OF ITS POWERS TO REPRESS DISSENT.Tell me that the White House is acting contrary to that perspective.
The U.S. pay czar will cut in half the average compensation for 175 employees at firms receiving large sums of government aid, with the vast majority of salaries coming in under $500,000, according to people familiar with the government's plans.If the government can dictate the salaries of these 175 people, they can dictate your salary.
Yeah, nothing in common with the American Socialists running DC today.11. That all unearned income, and all income that does not arise from work, be abolished.
12. Since every war imposes on the people fearful sacrifices in blood and treasure, all personal profit arising from the war must be regarded as treason to the people. We therefore demand the total confiscation of all war profits.
13. We demand the nationalization of all trusts.
14. We demand profit-sharing in large industries.
"Threats of new sanctions and pressure against Iran under current circumstances are counterproductive," [Russian Foreign Minister] Lavrov said.You see, this is what happens when you get someone in power who is more interested in negotiations and talks. Someone who's more interested in placating our enemies and who buys the line that folks around the world don't like us because of something we've done. And if we're just nice to them, talk to them, and throw 'em a bone or two, they will be our friends.
"Many members" of Congress suffer from the same disclosure issues as Rep. Charles Rangel (D.N.Y.), one of his allies said Wednesday.Republicans were trying to remove the corrupt, thieving and lying Charlie Rangle from his position of head of one of the most powerful committees in Congress. His buddies on the Democrat side of the isle though, don't see a problem with the chairman of the committee that oversees the IRS and sets tax code for the United States having broken the very laws that he is responsible for making the rest of us live by.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) downplayed the seriousness of allegations against Rangel that he failed to disclose sources of income and pay taxes on some properties, saying that many lawmakers suffer from innocent lapses in judgment when filing mandatory financial disclosure forms.
"I want to tell you, there are many members who, if you go back over all of their records, over all of the years, you're going to find that there were disclosures that were not made," Waters said during an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday morning.
NEW YORK – President Barack Obama's approval ratings are starting to rise after declining ever since his inauguration, new poll figures show as the country's mood begins to brighten.Leading the reader to believe that things are getting better for the messiah in chief - as for the first time since his inauguration his poll numbers have started to rise.
An Associated Press-GfK poll says 56 percent of those surveyed in the past week approve of Obama's job performance, up from 50 percent in September. It's the first time since he took office in January that his rating has gone up.Sounds pretty rosy for the White House, right?
VIDEO: Venezuelan farm stolen by Chavez
A group of red shirt-wearing Chavista thugs show up at a farm and seize the farm in the name of the government, under the pretext that the 103 hectare farm is “idle land” and that the law allows them to take it over for “food production.”
The farmer protests politely, explaining that he’s been raising cattle on his farm for 23 years. He is rebuffed by another guy, who says, “this is not going to be a debate; this is a public act approved by the Venezuelan people. I’m governor and I’m here to ensure public order. There won’t be a debate, I ask you to listen to the document, after which the public will take charge of the land.”
When the farmer’s wife protests, he tells her to discuss it in court.
Chavez controls the judiciary.
The farmer is told to sign the form, and then to gather the animals so they can be accounted for.
I will also point out, dear readers, that this tragedy would have been averted with a coupla guys armed to the teeth. But, oh, wait.... Chavez has made it nearly impossible for private citizens to legally own firearms. A few well placed .223 or .308 rounds would have made all the difference in this little encounter.....
a consensus to hold more meetings, up to five, including two next week. The president will take "the next several weeks to review our strategy," Mr. Gibbs said.This is what happens when liberal Democrats run the country's foreign policy. Meetings. And never mind the fact that for over a month now, there has been a call for more troops on the ground by the man running the show in Afghanistan.
In the past month, the president has found the time to play golf - four times. He's had links legend Arnold Palmer and other top golfers over to the White House. He's shot some hoops with friends and yukked it up with hockey's Pittsburgh Penguins.
He's celebrated Ramadan at the White House, eulogized newsman Walter Cronkite in New York City, attended several fundraisers (including Thursday afternoon's luncheon), appeared on David Letterman's late-night show (one of eight interviews), delivered two speeches to AFL-CIO rallies and dropped by the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial for a visit with his wife and daughters.And instead of spending time figuring out how to defend this country, the chosen one has been sidelined with some very important tasks, like nominating
Carolyn W. Colvin to be deputy commissioner of Social Security. He picked Paul K. Martin to be inspector general of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He issued an executive order demanding federal workers stop texting while driving government vehicles.Yes, texting while driving has reached a more important part of the president's day than making decisions over a war that he campaigned on:
Democrat Obama declared that the failed policy in Iraq -- which he argued was never the central front in the war on terror -- has distracted attention from the growing terrorist threat in Afghanistan and proves the need to withdraw from Iraq. "If another attack on our homeland comes, it will likely come from the same region where 9/11 was planned," he said in a speech in Washington. "And yet today, we have five times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan."So, I guess since the surge won the war in Iraq, the distraction Obama mentioned during the campaign is gone.... And now we find ourselves distracted by texting while driving. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Sen. Thomas Carper (D.-Del.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not “expect” to read the actual legislative language of the committee’s health care bill because it is “confusing” and that anyone who claims they are going to read it and understand it is fooling people.While lamenting the fact that the bill is gibberish, Carper compares the text to that of your credit card full disclosure statement and brags that Congress passed a law that mandates the credit card companies use "plain English" rather than legal gibberish.
“I don’t expect to actually read the legislative language because reading the legislative language is among the more confusing things I’ve ever read in my life,” Carper told CNSNews.com.
In her speech in Copenhagen today, First Lady Michelle Obama said her trip to Denmark, along with the travel of her "dear friend" and "chit-chat buddy" Oprah Winfrey, as well as tomorrow's visit by President Obama, is a "sacrifice" on behalf of the children of Chicago and the United States. "As much of a sacrifice as people say this is for me or Oprah or the president to come for these few days," the first lady told a crowd of people involved in the Chicago project, "so many of you in this room have been working for years to bring this bid home."Let's see... you fly to Europe on the taxpayer's dollar. I'm sure she's not staying in the Motel 6. I'm sure she's not eating at the usual "affordable" locations. (at least affordable for those of us normal people) You get to hang out with all the "in" crowd in Copenhagen. And that's some sort of..... sacrifice? spit spit spit.
President Sarkozy .... had been "frustrated" for months about Mr. Obama's reluctance to confront Iran, a senior French government official told us, and saw an opportunity to change momentum. [at the United Nations] But the Administration told the French that it didn't want to "spoil the image of success" for Mr. Obama's debut at the U.N. and his homily calling for a world without nuclear weapons, according to the Paris daily Le Monde. So the Iran bombshell was pushed back a day to Pittsburgh, where the G-20 were meeting to discuss economic policy.Ahhhh. The image of success. We're not about actual success, and are more concerned with the image. Nice.
Even though the Border Patrol now reports that almost 1,300 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border is not under effective control, and the Department of Justice says that vast stretches of the border are “easily breached,” and the Government Accountability Office has revealed that three persons “linked to terrorism” and 530 aliens from “special interest countries” were intercepted at Border Patrol checkpoints last year, the administration is nonetheless now planning to decrease the number of Border Patrol agents deployed on the U.S.-Mexico border.But remember, folks, it's OUR guns that are causing the current spate of problems along the border. Has nothing at all to do with a nonexistent border and reduced manpower on the ground.
The city of Boston spent $431,000 on overtime costs to deploy 629 police officers, 48 firefighters, and a raft of other workers for the funeral of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, according to information released to the Globe yesterday under a public records request.
Other law enforcement agencies also helped provide security for the Kennedy memorial events. Massachusetts State Police disclosed last month that it had spent nearly $115,000 on overtime costs for Kennedy’s funeral, according to a tabulation released in response to a public records request from the Associated Press.So, instead of the panic involved with reporting Palin's resignation, we get a quiet little story about how much the swimmer's funeral cost - and I feel fairly certain that this too, like the rest of the Kennedy family history, will be all swept under the rug.
Federal authorities arrested a 19-year-old Jordanian citizen whom they said placed an inactive car bomb today at Fountain Place, a 60-story skyscraper in downtown Dallas.The sad thing is that instead of being hung from the nearest tree until dead, this little turd is going to be treated like a criminal, and not a terrorist. He will get his due process rights, his right to an attorney, his right to a nice cushy cell with a copy of the koran for him to read, the right to proper food according to his religion and we're all going to be paying for it. In the meantime, while he's in prison, he will serve as a rallying cry for the rest of his turd nugget buddies.
| LIMITED | Class: M | Pct: 88.11 | High Pct: 88.11 |
two students (from MIT, of course) put together a low-budget rig to fly a camera high enough to photograph the curvature of the Earth. Instead of rockets, boosters and expensive control systems, they filled a weather balloon with helium and hung a styrofoam beer cooler underneath to carry a cheap Canon A470 compact camera. Instant hand warmers kept things from freezing up and made sure the batteries stayed warm enough to work.
The balloon and camera made it up high enough to see the black sky curling around our blue planet. ... The intervalometer (interval timer) was set to shoot a picture every five seconds, and the 8-GB memory card was enough to hold pictures for the five-hour duration of the flight.
The picture you see ... was shot from around 93,000 feet, just shy of 18 miles high. To give you an idea of how high that is, when the balloon burst, the beer-cooler took 40 minutes to come back to Earth.
Obama issued a proclamation earlier this week urging Americans to mark the anniversary of the attacks with community service. After leaving the Pentagon, the president and first lady toured a Habitat for Humanity housing development in Washington and pitched in by painting a living room.It is, and should remain, a day to remember the victims of terrorist scumbags and the brave firefighters, police, and passengers on Flight 93 who gave their lives to protect this country.
Census Bureau severs ties with ACORN in 2010 countRead the rest of the letter here.
September 11, 2009
Ms. Maude Hurd
President
ACORN
739 8th St SE
Washington, DC 20003
Dear Ms. Hurd:
The goal of the U.S. Census Bureau’s partnership program is to combine the strengths of state, local, and tribal governments, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, schools, media, businesses and others to ensure an accurate 2010 Census. While not (sic) Census bureau employees, partners are advocates for census cooperation and participation. They serve a trusted voices within their communities and are critical to our strategy to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place.
The Census Bureau has established criteria for partnerships, which are listed on our Web site at, and reserves the right to decline partnership or to terminate an existing partnership agreement with any group that 1) may create a negative connotation for the Census Bureau; 2) could distract from the Census Bureau’s mission; or, 3) may make people fearful of participating in the census.
To that end, and in keeping with the standards we shared with your organization and others who volunteered to partner with the Census Bureau to help promote the 2010 Census, we are today terminating our Partnership Agreement with ACORN.
Over the last several months, through ongoing communication with our regional offices, it is clear that ACORN’s affiliation with the 2010 Census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 Census efforts.
While not decisive factors in this decision, recent events concerning several local offices of ACORN have added to the worsening negative perceptions of ACORN and its affiliation with our partnership efforts.
"No one is feeling satisfied with the state of the country," Derek Duffee says from behind his coffee bar's counter in Pennsylvania's Washington. "I don't know if what he's doing will work, but he's trying," says Miyoshi Braxton, an Obama fan smoking on a park bench outside her downtown apartment building in Steubenville, Ohio.or:
"This is really a whole new chapter in the state of America, and there's nothing we can do but keep doing what we're doing and hope it gets better," says Phil Axworthy, 58, a software developer taking a coffee break in Pittsburgh's Market Square.About the only voice of "dissent", if you can call it that comes here:
They seethe about the expansion of government. But they also shrug that the country got what it elected — a Democrat whose Senate voting record tilted to the left.But don't worry, remember we are all just little lost lambs looking for some guidance from above:
"The socialist approach of government solving all the problems and controlling industry and controlling finance, that's not the way to continued greatness," Peter Marx, 57, at his used bookstore in Steubenville. That said, Marx added: "He won."
Facing the possibility of American decline, people may simply be at a loss for what to do — and looking, as so often before, to their president to guide them.Whatever.
"Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil," the two-hour movie concludes.So. Are we to assume that there will not be a charge to watch this movie and that Mikey wasn't paid one cent for the movie?
"You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people and that something is democracy."
she showed members of his squad all the images taken that day and the Marines flipped through them on her computer one by one.No, you dumbass. They showed tremendous restraint and they probably had no idea whatsoever that you would be brazen enough to publish the photo.
"They did stop when they came to that moment," she said. "But none of them complained or grew angry about it. They understood that it was what it was. They understand, despite that he was their friend, it was the reality of things.
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Charles Rangel failed to report as much as $1.3 million in outside income -- including up to $1 million for a Harlem building sale -- on financial-disclosure forms he filed between 2002 and 2006, according to newly amended records.
The documents also show the embattled chairman of the Ways and Means Committee -- who is being probed by the House Ethics Committee -- failed to reveal a staggering $3 million in various business transactions over the same period.
