Virginia, This Is Your Future

And may God help you.

As the commonwealth becomes ever more saturated with Democrats, as it turns from that purplish color to a brilliant blue, as liberal governor after liberal governor find ways to raise our taxes and make life here more expensive, expect it to become more and more like ...

... New Jersey:

New Jersey Is the Perfect Bad Example
The Wall Street Journal

Other states offer promising experiments in areas such as Medicaid, taxes, education and regulatory reform. In contrast, the People's Republic of New Jersey offers America something truly unique: the perfect bad example.

It seems not to have dented the consciousness of our political class that New Jersey's dismal economic performance might be linked to the state's tax policy. According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, New Jersey is home to the most hostile tax environment for business in the nation. We also bear the nation's highest burden of state and local taxes. And on the list of the 10 counties with the highest median property tax, we claim seven of them.

During the last recession, we began to feel the full weight of these burdens. Other states responded by cutting back on spending and getting their houses in order. Not New Jersey. Then-Gov. Jim McGreevey added to the burden by borrowing and spending and raising the corporate tax -- including the imposition of an alternative minimum tax on business. And we've been paying for these bad choices ever since.

Though the state did ultimately emerge from recession in 2003, private-sector job creation since then has been a pale shadow of what we enjoyed after the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s.

Though the state did ultimately emerge from recession in 2003, private-sector job creation since then has been a pale shadow of what we enjoyed after the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s.

So how do we respond to these new hard times? Beginning New Year's Day, New Jersey workers will see even more money taken from their paychecks. The money will support a new mandate offering six weeks of paid family leave to almost all New Jersey employees -- right on down to those working in very small operations. In itself, the family-leave tax will not be the ruin of the state economy. But the imposition of yet another new tax at this moment bespeaks a lack of seriousness about what both New Jersey workers and businesses can afford. [link]

New Jersey, one of the most liberal states in the country, is on the road to ruin.

Virginians in recent years have decided that they too want to head down that same road. Destination?

Gotta Love Them Global Warmists

News from Refugee Resettlement Watch:

Look out! Millions of “environmentally persecuted” third worlders may be headed our way

I kid you not! A movement is underway to get the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) to recognize the “victims” of climate change and have them designated persecuted “environmental refugees.”

According to something called Climate Change Corp:

"Millions of people are predicted to become climate refugees as global warming increases. A new international pact will be needed to protect their rights to live.

"Global warming caused by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions has been linked to a host of environmental disasters. These include sea-level rise, flooding, spells of droughts and cold and other extreme weather conditions such as frequent hurricanes and cyclones. As such natural catastrophes push inhabitants to flee to safer places, environmental refugees are fast becoming an international security issue."

Good grief.

I have to tell you, the threat of horrific planetary catastrophe brought on by global warming doesn't scare me half as much as nitwits like these.

The Cause of the Fighting In Gaza?

It's Bush's fault!

From the loons at the Charleston Gazette:

Horror: Gaza Slaughter
editorial

This week's hideous death and destruction in the Gaza strip stem, at least partly, from two White House blunders. Here's the record:

Back in 2005, the Bush administration prodded the moderate Palestinian Fatah government of Mahmoud Abbas to hold elections, to show that democracy was advancing. The White House was uninformed, not realizing that Palestinians would vote for fanatic Hamas militants.

When Hamas won control of the Palestinian parliament in early 2006, Washington and Israel were stunned. President Abbas was hamstrung, with extremists ruling his legislature.

Ever since, the Bush administration and Israel have strangled Gaza in an attempt to drive Hamas from power. Israeli troops and gunships block most supplies and aid from reaching the desperate little zone, where hunger and joblessness abound.

Ever since, Gaza's Hamas zealots have acted almost suicidally, firing crude rockets toward Israel - mostly hitting nothing - as if trying to provoke armed retaliation by the Mideast powerhouse.

Ever since, Israel has loosed periodic military strikes into Gaza, killing 100 or so people at a time, in response to Hamas rocket attacks.

This week's severe retaliation is horrifying overkill. [link]

So, there you have it. Bush forced the terrorists in Gaza to fire over 6,000 rockets into Israel (indiscriminately; that's Bush's fault too). And the Israelis retaliated (ever too harshly).

This despite the fact that both Hamas and its Iranian backers have consistently called for the destruction of Israel and have been working toward that end - in earnest - for a year now. They are doing that which they said they were going to do.

I suppose next we'll be reading about the fact that there were no WMD's found.

And "Bush lied, millions died."

Morons.

Well, That's Good To Know

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people (including 2/3rds of a million Americans. It is, by some estimates, the worst outbreak in human history. And now researchers have found a cause:

US-Japanese study finds genes for 1918 'Spanish flu' pandemic
AFP

Washington (AFP) – A US-Japanese research team announced it had isolated three genes that explain why the 1918 Spanish flu, believed to be the deadliest infectious disease in history, was so lethal.

The genes allowed the virus to reproduce in lung tissue, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Conventional flu viruses replicate mainly in the upper respiratory tract: the mouth, nose and throat," said University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, who co-authored the study along with Masato Hatta, also of UW-Madison.

"The 1918 virus replicates in the upper respiratory tract, but also in the lungs," causing primary pneumonia among its victims," Kawaoka said.

"We wanted to know why the 1918 flu caused severe pneumonia," he added.

Autopsies of Spanish flu victims often revealed fluid-filled lungs severely damaged by massive hemorrhaging. [link]

Well, that's good to know. I guess. Next time I get the Spanish Flu, I'll know to bend over and simply kiss my butt goodbye.

Give The Man One Thing

He's got brass cojones:

Defiant Illinois Governor Names Pick for Obama Seat

All my legal training tells me he's got every right to do it too, despite all the whining and threats coming form HIS Democrat Party.

While The Middle East Burns ...

... while the markets are imploding ...

... while bailouts are being demanded by cities and states around the country ...

... while unemployment numbers skyrocket ...

... while America's retailers are expected to close as many as 70,000 outlets in the coming year ...

... Barack be hangin'.

A few more days of fun and games, Junior. A few more days. Then watch your world get rocked.