That's What I'm Sayin'

You can hold your breath in anticipation of someone coming up with some alternative to fossil fuels some time in the next century or two, if you so choose. Me? I'm sticking with that which is here, now, abundant, accessible, and cheap.

Drill, baby drill!

And that, folks, is an official endorsement of Bill Cleaveland's candidacy for the office of Delegate, 17th District, Roanoke:

GOP House candidate lauds offshore drilling
Roanoke Times

Republican House candidate Bill Cleaveland called Thursday for Virginia to pursue exploration and drilling of offshore oil and natural gas.

Cleaveland is running against Democrat and Roanoke City Councilwoman Gwen Mason to replace Del. William Fralin, R-Roanoke, in the General Assembly.

In an e-mailed statement, the Botetourt County lawyer called on federal officials to move forward with a lease that would allow the state to drill off its coast as part of a comprehensive energy package that also includes coal and nuclear power.

"We need those resources to help Virginia and America move toward better energy self-sufficiency," Cleaveland wrote. "Furthermore, development of the offshore energy resources will provide thousands of jobs and millions of dollars for Virginians."

Revenue from offshore oil and natural gas production, he said, could go to fund transportation improvements without raising taxes. [link]

I would expect, since the Roanoke Times editorial staff whines all the time about the condition of Virginia highways, and Cleaveland has developed a scheme that will fund many of the commonwealth's needed road improvements (without the need for us to be taxed into oblivion), that the boys there will give Mr. Cleaveland their full support in his election bid ...

... when hell freezes over.

So Predictable

Combine the worst economy in decades with a rise in the federal minimum wage (it went up again in July) and what do you get?

Teenage Jobless Rate Reaches Record High
By Ctherine Rampell, New York Times

This August, the teenage unemployment rate — that is, the percentage of teenagers who wanted a job who could not find one — was 25.5 percent, its highest level since the government began keeping track of such statistics in 1948. Likewise, the percentage of teenagers over all who were working was at its lowest level in recorded history.

Recessions disproportionately hurt America’s youngest and most inexperienced workers, who are often the first to be laid off and the last to be rehired. Jobs for youth also never recovered after the last recession, in 2001.

But this August found more than a quarter of the teenagers in the job market unable to find work, an unemployment rate nearly three times that of the nonteenage [sic] population (9 percent), and nearly four times that of workers over 55 (6.8 percent, also a record high for that age group). An estimated 1.64 million people ages 16-19 were unemployed. [link]

Though no one predicted the severity of the current recession (except maybe this guy), there were those experts (go out and get a copy of "Minimum Wages," by David Neumark and William L. Wascher) who were predicting that the negative impact the rise in the federal minimum wage would have on teen-age employment (along with all other channels of unskilled employment) would be profound.

The federal minimum wage went up two months ago. The impact is accordingly profound.

You were warned that the Democrats would be harmful to our economic health. You voted them into power anyway. Hope you're happy.

Journalism's Finest Hour

I'm trying to understand what it was that prompted the heads of the Associated Press to allow the release of that photo that depicted the last moments of a dying Marine in Afghanistan. Was it an effort to compete with Dancing With The Stars? Did the geniuses seek notoriety beyond that which they and their colleagues in the mainstream press have already garnered?

Why in God's name publish the photo?

The answer, it seems to me: Because they could.

Keep diggin', fellas.

AP Photo of Dying Marine Criticized
By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates criticized the Associated Press on Friday for what he called an "appalling" lack of compassion for deciding to distribute a photograph of a mortally wounded Marine in Afghanistan over the objections of the Marine's father.

The AP defended its decision, saying in an article that it released the photo to convey "the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it." [link] [my emphasis]

Bullshit.

Show of hands. All those who haven't by now gotten a real good understanding of the grimness of war, raise 'em. Keep 'em high. So that the rest of us can marvel at how you and the morons who run AP can be so obtuse.

Grimness of war. Gimme a break.

As Go The Democrats' Fortunes ...

... so go those of organized labor.

This is startling:

Labor Unions See Sharp Slide in U.S. Public Support
By Lydia Saad, Gallup

Princeton, NJ -- Gallup finds organized labor taking a significant image hit in the past year. While 66% of Americans continue to believe unions are beneficial to their own members, a slight majority now say unions hurt the nation's economy. More broadly, fewer than half of Americans -- 48%, an all-time low -- approve of labor unions, down from 59% a year ago. [link]

An eleven point drop in one year.

At a time when you'd think Americans would be turning to organized labor what with employment, wages, and benefits all hurtling in a downward spiral.

The trend:
The precipitate drop that has taken place in the last year can be attributed to four forces that are currently in play:

1) Card check legislation. A fundamental tenet of the American political system involves the ability of voters to go into the booth free from fear and intimidation. And to be able to vote their consciences in a secret ballot. America's union leaders have been pushing to end all that with card check. Americans have responded.

2) That cozy relationship. Labor unions have poured millions into electing the most radically leftist president and Congress in American history. And every American knows it. Some are okay with that fact. Most aren't. Thus the decline of Obama's polling numbers, Congress's polling numbers, and the unions' numbers. For all three, tied at the hip to one another, the numbers will only get worse from here on in.

3) Government Motors. "As goes General Motors, so goes the nation.” Over our dead bodies.

4) Rent-a-Thug town hall meetings. Congressional representatives are doing themselves no favors when they assemble members of the SEIU (and affiliates) to "police" their meetings with voters. The brutish tactics thus employed only worsen the fears people have of a jack-booted federal government - with stereotypical ape-like goons used to enforce the rule of "law" - stomping on their God-given freedoms. Not a cool move.

With all that, I'm surprised that the number of Americans who approve of labor unions is only down to 48%.

But keep it up and see where it goes ...

Line graph courtesy of Gallup.

This The Best Ya Got?

Because Bill Clinton couldn't keep his dick in his pants and his cigars in the humidor, the American taxpayer shelled out $39,200,000 to investigate his escapades. And the Washington Post defended him.

Sarah Palin resigns from office and the Washington Post is outraged by the resulting cost. A staggering amount that wouldn't buy you a Chevy Volt:

Palin resignation costs Alaska at least $40,000

Oh, the humanity.

A Question

If the globe is warming, shouldn't it be, uh, warming?

UAH: global temperature down in August by .181°C, SH sees biggest drop of 0.4°C
By Dr. Roy Spencer

August 2009 saw a modest fall in the global average tropospheric temperature anomaly, from +0.41 deg. C in July to +0.23 deg. C in August. The tropical and Northern Hemispheric troposphere remain quite warm, but the Southern Hemisphere cooled by over 0.4 deg. C in the last month. [link]

Here's a running line graph of the average lower atmospheric temperature here on Planet Earth, dating from 1979 to the present.
Wasn't it about '97 or '98 that Al Gore lost his mind and starting screaming and flailing his arms, shouting something about civilization having only a few short years to doomsday?

Except for that particular anomaly (brought on by El Niño, not by human activity), things have been quite normal.

You'll want to remember that next time your congressman tells you he's going to tax you into the poorhouse so as to prevent ... what again?

Graph courtesy of Anthony Watts and Dr. Spencer.

You're In It. Win It.

Jennifer Rubin to Obama: Don't go wobbly, Barry.

Beating Back the Pre-9/11 Crowd
Commentary

The isolationists are all the rage. Sen. Chuck Hagel goes down memory lane in Vietnam, making the case that anything really hard and complicated, requiring sacrifice by America, probably isn’t worth it.

- - -

Politics is replete with irony but none greater than the sight of a president, who rose to power decrying the ultimately successful effort in one battlefield in the war on terror, looking now to those dreaded neo-con pundits and Republican lawmakers for support against the pre-9/11 mentality he was all too happy to promote on the campaign trail.

- - -

It is the commander in chief who must make the case to the American people and who must commit all the necessary resources, resisting the urge to try another war “on the cheap.” And if public opinion does falter despite his best efforts, it will be incumbent on him to show resolve and resist the cries to bug out or to set artificial deadlines for withdrawal.

Let’s hope Obama can match George W. Bush in resolve and political courage. Maybe Obama should put aside the anti-Bush venom for a moment and give his predecessor a call—he might learn something about the lonely obligation of a commander in chief to resist the howls from the likes of Will, Hagel, and the netroots. [link]

American soldiers and Marines are sacrificing their lives in Afghanistan. Soldiers and Marines who were ordered into combat by their commander in chief. Lives that do not deserve to be wasted. Win it, Barack. Do everything in your power to win it. You owe them nothing less than your total and unwavering resolve.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

This is the government that wants to administer your health care:

Green Jobs Czar: Wants to 'Focus' on 'Creat(ing) Jobs'; Told Newsweek He Can't Define What Green Job Is

He may not know why he's been hired to a six-figure gig by the White House, but, hey, he thinks Republicans are assholes so there's reason enough for Obama to keep paying him his exorbitant salary. After all, it's not his money.

Line of the Day

From Glenn Reynolds:

"BYRON YORK: The Van Jones Non-Feeding Frenzy. Now if he’d said 'Macaca.' Well, no. . . ."

Ya gotta love that mainstream press.

Proof That Environmentalists Are Nitwits

2 radio towers in Washington state toppled

How Did We Get To This Point

This is so bizarre it makes my head hurt:

Transsexual killer wins battle to serve life sentence in a women's jail
Frances Gibb, Legal Editor, London Times

A transsexual killer who was born a man has won a legal battle to be transferred to a women’s prison.

The prisoner, who was also convicted of attempted rape, will be moved to a women’s jail within weeks after a High Court ruled that the refusal by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, to transfer her violated her basic human rights and increased her long-term risk to society.

The prisoner is in her 20s and serving a life sentence for manslaughter and attempted rape.

She has had her womanhood recognised by law and her birth certificate has been amended accordingly, the High Court in London was told. She has had hair on her face and legs permanently removed by laser and has developed breasts after hormone treatment, but is forbidden from wearing skirts or blouses, or more than “subtle” make up, at the men’s prison where ... [link]

A question: If I get sentenced to prison, could I declare myself to be a transsexual and be sent to a women's prison? The mind reels at the possibilities.

Hot tub. Chicks in chains. Margaritas. Sensual massage oils.

I confess, your honor.