Five years ago today, Mother’s Day 2001, I was fortunate to be able to spend it with my Mom, the first time that had happened since I had moved out to California in ’83. I always enjoyed talking with her on the phone, especially on holidays, but being there was a special treat for both of us. Although I would get back again for her birthday in August of that same year, and the following year too, this would be the last Mother’s Day that I would get to spend with her in person.

She was a strong Christian woman, a loving mom, and she set the heart of at least one great guy on fire, married him, raised two kids with him and then took care of him through the long journey of Alzheimer’s. I marveled at her resilience, that she had the strength to stay with us for almost eight years after he was gone. I thank God for those eight years, as during that time I was finally able to relate to her, adult-son to adult-mother — time spent with her that I will cherish for the rest of my days.

In two weeks it will have been three years since I was back in Ok. I was there with my sister and my son, going through Mom’s little house, discovering what she had determined would be left for us to go through after she was gone. My sis and I then went to the annual family reunion, one of only two that I had ever gone to. In two weeks I will be back there again. On that Saturday my son will be getting married, and on Sunday I’ll be going to the Lomenick family reunion in Drumright, OK. I am looking forward to seeing everyone, although there are a few that were there in ’03 that won’t be there anymore.

Going back to that Mother’s Day, 2001. Mom and I had a pretty good day. I can see from my pics that we had dinner at my Aunt Joan and Uncle John’s place, which is the house in Oilton where my Mom’s mom had lived for so many years. You can tell from the breads that it was some kind of fine eatin’! Then I remember that we went back to Mom’s little house and spent the rest of the afternoon talking . . . and waiting. You see, her sister-in-law, wife of her deceased next-in-line brother was failing quickly, having been only recently diagnosed with cancer. Late in the afternoon we got the call. It’s one of the few times I have witnessed my mother weep. Perhaps I was meant to be there to comfort her, I hope that I was able to do so. I thought at the time how rough it must have been for my cousins who had just lost their mother on Mother’s Day. My thoughts and prayers go out to them every year on this day.

As for Mom, no more little house for her, she’s in God’s house now. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom — until we meet again . . . (db)

Technorati Tags: Mother’s Day

On Thursday of last week I became a grandfather for the second time. Lincoln Hughes Baker comes into this world in the hands of two wonderful, loving parents, an adoring big sister and a 2-3/4 year older brother.

They’re calling this one “The Fabulous Baker Boys”.

Lincoln and his “big sister”.

And then of course, there’s the woman that did ALL the work — isn’t that the way it always goes Mom?

Life is good . . .

A blessed Easter to you and yours,

Okie

The first hero was a birth mother, an un-wed teenager or young adult, or perhaps just an existing mother with already too many children that couldn’t face one more. In a clinic — not a hospital — this brave gal gave birth to a 5-1/2 pound blond, blue-eyed baby boy, (geez, where did this extra 190 pounds come from???)

She, and most likely also the birth father, were of German/Austrian decent — hey, I can look in the mirror! Often in the 80s folks thought that a dear friend, Steve Guentner, and I were brothers. I used to kid him that his dad must have been a traveling salesman passing through Tulsa sometime in 1951. But that is as much as I would/will ever know about the birth parents. Closed adoptions really meant “closed” back in the day, and that’s alright with me.

A project begun on my birthday in 2005, transcribing my Dad's letters to his Anny Mae during WWII - a project that I really should resume soon.

The second two heroes are my “real” Mom & Dad, my adopted parents, James and Anna Mae Baker. They took the leap of faith during that time of the dueling “Nature vs. Nurture” theories, as well as against the wishes of some of their family members, and took in this 3-hour-old new-born critter directly home from the clinic.

I am such a blessed human being. My parents loved each other so very much and stayed together until death did part them. She soldiered through the terrible ending of my Dad’s existence by way of Alzheimer’s, and spent another nine years after that with us here on this side of the Great Divide before going on to join him on the Next Great Adventure.

Turning 60 makes one aware that one’s own Next Great Adventure is coming up, sooner than ever before . . . however, out here in the Golden State of “existential granola”, ‘they” say 60 is the new 40. I keep telling that to my 60 year-old knees, lumbar vertebrae, spare-tire belly and various and sundry other body parts, and they keep coming back at me with — LOL!

Seems like every year I examine and comment on the elements surrounding my birth. This year it is especially poignant in light of President Obama’s assault upon religious freedom this last week via trying to force Catholic institutions to provide the “morning after” pill — (simply an early abortion in a pill), along with other contraception options, to all their employees by making that mandatory in their health-care plans regardless of that being a violation of the Church’s deepest held beliefs — as one Arch Bishop put it, to do so would be a “mortal sin”. But hey, to this administration, what’s a little mortal sin more or less? Last year I wrote:

Each year on this day I reflect on the thought that if Roe vs Wade had been the law of the land in February 1952, I am most certain that I would not be here to write this. Many tens of millions of nascent human beings have had their lives terminated since that SCOTUS decision. I truly wish that folks would make the right choice when faced with an unwanted pregnancy, and choose LIFE. There’s always some good folks out there without kids of their own — waiting, wanting to love and raise that baby as their very own.

[RANT] I feel the same way today. A fetus is NOT a disease. Nascent human life is not just some meaningless “tissue” that one should have the option to dispose of at will, on a whim. Viable babies should not be partially birthed and have their brains sucked out of them for someone’s convenience. Sorry to be so graphic, but look at that face up above — it is HUMAN! It wants to be ALIVE. You and I don’t have any right to KILL it just to make our lives less hectic, to solve our little problems, to be free of the responsibilities of our actions with each other. [/RANT]

Now that I’ve got that out of the way for another year . . . time to PARTY!!!!! Well, at least time to grab some great Mexican over at Casablanca Restaurant and take into the office for our Saturday “Tax Season” lunch. Dinner might be at the Polish restaurant Warszawa, or maybe that will happen tomorrow as some of our dinner party are under the weather today. If that happens, I’ve got about 8 pounds of smoked ham and the ham bones from a full one just dying to become something — meaning — split pea soup for EVERYBODY!

“Life is GOOD!”

Peace. Out.

One of the fathers of Germany’s modern green movement, Professor Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, a social democrat and green activist, decided to author a climate science skeptical book together with geologist/paleontologist Dr. Sebastian Lüning. Vahrenholt’s skepticism started when he was asked to review an IPCC report on renewable energy. He found hundreds of errors. When he pointed them out, IPCC officials simply brushed them aside. Stunned, he asked himself, “Is this the way they approached the climate assessment reports?”

Vahrenholt decided to do some digging. His colleague Dr. Lüning also gave him a copy of Andrew Montford’s The Hockey Stick Illusion. He was horrified by the sloppiness and deception he found. Persuaded by Hoffmann & Campe, he and Lüning decided to write the book. Die kalte Sonne cites 800 sources and has over 80 charts and figures. It examines and summarizes the latest science.

Conclusion: climate catastrophe is called off

Their conclusions run to belief in a much more “robust” climate model, one that can withstand or absorb the effects of CO2 warming instead of being overwhelmed by it. They also now support the theory that the Sun has a much larger influence on the Earth’s climate than the Anthropogenic Climate Change proponents will ever acknowledge. Seem’s like a big “NO DUH!” to this ol’ Okie . . . let’s see, farting cows vs. mega-hydrogen-explosion in near-Earth space: I’d like to have the Vigorish on that!

 And the floods of skepticism are sweeping over the country. Worse, Germany’s flagship weekly news magazine Der Spiegel today also featured a 4-page exclusive interview with Vahrenholt, where he repeated that the IPCC has ignored a large part of climate science and that IPCC scientists exaggerated the impact of CO2 on climate. Vahrenholt said that by extending the known natural cycles of the past into the future, and taking CO2′s real impact into effect, we should expect a few tenths of a degree of cooling.

A few tenths of a degree here, a few there . . . nothing to see here folks, just move along. Make’s ol’ Al Gore’s hysterical rants and special-effect imagery of massive coastal flooding seem as realistic as, uh, the movie “2012″? — HA!

It needs to be pointed out Vahrenholt and Lüning are not skeptics; they are lukewarmers who have not been able to find any evidence of a coming climate catastrophe. They believe that man should switch to renewables, but do so in a rational manner: “Work fast, but don’t hurry.”

Skeptic readers should not think that the book will fortify their existing skepticism of CO2 causing warming. The authors agree it does. but have major qualms about the assumed positive CO2-related feed-backs and believe the sun plays a far greater role in the whole scheme of things.

The book cites more than 800 sources – including the latest peer-reviewed literature. It includes more than 80 graphics that clearly illustrate that all is not well with the claims made by alarmist science. It is written so that laymen can easily digest the material and it provides a comprehensive overview of the science and where it stands today.

Naturally, the Climate Change proponents are all going apoplectic over this new heresy by former believers. Religious fanatics always freak out when those in their ranks “defect”. Over at Hot Air, Bruce McQuain adds this perspective:

The building evidence is that rising CO2 has little warming effect in real terms regardless of the amount of the gas emitted. That there is a “saturation level”. If that’s true, and indications are it is, then there’s a) no justification for limiting emissions and b) certainly no justification to tax them.

That, of course, is where politics enter the picture. Governments like the idea of literally creating a tax out of thin air, especially given the current financial condition of most states. Consequently, governments are more likely to fund science that supports their desired conclusion – and it seems that in this case there were plenty who were willing to comply (especially, as Patrick J. Michael has noted, when that gravy train amounts to $103 billion in grants).

So, once again, it really is ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS!

Same as it ever was . . .

Merry Christmas from the ol’ Okie!

This post is one that I wrote in 2005 to commemorate this tragic, special day. Instead of just linking to it I decided to post it anew, as the stories of those that worked valiantly to save as many lives as possible deserve to be told again. The comments that I made about our brave men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are even more true today. Our fathers, mothers, uncles and aunts — The Greatest Generation — stepped up, took on the mantle of terrible responsibility and did their duty — history awaits whether we will stay the course and complete the tasks that destiny has assigned to our own.

It’s Pearl Harbor day, and most veterans, especially those that saw battle, never talk to non-veterans about their military service. In my own family, I know that all of my uncles served, many in WWII, but only much later, most after their passings, did I find out only a little of what they had done in the war.

My wife’s and my father were Navy guys, mine a pharmacists mate on a troop/supply transport ship named the “Mighty A”. The most dangerous thing that he ever told me about was his ship being hit with a dud torpedo. If it hadn’t been a dud, the story would have been more exciting, but he would not have been the one to tell me about it! I know nothing about my wife’s father’s Navy experiences, I just have a picture of him in his dress blues, dashing in appearance, with a small earring worn in a defiant manner, along with a scan of his honorable discharge that I worked into a pictorial tribute that accompanied his funeral almost a decade ago. Several of his brothers were also in the Navy, a couple were in the BUDs area of service that later became the Navy SEALS, and were covert operatives in Naval Intelligence and served in later branches of the intelligence services during Korea and Vietnam.

Which brings me to today, Pearl Harbor Day. I don’t know if any of my uncles were at Pearl Harbor. If they were, they never talked about it with me. In reading the LA Times this AM, I learned that the USS Oklahoma, a 27,500-ton Nevada class battleship, and the men who served and died aboard her, have finally been given their own special acknowledgment.

Tribute to Pearl Harbor Battleship Is Unveiled

From Times Wire Reports

Sixty-three years after the surprise attack that plunged the United States into World War II, hundreds of men who died aboard the battleship Oklahoma are finally getting their own special tribute.

A new exhibit of photos, artifacts and oral histories was unveiled in Honolulu to honor the 429 men from the Oklahoma who died in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack by the Japanese.

That is the second-highest number of Pearl Harbor casualties behind the battleship Arizona, where most of its 1,177 killed crew members remain entombed after the ship sank in the attack.

I guess King Neptune had plans for this mighty ship, other than allowing her to be scrapped. The Kansas City Star adds more information to the above.

The Oklahoma was refloated in 1943 and sold for scrap after the war, but it sank in the Pacific Ocean while being towed to California.

Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and other military bases on Oahu lasted two hours. Twenty-one ships were heavily damaged, and 320 aircraft were damaged or destroyed. In all, about 2,390 persons were killed and about 1,178 were wounded, according to the National Park Service, which maintains the Arizona site.

Powerline has a wonderful tribute that includes President Franklin Roosevelt’s speech asking Congress for a declaration of war and Churchill’s reaction.

As we remember those lost and those who fought so bravely on this day, 63 years ago, let us reflect on the fact that Japan is now one of our strongest allies and important trading partners. It took a long time to help them overcome the damage to their country and society caused by their leaders’ wartime ambitions, but with our guidance and financial help, Japan was brought into the modern world and became an important part of the world’s economy. They are a part of the “Coalition of the Willing” in Iraq.

We must look to our past and not be too impatient in our present. The same fighting spirit of our fathers and forefathers exits within the warriors that are helping the Iraqi people even at this very minute. Many will come back, and not tell their stories for years to come, if at all, but they will be valiant stories, none the less! . . . db

[Update] LGF provides this link to the Navy’s archive of images and information, with some of the pics taken from Japanese warplanes.

According to the Navy site the following is what was going on here, as taken from a Japanese fighter:

Torpedo planes attack “Battleship Row” at about 0800 on 7 December, seen from a Japanese aircraft. Ships are, from lower left to right: Nevada (BB-36) with flag raised at stern; Arizona (BB-39) with Vestal (AR-4) outboard; Tennessee (BB-43) with West Virginia (BB-48) outboard; Maryland (BB-46) with Oklahoma (BB-37) outboard; Neosho (AO-23) and California (BB-44).
West Virginia, Oklahoma and California have been torpedoed, as marked by ripples and spreading oil, and the first two are listing to port. Torpedo drop splashes and running tracks are visible at left and center.
White smoke in the distance is from Hickam Field. Grey smoke in the center middle distance is from the torpedoed USS Helena (CL-50), at the Navy Yard’s 1010 dock.
Japanese writing in lower right states that the image was reproduced by authorization of the Navy Ministry.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Vertical aerial view of “Battleship Row”, beside Ford Island, during the early part of the horizontal bombing attack on the ships moored there. Photographed from a Japanese aircraft.
Ships seen are (from left to right): USS Tennessee with USS West Virginia moored outboard; USS Maryland with USS Oklahoma moored outboard; and USS Neosho, only partially visible at the extreme right. West Virginia and Oklahoma are gushing oil from their many torpedo hits and are listing to port. Oklahoma’s port deck edge is already under water. Nevada has also been torpedoed.

Rescue teams at work on the capsized hull of USS Oklahoma (BB-37), seeking crew members trapped inside, 7 December 1941. The starboard bilge keel is visible at the top of the upturned hull.
Officers’ Motor Boats from Oklahoma and USS Argonne (AG-31) are in the foreground.
USS Maryland (BB-46) is in the background.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

I hope that the Navy won’t mind that I’ve “borrowed” these three images and descriptions to help make this a better presentation and memorial for this day. I urge anyone interested in Pearl Harbor to follow the links to the Navy Archives site to better comprehend the full extent of the tragedy and valiant courage that defines this “day that lives in infamy”!

(Okie)

Wow! That looks gnarly, right? All that black smoke pouring out of the smokestack — must be some mighty nasty pollution belching out of there . . . maybe even some vile, repugnant, Global Warming causing CO2, right?

[CO2 is a clear, tasteless, odorless gas that we breath out of our bodies with every exhale -- don't know about you but my breath ain't BLACK!!!]

Back to the narrative. Noting that said stack was identified as being from the “Eggborough power station” and showing in another image that said station’s stacks pump out WHITE smoke, Anthony Watts goes on to investigate whether this image was altered via Photoshop to turn the white smoke that yucky-darkish-gloomy color . . . ie BLACK! He ran some diagnostics on it and voilà, here’s what came up:

Two definite ranges of image alteration . . . so easy to do, even a Geico Neanderthal could do it. Just make an area selection with the lasso tool, feather the edges and tweak the contrast settings of the selection and — ta da — white becomes black.

Instant pollution!!!

If, you don’t have a problem with lying to make your point.

Watts found two versions of this same image and they both showed Photoshop alterations. But, were they ever used anywhere? He answers that:

Nelson asks:

If you have time to compile a list of the mainstream media uses of this photo, please let me know. If you’ve taken some action to protest this propaganda (maybe a letter to an editor?) please also let me know.

By the way, has this photo been altered in any way? [YES - Anthony]

Update: A TinEye search for the top image yields 92 results.

A TinEye search for the bottom image yields 94 results.

So, the not-so-enquiring minds of the main stream media (MSM) pushed this image off on the public at least 186 times in support of articles about pollution and Global Warming, or Climage Change. Don’t ya just LUV our media, how truthful, how investigative, how . . . much they are lying pieces of crap!!!??? And, this isn’t hard to do folks.

Watts then does a show and tell to show just how easy it is for these jokers to lie to us, and presents even more examples of the blatant fauxtography by the Climategate scientific consensus.

Continuing updating of Climatgate 2.0 here: Watts Up With That?

Don’t be left uninformed . . . and don’t let the “Climate Change” hysterics make you lose any sleep . . . and vote to keep them from costing you both arms and both legs — ’cause they won’t be stopping there!!!

I just read a story in the current Smithsonian magazine about “Green Cement”, new mixtures being created to replace the Portland cement that has been a staple of modern construction since the 1820s when “Joseph Aspdin invented modern cement.” You see, Leftist sources of information like Smithsonian are still all Coo-Coo-for-Coco-Puffs over Global Warming and the making of cement releases a lot of CO2 — the devil incarnate of green-house gases according to the “consensus” of climate scientists hacks that control the current dialog on Climate Change. So that makes concrete BAD!!!

And the Obama EPA totally agrees and is implementing draconian regulations on our domestic cement industry that will shut down plants, make cement prices soar along with building costs — all of which will cost America more and more jobs.

Portland cement is a type of cement created by grinding base materials and heating them in kilns to a high temperature. The EPA has proposed new regulations on kiln emissions, which would severely impact the cement industry. The cement industry is already one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country.

Potential Impact on Jobs and the Economy

These new regulations set emission levels at unreachable levels and are expected to result in 18 plant closings, approximately 11 percent of production. The estimated $3.4 billion price tag over the next three years – which totals half of the entire industry’s annual revenues – would lead to at least 4,000 lost jobs and to increased costs.

In fact, a recent study by the Portland Cement Association estimates these regulations would raise the cost of state and local road projects between $1.2 billion and $2 billion annually.

But hey now — cement is BAD don’t ya know??? What to do, what to do? Why, make a BETTER, GREENER cement of course! Everyone wants to go GREEN nowdays — it’s on all the product labels so it must be true.

From the Smithsonian article:

The chemicals [Nikolaos] Vlasopoulos mixes with magnesium oxide and water to make the cement harden are magnesium carbonates, which he makes by adding carbon dioxide to other raw materials. That means the cement, in some scenarios, is not just carbon neutral—it’s carbon negative. For every ton of Vlasopoulos’ cement produced, one-tenth of a ton of carbon dioxide could be absorbed.

Eventually Vlasopoulos, with Cheeseman’s help, started a company, Novacem, to develop a new cement. The firm, with more than a dozen employees and partnerships with some of the biggest cement companies in the world, is located in a business incubator for high-tech startup companies at Imperial College.

{…}

“The cement industry is now stepping up in financially significant, in scientifically significant ways right now,” said Jennings, referring to all of the various experimental approaches. “The world is changing. Everyone, including all the cement companies, will need to be as green as possible and take care of the world a little better.”

{…}

The major obstacle that the company still has to overcome is history. Portland cement works. Always has, since that afternoon in 1824 in Joseph Aspdin’s kitchen. “Cement has been around a very long time,” Bhardwaj said. “People trust that. They can look around at all the buildings that have survived hundreds of years. So for Novacem, the proof of durability will take time. They will have to go slow. If I have to build a bridge or a building using Novacem cement, how do I convince people that that is OK? That’s the challenge. Nobody wants a bridge to fall down.”

Go and read the entire article. For me, one thing missing was any discussion of the cost of these new cements, let alone any comparison of their costs to the existing Portland cement. That leads me to believe that they will be a factor, or multiple factors more expensive than the cost of what we use now. And that make the existence of the EPA regs crystal clear.

The only way to get industry to switch to these new GREEN cements is to make Portland cement just as expensive or more so, if not regulate it completely out of the industrial system!

Just more strong-arm tactics from the Obama administration to promote and shove the radical-environmental movement down America’s throat!

It’s the Chicago way . . .

More secret emails are coming out from the Climate Change scientists and hang on tight ’cause, here we go again. Ace post segments from some and then writes:

“All these people have a big problem with Mann’s falsified and fake Hokey Stick graph. They want it to quietly go away, without a fuss. What they don’t want to do is publicly announce that it is false, because that would hurt their dear friend Mann and hurt the cause as well.

In fact, that’s what they did end up doing — without ever stating the reasons why, they have in fact simply stopped referring to the Mann Hockey Stick.

Usually, in science, when a major falsehood like this is abandoned, there is a public repudiation of it, so that scientists coming later know they cannot rely on it any further.

But not here. Scientists working in this field, relying on the public record, would think the Mann graph is still part of “science.”

They’d have to be included in the secret emails to find out it’s not.”

There’s a download link to the entire email collection here: Climategate 2.0 emails – They’re real and they’re spectacular!

I had a Facebook exchange with a Lefty buddy of mine last week and made mention of the fact that a lot of the temperature data being collected was skewed by having the data collectors in artificially warm places. Here’s some corroboration for that from the emails:

date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:30:08 -0400
from: “Thomas.R.Karl” subject: Re: Keenan, China etc
to: Phil Jones

Hi Phil,
Well… there will always be some outliers. Would be great to get IDAG and DAARWG on the same timeframe. Although let’s hope we don’t get the weather we had last Dec and early Jan in Boulder this year!
Regards, Tom

P.S. We are getting blogged all over for a cover-up of poor global station and US stations we use. They claim NCDC is in a scandal by not providing observer’s addresses. In any case Anthony Watts has photographed about 350 stations and finds using our criteria that about 15% are acceptable. I am trying to get some our folks to develop a method to switch over to using the CRN sites, at least in the USA.

It’s bad enough that we have to listen to our politicians lying to us all the time, now we have to be super skeptical of our men/women of science . . . because they, in their quest for the three Fs (funding, fame & fortune), have become totally political animals and are willing to lie, even when the truth sounds better.

Hey there buckaroos and other lunatics, best to grab that ol’ gas mask out of the closet, and put on your foil hat too for good measure ’cause they be sprayin’ “NoMemAtAll” today.

This public service message comes from the deepest, darkest reaches of a disturbed mind and is total B.S.!!!

But, that won’t keep some o’ you from believein’ it. LOL

‘Okie’

On this Veterans Day we honor all those who have served their country making the many sacrifices for the rest of us so that WE can enjoy the benefits of freedom and justice for all.

However, it’s the public employee unions that have the most balls there: They ‘steal’ Medicaid money from recipients, calling them “public employees” and therefore subject to automatic deduction of “dues” from the funds that are supposed to be paying for their healthcare! Funds that WE, the taxpayers are supplying. Disgusting!!!!!

If you’re a parent who accepts Medicaid payments from the State of Michigan to help support your mentally-disabled adult children, you qualify as a state employee for the purposes of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). They can now claim and receive a portion of your Medicaid in the form of union dues.

Robert and Patricia Haynes live in Michigan with their two adult children, who have cerebral palsy. The state government provides the family with insurance through Medicaid, but also treats them as caregivers. For the SEIU, this makes them public employees and thus members of the union, which receives $30 out of the family’s monthly Medicaid subsidy. The Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MQC3) deducts union dues on behalf of SEIU.

Michigan Department of Community Health Director Olga Dazzo explained the process in to her members of her staff. “MQC3 basically runs the program for SEIU and passes the union dues from the state to the union,” she wrote in an email obtained by the Mackinac Center. Initiated in 2006 under then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm, D-Mich., the plan reportedly provides the SEIU with $6 million annually in union dues deducted from those Medicaid subsidies.

SEIU — super big supporters of Obama and Co. Figures . . .

While we GOP are eating our own on this side of the pond, Obama is doing his “thing” in Europe — campaigning as usual — and hugging Islamists!

An interesting bit from White House reporter Tangi Quéméner’s latest pool report from the G-20 in Cannes, France:

[President Obama] entered the room at 1:15 and took to his left, heading to Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. They chatted for a few seconds before British Prime minister David Cameron joined them. Hard to understand what they were saying amid the cameras noise. POTUS then took a stroll to Australian Premier Julia Gillard who got a hug as European president Herman van Rompuy, European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan were watching. Eventually the Europeans got a handshake but Erdogan got the hug treatment.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sure doesn’t deserve a “hug” from a U.S. President, considering his ties to Hamas and his feelings toward Israel.

Just more Obama being . . . Obama!

Conservative thought-master Bill Whittle on just about . . . everything!

From Newsbusters:

According to our friends at Celebrity Net Worth, Moore’s fortune currently totals $50 million:

Fahrenheit 911 raked in $230 million in theaters and another $3 million in DVD sales. After the theaters take their traditional 50% cut, that leaves roughly $130 million. Take away marketing, production and distribution expenses and Moore is conservatively left with $80 million. Moore was able to secure a deal from Miramax which guaranteed him 27% of his film’s net revenues, or roughly $21.6 million. Michael also was entitled to 50% of the profits of Sicko which are estimated to be $17 million.

Moore wants to dress and act as if he’s just a regular guy part of the 99 percenters, but he is every bit a multimillionaire doing everything in his power to make more money for himself.

He invests his fortune in stocks – including the Left’s most-hated company Halliburton! – and isn’t pro-union when it comes to managing his own business.

That folks in this movement hold this man up as an icon for what they stand for is an indictment of how clueless and hypocritical they are as well.

Well said!

“We need to have a democracy in this country where people have the right to print their own money.”

Yep, dudes and dudettes . . . the little vacuous blond actually says that, and I believe that she means it. More pearls of wisdom from the OWS movement — Oh, ya betcha!

Wait a minute . . . maybe she’s got something there?

Tesla is Elon Musk’s company that currently makes the little electric sports car. He also started/runs SpaceX. His company is the first private U.S. rocket company to send a payload into orbit. Their Dragon capsule can either deliver cargo or be outfitted to accomodate up to 7 astronauts and is scheduled to have a close rendezvous with the International Space Station before the end of this year.

All of the science fiction from my youth had space being conquered/developed by private enterprise. Governments militarize it — the private sector makes it pay.

Musk was the co-founder of PayPal and got his mega-hundred-millions when PP was sold to Ebay. He’s now a automotive manufacturer and a space pioneer . . . not a bad way to redistribute his own wealth by creating companies, creating high-tech jobs — paying it forward to better humanity, and I’m sure, hoping to make a few billion bucks in the process.

What is it about this that Progressives just can’t manage to understand?

I really don’t know just what to say, so I’ll quote one of the commenters at the YouTube page:

“Last night (Last night) I had a dream (I had a dream) That was really scary (That was really scary) My country was full of f**king idiots (My country was full of f**king idiots) Like this chick (Like this chick) Oh shit, that wasn’t a dream (Oh shit, that wasn’t a dream) It was real (It was real)”

Amazing what the American University system is turning out . . . makes ya feel all hopey/changey inside now don’t it?