A Day of Honor

Report: Israel To Deploy Nuclear Submarines Off Iran Coast

Drip, drip, drip...

Israel is to deploy three submarines equipped with nuclear cruise missiles in the Persian Gulf, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday.

According to the Times report, one submarine had been sent over Israeli fears that ballistic missiles developed by Iran, and in the possession of Syria and Hezbollah, could be used to hit strategic sites within Israel, such as air bases and missile launchers.

Dolphin, Tekuma, and Leviathan, all German-made Dolphin class submarines of the 7th navy Flotilla, have been reported as frequenting the Gulf in the past, however, according to the Sunday Times report, this new deployment is meant to ensure a permanent naval presence near the Iranian coastline.

House OKs extension of unemployment benefits

The U.S. House of Representatives approved another extension of unemployment benefits on Friday. But this widening of the safety net could be the last as lawmakers grow uneasy over the costs of what is looking to some like an unfunded welfare benefit.

In a 215-204 vote, House members approved extending benefits through Nov. 30, which would help nearly 350,000 long-term unemployed people nationwide from falling off the unemployment rolls by next month.

But the measure still must be approved by the Senate, which has already left for a weeklong Memorial Day break. That means some workers' benefits will expire May 31, although they could be restored retroactively.

The last time benefits were extended, in April, delays in Congress caused gaps in checks for the unemployed. The delays are leaving states such as California scrambling to keep up with the latest changes and extensions in the law.

Hmmmm, untill just after the elections. That's quite the coinkydink.

Gary Coleman Dead at 42

Whatchu talking bout Coroner!

Quote of the Day

'Press Wouldn't Cover Sestak Story If Rahm Announced It On Pennsylvania Ave. In A Speedo' Joe Scarborough

'Top kill' effort succeeds in blocking oil leak, Coast Guard admiral says

This is great news, keep your fingers crossed.

Reporting from Houma, La. Engineers have succeeded in stopping the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government's top oil spill commander, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday morning.

The "top kill" effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers, has pumped enough drilling fluid to block all oil and gas from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well is very low, but persists, he said.

Once engineers have reduced the well pressure to zero, they will begin to pump cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help that effort, he said, engineers are also pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well.

Allen said one ship that was pumping fluid into the well has run out of the fluid, or "mud," and that a second ship is on the way. He said he was encouraged by the progress.

JUST DAMN, NOT!

Obama Hits New Low Water Mark

Epic fail...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -22. That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet measured for this president .

Enthusiasm for the president among Democrats, which bounced following passage of the health care law, has faded again. Just 48% of those in the president’s party now Strongly Approve of Obama’s performance. That’s down from 65% earlier.

Overall, 43% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-five percent (56%) disapprove.

UPDATE: 'Top kill' procedure begins.

Whether your a whacko environmentalist hoping this buries offshore drilling forever or an Obama hating crazy that hopes this will prove to Obama's Katrina, we all should hope and pray that this thing works.

Wednesday Funny

"Top Kill" Could Begin Today (UPDATED)

This will be the first stab at shutting down the well since the April 20 blowout and fire that killed 11 workers on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon.

BP chief executive Tony Hayward told CNN Wednesday morning that the company is still collecting data to determine whether to proceed with the maneuver. "We'll take a decision within the course of today," Hayward said.

If he determines that it is safe to proceed, Hayward told NBC's "Today" show, the procedure is expected to happen Wednesday.

Will keep you informed from our man on sight.

Update: 'Top kill' procedure begins

Centrist GOP Sen. Collins will vote to repeal 'Don't ask, don't tell'

Where are the “centrist” Democrats that will vote against the legislation?

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) will back a repeal of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

The Associated Press said Collins will support the legislation crafted in a deal announced last night that would abolish the military's ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers.

Collins's announcement gives key Republican backing to the measure, spearheaded by Democrats

Obama Skips Arlington on Memorial Day

Must be interfering with his Golf date.

With the long Memorial Day weekend on the horizon, President Obama is finally addressing one of the great broken promises of his administration: his early pledge to return home to Chicago every six weeks or so.

In 16 months at the White House, the Obamas have been back home just once - in February of 2009. But they plan to make the trip over Memorial Day weekend, an official said. After arriving on Thursday night, they will visit with friends and participate in private events.

On Monday, Obama will make remarks at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, south of Chicago - missing the usual tradition of presidents speaking at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.

Sestak special counsel gets brushoff

They can stonewall, ignore, try and belittle and run away from this story but it ain't going away.

The Justice Department has rejected a Republican request to appoint a special counsel to investigate allegations that the White House offered a job to Rep. Joe Sestak if he would drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic primary.

In a letter sent Friday to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) — but not publicly released —a Justice Department official said there was no need to have a special counsel to look into the allegations. Republicans have been pressing the issue for months, but the White House has insisted nothing inappropriate happened. Sestak himself has been the source of the allegation, stating publicly he was offered a job in order to clear the field for Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).

Generic Congressional Ballot

Further into the abyss...

Republican candidates now hold an eight-point lead over Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot, continuing the GOP's near year-long edge over the competing party but the largest gap between the two in over a month.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for their district's Republican congressional candidate, while 36% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Support for Republicans rose a point from last week, while support for Democrats fell two points.

This week’s findings mark the GOP’s largest lead over Democrats since the third week of April, when Republicans posted a 10-point lead over Democrats, a high reached only one time since January and the party’s biggest lead in the history of Rasmussen Reports polling.

Jobpocalypse now

The extend-and-pretend policy is the basis on which most liberals live by.

This week, the Senate is expected to extend jobless benefits to more than 5 million Americans through the end of the year. It is the sixth time in nearly two years that they’ve expanded or extended unemployment benefits — putting off, again, a day of reckoning our political leaders seem unwilling to face.

With the national unemployment rate at 9.9% — and 9.8% here in New York City — officials are afraid of what will happen to our cities, our welfare rolls and our struggling economy if these long-term unemployed are no longer given government assistance.

But we pay for this feint in other ways. The government shelled out $140 billion in unemployment benefits last year to an estimated 21 million people. That price tag is likely to increase this year.

This is no ordinary jobs crisis. Compared to other eras, our long-term unemployment numbers are staggering.

Sestak: WH offered job if he left race

Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., said Sunday the White House had offered him a job if he would withdraw from the primary race against Sen. Arlen Specter.

Sestak, who defeated the five-term incumbent Specter to win the Democratic nomination in the Senate primary, was asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" if the Obama administration had offered a position in exchange for his agreeing not to run.

"Yeah, he replied. "I was asked that question months after it happened. And I felt an obligation to answer it honestly. I said, 'yes.'

Asked what job, Sestak said: "No, no … and I said at the time, anything beyond that just gets into politics."

Whether the job offer was Secretary of State or DC dog catcher it's a crime, a very serious crime. If this isn't pursued vigorously it we be an monumental travesty. How high this goes nobody knows but someone needs to go to prison.

Congress Rejects Illinois Gitmo

This idea by the administration was goofy and a definate political loser. Now there using Congress to bury it for them.

In an interesting development the House Armed Services Committee unanimously approved legislation that would block Gitmo, Illinois from coming to fruition. In fact, they’ve blocked any Gitmo terrorist from being transferred anywhere into the interior of the USA. This is a blow to Obama’s desires to shut Gitmo down and to bring terrorists to a prison near you.

Wednesday the committee approved a defense bill for 2011 that includes language to prevent moving detainees into any US facility inside our borders and also blocked any funding to even study the possibility.

Saturday Funny (part deux)

BP says 'top kill' unlikely before Tuesday

As an old master carpenter once told me as I stared at a somewhat uneven soffet...."It ain't gonna get better lookin at it".

BP now says it will likely be at least Tuesday before engineers can shoot heavy mud into a blown-out well spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Three ultra-deepwater rigs and other equipment are at the site where the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded April 20. They're preparing for a delicate procedure called a "top kill" that BP hopes will stop the flow of oil from the well.

Crews will pump in heavy drilling mud, which is a thick, viscous fluid that's twice the density of water. That should stop the oil, and then they'll use cement to keep more from gushing out.

BP's Doug Suttles says this hasn't been tried at 5,000 feet underwater before, so engineers want to make sure everything is just right.

Saturday Funny

Video of the Week

If you watch no other video this week, watch this one.

Mexico's Calderon Scolds Arizona While Mooching from U.S. Taxpayers

Now students, why do you think Mexico is far tougher on illegal immigration then we are?

Remittances sent by Mexicans topped $15.5 billion in the first few months of this year, 20 percent higher than the amount sent during the same period the previous year, according to Mexico's central bank, and this year's annual figure is expected to hit a new record. Savings scraped together by nannies, painters and others working abroad are now Mexico's second-largest source of foreign revenue, after oil exports and ahead of tourism, according to analysts interviewed by the WSJ.

The Federal Reserve Bank, always a friend to foreign interests, is instructing illegal aliens that should they return home on their own or should they be deported, their money is safe whether it was obtained working as a busboy in a restaurant or working as an enforcer in a sex-slave house.

The Fed has already set up a system by which illegals can retrieve their money through easy access at an ATM in Mexico using their debit cards.

And whom do we have to thank for this financial windfall for illegal aliens? The US federal government.

Weekly Jobless Claims Far Exceed Predictions

But I'm still happy cuz Obama is "focused like a laser on jobs".

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week for the first time since early April, government data showed on Thursday, dealing a blow to the labor market recovery.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 471,000 in the week ended May 15, the highest level since the week ended April 10, the Labor Department said.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected claims to fall to 440,000 from the previously reported 444,000, which was revised marginally up to 446,000 in Thursday's report.

Thursday Funny

Woman Dies After Docs Miss Toilet Brush Embedded in Buttocks

Preview of Obamacare coming attractions...

A British mother died after a doctor failed to spot a 6-inch long toilet brush handle embedded in her buttocks, a judicial investigation into her death was told Tuesday.

Cindy Corton, 35, was left with the bizarre injury after a drunken fall in a friend's bathroom in 2005, but doctors missed it — even after taking X-rays.

It was two years before Corton, who was in constant pain, was able to convince doctors that the thin serrated plastic handle was stuck in her flesh.

By then, what should have been a routine procedure to remove it, had become much more dangerous because the handle was embedded in her pelvis.

U.S. casualties in Afghanistan hit 1,000 with massive Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul

And the silence from the left is deafening.

Seven U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday - five in a massive Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul that filled the streets of the capital with blood.

The attack brought the U.S. toll to a grim new milestone - 1,000 American soldiers dead in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001, the independent Web site icasualties.org. reported.

The fighting continued into today as insurgents launched a predawn assault against the U.S.-run Bagram Air Field.

Seven militants had been killed during the "ongoing attack" on Bagram, which included rockets, small arms and grenades, a U.S. statement said. Five service members have been wounded.

POSERS!

A former Marine who was previously identified by the POW NETWORK, a patriotic organization that exposes Posers and liars who steal valor from veterans, has been identified as one of the men standing behind Connecticut State Atty General Blumenthal during his faux press conference this afternoon. The man in question (Elliott Storm) is second from the right.

BP siphoning off 40 pct of Gulf of Mexico oil leak

A bit of Gulf good news for a change.

BP doubled the estimate of how much oil it was managing to siphon from the leak in the Gulf of Mexico, as it lifted the total bill for the clean-up to $625 million.

BP said on Tuesday its "quick fix" mile-long siphon tube deployed on the leaking well was now collecting 40 percent of the estimated 5,000 barrels of oil flowing into the sea per day, double the 1,000 barrels it was capturing on Monday.

Rubio Retakes Lead in Florida

Charlie Crist received a bounce in the polls when he left the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an independent. New numbers suggest that the bounce for the governor is over.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Florida finds Republican Marco Rubio with 39% support, while Crist earns 31% of the vote and Democrat Kendrick Meek trails at 18%. Twelve percent (12%) are undecided.

Aborted Baby Cries Before Cremation

Anyone who thinks this couldn't or already hasn't happened here is totally blind to reality.

AN aborted baby declared dead by doctors in south China's Guangdong Province cried before he was due to be cremated, but died hours later as doctors refused to treat him.

A mortuary worker at Nanhai Funeral Home in Foshan City said the baby cried and scared him as he was about to throw the coffin into a furnace, Information Times reported today.

He opened the box and found the seven-month fetus moving, but apparently choking on some cotton wool in his mouth, the report said.

After the worker cleared his mouth, the baby yawned and breathed peacefully. Workers rushed him back to Guanyao Hospital which delivered the baby as medical waste earlier that day.

But doctors left him in the lobby, and confirmed after an hour that the baby died.

Sunday Funny

Gulf Oil Spill (Updated)

My confidential informant/relative working on a support vessel in the Gulf says that the "siphon tube" is in place and they could begin pumping the oil spewing from the leaking riser within the next few hours.

Keep your fingers crossed folks as confidence remains guarded but high that this is going to work.

UPDATE: BP Succeeds in Inserting a Tube to Funnel Oil From Leaking Well

Quote of the Day

BO:

'A RIDICULOUS SPECTACLE': President Barack Obama sternly took the companies involved in the disaster to task for their finger-pointing, calling it a "ridiculous spectacle." Obama said that during congressional hearings, executives for BP, Transocean and Halliburton were "falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else." The president said he will not tolerate any more of it and added that all parties -- including the federal government -- should be prepared to accept blame.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

School Pulls Student's Painting of 'Communist Obama'

Hallsville, MO — Art teacher Brittany Williamson said her student simply wanted to “get a reaction” with his painting that depicted President Barack Obama with a hammer and sickle symbolizing communism.

“That’s the whole purpose of art — to get a reaction,” Williamson said. Although Williamson thought the Hallsville High School sophomore’s painting was “an amazing piece,” it received not-so-amazing critiques from some school staff and visitors who complained to Williamson and Superintendent John Robertson. The painting was taken down Monday after being displayed for nearly two weeks.

Robertson said the piece was removed because it could have been construed to reflect an official position of the school district.

Since when is a students free LEGAL expression deemed to express an official school position? I'll bet if the artwork had been politically correct and adoring of Obama the "district" would have been only to happy to display it with pride.

Graphic of the Week

WSJ Poll: Voters Shifting to GOP

Ominous for the left if accurate, lets hope it is.

Republicans have solidified support among voters who had drifted from the party in recent elections, putting the GOP in position for a strong comeback in November's mid-term campaign, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Republicans have reassembled their coalition by reconnecting with independents, seniors, blue-collar voters, suburban women and small town and rural voters—all of whom had moved away from the party in the 2006 elections, in which Republicans lost control of the House. Those voter groups now favor GOP control of Congress.

A big shift is evident among independents, who at this point in the 2006 campaign favored Democratic control of Congress rather than Republican control, 40% to 24%. In this poll, independents favored the GOP, 38% to 30%.

Suburban women favored Democratic control four years ago by a 24-point margin. In the latest survey, they narrowly favored Republicans winning the House. A similar turnaround was seen among voters 65 and older.

Obama's Black Panther pander

At the U.S. Civil Rights Commission's upcoming hearing on May 14, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez will attempt to explain why the Obama administration dropped federal voter intimidation charges against two New Black Panthers. Clad in paramilitary uniforms and armed with a nightstick, the Panthers had spent several hours on Election Day 2008 stalking the entrance of a voting place in Philadelphia - hurling racial epithets at whites and blacks alike, taunting poll watchers, and intimidating voters who sought to cast their votes for president as well as other candidates on the ballot. These voting rights violations were captured, partially, on video and uploaded to YouTube.

Attempting to defend the Justice Department's decision to change course in this case, the Obama administration's apologists have tied themselves in knots and turned the Voting Rights Act on its head.

Their principal argument is that the Panthers were not scary enough. They contend that two men who dress up like soldiers and stand in the doorway of a voting place brandishing a billy club cannot be prosecuted for voter intimidation in the absence of testimony from a voter who was intimidated, or proof of someone who was turned away from voting. Without such evidence, they argue, it is impossible to prove what the Panthers intended by their actions.

Try dressing up in full KKK attire and standing in front of a polling place. Ya think that might get some action?

CBO: Health Care Bill Will Cost $115 Billion More Than Previously Assessed

The Democrats along with the co-dependent CBO did everything in their power to make sure the figure came in at less then 1 trillion prior to the health care vote; Remember?

The director of the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the health care reform legislation would cost, over the next ten years, $115 billion more than previously thought, bringing the total cost to more than $1 trillion.

The revised figure is due to estimated costs to federal agencies to implement the new health care reform bill – such as administrative expenses for the Internal Revenue Services and the Department of Health and Human Services -- and the costs for a "variety of grant and other program spending for which specified funding levels for one or more years are provided in the act."

CBO had originally estimated that the health care reform bill would result in a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion from 2010-2019; this revised number would eliminate most of that savings.

Well guess what, THEY LIED and anyone with an ounce of sense knew beforehand that was the case.

Wednesday Funny

Coincidence?

Somali pirates released by Russian forces confirmed dead

Moscow - The Somali embassy in Moscow on Tuesday confirmed the death of 10 pirates released at sea last week by Russian forces off the coast of the Horn of Africa country.

Earlier, an official from Russia's Defence Ministry told journalists that the men were presumed dead since their boat had not reached the shore.

Russian forces had captured the pirates last week in an operation to rescue the tanker Moskovsky Universitet, which was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden.

But the pirates were released on Friday and put in one of their own boats, without weapons or navigation equipment, 300 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, after Russia said there were no international guidelines for prosecuting the men.

Now that's justice, ya gotta love the Russians.

64% Still Rate Being A Mother As A Woman’s Most Important Role

It is by far, always has been, always will be.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Americans think that being a mother is the most important role for a woman to fill in today’s world, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Eighteen percent (18%) disagree, and another 18% aren’t sure.

These figures are virtually unchanged from our survey a year ago, and have remained constant over the past few years.

Women are more likely than men to think being a mother is their most fulfilling role. There is virtually no difference of opinion on this between those with children in the home and those who don't have children living with them.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan has called for Socialists to unite

This is one scary broad folks.

White House aides expect President Obama to select Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. See here. Ms. Kagan, while attending Princeton University as an undergraduate, entitled her senior thesis "To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933." In her thesis, Ms. Kagan wrote, "In our times [this was 30 years ago], a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States. Americans are more likely to speak of a golden past than of a golden future, of Capitalism's glories than of socialism's greatness. Conformity overrides dissent; the desire to conserve has overwhelmed the urge to alter. Such a state of affairs cries out for explanation. Why, in a society by no means perfect, has a radical party never attained the status of a major political force? Why, in particular, did the socialist movement never become an alternative to the nation's established parties?"

And then Ms. Kagan issues her call to action, her call for Socialists to unite in order to defeat "the entrenched foe." She writes, "Through its own internal feuding..the SP [Socialist Party] exhausted itself forever and further reduced labor radicalism in New York to the position of marginality and insignificance from which it has never recovered. The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America. Radicals have often succumbed to the devastating bane of sectarianism; it is easier, after all, to fight one's fellows than it is to battle an entrenched and powerful foe. Yet if the history of Local New York shows anything, it is that American radicals cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope."

Next Best Option on Gulf Spill "Junk Shot"?

After what appears to be a failure of the "dome" to harness the Gulf oil leak, is this what's being planned?

Suttles said that another possible solution would be to "take ground-up material of various types and try to inject it into the blowout preventer at the bottom of it and it will flow up and plug it up," an operation he compared to stopping up a toilet.

The maneuver is called a "junk shot," Suttles said.

The blowout preventer is a 48-foot-tall, 450-ton apparatus that sits atop the well 5,000 feet underwater. It would stop the leak, BP has said, but it has not been working properly since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in flames on April 20 and sank two days later, triggering an oil spill that President Obama has called a "potentially unprecedented environmental disaster."

CBO: May Monthly Budget Review

The "independent" CBOs estimates way off once again...

Receipts in the first seven months of this fiscal year were about $56 billion (or 4 percent) lower than those in the same period last year, about twice the size of the decline anticipated by CBO in its 2010 baseline projections.

For the first seven months of fiscal year 2010, withheld income and payroll taxes declined by about $39 billion (or 4 percent) relative to receipts in the first seven months of 2009; that decline resulted from lower wages and salaries in the first half of the fiscal year.

Receipts to the Treasury from the Federal Reserve rose by $26 billion because of the central bank’s shift to longer-term, riskier, and thus higher-yielding investments in support of the housing market and the broader economy.

First Good News From Gulf Spill (Updated)

I just got an text message from a relative doing support work on a ship controlling one of the remote subs attempting to position the oil collection "dome" over the major leak in the "riser"

Exact quote "the eagle has landed" A bit cryptic I'll grant you but I believe the oil collection dome is now in place.

Keep your fingers crossed.

More to follow.

Confirmed: Box to contain oil leak touches down on Gulf floor

Back to bad news: BP Suffers Setback on Containment Dome Just damn.

Friday Funny

Jobs up 290,000; jobless rate rises to 9.9 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More confident employers stepped up job creation in April, expanding payrolls by 290,000, the most in four years. The jobless rate rose to 9.9 percent as people streamed back into the market looking for work.

The hiring of 66,000 temporary government workers to conduct the census helped overall payroll growth last month. However, private employers -- the backbone of the economy -- boosted jobs, too. They added a surprisingly strong 231,000 positions last month, also the most since March 2006, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent in March to 9.9 percent in April, mainly because 805,000 jobseekers -- perhaps feeling better about their prospects -- resumed their searches for work.

Which means the past unemployment figures have been artificially low because many of the unemployed have given up looking for work. Heaven knows how deep the jobless cavern actually is; 17%, 18%, more?

Carbon Emissions Take Record Drop In The US

Greenies rejoice!

The US Energy Information Administration has just released its review of CO2 emissions in the US for 2009. This year’s report shows the largest ever absolute drop and percentage drop in CO2 emissions since the agency started keeping records in 1949. US CO2 emissions dropped by 405 million metric tons, or 7%, from 2008 to 2009. Total US CO2 emissions in 2009 are listed at 5.4 billion metric tons.

Since 2000, CO2 emissions have dropped by 445 million metric tons, and since 2007, the year with the highest emissions in the past decade, CO2 emissions have fallen by 585 million metric tons, almost 10%. There are two general reasons for the decline. One, fuel switching in electricity generation from coal to natural gas, and two, a recessionary economy where businesses use less energy and drivers log fewer miles.

Amazing what an ACTUAL unemployment rate of 17% can accomplish.

Early April Retail Sales Disappoint

Not if you've been paying attention.

NEW YORK (Reuters)- U.S. retailers including discounter Costco Wholesale and teen chain Zumiez posted slightly disappointing April same-store sales, and the early report suggested Wall Street's hopes for a consumer rebound may be getting ahead of the pace of recovery.

Six out of nine retailers who posted sales results at stores open at least a year came in short of analyst expectations, according to a tally by Thomson Reuters. An additional 19 store chains were due to report.

"Nobody has told American consumers that the recession is over although some officials have rosy predictions of growing consumer spending," consumer trend expert Britt Beemer said in a note. "We're seeing a lot of people on the edge of financial distress."

Whoops! CO2 has almost nothing to do with global warming, discovers top US meteorologist

Climate change, he (Dr Roy Spencer) shows, is an almost entirely natural process on which human influence is negligible.

Of course, sceptics have been making this point for years, arguing that the quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by man are so tiny that even if they were to double there would still be no dangerous Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW).

What they have been unable to answer convincingly until now, though, is the alarmists’ counterargument that CO2 emissions are exaggerated by “positive feedbacks”.

One type of positive feedback often cited by alarmists is cloud cover. When CO2 causes the world to warm, they argue, it reduces the number of clouds. Clouds are what help protect our planet from the burning heat of the sun, by reflecting solar radiation.But according to Spencer, these alarmists have got completely the wrong end of the stick. The mistake they have made is to confuse cause with effect. It’s not man-made global warming that is causing cloud cover to grow thinner, leading to a spiral of ever-rising temperatures. Rather, it’s natural variations in cloud cover that are helping to cause global warming.

Read the whole thing, it's well worth the time.

U.S. Marines boot recruits with Confederate tattoos

More politically correct nonsense.

A widely regarded Southern symbol of pride and states' rights is standing in the way of would-be Marines in their quest to serve their country – a Confederate battle flag.

Straight out of high school, one 18-year-old Tennessee man was determined to serve his country as a Marine. His friend said he passed the pre-enlistment tests and physical exams and looked forward with excitement to the day he would ship out to boot camp.

But there would be no shouting drill instructors, no rigorous physical training and no action-packed stories for the aspiring Marine to share with his family.

Imbecilic Quote of the Day

Contessa Brewer, MSNBC host commenting on the arrest of Faisal Shahzad for the attempted NYC bombing:

"I get frustrated...There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country."

Brewer continued, "...There are a lot of people who want to use terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as justification for really outdated bigotry."

Yea, those damned nasty facts getting in the way of a good liberal narrative once again.

Bombing Suspect Arrested

Guess it wasn't the Amish, or Methodists, or Tea Partiers after all. How could I be so wrong?

Photo of the Day

Ship making it's way through oil spill gives it some scale.

Monday Funny

Times Square car bomb: police investigate South Park link

Dang, I just figured it was the Amish again.

Police in New York are investigating whether a car bomb in Times Square was targeted at the makers of South Park over a controversial depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.

The device, which failed to detonate, was left near the offices of Viacom, which owns the irreverent cartoon series.

Detectives are also understood to be investigating striking similarities between the New York bomb and two car bombs planted by Islamic terrorists outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in London in 2007.

In both cases, the devices comprised cylinders of propane gas and cans full of petrol intended to be ignited by electronic detonators.

Repaying Taxpayers With Their Own Cash

What has kept the NYT from becoming completely irrelevant, an honest and reasonable assessment such as this...

Taxpayers are naturally eager for news about bailout repayments. But what neither G.M. nor the Treasury disclosed was that the company simply used other funds held by the Treasury to pay off its original loan.

Truth seekers the nation over, therefore, are indebted to Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who in recent days uncovered what he called a government-enabled “TARP money shuffle.” It relates to General Motors, which on April 21 paid the balance of its $6.7 billion loan under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

AS we inch closer to a clearer understanding of the products and practices that unleashed the credit crisis of 2008, it’s becoming apparent that those seeking the whole truth are still outnumbered by those aiming to obscure it. This is the case not only on Wall Street but also in Washington.

Too bad they're so far and few between.

Quote of the Day

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

George Washington

OBAMA CHEATING SCANDAL

Yea Yea, I know it's the National Enquirer, but, hey they did break the Edwards story. Besides, they're one of the few news organizations left that's not in the tank for "The One".

PRESIDENT OBAMA has been caught in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, DC Hotel with a former campaign aide, sources say.

And now, a hush-hush security video that shows everything could topple both Obama's presidency and marriage to Michelle!

A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions.

While Baker has insisted in the past that "nothing happened" between them, the ENQUIRER has learned that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Among those being offered money is a limo driver who says that he took Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous where the President was staying.

On the condition of anonymity, the limo driver said he took Baker "from a friend's home in the DC area to the Hotel George where I learned later that Obama would be spending the night."