Obama Hits Yet Another Low Water Mark

Just 29% of voters see the nation headed on the right track, a whopping 67% believe the nation is on the wrong track. That represents the worst level yet measured under this President.

Snowstorm squelches climate change protest

The Almighty has a great sense of humor.

A downtown protest of the climate change talks in Copenhagen became a victim of Wednesday's snowstorm.

"Not many people showed up because of the blizzard conditions," said organizer Clea Major, an international studies student at the University of Utah.

It didn't take long for the six friends to pack up a bullhorn and posters they'd planned to use for their "scream-in," an outlet for their frustration about the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks earlier this month to curb the pollution blamed for climate change.

Controversial Obama U.N. nominee withdraws

Just another example of the Obama administrations vetting, or rather the lack therof...

Jide Zeitlin, the Obama administration's nominee to be America's point man for financial reform at the United Nations, has withdrawn himself from consideration for the job, an administration official tells The Cable.

Zeitlin, a former Goldman Sachs executive and telecom entrepreneur, had faced criticism for his business dealings related to Indian contractors and was also accused of identity fraud for an incident in which he admitted to sending an email to investors masked as coming from one of his competitors. Zeitlin testified before Congress that the email was a prank.

He was approved out of the Senate Foreign Relations committee in November.

Somali Man Arrested at Mogadishu Airport With Chemicals, Syringe Last Month

This johnnie on the spot administration not only did nothing in response to this new threat, it may have not been aware it even occured.

Mogadishu, Somalia (AP) - A man tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused an explosion in a case bearing chilling similarities to the terrorist plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The Somali man -- whose name has not yet been released -- was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before the Nov. 13 Daallo Airlines flight took off. It had been scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai. A Somali police spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise, said the suspect is in Somali custody.

"We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaida or other foreign organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed," said Barise.

Foiled US Plane Bombing Explodes Myth of Poverty-Terror Link

A myth perpetuated by bleeding heart liberals that refuse to acknowledge that some people and institutions are just plain evil.

(IsraelNN.com) The would-be bomber of the airplane en route to Detroit, Michigan last Friday is from a wealthy family and stayed in Yemen in an area heavily populated by the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, which said it was behind the bombing.

The terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria, is the son of a rich Nigerian banker, whose warnings to American authorities about his son’s behavior were ignored. He left Yemen earlier this month after studying Arabic there, and U.S. investigators suspect that the explosive device he tried to detonate on the plane was bought in Yemen. Passengers overwhelmed him before he could carry out his suicide mission.

Al-Qaeda said the attempted bombing of the plane on Friday "dealt a huge blow to the myth of American and global intelligence services and showed how fragile its structure is."

Unfortunately, under the current administration, they are correct.

Obama provides unlimited loss coverage to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

I'd be very surprised if this was even legal...

A Christmas Eve White House decision that nobody will notice. President Obama and his treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, have elected to increase loss coverage for the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from $200 billion to unlimited for the next three years.

So much for transparency, but there is more! The GSEs are having a pretty good week as politicians and lobbyists are provided cover with snow storms in the nation’s capital, a huge health care debate and only the biggest holiday of the year. For those of you who may have missed it, the Associated Press reported top executives at the GSE would be paid as much as $6 million for their terrible performance in 2009.

Read the rest.

Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Bomb Attempt

Napolitano said "There was no wider plot"..... clueless yet again.

CAIRO (AP) - Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for the attempted attack on a U.S. airliner on Christmas day, saying it was retaliation for a U.S. operation against the group in Yemen.
In a statement posted on the Internet, the group said 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab coordinated with members of the group.

Yemeni forces, helped by U.S. intelligence, carried out two airstrikes against al-Qaida operatives in the country this month. The second one was a day before the attempted bombing of the plane.

Bomb plotter: 'More like me'

Believe it.

FAILED plane bomber Umar Abdulmutallab has bragged to FBI agents that there are more young men plotting to launch attacks on the West. The 23-year-old Nigerian has told security chiefs of a sinister network in Yemen who are ready and waiting to strike.

The reports come after The Sun revealed that cops fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners.

The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen.

It was there London-educated Abdulmutallab prepared for his Christmas Day bid to blow up a US jet.

The British extremists in Yemen are in their early 20s and from Bradford, Luton and Leytonstone, East London.

They are due to return to the UK early in 2010 and will then await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on when to strike.

Napolitano: "The system worked"

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the thwarting of the attempt to blow up the Amsterdam-Detroit flight this week demonstrated that "the system worked."

Asked by CNN's Candy Crowley on "State of the Union" how that could be possible when the young Nigerian who sought to set off the bomb was able to smuggle explosive liquid onto the flight, Napolitano responded: "We're asking the same questions."

Napolitano added that there was "no suggestion that [the bomber] was improperly screened."

No Ms. Napolitano, the system DID NOT work. It was only by the grace of God that the bomb didn't either. Their lying isn't even clever anymore. The hubris displayed by this administration is truly unprecendented.

Baucus Crocked on Senate Floor?

It certainly appears so. You be the judge.

Build-a-Bear Blows it

Indoctrination can prove costly.

St. Louis - First, Chicken Little warned children that the sky was falling. And now Build-a-Bear Workshop has warned children that the North Pole could disappear before Christmas.

The Missouri-based company has found itself in hot water, defending an animated series on its website featuring polar bears, penguins and Mrs. Claus, as Santa is warned that global warming is "a serious situation."

Conservative bloggers reposted the videos online and called for a boycott of the toy company, saying Build-a-Bear should not be presenting a political stance to children.

The company relented, took down the videos and posted on its website a letter from Build-a-Bear founder and Chief Executive Maxine Clark.

Merry Christmas

"I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. (John 14:6-7)

Super Present

Best Christmas gift ever... Bradley 4 rack smoker, YEA BABY!

Reid's Delusion

In the final minutes of the Senate health care debate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said lawmakers would hear "an earful" about the national health care bill from constituents who are solidly opposed to the legislation. In response, Majority Leader Harry Reid cited the case of a young disabled boy in Nevada who Reid said will now have health coverage and said that Democrats will indeed hear an earful -- "an earful of joy and happiness."

"Yes, we'll hear an earful," Reid added, "but it will be an earful of wonderment and happiness."

Wanna bet?

New High Water Mark for GOP

Expect more Democrat retirements and defections.

Republican candidates now have an eight-point lead over Democrats, their biggest lead of the year, in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.

The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 36% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Support for GOP candidates held steady over the past week, but support for Democrats slipped by a point.

Festivus vs. Kwanzaa

Festivus or Kwanzaa,which one makes more sense to you?

Obama Hits New Low Water Mark

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-six percent (46%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21 That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President.

Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Fifty-six percent (56%) now disapprove.

Third Qtr Growth Revised Down, WAY DOWN

Revised Down yet again. It started at 3.5% growth revised down to 2.8% and now it's at 2.2%. Can we honestly believe anything this administration puts out?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew at a much slower pace than initially thought in the third quarter, restrained by weak business investment and a slightly more aggressive liquidation of inventories, according to data on Tuesday.

Growth was boosted by government stimulus programs, including the popular cash for clunkers and tax credit for first-time home buyers, and debate continues to rage over the sustainability of the recovery once government support wanes.

Business spending in the third quarter was weaker than the government had estimated last month. Business investment fell at a 5.9 percent rate instead of 4.1 percent, the department said.

A deeper than initially thought slump in the construction of nonresidential structures and stronger demand for imports, which overshadowed the growth in exports, held back growth in the third quarter, the report showed.

Would Geraldo Quit If FOX News Hires Lou Dobbs?

The door couldn't possibly hit him in the a$$ fast enough. BTW, take Shep with you.

Over the weekend, the Daily News reported that Fox News host Geraldo Rivera has told Fox News founder and chairman Roger Ailes he'll quit if Ailes hires Lou Dobbs.

Rivera tells Rush & Molloy, "I never threatened to quit," adding, "The last time I checked, no one here was talking to the a-—." A rep for Ailes concurs, telling the paper he isn't looking to add Dobbs to either FNC or FBN.

And all this reminded us about a situation a few years ago just after Rivera signed a reported 6-year $36m contract with NBC. In August, 1998 Newsweek reported on a riff between Rivera and then NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw. Rivera complained in a TV Guide interview that promos for his CNBC show "Rivera Live" didn't air during "Nightly" because Brokaw banned them. He also seemed to be gunning for Brokaw's job, telling TV Guide he was, "in the running for the center chair at the desk of the wise men."

A day after the quotes leaked, Rivera issued this statement: "Tom Brokaw is a great newsman who does a terrific job and the rivalry between us is grossly overstated." He also explained that his ambition to be "the news anchor for the next millennium" did not extend beyond his role as a CNBC host.

Bigger than Watergate

By one helluva whole lot.

ACORN critic Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is mystified that both the Democratic-controlled Congress and the Obama administration aren't doing much about the tax-subsidized organized crime syndicate ACORN even as evidence of its wrongdoing continues to pile up.

In an exclusive interview, the House Judiciary Committee member describes the ACORN saga as "the largest corruption crisis in the history of America."

"It's thousands of times bigger than Watergate because Watergate was only a little break-in by a couple of guys," said King. "By the time we pull ACORN out by its roots America's going to understand just how big this is."

Unlike the Nixon-era Watergate scandal, the ACORN scandal reaches not only to the highest levels of government, but also to states and localities across America. The president himself and his political advisor Patrick Gaspard used to work for ACORN and the radical advocacy group has allies throughout congressional leadership who are bending over backwards to protect it. President Obama has also hired as White House counsel Bob Bauer, whom King described as "the number one defender of ACORN in the country."

How Wikipedia’s green doctor rewrote 5,428 climate articles

Control the dissemination of facts and your truth become THE truth.

The Climategate Emails describe how a small band of climatologists cooked the books to make the last century seem dangerously warm.

The emails also describe how the band plotted to rewrite history as well as science, particularly by eliminating the Medieval Warm Period, a 400 year period that began around 1000 AD.

The Climategate Emails reveal something else, too: the enlistment of the most widely read source of information in the world — Wikipedia — in the wholesale rewriting of this history.

The Medieval Warm Period, which followed the meanness and cold of the Dark Ages, was a great time in human history — it allowed humans around the world to bask in a glorious warmth that vastly improved agriculture, increased life spans and otherwise bettered the human condition.

But the Medieval Warm Period was not so great for some humans in our own time — the same small band that believes the planet has now entered an unprecedented and dangerous warm period. As we now know from the Climategate Emails, this band saw the Medieval Warm Period as an enormous obstacle in their mission of spreading the word about global warming. If temperatures were warmer 1,000 years ago than today, the Climategate Emails explain in detail, their message that we now live in the warmest of all possible times would be undermined. As put by one band member, a Briton named Folland at the Hadley Centre, a Medieval Warm Period “dilutes the message rather significantly.”

Climate deal falls short

They don't call him Zero for nuthin...

The climate deal reached between U.S, China and other great powers on Friday night is so vague, hastily hatched and non-binding President Obama isn’t even sure he’ll be required to sign it.

“You know, it raises an interesting question as to whether technically there's actually a signature… It's not a legally binding agreement, I don't know what the protocols are,” said a bleary-eyed Obama, before hopping in Air Force One for the trip back to Washington.

Even as he left, it wasn’t clear that the pact Obama described as “meaningful” would even pass muster with the European Union – or attract enough votes with the 193-nation COP 15 conference to become an official declaration.

"It’s a catastrophe," said Dan Joergensen, a member of the European delegation. "We’re so far away from the criteria that was set up in order to call it a success, and those weren’t really that ambitious to start with."

Senior White House Official: The 'Chinese Are Dug In'; 'We've Done What We Can' in Copenhagen

Welcome to the real world Bambi.

"We've done what we can here," a senior White House official in Copenhagen, Denmark, tells ABC News. "The Chinese are dug in on transparency and are refusing to let people know they're living up to their end of the agreement."

After landing in Denmark early this morning, President Obama met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during a bilateral at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to press the case that China needs to allow for transparency.

"The President's priority is to make our economy far more focused on a clean energy economy that creates jobs," the official said. "He is here to work constructively and participate in hoping to get an international accord. But not getting one here won't change wanting to transform our economy to create the new foundation he's talked about."

Template for Disaster

This what 50 years of Democrat governance will reap. Previews of coming attractions for the rest of the country if the left has it's way.

*An unemployment rate that even its beleaguered Mayor Dave Bing has said “in reality it’s probably close to 50 percent.”

*A real estate market that doesn’t exist as evident by the thousands of houses that can be had for $1.00 or free.

* Most Police precincts rely on mandatory overtime just to get enough cops to man the patrol cars they need on each tour. Under current conditions the police don’t patrol, they just travel from “job” to “job”. They have no time for patrolling.

*The City’s teachers are being extorted to pay their own salaries by making interest free “loans” only repayable at separation.

* There are no major supermarket chains doing business in Detroit and people are being forced to grow their own vegetables in abandoned trash filled lots.

Mother won’t be charged with baby’s death because of law loophole

A loophole in state law is preventing Campbell County investigators from charging a woman they say killed her newborn baby.

Deputies were called to a home in the 1200 block of Lone Jack Road in Rustburg around 11:00a.m. Friday. The caller said a woman in her early 20s was in labor. When deputies arrived, they discovered the baby had actually been born around 1:00a.m., about ten hours earlier. Investigators say the baby was already dead when deputies got there.

Investigators tell WSLS the baby’s airway was still blocked. They say the baby was under bedding and had been suffocated by her mother. Investigators say because the mother and baby were still connected by the umbilical cord and placenta, state law does not consider the baby to be a separate life. Therefore, the mother cannot be charged.

“In the state of Virginia as long as the umbilical cord is attached and the placenta is still in the mother, if the baby comes out alive the mother can do whatever she wants to with that baby to kill it.“, says Investigator Tracy Emerson. “She could shoot the baby, stab the baby. As long as it’s still attached to her in some form by umbilical cord or something it’s no crime in the state of Virginia.“

Dear Lord save us.

GAO opens ACORN investigation

The Government Accountability Office has opened an investigation into ACORN’s use of taxpayer dollars, two House Republicans said Thursday.

Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) made the announcement in the course of demanding a separate FBI investigation into the group.

“Only an independent criminal investigation conducted by the FBI can get to the bottom of the nationwide allegations against ACORN,” Smith said in a news release.

But ACORN already investigated thenselves and determined all is well dontcha know.

Fox News Has Highest Rated Year In Network History

Yet CNN and MSNBC remain clueless as to the reasons.

Fox News will finish 2009 as the top-rated cable news network, a perch it has enjoyed for eight years running. But 2009--the first year of the Obama administration--also marks FNC's highest rated year in the channel's 13-year-history.

FNC topped the competition in all dayparts: morning (1 million total viewers, 340,000viewers in news' target demographic of 25-54-year-olds); total day (1.2 million viewers, 323,000 in the demo); primetime (2.2 million viewers, 551,000 in the demo). Those numbers mark year-to-year demo gains of 14% in the morning, 16% in total day and 10% in primetime (Mon-Sun), according to Nielsen.

FNC saw double-digit gains for all of its programs. Year-to-year, Glenn Beck is up 96% among total viewers (2.3 million) and 148% in the demo (612,000). Special Report with Bret Baier posted gains of 25% among total viewers (2 million) and 33% in the demo (454,000). The O'Reilly Factor is up 13% among total viewers (3.3 million) and 27% (801,000) in the demo, marking its tenth consecutive year as the No. 1 cable news program.

Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming

One thing about the Russians, they're not easily hornswoggled.

Climategate has already affected Russia. On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with Russian-climate data.

The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory. Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations.

The data of stations located in areas not listed in the Hadley Climate Research Unit Temperature UK (HadCRUT) survey often does not show any substantial warming in the late 20th century and the early 21st century.

Rubio Crist Tied in Florida Senate Race

Appears that RINO's are in as much trouble with voters as Democrats in 2010.

Governor Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio are now tied in the 2010 race for the Republican Senate nomination in Florida.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters finds Crist and Rubio each with 43% of the vote. Five percent (5%) prefer another candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.

Crist’s support has fallen from 53% in August to 49% in October. Rasmussen Reports noted at the time, “The fact that Crist has fallen below 50% in a primary against a lesser known opponent suggests potential vulnerability.”

Stocks drop after inflation data

Stocks are lower in early trading after after wholesale inflation rose more than expected in November, led by surge in energy costs.

The increase will likely be discussed as Federal Reserve policymakers begin a two-day meeting on interest rates Tuesday. The Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged.

The Labor Department said wholesale prices jumped 1.8 percent last month, more than double the 0.8 percent gain analysts expected. Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, rose 0.5 percent, the biggest increase in more than a year.

Print money like we've been doing and it was only a matter of time. Look out, it's gonna get worse, a lot worse.

Tuesday Funny

Quote of the day

“The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance.

Robert A. Heinlein

Dems Point Fingers At WH, Timid Incumbents

Ruh Roh...

A trickle of Dem retirements, a wave of bad polling numbers and a torrent of negative news stories about the political climate all have Dems worried that the party needs a serious turnaround before the '10 elections -- and that time may be running out.

Now, Dem strategists are urging their members of Congress to be more decisive, and pointing a finger at the WH for forcing an ambitious agenda for which Congress will now have to answer.

"You can't tell people how to run their campaigns, but in order for this not to be 1994, the White House is going to have to understand this is a referendum on Barack Obama," said a senior Dem consultant. Dems face "a political environment that Obama created by pushing an agenda this fast."

I seem to remember some old adage about "rats jumping off a sinking ship".

Copenhagen climate summit negotiations 'suspended'

Blizzard on the way?

Negotiations at the UN climate summit have been suspended after developing countries withdrew their co-operation.

Delegations were angry at what they saw as moves by the Danish host government to sideline talks on more emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.

As news spread around the conference centre, activists chanted "We stand with Africa - Kyoto targets now".

Obama Hits New Low (UPDATED)

mmmm mmmm mmmm.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16. That’s the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President (emphasis mine)

The 25% who Strongly Approve matches the lowest level of enthusiasm yet recorded. That’s partly the result of declining enthusiasm among Democrats. While Democrats continue to offer their approval, just 43% Strongly Approve.

Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Fifty-three percent (53%) disapprove.

OUCH!

Update: NEW new low...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19.

Today is the second straight day that Obama’s Approval Index rating has fallen to a new low. Prior to the past two days, the Approval Index had never fallen below -15 during Obama’s time in office.

The 23% who Strongly Approve matches the lowest level of enthusiasm yet recorded. Just 41% of Democrats Strongly Approve while 69% of Republicans Strongly Disapprove. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 21% Strongly Approve and 49% Strongly Disapprove.

DOUBLE OUCH!

Sarah on Tonight Show

You can't teach this folks. She bones up on world/domestic affairs and she will destroy the Obama in 2012.

I don't like the term but for lack of better I'll say "Rock Star"

Weekend Cosmos

I don't know which is more stunning, the earth or the stars.

USA Today cherry picks poll data in Sarah Palin article

More Opinion editorial masquerading as straight journalism.

In a feature article based on an interview with Sarah Palin, USA's Kathy Kiely cherry picked some old poll data to make the former governor appear to be less popular with the American public than she actually is:

"But even as her book sales soar, Palin remains a divisive figure in American politics. In an October Gallup Poll, 50% of those surveyed viewed the conservative Republican unfavorably, compared to 40% who had a favorable view."
That Gallup poll was conducted October 1-4, more than three two months ago. Since then, an Opinion Research poll conducted November 17-18 for FOX News found Sarah Palin's favorable rating to be 47 percent (and just 42 percent unfavorable), and another survey conducted by the same firm for CNN December 2-3 revealed her favorable rating to be 46 percent (with 46 percent unfavorable), just one point shy of Obama's.

This is par for the course for a left-leaning Gannett publication like USA Today, which ignored two more recent polls that show Sarah Palin's favorable ratings to be on the rise to reference a poll with findings that are no longer relevant. The attempt to hide the fact that Sarah Palin and President Obama are in a statistical tie in the way in which they are currently perceived by the public, and that she is no more "divisive" than he.

Insiders Say Tiger Woods Ready to Quit Golf to Save Marriage After String of Alleged Affairs

TIGER Woods is ready to quit golf in a desperate bid to save his marriage.

Insiders say the disgraced sex addict has told wife Elin he will "do anything" - as the scandal rolled on.

Swedish beauty Elin Nordegren, 29, has agreed to stay with her billionaire husband for the sake of their two young children.

But she has given Woods, 33, this stark ultimatum: "It's golf, or me."

Been a lot of guys that have heard that line before.

GOP leads Dems among likely voters in generic ballot

Again, Rasmussen has been reporting this for months. Now you know why this blog reports Raz, the others are decidedly behind the curve.

Republicans lead Democrats in a test of generic congressional matchups, a new poll found Thursday.

42 percent of likely voters said they would prefer a generic Republican candidate for Congress versus 38 percent who said they would prefer a generic Democrat, according to a Bloomberg News poll released Thursday.

16 percent said they were unsure who they'd support, while four percent were unsure.

NY foreclosures up 70%

What happens when you have liberals running the show both nationally and locally.

Home foreclosure filings in New York rose nearly 70 percent in November compared to the same month a year ago, a much steeper increase than what happened nationally.

The number of foreclosure filings in the U.S. rose 18 percent in November on a year-over-year basis, according to RealtyTrac, an online real estate company based in California.

Even with the big jump in New York, the state continues to rank toward the bottom in terms of per-capita foreclosures in the United States.

Ohio, The Consummate Bellwether

Previews of coming attractions?

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Ohio shows Republican John Kasich getting 48% of the vote while Strickland picks up just 39%. Three percent (3%) say they’d prefer a third-party candidate, and 11% are not sure who they would vote for. In September, the two men were essentially even.

Governors throughout the country are struggling with budgets and a bad economy. In New Jersey last year, incumbent Governor Jon Corzine picked up his worst polling numbers of the year at the time he announced plans to solve a budget shortfall with tax increases.

Support down for Obama's handling of economy: poll

Funny how it has taken all the other polls so long to find what Rasmussen has been reporting for months.

WASHINGTON — A growing number of Americans have lost confidence in President Barack Obama's handling of the economy, despite the apparent beginnings of a recovery, according to a poll out Wednesday.

A Quinnipiac University survey found that 54 percent of respondents disapproved of Obama's handling of the economy, compared to 41 percent who approved.

The finding was Obama's "worst score ever on this issue," the pollsters said in a statement. They said it also showed erosion of support even from just a month ago, when public opinion on his handling of the economy earned a 52-43 percent approval rating.

For his overall job performance, respondents gave Obama a 46 percent approval -- also his lowest ever -- while 44 percent of those polled disapproved of the president's performance, the poll showed.

Pic of the Day

Hillary passes gas at recent NATO meeting, Great Britains rep is obviously being an exceptionally good sport.

Obama's 47 Percent Approval Lowest of Any President at This Point

So much for that Hopey/Changy thing.

Below are comparable ratings for other presidents since Gallup began taking presidential approval polls in 1938:


George W. Bush, 86 percent
Bill Clinton, 52 percent
George H.W. Bush, 71 percent
Ronald Reagan, 49 percent
Jimmy Carter, 57 percent
Gerald Ford, 52 percent
Richard Nixon, 59 percent
Lyndon Johnson, 74 percent
John Kennedy, 77 percent
Dwight Eisenhower, 69 percent
Harry Truman, 49 percent

Barack Obama's coup d'etat

Scary stuff folks, scary stuff...

Who needs tanks on the lawn when you have the Environmental Protection Agency? Barack Obama’s use of the EPA to pressurise the Senate to pass his climate change Nuremberg Decrees shows his dictatorial mentality. He wants to override Congress, which is hostile to his climate gobbledegook because it is representative of the American electorate, and sideline the nation’s elected Senators by ruling by decree, courtesy of the EPA. This is a coup d’état.

And what is the justification for this undemocratic action? The allegedly imminent threat from “Anthropogenic Global Warming”. There is always a supposed threat, when tyrants take the stage. The President of the United States has just reduced his moral authority to the level of any Third World dictator heading a “Government of National Emergency”. Fortunately, the world’s leading democracy, which he is trying to subvert, has guarantees of liberty so deeply embedded in its Constitution that US citizens are well placed to fight back.

In the first place, regulation can be challenged in a way that laws cannot. So the EPA’s proposed ruling on so-called “Greenhouse Gases” can be opposed extensively with litigation, to the point that the ruling might not yet be in force when Obama demits office. In the second place, the EPA is funded by Congress. So, if the Agency is being used to bypass or neuter Congress, why should legislators not play hardball and retaliate by cutting off its funding? The EPA may look formidable, but its situation is rather as if Rommel were buying the fuel for his tanks from the Allies.

Cost-benefit analysis of jobs stimulus

As the old adage goes "nice work if you can get it".

The Obama Administration is touting that their stimulus program has saved or created 640,329 jobs since it was enacted back in February through the end of October. This number is updated and posted on the Administration’s recovery.gov web site. That amounts to $246,436 per job based on the $157.8bn that has been awarded so far! Total compensation earned by the average payroll employee during October, on an annualized basis, was $59,867. If the government had simply used the funds awarded so far to pay for a year’s worth of labor, that would have paid for 2.6mn jobs!

If by now we haven't realized how completely inept the Fed govt. is at spending money we never will.

NPR reporter pressured over Fox role

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...

Executives at National Public Radio recently asked the network’s top political correspondent, Mara Liasson, to reconsider her regular appearances on Fox News because of what they perceived as the network’s political bias, two sources familiar with the effort said.

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

At a follow-up meeting last month, Liasson reported that she’d seen no significant change in Fox’s programming and planned to continue appearing on the network, the source said.

Obama Hits New Low Water Mark

This is the lowest "Strongly Approve" number since the polls inception.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14

Global Warming on Parade

Anecdotal yes, but enough anecdotes start adding up to a pattern.

Houston gets earliest snowfall on record

HOUSTON — Houston had its earliest snowfall on record Friday, with several inches accumulating in counties southwest of the city.

The previous record for early snow in Houston was Dec. 10 in 1944 and again last year, said Charles Roeseler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Snow is rare in the nation's fourth largest city. In the past 15 years, it has snowed four times, including Friday.

Accumulations of 3 to 4 inches of snow were reported in counties southwest of Houston. The city got a half inch or less of snow, and its suburbs reported 1 to 2 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

"It's going to continue to snow through the afternoon," Roeseler said in the early afternoon. "We'll pick up another inch or so across parts of Houston."

Friday Funny

Almost 2/3rds of the American Public Oppose a Single Payer Health Care Plan

This singular issue will defeat more Democrats in 2010 than all the others combined.

Only 27% of voters nationwide favor a single-payer health care system where the federal government provides coverage for everyone. That’s down five points from August.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 62% are opposed to a single-payer system and another 12% are undecided.

Most Democrats (54%) favor this type of system, though 37% are opposed. Most Republicans (87%) and voters not affiliated with either party (64%) are opposed to the idea.

There is little difference in opinion between those voters who currently have health insurance and those who do not.

Former NASA climate scientist pleads guilty to contract fraud

Crooked is as crooked does, Schoeberl is on the right.

A former top climate scientist who had become of one the scientific world's most cited authorities on the human effect on Earth's atmosphere was sentenced to probation Tuesday after pleading guilty to steering lucrative no-bid contracts to his wife's company.

In addition to a year's probation, former NASA manager Mark Schoeberl, 60, of Silver Spring, was also fined $10,000 and ordered to put in 50 hours of community service. He admitted in the late summer that he had hid some $50,000 in NASA contracts for a company called Animated Earth, which was run by Schoeberl's wife, Barbara. Prosecutors alleged that Schoeberl tried to help his wife's firm for years. When his colleagues balked at giving no-bid contracts to his wife's firm, Schoeberl pressured them to steer money to his wife through indirect means.

Schoeberl was the chief scientist of the Goddard Space Flight Center's Earth Sciences Division and the head of the Aura Project, a NASA mission to study the Earth's ozone layer, air quality and climate. He has written extensively about the depletion of the ozone level, and the influence of humans on global climate change.

ISM Index Falls to 48.7

The best indication yet that people are NOT spending.

The U.S. services sector unexpectedly contracted in November, with an index measuring activity falling to its lowest reading since July, according to an industry report released on Thursday.

The Institute for Supply Management said its services index shrank to 48.7 in November from 50.6 in October.

Wednesday Funny

Merry Christmas from the Woods

Thanks Jilliane at FR.

ADP Job Loss Report Is Worse Than Expected

The private ADP jobs report indicated a loss of 169,000 private sector jobs in November, which was worse than the 150,000 that analysts had estimated.

Also not good: October was revised to a worse 195,000.

Gotta love them "green shoots". BTW, anyone notice how the previous Employment/GDP figures are almost without exception revised DOWN.

Senate votes down Australian cap-and-trade bill

You gotta love the Aussies.

Australia's plans for transitioning to a low carbon economy were thrown into turmoil today when the opposition successfully blocked the government's flagship emission cap-and-trade bill for the second time this year.

The vote, which follows a dramatic week that saw opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull ousted over his decision to reach a compromise with the government over the bill, resulted in the bill being defeated by 41 votes to 33.

The vote represented a victory for Tony Abbott, who replaced Turnbull yesterday as leader of the opposition Liberal Party and successfully managed to marshal Senators that had been previously split on the issue to vote against the bill.

Eric Holder Refuses to Investigate ACORN

It's too bad the Canadian Press is more vigilant reporting the self serving corruption of the present administration than we are.

Attorney General Eric Holder has made it abundantly clear he has absolutely no interest in investigating his radical friends at ACORN.

Holder’s Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that allows the Obama administration to ignore the will of Congress which has voted overwhelmingly to suspend federal funding of ACORN until at least Dec. 18. He’s also ignored the 88-page report on ACORN’s systemic corruption and flagrant racketeering activities that was issued this summer by Republican investigators on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Apparently, public outrage at the continuing antics of the corrupt radical advocacy group that used to employ President Obama and White House political director Patrick Gaspard counts for nothing.

But Americans really shouldn’t be surprised that Attorney General Holder is bending over backwards to help his radical friends at ACORN.

Holder, whom I’ve long argued is unfit to serve as the federal government’s chief law enforcement officer, supports ACORN’s goals.

ACORN wants to use the power of government to bring about a radical transformation of American society.