Making History - Ignoring Reality

Today's headlines at Drudge:

- Widespread Glitches in 34 States

- "Expect Months of Glitches" [@ Barry]

- 20% Plan to Not Buy Insurance

- Sebelius: "We're About To Make Some History"

Minutes after its inaugural 'launch' the ACA aka ObamaCare aka the Democrat's Socialist Health Care Plan crashed.

- Hard.

They have had THREE YEARS to get ready, and this is the result.

- Possibly the most "historic" government FUBAR ever...and that's saying something.

And yet the Democrats are saying the Republicans are somehow at fault for daring to 'suggest' that this gross swindle be delayed a year?

- I guess they have to 'blame' somebody, but notwithstanding the charade or the theatrics, the Democrats (C) completely 'own' this one...yes YOU Barry, Nancy Reid, Harry Pelosi and all the rest of you.

I think it was Ayn Rand who said: "You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."

- Democrats (C), let me introduce someone you've apparently not met yet...I present Messrs. Reality and Consequences.

h/t Rico @ Theo's place

SOPA Shelved "Indefinitely"

Amid significant pressure from tens of thousands of internet users and major web behemoths like Google, Facebook, and Reddit, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is, in its current form, Dead on Arrival:

Misguided efforts to combat online privacy have been threatening to stifle innovation, suppress free speech, and even, in some cases, undermine national security. As of yesterday, though, there’s a lot less to worry about.

Read the rest at the link. I don't like "indefinitely" because it can include "we'll bring it back tomorrow", but form your own conclusion.

End o' the Week Wrap-up

Gang-That-Couldn't-Shoot-Straight Dept: Anchorage kinda-sorta has an arena football team, or rather, may have.

With no owner and a coach who has left the state, the Alaska Wild's season was in jeopardy Thursday. The Indoor Football League called off Sunday's scheduled home game and said it will announce the fate of the semipro team next week.

No one knows what the league will decide next week, but there are several options, including the decision to pull the plug on a beleaguered franchise that has gone through three owners, numerous coaches and has lost 31 of its 41 games since its 2007 inception.

Click for more.


We-Really-Need-Big-Brother Dept: The liberal loons are represented in full force, in this morning's paper. One letter-writer just knows that instead of canceling the vehicle emissions testing, we should continue it. Not for its own sake so much, as for using the generated funds to purchase red light cameras, and for more DUI enforcement.

In an editorial, another opinion is that this year's high school & college graduates are gonna face a tougher time than everyone else had. It's because of the social inequality, you see. Yeah, that's it. It couldn't possibly be because the progressives at the helm in D.C. have pursued policies which caused unemployment to skyrocket ... and are still pursuing higher energy & insurance prices, which further weaken the economy & job market.

Naw, couldn't be.

Then there's the poor soul who tries to tie the recent killing of a mated pair of swans to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico ... because wildlife has it really tough, ya know? It's just not fair, she says.

The next letter continues the anti-oil rant, and calls for an end to drilling. Everywhere. 'Cause we have all those alternatives, don'tcha see. (It has already been pointed out that Alaska already gets 25 percent of its energy from alternative sources, but that's apparently not good enough.)

And then to wrap up the lunacy on a real bang, the final letter calls for Alaska to prohibit booze. Because Prohibition worked so well the last time.

* * * * *

That's all I can stand for this morning; I need to go find some brain bleach.

Lieberman to Murkowski: Forget Drilling in ANWR

This makes me angry on two fronts:

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Wednesday that opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling might be the price of her swing vote in favor of energy and climate legislation. But The Hill reports today that Sen. Joe Lieberman -- a longtime opponent of ANWR drilling -- says ANWR drilling would be a "deal breaker" in his attempt to craft a bipartisan climate bill.

"That is just not going to happen," he told reporters in the Capitol.

Lieberman - who has long championed efforts to keep ANWR permanently off-limits to drilling - is trying to craft a compromise climate and energy plan with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

"We are looking at a lot of thing, we are bending to bring people in, but that one is a no-no," he said.

First of all, Lisa Murkowski is supposed to know better; she's well aware of the total debunking of the AGW myth, and shouldn't be offering to sign onto anyone's climate legislation, unless it's to abolish the whole program & stop this expensive and foolish expansion of the "climate centers" that the Dept. of the Interior now intends to create. (Alaska will get the first one, as I reported about 10 days ago.) It seems that it will be established on the UAA campus, here in Anchorage.

Second, who the bloody blazes is Joe Lieberman to tell us we can't drill our oil on our own land? BOTH belong to us; it's none of his business if we perforate some frozen swampland & pump some oil and/or natural gas out of one of the nation's largest deposits. The obstructionist gummint restrictions are getting awfully close to that line they shouldn't cross.

T.S.A. Qualification Test

Please circle your answer to each scenario.


1. In 1968, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:

a. Superman

b. Jay Leno

c. Harry Potter

d. A Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40



2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by :

a. Olga Corbett

b. Sitting Bull

c. Arnold Schwarzenegger

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:

a. Lost Norwegians

b. Elvis

c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women

d . Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:

a. John Dillinger

b. The King of Sweden

c. The Boy Scouts

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:

a. A pizza delivery boy

b. Pee Wee Herman

c.. Geraldo Rivera

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:

a. The Smurfs

b. Davey Jones

c. The Little Mermaid

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens , and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:

a. Captain Kidd

b. Charles Lindbergh

c. Mother Teresa

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:

a. Scooby Doo

b. The Tooth Fairy

c. The Sundance Kid

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:

a. Richard Simmons

b. Grandma Moses

c. Michael Jordan

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:

a. Mr. Rogers

b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems

c. The World Wrestling Federation

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:

a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd

b. The Supreme Court of Florida

c. Mr Bean

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



12. In 2002, the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:

a. Enron

b. The Lutheran Church

c. The NFL

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40



13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:

a. Bonnie and Clyde

b. Captain Kangaroo

c. Billy Graham

d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40


If you answered "d" to any of the questions, you're guilty of profiling. (!?!)


No, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners are not allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone lest they be guilty of profiling.

Footnote: Fort Hood, Texas ......another Muslim 39 years old killed 13 people and wounded many others... Does this fit the profile?


h/t Sandi-with-an-i

Alaskans Say No to Cap-and-Tax

After signing onto a global climate change compact in September, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly rescinded its signature Tuesday night.

With the majority of assembly members agreeing that the Alaska Coastal Communities Global Climate Change Compact could do more harm than good for the Kenai Peninsula and its economy, the assembly passed a resolution, six to three, to remove the borough's name from the compact.

The climate change agreement calls for Alaska's coastal communities to collaborate on "strong and immediate action" to combat human-induced global climate change. Some assembly members said they worry that the compact covertly supports cap and trade legislation being discussed in Washington.

The compact states that its signatories agree to "utilize a significant portion of the proceeds from national cap-and-trade legislation, carbon tax, or other sources to fund initiatives in Alaska."

"If you take a closer reading, I think it is implicit. How would we take immediate action? Does that not harken to Waxman-Markey [a cap and trade bill]?" assembly member Gary Superman said. "And if it harkens to something else, what is that? I don't know what the return would be to this community if this [signing the compact] did go down, but I know what the loss would be."

It's about freakin' time. Despite the enviro-weenies' cry, people here are waking up to the attempted hijacking of the economy. We can't afford it, and Alaskans are saying "NO" in growing numbers.

There's hope for us yet, folks.

U.S. Senate blocks amendment to limit EPA authority

Excerpt:

The Senate declined to take up Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) effort to limit for a year the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, factories and other stationary sources of pollution.

~~snip~~

It would have forbidden the EPA from working to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and large manufacturers while the Senate continues to work on its own global warming proposal. It would not have prohibited the agency from continuing work on emission standards from mobile sources, such as automobile emissions.

Murkowski said she agrees emissions need to be brought in check, but said she didn’t believe the EPA, acting under the authority of the Clean Air Act, was the proper agency to do so.

Read the rest here.

So why is this important?

The EPA currently is working to comply with a 2007 Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, which required the agency to determine whether certain greenhouse gas emissions are harmful to the environment and public health. The EPA currently is in the middle of writing the final "endangerment finding" that would put the agency on the path of regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

If Congress doesn't act on legislation to cap emissions, the work the EPA is doing could emerge as the standard. The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions and create a market for trading pollution credits, but the Senate has stalled in its effort.

In other words, the EPA can adopt regulations on emissions (read "carbon emissions") which would effectively place a stranglehold on U.S. commerce. This would not be a law; just a "regulation".

Read the whole article, and consider this: it would also stop oil and gas exploration just as effectively as the cap-and-tax fiasco.

Make no mistake, my friends, the soulless automatons in D.C. will continue their relentless march to hobble this country, reducing us to third-world status in a short time.

This stuff is coming at us thick & fast. Respond appropriately, while we still have that option.

Tuesday Morning

Good morning. It's 40 degrees, and AccuHunch guesses we'll get up to 58 today, with partly cloudy skies. I suppose I'm getting into a winter-time frame of mind: any day with any sunshine is a good one. But that's a negative mindset, considering that most of the leaves have yet to fall, and in fact haven't all turned yellow, yet. I don't see much brown, either, so we're still another week - or one good windstorm - away from falling leaves.

* * * * *

In Your Face Dept.: It's worth noting that Sarah Palin's oh-so-controversial predator control program is proving itself to work. With absolutely no apology to the remaining Elite Liberal Media (or at least the ones that haven't gone bankrupt yet), it seems there has been a 50 percent increase in the moose and caribou herds since she decided to allow wolf hunting. You can read the rest, here.

You may recall that one of the animal rights outfits ran anti-Palin ads during last year's presidential campaign, decrying her inhumane attitude toward those poor, misunderstood wolves. They'd want me to mention who they are.

* * * * *

A recent editorial in the Daily Worker News opined that the Municipality should dip into funds set aside for marketing Anchorage as a tourist destination, due to budget shortfalls. This seems unusually short-sighted, even for the Noise.

The money spent on trolling for tourists results in tens of millions of dollars pouring into the local economy, including that which trickles into the city's coffers via the hotel bed tax, and inventory taxes on the tourism-based businesses.

Advertise less = fewer tourists.
Fewer tourists = fewer dollars.

Apparently Journalism 101 didn't include basic economics. Tsk, tsk, children; didn't your mothers tell you to think before you put words on that computer screen?

* * * * *

Ain't Technology Wonderful Dept.: It's wonderful to see all the familiar "followers'" faces & icons when I visit my home page. Except when it's not working, like for most of Monday.

I also notice that the dashboard tells me, about one visit out of five, that I'm not following any blogs. Except, you know, for all the ones I do. But that's nit-picking, eh?

* * * * *

Money Grows on Trees Dept.: I see that the Anchorage School Board - you know, the one that's always just moments away from insolvency - has voted to add 30 teachers and 23 staffers for a larger-than-expected enrollment. I wonder if anyone will question where they found the money. I know that some of it will be offset by additional funds paid to the district by the State and/or Federales.

I fully expect the Superintendent to appear on local TV before the year is out, expressing her bewilderment at how short of funds they are, and threatening all sorts of dire program closures if people don't pony up more dough.

The first time I saw her do such a thing, it was the same day that then-Governor Murkowski announced he was sending her district an additional $40 Million. The. Same. Day.

Pathetic crisis-of-the-week mentality. And all the while, test scores keep dropping, and rarely is there an improvement in the graduation rate.

* * * * *

That's enough local news for one morning. I need to go wash my brain out with some quiet music.

Have a great day, folks! Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday Morning Randomosity

Good morning! (Yeah, I know 'randomosity' isn't a word. So sue me.)

MoBro should have landed in St. Louis about 2 1/2 hours ago; I've heard nothing from the folks who were to take him home, so that's a good sign. It was a busy week, and I'm more tired than usual for a Sunday; I'm glad to have the day to rest.

After a brief search of gun shops around town, I'm going to be ordering ammo on-line. I can still get it cheaper that way than by purchasing locally; go figure. If there's a delay or back-order, so be it. At least it will get here eventually.

We've been hearing more and more flocks of geese heading south. I noticed also that the Tordrillo Mountains, west of Anchorage, are snow-covered. Our daily highs are no longer approaching 70; it only got up to 60 yesterday. AccuHunch alleges we'll be having highs in the 50s, and lows in the 40s, for the upcoming week. It's that time, but it's always a jarring transition, as our summers tend to be rather short.

Birch leaves on this end of town are decidedly yellowish; it won't be long before they start falling. (sighs) In that regard, the first snows are always welcome simply because they cover up the barren ground.

My wife & I are talking about an extended vacation (at least two weeks) in March or April, but haven't any idea where we'll go. There are a number of places we'd like to visit, and some people we'd like to see, but the decision is a tough one. Both daughters are providing input, as well, but no one has the same list of "possibles". Discussions are ongoing.

There was an article on today's paper about how prices are slipping slightly. We hadn't noticed any change except for gasoline, which is now up to $3.12 per gallon. My round-trip distance to work is only 13 miles, so I can easily go two weeks or more on half a tank. The price is annoying, but not a hindrance, so far.


I notice today that Congress & the TOTUS are talking about removing the "public option" from healthcare reform. This is still wrong on several levels, including:

1. The bill hasn't been written yet;
2. A vote now is, in effect, giving Congress a blank check to do whatever they want, after the fact;
3. Once the bill is passed, it can be amended by a show of hands or voice vote, and the people would little-to-no chance to stop another "middle of the night" procedure. That procedure would almost certainly include the "public option."

And Meadow? Since you asked, I'll post some of YD's recipes from the past few days; I did take a couple of snapshots, when time permitted.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday - the End of the Week

Well, we're getting our third consecutive rain-at-3:00-pm-for-an-hour shower. It's kind of nice, since it doesn't rain all that hard, and it's not a hindrance to the homeward-bound traffic.

The temp made it up to 60 today, which is about where we've been for most of the week since Monday. I think it was only 55 then. The rain showers, each day so far, have blown through, followed by those enthusiastic winds I spoke of. Each time, the trees are whipping around, and curtains get wrapped around lamp poles and the heads of anyone seated near an open window.

* * * * *

There was a hapless but plucky 16-year-old girl who went door-to-door in our building on Wednesday, looking for work. She wasn't real quick on the uptake, though. She walking into my 240 sq.ft. office, where I work alone, and asked if I was hiring for a front desk or receptionist position.

I thought at first that she was kidding, and we engaged in a few seconds of blinking at each other. I finally said, "I'm sorry, but as you can see, I work alone."

"Yes?"

"There's no one else here; there aren't any other positions. I work alone."

"Uh-huh?"

{sighs} "I'm not hiring right now."

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

She seemed bright & chipper enough; I can't fault her for spunk. But great googly moogly! if someone tells you there are no positions available, don't stand there staring at them like a cow looking at a new gate.

On the other hand ... if that's the only comment-worthy thing that happened all week, then my life (while probably boring) isn't too bad.

* * * * *

Update: today, the House passed the largest tax increase in history, and did so with loud cheers from the Dimocrit side of the aisle. Get on the phones to your senators, kids - if this thing goes through, then we might as well turn out the lights & lock the doors. 

U.S.A.: closed for business.

Tuesday Tally

Good day!

Here's an update on the things I've touched on, recently:

~ The tunnel to Whittier has been reopened on a limited basis, as the Dept. of Transportation is nearly done removing all the loose boulders that threatened to fall after the big avalanche, a couple of months back.

~ The village of Eagle is assessing the damage from the flooding massive ice floes which practically destroyed the town. Very few of the buildings remain where they were before they flood.

~ Mt. Redoubt continues to quiet down, although the warning about the lava dome's instability remains in place.

~ Our weather continues its wonderful summer-like trend. It's sunny (and dusty, but that's normal, now) again today, headed to a high in the mid-60s. We're loving it.

~ The debate over bears in town continues. There's a simple solution, of course: shoot them & give the meat to the food banks and/or homeless shelters. Y'know, 20 years ago, this wouldn't have been a debate; the bears would have been on local dinner tables. Anchorage has been infected by liberals and other "greenies", dumbing down the issues.

~ And finally, as if we didn't have actual crime and wildlife issues to face, it was announced in the paper, today, that the police will begin cracking down on "loose dogs in pickup beds."

I presume this refers to those dogs which are unsecured, rather than canines of questionable moral standards.

Thanks for stopping by!