ANWR: The Big Lie

Regarding ANWR: a new pipeline across Alaska isn't required since the location for drilling in ANWR is about 160 miles from the North Slope Prudhoe Bay pipeline where it would be connected.

Second, the wildlife love the pipeline since it is heated and provides a shelter during the worst times during the winter.  Maybe another question should be asked.

 FIRST do you know what ANWR is?
ANWR is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Now a comparison

and some perspective

NOTE WHERE THE PROPOSED
 DEVELOPMENT AREA IS

(it's in the "ANWR Coastal Plain")

This is what the Democrats, liberals, Progressives, and "Green" 
show you when they talk about ANWR -

and they are right. These are photographs of ANWR:

 

Isn't it beautiful? "Why should we drill here (and destroy) this beautiful place?" they ask.

THAT'S NOT EXACTLY THE TRUTH. 

In fact, it's a deliberate lie. Do you remember the map? The map showed that the proposed drilling area is in the ANWR coastal plain. Do the photographs, above, look like a coastal plain to you?

What's going on here? The answer is simple - if you know what the coastal plain really is, you won't oppose the exploration for oil ... and they know it.

This is what the proposed exploration area

ACTUALLY looks like in the winter:

And this is what it ACTUALLY looks like
in the summer:

Here's a screen shot from Google Earth:

 

As you can see, the area where they are talking about drilling is a barren wasteland. Brackish swamp and tundra. Oh, and they say that they are concerned about the effect on the local wildlife.

Yeah, right.

Here is a summer photo of the poor, "depleted wildlife" situation created by drilling around Prudhoe Bay. Don’t you think that the caribou really hate that drilling?

Here's that same spot during the winter:

Hey, this bear seems to really HATE the pipeline near
Prudhoe Bay:

*The Prudhoe Bay oilfield accounts for 17% of  U.S.  Domestic oil production

Now, why do you think that the Democrats are lying about ANWR? Remember when Al Gore said that the government should work to artificially raise gas prices to $5.00 a gallon?

Well, Al Gore, the enviro-weenies and the Democrats nearly reached their goal.


But now that you know that they're lying, what are you going to do about it?

Post #4,500: The Dumbest Anti-Gun Politicians

From our friends at JPFO comes this:

Lawmaker Says 'Trickery' Slipped Common Core into Alaska School Districts

From the Alaska Dispatch News:

JUNEAU -- State Rep. Lora Reinbold, R-Eagle River, is on a mission to root out "Common Core," the new educational standards that have become a target of the tea party movement, from Alaska schools.

At a Wednesday hearing of the Joint Administrative Regulation Review Committee, chair Reinbold grilled Mike Hanley, commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Development.


Hanley said Alaska has adopted its own "Alaska Academic Standards," not the Common Core that many other states have adopted as part of a national education reform effort.

But Reinbold said those Alaska standards were so similar to the Common Core that they might as well be the same thing, and she spent much of the hearing trying to prove that, parsing previous Hanley statements on similarities and differences

"You were telling all the legislators that we weren't doing Common Core," she said. "We were being misled."



Local school districts around the state adopt the standards they want their students to strive for, and then select a curriculum to be taught that they think will help them get there.

But the Alaska Legislature last year adopted a prohibition on Hanley's department expending any money to implement Common Core. He told legislators at the time that the prohibition was meaningless because they weren't doing it anyway.

But Reinbold said she concluded the differences between the Alaska Academic Standards and Common Core were so slight that they were the same {snip}...

Some Alaska school districts, including Anchorage and Copper River, have adopted Common Core, while others have gone with the Alaska standards. Anchorage adopted the tougher standards before the state created its own.

Reinbold said the prohibition adopted by the Legislature barred that. She said "trickery" was used to keep on using Common Core despite the prohibition.

Many other districts are purchasing and using curriculum materials that are aligned to the national Common Core Standards, she said.

The argument, er, article continues, here.

That Was Short-Lived

We went to bed early last night, and I had what seemed a long, nonsensical dream. But near the end (in the dream), I looked out the window to see a layer of fresh snow.

Woke up excited and ran to the real window ... but alas.

Oh well, it won't be long now.

* * * * *

Mixed Messages Dept:  Same-sex marriages in Alaska were delayed, at least temporarily, Wednesday, with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issuing a stay in the case.

That, after a lower court denied the stay.

We sure are glad that judges all adhere so closely to the Constitution, aren't we?  I'm always amazed at how some jurists can find things in the Founders' words that simply aren't there.

In the words of Ronald Reagan, “It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.”

* * * * *

It Ain't Global Warming OR Cooling: In a copyright story, the Associated Press reports,

A university researcher has a new suspect in the decline of protected Steller sea lions in the Gulf of Alaska.

A study by Oregon State University researcher Markus Horning says Pacific sleeper sharks may be contributing to the mortality rate of Steller sea lions.

The western population of Steller sea lions, which includes the Aleutian Islands, has declined to about 20 percent of the levels they were before 1975.

 I've been hearing for years that the decline is due to warming, or something.

Turns out the "something" part is kinda-sorta correct. The alleged warming? Not so much.

The Badman Rules: Parents, Pay Attention

If the video doesn't show up, go here to watch it.

Senator Mark Begich Trying to Fool Alaskans about his Recent Anti-gun Actions

Gun Owners of America Senator Mark Begich Trying to Fool Alaskans about his Recent Anti-gun Actions GOA holding the Senator’s feet to the fire QUESTION: How do you tell when an anti-gun politician is lying? ANSWER: His lips are moving. On February 10, GOA alerted Alaskans to Democrat Senator Mark Begich’s role in defeating the Rand Paul pro-gun amendment that would have allowed individuals to carry firearms in Post Offices. But rather than just admit his complicity in helping to kill the pro-gun amendment, Senator Begich is trying to fool Alaskans into thinking that he was the hero who saved the day. However, these claims couldn’t be further from the truth. Even more so, it’s truly amazing that -- given the importance of firearms in Alaska -- Senator Begich actually played the central role in defeating Senator Paul's efforts to repeal the post office gun ban. Now, just to recap what happened: * Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) tried to offer his guns-in-Post-Offices amendment during a committee session on Wednesday, January 29. But it was Mark Begich who raised objections, thus preventing the committee from voting on Paul’s language that day. * Senator Paul then tried to offer his amendment at a subsequent meeting -- on Thursday, February 6. This time, the anti-gun chairman of the committee, Tom Carper, was ready with his own amendment to simply “study” the issue of whether Americans should be able to carry guns in Post Offices. And guess what? Mark Begich actually voted IN FAVOR OF the Carper “study” amendment, which effectively killed Paul’s pro-gun amendment. The Carper amendment -- which passed 9-6 -- killed the Paul language by making sure that it would not even be considered at all. Later, when Senator Paul kept insisting on getting a vote on his amendment, Begich offered his own anemic language as an alternative to Paul’s. It was so anemic that F-rated anti-gunners -- like Tom Carper (D-DE), Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Carl Levin (D-MI) -- were able to vote for it. Many of you took action on GOA’s February 10 alert and have contacted Senator Mark Begich to express your displeasure. So what does Begich have to say about all this? (1) Begich Misrepresentation: Begich says that he offered his killer amendment because “it became clear that the committee was going to vote against Sen. Paul's amendment.” ANSWER: The reason “it became clear” that the committee was going to kill the Paul amendment is because Democrats like Mark Begich -- along with Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana -- were voting IN OPPOSITION to Rand Paul! If Begich (and these other two Democrats) had not opposed Paul, the committee would have passed his amendment, rather than defeating it.  Begich is like a kid who kills his father and then throws himself at the mercy of the court because he is now an orphan. One can go here and here to actually view the committee debates … to watch the votes … and see how Senator Begich worked to bury Paul’s amendment in favor of his own language. (2) Begich Misrepresentation: Begich says that once the Rand Paul amendment was going to be defeated -- again, in part, because of Begich’s opposition to the Kentucky Senator -- then “I quickly offered a common sense solution...” ANSWER: The fact is, Begich's anemic language is called a "cover amendment." It allows reluctant Democrat senators to vote to kill the underlying pro-gun proposal, while giving them "cover" against protests from their pro-gun constituents. It should tell you something that ALL the Democrats on the committee -- even the viscerally anti-gun Senators -- were able to ALL vote for the Begich amendment. And, it should tell you something that Michael Bloomberg's minions have commended Begich for his role in killing pro-gun legislation.  As we alerted you earlier, the Bloomberg-backed Moms Demand Action praised Senator Begich and other Democrats on the committee right after the Paul amendment was defeated, and they declared a victory for their side: “We are pleased the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs rejected [the Paul amendment] today that would have allowed concealed, loaded guns to be carried in post offices.” Make no mistake about it:  The poorly drafted Begich "face-saver" amendment is a joke. Whereas the Paul amendment cut through the technicalities by repealing the post office anti-gun regulations, Begich’s text merely massages the regs. Hence, under the Begich amendment, you could be arrested for mailing a letter with a gun in your car if the public parking lot is also used by Post Office employees. Or, you could be arrested if another federal office shares the parking lot. Or, you could even be arrested because the anti-gun Postal Service determines that a "gun rack" in your car is not protected in the same way as "carrying." So bottom line: If you are ever arrested for having a gun in your car when you are at your local post office parking lot, you can blame Mark Begich. (3) Begich Misrepresentation: Finally, Begich is trying to assure voters in the state that “protecting Alaskans’ right to bear arms is a priority for me ….” ANSWER: The truth is that Mark Begich holds a “D” rating from GOA because he has voted with Senators Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer MULTIPLE TIMES against your rights. Consider just some of his anti-gun votes from 2013, which can be seen if full here: * Begich opposed Senator Ted Cruz’ efforts to filibuster funding for the anti-gun ObamaCare mandate, which effectively means that doctors will be able to ask their patients about guns, and health information will be used to deny guns to millions of Americans -- just as more than 150,000 military veterans have already been denied; * Begich voted for several of Obama’s anti-gun judges to sit on the federal bench; and he voted to set the stage for an anti-gun majority on the Supreme Court and the overturning of the pro-gun Heller decision; * Begich opposed efforts to raise the vote threshold for passing gun control in the Senate from 51% to 66% -- thus, making it easier for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to enact gun bans; * Begich voted to make it more difficult to for private individuals to sell firearms to certain military veterans; and  * Begich voted to confirm President Barack Obama’s anti-gun choice to be the new director of the ATF. ACTION:  Don’t let Senator Begich get away with trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Let Begich know that Alaskans like yourself know what he’s up to -- and that his back-room deals in committee have been completely exposed. So contact him again to counter his fallacious comments to the citizens of Alaska. You can cut-n-paste the text below into his webform here. Make sure to select the topic “Second Amendment Issues.” ----- Pre-written letter ----- Dear Senator Begich: I am appalled that you are trying to justify your efforts to kill the pro-gun Paul amendment, which would have allowed Alaskans to carry guns in Post Offices. First, you say that you offered your killer amendment because "it became clear that the committee was going to vote against Sen. Paul's amendment." But of course, the reason "it became clear" that the committee was going to kill the Paul amendment is because Democrats like yourself -- along with Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana -- were voting IN OPPOSITION to Rand Paul! If you and the other two Democrats had not opposed Paul, the committee would have passed his amendment, rather than defeating it. You are kind of like the kid who kills his father and then throws himself at the mercy of the court because he is now an orphan. Second, you say that once the Rand Paul amendment was going to be defeated -- again, in part because of your opposition to the Kentucky Senator -- then "I quickly offered a common sense solution..." But as you very well know, your anemic language was nothing more than a "cover amendment", which allowed reluctant Democrat senators to vote to kill the underlying pro-gun proposal, while giving them "cover" against protests from their pro-gun constituents. It's telling that ALL the Democrats on the committee -- even the viscerally anti-gun Senators like Tom Carper, Claire McCaskill and Carl Levin -- were able to vote for your amendment. And, it's telling that Michael Bloomberg's minions have commended you for your role in killing Paul's pro-gun legislation. The Bloomberg-backed Moms Demand Action praised you and other Democrats on the committee right after the Paul amendment was defeated, and they declared a victory for their side: "We are pleased the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs rejected [the Paul amendment] today that would have allowed concealed, loaded guns to be carried in post offices." Your "face-saver" amendment doesn't hold a candle to the original Paul amendment. Whereas the Paul amendment cut through the technicalities by repealing the post office anti-gun regulations, your text merely massages the regs. Hence, under your amendment, I could be arrested for mailing a letter with a gun in my car if the public parking lot is also used by Post Office employees. Or, I could be arrested if another federal office shares the parking lot. Or, I could even be arrested because the anti-gun Postal Service determines that a "gun rack" in my car is not protected in the same way as "carrying." So bottom line: If I’m ever arrested for having a gun in my car when I’m at a local post office parking lot, I will have you to blame. Finally, I see that you are trying to assure voters in the state that "protecting Alaskans' right to bear arms is a priority for me …." But the truth is that you hold a "D" rating from Gun Owners of America because you have voted with Senators Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer MULTIPLE TIMES against my rights. GOA has posted your anti-gun votes from 2013 here: http://www.gunowners.org/state1132014a.htm It would mean more to me if you would just admit your complicity in helping to kill Rand Paul's pro-gun amendment in committee, rather than trying to fool Alaskans into thinking that you were the hero who saved the day. Sincerely, Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102 Springfield, VA 22151 703-321-8585                                                   www.gunowners.org Contact Form

DOJ Report: Firearm-Related Murders Down 39% Since 1993

How you can help support JPFO Join JPFO The JPFO Order Line (800) 869-1884 Office Hours CST. ANTIS PLEASE NOTE! February 4th 2014 DOJ Report: Firearm-Related Murders Down 39% Since 1993 How you can help support JPFO Donate to JPFO The JPFO Order Line (800) 869-1884 Office Hours CST. About JPFO Site Links The BoR Page. JPFO 25 Years Alerts Archive By AWR Hawkins. February 2nd 2014 Article Source A DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) "special report" shows that "firearm-related" homicides fell by 39 percent between 1993 and 2011. It also showed that violent crime -- or "nonfatal firearm-related violent victimization against persons aged 12 or older"-- declined by 70% over the same time period. The BJS report was released in May 2013, but was under-reported amid the push for new gun control laws. The information in it is detrimental to many of the gun control arguments which were being propounded at the time. For instance, while Democrats in various parts of the country were pushing legislation to end the "gun show loophole," the BJS report showed that "among state prison inmates who possessed a gun at the time of [their] offense, less than 2 percent bought their gun at a flea market or gun show." And a subsection of the report focused on 1997 to 2004 showed that only two percent of state inmates and three percent of federal inmates used "a military-style semiautomatic or fully automatic" in the commission of their crime. The success of the gun control lobby was evidenced by an LA Times column which ran at the same time as the BJS report. According to the Times, although "gun crime...plunged in the United States since its peak in the middle of the 1990s...few Americans are aware of the dramatic drop, and more than half believe gun crime has risen." Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Refer to the "Sandy Hook Index" for an archive collection of valuable material we have shown since the events at the Newtown Elementary School. Yours in Freedom, The Liberty Crew at JPFO Protecting you by creating solutions to destroy "gun control" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright © 2014 JPFO.ORG, All rights reserved. http://jpfo.org/ Our mailing address is:  jpfo@jpfo.org P.O. Box 270143, Hartford, WI 53027, USA

Feedback

Appears there is lots of ‘negative’ feedback from the left over the movie Lone Survivor…
Here’s a clip from Judge Jeannie and Chris Heben (former SEAL).


It’s a pretty good fisking of the left’s whole argument…
It IS an outstanding movie, doesn’t sugarcoat what happened, and tells it like it was from Luttrell’s POV.  There is some ‘Hollyweird’ action surrounding the village stuff that didn’t happen, but all in all it’s not a bad portrayal.

In other news…

The President, the Commander in Chief, has made the Rules of Engagement (ROE) so difficult, that our troops are often killed before they can even get permission to fight.

Nothing has been done to stop our troops from being murdered by the Afghanis they are training, either.

Now, the President wants the US to sign on to the UNs International Criminal Court (ICC), which would allow the UNs ICC to arrest and try US troops for War Crimes, without the legal protections guaranteed under US Law, and from which there is no appeal.

The President, with his Democratic control of the Senate, has nearly all the power. If the non-establishment can take back the Senate in 2014, our troops can once again be protected from unnecessary danger.

Please consider this, and send it on to your mailing lists. Thank You and Semper Fi.

Interestingly enough, when GWB was president you heard about the the military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan almost daily.  With Obama in the White House, the mainstream media has been strangely quiet.

More than 1,000 American soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan in the last 27 months. This is more than the combined total of the nine years before. Thirty have died in August. During the last month, over 50 additional NATO and US servicemen have been murdered, inside jobs by those who are hired to be a force for good in Afghanistan.

The commander in chief is AWOL.  Not a peep, although he ordered the White House flag flown at half-staff for the Sikhs that were killed. There is a deep disgust, a fury, growing in the ranks of the military against the indifferent and total incompetence of this president.

It has taken on a dangerous tone.  No one knows what to do about him, but the anger runs deep as the deaths continue with no strategic end in sight to the idiocy of this war.  Obama has had 4 years to end this futile insanity, during which time he has vacationed, golfed, campaigned, and generally ignored the plight of our men and women in uniform {and so much more}.

But, there is now a movement afoot in the armed services to launch a massive get out the vote drive against this president.  Not just current active duty types, but the National Guard, Reserves, the retired, and all other prior service members. This is no small special interest group, but many millions of veterans who can have an enormous impact on the outcome of the November election if they all respond.

The million military retirees in Florida alone could mean an overwhelming victory in that state if they all show up at the polls. It might not keep another one hundred U.S. troops from dying between now and November, but a turn out to vote by the military against this heart breaking lack of leadership can make a powerful statement that hastens a change to the indifference of this shallow little man who just lets our soldiers die.

Veterans:  Please do participate and forward this to your fellow veterans & friends.

h/t JP & Old NFO

You Know It's Coming

Meteorologist Joe D’Aleo of WeatherBell Analytics and editor of http://www.icecap.us says that, as the President addresses the nation on Tuesday, every State will have freezing temperatures and parts or all of 27 States will be below zero.

All this is occurring as President Barack Obama is anticipated to talk about “climate change”, a warming Earth, during his Tuesday State of the Union speech. He will be speaking to the idiots who still think the Earth is warming because they are too stupid or lazy to ask why it is so cold. 

~ Alan Caruba, A Very Cold Reality

They Made It, But That's Not Enough

The State of Alaska recently changed the formula for calculating taxes on oil production. Some Alaskans believe that it shouldn't have changed, and circulated a petition to change it back.

Oil Tax Repeal Officially on the Ballot 

Alaskans will officially be able to decide whether the state Legislature got it right on oil tax reform in the 2014 primary election.

The Division of Elections confirmed Monday morning 31,673 signatures to repeal S.B. 21 passed during the legislative session earlier this year to lower the tax rate on oil and gas industry.

But here's the money quote:

The Alaska Democratic Party argues the number of valid signatures was even higher.

Srsly, what's wrong with people? Simply qualifying isn't enough ... they want to be more qualified-er than that?

From 4,000 Miles Away

A small group of protestors gathered outside the local NAACP office yesterday (when the office was, you know, closed) to demand "justice for Trayvon".

I'm sure they'd want me to publish their picture and link to the local coverage.

Know Your "Agenda 21"

Every household should serve up a sizable portion of Agenda 21 and what it’s all about with the turkey and stuffing this Thanksgiving.

There is no better time than between Thanksgiving and Christmas to reflect on your life and where loss of individual freedoms is taking modern society.

You don’t have to go to university to become a graduate of All Things Agenda 21.  The only university courses on the subject are administered by the UN University of Peace in sunny Costa Rica.  All you have to do is Google the United Nations and Sustainable Development for a chilling check on reality.

While dinner is cooking take your school age children outside and show them the innocuous looking, wireless Smart Meter attached to the outside of your house.

Go. Read the rest; it's enough to make you lose your Thanksgiving left-overs.


h/t MO Bro

Don't Let the Lights Go Out

The prosecution of seismologists in Italy for not "adequately" predicting an earthquake (which, of course, is impossible) has prompted some to warn of a new Dark Ages descending. But they're not the only ones.

In this country, so far, it's more a case of "your opinion isn't politically correct, so therefore you're stupid" than "you're wrong because of the evidence". For example: despite rock-solid evidence that there has been NO global warming for 16 years, the alarmists continue to decry both mankind and its use of fossil fuels as the cause of the ongoing crisis. You know, the one that doesn't exist.

Don't be afraid to call a spade a spade, and keep right on pointing to the evidence ... whether or not it fits their agenda.

ANWR - The Big Lie

Regarding ANWR: a new pipeline across Alaska isn't required since the location for drilling in ANWR is about 160 miles from the North Slope Prudhoe Bay pipeline where it would be connected.

Second, the wildlife love the pipeline since it is heated and provides a shelter during the worst times during the winter.  Maybe another question should be asked.

 FIRST do you know what ANWR is?
ANWR is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Now A comparison

And some perspective

NOTE WHERE THE PROPOSED
 DEVELOPMENT AREA IS

(it's in the "ANWR Coastal Plain")

This is what the Democrats, liberals, Progressives, and "Green" 
show you when they talk about ANWR -

and they are right. These are photographs of ANWR:

 

Isn't it beautiful? "Why should we drill here (and destroy) this beautiful place?" they ask.

WELL THAT'S NOT EXACTLY THE TRUTH. In fact, it's a deliberate lie. Do you remember the map? The map showed that the proposed drilling area is in the ANWR coastal plain. Do the photographs, above, look like a coastal plain to you?

What's going on here? The answer is simple - if you know what the coastal plain really is, you won't oppose the exploration for oil ... and they know it.

This is what the proposed exploration area

ACTUALLY looks like in the winter:

And this is what it ACTUALLY looks like
in the summer:

Here's a screen shot from Google Earth:

 

As you can see, the area where they are talking about drilling is a barren wasteland. Brackish swamp and tundra. Oh, and they say that they are concerned about the effect on the local wildlife.

Yeah, right.

Here is a summer photo of the poor, "depleted wildlife" situation created by drilling around Prudhoe Bay. Don’t you think that the caribou really hate that drilling?

Here's that same spot during the winter:

Hey, this bear seems to really HATE the pipeline near
Prudhoe Bay:

*The Prudhoe Bay oilfield accounts for 17% of  U.S.  Domestic oil production

Now, why do you think that the Democrats are lying about ANWR? Remember when Al Gore said that the government should work to artificially raise gas prices to $5.00 a gallon?

Well, Al Gore, the enviro-weenies and the Democrats have almost reached their goal.

But now that you know that they're lying, what are you going to do about it?

h/t Gamsbo

American Thinker: Reaping the Whirlwind

There is a sense of foreboding rising in this country. It is not the usual pessimism fueled by a sensational press, nor is it surfacing because of the political crisis machine that generates one drama after another by which to manipulate the electorate. It is a feeling of imminent danger fueled by a realization based on evidence so obvious and so startling that the citizenry cannot help but take notice. Our prosperity, our security, and even our safety are fast fading away. Our own president and his party are facilitating our demise.

Agree? Disagree? RTWT, then discuss.

h/t Polykahr

Friday Morning Thoughts

It was clear, 19 degrees & frosty at 5 a.m., a perfectly normal March morning. The gurus & weather wonks at AccuHunch predict we'll have low 40s and rain, this weekend. That's normal, too.

* * * * *

So after the Seattle Times cleans the egg off its collectivist face, and after they admitted no one threw a brick through a Congressperson's 30th floor window*, perhaps it should consider a name change. "Post-Intelligence" comes to mind.

* * * * *

Speaking of collectivists, the Anchorage Birdcage Liner-Glass Polisher reports:

As 48 other states are participating in a national re-writing of their state education standards, Alaska is taking a look at its own and wondering if it should get on board and raise the bar for the state's students. But while some educators say Alaska kids deserve to be held to the same standard as the rest of the country, others are saying we are different and the current, laxer standards are just fine.

Earlier this month, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers released the draft of sweeping new school standards that could lead to students across the country using the same math and English textbooks.

~snip~

Among the things that the national standards would call for: middle-schoolers will be ready to read "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and letters from John Adams; 10th graders will be up to mastering John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

The state standards don't mention specific reading material. Instead they say that middle schoolers should be able to identify foreshadowing in literature, and that by the 10th grade a student should be able to do things like identify syntax...

I don't know why not; I had to learn those things, and I seem to be able to string more than two words together without drooling.

After the NEA and various governmental entities (you know who you dare, Dept. of Lowering Our Educational Standards) have been dumbing the kids down for the better part of a century, I think it's high time to actually, you know, teach the kids something.

Besides, this move comes from the States, and that's the way it ought to be. I keep harking back to that silly ol' Constitution ... and it doesn't say anything about the General Gov't. setting standards for education. But maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

* * * * *

There are a lot of things to discuss, stuffed shirts to puncture, and inflated egos to pop ... so many progressives; so little time ... (sighs). But work beckons.

Y'all come back, hear?

*"Threw it through the window" is confusing to many, with so many homonyms. Perhaps, as Lewis Grizzard once suggested, we should switch to southern spelling. "He thowed it thew the window" is more clear, no?

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.

Much Undue Fuss about Sarah Palin

Have you wondered why all the coverage on every breath taken by the Palins - and none about Biden or the Democrats in general?

"Elements of an elitist, leftist, mostly Eastern-based MSM fear and loathe Governor Sarah Palin — all 5' 7, 125 pounds of her traditional values, anathema to them."

Read the rest here.

Former Senator Ted Stevens: Conviction Thrown Out

The judge today threw out Sen. Stevens' conviction, and launched a criminal contempt investigation of the Justice Dept. attorneys in the case.

Uncle Ted has been vindicated, and it's not just a "technicality," as the AK Dimocrit party is asserting.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan said the misconduct was the most serious he has ever seen in nearly 25 years on the bench.

This confirms what many of us said during the trial: it was a deliberate put-up job, designed for a single purpose: to unseat Ted Stevens as the senior Republican in the U.S. Senate.

Quote of the Day

"Remember, folks – the goal is to subjugate us. It's done under the guise of 'caring for us', but make no mistake about it, those who wish to protect you from yourself are doing so out of a deep seated desire to control you. And you can't control someone who can shoot back."

Read the rest here.