CPAC Starts Tomorrow…

And I’m-a goin’.

So far I haven’t weighed in on any of the controversies swirling around this year’s CPAC, but I feel the need to, now.

I don’t expect everyone at a conservative conference to agree on every issue, so I don’t have a problem with a group like GOP Proud having a seat at the table. In fact, I say, roll out the red carpet. Conservatives are not “anti-gay”. We may not agree with them on every single social issue (gay marriage, DADT), but if we agree on most everything else, I don’t see what the problem is. Melissa Clouthier’s take on this, was explained very thoughtfully, and  at length, at Red State.

Now, there’s much ado right now about the Conservative Political Action Conference because an identity-politics group GOProud has been allowed to attend CPAC. Having read founder Chris Barron’s material and seen his activism, it seems that his group fits into two circles (or in the past, referred to as two legs of the Conservative tent)–the fiscal conservative and hawk circles. Here is the group’s belief statement:

What we believe
We are conservatives who believe in limited government, individual liberty, free markets, a strong national defense and a confident foreign policy. We believe that every individual should be equal under the law. Click here to learn about our federal legislative priorities.

I’m pretty sure the “equal under the law” thing is a euphemism for gay people being married like hetero people. Otherwise, this is a fiscally and defense-wise conservative group.

She concludes that CPAC is a good place to hash out our differences:

And I hope social conservatives don’t abandon CPAC. I have strong reservations about identity politics in conservative thought. In fact, I’m pretty sure identity-politics are antithetical to conservatism as a philosophy. Still, we need to reach more minority voters and convince them of conservatism. How do we do that and not balkanize conservatism?

That’s a real discussion that must be had. And CPAC is just the place to have it.

My only concern with this is that CPAC could become a place where we are pressured to change longstanding conservative views from groups within.  I don’t go to CPAC to defend my conservatism. I go to share what I have in common with the other attendees, and I’m hoping that’s what GOP Proud is there for, too.

Leon Wolf wrote a somewhat harsher rejoinder to Clouthier’s piece, which you can read, here.

A much more serious concern for me are reports of the influence of  radical Muslims groups on the board of directors of the ACU, the group that sponsors CPAC. Ben Howe at Red State wrote at length about that in his eye-popping post: The Muslim Brotherhood and the ACU.

At 1:00 pm on Friday in the Jackson Room, there will be a panel discussion called The Importance of Faith & Religious Liberty in the U.S. & Abroad.  It is sponsored by a group called Muslims for America which was founded by the Hasan Family Foundation and runs a blog at muslimsforamerica.us.

It’s at this blog that Muslims for America co-founder Muhammad Ali Hasan, a self-proclaimed “proud democrat” and supporter of the DREAM Act, described the controversy around Park51 Muslim Community Center otherwise known as the Ground Zero Mosque:

Anyone who opposed the Mosque/Islamic Center was clearly being a bigot. These people have not cared for the last 9 years what was happening at Ground Zero.

Under the auspices of “caring,” the writer has labeled any reasonable opposition to the construction of the GZM as intolerant towards Islam.  This is not the only time that the group has taken this position as Ali Hasan made similar accusations on the O’Reilly Factor.

As has been discussed often by the opposition to the mosque, if Park51’s stated purpose is to improve Muslim-American dialogue, not ignoring the concerns of a populace that was attacked by the evangelists of your religion would be a great start.  But this presupposes that the writer in any way holds followers of Islam responsible for the attack.

He does not.

Read the whole thing.

Pamela Geller has been kept off the agenda for her un-pc views on Islam for years, but last year she rented a room at the Marriott, and had a SRO crowd for her conference on Jihad. She’ll be there again, this year.

Now on a more positive note – Allen West has been named CPAC’s keynote speaker this year, which RS McCain for some inexplicable reason, thinks translates to more beers for him.  I’m pretty sure there’ll be no $20 wagers over whether or not this particular keynote speaker will cry during his speech, like last year.

Here are the rest of the confirmed speakers:

Rep. Michele Bachmann

Gov. Haley Barbour

Hon. John Bolton

Andrew Breitbart

Arthur Brooks

Herman Cain

Ann Coulter

Gov. Mitch Daniels

Hon. Newt Gingrich

David Horowitz

Wayne LaPierre

Sen. Mike Lee

Sen. Mitch McConnell

Rep. Ron Paul

Sen. Rand Paul

Hon. Tim Pawlenty

Gov. Rick Perry

Hon. Mitt Romney

Hon. Donald Rumsfeld

Rep. Paul Ryan

Hon. Rick Santorum

Phyllis Schlafly

Sen. John Thune

Video: Man Buried Alive By Snowplow

A Wisconsin man’s morning visit to  his mailbox became  a 4 hour snow-packed, death-defying ordeal after a snow plow drove by and buried him in the snow:

During the height of Wednesday morning’s blizzard, Latta fell in a snow bank while trying to get his mail.

That was 5 a.m. He was stuck and things were about to get much worse.

Latta says he never heard the plow coming, but when it did come by and push the mound of snow next to his mailbox he was covered from head to toe.

He says he remembers being covered with snow, his whole body buried.

Latta laid there for four hours.

Thank goodness for lookie-loo neighbors, huh?

It’s Time To Defund Planned Parenthood.

Mike Pence took to the House Floor today to denounce Planned Parenthood in the wake of yet another Live Action Sting video, released  Tuesday morning:

Text provided by LifeNews:

“Mr. Speaker, it comes as a surprise to most Americans to learn that the largest abortion provider in America is also the largest recipient of federal funding under Title X. It’s heartbreaking news this morning that Planned Parenthood of America has now been the subject of one more undercover video showing someone posing as a pimp being facilitated by employees at Planned Parenthood in how to secure secret abortions, STD testing and contraception for child prostitutes.

“As a father of two teenage daughters I saw the video that came out this morning. I saw the video that came out last week and it’s an outrage to me. That employees of Planned Parenthood clinics across the country are facilitating the abuse of minor girls in this country should be a scandal to every American.

“The time has come to deny all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America. I’ve authored the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would deny Title X funds to Planned Parenthood or any other abortion provider and Congress must act and act now to move this important legislation. Pro-life Americans and all Americans should not be forced to subsidize America’s largest abortion provider or continue to provide federal taxpayer dollars to Title X clinics that engage in this abhorrent behavior.”

Pence filed the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition act on January 7, 2011.

Planned Parenthood has fired one manager, and announced the intention of “retraining” employees nationwide as a result of these latest stings, although a better word for it would be “untraining” them, because clearly, these employees were  responding out of habit. The response most civilized human beings would have when face to face with teenage sex traffickers would be extreme revulsion and a quick call to the authorities – not to advise the miscreants on how to evade the law and take advantage of government programs.

A licensed health care facility is mandated by law to report  the abuse of minors, (girls under 16), so the fact that these Planned Parenthood employees were willing to facilitate the exploitation and abuse of  young girls speaks volumes. As the mother of two teenage and two tweenage daughters, I find it plenty “compelling” that PP didn’t call the authorities until they realized they were victims of a sting. At some point they must have put 2 +2 together – I’m guessing after the Live action duo ran into trouble in one or two of their stings – but I’m just spit-balling.

Planned Parenthood reported visits to  clinics in Virginia, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, Washington and Arizona between Jan. 11 and Jan. 15.

On Jan. 25th, Crimesider reported:

Last week, Planned Parenthood Federation of America president, Cecile Richards, wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder summarizing the visits and requesting an FBI investigation.

“Last week” was Jan. 16- 22. The visits themselves were the 11-15th. See what I’m saying?  Planned Parenthood only reported what happened  after their own internal investigation showed that they were being punked.

The videos clearly show Planned Parenthood employees, knowledgeable about how to skirt the law, willing to help the sex traffickers, but a clueless NY PP exec pronounced in an interview that he firmly believes the videos were doctored before admitting that he hasn’t yet seen them. Media Matters watched – so he didn’t have to, I guess.

Lila Rose reports:

This endemic cover-up of abuse extends beyond the staff at the New Jersey clinic, the four Virginia clinics, and the New York clinic. For four years our investigative team has been documenting the widespread abuse cover up at Planned Parenthood. See it yourself: From 2007-2009 we released 10 cases of sexual abuse cover up in six states, and our footage has led to suspensions and firings, resignations, numerous state investigations, and probation.

Young girls are going into Planned Parenthood clinics every day, too many the victims of abuse. Three-hundred to 400 thousands children are trafficked for sex every year, and too many are taken to Planned Parenthood clinics for secret abortions. The clinics that these abused girls will walk into will not only turn a blind eye to their abuse, but would do business with their pimps and keep their abuse secret.

Planned Parenthood has poured millions of dollars (many of them taxpayer dollars) into carefully crafting a positive public image. They like to brand themselves as the “trusted provider of women’s health care.” But Planned Parenthood’s real agenda is emerging: in its daily operations, the organization is rigidly pro-abortion and pro-abuser, enabling the victimization of young girls by partnering with their abusers.

Time to defund this sleazy outfit.

UPDATE:

Life News: Lila Rose: Planned Parenthood Deceives in Sex Trafficking Video Response:

Deception 6) “We reported this to the FBI”

Planned Parenthood wrote the FBI a letter a week (after) our investigation, only after they realized that Live Action had conducted the sting. They say this themselves. As much as they may pretend, Planned Parenthood was not attempting to help send human traffickers to jail; they were attempting to pre-empt the release of Live Action’s footage.If Planned Parenthood really cared about reporting potential sex traffickers to authorities, they would have called police while the pimp was in the clinic, or immediately after. Not wasting a minute. Planned Parenthood, where are the reports from the now SIX clinics we’ve released, that you immediately called the police?

Why did all your staffers, instead of refusing service or gathering information from the pimp about his sex ring to inform authorities, GIVE the pimp information about how to access the Planned Parenthood system for secret services?

Like I said…

Read the whole thing…She responds to six deceptions in all.

Linked by Michelle Malkin in Buzzworthy, thanks!

Tuesday Quick Links

Looks like Algore’s snagged himself something he thinks will revamp his struggling Current TV channel.

Keith Olbermann to Join Forces with Al Gore?

From the New York Times:

Keith Olbermann, the former top-rated host of “Countdown” on the news channel MSNBC, will announce his next television home on Tuesday, and people familiar with his plans pointed Monday to a possible deal with the public affairs channel Current TV.

Neither Mr. Olbermann, his representatives, or executives from Current TV would comment on the move, but they did not deny that the channel, which counts former Vice President Al Gore as one of its founders, will become at least one partner in Mr. Olbermann’s future media plans.

One of the people with knowledge of the plans said Mr. Olbermann would have an equity stake in Current TV. The people insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized by their employers to comment in advance of the official announcement.
[...]
With Current TV, Mr. Olbermann would also gain a measure of independence. Unlike most cable channels, including MSNBC, which are owned by large media companies, Current is privately and independently owned by Mr. Gore and other backers.

Imagine that. Olbermann unleashed.  The new and improved Olby will be able to propagandize with even more spittle spewing  hatred and venom!

At Hot Air, Ed Morrissey writes:

Olbermann had a much better platform at MSNBC before fleeing the network, and almost certainly a more lucrative one as well.  Becoming chief news officer of Current TV is hardly a good trade for the prime-time position at MSNBC, and while some of his viewers will seek him out, most of them will probably stay put with Larry O’Donnell.  However, as Mitch Berg recalls, I actually predicted this at the time it happened, right down to the equity stake, on our NARN broadcast the day after his departure.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next couple of years — and whether Al Gore and Keith Olbermann can live with each other for that long.

***

Ace and his bloggers have been pushing back  hard against this outlandish notion the left has been pushing that Ronald Reagan was some sort of pragmatic, bipartisan  moderate. The narrative they’re trying to promote is that he was all about compromise, and would consider Sarah Palin and the tea party’s ideas  too extreme. In other words, they want you to believe, that Ronaldus Magnus would  agree with them!

This narrative isn’t meant for those of us who are old enough to remember the 20th century’s greatest President. It’s meant  for impressionable younger folks -skulls full of mush, as El-Rushbo would call them. That’s why the exposition of old videos showing Reagan in his own words are so important in fighting this line of bull.

DrewM created this  Reagan  remix to refute the nonsense:

Hit the last link for another great Sam Donaldson/ Ronald Reagan moment.

Also check out Uncoverage for The Ronald Reagan “60 Minutes” Interviews.

***

Lila Rose at Big Government has the latest Planned Parenthood sting – this time in the Bronx, NY: Giving Pimps Discounts on the Taxpayer’s Dime.

Memo to Mitch Daniels: Now is not the time to call a truce on social issues. It’s time to DEFUND Planned Parenthood.

***

Remember – Today, you can watch the important film, Iranium, all day for free.

***

Watch The Great Koch Conspiracy: Why Does the Left Fear Free Speech? at  PJTV

Watch the best Robert Gibbs remix ever at Politico Video: I’m not a…

Thank God he’s “not a” Press Sec for much longer, either.

***

Daily Caller: Republicans likely to push for budget cuts to NLRB soon

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ranks high on the budget cut list for top House Republicans.

House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline, Minnesota Republican, is particularly concerned with some of the NLRB’s recent pro-union agenda, The Daily Caller has learned, and will take that into special consideration when it comes to what’s going to get cut from the budget in the near future. Education and Workforce’s subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions will conduct a hearing on Friday on “emerging trends” at the NLRB, which TheDC has learned will likely feature a broad discussion of the NLRB’s alleged power grabs.

***

Hans Bader, The Washington Examiner: Obama Administration hid the role of political correctness in spawning Fort Hood massacre

Leftist Wisdom: Tea Party More Dangerous Than Muslim Brotherhood

Ann McElhinney, the producer and director of the documentary “Not Evil Just Wrong, caught this sweetheart on tape at a pro- Egypt rally in Los Angeles.

Paging Chris Matthews….

“The tea party is a right wing party that -  should they came to power…would destroy America, and with them on the button of the nuclear weapons, they would destroy the world.”

I seem to remember the same exact thing being said when Ronald Reagan was running for office. And we all know how that turned out. His legacy is that he  won the cold war without firing a shot, thus saving the word from nuclear disaster.

Not to be Captain Obvious, here, but the tea party’s peaceful, fiscally responsible positions are….to say the least – a stark contrast to the Muslim Brotherhood’s violent, fundamentalist Islamism.

What scares the #%$@& out of me is the sick feeling I get in the pit of my stomach, that our President may actually agree with this nut.

 

Hypocrisy Alert: NAACP Declines To Condemn Left-Wing Racist Attacks On Justice Thomas

When conservatives call Obama a Socialist, they’re raaaaaacist.

When they say, “kill the bill”, they’re raaaaaacist.

When they oppose Obama’s policies, they’re raaaaacist.

The NAACP is quick to play the race card when it means defending a left-wing agenda.

In fact, they partnered with Think Progress and Media Matters and New Left Media to launch teapartytracker.org, a website  that publishes and monitors what they consider  “racism and other forms of extremism within the Tea Party movement.”

But after lefty moonbats at a Soros-funded anti-Koch rally made unambiguously racist comments like; someone should “string up”  Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, or “send him back into the fields” or “cut off all his toes and feed them to him,” ….what do you know?  The race card was nowhere to be found.

-

The Daily Caller asked NAACP spokesman Hilary Shelton for comment on those crystal clear cases of racism,  and got this lukewarm reply.

“Last summer, the NAACP passed a resolution calling for a civil political discourse,” Shelton said in an e-mail to TheDC. “We continue to call on all Americans to abandon vitriolic language. It serves as a distraction from the real issues our society need to address and distorts the challenges we as Americans have to confront to make our nation greater still.”

Shelton would not, however, address the content of the video directly.

You know what? When I say that Obama is destroying the country, that’s vitriol, and based on a valid opinion, like it or not.

-

When someone says a black man should be “strung up” or “sent back to the fields”, that’s not just vitriol, it’s clear-cut racism. When someone expresses the desire to cut off his toes and feed them to him one by one, that’s not just vitriol, it’s moonbatshit crazy.

-

And all of this – the racist vitriol, the hate-speech, the violence tinged rhetoric, and most of all, the rank hypocrisy, is what we have come to expect from the left.

See also:

John Sexton at Big Government: Think Progress and the Racist Rhetoric Double Standard

Cross-posted at NewsReal Blog.

Linked by Doug Ross in Larwyn’s links, thanks!

Watch Iranium

Roger Simon at PJ Media is sending out this email alert, notifying people about the important new film, Iranium. I thought I’d share it for those of you who are not already on PJ Media’s mailing list.

Iranium, a new documentary film by Clarion Productions, depicts the danger behind the threat. The documentary will be available for free on Tuesday, Feb. 8, on its website. Click here to watch the trailer, (links fixed) and please tell your friends about this important film.

Note: That’s not the trailer at the link, it’s the entire 60 minute film. I clicked, and I’m watching it, right now. They may take that down since it seems to be up in error, so you may want to make time to watch it on Tuesday.

To really understand the severity of this issue, we must know the ideology of Iran’s leaders. The 60-minute film uses rarely seen footage of them and interviews with 25 leading experts on Middle East policy, terrorism and nuclear proliferation — including former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and PJM writer Michael Ledeen. The film, which also features Iranian dissidents, visually demonstrates the hatred and violence exhibited by Iran’s brutal leadership.

The experts interviewed in the film also explain how Iran could use its nuclear arsenal to exert leverage in the Middle East, and it sketches various potential scenarios of an Iran with nuclear weapons. For example, a nuclear Iran would trigger an arms race in the Middle East and have a huge impact on the cost and availability of oil, which would reverberate across the world.

As the film explains: “What happens when a regime that openly desires the destruction of nations obtains nuclear weapons? The world may suffer unthinkable consequences.”

UPDATE:

It’s just the trailer, now. I only got about a third of the way through before I was interrupted, so I’ll watch the rest,  tomorrow.

Video: Ronaldus Magnus v.s. Teh One +Blog Round-Up

I know I don’t have to tell you that the comparisons  the Obama media have been making between The Gipper and The Empty Suit, of late, are  absurdly farcical. Obama’s SOTU speech was a swing and a miss because, as this entertaining video demonstrates, the two could not be further away from each other ideologically.

video via Blue Collar Philosophy

Another great Reagan/Obama debate video by BFH at iOWNTHEWORLD:For Bill Whittle’s Consideration – Ronald Reagan vs. Barack Obama

When Ronald Reagan was elected President, it was “morning in America.” When Obama was elected, it was “mourning in America”, okay?  Let’s please can the word, “Reaganesque” to describe anything Obama says or does. It defiles the memory of a truly great, and honorable man.

Since practically everyone in the right wing blogosphere is writing about Reagan, today, I thought I’d do a round-up:

Michelle Malkin: Reagan centennial: On life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

The Other McCain has a couple: Another Kooky Conspiracy Theorist (I may have given away the punchline), and VIDEO: Ronald Reagan’s 100th.

Doug Ross valiantly slogs through the muck and slime at Think Progress to defend the greatest President of the 20th Century: Think Progress Celebrates Reagan’s Birthday by marketing its Top Ten Lies Intended To Smear The 20th Century’s Greatest President! (Bless his heart.)

Related: An apparent Think Progress/Media Matters drone  called into The Rush Limbaugh Show to parrot the anti-Reagan talking points and hilarity ensued. The Blog Professor has the video.

DrewM at AoSHQ: Ronald Reagan At 100

No Sheeples Here: The President Who Stood By Our Side: My Tribute To Ronald Reagan

Hot Air: Happy birthday, Mr. President

Pundit and Pundette: Reagan’s defense of life: “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation”

American Power: Video: Reagan Centennial Ceremony in Simi Valley

NewsReal: Ronald Reagan at 100: Remembrances of a Giant among Men

David Horowitz, NewsReal: Ronald Reagan and Iran in 1979

More Left-Wing “Tolerance” On Display as High Profile Republicans Are Prevented From Speaking

pic via NY Daily News

And by high profile I really do mean high profile:  A former President, and a possible presidential candidate – George W. Bush, and Sarah Palin.

Leftists in Europe, still not ready to make nice with GW, prevented him from participating in a Jewish charity event in Switzerland.   Ed Morrissey reports, “left wing groups were preparing a decidedly hostile welcome for Bush and the trip had to be canceled”.

President George W. Bush has canceled an event in the famously neutral country Switzerland because of expected protests to his presence there.

Bush was supposed to give the keynote address at a Jewish group’s charity gala on Feb. 12 in Geneva.

Leftist groups had planned to protest the visit, according to news agencies. But several human rights groups had also filed criminal complaints against Bush, demanding that he be taken into custody if he stepped on Swiss soil and investigated for allegations of ordering torture.

As Morrissey points out, Bush would have been afforded diplomatic immunity as a visiting dignitary and former head of state,  but the disruptions would have had such a negative effect on the event, he decided to cancel.

The Washington Post further reported:

In what would have been his first European trip since leaving the presidency, Bush was scheduled to speak in Geneva on Feb. 12 at a dinner in honor of the United Israel Appeal. A lawyer for the organization said Bush’s appearance was canceled because of the risk of violence, and that the threat of legal action was not an issue.

“The calls to demonstrate were sliding into dangerous terrain,” the lawyer, Robert Equey, told the Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve.

A spokesman for Bush said the former president regretted that his speech was canceled.

Chalk one up for Swiss Eurotrash for successfully preventing a former President from engaging in charitable acts in their country. What a coup. The losers here, of course, are the organizers of the fund-raiser.

Meanwhile, via Weasel Zippers, we learn that Sarah Palin had to cancel a trip to Colorado where she was to give a speech, because of  “an onslaught of personal attacks”.

(Denver Post) — Citing an “onslaught of personal attacks”, a Colorado nonprofit today canceled a scheduled May appearance in Glendale by former Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, according to a press release.

Palin was to be the keynote speaker at the Patriots & Warriors Gala at the Infinity Park Events Center in Glendale.

The event sponsored by the Sharon K. Pacheco Foundation was announced Friday but was canceled today due to “safety concerns resulting from an onslaught of negative feedback received by the organization,” the press release said.

I’m sure it’s Sarah Palin’s fault that lefties hate her so much they feel the need to attack and threaten her. No doubt her “cross-hairs” map had something to do with it.

If Palin does decide to run for President, it is easy to imagine that security threats and protests will follow her wherever she goes.

Someone should call the “civility” police. Oh yeah, they did that already – which is why she’s seeing such an uptick in personal threats.

There’s a joke in there, somewhere…but damned if I don’t find it funny.

Cross-posted at NewsReal Blog

Sunday Hymn: You Raise Me Up

A beautiful Celtic hymn performed by (who else!) Celtic Woman:

MORE:

Here’s Josh Groban singing his song at the 2004 Superbowl, in remembrance of the of the Space Shuttle Columbia crew. Celtic Woman’s version was beautiful, but this one makes you cry.

Thanks to No Sheeples Here for recommending it.

Lyrics:

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

There is no life – no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

Video: Gore, Godzilla and Global Warming Cooling

I  love Charles Krauthammer’s dry sense of humor….

Video via Wolf Howling

Related:

This doesn’t sound good…

SalemNews.com: Magnetic Polar Shifts Causing Massive Global Superstorms

(CHICAGO) – NASA has been warning about it…scientific papers have been written about it…geologists have seen its traces in rock strata and ice core samples…

Now “it” is here: an unstoppable magnetic pole shift that has sped up and is causing life-threatening havoc with the world’s weather.

Forget about global warming—man-made or natural—what drives planetary weather patterns is the climate and what drives the climate is the sun’s magnetosphere and its electromagnetic interaction with a planet’s own magnetic field.

When the field shifts, when it fluctuates, when it goes into flux and begins to become unstable anything can happen. And what normally happens is that all hell breaks loose.

Magnetic polar shifts have occurred many times in Earth’s history. It’s happening again now to every planet in the solar system including Earth.

The magnetic field drives weather to a significant degree and when that field starts migrating superstorms start erupting.

The superstorms have arrived.

Read it all, but take it with a grain of salt.

See also:

Weasel Zippers: Analysis of Five Different Temperature Databases For 2010 Shows Zero Evidence of Global Warming…

Hat tip: Michael Ledeen, The Corner

Linked by Michelle Malkin in Buzzworthy, thanks!

Video: Chris Matthews is Shocked Shocked At The Idea Of Commies And Islamists Colluding

Who’s ever heard of such a thing?

See Also:

The Right Scoop for video of Walid Shoebat talking about the  socialist groups in Egypt which are creating  crisis and how the Islamists are taking advantage of it  to take power.

Ron Radosh, PJ Tatler: An Academic Scholar Alerts His Colleagues to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Danger

Andrew Bostom, Big Peace: Egypt: Sharia and Hurriyya (Arab ‘Freedom’)

Victor Sharp at the American Thinker: Obama Well Knows What Chaos He Has Unleashed:

Islam increasingly holds Europe, America, and what is left of the free world in its clutches…and the left cheers it on.

Let me close with the words of  Michael D. Evans, New York Times bestselling author of Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos:

It’s no coincidence that Al Baradei showed up in Cairo only two days after the uprising began and was immediately named a negotiator by the Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, he had been waiting in the wings for quite a while.

He’s on the board of an organization headed by George Soros and Zbigniew Brzezinski called International Crisis Group. Brzezinski is the same man who supervised the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979.

Another board member of the ICC is one Javier Solana. Solana is one of the most powerful figures in the European Union. Because of Solana’s Marxist sympathies, and his support for the regime of Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Solana was on the USA’s subversive list.

Former U.S. National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, who once smuggled incriminating documents out of the Clinton White House by hiding them in his clothing, is another Board Member, as is General Wesley Clark, once fired from his NATO command.

Mohamed El Baradei also sits on the ICC’s Board and thus, seeing the hand of George Soros along with the other players who for so long have plotted against the West and Israel, the Islamists are joined together.”

MORE:

FrontPage Magazine’s Jamie Glasov interviews Pamela Geller: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Penetration of the Obama Administration

Linked by Daily Gator and Mind Numbed Robot

Wikileaks: Obama Gave The Russians Britain’s Nuke Secrets!

“You’re welcome”.

Holy crap.

This UK Telegraph report is absolutely astonishing:

A series of classified messages sent to Washington by US negotiators show how information on Britain’s nuclear capability was crucial to securing Russia’s support for the “New START” deal.

Although the treaty was not supposed to have any impact on Britain, the leaked cables show that Russia used the talks to demand more information about the UK’s Trident missiles, which are manufactured and maintained in the US.

Washington lobbied London in 2009 for permission to supply Moscow with detailed data about the performance of UK missiles. The UK refused, but the US agreed to hand over the serial numbers of Trident missiles it transfers to Britain.

Professor Malcolm Chalmers said: “This appears to be significant because while the UK has announced how many missiles it possesses, there has been no way for the Russians to verify this. Over time, the unique identifiers will provide them with another data point to gauge the size of the British arsenal.”

Duncan Lennox, editor of Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems, said: “They want to find out whether Britain has more missiles than we say we have, and having the unique identifiers might help them.”

While the US and Russia have long permitted inspections of each other’s nuclear weapons, Britain has sought to maintain some secrecy to compensate for the relatively small size of its arsenal.

An earlier Wikileaks cable showed Britain being mocked by a US diplomat over our  “special relationship”:

Richard LeBaron, the US deputy chief of mission, said the obsession with the alliance would “be humorous, if it were not so corrosive”.

He also reported to Washington that it would be “tempting” to take advantage of Britain’s attitude.

There’s nothing funny at all about how the Obama administration is trampling all over our longstanding allies.This is absolutely disgraceful.

I wonder if this news will find its way into the Obama media’s news coverage. (That was a rhetorical question).

UPDATE:

Geoff notes that this probably violates Article 3 of the NATO treaty:

Article 3In order more effectively to achieve the objectives of this Treaty, the Parties, separately and jointly, by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack.

See Also:

Ace: What? WikiLeaks: Obama Sold Out UK, Giving Details Of Their Deterrent To Russia, In Order To Induce It To Sign Meaningless START Treaty

But WikiLeaks Is Often Hype… One thing: WikiLeaks doesn’t have all the diplomatic cables. It might be the case (in fact, I’d bet hope it is the case) that the US and UK had a side-deal where the UK blessed this exchange.

So, actually, give this one 24 hours.

But Then… Allies paper things over publicly even in the case of a major breach. Publicly, they say “everything’s cool.’

MORE:

See Urban Grounds for photoshop: From To Russia With Love.

UPDATE II:

Via Pirate’s Cove, Nile Gardiner  writes further at the Telegraph that this “astonishing betrayal”  is the most damaging wikileaks relvelation, so far, to the Anglo-American Special Relationship:

The matter is serious enough to merit Congressional hearings in Washington as well as parliamentary hearings in London. It is easy to see why the Obama team refused to allow the US Senate access to the negotiating documents for New START, as they would have sparked outrage on both sides of the Atlantic that would almost certainly have killed the Treaty. The Telegraph report clearly contradicts repeated claims by the Obama negotiating team that no side deals were struck with their Russian counterparts. Not for the first time, the current US administration has been eager to appease America’s enemies while shamelessly undercutting her allies.

Ed Morrissey says the Senate should look into revoking the START TREATY:

This is a disgrace, of course.  Remember when Obama the candidate insisted that he would restore our standing with friends and allies after the supposedly inept diplomacy of the Bush administration?  We do not increase our standing among friends or foes when we stab the former in the back for the sake of the latter.  Instead, we look craven, disloyal, and inept.

Regardless of what Obama thinks of American nuclear deterrents and policy, he has no right to undermine the policies of our closest ally and stalwart friend, especially as they fight with us in Afghanistan.  Congress should immediately investigate this, and if possible the Senate should revoke its ratification of START.

UPDATE III:

Via Doug Mataconis of Outside The Beltway, the beginnings of a defense from the Obama administration has emerged:

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley has responded to the Telegraph story via Twitter:

Contrary to @TelegraphNews claim, we carried forward requirement to notify #Russia about U.S.-UK nuclear cooperation from the 1991 treaty.

Here is the text of the SALT I treaty. I’m looking through it, right now to see where it says it that the US has to provide Russia with Britain’s nuclear secrets.

Would this be the section that applies?

3. Each Party shall provide to the other Party, in accordance with the Notification Protocol, and, for subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, in accordance with Section III of the Inspection Protocol: [Agreed State 37]

bbbb(a)notifications concerning data with respect to items subject to the limitations provided for in this Treaty, according to categories of data contained in the Memorandum of Understanding and other agreed categories of data; [Agreed State 21]

bbbb(b)notifications concerning movement of items subject to the limitations provided for in this Treaty;

bbbb(c)notifications concerning data on ICBM and SLBM throw-weight in connection with the Protocol on ICBM and SLBM Throw-weight [MOU, Section I] Relating to this Treaty, hereinafter referred to as the Throw-weight Protocol;

bbbb(d)notifications concerning conversion or elimination of items subject to the limitations provided for in this Treaty or elimination of facilities subject to this Treaty;

bbbb(e)notifications concerning cooperative measures to enhance the effectiveness of national technical means of verification;

bbbb(f)notifications concerning flight tests of ICBMs or SLBMs and notifications concerning telemetric information;  [Launch Notification Agreement]

bbbb(g)notifications concerning strategic offensive arms of new types and new kinds;  [Agreed State 2]

bbbb(h)notifications concerning changes in the content of information provided pursuant to this paragraph, including the rescheduling of activities;

bbbb(i)notifications concerning inspections and continuous monitoring activities; and

bbbb(j)notifications concerning operational dispersals.

4. Each Party shall use the Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers, which provide for continuous communication between the Parties, to provide and receive notifications in accordance with the Notification Protocol and the Inspection Protocol, unless otherwise provided for in this Treaty, and to acknowledge receipt of such notifications no later than one hour after receipt.

Under  notifications concerning movement of items subject to the limitations provided for in this Treaty:

Each Party shall provide to the other Party, pursuant to subparagraph 3(b) of Article VIII of the Treaty, the following notifications concerning movement of items subject to the limitations provided for in the Treaty:

1. notification, no later than 48 hours after its completion, of the transit of non-deployed ICBMs and non-deployed SLBMs; launch canisters that remain after flight tests of ICBMs for mobile launchers of ICBMs; non-deployed mobile launchers of ICBMs; and mobile training launchers. Such notification shall include: the number and type of items involved; the facility from which the items departed; the date of departure; the facility at which the items have arrived; the date of arrival; the mode of transport; and, for each ICBM for mobile launchers of ICBMs, the data from the unique identifier;

It’s worth noting that Russia violated the START I treaty from beginning to end:

On Russia’s START violations, the report stated: “Notwithstanding the overall success of START implementation, a number of long-standing compliance issues that were raised in the START Treaty’s Joint Compliance and Inspection Commission (JCIC) remained unresolved when the Treaty expired on December 5, 2009.”

It’s galling that the Obama administration would go against an ally’s wishes, and provide Russia with serial numbers of their weapons, when you know that Russia would never return the favor.

UPDATE:

Wolf Howling weighs in:

…the administration is now indicating, this is just a carryover of the notification provisions of START 1. But Britain was not a signatory to START 1 and their nuclear weapons, regardless of where they are being held, are not subject to “limits” of START.

Jake Tapper reports:

A knowledgeable source with the British government, speaking anonymously because his government has a policy of not commenting on Wikileaks, says his understanding of the policy conforms with that asserted by the State Department.

Captain Ed updates with:

Just FYI, here’s the part of the memo leaked by Wikileaks, emphasis mine:

10. (S) Orlov asked about the U.S. practice of transferring Trident II missiles to the United Kingdom (UK) in reference to the Russian-proposed agreed statement on the subject. Trout pointed out that most of the provisions contained in the proposed agreed statement were already covered by other sections of the treaty. He noted that notifications existed for the transfer and return of missiles to and from a third party. Additionally, he pointed out, the Russian Federation will receive unique identifiers for each of the missiles transferred to the UK, which was more information than was disclosed under START. Trout acknowledged that the proposal to send a notification of a UK flight test was not covered under START nor had it been included as part of this treaty but argued that this was the flight test of a missile owned by a third country. He said the United States had no legal responsibility for such a notification. Trout said he assumed the UK would send a notice to mariners and airmen prior to any flight test.

So yes, they got notified under the earlier START protocols of transfers of nuclear weapons — but they didn’t get the unique identifiers, which would quantify and specify the number of weapons transferred.  That’s what the British refused to accept, and apparently what we agreed to do anyway.

LINKED BY Michelle Malkin in Buzzworthy, Pirate’s Cove, Right Wing News,  Stop The ACLU, And So It Goes In Shreveport, Right Klik, Zilla Blog, Wolf Howling, Conservative Hideout, Doug Ross, thanks!

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

Friday Free-For-All

photo credit Reuters

The situation in Egypt is complex, but the more I hear about what is going on over there, especially some of  the forces that seem to be behind the uprising, the more apprehensive I become. If the Muslim Brotherhood is given a role to play in the new government, as the Obama administration has suggested, instead of being outlawed like they were under Mubarak, I don’t see that as positive “change”.

The Washington Times reports: Muslim Brotherhood seeks end to Israel treaty:

A political leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Thursday called on any government that replaces Hosni Mubarak’s regime to withdraw from the 32-year-old peace treaty with Israel.

“After President Mubarak steps down and a provisional government is formed, there is a need to dissolve the peace treaty with Israel,” Rashad al-Bayoumi, a deputy leader of the outlawed movement, said on Japan’s NHTV.

James Simpson at The American Thinker: We Are Witnessing the Collapse of the Middle East

If Egypt should fall, it will mark the beginning of the end for what little remaining stability there is in the Middle East.  Jordan is facing similar unrest, as are Algeria and Yemen.  Lebanon and Tunisia fell in January.  It is highly unlikely that these events are unrelated.  A combination of leftist and Islamist forces provoked the protests, and we are likely looking at a ring of radical Islamic states rising up to surround Israel.  Once their power is solidified, perhaps in a year or two, they will combine forces to attack Israel.  If Israel falls, the United States will stand alone in a sea of virulent enemies and impotent allies.

So whom does Obama support, Mubarak or his enemies?

Obama wasted no time in telling us.  He supports Mubarak’s opponents, and he probably has been all along.  The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday that the Obama administration favors a role for the Muslim Brotherhood in a new Egyptian government.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest extremist Muslim organization, is behind practically every Muslim terrorist organization ever formed.  And while they may have publicly renounced violence as the LA Times article claims,internal documents

And if that weren’t bad enough, Obama’s latest comment to Egypt’s leader is that “an orderly transition … must begin now.”

Must begin.  Now.

Simply stunning.

Juxtapose Obama’s statements toward our allies with his reaction to the genuine uprising that occurred last year in Iran. Tunisia: “Reform or be overthrown.” Egypt: “an orderly transition … must begin now.” Iran: “It is not productive … to be seen as meddling.”

Atlas Shrugs: Sandmonkey Arrested, Beaten, Released

I have known the Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey for as long as I have been blogging. He’s a good guy. I did a great interview with him here in 2007 and when he quit blogging here. He said at the time back in 2007:

SANDMONKEY: “Any kind of democratic reform in the country [Egypt] for the past 3 years has been rolled back specifically because there is no more pressure coming from Washington anymore.”

ATLAS: Why? What happened to the pressure in Washington?

SANDMONKEY: You know what happened to the pressure in Washington. The Democrats won the Congress. There is no more pressure coming from Bush because he is not able to push people anymore to do those things. He is not able to push the Egyptian government anymore because the American public is suddenly not interested in reforming the Middle  East because of what’s going on in the Iraq. So suddenly the Egyptian government is not afraid of the American pressure. They are doing whatever they want to do. They are beating up demonstrators, they are cracking down on activists, they are changing the constitution, and eroding civil liberties once and for all and they are using proxies to take down bloggers.

Read the whole thing.

NRO, The Corner: Coptic Christians Killed in Egypt

NRO, The Corner: Copts Fear for Their Future Post-Mubarak, Despite What Obama May Be Hearing

Jonah Goldberg: The Orwellian Absurdity of the Middle East

I don’t have any profound point to make, but I just think it is fascinating how the Iranian regime can celebrate the popular protests in Egypt without a trace of humility or embarrassment. I know all the explanations for why this is so (or at least most of them). What I would love to have a better grasp on is how the various Muslim and Arab “streets” see such hypocrisy.

I wonder the same thing.

Aaron Klein: Obama pals provoked Egypt chaos

Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter, Human Events: The Egyptian Crisis: Lost Horizon (The Sequel)

Within the legitimate popular protests to oust the Iranian autocrat, an American administration analyzed the allegedly radical element as “… better organized [and] enlightened … than its detractors would lead us to believe [and could] produce something more closely approaching Westernized democratic processes than might be at first apparent.”  As historian Abbas Milani dryly noted, “a more misguided reading of what Khomeini stood for is hard to imagine.”

Keep reading.

Live Action is keeping Media Matters busy, I see.  I wonder how much those vermin get payed to defend the indefensible. Grown men, fathers even – defending PP’s facilitation of child trafficking.  How do they sleep at night?:

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Breaking: Another Day, Three More Live Action Videos:

In a Falls Church, Va., Planned Parenthood clinic, a worker tells him, “We don’t necessarily look at the legal status, like I said. Abortion appointments do require photo ID. It’s nothing as far as records. It’s just photo ID that’s ever going to be required.”

In a Roanoke clinic, a worker suggests he consider going to the Health Department instead of taking girls to her clinic. It’s cheaper and easier to hide what’s going on. She tells him: “They’re discreet. They’re confidential. They, you know, don’t tell people what’s going on, because — frankly — it’s nobody’s business.”

The sex trafficking of children is nobody’s business?

Once again in Charlottesville, a worker assures: “Anybody here can help you. Everything here is confidential. We can’t give any information out.”

Perth Amboy wasn’t a fluke. Planned Parenthood has an institutional problem here.

Oh, would you look at this – OH MY GOSH, but these guys are such pathetic losers:

Dan Loesch, Big Journalism: JOURNOLIST 2.0: Soros Sites Hold Con Call To Map Strategy for Planned Parenthood Defense:

The majority of the call was spent discussing ways to discredit Rose because of her funding. They surmise that some group which donates to her pro-life magazine is a group donated to by a group given money by the Koch Brothers. So says people who just cashed a $1 million-dollar check from George Soros.

You know why the right doesn’t hold conference calls to to “map strategies”? Because the truth is easy.

Da TechGuy asks:

Since what was done on the tapes clearly stepped over the line, why not just express outrage, and urge Planned Parenthood to be more careful in the future in such cases?

Because you can’t undermine western civilization without undermining life.

Red State: Christie Vetoes Planned Parenthood Funding, Calls for Investigation

Dan Riehl at Big Government: Common Cause Can’t Distance Itself From Hateful Rhetoric

Common Cause is the organization that sponsored the shockingly vile anti-Koch-Bros rally in California, last weekend. Bad behavior at conservative rallies is rare -  the exception, while at lefty rallies, it is the rule. As is always the case with the left, when they accuse their opponents of racism, and other nastiness, we are witnessing the projection of their own pathologies onto us.

Yid With Lid: Anatomy of a Smear- How Media Matters Exploits Fake Bigotry To Protect George Soros.

Short version: More lefty projection. It’s what they do!

AIM: Media Gives Schumer a Pass While Attacking Palin and Bachman

…Because Schumer is so darn schmart.

Great News at Uncoverage: Climate Justice [Finally] in California: Judge Faults AB 32 “Cap and Trade” Law:

This is UNBELIEVABLE , SURPRISING, AND VERY GOOD NEWS for the California economy.  The state’s unfortunate nod to global warming nuttery, AB32, the first-in-the-country state “cap and trade” law, has been scheduled to take effect this year, but it has been PUT ON HOLD. By.a.judge.in.liberal. San Francisco….Go figure!!

Michelle Malkin: The Interior Department’s culture of contempt:

Oops, they did it again. President Obama’s grabby-handed environmental bureaucrats have earned yet another spanking from the federal judiciary over their “determined disregard” of the rule of law. Isn’t it time to give these misbehaving government hooligans a permanent timeout?

Federal judge Martin Feldman in Louisiana excoriated the Obama Interior Department Wednesday for defying his May 2010 order to lift its groundless ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in the Gulf. Nine months later, not a single permit has been issued. Several deepwater platforms have moved out of the area to take their businesses — and an estimated 5,000 jobs — overseas. Billions of dollars in potential oil revenue and Gulf lease sales-related rent have also dried up.

Michelle Malkin: Obama EPA to Shell: Screw you

Commentary: How to Understand Rush Limbaugh

Long, but well worth your while.

I find The View to be 99% unwatchable, but this here is that other 1%: DeSean Jackson on “The View” Helping a Bullied Kid

Funny: Allen West responds to a “serious question” via The Shark Tank :

And it looks like congrats are in order:

2011 CPAC Blogger of the Year-EL Sharko! http://shark-tank.net/?p=10750

Ace: Obama Botches Bible Quote; Media Matters Botches Defense

Hey Soros, are you sure your money is being well-spent?

Linked by Michelle Malkin in Buzzworthy, and Pirate’s Cove, thanks!

Transparency Fail: CDC Conceals “Abortion Surveillance Report”

I mentioned this story in an update to my Live Action VA/ Planned Parenthood post, yesterday. In case you missed it, Red State’s discovery that the Obama administration is deliberately concealing nationwide abortion statistics, merits your attention. For reasons known only to themselves, for the first time in 40 years, the CDC’s annual “Abortion Surveillance Report” was not published, and there are “no plans for them to come out anytime soon”.

Last year, contrary to the long-established practice, November came and went with no report posted on the CDC’s website. Over the following weeks, multiple visits to the site proved fruitless. The possibility the report was not merely delayed, but had in fact been axed from higher up, had to be considered.

Last week, RedState began investigating by calling those in DC who might have some answers. After several attempts, we finally received confirmation from Rhonda Smith at the CDC’s press office in Atlanta that the report has been buried indefinitely; the CDC “will not have stats available at any time in the near future” and there “are no plans for them to come out any time soon.” This call took place on Jan. 27th, and we asked Ms. Smith for a reason that the report wouldn’t be issued anymore. She promised to check around and find out if there was any reason given and get back to us – as of the date of this posting, we have received no further communication from her office.

This revelation is nothing short of shocking. Most of the leg work for this study is actually done by Guttmacher – all it costs the CDC is some manpower to assemble the statistics and write up the report. In the overall scope of the CDC’s budget, this report barely even registers. So what is the CDC trying to hide? The only reasonable conclusion to be drawn here is that someone higher up has made the decision to actively eliminate the only official report on abortion statistics in the country, just because they don’t want abortion being talked about.

Freshman Rep Vickie Hartzler(MO-4), released a statement, yesterday:

“This is the epitome of hypocrisy being exhibited by the Obama Administration as it hides facts and figures on abortion while claiming to want more transparency in government. This is a pattern that has become all too common with the Obama Administration, ranging from its distortion of the facts on taxpayer funding of abortions under ObamaCare to manipulated information to support repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. It is time for the Obama White House to put a stop to its disregard for openness in government and to end its practice of distorting data for blatantly political purposes.”

More congressmen are weighing in, today.

Senator Tom Coburn is demanding a response from former KS Gov., who was a friend and donation recipient of the controversial late term abortionist, the late Dr. Tiller, HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius which you can download here (warning, .pdf).

RedState also heard from Congressman Pete Olson (R-TX), who issued this statement:

“It strikes me as convenient for the Obama Administration that states are not required to provide data to the federal government on the number of abortions performed each year. It makes it easier to hide the amount of federal funds that go to abortion providers and robs taxpayers of a genuine accounting of the number of abortions performed annually, some by groups that receive federal tax dollars.

“In a GAO report that I requested – one that was completed after years of ignoring other Congressional requests – GAO determined that during a period of 7 years, almost one billion U.S. tax dollars were spent by groups that promote or perform abortions. I urge the President to stand behind his commitment to ensuring scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda and instruct the CDC to complete the report.”

See RedState reports for full story.

RELATED:

LifeNews: Kansas Landlord Sues to Stop New Abortion Practitioner:

An abortionist in training, with a sketchy background, (improper relationships with patients), is trying to set up shop in Wichita, against the wishes of the citizenry.

A landlord has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a new abortion practitioner from setting up shop in Wichita, Kansas to replace late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller.

Mila Means has reportedly purchased abortion equipment from the now-closed Women’s Health Care Services formerly operated by Tiller and plans to begin doing abortions on Saturdays at her medical office near East Harry and Webb Road in Wichita.

A large group of local pro-life advocates have already protested the opening of a new abortion business and pro-life groups have exposed very recent and troubling personal problems of Means and Gregory Linhardt, who is also planning to do abortions in the large central Kansas city.Now, Foliage Development, Inc., landlord of a local business park, has sued Means and obtained a temporary order blocking her from starting a new abortion business in her current office. Means is currently in training once a month at Aid for Women abortion center in Kansas City to learn how to do abortions.

Read the full report.