REFLECTIONS

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue:
1. Yes We Can 2. Whitewash
3. Quotas 4. Diversion
5. DOMA 6. Wells
7. NASA 8. TSA

1. Yes We Can. Ran across a great observation from one of the commentators on the Belmont Club last week. Paraphrased it went as follows: Ever notice that when liberals run for election it is always some version of Yes We Can; and after they get elected it is always No You Can’t?

2. Whitewash. The latest whitewash of the East Anglia University Climate Research Unit was released last week. This one was done by the University. Like previous investigations by the British House of Lords, and Penn State University, this one found the perpetrators of this scientific fraud completely innocent of everything they said they were doing in the released e-mails. The investigation did not address the garbage computer models; manipulating data; manipulating the peer review process; deleting data that did not fit the conclusions; or hiding data from Freedom of Information Act requests. Investigators did not interview any skeptics nor did they apparently read or review more than a couple of the 56 meg of e-mail and data released by the CRU whistleblower last November. Not unlike a scene from a Naked Gun movie when Leslie Nielsen stands in front of an exploding fireworks factory doing the “nothing to see here; move along” routine, this investigation serves to only cover the sorry backsides of every single clown involved in this fraud. It also serves to further damage the reputation and respect for East Anglia University. Happily, there is no statute of limitations on RICO prosecutions. And I see RICO in these guys’ future.

3. Quotas. Real Clear Markets Thursday reports that the Dodd – Frank Financial Reform legislation has provisions in Section 342 that creates at least 20 new offices of Minority and Women Inclusion. These new Offices are intended to implement and enforce discriminatory quotas for women and minorities throughout the financial industry. The new quotas will not only discriminate against white males, but will apply to all banks, credit unions, investment houses, mortgage brokers, dealers, brokers, asset management firms, and law firms that deal with them. These provisions are hideous and once again demonstrate the fascist nature of this legislation and this congress. You can read the entire article here: http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2010/07/08/diversity_in_the_financial_sector_98562.html

4. Diversion. J. Christian Adams, the Department of (In)Justice civil rights lawyer who resigned after Holder’s political appointees would not allow him to respond to a lawful subpoena made the rounds of the talk shows, the blogs and cable. His story of race-based politicization of DoJ and the FBI were terrible. Essentially, the Black Panthers who participated in voter intimidation in Philadelphia in November 2008 can do whatever they want to do to whomever they want to do it with impunity – and for no other reason than they are black. Interestingly, Adams described the Panthers’ actions on that election day as simply a diversion intended to distract poll watchers so that ACORN people could vote early and often. These folks need to be very, very careful, for should they corrupt elections to the extent that the general public believes they are no longer fair or honest, it will be a short step to vigilante justice. And perhaps it ought to be.

5. DOMA. A federal judge in Boston threw out the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional last week. On the surface, this is to be expected from a judge based in Boston, as Massachusetts started this entire mess. On the other hand, the judge was a Nixon appointee and he tossed out DOMA on Tenth Amendment grounds. The gay rights crowd instantly went into their Snoopy dance. Leftists started scratching their heads. And small government, enumerated powers conservatives started smiling. For if this ruling stands scrutiny in the higher courts, it is a vehicle that can be used to utterly destroy the fascist legislative and regulatory infrastructure that has come out of this congress and past congresses. If the Tenth Amendment applies to DOMA, then it also apples to ObamaCare, Financial Reform, GM – Chrysler takeover, TARP, Stimulus, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and innumerable other unnatural acts from congress and the executive branch. It will force reconsideration of at least a century of SCOTUS decisions and a reinterpretation of the commerce clause, which has been used as an infinitely expanding excuse for Fedzilla to do whatever it wants to whenever it wants to do it.

6. Wells. The local McClatchy fishwrapper ran its latest scaremongering piece Wednesday, breathlessly pointing out that there are tens of thousands of abandoned and decaying wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the wells date back to the 1940s. They expressed concern at about 3,500 wells that have been temporarily abandoned. While the numbers are large, consider the location and condition of the various wells. We did not have the ability 70 years ago in the 1940s to drill or produce deep water wells. Wells that are dry holes – wells that don’t tap any gas or oil reservoirs – don’t produce anything and do not leak. They are plugged with cement, locations logged, and abandoned. There are hundreds of thousands of abandoned wells on dry land nationwide. Wells that produce for a time and exhaust the reservoir are also plugged, logged and abandoned. Occasionally, these wells are revisited, as there are a few reservoirs that will recharge and repressurize from deeper formations. The whole intent of the article was to scaremonger about the looming threat of past oil and natural gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and to terrify the reader into supporting a complete shutdown of future oil and natural gas production in the future. I hope it doesn’t work.

7. NASA. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden committed Truth in public. Last week, a months old video of an interview on Al Jazeera was released. In it, Bolden said that Obama personally charged him as NASA Administrator with an outreach mission to the Muslim world so as to improve their self- esteem. I do not doubt that Obama said this. I do not doubt that this is his charge not only to NASA but to all his agency heads. He said as much during a number of bowing and scraping speeches to Muslims after his election. Bolden simply said it out loud, in public for all to see. And he is to be congratulated for telling the truth in public. The unfortunate part of this episode is that it will be used in congress to oppose the very positive NASA budget and change in direction. Rather than going after NASA, critics ought to be going after the notion that the US needs to suck up to the Religion of Perpetual Outrage. Never suck up to bullies. Never.

8. TSA. Finally, we have a funny little story out of the TSA. They announced a list of web site types that the TSA was going to block their employees from reading. It had all the usual suspects – gaming, for example. Additionally, the TSA will also block any site that has controversial opinion. And we know that this administration defines controversial opinion as anything that disagrees with them. Interestingly enough, the TSA list did not include porn sites. Given that federal financial regulators were surfing porn sites during the financial meltdown in 2008, perhaps this is not a bug, but a feature.

More later — AG

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Note: Interesting Items can be found also at the following locations: MatSu Valley News and the home page. Rod Martin’s The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column. Alex Gimarc is a long-time member of the previous Town Hall Conservative group.