Opinion
By: David Freddoso
During our last big snowstorm, in December, I unearthed an old column by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in which he claimed that the winters in D.C. have become anemic, that global warming is to blame, and that his anecdotal memories prove the perfidy of oil companies that try to explain global warming away. His anecdotal evidence seems to be falling flat this year. The winter of 2009-2010 is already the snowiest in D.C. history, with more than five feet measured already at Dulles Airport. Not only that, but we're expecting 10 to 20 inches of snow tomorrow. None of this disproves the idea of anthropogenic global warming. But neither does Kennedy's vague memory of colder times prove anything....By: Mark Tapscott
Dubbed CTSunlight.org, the purpose of the site is to enable Connecticut residents to "look at every line item of state government spending and discover how our tax dollars are being spent by the people in Hartford. The goal of the CT Sunlight Project is to empower regular people to hold state government accountable for their spending. Bloggers, journalists, students, academics, and average citizens can use this website to see how the state spends our tax dollars, identify corruption, and suggest ways to effectively reduce spending in Hartford." Yankee Institute officials say they obtained the data for the site through a massive Freedom of Information Act request for data covering calendar 2007 and 2008. "We believe transparency and disclosure of how government...By: Mark Tapscott
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is reassuring Americans that the huge deficits and spiralling nationa debt "will never" damage the country's sterling credit rating because investors will continue to view the U.S. as a good investment. And in other news, Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus reassured his citizens that they should not worry about those hordes of barbarians gathering outside the city. Rome is too big to fail, so they will never invade Rome," the Emperor said. "Besides, if they were to sack Rome, where would they go for our fine entertainments, including the orgies, drama productions with real executions, and, let' s not forget, our incomparable gladitorial contests in the Coliseum." German barbarian leader Odoacer was asked for comment, but would only say through a...By: David Freddoso
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who flies around on private planes so as to tell larger numbers of people how they must live their lives in order to save the planet, wrote a column last year on the lack of winter weather in Washington, D.C. In Virginia, the weather also has changed dramatically. Recently arrived residents in the northern suburbs, accustomed to today's anemic winters, might find it astonishing to learn that there were once ski runs on Ballantrae Hill in McLean, with a rope tow and local ski club. Snow is so scarce today that most Virginia children probably don't own a sled. But neighbors came to our home at Hickory Hill nearly every winter weekend to ride saucers and Flexible Flyers. In those days, I recall my uncle, President Kennedy, standing erect as he rode a toboggan in...By: Mark Tapscott
Nearly two of every three Americans support the CBS decision to air a pro-life Super Bowl television spot featuring college football star Tim Tebow and his mother Pam Tebow, according to the latest Marist Poll. Although half of the respondents generally believe advocacy ads should not be allowed during the Super Bowl telecast, most of the 1,003 respondents in the survey made an exception for the Tebow, according to the Marist Poll. "Although 49% of Americans oppose the inclusion of advocacy ads during the Super Bowl, 60% think CBS has made the right move to allow a pro-life ad sponsored by the group Focus on the Family, featuring Heisman Trophy winner and Florida Gators Quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother. 30%, though, think it should not air, and 10% are unsure," the Marist Poll...By: Mark Tapscott
President Obama's remarks during last State of the Union address included an admonition to Congress to change the way it discloses earmarks, by putting all of the information about every earmark on one web site that is easily accessible to the public. That was good advice and there is no practical or philosophical reason why Congress should delay doing that as soon as possible. But Congress being Congress, additional "encouragement" will almost certainly be required. To that end, the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington non-profit devoted to increasing transparency and accountability in government, is circulating a useful How-to that should be required reading for every Member of Congress: "How Congress Should Fulfill President Obama’s Call for Real Earmark Disclosure "In his...By: Mark Tapscott
That Facebook page put up by Americans United for Life and LifeNews.com to support the Super Bowl spot featuring Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother has drawn more than 160,000 supporters, and the signups are expected to total around 200,000 by the time the spot airs this Sunday during the showdown between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints. The Tebow spot, which was produced and paid for by Focus on the Family, tells how doctors encouraged Tebow's mother, Pam, to abort him due to pregnancy complications while she and Tebow's father were serving as missionaries in the Phillipines. The Tebows opted to have Tim anyway, and he grew up to become one of the most successful college football quarterbacks of all time, winning the Heisman Trophy and leading his Florida...By: Mark Tapscott
President Obama's appearance last week before the House Republican meeting in Baltimore has sparked a bipartisan coalition of prominent members of the Commentariat to mount an online petition drive seeking public support for a regularized version of the occasion like the British Parliament's "Question Time." During Question Time, the sitting Prime Minister regularly fields questions from members of Parliament in an often acerbic, not-infrequently humorous, and sometimes educational encounter. Hot Air's Ed Morrissey is among those endorsing the idea. He writes that the Baltimore event "was an all-around win. Obama got a chance to look presidential and to get away from scripted responses. His presence there forced the media to cover the substantial policy proposals from the GOP...By: Mark Tapscott
RedState.com's Erick Erickson is having a Jim Mora Moment - "Playoffs? Playoffs? Are you kidding me, playoffs?" - in assessing the news that former Indiana Republican senator Dan Coats is coming out of retirement to challenge the man who took his place in the U.S. Senate, Evan Bayh. In a blog post headlined, "Shoot me now please," Erickson laments: "If the best the Republican Party of Indiana can do is retread old horses who put themselves out to the pasture to begin with, we’re screwed. It was, after all, Dan Coats who left the Senate and Evan Bayh who won his seat. Had Coats stayed, this wouldn’t have happened. "The last image most conservatives have of Dan Coats is him standing next to Harriet Myers swearing she was one of us. Don’t get me wrong — he’s...By: Mark Tapscott
Charter schools are public-funded and independently run public schools that provide a genuine alternative to the typical dreary, teacher-union debacle found in most big-city public school systems. But do they make a difference in the academic performance of students? Well, in the District of Columbia, 38 percent of all public school students attend charters. Those charters have higher grades, higher attendance and higher graduation rates than regular DC public schools. There are reasons for this performance differential. Check out this new video that explains those...By: Mark Tapscott
Massachusetts consumers will pay higher utility bills as a result of a state law passed in 2008 that requires energy companies doing business in the Bay State to buy electrical power generated using green production resources, according to the Boston Globe. "The four investor-owned utilities in Massachusetts - National Grid, NStar, Western Massachusetts Electric Co., and Unitil Corp. - are soliciting bids from producers of energy from renewable resources. Bidders have until Feb. 19 to submit proposals for 10- to 15-year contracts to sell power to the utilities, which do not make their own power, but rather buy and distribute it.," according to the Globe. "The utilities must enter into contracts with renewable energy suppliers under state environmental legislation passed in 2008. The...By: Mark Tapscott
Penn State University officials say further investigation is warranted into at least one charge of professional misconduct by Prof. Michael Mann in connection with his research and advocacy on behalf of the global warming cause. In a statement just posted on the school's web site, officials said: "A University committee has concluded its inquiry into allegations of research impropriety that were leveled in November against Professor Michael Mann, after information contained in a collection of stolen e-mails was revealed. More than a thousand e-mails are reported to have been 'hacked' from computer servers at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in England, one of the main repositories of information about climate change. "During the inquiry, all relevant...By: Mark Tapscott
Pollster Brad O'Leary reports that his colleague John Zogby's latest survey finds more people felt safer when George W. Bush was in the White House than they do now with Barack Obama in the Oval Office. According to O'Leary, Zogby asked respondents "when it comes to air travel, do you feel safer under President Obama, or did you feel safer under President Bush? Only 22 percent of voters say they feel safer under President Obama and 36 percent say they felt safer under President Bush. Nearly 25 percent say they feel equally safe under both Presidents, and 16 percent feel safe under neither. "Just 12 percent of Independent voters feel safer under Obama and a sizable 43 percent say they felt safer under Bush. Nearly 26 percent of Independents say they feel equally safe under Bush and...By: Mark Tapscott
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-MN, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-MO, and Rep. Joann Emerson, R-MO, have introduced legislation to block regulation of greenhouse gases by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Peterson said the bill is needed to prevent the agency from usurping the right of Congress to make environmental policy on global warming issues. In a news release, Peterson said: “I have no confidence that the EPA can regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act without doing serious damage to our economy. Americans know we’re way too dependent on foreign oil and fossil fuels in this country — and I’ve worked hard to develop practical solutions to that problem — but Congress should be making these types of decisions, not...By: Mark Tapscott
More than a few eyebrows were raised last week during President Obama's State of the Union speech when he talked about the necessity for “making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.” That statement was widely taken as an indication Obama is or will claim to be opening up more of the Outer Continental Shelf to energy exploration. But there is another way of interpreting Obama's words. Maybe by "tough choices" he meant deciding not to open up the OCS for more energy exploration. That's exactly what his interior secretary Ken Salazar has been doing for the past year. Now Rep. Doc Hastings, R-WA, the ranking GOPer on the House Natural Resources Committee, points to the Obama 2011 budget projection for the federal government's revenues...By: Mark Tapscott
Prominent liberals like Walter Russell Mead are declaring it dead amid growing evidence that fraudulent or unverifiable data has been at the heart of the global warming movement, but that isn't stopping President Obama and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson from plunging ahead with big budget increases to regulate greenhouse gases. As Energy and Environment Climatewire's Jessica Leber reports today, the Obama administration has proposed a modest cut of $300 million from EPA's overall $10 billion budget for 2011, the amounts allocated for global warming related regulatory and other activities is up, to $1.1 billion, or about 12 percent of the agency's expenditures. A total of $56 million will go to global warming regulations, while another $169 million of the $1.1 billion total will be...By: Mark Tapscott
'We've been had!' Indian Magazine Rips global warming: 'The Hottest hoax in the world...A pack of lies, it turns out' Scottish paper: 'Global warming IS a con' Global warming science implodes: American media silent Flashback December 2004: Listen Now: Climate Depot's Morano at 2004 UN Summit in Argentina: 'There is no science to support that global warming is going to happen' 'The scare is over!' -- Declares Lord Monckton UK Telegraph: Time Running out for UN IPCC: 'The most expensive show the world has ever seen may soon be nearing its end' Reaction in Australia to Indian mag.: 'The gates are open...Could be the most hard-hitting article in the Indian MSM on AGW fraud ever' Indian media support eroding for Pachauri Times of London: 'Geographers discover a group of previously...By: Mark Tapscott
To their credit, more than a few Mainstream Media outlets are reporting that President Obama's proposed spending freeze is likely to be of marginal value because it only applies to a portion of discretionary spending, and that the big spending programs of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and others, are exempted. But that doesn't really convey just how minsculue is the likely impact of the Obama spending freeze. Leave it to Political Math to figure a way to make it crystal clear with a YouTube video, which you can view...By: Mark Tapscott
A trade publication is reporting this afternoon that President Obama's 2011 federal budget proposal will assume receipt of billions of dollars in revenue generated from the cap-and-trade program even though that proposal appears now to be all but dead in Congress. "The White House told Sen. John Kerry's office that the president plans to assume revenue from the controversial climate policy approach. Kerry aides said they had assurances the revenue won't be designated for issues unrelated to energy policy and combating climate change. "Obama last year proposed in his fiscal 2010 budget that a cap-and-trade program would raise some $650 billion over 10 years via a full auction of emission credits, with the money primarily going to pay for middle-class tax cuts and development and...By: Mark Tapscott
President Obama's announcement of more than $8 billion in economic stimulus program grants for high-speed rail transit projects in 13 "transit corridors" is supposed to make possible 168 mph passenger trains routinely running between major cities. But $8 billion now is only the beginning because costs are likely to increase on these projects faster than a speeding bullet train. Consider the $1.25 billion grant Obama announced Thursday to build a new high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. The federal money was approved despite the fact a recent environmental impact statement recommended against going forward with the project. Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation says the $1.25 billion is likely to pay for only about a fourth of the utlimate cost to build the system and put...To view this site, you need to have Flash Player 8.0 or later installed. Click here to get the latest Flash player.
Local
Another snowball fight planned for Dupont Circle
The Official Dupont Circle Snowball Fight facebook fanpage has over 6,000 fans now, and it looks as if snowed in DC'ers will return for another battle. Full story
Politics
GOP winning war over Miranda rights for terrorists
Even as the administration defends its decision to grant accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab the right to remain silent, the president himself is hinting that things might be done differently in the future. Full story
Local
D.C. region braces for up to 20 more inches of snow
The National Weather Service has the entire D.C. metro area, from Prince William County north, under a winter storm warning for 10 to 20 inches of snow. Forecasters have had their eyes on this storm for days, but the projected snow totals were bumped up late Monday. Full story
