Astroturf's Bitter Harvest- Occupy Wall St. Wallows in Own Filth; Occupy Boston Protestors Spit on Uniformed Coast Guard Personnel

If you haven't noticed, I haven't been paying that much attention to these supposedly spontaneous and grassroots 'Occupy Wall Street' and numerous affiliated 'Occupy' protests in Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis and Atlanta.

If there's anything I'm learning from this whole 'Occupy' movement, it's that my opinion apparently doesn't have any merit until I squat in a public park with hundreds of lilly white graduates who overpaid for their degree in Queer and Transgender Basket Weaving Studies for weeks at a time. I mean come on- I'm supposed to be impressed that a bunch of 20-something trustafarians, stoners and slackers with profound daddy issues bailed on what little obligations they had in the first place to camp out in a public park for weeks at a time hoping they'd score some pot and poontang while raging against the machine?

The democrat party and left-wing celebrities have tried to claim the whole Occupy Movement as their own and as far as I'm concerned, they can have every last criminal, anti-semite, communist, anarchist and Black Panther referring to themselves as 'the 99%'.

The movement (and I'm not just talking about taking a dump on an NYPD cruiser) has also garnered the support and praise of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and Iran's Revolutionary Guard as well as aging Cuban dictator and the ruling Chinese Communist party.

There also seems to be big bucks behind the demonstrations, which have been continuing with the tacit approval of President Obama. Some of the organizers are politically connected former lobbyists, which seems to undermine the claims of grassroots purity some of the media and progressive cheerleaders have started repeating. Interestingly, the Occupy Wall Street found time to try and march on the homes of boogeymen like Rupert Murdoch or the Koch Brothers, but not billionaire Democrat donors like General Electric [NYSE: GE] CEO Jeffery Immelt or billionaire mayor Micheal Bloomberg.

As of Thursday Evening, Mayor Bloomberg had ordered the park cleared in order to be cleaned, but protesters have vowed to block sanitation crews from entering the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park on Friday morning. Brookfield Properties [NYSE: BPO], which owns the land that Zuccotti Park is located on (and the recipient of previous 'Green energy' grants from the stimulus) has expressed concern to the city of New York about sanitary conditions in the park after allowing the Occupy Wall St protesters to camp out there for weeks at a time.

On early Tuesday morning, some Occupy Boston protesters began setting up in the Rose Kennedy Greenway- away from the original site in Dewey Square- without a permit. Boston Police repeatedly warned the protestors to clear the park or face arrest. With cameras rolling, police moved in and began making arrests, including a group of soccer-flopping 'veterans' who rushed at officers while brandishing the flag.



My favorite part was when the 'veterans' among Occupy Boston began shouting that they were veterans, thinking that it would have the same effect as the South African diplomats hissing 'Diplomatic Immunity!' in Lethal Weapon 2 [Oh gosh golly gee, I guess there's like ZERO military veterans in uniform for the Boston PD- NANESB!].

Anywhoo, the Occupy crowd attempted to circulate the video as an example of 'Police Brutality' in action, an internet meme that has yet to gain any traction among those outside the whole 'Occupy' movement [or anybody paying the fuck attention- NANESB!]. Then, on Wednesday the organizers of a small-business heavy Food Fest and canned food drive for the needy announced that they were cancelling the scheduled event because the Rose Kennedy Greenway would be too crowded thanks to the Occupy Boston crowd (they are still accepting online monetary donations- more information here).

On Thursday night, however, Occupy Boston's earlier bogus claims of support for veterans or active-duty servicemen and women came unravelled as members of the occupy Boston crowd spat on a uniformed Coast Guardswoman and threw watter bottles at her.

BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - The Coast Guard in Boston confirmed that a woman in uniform was harassed and spat upon by Occupy Boston protesters.

The woman was walking to the train and said protesters spit on her twice, called her foul names and even threw a water bottle at her.

Now, the Coast Guard is warning all staff working on Atlantic Avenue to avoid those protesters while in uniform.

How nice- the US Coast Guard is advising their uniformed personnel that downtown Boston is a 'no-go' area thanks to these whiney, petulant thugs supposedly representing the 99%.

I have to say that as somebody to the right of Daniel Ortega, the whole #Occupy (insert name of city here) movement has tremendous upside. The overwhelming majority of these protests are taking place in dark blue cities in blue states, which means that if a liberal Democrat mayor or governor decides to forcefully crack down on the #Occupy protests, this would concievably provoke a good deal of infighting and factionalization among the democrats and progressives. At a time when protestors have been doing things like spitting on uniformed servicemembers, crapping on police cars, going on wild-eyed anti-semitic rants, parading around in communist East German military uniforms or calling for the violent overthrow of the United States government the democrats have taken it upon themselves to embrace this movement as being representative of the majority of hardworking Americans.

If the Occupy Wall Street crowd does decide to get violent and go on a rampage, odds are it will reflect very poorly on the progressive democrat governor or mayor in question for letting the situation get out of hand and coddling the protesters to begin with. Again, these are protestors that the democrat party has embraced.

And with the cold weather starting to move in, expect the #Occupy crowds to start dwindling in many of the cities with their demands unmet.

Illegal Immigrants Taken Into Custody in Vermont Traffic Stop; Governor Demands Investigaton- of State Trooper

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin demanded an internal probe of the State Police stemming from traffic stop on Interstate 89 in Middlesex, VT involving two illegal aliens who were taken into custody this week.

After reading this account from the Burlington Free Press, I'll let you guess Gov. Shumlin's political affiliation.

Gov. Peter Shumlin on Tuesday night ordered an internal investigation of a Vermont State Police traffic stop earlier in the day involving migrant farm workers that later led to a protest at the Middlesex state police barracks.

Two passengers were detained in the traffic stop on Interstate 89, including a leader of the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project.

“The governor is concerned by accounts of the incident and ordered an immediate internal investigation to determine the facts of what happened and if Vermont State Police bias-free policies were followed,” a news release issued by Shumlin’s office stated.

How exactly does 'bias-free policing' work, anyway? If a policeman pulls over a motorist wearing a Lone Ranger Mask, Hamburglar shirt and bags marked with dollar signs next to him, does he refrain from asking the motorist a few basic questions for fear of having some sort of 'bias' complaint lodged against him?

Vermont State Police Director Tom L’Esperance said a state trooper stopped a vehicle for going 88 mph on the interstate in Middlesex. The trooper followed the vehicle for a short distance before pulling it over, police said.

During the traffic stop, the driver provided valid identification and faces a civil citation in connection with the vehicle’ speed. But the trooper became aware that two of the passengers might not have been in the country legally, L’Esperance said.

The two passengers taken into custody were determined to be in the U.S. illegally, said Mark R. Henry, operations Officer at the Swanton Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol.

They were later processed at the U.S. Border Patrol station in Richford, Henry said. Henry said both men — whose names and nationalities were not made public – were most likely to be released with an order to appear for a hearing at a later date.

I find it quite telling that the Vermont State Trooper in question did nothing out of the ordinary, yet Gov. Shumlin demanded a probe of the traffic stop that very day. In 49 other states, I think what that State Trooper did would be considered basic police work.

Good to see that in less than a month, Vermont has sufficiently recovered from the worst flooding in nearly 80 years for the good governor to investigate why the State Police are doing things like pulling over speeding motorists and taking people who are in violation of the law into custody.

Don't worry- it gets even better!

After the traffic stop, state police took the two suspects to the Middlesex barracks, where an incident took place involving supporters of the men who were in the car. When the Border Patrol attempted to leave with the two illegal-immigration suspects, five people attempted to block the federal officers, state police said. Troopers ordered the individuals to move, and three did not, police said.

Those three individuals were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. The individuals are accused of forming a shield, said Capt. Dan Troidl, commander of Troop A, which covers five northwestern counties.

I'm guessing that at some point during either the traffic stop or at the Middlesex barracks, the phrase 'Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?' was uttered- and not by anybody in uniform.

Well, the good news is that the Governor of Vermont's term lasts two years instead of the four years that is typical in most other states, so Shumlin could be looking at an ouster for this Bloomberg-caliber micromanaging as early as next year. The bad news is that this is Vermont, and odds are enough people will either see no problem with this or think Shumlin didn't go far enough that he will remain safely ensconced in Montpelier after November 2012.

On This Date, President Obama's Pastor Delivers Sermon Justifying September 11 Attacks on USA

There's been a school of thought out there for awhile that President Obama is some sort of clandestine Muslim based on some of his foreign policy statnces as well as his background. I refuse to believe that for a number of reasons- for starters, I actually believe that there are a number of patriotic Muslims in the USA who love this country and have valued the rights and opportunities afforded them and in some cases even served it honorably in some capacity [the Persians who fled Iran during the rise of the Ayatollahs had a firsthand glimpse of what a totalitarian regime based on Islamic supremacy looks like, for instance- NANESB!].

Also, I think the truth is much more sinister that the 'Obama is a seekrit Muslim' claims that have been circulating. Obama is not a secret Muslim, but rather he was simply paying attention to the bigoted, anti-Semitic, homophobic hate-preacher Jerimiah Wright all this time. Paying attention and possibly taking his words to heart.

But you might be asking- Fenway, you bigoted right-wing neocon dupe, this was all settled in the 2008 campaign during the primaries. Why are you bringing it up right now? This came to my attention because of the date of one of the racist preacher's sermons at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.



The nation just recently observed the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 that killed nearly 3000 Americans. This sermon, which at times approvingly repeats statements from Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda justifying 9/11 and previous attacks, took place at Obama's Trinity Church on September 16th, 2001; not even five whole days after the single deadliest attack against the United States. Now it goes without saying that this is a free country and that this ebony Fred Phelps is entitled to his opinion, but lets provide a little bit of context- for those of you who were bitching in 2008 about how the sermon was 'taken out of context'.



On September 16, 2001, first responders from the NYPD and FDNY along with other agencies were breathing in God-knows-what and still sifting through tons of still-burning rubble to try and recover remains of Americans who were crushed and incinerated when the towers collapsed. Instead of any sincere condolences or prayers to those who were brutally murdered, Obama's pastor laments that there isn't enough introspection over his version of American history and foreign policy [which seems to have significant overlap with Al Qaeda's- NANESB!].

This begs the question of whether or not then state Senator Barack Obama was in attendance at Wright's church that weekend. It would not be out of character for Obama to appear at the church only occasionally and ahead of an election to try and lobby the parishioners for his vote.

Moreover, if Obama found the content of Wright's sermons so objectionable [apparently the 'God Damn America!' sermon came at a later date- NANESB!], why did he only choose to distance himself from the man and his words some 7 ½ years later during a contentious Presidential primary challenge with New York Senator Hillary Clinton? Maybe it's just me, but if I were one of Wright's parishioners, I don't think it would take me several years to repudiate him or his anti-American sermons. In fact, I'm sure there are other houses of worship in Chicago- if I was truly disagreed with what Wright had to say, I'm sure I could've made my way to another church.

And ten years later, there really seems to be nothing to disprove that Obama hadn't taken the race-hustling Wright's sermons to heart, only distancing himself from the preacher and his words when it was politically expedient. And now that he won the Presidency, all things Jerimiah Wright-related seemed to have gone away aside from the occasional embarrassing flare-ups in the early going.

On April 4, 2011, President Obama announced the start of his 2012 re-election campaign. I was never convinced he deserved a first term, but since he's seeking four more years in the Oval Office, I think this issue needs to be revisited just in case the first 2 ½ years of America under the Obama Administration wasn't enough to convince you.

Badger State Civility Update- Deranged Progressive Stalker Assaults State Lawmaker With Beer

Not even two weeks after Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa called on union members to "Take these sons of bitches out" in a speech followed up by a violent attack on a Washington state grain unloading facility, a Racine, WI activist stalking State Republican lawmaker Robin Vos and dumping beer on his head during a shouting match at a Madison, WI tavern.

A report from the Madison Police Department identifies the victim as a 43-year-old state lawmaker from Burlington, a description that matches Rep. Robin Vos (R-Burlington), co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. Vos' office confirmed he was the victim but would not say anything else about the matter, since it was being investigated by police.

The incident happened at the Inn on the Park, 22 S. Carroll St. Witnesses said a man came into the tavern and swore at three lawmakers, calling them criminals. A bartender said the man used the words to the effect of "money" and "damn Republicans," according to the police report.

Another man was recording the incident with a video camera when the bartender asked him to stop. That's when the person who had been yelling dumped the beer on Vos' head, according to the report.

The police report says beer splashed onto two other lawmakers, Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) and Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette).

Vos told police that the man has been harassing him since February, though previous encounters had not involved physical contact. The representative did not know the suspect's name, but a female State Capitol employee, who was with the group, gave police a name and said Capitol Police would have his contact information, according to the report. Police believe he's a 26-year-old.

Madison police say that 26 year old Miles Kristan turned himself in to police and was cited for disorderly conduct before being released without incident.

News of the confrontation was met with approval by progressives and union activists on Twitter. [Wonder how they would feel if somebody from the Tea Party did the same thing to one of the Democrat lawmakers who fled the state earlier this year?- NANESB!]

[Hat tip- Lumberjack in a Desert; Gateway Pundit]

California Pulled Back From the Brink As Gov. Brown Signs Law Mandating LGBT Education in State Classrooms

Having apparently long ago solved problems like the state's 11.7% unemployment rate and more than $40 billion in debt, California got down to the really important matters like signing legislation that requires gay and lesbian history be taught in Golden state classrooms.

The bill known as the FAIR Education act or SB48 authored by state Senator Mark Leno (D- San Francisco), was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on Thursday. Interestingly, in 2008 voters in California approved Proposition 8- which would define marriage in the state constitution as being between a man and a woman- by a 52% margin. Prop 8 was then struck down by a gay federal judge in 2010.

At first, I thought the silver lining to this would be that the kids in California would finally learn about Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank's role in the subprime lending crisis or using his position to give an ex-boyfriend a job at Fannie Mae.

However, Sen. Leno has thought ahead and apparently the language in SB48 prohibits any materiel that 'reflects adversely' on homosexuals from being taught [call it the 'special little snowflake' provision, I guess- NANESB!]. Full implementation is not expected until at least 2013, when the revised and updated versions of California's textbooks are scheduled to come out.

Weinergate Saga Postscript? NY Governor Calls For September Secial Election to Fill Vacant NY-9 Seat

Only a few weeks after former congressman Anthony Weiner announced his resignation amidst the fallout from a sexting scandal, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced the date for a special election to fill the vacant seat in New York's 9th Congressional district.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling a special election for Sept. 13 to replace disgraced Democrat Anthony Weiner in Congress.

The special election date means Democratic and Republican party leaders will pick their nominees for New York's 9th District, which takes in parts of Queens and Brooklyn. The seat is considered solidly Democratic, but it is being targeted for elimination because New York has to lose two seats through redistricting.

The winner would serve out the remainder of Weiner's term, through January 2013. The district is considered solidly Democratic, giving Barack Obama 44% of its vote in the 2008 presidential election. Weiner had won election to a seventh term last year with 61% of the vote.

The New York Times, citing unnamed Democratic leaders, reports Assemblyman Rory Lancman, Assemblyman David Weprin and former New York City Council member Melinda Katz are the leading nominees for the party. The leading GOP choices are reportedly City Council member Eric Ulrich and Bob Turner, who ran against Weiner last year.

With New York set to lose three congressional seats after the 2010 census, it's entirely likely that NY-9 may cease to exist in Jan. 2013 after redistricting. Even if that were the case, the September special election would determine who would replace Weiner until then.

When former Democrat Congressman Eric Massa stepped down amid allegations of sexual misconduct in March 2010, New York's 29th Congressional district went without representation for more than 10 months. Then-governor David Paterson cited financial concerns over holding a special election before the mid-term elections, although the fact that polling showed NY-29 was likely to go to the GOP was also a likely factor in the significant delay.

As for NY-9, the district will go a little over 4 months without representation before the special election takes place.

Nanny State Cheerleader Bloomberg Using Al Qaeda Video to Try and Sell More Gun Control in America

Obligatory gun show image

New York City Mayor (as well as anti-gun and anti-salt crusader) Micheal Bloomberg and an organization called Mayors Against Illegal Guns has launched a new video featuring quotations from a fugitive American member of Al Qaeda, claiming that terrorists will take advantage of a so-called 'gun show loophole'.

Frankly, I would be more concerned about firearms falling into the hands of thieves and convicted felons like Mayors Against Illegal Guns alumni Kwame Kilpatrick, Eddie Perez, Rod Blagojevich or Sheila Dixon.

An ominous television ad commissioned by Mayor Bloomberg will soon blanket the airwaves - warning that Al Qaeda could exploit the so-called "gunshow loophole."

This is a golden opportunity," said Al-Amriki. "America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms."

"You can go down to a gun show and come away with a fully-automatic assault rifle without a background check," Al-Amriki said on the terror tape. "So what are you waiting for?"

Bloomberg and his coalition - dubbed "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" - have long urged for the repeal of the gunshow loophole, which allows unlicensed sellers to peddle weapons without running a background check of the buyer.

"Criminals already know how to take advantage of gaps in our gun laws, and now Al Qaeda knows too," said Bloomberg about the new commercial.

"Weak gun laws aren't just a crime problem, they're a national security threat," Bloomberg said, "and this ad should be a wake-up call to Congress."

The Mayor's Against Illegal Guns ad makes reference to a video made by "American Al Qaeda" Adam Gadhan that was released earlier this month calling for "lone wolf" style attacks against high profile targets and institutions. Gadhan is thought to be in hiding on the Arabian peninsula, most likely Yemen.

He said: 'America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms.
'You can go down to a gun show at the local convention centre and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card.

Seriously- is it just me, or does it sound like Gadhan and Mayors Against Illegal Guns get their talking points from the exact same place? Perhaps this is an attempt by Bloomberg, other MAIG members and other gun control advocates to deflect attention away from the Congressional hearings into the ATF's Operation Fast & Furious with damning testimony from field agents who were ordered to allow weapons sold to straw purchasers in the USA to be illegally exported to Mexican drug cartels where they would be recovered from crime scenes on both sides of the border.

You'll have to excuse me if I call Mayor Bloomberg's counterterrorism expertise into question, given not only how the latest Mayors Against Illegal Guns video tidily overlaps with a number of long-standing gun control memes but his assessment of the attempted Times Square bombing last year. I find it very curious that the Mayor was reluctant to come right out and mention the possibility that a radical islamist was behind the botched Times Square bombing last year, but seems more than willing to invoke that same threat to try and sell the public on the notion of more gun control.

[Cross Posted at Pundit Press]

Union Pacific, BNSF Threatened With Nuisance Suits From Environmental Extremist Organization 'Natural Resources Defence Council'

Union Pacific's North Yard, Denver, CO: Photo- Chicago Super Chief

A so-called environmental group operating under the moniker of the Natural Resources Defense Council has sent letters threatening a federal lawsuit to two of the Wests largest railroads on Tuesday.

The Natural Resources Defense Council sent letters to Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, saying it will file a lawsuit within 90 days under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which regulates hazardous solid waste disposal. The letter cited rail yards across California from Oakland to San Bernardino.

In what could be a precedent-setting lawsuit, the council argues that minute particles in diesel air pollution, which include lead, cadmium, nickel and other toxic elements, are solid waste. If successful, such a suit could open the door for legal action against similar air pollution sources such as ports, airports or anywhere with a lot of diesel equipment, [emphasis mine- NANESB!] said David Pettit, a senior attorney with the council.

"I think the reason why other people haven't tried it is on first glance you would think that the emissions are a gas and RCRA doesn't apply to gases," Pettit said. "The fallacy with that is the exhaust has two components: one is a gas and the other component is a solid and those solids will kill you if you inhale enough of them."

The railroads carry cargo throughout the country after it's imported from Asia. Millions of cargo containers on trucks and trains travel by freeway and railway through Southern California.

Southern California air quality regulators recently announced a major study focusing on a San Bernardino rail yard that has been found to pose the greatest health risk of any rail yard in the state. The two-year study will cost an estimated $846,000, and researchers are hoping it will determine if there is a higher asthma and fatal cancer rate in the surrounding community.

The letter recommends a series of remedies for the pollution including the use of cleaner locomotives, electrifying rail lines in urban areas and reduced idling

That last sentence sort of gives away the fact that this threatened lawsuit won't be about the harmful particulates in diesel exhaust, since their suggestion to electrify railroads in urban area would require that a power plant be constructed to provide the lines with electricity. So if they had their way per this threatened lawsuit, they would electrify urban rail lines to prevent diesel exhaust, but what about the air quality around the power source?

And as you can imagine, electrification isn't cheap. Couple that with the upcoming $13 billion PTC mandate that is supposed to be implemented by 2015, and the railroads will inevitably have to to pass the cost along to the consumer.

According to a 2008 American Association of Railroads study, rail freight fuel efficiency had improved 3.1% since 2006 and nearly 85% since 1980, with a ton of freight moving as far as 436 miles per gallon of fuel (as impressive as that is, barges are reportedly even more fuel efficient). Both the Union Pacific [NYSE: UNP] and BNSF have been using genset locomotives in yards and in local service in compliance with local clean air regulations in places like Texas and California.

Also, the railroad industry is one of the few sectors of the economy that seems to be hiring right now. Yet despite all the apparent pluses the rail industry has going for it in this down economy, the NRDC decided to undertake a series of frivolous lawsuits as a trial balloon to go after airports, trucking and shipping- by their own admission.

At face value, if the NRDC chooses to bring this suit to trial it should be laughed out of the courtroom by the presiding judge. However, I would not put it past this cabal of latter-day luddites to effectively shop around for a sympathetic judge to bring the suit before.

The NRDC has also mounted an opposition campaign to TransCanada's [NYSE: TRP] Keystone XL pipeline that would carry oil sands from Alberta to refineries in Texas.

It's probably worth noting that one of the founders of the NRDC, John Bryson, is the current Obama Administration nominee to head the Commerce Department. Bryson left the group in the mid 1970s and after time with Edison International [NYSE: EIX], he became CEO of Brightsource Energy and described by the Wall Street Journal as 'somebody with a talent for scoring government subsidies'.

Mentally Marginal Michigan Manatee Meloncholy Most Media Marks Mass Murderer Bin Laden 'Muslim', Minus 'Multimillionaire'

It was bound to happen sooner or later- with Bin Laden apparently dead and the featured dish in some sort of fish buffet, there were bound to be more than a few buzzkills among the foreign press, international left or radical Islamist axis.

One stop over at the rightsphere indicated that didn't take long for one particularly brilliant master of unintentional self-parody to chime in, apparently expecting followers to believe that the wealthy are responsible for acts of mass murder.

Hmm....interesting. Weren't we being told in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 that the 'root cause' of terrorism was poverty? A particularly visionary corpulent mass of alleged humanity has chimed in on the matter.

Wow. The more bloated faux-populist multimillionaire Michael Moore opens his jowly pie-hole, the more I'm starting to think he's this brilliant performance artist portraying some sort of staggeringly obvious and self-contradictory hypocrite who never ever breaks character under any circumstances. Now that's dedication to one's craft.

To be honest, I'm trying to figure out what the point of his outbursts (both in person and via the internet) are. If he's trying to get a rise out of everybody to the right of Daniel Ortega, I suppose it's working to an extent- but at the expense of going on the record saying some incredibly stupid shit that would contradict or discredit himself in the process. Another option is that he's actually serious and a true-believer who somehow forgot that he is a millionaire who eschews union labor whenever possible.

I'm beginning to lean towards the 'performance artist' theory myself.

UPDATE 5/5: Holy shit, this bearded goiter is still yammering away.

[Hat tip- Tim Blair; Sea of Syrah; the Rightsphere; Big Hollywood]

Al Gore Does About Face on Ethanol

Addressing a green energy conference in Athens last month, former Vice President Al Gore told an audience that he only supported tax breaks and subsidies for corn-based ethanol to try and gain votes from farmers in Iowa and his native Tennessee.

"It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol," Reuters quoted Gore saying of the U.S. policy that is about to come up for congressional review. "First-generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small

"One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president," the wire service reported Gore saying.

Ethanol production this year is estimated to take up slightly over 40% of the total US corn crop. Opponents of ethanol say that producing the combustible materiel from corn raises food prices by creating an artificial shortage of corn.

Of course, this begs the question of whether Gore felt this way about ethanol all along, but voted for an EPA mandate requiring ethanol in 1994 (as Vice President, he was the tie-breaking vote) as a means of currying favor with farmers and agribusiness ahead of the '96 campaign, or if he simply changed his mind out of the blue. I'll refrain from using the word 'sincere', since it doesn't quite seem to belong in the same sentence as a snake-oil salesman selling doomsday unless we (but not Gore himself) forfeit our freedom of choice, our industry, our agriculture and our resources to accommodate his carbon trading ponzi scheme.

Credits and tax breaks for the ethanol subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress chooses to renew the $7.7 billion program.

10 Reasons Why I Parted Ways With Sanctimonious, Dishonest, Ponytailed Blogger

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of husky, pony-tailed blogger Charles Johnson making his contrived, self-serving ideological pivot official on his blog. On November 30, 2009 Charles Johnson officially 'broke' with the vast right wing conspiracy in a lengthy, petulant screed titled 'Why I parted ways with the right'. The thing is, when he had been earlier linking to conservative sites like Pajamas Media or Hot Air, he claimed that he never was a conservative or part of the right to begin with- which made his blatant attention whoring all the more disingenuous.

There's also the notion that Johnson bailed because he wanted to remain on the side of whoever was in charge. During LGF's heyday, that was the Bush Administration- and now, during it's precipitous, inevitable decline, Johnson and his hangers-on are making every effort to rally around the Obama Administration and portray the GOP as greedy, racist, clueless obstructionists (which also proves that Johnson's pretty bad at math too, since the GOP won't be able to 'obstruct' much of anything until January when 63 new members will be sworn in to the House of Representatives).

Speaking of, I wonder how it feels to so publicly and vocally attach yourself to the Democrats and progressives before their worst Congressional losses since the end of WWII. Also keep in mind Johnson was pretty much finished with the right when Chris Cristie, Robert McDonnell and Scott Brown won their respective elections in late 2009 early 2010.

Still, in the spirit of the 1-year mark, I thought I'd make my own list of why I broke with Johnson's blog

10) Moderate and popular New England Republicans like Scott Brown supposedly are the spearhead for some massive Tea Party/Ron Paul/John Birch Society/Big Oil/Gold Merchant/Climate Denier conspiracy according to speculation by Johnson.

9) Johsnon's supposedly well thought out and introspective reasons for parting with the right read like a half-assed laundry list of boilerplate talking points from Media Matters or Act Blue. Seriously, it might as well have been titled 'Me! Me! Me! It's all about me! Now praise me for how principled I am!'. This is conduct I'd expect from an attention starved 6-year old, not a middle aged man with a once-credible blog that had tens of thousands of hits a day.

8) Besides longtime conservative posters, the 'purges' from LGF in late 2009 included a large number of both Jewish and Military veteran posters. I'm convinced that was by design on his part.

7) Open hostility or antipathy towards religion- with two notable exceptions; Islam and the Church of Climate Change

6) Encouraging disdain and outright dismissal of any news story that ran on FOX News (even if the same story was running concurrently on other news outlets) while posting as gospel truth opinion pieces from blogs such as crooks and liars, media matters or the Huffington Post.

5) Encouraging disdain and outright dismissal of any news story and public or media figure that appeared on the FOX network UNTIL Johnson's appearance on Alan Colmes' radio show....which aired on FOX News/Talk radio.

4) Flags.....Good Lord. For a man of Charles Johnson's supposed intellect, he sure gets worked up (and frequently tripped up) by easily researched matters such as flags. Seriously.

3) Contrived guilt-by-association from Johnson, but only directed at those on the right. Apparently the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Glen Beck and talk radio were responsible for the death of a Kentucky Census worker or the Texas man who flew an airplane into an IRS Field office. But as far as the Discovery Channel gunman or homicidal University of Alabama-Huntsville professor Amy Bishop and their political leanings are concerned, then the 'No true Scotsman' argument applies there.

2) The other remaining posters at LGF. Ever have to visit some particularly activist, obnoxious, strident and in your face relatives for the Holidays? They're on the opposite end of the political spectrum, but will take advantage of having a quasi captive audience to lecture and browbeat you, even though it will do little to change you mind? That's what the majority of the 'new' LGF posters were like, emboldened after the 2009 bloodletting.

1) The administrators or 'monitor lizards'. Just as bad as the posters, only they had the ability to make your posts disappear for high crimes like mentioning President Barack Hussein Obama's middle name. Attempting to debate them was even worse, since they'd simply deny, dodge and obfuscate- then after moving around the goal posts on their terms, claim they had prevailed. 'Monitor lizards' were also known to type out lengthy, vitriolic screeds hoping that global warming skeptics would be rounded up and put into prison camps, opponents of a civilian trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be deported to North Korea and members of the Tea Party would be publicly shot and killed...and I won't even start with the disturbing fixation regarding Sarah Palin some of them maintain. Keep in mind these are the sort of individuals Johnson not only wanted to keep around on his blog, but granted them admin status while others were banned for pointing out how much the blog had changed.

Of Happy Meals and Celeb Rehab- California's Priorities & Impaired Decision-Making

With problems such as an unsustainable debt, double-digit unemployment, a porous border against an almost lawless quasi narco-state and businesses leaving the state en masse apparently solved for good, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has shown bold and decisive leadership in taking the fight to kid's meals.

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 on Tuesday to approve an ordinance that would limit toy giveaways in fast food children's meals that have excessive calories, sodium and fat. It also requires servings of fruits or vegetables with each meal.

If it survives an expected veto from Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco would become the first major city in the country to pass such a law aimed at curbing childhood obesity. It would go into effect December 2011 if supervisors again approve it after Newsom's veto.

[snip]...Concepcion Dawes, a 20-year-old mother of a 2-year-old, said she supports the ordinance — anything to help lessen the food's appeal.

"Fast food is really fattening, and it's really addicting, and sometimes it's hard to tell a child no," she said.

Umm....OK then, Concepcion. Are you admitting that your parenting skills are so lackluster that you're relying on government intervention for when you find yourself unable to say 'no' to your children?

Oops...wait. I'm getting word now that California still has unsustainable debt, double-digit unemployment, a porous border and businesses leaving en masse.

But you know what California doesn't have?

Fat kids!

You see, thanks to the San Francisco Board of Supervisor's tactical materstroke, all unhealthy fast food in the City by the Bay will no longer utilize the adjective 'Happy' to describe their contents. Or come with a toy...or whatever.

So apparently the state still has unsustainable debt, double-digit unemployment, porous borders, businesses fleeing the state AND on top of everything else fat kids.

But those little porkers won't be getting any toys in their so-called 'Happy' Meal. Check and Mate, McDonald's corporation!

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To be brutally honest, after last Tuesday I think California (sometimes known as the Lindsay Lohan state) has for the most part shown it's incapable of any sort of serious introspection, voting for the costly and unsustainable status quo to the point where they're recycling 1970s politicians like Jerry Brown. And perhaps the sad part is that 'Gov. Moonbeam' is Pat Buchanan when compared to Lt. Governor-elect (and San Francisco Mayor) Gavin Newsom.

Perhaps California's purpose over the next few years is to become an object lesson on what happens when one allows prototypical tax and spend left coast liberals to hold the reigns of power pretty much unchecked (there are conservative outposts in San Diego, the Central Valley and in the northern, inland part of the state, but the've been effectively marginalized for the last decade or so).

I really have a hard time imagining the state legislature or any of the incoming Brown Administration people suddenly getting religion vis a vis the deficit. And the law targeting fast food kid's meals in Newsom's home city shows that it's already looking for some sort of diversion.

Even with all the creative talent that's in the entertainment industry out in Hollywood, it has become next to impossible to parody the state of California after the Happy Meal ban in San Francisco.

Quebec Women's Group: Canadian Soldiers 'Cannon Fodder'

Isn't that something? Apparently they don't have their own Cindy Sheehan up there, so anti-war and anti-military groups have to make up their own.

MONTREAL— A feminist coalition in Quebec has come under fire for placing on YouTube an anti-war video that compares military recruits to “cannon fodder.”

It shows an actress playing the part of a grieving mother. As she fills a military-issue bag with her children’s personal belongings, including a rifle, she explains that her eldest son has died in Afghanistan and, as she places a red, flowery bra in the bag, that her youngest daughter has just been recruited in school.

“People say, ‘Make love not war,’” the actress begins. “But you should say, ‘Make love for war,’ because you need a lot of children to make an army.”

“If I’d known that in giving birth I was going to supply cannon fodder,” she continues, “I might not have had kids.”

When challenged by real-life mothers of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, the Quebec-based group was initially defiant before issuing a tepid non-apology apology and editing the video.

“I can understand why some women and mothers of military officers felt hurt but it was never and still not our intention to question them or the role of their children,” Conradi said. “What we’re trying to do is make the government responsive to a critique.”

There are different perspectives that need to be heard, Conradi reasoned. “What we’re saying is that the army is using our children. We’re not saying that women shouldn’t have had those children.”

For Céline Lizotte, these words strike at the heart of what it means to be a mother, and particularly the mother of a soldier.

Lizotte’s son, Corporal Jonathan Couturier, died in September, 2009 after his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the Panjwaii district near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was 23.

“It’s a huge lack of respect, an insult,” Lizotte said in an interview. “I don’t consider my son as cannon fodder. What were they looking to get across with this video? It has nothing to do with feminists.”

Lizotte, who is demanding the video be removed from the web, said you can’t criticize the government by “going after someone’s grief.”

No mother can know what her child will grow up to be, she added. “It’s the career my son chose and it’s the career I respect.”

This story was actually brought to my attention on another news outlet's website, but the sheer, willful idiocy and malice directed at some of these military mothers in the comments section was staggering....starting with a basic reading comprehension problem (many commenters in favor of the group failed to realize the woman in the video was an actress) and followed up with a selective application of Freedom of Expression- i.e. the Quebecois women's group was within their rights to make the video, but the military families had no business objecting to it.