Volcker Says Time Is Running Out for U.S. to Tackle Fiscal Woes (This is one of Obama’s top advisers. He says politicians don’t seem to have a “sense of urgency".)

Biden says Brussels is the new capital of the free world (Oh yeah, because when the world thinks of individual liberty and economic dynamism, the first place that comes to mind is Belgium.)

Democrats are unlikely to pass a federal budget (It’s an election year, and they don’t want to be on the record for passing new tax increases or voting for a budget with another $2 trillion deficit. This is what moral and intellectual bankruptcy looks like.)

Bill Clinton blames economic inequality and the financial crisis on the US leaving the gold standard (Wow. He’s able to identify a major part of the problem, which is impressive. But he then attempts to justify it anyway. Wouldn’t want some wacky Rothschild-spawn coming at his junk with a hunting knife or anything. Lulz.)

And if we weren’t living under a socialist tyranny before, well, Merry Christmas, suckers.

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats won a crucial test vote on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, putting them on track for passage before Christmas of the historic legislation to remake the nation’s medical system and cover 30 million uninsured.

All 58 Democrats and the Senate’s two independents held together early Monday against unanimous Republican opposition, providing the exact 60-40 margin needed to shut down a threatened GOP filibuster.

Let’s do away with the idea that there’s no difference between Republican and Democrats. Yes, they’re both generally full of weaselly, myopic, corrupt bastards, but this would not have happened with a President McCain.

The vote came shortly after 1 a.m. with the nation’s capital blanketed in snow, the unusual timing made necessary in order to get to a final vote by Christmas Eve presuming Republicans stretch out the debate as much as the rules allow. Despite the late hour and a harshly partisan atmosphere, Democrats’ spirits were high.

"Today we are closer than we’ve ever been to making Sen. Ted Kennedy’s dream of universal health insurance coverage a reality," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said ahead of the vote, alluding to the late Massachusetts senator who died of brain cancer in August.

"Vote your hopes, not your fears. Seize the moment," Harkin urged colleagues.

And so, the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill shall pass. And those of us who hoped there was a principled member of the Democrat caucus in the Senate now have our fears confirmed. We hoped our taxes wouldn’t go up. We hoped there wouldn’t be an individual mandate. We hoped the federal government wouldn’t fund abortions. We hoped they wouldn’t extend government-enforced health care to tens of millions of people without “creating or saving” a single doctor or nurse. We hoped they wouldn’t complete their framework for a complete government takeover of the economy.

The part that I keep thinking about is that my health care was already pretty good. If it ain’t broke, “fix” it til it is, I guess.

But I’m sure some toga-wearing objector wished he would have at least attempted a little passive-aggressive negotiation before Nero struck his match.

Here’s my latest letter to Senators Murray and Cantwell. I find it grossly incompetent that, by their own Democrat standards, they’ve been such relatively cheap whores when it comes to health care reform. Mary Landrieu got a nice chuck of change before she bent over for Harry. Nelson at least held out for some Astroglide.

Dear Senator,

I am one of the clear majority of Americans who oppose the health care reform bill currently proposed by the Senate. I still oppose it, but since it’s become clear that your Democrat party will pass this monstrosity one way or another, I would expect you to at least stand up for your neighbors and the citizens of your state by demanding that Washington receive the same or similar concessions that were granted to the states of Louisiana and Nebraska to buy their Senators’ votes.

Senator Landrieu of Louisiana proudly claimed that she’d secured $300 billion worth of federal funding for her state in order to secure her vote.

Senator Nelson of Nebraska has apparently secured full federal funding of Medicare for his state.

There may have been more concessions to other Senators, since the full text of the bill that you’ve committed to vote for hasn’t been seen or read by anybody outside of Majority Leader Reid’s office. But I fully expect you, as a Democrat Senator in good standing, to fight for the same kinds of "bonus" dollars for the citizens of the State of Washington that other, less influential Senators received.

Merry Christmas

Senator Murray’s Pigshit

A bill that includes more than $4.5 million in funding for a new waterfront market, new buses and a Wenatchee hospital passed the U.S. House Wednesday.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, said Wednesday that she also expects the final version of the transportation and economic spending bill to pass the U.S. Senate before being sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The bill earmarks $1.4 million to help provide for the acquisition and renovation of the Pybus building on Worthen Street. The Pybus building will be home to the regional farmers market and the Wenatchee Food Bank and Distribution Center.

Nearly $2.5 million is included for Link Transit to purchase eight 40-foot, low-floor commuter buses and one 35-foot urban bus. A news release from Murray said the buses would allow Link to expand transit services to seven days per week and expand current operating hours.

Why should federal money (money that comes from people who definitely don’t live in Wenatchee, Washington) be spent on farmers’ markets and commuter buses in Wenatchee, Washington?

If farmers in Wenatchee want a market, shouldn’t farmers and the City of Wenatchee deal with that? Why should people in St. Louis or Miami or even Tacoma be on the hook for commuter buses in Wenatchee?

This is getting pathetic:

SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.

It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.

The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.

The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.

The admission follows the leaking of a thousand private emails sent and received by Professor Phil Jones, the CRU’s director. In them he discusses thwarting climate sceptics seeking access to such data.

In a statement on its website, the CRU said: “We do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data.”

These are some of the chief scientists who were involved in the UN’s climate change panel, upon whose report the entire issue of global warming is based. They’ve been caught hiding data, changing numbers, undermining peer-review, etc. Now, they’ve apparently destroyed the original data that they used to make their claims. They only have the fake data left.

What does this mean? It means that any claim these people make based on their own research should be ignored, because they can’t back it up with their original data, and it will be impossible for other scientists to reproduce their results.

Again, this is why we’re supposed to use curly light bulbs. This is why there are Priuses. This is why we need Cap & Trade. This is why we don’t build power plants in this country anymore. It’s all because of data that’s been made up by people who hide their fundamental data.

For those of us who believe that anthropogenic global warming is bullshit, this is just further evidence that it was a manufactured farce perpetrated by ridiculous people for political purposes. For those who believe that it’s a fact, you should be completely outraged by the incompetence and scheming of scientists who are actively seeking to obscure facts, manipulate date, and destroy the people who disagree with them.

How is the White House responding?

Climate Czar Carol Browner (former member of Socialist International):

"I’m sticking with the 2,500 scientists. These people have been studying this issue for a very long time and agree this problem is real."

Except that the data they’ve been using is now missing, and all that remains is fake data provided by scientists of questionable character.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

"Several thousand scientist have come to the conclusion that climate change is happening…I don’t think that is in dispute anymore"

Except for the fact that the fundamental evidence is in dispute, it’s not in dispute anymore. The dispute has grown so obvious that it’s doubtful that we should even HAVE a climate change czar.