This guy's supposed to be representing me.

James Inhofe, R-OK is my Senator. I sure as Hell didn't vote for him, but enough of the folks in Oklahoma are gullible enough to think that he's doing a fine job.

Inhofe is Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman. Inhofe gets most of his contributions from Big Energy.

1
Oil & Gas
$309,208
2
Electric Utilities
$180,907


Yesterday 21 government scientists put out a report stating that humans are driving the warming trend through greenhouse gas emissions.

My Senator said, through a spokesman, "What is clear is that our increased confidence in land-based temperature data in no way implies or supports a conclusion that recent observed warming is due to man instead of natural variability".

I would like to take this opportunity to apoligize to the rest of the country and the world.

Global Warming Awareness Thanks to GOP, desperate Republicans, Democrat Busted, Stealing from kids, Bushed and Molly Ivans.

I wanted to start with Republicans, cause they're fun. But after reading Sebastian Mallaby's great piece in the WaPo on how the GOP's attitude is helping boost Al Gore's new movie on global warming, I'll start with important stuff.

If you have any doubts or questions regarding the validity of global warming, read this article. It's well researched and easy to understand. I wish that I that I'd written it.

Republican dishonesty reaches its extreme on the issue of global warming. Yes,
climate science is complex, and nobody can forecast the earth's temperature with
complete confidence. But the fact that scientists don't know everything isn't a
license to ignore what they do know: that the earth is warming, glaciers are
melting and sea levels are rising at an accelerating pace -- and that these
changes are driven at least partly by fossil-fuel consumption. The U.S. National Academies have confirmed this; their foreign counterparts have confirmed this;
and so has the world's top authority on the subject, the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change . None of this is controversial.

He even mentions my Senator, Jim Inhofe.

Meanwhile, others have been vocal. James Inhofe, the Republican who ironically
chairs the Senate environment committee, has described global warming as the
"greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." He avoids scientists
who might put him right: His star witness at a hearing last year was Michael
Crichton, a science-fiction novelist.

Forget Iraq, the economy, high gas prices and stagnant wages, the only things that are important to Bush and the Republicans are fund raising and this fall's election.

For the 29% that think Bush is spending all his time protecting them from terrorists, you should know that,

Bush has turned his attention to the campaign. Six months before the election,
he has made 36 fundraising appearances, more than at this point in 2002. He
spoke at a party gala last week that broke off-year records for hard-money
fundraising and later attended events in Virginia and Kentucky. Vice President
Cheney has been even more active, making 62 fundraising appearances, including
one in Nashville on Saturday, and he plans three more in California in the next
couple of days.

They plan to crank out the vote by appealing to those who think discrimination is the key to Heaven's gate.

To address conservatives, who have been key to his election victories but have
grown disenchanted with the administration, Bush and Senate Republicans are
reviving their fight with Democrats over judicial nominations and last week
voted out of committee a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage to
set up a floor vote next month.

And this is just funny.

"...I think we've turned this thing around and he has two more years to get some
things done," said Ron Kaufman, who was White House political director under
George H.W. Bush and remains close to the former president. A Republican loss of
the House, on the other hand, "makes the next two years that much more
difficult."

These guys just don't have a clue. It's the things they've already done that have their poll numbers in the gutter. Do they really think we want them to do more?



While I dislike corrupt, lying Republicans (and not all of them are), I realize that money is their prime motivation. It's like turning a two year old loose in a candy store. It's no big surprise.

When it's someone in my party, I take it personally. Rep. William Jefferson D-LA, has been denying that he's taken any bribe money. Denial is a good thing, unless the FBI has a tape of you accepting $100,000. William Jefferson, one man the Democratic party should be glad to see the back of.

Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a 14-month public corruption
probe, was videotaped accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from a Northern Virginia
investor who was wearing an FBI wire, according to a search warrant affidavit
released yesterday.

More on William Jefferson: 1, 2, 3



It seems that the$70 billion tax cut for the rich also raised tax rates for teenagers with college savings funds. It's not hard to see where these guy's priorities lie.

The $69 billion tax cut bill that President Bush signed this week tripled
tax rates for teenagers with college savings funds, despite Mr. Bush's 1999
pledge to veto any tax increase.

Under the new law, teenagers age 14 to 17 with investment income will now
be taxed at the same rate as their parents, not at their own rates. Long-term
capital gains and dividends that had been taxed at 5 percent will now be taxed
at 15 percent. Interest that had been taxed at 10 percent will now be taxed at
as much as 35 percent.

We won't forget the 15 Democrats that made this possible: John Barrow, Melissa Bean, Dan Boren, Ed Case, Bud Cramer, Henry Cuellar, Lincoln Davis, Harold Ford, Bart Gordon, Jim Marshall, Jim Matheson, Mike McIntyre, Charles Melancon, Collin Peterson, John Salazar



Bush is starting to smell.

WASHINGTON - It's not just the way he's doing his job. Americans apparently
don't like President Bush personally much anymore, either.

"The American people like this president," White House political guru Karl
Rove said last week.

"People like him. They respect him. He's somebody they feel a connection
with. But they're just sour right now on the war. And that's the way it's going
to be. And we will fight our way through.

Wanna bet, Karl?



And Molly Ivins: Can Things Get Any Worse?

AUSTIN, Texas—Looking at the wreckage of the Bush administration leaves one with
the depressed query, “Now what?” The only help to the country that can come from
this ugly and spectacular crack-up is, in theory, things can’t get worse. This
administration is so discredited it cannot talk the country into an unnecessary
war with Iran as it did with Iraq. In theory, spending is so out of control it
cannot cut taxes for the rich again; the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bushies
is already among its lasting legacies.

Domestic Spying, Limp Dems, Rumsfeld Benighted, Iraq Death Toll, Iraqi's Rule, Senators Inhofe and Coburn/Oklahoma Dumb.

It's a shame that George Bush's intellectual curiosity extends no farther than wanting to know what the citizens of this country are up to.



If only that curiosity had been present when he was getting that Ivy League education, maybe this country wouldn't be in the mess that it's in today.



It looks like everyone is under the watchful eye of Curious George, except Osama bin Laden.

Kate Martin, executive director of the Center for National Security
Studies, said the new disclosures show that Gonzales and other administration
officials have "repeatedly misled the Congress and the American public" about
the extent of NSA surveillance efforts.


"They have repeatedly tried to give the false impression that the
surveillance was narrow and justified," Martin said. "Why did it take
accusations of perjury before the DNI disclosed that there is indeed other,
presumably broader and more questionable, surveillance?"

Thank goodness for the Democrats. Once again proudly standing up for the rights of the American people by putting their careers on the line by boldly compromising with the President.



I understand that if they go against the President on this, the Right-Wing Propaganda Machine will crucify them about being soft on terrorism, but I can't help wondering how the Democrats manage to keep their pants up with only half an ass.

Congressional Democrats, under pressure from the Bush administration, today
proposed a six-month compromise that would expand the government's authority to
conduct electronic surveillance of overseas communications in search of
terrorists.


The proposal, according to House and Senate Democrats, would permit a
secret court to issue a single broad order approving eavesdropping of
communications involving suspects overseas and other people, who may be in the
United States. That order "need not be individualized," according to a
Democratic aide.

We all know the story of Pat Tillman. He left a lucrative pro football career to get the guys that brought down the World Trade Center. We all know how he was KIA by friendly. We all know that the Army and Defense Department covered it up with a wild story, a la Jessica Lynch. Well, true to form...

Former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and three senior generals today
denied any attempt to cover up the circumstances of the April 2004 death by
"friendly fire" of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, and they said they did not know who
altered a fellow soldier's initial account to make it appear that the former NFL
star was killed by enemy action.

The Right will be pulling out all stops to show that the lower number of U.S. service personnel killed in July will justify something, the surge, the war or whatever.




However there is no way to justify these troops deaths, useless deaths, for the neocons and their pet idiot's pipe dream.














Does this make you think that things are improving in Iraq? If it does, you're in the wrong place, you want Fox News. As proof I offer this little tidbit.

BAGHDAD, Aug. 1 -- Iraq's largest Sunni political group partially withdrew from the
Shiite-dominated government Wednesday, the latest indication of growing Sunni
frustration with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The announcement by the Accordance Front came on an especially violent
day in Baghdad, as three car bombs killed at least 75 people in the capital.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of four U.S. troops, bringing
the total number of American casualties in July to 78, the lowest monthly figure
since last November.

The Accordance Front announced that will vacate five of its six seats in
Maliki's cabinet because of what Sunni leaders called the failure of the prime
minister and other leading government officials to make progress on a list of
demands the group issued last week.

"The government is continuing with its arrogance, refusing to change
its stand and slamming shut the door to any meaningful reforms necessary to save
Iraq," said senior Accordance Front member Rafaa al-Issawi.

The Accordance Front announced that will vacate five of its six seats in
Maliki's cabinet because of what Sunni leaders called the failure of the prime
minister and other leading government officials to make progress on a list of
demands the group issued last week.

"The government is continuing with its arrogance, refusing to change its
stand and slamming shut the door to any meaningful reforms necessary to save
Iraq," said senior Accordance Front member Rafaa al-Issawi.

And to end this, I want everyone to know how lucky we are here in Oklahoma. We are blessed with two U.S. Senators who apparently live in some flag-waving, Bible-thumpin' fantasy land, where Big Business is the fount of all knowledge and science is a liberal plot to destroy the world.

I've already mentioned Sen. James Inhofe (R-Dumbass-OK), he's the guy who has described global warming as the"greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."

Now it's the other's turn, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-My Religious Beliefs Trump the Constitution-OK).

Senator Coburn has blocked a resolution to honor environmental author Rachel Carson on the 100th anniversary of her birth, saying that her warnings about environmental damage have put a stigma on potentially lifesaving pesticides, congressional staffers said yesterday.

Coburn has used bogus information from a right-wing, anti-environment web site JunkScience, titled The Malaria Clock: A Green Eco-Imperialist Legacy of Death. The right-wing blogosphere has been laying it on thick about how Rachel Carson has caused more deaths than Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. Keep in mind that these are the same people who believe George Bush is a great president, that we're winning the war in Iraq and WMD's will be found any day now.

Here's the low down on Rachel Carson.

From Wikipdeia.

Carson and the environmental movement were—and continue to be—criticized by
some conservatives, who argue that restrictions placed on DDT have caused
needless malaria deaths.[50] For example, the conservative magazine Human Events
gave Silent Spring an honorable mention for Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th
and 20th Centuries.[51]

Carson, however, never actually called for an out-right ban on DDT, instead
arguing in Silent Spring that:

No responsible person contends that insect-borne disease should be ignored.
The question that has now urgently presented itself is whether it is either wise
or responsible to attack the problem by methods that are rapidly making it
worse. The world has heard much of the triumphant war against disease through
the control of insect vectors of infection, but it has heard little of the other
side of the story - the defeats, the short-lived triumphs that now strongly
support the alarming view that the insect enemy has been made actually stronger
by our efforts. Even worse, we may have destroyed our very means of
fighting.[52]

She noted that "Malaria programmes are threatened by resistance among
mosquitoes"[53] and emphasized the advice given by the directer of Holland's
Plant Protection Service: "Practical advice should be 'Spray as little as you
possibly can' rather than 'Spray to the limit of your capacity'…Pressure on the
pest population should always be as slight as possible."[54]

Furthermore, experts have argued that restrictions placed on the
agricultural use of DDT (something Carson actually did advocate) have increased
its effectiveness as tool for battling malaria. Pro-DDT advocate Amir Attaran
has said, "The outcome of the treaty [banning DDT's use in agriculture] is
arguably better than the status quo…For the first time, there is now an
insecticide which is restricted to vector control only, meaning that the
selection of resistant mosquitoes will be slower than before."[55] And even
Roger Bate, director of Africa Fighting Malaria, has said "A lot of people have
used Carson to push their own agendas. We just have to be a little careful when
you're talking about someone who died in 1964."[56]

Some have claimed that recent criticism of Carson was funded by the tobacco
industry, seeking to divert the attention of bodies such as the World Health
Organization from campaigns against smoking.[57][58] Documents in the Legacy
Tobacco Document Archive show that Africa Fighting Malaria—one the most vocal
critics of Carson and advocates of DDT—originally sought the support of the
tobacco industry to divert resources away from efforts by the World Health
Organization to reduce smoking.[59]. Another vocal critic, Steven Milloy,
established The Advancement of Sound Science Center with support from Philip
Morris.[60] Although funding from Philip Morris appears to have ceased, TASSC
and the associated http://www.junkscience.com/ site continue to criticise Rachel
Carson.

Some environmentalists consider the recent criticism of Carson and push for
DDT to be an industry sponsored strategy to discredit the environmental
movement. Monica Moore of Pesticide Action Network has written that "Renewed
promotion of DDT and attacks on those who would limit its use isn’t about
malaria, or even DDT. It is a cynical “better living through chemistry” campaign
intended to discredit the environmental health movement, with support from the
Bush administration and others who seek nothing less than the dismantling of
health and environmental protections."

From Salon.com.

The right has revved up its claim that the environmental pioneer who
criticized DDT was responsible for the spread of malaria that killed millions.
The facts say otherwise.


Novelist Michael Crichton has a front seat on the bandwagon. He took on DDT
and climate change in his footnote-studded 2004 novel, "State of Fear." "Banning
DDT killed more people than Hitler," his protagonist alleges. "And the
environmental movement pushed hard for it."

TheCoburn/Crichton talking points have infected the mainstream press. In
his New York Times Science column this month, John Tierney thrashed Carson's
warnings about insecticides and argued that her voice still "drowns out real
science." Over at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Bill Steigerwald blamed
"environmentalists spooked by Rachel Carson" for banning a "miracle weapon" that
is "like Kryptonite to the mosquitoes."

Malaria's burden is enormous. Each year, the disease infects 350 to 500
million people and kills at least a million -- the vast majority in Africa,
mostly children under 5. As decades have passed, science has shown that Carson
was wrong about some of the dangers she associated with DDT. It's also true that
the insecticide can be a valuable tool in the arsenal against malaria. But
blaming Carson and the environmental movement for malaria's death toll is not
supported by evidence from generations of scientists and malaria researchers.

And probably the best rebuttal. Bug Girl, PhD in Entomology.

Some crazy claims have been made lately about Rachel Carson. How wacky are
the claims?Well, this wignut says Rachel Carson is on a level with Hitler,
Stalin, and Pol Pot. Here’s another one, who also adds that “massive testing has
documented that synthetic pesticides are no cancer threat to humans.”

Wow. Just…wow.Think this is a fringe issue? You can also read this stuff in
the New York Times, Washington Times, and CBS news.

I’ve been looking at this fight for a couple of weeks now; circling around
the problem, and trying to figure out where to start. One of the top pages when
you search on Google for either Malaria or DDT is Junk Science–a page that
claims to “debunk” the DDT ban, claiming it’s “A Green Eco-Imperialist Legacy of
Death.”

I’m going to examine their claims, since they seem to be the ringleaders.
Their site is having intermittent server problems, so I’ll add a Fox News story
written by one of the Junk Science “experts,” since it’s more likely to remain
in a stable state.

OK, that's it for now. Have a good 'un. Be back full time as soon as the kids start school and I can have the computer again. Aug. 8

The Great Right Hope: Ad Hominem, Non Compos Mentis and Just Plain Old Lying.

It's a good day.  When I get a comment like the one you'll see plus a right wing email that shows what I believe to be what passes for conservative humor, hell, I just got a blog post written for me.

Once again, thanks, goes to the right wingers.

If you haven't guessed already, the picture of the cute little girl on the left, is the right wing email.

Cute little girl with her best "I'm really serious" face backing it up with the universal gesture of disagreement.

I won't even go into why one so young would even know how to flip you off.  And it's no wonder that the Right would exploit it to try to make a political point, class act that they are.

But I will go into the text, which so many of your friends and neighbors actually believe to be gospel.

You've spent my lunch money, my allowance,...  Now I'm guessing that most right wingers don't really believe that Obama is spending this little girl's lunch money or allowance, although some of them probably really do.  I have to assume that the lunch money and allowance refer to the same thing, the deficit.  I don't claim to know the innermost workings of the right wing mind, these things may be code words for two different right wing paranoid fantasies.  I do know that the Right's not real big on subtlety and nuance, so let's run with the deficit.

In Right Wing Fantasy Land, there was not a federal deficit until Barack Obama was elected and created it in order to turn the United States into a socialist country.  BTW, in RWFL socialist is a bad word and it's interchangable with communist and fascist.  I blame our education system.  Anyway, from a real world standpoint, these tactics are working.  It's amazing how many people can't even firmly grasp the obvious.

Bush's tax cuts for the rich, Bush's accounting gimmicks, two wars, one to let Osama Bin Laden get away and one for absolutely no reason, Republican and Corporate Democrat deregulation of the financial industry has nothing to do with it, it's all Obama's.

Leonhardt crunches the numbers to track exactly how the Clinton-era predictions of surpluses gave way to prophecies of massive deficits. His analysis places 90 percent of the blame on the business cycle, Bush's policies, and policies from the Bush years that are scheduled to expire but that Obama hasn't tried to snuff out. That leaves Obama responsible for 10 percent of the projected deficits: 7 percent from the stimulus bill -- and only 3 percent Obama's agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas.



Nevertheless, Obama now has 100 percent of the responsibility for fixing this mess, and what is he doing about it? Leonhardt writes that his talk about cutting health care costs is not yet entirely convincing -- and that it's not enough, anyway.


Yeah, it's all Obama's now, but he didn't create the problems.  Here's a handy little deficit chart, but it only goes to 2004.  Please take note of the fiscally conservative Reagan years.

inheritance,...  Well Sweetie, unless your parents gamble everything away or give it to a religious cult or lose it all to pay medical bills, I'm pretty sure that theres nothing Obama can do to keep you from your inheritance.  Are you watching Glenn Beck with your parents?

35 years of future paychecks,...  Stay in school, go to college, don't get pregnant, don't vote Republican or for a Corporate Democrat and your future will be fine.

and my retirement.  Make sure your government keeps a close eye on the crooks who will be overseeing your 401K and, by all means, don't let them privitize Social Security.

My latest comment was from some Rightie who managed to find their way here from Stumpburners, the local discussion board.  I've deleted it from the previous post and have taken out the name of a friend of mine who is currently recuperating in a nursing home.  But if you've ever wondered how a state could elect someone like James Inhofe or Tom Coburn, here's your answer.

MReed918 has left a new comment on your post "Health Care Reform, Give The Republicans Their Yea...":



Jim Hull, you are an IDIOT! Or maybe not. Maybe you are nothing more than another "erudite" socialist that seeks to destroy the United States.


Time will tell whether your ilk succeeds. Going to be an interesting couple of years isn't it?


Give **** ******'s ass a big kiss from me while you're there licking the ignorant excrement that emits from her behind.


Or, is it her licking YOUR behind?


Posted by MReed918 to Redneck Liberal at 6:26 PM, December 12, 2009


Check out the politics section at Stumpburners or even better join in.

Ad Hominem, Non Compos Mentis and Lies.

Later.

The Long Hot Summer.

According to my Senator, James Inhofe, "What is clear is that our increased confidence in land-based temperature data in no way implies or supports a conclusion that recent observed warming is due to man instead of natural variability".

But he's a Republican and apparently a dumbass to boot.

According to people who aren't on the CO2 producers payroll and actually know what they're talking about, it's about to hit the fan.

In a report that's not been released yet, but has been made public by a U.S. government committee, we have met the enemy and it is us.

Global warming is made worse by man-made pollution and the scale of the
problem is unprecedented in at least 20,000 years, according to a draft report
by the world's leading climate scientists.

The leaked assessment by the group of international experts says there is
now overwhelming evidence to show that the Earth's climate is undergoing
dramatic transformation because of human activity.

Global warming sceptics will get little comfort from the confident language
in the draft report, which dismisses suggestions that climate change is an
entirely natural rather than man-made phenomenon.