RANDOM THOUGHT: Now that we’re digging out from a two-foot snowfall, I wonder what the Prius-lovers think about those big gas-guzzling (snow plow equipped) trucks now?

OBAMA SAVES IRAQ. Instapundit responds: “Obama’s about as much the father of this victory as Andrew Young was of Rielle Hunter’s baby . . . .”

NAME THE MOST DISTRUSTED OCCUPATIONS. Trial lawyer? Used car dealer? Nope: climate scientist.

[T]he cadre of climate scientists who have dominated public discussion and have controlled the IPCC have been demonstrated to be far, far less than trustworthy. Like the theorists who invented epicycles to explain away the failure of Ptolemaic theory to account for astronomical observations, they have distorted science in the interest of something that resembles religious dogma.

Read it all.

BARONE ON PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS: “Public-sector unionism tends to be a self-perpetuating machine that extracts money from taxpayers and then puts it on a conveyor belt to the Democratic party.”

Read the rest.

COMING SOON: remedial healthcare with Professor Obama.

SOCIAL SECURITY for me (just barely) but not for thee.

Since 1984, Social Security has raked in more in payroll taxes than it has paid in benefits, accumulating a $2.5 trillion trust fund. But because the government uses the trust fund to pay for other programs, tax increases, spending cuts or new borrowing will be required to make up the difference between taxes collected and benefits owed.

Experts say the trend points to a more basic problem for Social Security: looming retirements by Baby Boomers will create annual losses beginning in 2016 or 2017.

Former President George W. Bush tried to privatize Social Security and failed; now the chickens are coming home to roost.

TEAM OBAMA goes stupid.

Not really. Team Obama was always stupid; it’s just that now the stupidity is being widely recognized.

THE ‘SMART PEOPLE’ of Cambridge, Mass., consider car bans, bag taxes, veganism to counter climate 'emergency'.

I have a suggestion: ban all trucks within the city limits. No snow plows. No service trucks. Ne delivery trucks. No semi-trailers. No pickups. No trailers. No commercial vehicles of any kind.

That should make Cambridge very, very green ... or brown.

NOT ANTI-AMERICAN; JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE: “The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) released its fourth civic literacy report ... demonstrating empirically the failures of colleges and universities to effectively teach their graduates the fundamentals of American history, government, foreign affairs, and economics.”

These two items stood out to me.

Barely half of college graduates can identify the three branches of government, the Declaration of Independence and Gettysburg Address, events from the Revolutionary and Civil wars; and features of our free enterprise system.

Hell, I could not have graduated from high school without knowing that much, and neither can an immigrant become an American citizen.

At our most elite schools ... Yale, Princeton, Duke, Georgetown ... , not only did those surveyed fail to get above a “D,” seniors did worse than freshmen!

And these are the schools our government draws on for leadership. Is it any surprise that our own government is hostile to American values?

Conventional wisdom has long been that “with more college comes more knowledge.” Frankly I doubt that’s ever been true, and the ISI data certainly validates that doubt in at least knowledge of American ideals, culture, and public policy.

Our colleges and universities aren’t anti-American, they’re just on the other side.

The ISI survey can be found here.

SAY WHAT? In an interview with Bloomberg News President Obama said he and his administration were “fierce advocates” of the free market. This from an administration that nationalized two failed carmakers and forced banks to take bailouts they tried to refuse?

RFK, JR: Arguing global warming by anecdote is for idiots. Which is why I do it.

Heh.

ONCE THOUGHT EXTINCT, New England Republicans emerge.

2010 is going to be a bad year for Democrats. And, I suspect, for incumbent Republicans as well.

SNOW SHEET CAKE

6’ x 10’ x 1.5’

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A CENTURY MAKES.

Theodore Roosevelt: speak softly and carry a big stick.

Barack Obama: speak boldly and carry a tiny twig.

I prefer Roosevelt.

CAT SHOTS: Diamond, Daisy, and Shadow check out the snow.


Diamond plows through the snow drifts.

Inspecting the clean-up.

NEW MEDIA help conservatives get their message out. In the Washington Post’s world, it appears to be newsworthy that note-wrapped rocks are not the primary means of communication for conservatives.

GREENMAIL is a “dubious but common practice in which large environmental groups threaten aggressive campaigns to publicly besmirch businesses in order to coerce them to alter successful business practices that don't fit with activists' agenda.... [And] there's reason to suspect that caving to satisfy these demands will not only hurt U.S. business and the workers who count on them, but will also increasing poverty of millions in the developing world.”

Read it all.

TIME TO DIG OUT. It's clear, calm, and cold - time to start digging out. The yardstick reads 18-3/4 inches and since the snow has compressed some, the real snowfall is likely 4-6 inches greater than the measurement.

The sun is out, it's a beautiful day, and somewhere under the snow is a driveway.

That lonely "stick" is the foreground is actually the top of a 4-foot high bush in the patio flowerbed.

The snow on the deck rails is about 18" deep. Our firewood pile is completely buried in the background along the tree line.

GLOBAL WARMING: the other side. John Coleman is founder of the Weather Channel.

Link from Neal Boortz.

AN EMAIL from Dr. John Fleming, the congressman representing Louisiana's 4th District.

Update on H.Res 615: Call on Members of Congress to Enroll in the Public Option.

Because you have previously contacted my office by email in support of H. Res. 615, my resolution calling on Members of Congress to enroll in the public option, I wanted to give you an update.

Like many of you, I am deeply concerned that Congress will press forward to enact an intrusive government administered health care plan, despite the higher costs and lowered level of care other countries with similar systems have experienced.

You will be pleased to know that more than 100 Members of Congress joined in support of H. Res. 615, my common sense measure calling on Members who vote for an intrusive government-administered health care plan to enroll in that system. Since launching this effort, nearly 3 million Americans like you have contacted my office in support of H. Res. 615. In response I offered an amendment to the Democratic Leadership health care bill to automatically enroll all Members of Congress and all Senators in the public option. Predictably, my amendment was rejected out of hand by the Majority and was not given a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Common sense seems to have failed us in the health care debate. That is why I offered a resolution asking Members of Congress to put their “money where their mouth is” and call for Members who support a public option lead by example and be required to enroll in the public option themselves. If a Member is willing to vote for such an option, why shouldn’t they enroll in it?

THE DOCTOR’S DIAGNOSIS: There is no doubt about it; health care in America must be reformed. The answer, however, is not an intrusive government administered health care plan. As a practicing physician for over 30 years, I am concerned that the kind of “reform” being debated back and forth on Capitol Hill will insert Washington bureaucrats between patients and their doctors, burden the middle class with new taxes, and raise insurance premiums for almost everyone. That is unacceptable “reform.” I will continue to work to represent you and to bring common sense back to this debate.

Why is it the "playing field" never includes Congress? ObamaCare - and a lot of other government programs - would die in an instant if it did.