Speaker Pelosi, in an interview with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News video, spoke out of both heads regarding the military plane controversy. Pelosi blamed the Pentagon for creating the flap in the press, and twice made it clear that she didn't blame the president himself. Hastert only needed a small plane that could get to Illinois, about the size of a Gulfstream.

That wasn't good enough. Pelosi demanded a plane that wouldn't have to stop to refuel. Pelosi kept trying to reassure Greta that it was for her own safety, that she wishes she wasn't beholden to the government's rules and regulations about her travel, etc., ad nauseum. She even told Greta that she'd threatened to fly commercial if the government wouldn't give the use of a bigger plane, minutes after she admitted that she really thought the rules made post- 9/11 for Hastert had to be continued for her.

The pentagon offered her the use of a modified 737 that could make it all the way to California without refueling. Pelosi, instead of accepting the use of a 737, which is more than adequate to get her to San Francisco, fuel-wise, demanded the larger plane. While she claims it's all a matter of posturing on the Pentagon's part, if she had been satisfied with the 737, she could have put it all to bed by simply stating to Greta that "Hey, the 737's fine with me! I don't need that 757, and I don't want it, either."

A great moment in the interview came when Greta suggested that all national officeholders publicly log their flights and purposes of the trip, and have it posted on the internet for all citizens to follow. I thought Nancy was going to bite off Greta's head. Throughout the interview, Nancy's teeth were bared, but she looked ready to go ballistic at this question, and sputtered about what utter nonsense the very idea of public accountability was in her case.

Let's parse the interview:

1. I want no less than Hastert got; I demand the treatment he got be continued for me
   
2. the plane he used isn't adequate for me; it can't make it non-stop to California
   
3. the 737 that'll get me there just fine is also not up to my standards
4. I don't want the security, and I'd really rather fly commercial
5. but since the government won't let me fly commercial I have to use a military plane
6. the Pentagon's just posturing and dissing me in the press
7. I am accountable to nobody for my whereabouts and travel reasons
   

No Nancy, dear, the Pentagon is not posturing. That's the job of a politician, i.e. you, not that of a military institution.

CBSTV.com reports on more abuses of the "nanny nation" syndrome in NY government.  State senator Carl Kruger wants iPod, cell phone, and Blackberry toting citizens to just sit still and listen to them.


I would posit that Sen. Kruger is succumbing to the lure of the Nanny Nation.  Yes, Senator, we pedestrians are to darn stupid to watch where we're going, and need to be held by your benevolent hand while crossing the street.  Please be my grade school crossing guard.  Pretty please.

For the record, I don't own an iPod, nor a Blackberry.  I will not use a cell phone while walking down the street, nor while driving, bluetooth-enabled or not.  It's illegal in NJ and NYC, if not all of NY State, though I see people doing it all the time, and never getting pulled over for it.


People get killed in intersections by cars in busy cities all over the nation.  Has the good senator ever viewed the statistics on how many were using iPods, cell phones or Blackberries at the time?  I think not.  They're not even kept by police on any formal basis even for drivers in accidents.  His "evidence" for this epidemic of pedestrian carelessness is anecdotal at best.  And his remark about endangering the lives of others in this context could be read as implying that the pedestrian is endangering the life of the driver.  This is patently absurd.

I don't see him saying a word about enforcing the existing rules against driving while using a cell phone, running red lights, speeding, etc.  Yes, pedestrians can be killed, but they don't kill themselves by playing in oncoming traffic.


Considering the absurd legislation that NYC has a tradition of passing, the City Council just might pick up Sen. Kruger's deflated ball and run with it.

The ultimate irony is that democrats across the nation decry the citizenry's loss of freedom and liberty at airports and other public places by the Bush administration in the aftermath of 9/11.  Yes, folks, these are the same dimwits who want to curtail your ability to cross the street without first stopping to remove your earbuds, or pocket your phone.

Uptown blocks in NYC, in midtown and above, are 20 per mile.  I would suggest to the Senator that he join the rush hour crowds outside Penn Station without any electronic devices on his person, and see firsthand how that doubles the time for a 10 block walk in any direction, when half of the pedestrians stop dead in their tracks twice every 0.05 miles to "unplug" and "replug."

Accidents will happen, and people will be nominated for Darwin Awards.  It's part of life.  There's no need to legislate away our liberties on the basis of anecdotal evidence.  If someone's an "obliviot" (term borrowed from Mike Straka), let him or her be one, and deal with the consequences.

KGW.com reports that the Oregon "state climatologist" George Taylor doesn't toe the line with state policy about the cause of global warming.  Taylor's job is actually at Oregon State University, despite the title's implication that it is a state appointed position.


The governor of Oregon therefore wants to take away Taylor's job, and create a state job with that title, so that he can appoint someone who will not contradict state policy.

This is typical.  It seems to me that the last time hard science trumped politics in this country was when Ben Franklin flew a kite.


Two things stand out here.  First, I'm not sure the reporter fully understands that political policy rules, not hard science, despite the wording of the article.  This article certainly didn't delve into any hard facts.  Second, the reporter seems to accept the state's assertion that global warming is indeed man-made, and that we can just shut it off if only we spend enough.  This is simply not true.

The argument that spending enough to cut greenhouse gases, primarily carbon emissions, will stop global warming is prima facie erroneous.  There's still the issue of water vapor being a greenhouse gas.  I might suggest the windbags be the first to stop breathing.  Given free rein, people like Al Gore and the governor of Oregon would inevitably cripple the economy of the free world, and essentially accomplish nothing to actually stop the phenomenon.

Most scientists do not argue that global warming doesn't exist.  The "dissenters," as if that's a dirty word, merely argue that it's going to happen no matter what, and there's little we can do to stop it.  I do not see George Taylor arguing anything but that.  Yet, to the governor, he's a pariah, because he holds an opinion that doesn't jibe with state policy.

Politicians seldom let facts stand in the way of their agenda.  This case really highlights it.

by Bullfrog
Special Correspondent to the Oahu BS Detector

Honolulu - In Kalihi, with temperatures dipping into the 50s in some neighborhoods, all people are talking about is the cold snap.

The owner of a saimen shop here has seen a brisk upturn in business.  "People want to keep warm, and what better way than with a steaming hot bowl of noodle soup?"

"Saimen is the best thing when it's cold.  It's comfort food" said Shannon Flaherty, tucking into a bowl.  "Actually, I like the chilly weather."

Karen Mitsui has other ideas.  "It was so cold this morning that I didn't get out of bed until noon.  But I bought an electric blanket, so hopefully that will be enough this evening."

Another couple sits and sips iced latte at Starbucks.  Maria Melendez shrugs.  "We moved here a year ago, and this is the first time I've had to wear slacks and a sweater."  Her husband added "You wake up and there's a cold breeze coming in through the window.  It doesn't feel like Hawaii."

They declined to explain why they left their windows open at night.

Segolene Royal, Queen Elizabeth II, Condi, and now Hillary Clinton?  According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the Italian label Gattinoni unveiled evening gowns featuring

the US presidential wannabe Hillary Clinton, the French presidential wannabe Segolene Royal, the British great-grandmother wannabe Queen Elizabeth and the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to a long line of famous females who have been associated with the fashion house.

Its founder, Fernanda Gattinoni, designed Audrey Hepburn's costumes for the 1956 movie War and Peace.

Oh, the irony of it makes me want to either laugh or puke.  Not sure which.  As much as I admire Condi, I really would not want to wear a dress with anyone's face on it.  Come to think of it, I really would not want to wear a dress.

Next thing you know, Nancy Pelosi will have a call in to the designer demanding that her mug be featured on a dress, made of puce silk brocade.

I Want My Perks
by Froggie, Special Correspondent to The BS Detector

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is demanding the White House allow increased use of military aircraft for domestic flights — not just for herself, but also for staff, relatives and others. "I don't want to wait in the airport for a commercial flight like all the other hillbillies have to" she was quoted as saying. Questioned about her use of the term "hillbilly," she snapped "I never said that. I said 'congressmen'."

The Washington Times reports former Speaker Dennis Hastert was given use of military flights as a security measure after 9/11. But Pelosi's request is said to go beyond what the former speaker was granted. One source says Pelosi's office is pressing the point of her succession — she's next in line after the vice president — and that the Department of Defense needs to "play ball with the speaker's needs."

A Pelosi aide said her request is related to security, and that negotiations are underway with the administration.

"I'm second in line to the presidency, darn it! I deserve to be treated as well as Prince William, and then some, because, after all, I'm a woman" Pelosi said by way of explanation.

Strange Lights Seen Over Boston
by Froggie, Special Correspondent to The BS Detector

BOSTON -- Turner Broadcasting plans to take responsibility for the several suspicious looking devices that were found at several locations in and around Boston Wednesday.  Police in riot gear and bomb squads were sent to detonate the devices.

The first device was found under Interstate 93, and the state police bomb squad was called and detonated the package in Sullivan Square just before 10 a.m. Officials said it contained an electronic circuit board with some components that were "consistent with an improvised explosive device."

"The 'packages' in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor guerrilla marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim's animated television show 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force,'" said a spokesman for Turner Broadcasting, the parent company of Cartoon Network.

The company said that they have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

"It's a hoax, and it's not funny," Gov. Deval Patrick said. "I think we felt at this point, that there is not a reason for anyone to panic, but there are reasons to be diligent."

When asked why the police and governor thought the light boxes were bombs, the Turner spokesman shrugged. "I guess they didn't understand that the phrase 'guerrilla marketing campaign' applies only to advertisements, not bombs.  They know that now, but are mighty embarrassed about it.  They'll probably sue to save face."

John Kerry was enjoying himself immensely in Davos, shooting off his mouth as usual.  Asked whether the Bush administration had failed to adequately engage Iran before Ahmadinejad's election in 2005, he said:

“When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don’t advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy,” Kerry said.

“So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East — in the world, really. I’ve never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today.”…

This is revisionist history.  On July 25, 1997, before the Kyoto Protocol was finalized, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed by a 95–0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res. 98), which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory.  Clinton then never submitted the Kyoto Protocol to the Senate for ratification.  Yes, John, it was your hero, Bubba, who wisely backed down on the Kyoto Protocol.  Bush wasn't even in office.

First, Mr. Kerry, if our country is so isolated, then why are we not simply being ignored by the rest of the world?  If we are such pariahs, why are we not shunned?  We may not be extemely popular overseas, but shunned, no.  If we were isolated and shunned, we wouldn't have the immigration problem that we do.

You my dear sir, are the pariah--within your own party--as evidenced by the famous picture of you hidden in the background walking several paces behind Pelosi the Triumphant.  The only place you don't come across as a braying j_ck_ss is overseas dealing with other emasculated nations in a forum that wants you there as badly as Ahmadinejad wanted David Duke.

Sing me a tune, Pariah.  Maybe something off your "Charmbracelet" CD, such as "Clown?"

Pelosi Toys With Musharraf

By Froggie, Special Correspondent to The BS Detector

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Pakistan Saturday for talks with the country's president, officials said.

Neither the U.S. delegation nor President Gen. Pervez Musharraf was scheduled to make any public comment after the meeting to discuss a U.S. bill that would link American aid for Pakistan's military with its commitment to combating resurgent Taliban militants.

At a hastily arranged unscheduled press conference, Pelosi said "I want him to know that I mean business with this bill. If he doesn't wipe out al-Qaida, the Taliban, and that cave-dweller, what's-his-name, for us, he's not getting another penny in aid."

Introduced this month after Democrats took control of Congress, the bill would require President Bush to certify that Islamabad is doing its utmost to counter Taliban operations in Pakistan and secure its border with Afghanistan. Failure to do that would cut off some financial aid to Pakistan's military.

"This is my way of putting the thumb screws on Bush," explained Pelosi. "We know Musharraf is powerless to take care of our business for us, but with Bush's certification that he's trying, we've got ourselves a green light to call our troops home, and grab credit for doing so."

Spinning faster than a gyroscope, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State John Gastright said Friday in Islamabad that Pelosi's decision to visit Pakistan with her delegation showed that she shared the administration's interest in close ties with Pakistan. He then ducked into the men's room and vomited.

"We'll want to work with her (Pelosi) so that she realizes that that provision is not necessary," Gastright said.

British ingenuity knows no bounds.  ABC News reports that the Brits have finally cracked the case of Alexander Litvinenko's murder.

British officials say police have cracked the murder-by-poison case of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, including the discovery of a "hot" teapot at London's Millennium Hotel with an off-the-charts reading for Polonium-210, the radioactive material used in the killing.

Well, pat yourselves on the back, guys, because it only took you a couple of months.

A senior official tells ABC News the "hot" teapot remained in use at the hotel for several weeks after Litvinenko's death before being tested in the second week of December. The official said investigators were embarrassed at the oversight.

I should think so.  If you knew that Litvenenko had met someone there and had tea, wouldn't you think to check the china, silverwear, and possibly the table linen?  Apparently, that's too obvious.  It's like losing your sunglasses on top of your forehead.

But it's not just the Brits who are incompetent.

Officials say Russian FSB intelligence considered the murder to have been badly bungled because it took more than one attempt to administer the poison.  The Russian officials did not expect the source of the poisoning to be discovered, according to intelligence reports.

Bungled murder?  Bungled in the same way Saddam's hanging was bungled, I dare say.  Maybe it didn't go as planned; it was nonetheless effective.

Workers Stay Home

By Froggie
Special Corresponent to The BS Detector


DOVER — The 81 Top Gunn Landscaping employees arrested by immigration officials while they worked Wednesday are in the process of being deported.

Meanwhile, self-appointed officials within the region’s Hispanic community and spokespeople with the United Illegal Workers union said the workers’ families didn’t know where they were and other immigrant workers were terrified of more arrests.

“There are hundreds of immigrant families who will have to decide, ‘Do I show up to work (Friday) and risk being arrested by immigration?’” said Paco Espinoza, a spokesman for the union, which became an unofficial hub of information for workers Thursday.

The workers are going through “removal proceedings,” said Marc Raimondi, a spokesman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Washington.

"Just because my step-cousin's ex-husband's brother-in-law sneaked into the country without a visa doesn't mean he has no right to be here, and work hard to put food on my table" said Maria, who refused to give her last name, fearing deportation herself.

An ICE spokeswoman told The BS Detector that administrative immigration charges can include being in the U.S illegally or overstaying a work visa.

Because much of the landscaping crew didn’t show up for work Thursday, many customers had to plow their own driveways.

“We were so far behind,” Gunn told the BS Detector.  “There were several hundred people who didn’t show up.”

Gunn said the company spent most of Thursday trying to persuade Hispanic workers who stayed home to return to work, an effort that included advertising on a Spanish language radio station.

“We're scared” said one worker who requested anonymity.  "What if I have to move to Canada?  It's too cold there, but people do need snow removed."

Pelosi Ducks Publicity

By Froggie, Special Correspondent to The BS Detector

BAGHDAD - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Baghdad on Friday for talks with U.S. and Iraqi officials.

Pelosi, a figurehead in the Democratic takeover of Congress, has opposed Bush's retooled Iraq strategy which envisages sending 21,500 reinforcements to help quell raging sectarian violence, especially in Baghdad.

She has accused her arch enemy of playing politics with soldiers' lives and said after his State of the Union address to Congress this week that he had ignored her concerns over the unpopular war.

A U.S. embassy official said Pelosi, the first woman speaker of the House, had arrived in Iraq at the head of a six-member congressional delegation for meetings with Iraqi and U.S. officials but did not plan any public appearances.

Pelosi explained "These Iraqis don't know me from Adam, so the photo ops just aren't there with their press. It's more important, anyway, that Maliki and those guys get to know who's really in charge here."

The delegation includes John Murtha, the uber-ethical Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania, who has also been vocal in his criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the war. Newly empowered congressional Democrats are pushing for a complete withdrawal from Iraq.

Meanwhile, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has scheduled a hearing next Tuesday in his Judiciary Committee subcommittee to explore whether Congress has the authority to cut off funding for the U.S. military campaign in Iraq. "If we can cut off our nose to spite our face, we sure as shootin' will do it," he explained.

Bush has said the United States must not quit Iraq now, leaving Iraqis prey to more sectarian violence and allow al Qaeda to operate from Iraq with impunity.

Pelosi retorted "Better there than the street in Baltimore renamed after me."

Kerry to Drop Out of the 2008 White House Race

By Cricket Frog, Special BS Detector


WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. John Kerry, announced Wednesday he will drop out of the race for president in 2008.

Kerry, 64, made the announcement on the Senate floor at the end of a lengthy speech on Iraq. He briefly choked up.

"We came close ... certainly close enough to be tempted to try again," the Massachusetts senator said, recalling his defeat.

"There are powerful reasons to want to continue that fight now. But I have concluded this isn't the time for me to mount a presidential campaign."

Wiping away a tear, Kerry further explained "I was out of it [the race] before I was in it, so I decided to drop out."

Fellow democrats cited his botched joke about how only people too stupid to get into college ended up fighting in Iraq. Kerry apologized, then hastily scrapped several days of campaigning for fellow Democrats as party leaders urged him to avoid becoming an unwanted issue in a campaign they were on the way to winning.

At the same time, he worked to keep his presidential hopes alive. Aides said he campaigned in 35 states and has an active online community of more than 3 million people and has $12.5 million in his campaign bank account, advantages for any presidential contender.

Officials said Kerry would seek a new six-year term in the Senate in 2008. The fourth-term lawmaker and decorated Vietnam War veteran said he would return to the senate to devote his fifth term to being an Easter Island statue.

A Kerry aide who requested anonymity said that Jon Corzine had privately told Kerry "I'll buy you a governorship should your next senate bid fall short."

Here's the original blog. Many articles have been written about "Dr." Cullen and her assertion that any meteorologist who doesn't buy into her and Al Gore's global warming crisis should have his/her certification pulled, and career ruined. Debate is not what she wants. She wants capitulation and adoration. Read here, and here, and here for an assortment of the hubbub.

Our position on global warming is supported by the scientific community ... including the American Meteorological Society. Their official statement says:

"There is convincing evidence that since the industrial revolution, human activities, resulting in increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases and other trace constituents in the atmosphere, have become a major agent of climate change."

I've read all your comments saying I want to silence meteorologists who are skeptical of the science of global warming. That is not true. The point of my post was never to stifle discussion. It was to raise it to a level that doesn't confuse science and politics. Freedom of scientific expression is essential.

Many of you have accused me and The Weather Channel of taking a political position on global warming. That is not our intention.

Perhaps, but that's not the effect. Seems like nothing but a publicity stunt to me. Here's a person who most people have never heard of until now, shrieking like a banshee, calling for the heads (and careers) of anyone who disagrees with her. What a maroon. What a moron.

The crux of her argument is that industrialized society burns fossil fuel, which causes global warming, and hey, the sky's falling. What Chicken Little doesn't get into is how much of that can be proven to be caused by humans vs. volcanos, for instance. She mostly spews greenhouse gas theory, yet doesn't mention that water vapor is a greenhouse gas. No amount of government funding will eradicate water vapor, nor should it. Water is essential to life on this planet.  Every mammal on this planet exhales CO2--the gas about which she whines. We also exhale water vapor.

Yes, Dr. Cullen, we are guilty of breathing. So are you.

I can't help but love this article from the UK Times. At least they didn't call him Osama.

At a meeting of activists in New York last week, the Rev Jesse Jackson, the first black candidate to run for president, declined to endorse Obama. “Our focus right now is not on who’s running, because there are a number of allies running,” Jackson said.

The Rev Al Sharpton, the fiery New York preacher who joined the Democratic primary race in 2004, said he was considering another presidential run of his own. And Harry Belafonte, the calypso singer who became an influential civil rights activist, said America needed to be “careful” about Obama: “We don’t know what he’s truly about.”

Attention, voters.  Harry Belafonte does not want you to vote for Obama.  In the immortal words of Laura Ingraham, "shut up and sing."

Clinton was applauded at a breakfast meeting for her attacks on President George W Bush’s economic policies of “tax breaks for the rich”. She added: “It is not rich Americans who have made this country great. It is hard-working Americans who have worked hard to lift themselves and their children up.”

Hillary, dear, if the "little people," as Leona Helmsley used to call them, have worked so hard to elevate themselves, and make this country great, then why are they still in such dire straits?  Oh, right--they aren't citizens.  They're illegal aliens.  Get this straight--they don't pay taxes, and they can't vote for you, except maybe in Chicago.  Those who can vote for you, legally, probably don't appreciate your belittling them.

Speaking of Sharpton:

When asked about Obama’s likely candidacy, the preacher, renowned for outrageous self-publicising antics, shrugged: “Right now we’re hearing a lot of media razzle-dazzle. I’m not hearing a lot of meat, or a lot of content. I think when the meat hits the fire, we’ll find out if it’s just fat, or if there’s some real meat there.”

Throw your carcass in the fire, Al, and we know it's all fat.  Lots and lots of fat.  Plus hair gel.  Flammable, but short lived.

Here's a precious quote from Belafonte:

“He’s a young man in many ways to be admired,” Belafonte said. “Obviously very bright, speaks very well, cuts a handsome figure. But all of that is just the king’s clothes. Who’s the king?”

Obviously not you, Harry. 

In one interview last week, Sharpton warned that Obama could not take the black vote for granted. A strategist pointed out, however, that Obama could emerge as a “model of reason, compared to that blowhard Al (Sharpton)”.

Amen.