WaPo Fails To Note Own Commissioned Poll's Finding That ObamaCare's Support Has Sunk To Lowest Level Ever
— Ace

Why bother finding the facts if you're just going to withhold them from the public anyway?

A chicken just emailed me to say "At this point I'm starting to actually like it."

Posted by: Ace at 11:55 AM | Comments (385)
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The Porky Tax Deal
— Ace

As I read more and more about this, the worse a deal it seems.

We need to jam it with this much pork?

No, we don't. Obama needs this deal as much as the Republicans want it. We do not have to play the shakedown game and pay him off in billions to get him to do what he is already forced to do.

This bill will only survive if, like ObamaCare, it is rushed through quickly enough that its defects don't become apparent. The deal already includes nearly $5 billion in subsidies for corn-based ethanol; grants for wind and solar power; commuter tax breaks; tax preferences for NASCAR operators; and subsidies for Virgin Islands rum.

Even Al Gore, one of the original supporters of ethanol subsidies, is now attacking the program. He has been joined by 17 GOP and Democratic senators who called the ethanol tax breaks being added to the tax bill "fiscally indefensible."

"Historically," wrote the senators, "the government has helped a product compete in one of three ways: Subsidize it, protect it from competition or require its use. We understand that ethanol may be the only product receiving all three forms of support from the U.S. government at this time."

Posted by: Ace at 10:14 AM | Comments (177)
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A New Civil Right: Three Weeks Off To Perform the Pilgrimmage To Mecca
— Ace

Three weeks unpaid, which is a concession to reality, but still, three weeks is a long time go go missing from a job.

A teacher in Illinois put in the request, stating that based on her religious beliefs the trip could not be delayed, despite the fact that the religious command is to do the pilgrimage once in one's whole life. Request denied, she resigned, and is now suing under the Civil Rights Act.

Our government is suing the school district for failing to "reasonably accommodate" her religious beliefs.

From Wikipedia:

The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, eleven days shorter than the Gregorian calendar used in the Western world, the Gregorian date of the Hajj changes from year to year. Ihram is the name given to the special state in which Muslims live while on the pilgrimage.

Okay, let's talk about "reasonable." For one thing, the Hajj is five days long. Add in two days for travel time, and at most she'd need seven days to do this. Add in the weekend at one end and that means by taking five working days off she'd have nine full days to travel to and perform a five-day ritual. Sure, not much sight-seeing, and that's a tough schedule, but what she demands is the ability to perform a religious function -- how she adds on two weeks for sight-seeing is beyond me.

Next, because the timing of the Hajj varies due to the, um, fucked-up Islamic calendar that despite being the flower of a glorious civilization can't manage to account for all 365.25 days of the year. This means that in some years, the Hajj will naturally coincide with already-scheduled breaks in the school year. She couldn't wait for such a year?

Next, the religious stricture isn't as strict as she claims -- the demand is that pilgrimage be performed specifically if the party has the means to do so. She doesn't -- her job precludes her from doing this many years. So she's under no obligation to do this until she does have the means (time off from her job) to do so.

Her demands for time are/were exorbitant, and furthermore, she seems to be trying to cadge an extra three week vacation rather than waiting for the Hajj to line up with scheduled time off. Apparently fulfilling her religious duties to Allah doesn't mean she should have to give up her vacation-time to do so.

This case means a lot. If our own government is successful in this suit, it means that all Muslims now have the right to go to Hajj whenever they please, as a civil right, and employers can't say boo about it.

Thanks to Uncle Jefe.

Checking Dates: The Hajj falls frequently in or around our Thanksgiving holiday break, and I assume it also falls frequently around Christmas. In 2008, when she demanded the three weeks off, it either began or ended on December 12. In 2011, it began on Saturday November 26th. Which means had she waited until this coming year, she could have traveled to Mecca on Thanksgiving, had Friday to get her bearings and do a little sight-seeing, began her pilgimmage Saturday, and would have been done and home five days later -- needing only a much more reasonable five days off. Most likely the school district already grants some kind of one-week-off unpaid vacation (if not paid!).

But instead she made up a New Rule that Allah commanded her to have two weeks of sight-seeing in 2008, specifically, and now our government is suing to enforce Allah's new commandment.

Suspicious Timing... I can't help but notice that when she demanded her three weeks off, it seems to have fallen right in the middle of Thanksgiving break and Christmas break. I'm betting good money she planned to take off the entire month and a quarter between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Posted by: Ace at 09:41 AM | Comments (300)
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Steele Makes It Official And Will Run For Another Term As RNC Chair
— DrewM

What could go wrong?

Oh yeah, this. When asked by Gretta Van Susteren why people weren't thrilled with his first term in office and are trying to replace him, here's Steele's response.

Well, I think there's a lot of reasons for that. My style is a little bit different than most conventional Republican Party chairmen. My style is more grass roots-oriented. I'm much more of a street guy. I love hanging out in boardrooms, but I prefer to be in neighborhoods and communities. My first trip as chairman was to go to Harlem. And a number of members asked me, Why are you going to Harlem? Because that's where the votes are. The party needs to get outside its comfort zone.

No, no and NO.

First, it's not a question of style. It's a management question. You run an organization into the ground and you get fired. It's called 'accountability'.

Second, the job of the Chairman is not to move the party "outside is comfort zone", it's to raise money and provide support for actual candidates. The Chair should reflect the desires of the membership not serve as the ad hoc social conscience of the party. There's nothing wrong with with outreach to non-traditional voters but the RNC should be identifying and grooming candidates that can go into those areas, not simply use that outreach as a way to improve the standing of any single individual like Steele. Nor by the way is the job a platform to sell books.

As for outreach to non-traditional voters, Steele has been a disaster. Again, it's fine to do but not while insulting your own party as he has done in the past.

The Republican Party has not given African Americans a good reason to vote for the party, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele said Tuesday night.

"You really don't have a reason to, to be honest -- we haven't done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True," Steele said at DePaul University, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Now, I'm not the highly paid Chair of the RNC but I can think of a few reasons blacks might want to consider voting for the GOP. Topping the list...school choice. If you're the RNC Chairman talking to black students, school choice not "we suck", has to be the first thing out of your mouth.

On no level can Steele be said to have been a success (GOP wins this year were despite the RNC, not because of it). He has to go.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:51 AM | Comments (116)
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Shocking NASA admission: man made global warming could be staving off next regularly scheduled ice age.
— Purple Avenger

Obviously, we gotta "fix" this warming shit ASAP so we can become a world of socially collapsed freezing burrow dwellers hunkered down in the dark recesses of caves trying to survive the next 200,000 years or so.

...According to scientists' models of Earth's orbit and orientation toward the Sun indicate that our world should be just beginning to enter a new period of cooling -- perhaps the next ice age.

However, a new force for change has arisen: humans. After the industrial revolution, humans introduced increasing amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and changed the surface of the landscape to an extent great enough to influence climate on local and global scales. By driving up carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere (by about 30 percent), humans have increased its capacity to trap warmth near the surface. ...

Someone please splain to me again why ace ages are preferable to balmy weather? The last serious ice age and advancing glaciers completely reshaped NY state, dug out all sorts of lakes and left unsightly boulders laying all over the floor, not to mention how inconvenient it might be having to constantly maintain ice tunnels under a mile thick sheet of ice so Manhattan traffic doesn't get any worse than it is already.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 07:33 AM | Comments (255)
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Pick Results Week 14
— Dave in Texas

Collapsing inflatable domes, two Monday night games, Cliff Lee heads back to the Phillies.

Dark times my friends. Dark times indeed.

Jocks:
Reggie Bush's Birth Cert: 117
joltin' j's: 116
Commando Pete: 115
daddio413: 114

The Short Bus:
Ben: 106
DrewM:100
Russ from Winterset: 100
CDR M: 97
DiT: 91

Thanks as always to Ben and CDR M, and their Supercray computer cluster.

Also, a little something to warm your cold, black little Grinch hearts this morning, via Slublog (NYT link). Poor, poor Dems in Congress struggling to cope with their mid-term misfortunes.

Since last monthÂ’s elections, in which Ms. Wasserman Schultz was re-elected but Republicans snatched back the majority, she has discovered downward mobility.

Today, Ms. Wasserman Schultz is scrambling to keep her membership on Appropriations, and protect the staff aides whose jobs are at risk. “It’s the shrinking pains of serving in the minority,” she said. “There’s a lot of angst.”

Awww. Committee memberships at risk. Staffers wandering up and down the halls, seeking comfort in these trying times. The NYTimes chronicling the heartache of it all.

Courage, dear ones. Courage.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:41 AM | Comments (82)
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Top Headline Comments 12-14-10
— Gabriel Malor

Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:55 AM | Comments (213)
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S.841 confirms what we all knew - quiet hybrids and electric cars are a menace 2 society
— Purple Avenger

Apparently, some believe these electric cars are a menace to pedestrians, particularly the blind, because they are just too quiet. Oh, and you will be prohibited from removing the noise making devices.

...SEC. 4. STUDY OF METHOD TO PROTECT BLIND AND OTHER PEDESTRIANS.(a) Required Study vehicles of the same make and model and shall prohibit manufacturers from providing any mechanism for anyone other than the manufacturer or the dealer to disable, alter, replace, or modify the sound or set of sounds...

Of course, there is one way to avoid such creeping nanny stateism -- boycott electric vehicles entirely and nuzzle up a "pedestrian friendly" noisy internal combustion car...maybe a vintage one that's pre-CARB, pre-catalytic converters, etc, etc.

I'm thinking something along the line of the Mk III 427 V8 powered Shelby Cobra might just be the most socially conscious car one can own.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 12:55 AM | Comments (89)
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Overnight Open Thread
— Maetenloch

Hey Gas prices Are Getting Kinda High Again

In fact the average price for a gallon of gas is the highest it's been in almost two years. Funny how the media aren't doing any more "Pain at the Pump" stories or questioning whether the White House is too friendly with the oil companies.

And even adjusting for inflation we're still on par with 1978:

So let's see - high gas prices, high unemployment - all we need now is high inflation to complete the Carter trifecta.
more...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:41 PM | Comments (915)
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And Now a Word From the Washington State Department of Health:
— Genghis

Nice to see that the state has it's spending priorities straight despite that pesky $5 billion budget shortfall. At least it's kinda' catchy.

H/T Dori Monson.

Posted by: Genghis at 05:02 PM | Comments (94)
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