$99,933,000,000 to go.

Debated at the international Nuclear Winter Impending Ice Age Global Warming Climate Change conference in Bali, the future of the UN administered superduperfund for building giant climate change related things to deal with climate change.

The fund is running a tad shy of the estimated "tens of beelyuns of dollars" necessary to punish capitalism finance big-ticket climate change projects such as giant seawalls and forcing impoverished nations to forego the use of affordable energy production and use the least efficient, most expensive energy generation technology there is.

I don't think we can "fix" their impoverishment, per se. But this can't help.

The fund is financed by a 2 percent levy on revenues generated by the Clean Development Mechanism (aka carbon credits).

Operation, control and funding of the Adaptation Fund has been debated for years at these meetings of U.N. climate treaty parties.

And it will continue to be so debated even after they manage to drag the US into Kyoto. Debate is like that when it comes to real money.

The U.N. climate chief, Yvo de Boer, told reporters Tuesday he hoped it was possible that this meeting would finally make the fund operational, "so that perhaps in as little as a year before real resources for adaptation can begin to flow to developing countries."

Communism has certainly been working on its image over the last 20 years, hasn't it? It's been repackaged as the First Church of Climate Crisis and Care.

A faith-based initiative.

Oh by the way, everybody probably noticed except me that Stephen McIntyre's blog won the Best Science Blog Weblog award. geoff probably knew it.. McIntyre's got lots of charts and graphs, and geoff really digs those.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 06:39 AM | Comments (19)
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I’ve been pessimistic about the Republicans’ chances of retaking congress in ‘08, because there are so many more Republicans retiring than Democrats, which strongly favors the Democrats keeping control, and even increasing their lead.

Human Events has another viewpoint on that:

But one little-noticed fact may have a major impact on Republican ranks in the House after ’08, no matter what their numbers: that with so many of the seventeen including prominent moderate GOPers, odds are strong that the trend toward the terms “Republican” and “conservative” becoming mutually inclusive will continue after the next election.

As the moderate wing of the party has seen its prominent members — notably from the Northeast — be defeated or step down, the election of conservatives to the House on the Republican label grows. As the “Sunbelt” (South and the West) dominates the ranks of Republican U.S. Representatives, there is but one Republican lawmaker left from New England: liberal GOPer Christopher Shays (R.-Conn.). In addition, as more moderate GOPers vacate safe or Republican-leaning districts, the nomination process is increasingly yielding a successor who is conservative. more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 12:30 AM | Comments (42)
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And by "ex", they mean he was taking a long lunch break at the time.

A former aide to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was in federal custody after being arrested on a charge of attempting to sexually exploit a minor.

James Michael McHaney was fired Friday from his job as a scheduler for Cantwell, hours after he was arrested by FBI agents. The FBI said in court papers that McHaney is accused of trying to set up a meeting with a witness posing online as a teenage boy.

According to court papers, McHaney, known as Mike, tried to arrange a lunchtime meeting with an unidentified person posing as a 13-year-old boy.

Let's start with an adult male wanting to have sex with a 13 year old boy. If there is such a thing as a just and merciful God, this creep will spend the rest of his life being raped and sexually abused by exceptionally large felons courtesy of the United States penal system... AFTER he is convicted.

So I have to ask, why was he fired? First off, since when is being arrested for attempting to have sex with an underage boy a firing offense for a Democratic Senate staffer? Seriously. More importantly, when did this guy get exempt from the presumption of innocents?

H/T Orbusmax

The NSFW quote after the jump
more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:22 PM | Comments (29)
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I never eat December snowflakes.

Ok, I never see December snowflakes.

Probably a total washout. Still, what a point spread. I took the Ravens. 20.5 is a lot, even for those commies from Foxboro. Buried under 6 feet of ice by now I'll wager, yes I will.

Oh. It's in Baltimore.

3 feet of ice then.

Charlie Brown "Hey Ya" below the fold. Old, but cute.

It's an NFL Christmas. more...

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 05:17 PM | Comments (53)
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Chick remains unimpressed.

Santos, who is being held in the LaPorte County Jail on $2,000 bond, is accused of driving to the LaPorte Municipal Airport despite a lifetime ban on his driving privileges.

I'm thinking lifetime might not be long enough.

According to police reports, Santos was drunk when he took his girlfriend to the airport Sept. 9 to show her that he could fly a plane. They climbed into the plane and were heading down the taxiway when, Santos told police, flames began shooting from the left engine.

Alcohol was involved? Shut up.

Santos shut things down in an orderly manner, and thinking quickly ran the aircraft into a field of soybeans which brought his speed safely under control and busted up the plane.

He wasn't caught at the scene however, he was detained after an anonymous tipster reported overhearing Santos describe his amazing exploits.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 02:23 PM | Comments (29)
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If female inmates canÂ’t put on a fashion show for prison guards, then the terrorists really have won.

Three jailers have been fired and one suspended for encouraging female inmates who put on a mock fashion show that included a bikini made from a sweatshirt.

..."They used their prison uniforms and anything else for the fashion show," sheriff's office administrator Larry Lowman said of the ten Bedford County Jail inmates who participated.

Alma Cantu watched the inmates through a large security window while three male guards — Steven Qualls, Jason Carden and Jamie Farris — watched them on security monitors, Lowman and Sheriff Randall Boyce said.

"There were some remarks made over the intercom into that [cell] block," Lowman said. "One of the guards asked a particular female to blow into the speaker ... box of the intercom [which doubles as a microphone] and as she did, he put his microphone down to his crotch."

My guess is the participants aren't quite as hot in reality as they would be in the Cinemax version, so a trip to my bunk wonÂ’t be necessary.

Posted by: DrewM. at 01:17 PM | Comments (19)
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Obama says he never really planned to run for President but the crack staff at the Clinton campaign say thatÂ’s not true. It turns out that the Messiah has been planning on running for President sinceÂ…kindergarten. And they have the proof:

In third grade, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want To Be a President.' His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a President,' she said." [The Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07]

In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President.Â’ "Iis Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said." [AP, 1/25/07 ]

HillaryÂ’s press release also has examples from a few years ago including his law school days but kindergarten? Really?

I guess the only way you can say this is fair is that Obama has said his biggest foreign policy experience comes from living abroad as grade school student.

Me? I just think it proves how pathetic the Democratic field is.

H/t Instapundit

Posted by: DrewM. at 11:38 AM | Comments (78)
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Apparently they are still enriching uranium but the US now believes that they halted, though not dismantled, their efforts to weaponize it.

"We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program," reads a declassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate key findings.

"We judge with moderate confidence that the earliest possible date Iran would be technically capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) for a weapon is late 2009."

The new intelligence report could create an embarrassing situation for the United States as it pushes for a third United Nations resolution against Iran for its nuclear activities.

Â…A senior U.S. official who has read the estimate told ABC News earlier this morning t.hat the NIE concludes "there has been a halt when it comes to weaponization" of Iran's nuclear weapons program.

The official adds: It's "an intentions judgment, not a capabilities judgment." In other words, the Iranians could restart this aspect of there program, but for whatever reason, they have halted it for now.

ThereÂ’s a lot of reasons they might have stopped their program such as technical programs, the inability to get needed materials or maybe there was an event in 2003 that got their attention. And we canÂ’t exactly dismiss out of hand the notion that our crack WMD experts are wrong.

No matter what the reason, you can bet the media and the Democrats (but I repeat myself) will spin this as more proof of the administrations disingenuousness when it comes to WMD issues. The idea that we might have delayed the Iranians ability to develop nuclear weapons without attacking them will never be mentioned. That would mean giving Bush credit and admitting that there were possibly some collateral benefits to taking on Iraq. Those are two things that may never happen.

Critics will also ignore the fact that just be caused the Iranians stopped doesnÂ’t mean they wonÂ’t start again and that we shouldnÂ’t have to live with that potential sword hanging over our head.

Perhaps Ahmadinejad and company are just waiting for a more ‘accommodating’ administration to take over.

Posted by: DrewM. at 10:52 AM | Comments (89)
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Their Patients Acceptance Committee has been considering the move for several months, seeking cost reductions.

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston set aside $12 million out of a $1.4 billion budget to treat indigents suffering from cancer. Still facing shortfalls, they are weighing alternatives, one of which is to turn away illegal immigrants seeking care.

The problem, according to Dr. Howard Brody, is "how do we find a way to get Texans to step up"?

Unless Texans address the overall problems of the uninsured and funding for public hospitals, cash-strapped institutions must begin drawing lines, said Dr. Howard Brody, director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities and chair of the medical branch's ethics committee.

"If they want indigent folks to get care and want everybody in Texas to at least have a chance to have more access to medical care, then voters of Texas should step up and provide more resources," Brody said.

Yep, that's the problem Dr. The voters of Texas are very concerned about this and want to solve this problem pronto. It's a local story now, although I'll be surprised if it doesn't get some national attention, it's so, punchy.

We seem to be hell bent in this country for some sort of nationalized health care. Can't wait.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 07:32 AM | Comments (130)
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Just crossing the wires now.

President Hugo Chavez suffered a stinging defeat in a vote on constitutional changes that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely, the chief of National Electoral Council said Monday.

Voters defeated the sweeping measures by a vote of 51 percent to 49 percent, Tibisay Lucena said.

Fidel would have never made this type of amateur mistake. Thankfully, Hugo doesn't seem that bright.

ThereÂ’s a little more detail now. Apparently Chavez has conceded defeat but heÂ’s still President until 2012. It looks like this isnÂ’t the last time Venezuelans are going to have go toe to toe with this Castro wannabe.

"This was a photo finish," Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace, adding that unlike past Venezuelan governments, his respects the people's will.

Exactly a year ago, Chavez won re-election with 63 percent of the vote.

"Don't feel sad," Chavez urged supporters, especially given the "microscopic differences" between the "yes" and "no" options in a referendum that opponents feared could have meant a plunge toward dictatorship.

Â…"To those who voted against my proposal, I thank them and congratulate them," Chavez said.

But he also urged calm and restraint. "I ask all of you to go home, know how to handle your victory," Chavez said. "You won it. I wouldn't have wanted that Pyrrhic victory."
Yet he made it clear he would remain a formidable foe.

Echoing words he spoke when as an army officer he was captured and jailed for leading a failed 1992 coup, he said: "For now, we couldn't."

Posted by: DrewM. at 09:32 PM | Comments (93)
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