The Left Makes Me Laugh

I am a political junkie. The section of the paper I go to first is always the op-ed section. Nothing gets the mind stirring like the free exchange of ideas. It doesn't matter if the columnist is left wing or right wing, I enjoy reading it.

Admittedly I usually end up reading the liberal columnist because I find them entertaining. I mean if you can not laugh at Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet then you are devoid of any humor. Her schoolgirl crush with Barak Obama has started my day for the last 3 months. The is the columnist that wrote about wanting to go into the locker room with the Senator. If she ever looses her job with the Sun-Times I'm sure she could fill the pages of Penthouse Letters with her fantasies of the African-Indian-Irish-Muslim-Irish presidential candidate. For crying out loud, the main feature on her blog is Obama's public schedule. And here you thought Eleanor Cliff's infatuation with Bill Clinton was embarrassing, Lynn Sweet verges on being a stalker!

Not all liberal columnists are nut cases. One I have great respect for is Susan Estrich. The majority of the time I disagree with her, but her reasoning is downright challenging for a conservative like me. Sometimes I find myself actually agreeing with her. I am telling you if you don't have her web page bookmark you should. In fact her column this week defending Ken Burn's documentary from the censorship of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is extraordinary! Ms. Estrich gets it right when she states:

"Hispanic Americans have real issues to worry about in America today, starting with immigration reform, equal employment opportunity, education, health care, etc. Ken Burns is the least of their problems. And people who call themselves leaders, much less take an oath to uphold the Constitution in the process, should be expected to recognize that.

The whole incident leaves you feeling sorry for Hispanics — not because they've been left out of a PBS film about what happened 50 years ago, but because their leaders today leave so much to be desired."

How can you not respect someone that is willing to talk straight to one of the key voting blocks in the nation?

Lloyd's Joins Green Hysteria

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lloyd's of London, the world's oldest insurer, offered a gloomy forecast of floods, droughts and disastrous storms over the next 50 years in a recently published report on impending climate changes.

"These things are fact, not hypothesis," said Wendy Baker, the president of Lloyd's America in an interview on Monday. "You don't have to be a believer in global warming to recognize the climate is changing. The industry has to get ready for the changes that are coming."

In a report on catastrophe trends Lloyd's is disseminating to the insurance industry, a bevy of British climate experts, including Sir David King, chief scientist to the British government, warn of increased flooding in coastal areas and a rapid rise in sea level as ice caps melt in Greenland and Antarctica.

Northern European coastal levels could rise more than a meter (3 feet) in a few decades, particularly if the Gulf Stream currents change, the report says.

Floods, which now account for about half of all deaths from natural disasters, could multiply and become more destructive, with annual flood damages in England and Wales reaching 10 times today's level, according to some studies.

At the same time, drought patterns that are already forming in some parts of the world are going to get worse, particularly in southern Africa.

Even the lush Amazon may dry up, and with less vegetation, more carbon dioxide will leak into the atmosphere, making the global warming problem even worse, the Lloyd's study says.

My Thoughts:

The way the story is written it gives the impression that the Ms. Baker is saying that her predictions of the catastrophic future are facts that are indisputable. Is Wendy Baker just plain stupid or is this story intentionally misleading? I'll give Ms. Baker the benefit of the doubt for no other reason than a track record of a national media that continues to push an agenda without any regard of what facts are.

A fact, by definition, is something processing the qualities of being actual. I agree drought patterns could worsen, the ice caps could melt and coastal levels could rise, but none of this constitute a fact. Only when it happens will it be a fact. I actually think that stories like this is a disservice to the "green" political agenda because when the global warming debate is framed in such a disingenuous way it diminishes any creditability the argument and the people who frame the argument might have.

The only fact we have is that the planet in the last hundred years has gotten warmer. Do we have to do something about global warming? I'm not sure we can. However, it might be a good idea to conserve as a means to preserve. Lets not let the propaganda get hotter than the planet.

Something's Wrong Here

2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays Team Payroll $24,124,200

05/06/07: Yankees Sign Roger Clemens for $25,900,000

Hero of the Week - Judge Michael Sauer

Judge Michael Sauer deserves a pat on the back. This man is responsible for locking up Paris Hilton for 45 days and he did it without a single camera on him. Unlike the Anna Nicole fiasco in Florida where the courts allow their judges to ham it up in front of lights of the national press corps, Judge Sauer took a low key approach and acted judiciously.

Judge Sauer stayed so far from the limelight that the only image I could find of the man was a court drawing with him in the background as Paris Hilton was embarrassing herself on the witness stand. I thought to myself, Paris Hilton doesn't deserve to be in the same frame as this honorable man and quite frankly, I am sick of seeing her. So on this website Paris Hilton has been photo-shopped!

Some may say Judge Sauer's decision was too harsh. Most of these people obviously don't know Hilton's driving record, which included a DUI, violations for driving without her lights on, driving a vehicle without license plates, failure to enroll in a court order alcohol-education program and several stops by the police reminding Paris that she was driving on a suspended license. Hilton has demonstrated time and time again that rules apply to everyone else but her.

Ms. Hilton stated (lied) on the witness stand that when she was pulled over on January 22 she was unaware that her license was suspended. Despite the fact she was pulled over by California Highway Patrolmen on January 15 and was forced to sign a statement that acknowledged that she was informed that her license was suspended. Note here that Ms. Hilton was not cited on January 15th as she should have been.

Nonetheless, Paris' mother, Kathy Hilton declared, "This is pathetic and disgusting, a waste of taxpayer money with all this nonsense. This is a joke." You are wrong Mrs. Hilton. What's a joke is that because of your poor parenting skills, disciplining your children is now a burden on the hard-working taxpayer.

Hilton's attorney Howard Weitzman went even further to express his displeasure with the sentence stating, ".....It was clear that she's been selectively targeted in my opinion to be prosecuted because of who she is." Funny, He doesn't mention all the publicity, special perks and privileges Paris Hilton has been awarded in her life has also been based on solely who she is.

The only mistake Judge Sauer made was that he didn't allow Century Regional Detention Facility to charge Paris Hilton the same nightly rate that the Beverly Hills Hilton charges their patrons.