Now THIS is a bumber sticker slogan!

Today’s Democrat Party:
Good news in Iraq “would be a problem for us”

If only that were a joke. Sadly, it isn’t.

This is not the party my parents and grandparents knew. Post-Clinton Democrats have gone in one unmistakable direction. Backwards.

Good news in a war against a committed and sworn enemy of the United States is bad news for them.

As my friend McQ likes to say, “Let that sink in for a minute.”

Please, do yourself a favor and check out the very relevant to this post Nancy Boyda Awards

They Don’t Call Em Tax and Spend Liberals For Nothing

Out of power for over a decade and impervious to the enormous positive economic benefits of pro-growth-supply side tax cuts, Congressional Democrats, itching to confiscate and redistribute as much individual income as possible have been very busy during the last 6 months proposing a plethora of new tax increases. Here is a partial list compiled from Ed Hyman’s ISI Group

A Senate Finance Committee plan to raise the federal tobacco tax by 61 cents to a total of $1 a pack to finance the Schip health-care expansion.

The so-called Blackstone tax on private equity partnerships that go public, raising their 15% rate to the regular corporate tax rate of 35%.

A tax increase on the “carried interest” of hedge funds and private equity to 35% from 15%.

Higher withholding taxes on the U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies–in essence a tax increase on foreign investment in America.

Raise the capital gains rate to 28% from the current 15%.

Deny the domestic manufacturing deduction to oil producers.

A levy on oil and gas produced from deep-water leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

A tax surcharge of 4.3 percentage points on income of more than $500,000, which would take the top marginal rate to 39.3%.

President Bush will most likely veto these tax increases. But is there any doubt that President Hillary or O’Bama would eagerly sign them into law?

Most in the Democrat Party including most of the presidential candidates are so removed from reality that they believe that the “war on terror” is a bumper sticker slogan concocted by those evil neo-cons in the Bush Administration so they can colonize the world and pilfer oil. I think it is becoming increasingly obvious to Americans that there is good reason why Americans don’t trust Democrats with our national security-especially during war time. They are dangerously out of touch with reality.

And now during a time of significant and sustained economic growth resulting from the very same pro-growth Bush Tax Cuts that were almost unanimously opposed by the Democrats who claimed they would lead to financial ruin, the Democrats are once again demonstrating that they are impervious to basic economic empirical evidence that time and time again has proven that the most effective way to generate economic growth is to keep taxes low across the board.

It’s all the more remarkable given that federal tax revenues as a share of GDP are currently above their modern historical level. The latest budget estimate is that fiscal 2007 revenues will reach 18.8% of GDP, compared to the 40-year historical average of 18.3%. Tax revenues this year are rising by nearly 8%, following increases of 11.8% in 2006 and 14.6% in 2005. The budget deficit is down to 1.5% of GDP, and falling. But apparently Democrats still think Americans are undertaxed.

The 2008 Election will be about whether Americans want to return to the Jimmy Carter Era where we appeased and emboldened our enemies as many leading Dems are suggesting we do now or whether we agressively confront our enemies by staying on the offensive as Reagan did when he defeated the Soviet Union and as our current president is now attempting to do when Democrats are not directly sabatoging his efforts to protect America.

And the election will also be about whether Americas want to return to the stagflation and misery index (double digit unempolyment and inflation and falling wages etc…) of the high tax and government spending Jimmy Carter years. The Democrats have made it clear that if elected in 08′ that taxes will go way up across the board to fund a plethora of expanded government- but especailly a government run socialist health care system- which many believe would be the final nail in the proverbial coffin for America.

I hope Americans realize how close Democrats are to closing the deal in 08′. And if they win, I am not as optimistic as some that America would ever recover. I hope I am wrong. I pray that I am wrong.

Hillary: “Smartest Women in the World” or Bimbo?

The Editors at Investors Business Daily ask an important question:

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s fans suggest that her brilliance outshines her character flaws. But if she’s so smart, how did she flunk the D.C. bar exam, one of the easiest in the nation?

It’s obvious to me as I research my new book, that Hillary Clinton is not as “smart” as many believe. We know that Democrats are always trying to portray Republicans like Bush as “stupid” even though Dubya got slightly better grades at Yale than Kerry and scored higher on his military intelligence tests than Kerry- not to mention the fact that he got a 3.6 GPA at Harvard Business School.

We also know that “Mr. Carbon Footprint” himself Al Gore failed out of Seminary School and dropped out of law school and was barely a c student at Harvard Undergrad- although he did invent the internet. So it wasn’t like he was a total failure.

And it was Ted Kennedy, not Bush, who got caught cheating at Harvard and was kicked out-prior to killing Mary Joe. And now we find this out about Hillary “the smartest woman in the world.”

From another biography, we also now learn that the esteemed senator failed to read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq before she voted to authorize President Bush to use force in 2002. She now regrets the decision, claiming she was misled by faulty intelligence she never bothered to read.

Turns out Clinton had to be “briefed” by staffers on the details of one of the most important government reports ever printed. What, the smartest woman in the world couldn’t scan a 90-page dossier? She had to get the Cliffs Notes?

These latest revelations make us wonder if Hillary Clinton’s vaunted IQ isn’t just another Clinton fabrication. Is this why she refuses to release her Wellesley and Yale transcripts?

Now I know that not every Rep and Senator doesn’t read every word of every piece of legislation. But I would argue that the NIE on Iraq may have been the most important government report in our nation’s history. It was 90 pages long. I am a slow reader and could have knocked it out in 2 hours.

For a woman who wants to become commander and chief doesn’t she have a responsibility to level with the American people as to why she claims that she was “misled” about national security information she never even read?

I hope that there are some reporters who will have the courage to pose this question to Hillary and also ask her if she will reveal her college trascript that until now she has refused to make public.

Haditha Marine father Darryl Sharratt describes his phone call with Congressmen Murtha

Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt

Congressman John Murtha finally got around to taking a call from the father of one of the accused Marines in the so-called Haditha Massacre. The Marine is Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt and his father, Darryl Sharatt, made 53 phone calls over 18 months, before getting a return call. Mr. Sharrat is a resident of Congressman Murtha’s district. That’s right. Murtha is his congressional representative.

Darryl got emotional talking about how his son’s desire to be a career Marine had been ruined. He wants Murtha to be held accountable but he’s realistic about the chances of an official reprimand from Congress (ed. note: that he so richly deserves). His frustration is understandable,

An investigating officer in the case against a U.S. Marine accused of murdering civilians in Haditha, Iraq, has recommended that charges against him be dropped, concluding that the government’s allegations that the Marine executed a group of men are “unsupported and incredible.”

Bruce McQuain from QandO was with us and added some great perspective and observations.

All of our interviews are also available for download at iTunes and Podcast Alley via the Pundit Review Radio Podcast.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Hailed as “Groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

Someone You Should Know: SPC. Richard “Buddy” Ghent

Bruce McQuain from QandO joined us for another edition of Someone You Should Know, the untold, inspirations true stories of the men and women fighting for us around the world. The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Thanks to Matt, Bruce is now on board and we are lucky to have him as part of the show.

From Bruce’s Project Hero profile, the heroics of Richard “Buddy” Ghent, a member of the New Hampshire National Guard,

Armed only with a 9mm pistol. Facing insurgents who had just blown up his Humvee, wounded him with shrapnel and a gun shot wound to the back, killed his best friend and badly wounded his sergeant, he charged. With a pistol. Against unwounded insurgents with assault rifles.

He charged them.

And he drove them off and held his position until relieved by another element of his platoon. With a pistol.

All of our interviews are also available for download at iTunes and Podcast Alley via the Pundit Review Radio Podcast.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

Michael Medved returns to Pundit Review Radio

It was great to welcome back to Pundit Review Radio one of our favorite commentators on politics and culture, Michael Medved. Michael’s talk radio show is syndicated nationally, he is author of several best-selling books and is, of course, one of America’s best known film critics.

Home for only two hours following a 25-hour return trip from Israel to Seattle, Michael was very generous with his time tonight. We had a great discussion about Israel, the attitude of its people, their booming economy, how they feel about Iraq and Iran. In many ways, life in Israel is good but the public mood is sour. Just like here. We also talked about the broader situation in the Middle East and the domestic insurgency in Congress and Hollywood.

All of our interviews are also available for download at iTunes and Podcast Alley via the Pundit Review Radio Podcast.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Hailed as “Groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

Are Historically High Hurricane Rates The Result of Human Induced Global Warming?

William Gray is a professor emeritus in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and a research fellow at the Independent Institute, who has issued Atlantic basin seasonal hurricane forecasts for the past 24 years.

Here is what he says to those who claim like Al Gore and other global warming alarmists that there is a direct link between the post-1995 upswing in Atlantic hurricanes and global warming brought on by human-induced greenhouse gas increases:

The hypothesis that increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the number of hurricanes fails by an even wider margin when we compare two other multi-decade periods: 1925-1965 and 1966-2006. In the 41 years from 1925-1965, there were 39 U.S. land-falling major hurricanes. In the 1966-2006 period there were 22 such storms — only 56% as many. Even though global mean temperatures have risen by an estimated 0.4 Celsius and CO2 by 20%, the number of major hurricanes hitting the U.S. declined.

So what has caused the increase you may be asking yourself? It is somewhat technical but interesting nevertheless:

My Colorado State University colleagues and I attribute the increase in hurricane activity to the speed-up of water circulating in the Atlantic Ocean. This circulation began to strengthen in 1995 — at exactly the same time that Atlantic hurricane activity showed a large upswing.

Here’s how it works. Though most people don’t realize it, the Atlantic Ocean is land-locked except on its far southern boundary. Due to significantly higher amounts of surface evaporation than precipitation, the Atlantic has the highest salinity of any of the global oceans. Saline water has a higher density than does fresh water. The Atlantic’s higher salinity causes it to have a continuous northward flow of upper-ocean water that moves into the Atlantic’s polar regions, where it cools and sinks due to its high density. After sinking to deep levels, the water then moves southward, and returns to the Atlantic’s southern fringes, where it mixes again. This south-to-north upper-level water motion, and compensating north-to-south deep-level water motion, is called the thermohaline circulation (THC).

The strength of the Atlantic’s THC shows distinct variations over time, due to naturally occurring salinity variations. When the THC is strong, the upper-ocean water becomes warmer than normal; atmospheric circulation changes occur; and more hurricanes form. The opposite occurs when the THC is weaker than average.

Since 1995, the Atlantic’s THC has been significantly stronger than average. It was also stronger than average during the 1940s to early 1960s — another period with a spike in major hurricane activity. It was distinctly weaker than average in the two quarter-century periods of 1970-1994 and 1900-1925, when there was less hurricane activity.

Since Al Gore produced his movie “An Inconvenient Truth” to start a vital debate about man-made “global warming,” I am sure that he would debate professor Gray concerning whether the increasing number of hurricanes experienced during the past 12 years is the result of human induced carbon emissions as Gore claims in his movie.

entire article here