Stingray

Let me get this straight:  Obama, Pelosi, and others continue to assure the American people that Obamacare will not fund abortions. Those who point out the fact that the bill does not expressly prohibit abortion coverage are called liars and extremists.

Rep. Bart Stupak, Democrat Representative from Michigan, is leading an effort among Democrats to add language to the bill that will specifically prohibit abortions, but is being fought by Pelosi and others.

If the Democrats really oppose abortion in the healthcare bill, why are they fighting so hard to keep out pro-life language?

Shut up, that’s why.

From The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room:

Rep. Bart Stupak said Speaker Pelosi is not pleased with his effort to change abortion-related provisions in the healthcare bill being crafted by the House.

During an interview on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” show, Stupak (D-Mich.) said he is undeterred in trying to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not pay for abortions. Stupak, who opposes abortion rights, acknowledged that some in his party are upset with his public campaign to change the bill.

“The Speaker is not happy with me,” Stupak said.

…

“This has been federal law since 1976,” he said, noting that President Barack Obama has vowed not to allow healthcare reform to pay for abortions.

“We have to have a vote,” he said.

If he doesn’t get one, Stupak said he and as many as 39 other Democrats will vote no on a procedural motion to bring the health bill to the floor. A House vote on healthcare reform could be taken next week.

Most of you don’t read the Dallas Morning News - and you should call yourself lucky. It’s daily reporting has changed to this format:

1. Front page story — Primarily a liberal, human interest piece that few people read. It is sometimes very good, but often very bad.
2. Content — Almost wholly derived from AP, Reuters, New York Times, Washington Post, or “assembled from wire content.” So why do we buy this paper when we can get the same thing from Drudge?
3. Op-Ed - Almost uniformly liberal opinions, except that the Dallas Morning News generally endorses Republicans for elections after trashing them for six months. They hold a huge grudge against Texas governor Rick Perry, but are unable to articulate why they hold him in such low self-esteem.

Overall, a sad newspaper that doesn’t quite fit with its demographics. They spend way too much time trying to be the Austin American Statesman. The Dallas Morning News ranks third in losses out of the top 25 newspapers in the country. They have a very, very bad business model and still don’t understand why they’re failing. It’s too bad — Dallas needs a good newspaper.

Top 25 Daily Newspapers in New FAS-FAX

Top 25 Daily Newspapers in New FAS-FAX
By E&P Staff
Published: October 26, 2009 9:40 AM ET

NEW YORK Here are the top 25 newspapers in the country ranked by daily (Monday-Friday) circulation for the six months ending September 2009 from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The percent change compares the same six-month period ending September 2008.
Go here for more on this list by E&P Senior Editor Jennifer Saba, and here for a list of the top 25 papers on Sunday. For a list of the top 10 gainers this time around, go here.
…

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS — 263,810 — (-22.16%)

Remember the media complaints about George W. Bush golfing while soldiers are dying? It seems like soldiers are still dying, but Obama has golfed as much in 9 months as Bush did during two years and 10 months.

Hey liberals, where is your righteous indignation now?

From POLITICO: President Obama ties George W. Bush on golf - Patrick Gavin

The moral of this story is to never, ever plead guilty.

Surprisingly, alcohol was involved.

From the New York Daily News:

Proctor Police Department

Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 62, pled guilty to driving his tricked-out La-Z-Boy while drunk.

At least he was in a comfy chair.

A Minnesota man has pled guilty to driving while drunk. The only hitch - he was driving a La-Z-Boy.

According to the Duluth News Tribune, Dennis LeRoy Anderson departed from a bar in Proctor, a town in northern Minnesota, and started to drive his chair home one night in August 2008.

However, the 62-year-old crashed the La-Z-Boy into a parked car. He was not seriously injured, but police found that his blood alcohol level was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit.

Anderson admitted to drinking eight or nine beers, a criminal complaint stated.

As for the chair, which was powered by a lawnmower engine and tricked out with headlights, a stereo and a steering system, is going to be auctioned off by police at an undetermined date.

The Minnesota senior will serve two years probation.

From UK’s Telegraph. Isn’t it a shame that we have to depend upon foreign sources for our news?

The decline in Barack Obama’s popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years.

…

His current approval rating – hovering just above the level that would make re-election an uphill struggle – is close to the bottom for newly-elected president. Mr Obama entered the White House with a soaring 78 per cent approval rating.

The bad polling news came as Mr Obama returned to the campaign trail to prevent his Democratic party losing two governorships next month in states in which he defeated Senator John McCain in last November’s election.

…

Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey is in severe danger of defeat while Democrats are fast losing hope that Creigh Deeds can beat his Republican opponent in Virginia. Twin Democratic losses would be a major blow to Mr Obama’s prestige.

Nancy Pelosi explains why eliminating the Bush tax cuts really isn’t the same thing as raising taxes.

For her next performance, Nancy will explain why Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky wasn’t really cheating, because he was just reverting back to the state where he was before he married Hillary.

For your listening pleasure tonight, Dame Kiri te Kanawa sing “Four Last Songs” by Richard Strauss.

Strauss suffered the ignomy of being Hitler’s favorite living composer, and his references to Wagner are unmistakable. To Strauss’s credit, he used his position to protect Jews, including his daughter-in-law Alice and his friend, Stegan Zweig. There is evidence that he provided protection for other Jews as well, but he understandably left no contemporaneous notes.

For your entertainment pleasure this evening, I present Sonate pour violon et basse continue / Les nouveaux caractères, by Rébel.

Tonight’s performance is brought to you by the Kopper King hibiscus, which holds a special place in our front garden.

This is another one of those “if these were Republicans the press would be all over this like a duck on a June bug” stories. However, media bias is what it is, and the mainstream can’t be bothered to investigate whether Democrats who were in a position to influence legislation received special low-interest loans as a gift. It’s obviously more important to have a debate as to whether Rush Limbaugh is a racist.

From The Hill:

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) locked Republicans out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee room to keep them from meeting when Democrats aren’t present.

Towns’ action came after repeated public ridicule from the leading Republican on the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), over Towns’s failure to launch an investigation into Countrywide Mortgage’s reported sweetheart deals to VIPs.

For months Towns has refused Republican requests to subpoena records in the case. Last Thursday Committee Republicans, led by Issa, were poised to force an open vote on the subpoenas at a Committee mark-up meeting.

At the crux of the matter are sweetheart VIP loan deals that Countrywide made to Senators Chris Dodd, Kent Conrad, and others with political influence. Republicans have discovered that Countrywide recorded calls with politicians and have apparently since destroyed them. Countrywide, now owned by Bank of America, is being kind of fuzzy about what happened to the tapes

Democrats first claimed the mark-up was canceled due to a conflict with the Financial Services Committee. Later they said it was abandoned after a disagreement among Democratic members on whether to subpoena records on the mortgage industry’s political contributions to Republicans. Finally, Democrats admitted that they were at a Georgetown frat party trying to score with some hot chicks.

Okay, I may have made up that last sentence.

Tonight is a night of contrast between 1965 and 2008.

Peter and Gordon had a string of Top 40 hits from 1964 to 1967. Their first, A World Without Love, was written by Paul McCartney under a pseudonym. McCartney wanted to know if he could write a number one hit that stood on its own merits rather than because it happened to be by The Beatles.

The careers of Peter and Gordon weren’t hurt by the fact that Paul dated Peter’s sister, Jane Asher. Peter can be seen in a number of Beatles television performances, including Hey Jude and All You Need is Love.

Take a peek below the fold at Peter and Gordon performing A World Without Love in 1965 — and 2008. Remember, someday the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus will look like this.

As Rush Limbaugh has always noted, the best satire has an element of truth to it.

According to The Onion, "It's gonna require all of the President's diplomacy skills to make the fire see that putting itself out is what's best for both parties."

Welcome, ladies and gentleman, horses and fleas. Tonight’s show is brought to you by the Shumard Red Oak, native to Arkansas and Texas east of Fort Worth. We have on in our front yard, though it’s a replacement tree and is not yet mature.

Here are The Beatles, performing “Hey, Jude” from the David Frost show in 1968.The introductory portion of the clip was filmed at Twickenham Studios, which Frost visited early in the day to make it appear as if the Beatles were actually on the show. The Beatles performed semi-live, over-dubbing live vocals over the pre-recorded studio version of the song. This version is allegedly an edit of takes 1 and 3.

Both John and George believed that Paul had written the song with them in mind.

Note at 2:47 how John forgets to come in with a backup vocal. John and Paul acknowledge this with a laugh, then continue the performance. John was well-known from his teenage years for forgetting the words to songs.

Rush confronts the media lies made against him. Rush: 1; Mainstream media; 0.

As always, it’s best to let Rush speak for himself. Here’s a teaser from the Wall Street Journal. Go and read the whole article.

Not to be outdone, Jesse Jackson, whose history includes anti-Semitic speech (in 1984 he referred to Jews as “Hymies” and to New York City as “Hymietown” in a Washington Post interview) chimed in. He found me unfit to be associated with the NFL. I was too divisive and worse. I was accused of once supporting slavery and having praised Martin Luther King Jr.’s murderer, James Earl Ray.

Next came writers in the sports world, like the Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon. He wrote this gem earlier this week: “I’m not going to try and give specific examples of things Limbaugh has said over the years because I screwed up already doing that, repeating a quote attributed to Limbaugh (about slavery) which he has told me he simply did not say and does not reflect his feelings. I take him at his word… . “

Mr. Wilbon wasn’t alone. Numerous sportswriters, CNN, MSNBC, among others, falsely attributed to me statements I had never made. Their sources, as best I can tell, were Wikipedia and each other. But the Wikipedia post was based on a fabrication printed in a book that also lacked any citation to an actual source.

I never said I supported slavery and I never praised James Earl Ray. How sick would that be? Just as sick as those who would use such outrageous slanders against me or anyone else who never even thought such things. Mr. Wilbon refuses to take responsibility for his poison pen, writing instead that he will take my word that I did not make these statements; others, like Rick Sanchez of CNN, essentially used the same sleight-of-hand.

The sports media elicited comments from a handful of players, none of whom I can recall ever meeting.

No surprise here. The Democrats depend upon ACORN and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to deliver the phony votes that enable them to win elections

Most of us knew that when various branches of the government began to sever ties with ACORN, they would find ways to recreate those ties.

Thanks to Glenn Reynolds.

"The only thing that could really make [the love affair with Obama] end is utter failure on the part of Obama."

Obama is failing on every issue. If Barnes is correct, then the media love affair with Obama will end once it becomes apparent the the stimulus has failed, health care is unpopular, and the cap and trade bill does not pass..

"Obviously newspapers are going to shrink, they're going to be an elite phenomoon, in some cities, and there are going to be big cities without a newspaper."

"There was no reporting. The press seemed to resent the notion, that you mainly heard from conservatives, that they should report, that they should investigate Obama's relationship with people like Bill Ayers. The press didn't want to do that, and they didn't."

Click the picture for the video:

I was a bit cynical yesterday, but the more evidence I see, the more I believe that the launch was a hoax designed to gain attention. The family was taping the balloon launch yesterday and their doesn’t seem to be any way that the boy could have been inside the balloon.

I noted yesterday that I doubted a helium balloon of that size could carry a 6-year child. Watch this snippet from CNN last night where Falcon Heene, when asked why he hid, said “We did it for a show.” Coupled with what looks like bad acting on behalf of his parents, I’m beginning to think that this family, who are no strangers to self-promotion on televsion, conducted a hoax to attract attention.

Tonight's edition of Stingray Late Night Radio is sponsored by the Nobel Peace Prize committee, who tell me that I was their number two choice.

After an exceptionally fine bottle of MD 20-20 one evening, I thought that world peace would be a wonderful thing. I held that thought for five seconds until I caught the whiff of day-old pizza in the dumpster I was sitting next to. If I had remained focused just 5 seconds longer that fateful evening I would be $1.5 million wealthier tonight.

Final update:  Boy found hiding in cardboard box in garage. He is safe and all is well, thank God.

Update at 5:41 PM EST: According to Calgary Herald:

A young boy from a ‘science-obssessed’ family fell from an experimental balloon that had taken off with him aboard, according to reports.

One of Falcon Heene’s brothers is said to have told authorities that he saw his brother fall from the balloon, which took off Thursday morning and reached a height of nearly 8,000 feet before losing helium and coming back to earth.

There was no sign of Falcon when the balloon landed.

A ground search is currently under way around Fort collins, Colorado, where the Heene family live.

Emergency officials have shared a description of the child as being 3 feet tall, wearing a dark blue shirt and blue jeans. According to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, a local resident reported something dropping from the sky near Weld County Roads 41 or 43 and 28.

Update at 5:38 PM EST:  According to Teletext:

Rescue teams in the United States are carrying out an intense ground search for Falcon Heene, a six-year-old boy believed to have climbed into a balloon which took off and travelled for 60 miles before landing with no-one on board.

A Colorado sheriff’s official said the boy had climbed into a box attached to the balloon, but the box was not found when the craft landed.

Kathy Messick said one of the boy’s brothers saw him get into the box or basket, which was attached with pegs.

She said search teams were scouring the area from the house in the direction that the balloon flew. She added that investigators were examining every possibility, including whether the boy was ever in the balloon.

Update at 5:31 PM EST: To lift 1 kg, you need about 163 grams of helium.

===================

Lord, have mercy. Please watch over and protect Falcon Heene.

According to MSNBC, the father is saying that part of the compartment is missing.

From USAToday:

Update at 2:42 p.m. ET: KUSA TV says the craft is an experimental aircraft that has a large helium balloon attached at their home  in Fort Collins. 

Click here to link to KUSA’s live webcast of the unfolding incident.

Update at 2:52: p.m. ET: The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports that family and officials say the boy got onto the aircraft and detached the rope holding it in place.

Update at 2:58 p.m. ET: USA TODAY’s Doyle Rice says current winds around Fort Collins are out of the northwest at 14 mph, gusting to 20 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Update at 3:16 p.m. ET: A Weld County sheriff’s spokesman said a sibling saw the boy climb into the basket before the balloon took off. The door on the balloon was unlocked, so it’s possible the boy had fallen out, she said.

Erik Nilsson, Larimer County Emergency Manager, told CNN affiliate KMGH, “The structure at the bottom of the balloon that the boy is in is made of extremely thin plywood and won’t withstand any kind of a crash at all.”

Update at 3:23 p.m. ET: The Colorado National Guard is sending an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter to try to rescue the boy, the Associated Press says.

The boy was seen climbing into the balloon and unleashing it by his brother. Here is a video of the the landing. Note how small the balloon is. I’m no balloonist, but as a scientist, I don’t see how a homemade balloon of this size could have lifted a 50-pound boy to seven or eight thousand feet.

For your entertainment tonight, here is an abridged version of The Twilight Zone episode "The Obsolete Man." Is it true that there are no atheists in foxholes?

Tonight's performance is brought to you by one of my favorite plants in our garden -- the Hot Lips salvia.

40 cents of every federal tax dollar goes to pay interest on the federal debt. Surely there is someone bright enough in the Republican Party to turn that into a winning slogan for 2010 and 2012. Use 40% in huge numbers on signs, billboards, and commercials. Once voters are taught to link the number with Democrat policies, they are going to be Pavlov’s dogs every time they see it.

From Lawrence Kadish of WSJ.com: Taking the National Debt Seriously

If you think those town hall meetings over health care were fierce, wait until Americans come to understand the threat to our national financial survival posed by the interest on the government’s credit card.

When the government spends more than its revenue, there is a budget deficit. These deficits are paid for by Washington selling interest bearing Treasury securities. If the government were ever to default on its promise to pay periodic interest payments or to repay the debt at maturity, the United States economy would plunge into a level of chaos that would make the Lehman bankruptcy look like a nonevent.

It is the interest on the national debt that makes our future unstable. The exploding size of that burden suggests that, short of devaluing the dollar and taking a large bite out of the middle class through inflation and taxation, there is no way to ever pay down that bill.

As of Sept. 30, 2009, the national debt was almost $12 trillion and interest on that debt was $383 billion for the year, according to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Public Debt. The Congressional Budget Office on Oct. 7 estimated the 2009 budget deficit to be almost $1.4 trillion (about 10% of GDP). In August, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) estimated total government revenues at about $2 trillion. The revenue estimate included $904 billion from individual income taxes. This means the cost of interest on the debt represented more than 40 cents of every dollar that came in from individual income taxes.