Various And Sundry Items

NYT: Snowstorms Proof Of Global Warming

They don't use these exact words. But if you read today's daily climate piece, one gets the distinct impression that this is indeed the message.

As the first blizzard howled last weekend, the Virginia Republican Party put up an advertisement on the Web — titled “12 Inches of Global Warming” — criticizing two Virginia Democrats, Representatives Rick Boucher and Tom Perriello, who voted for the federal cap-and-trade legislation last year. The advertisement urges voters to call Mr. Boucher and Mr. Perriello to ask if they will help with the shoveling.

Speculating on the meaning of severe weather events is not new. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and a deadly heat wave in Europe in the summer of 2003 incited similar arguments about what such extremes might — or might not — say about the planet’s climate.

But climate scientists say that no single episode of severe weather can be blamed for global climate trends while noting evidence that such events will probably become more frequent as global temperatures rise.

This isn't a single episode. Two years in a row government meetings on global warming were postponed by ice storms. This year, two major blizzards within a week shut down the entire government.

As I have said before, I am not an overly religious man. But we must consider that there is a message in all of this. Someone is trying to tell somebody, something.


Former Indiana Senator Coats Seeks To Unseat Bayh

He says he's getting encouragement from national Republican leaders. This statement alone would make me nervous, since he is telling us all that he is the favorite of the current Republican establishment. I don't know about you all, but I don' think that makes a compelling case for why I should support him. The establishment is what got us into this mess.

That's strike one.

Then there is this little problem with carpetbagging, he hasn't lived in Indiana for years. He has been working for lobbying firms in Washington.

That's strike two and three.

I think it will be up to the tea party movement to let him know that we appreciate the time he spent representing us, but his candidacy is not what we need right now. We need someone that will reform Washington not take us back into the past, and establisment cadidates are those who seek the same old thing that failed before---the reassertion of the GOP establishment.


Rand Paul Working Hard To Win Kentucky Senate Nomination

Speaking of anti-establishment campaigns, Rep. Ron Paul's son is running a hard-nosed primary campaign against the current GOP establishment candidate. The last poll I can find was from Public Policy Polling back in December and shows Dr. Paul way ahead.

Paul is up 44-25 on Grayson. 39% of likely primary voters have a favorable opinion of him to 13% unfavorable while 22% view Grayson positively to 15% unfavorable.

Paul is winning the votes of conservatives by a 47-20 margin, while Grayson holds a 36-34 lead with moderates. Paul is having a particularly good amount of success with folks who think that the Republican Party in Washington has become too liberal- his lead with them is 54-18. Paul’s support is universal across demographic lines, as he is up with men, women, voters in every region of the state, and every group of the GOP electorate broken down by age.

Business as usual is not what this country needs, not from Dems or the GOP. In my view, the GOP is every bit as guilty of the mess we are in right now. They have been Dem Lite for way too long. It's time to get government out of our lives and into the issues that affect us as a nation. Hopefully Kentucky will see this and send a message to this effect, by nominating and electing Dr. Paul to the U.S. Senate.


TEA Party: What It Is, What It Isn't

This is an excellent essay that summarizes the objectives and make-up of the TEA Party and seems to validate much of what I said in my Progressively More Confused post, from yesterday. The primary misconception is that the progressives want people to believe is that we are a bunch of whackos, hell-bent on destroying the republic and initiating anarchy. That is the lie that they are advancing because they are scared.

Read this essay over a RCP. It's not very long and very much to the point.