Eerie Portents

 
In Dallas, Texas, a washer-dryer combo suddenly caught on fire.

In Kitchener, Ontario, a dog was covered in freezing rain.

In Antarctica, a massive snow storm prevented aircraft from landing on Roosevelt Island.

In Tokyo, a department store marked down all bath towels for no apparent reason.

On the I-5, traffic suddenly came to a stop, even though there were no accidents.

Near Kenosha, Wisconsin, a tragic snowmobile accident resulted in two fatalities.

Low tide in Brittany, France left dozens of small boats temporarily land-locked.

In Key West, Florida, a kite unexpectedly crashed into the sandy beach.

In Bogota, Colombia, an anthill was mysteriously abandoned by its inhabitants.

A car was crushed in Perth, Australia, after an unexpected storm uprooted trees.

And in Honolulu, a man spit out a rotten tomato onto a picnic table.

This is all happening as we speak. We can only expect more of the same as climate change continues to transform the Earth.

Al Gore explains.

New evidence shows "the climate crisis is significantly worse and unfolding more rapidly than those on the pessimistic side of the IPCC projections had warned us," the former US vice president and climate campaigner told delegates at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos......the North Pole ice cap may disappear entirely during summer months in as little as five years, Gore said.

"This is a planetary emergency. There has never been anything remotely like it in the entire history of human civilisation. We are putting at risk all of human civilisation," he added.

As if to reinforce the point, Al Gore announced a once-in-a-lifetime carbon offset sale. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to pollute guilt-free.

An Illustrated Guide to the Democratic Primary

 
Yes. It's just that simple.

Hillary Clinton by the Numbers

 
0: the number of questions that Hillary answers during a typical campaign appearance.

12: the number of publicized fibs, fabrications and fables that qualified for the "Top Twelve Hillary Clinton Fabrications List."

18: the number of months that Bill Clinton carried on an affair in the White House without Hillary's knowledge, despite the claim that she is "the smartest person" he knows.

30: the number of times Hillary Clinton's new HillaryCare plan refers to "Americans" as opposed to the number of times the plan references "citizens" (zero), even though approximately 10.2 million uninsured Americans are believed to be illegal aliens.

32: the number of times Hillary Clinton sponsored, cosponsored or voted for legislation providing amnesty or rewarding aliens for illegally entering the United States.

41: the number of Clinton friends, colleagues, business associates, and relatives convicted of crimes through January 2001.

100: the number of redacted pages in the Cox Report, which revealed a massive espionage campaign conducted by the Chinese government under the Clinton administration's watch. One major aspect of the operation related to the apparent swap of sensitive ballistic missile technology to China in exchange for campaign donations to the Democratic National Committee.

120: the number of redacted pages in the Barrett Report, which describes the "effort by Clinton administration officials to first block and then limit the probe as a way of taking pressure off an administration that was already beset by scandals" in the case of disgraced former HUD secretary Henry Cisneros.

250: the number of times Hillary said she didn't know, didn't remember, couldn't recall, etc. over the course of multiple investigations.

900: the number of secret FBI files illegally gathered by Bill and Hillary Clinton in an effort to discredit the women who had charged President Clinton with sexual misconduct. Courts found that the privacy of Linda Tripp and Kathleen Willey had been violated: "when faced with discovery, the Clinton-Gore White Housecompounded their legal troubles by launching a cover-up and failing to turn over documents as required by subpoena... Judicial Watch was able to link Mrs. Clinton directly to the center of the Filegate controversy."

100,000: the approximate amount Hillary Clinton made in cattle futures commodity trading in 1978, although her account was underfunded by $11,000 of the required $12,000 investment in what some believe was an exchange for favorable treatment of Tyson Foods by the Bill Clinton administration ("In return, as reported in The New York Times Magazine, [Tyson] expected the new governor to raise the legal truck-weight limit in Arkansas so that Tyson Foods could compete with out-of-state poultry truckers").

113,000: the number of donors to the $165 million Clinton Library, for which the Clintons have not released information. Investigations by the Washington Post and New York Times have revealed a substantial number of foreign donors (e.g., Saudi and Chinese) that also contributed to Hillary Clinton's campaign.

200,000: the amount of a falsified invoice that Hillary's 2000 Senate campaign presented to the Federal Election Commission, which led to her finance director's indictment. The rancor around the Peter Paul celebrity fundraising event is simply one small piece of what some have called "the largest election law fraud in history."

635,500: the amount in U.S. dollars given to Clinton-controlled Democratic Party Committees by Johnny Chung and Bernard Schwartz in an apparent quid pro quo for Chinese access to sensitive missile guidance technologies.

850,000: the amount given to Hillary Clinton and Democratic campaigns by jailed fugitive Norman Hsu.

1,450,000: the approximate amount given to the Clintons and/or Democratic causes by Denise Rich, wife of fugitive Marc Rich, in an apparent exchange for a Presidential pardon.

3,022,030: the number of HillaryCare documents from 1993-1995 that have not been released, despite repeated promises to do so.

7,000,000: the approximate annual budget of the White House travel office, which was replaced after decades of service by the Clinton administration: "First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton... came under scrutiny for allegedly having played a central role in the firings and making false statements about her role in it... In 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray [stated that] Hillary Clinton had made factually false statements but saying there was insufficient evidence to prosecute her."

50,000,000: the approximate high range of Hillary Clinton's net worth as of 2005, an increase from a high range of $3.8 million in 2003 (an approximate gain of 14,000% in two years).

Update: Linked by The Anchoress, Grouchy Old Cripple, The Jawa Report, Parkway Rest Stop, and Stop Her Now!. Thanks!

Someone pinch me, Frank Rich won my Line o' the Day award

 
Frank Rich, writing in the New York Times ("The Billary Road to Republican Victory"):

Asked by Tim Russert at a September debate whether the Clinton presidential library and foundation would disclose the identities of its donors during the campaign, Mrs. Clinton said it wasn’t up to her. “What’s your recommendation?” Mr. Russert countered. Mrs. Clinton replied: “Well, I don’t talk about my private conversations with my husband, but I’m sure he’d be happy to consider that.”

Not so happy, as it turns out. The names still have not been made public.

Just before the holidays, investigative reporters at both The Washington Post and The New York Times tried to find out why, with no help from the Clintons. The Post uncovered a plethora of foreign contributors, led by Saudi Arabia. The Times found an overlap between library benefactors and Hillary Clinton campaign donors, some of whom might have an agenda with a new Clinton administration. (Much as one early library supporter, Marc Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, had an agenda with the last one.) “The vast scale of these secret fund-raising operations presents enormous opportunities for abuse,” said Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat whose legislation to force disclosure passed overwhelmingly in the House but remains stalled in the Senate.

...When Mrs. Clinton was asked by Mr. Russert at an October debate if she would [allow the HillaryCare records to be relelased], she again escaped by passing the buck to her husband... The credibility of a major Clinton campaign plank, health care, depends on it. In that same debate, Mrs. Clinton told Mr. Russert that “all of the records, as far as I know, about what we did with health care” are “already available.” As Michael Isikoff of Newsweek reported weeks later, this is a bit off; he found that 3,022,030 health care documents were still held hostage...

Update: The runner-up for my Line o' the Day is from Small Dead Animals:

...the one question no interviewer has yet had the courage to ask of Hillary - What will you do, as President, if there is another bimbo eruption in the White House?

Victory becomes her

 
Hillary in New Hampshire, courtesy of the world's dominant undead blogger.





Victory becomes her.

I'm also trying to find pictures of her after the debacle in South Carolina on Saturday, but so far I'm drawing blanks. This would help me contrast the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of political competition!

But I don't think she likes to have her picture taken after brutal defeats.

The Co-Presidents' Sideline Business is Back!

 

Looks like Hillary is increasingly confident she can win. I'm seeing these pop-up ads everywhere!

Sunday Morning Linkfest

 
• C. MacLeod Fuller defines the Thirteen-Step Program of Liberals Anonymous. Remember, a liberal mind is a terrible thing to waste. LibAnon can help.

• The London Daily Telegraph reports that socialized medicine is working swimmingly well in the U.K. Except that "Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives."

Since "most [say] the health service cannot afford to provide free care to everyone," they're recommending that those pesky smokers, drinkers, overweight and elderly patients simply lie down and die in the streets.

• The Sunday Express reveals that an overwhelming majority of Britons fear the Militant Quakers in their midst.

• Susan Taylor Martin examines the sometimes explosive mixture of research and religion.

• Tim Blair marshals the meteorologists at Sundance. Maybe these Doctors' efforts will help those suffering from Global Warming Dementia.

• Claudia Rosett, writing in the National Review, questions the Pentagon's reliance on a man named Hesham Islam. And Andrew Bostom adds background on the controversial aide to the Deputy Defense Secretary.