You Risk Touching Off World War III, Mr. President -- And For What?

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Syria: As a Chinese warship joins Russian ships in the Mediterranean, we should remember a cruise missile attack on an Israeli warship. President Obama should understand that Syria and Hezbollah have missiles, too.

As the Obama administration continues to deploy its comical weapons, with Secretary of State John Kerry promising America any attack on Syria will be "unbelievably small," a Chinese warship deploys off the Syrian coast, joining its Russian counterparts in what used to be an "American lake," the Mediterranean Sea.

The People's Liberation Army has dispatched the amphibious dock landing ship Jinggangshan, a move that follows the announcement that Russia is sending three more ships — two destroyers and the missile cruiser Moskva — to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster forces that already include three other warships dispatched over the last two weeks.

All are a pointed reminder that we are not the only player that has pieces on the board.

Launched in 2011, the 19,000-metric-ton Jinggangshan is a 689-foot-long warship that can carry 1,000 soldiers, helicopters, armored fighting vehicles, boats and landing craft, according to a report in the China Daily.

China is reportedly worried that a Syrian strike and its aftermath could send oil prices skyrocketing, which would be bad news for the Chinese economy.

Russia has a naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus and is a major arms supplier to Syria. Russia is sending its large landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov loaded with "special cargo" towards the Syrian coast, the state news agency Interfax quoted a navy source as saying Friday.

Could that "special cargo" be parts for completing its high-end, Russian-supplied S-300 air defense system?

Earlier last Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed to Associated Press that Moscow supplied Syria with components for the state-of-the-art system but that the shipment was not completed: A cruise missile strike might assure its completion.

Syria is not Libya. If the United States strikes Syria, we might be surprised at how hard Syria can hit back. The P-800 Yakhont anti-ship missiles that Russia has equipped Syria with are the most advanced anti-ship missiles that Russia has.

From Syria, P-800 Yakhont anti-ship missiles can cover much of the eastern Mediterranean and can even reach air bases in Cyprus. If the U.S. Navy is not very careful to stay out of range, analyst Michael Snyder observes, we could easily see footage of destroyed U.S. naval vessels sinking into the Mediterranean on the evening news.

And once the American people see such footage, it will be impossible to stop a full-blown war between the U.S. and Syria and its allies, such as Iran and Hezbollah.

In June 2006, as Hezbollah and Israel fought a brief war, an Israeli vessel, a Saar 5-class missile ship, was struck by a Chinese CS-802 anti-ship missile launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon with the assistance of Iranian Republican Guards.

If President Obama thinks he can launch a few Tomahawks in an "unbelievably small" strike and then head off for a few rounds of golf, he may be sadly mistaken.

We hear the argument that U.S. credibility is on the line here, but we also note that U.S. credibility may already be destroyed as a result of repeated betrayal of allies like Poland, the Czech Republic, Britain and Israel, as well by precipitate withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hillary Clinton once defended the proposition that Bashar Assad was a "reformer." John Kerry once casually dined with the man he now likens to Hitler, calling him "generous." President Obama returned a U.S. ambassador to Syria after President Bush had pulled one out for Syria's role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

An "unbelievably small" strike might not restore our credibility, but it could start our Nobel Peace Prize winner's next war.


Read More At Investor's Business Daily

RESET OR BLUE-SCREEN? USA Today Headline: "Putin calls Kerry a liar on Syria"

Methinks Hillary got out while the gettin' was good:

Things aren't exactly warming up between the Obama administration and Vladimir Putin, even as President Obama arrived in St. Petersburg for the G-20 summit.

Putin called Obama Secretary of State John Kerry a liar over Kerry's testimony this week before Congress.

The question may be al-Qaeda's influence on the Syrian rebels, an issue Kerry has downplayed.

Speaking to his human rights council Wednesday, Putin said, "This was very unpleasant and surprising for me. We talk to them (the Americans), and we assume they are decent people, but he is lying and he knows that he is lying. This is sad."

Putin has criticized Obama administration claims that Bashar Assad's government attacked the rebels with chemical weapons.

Last month, Obama canceled a summit meeting with Putin after a series of U.S.-Russian disputes, including Russia's decision to grant asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Word has it that President Obama plans to issue a sternly worded memo to express his dissatisfaction with Putin's remarks.

Got Cold War?


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Remember When Pictures Mattered?

As cnredd reminds us:

Remember the good old days? ... You couldn't go 25 seconds without some Leftie bringing up this photo that was taken 8 years before [George H. W. Bush] got Iraq out of Kuwait and 19 years before [Bush 43] took out Saddam himself...

Good times, good times...

Any Lefty bringing this one up recently?

How about Bill Clinton with the vicious Hafez al-Assad, Bashir's father?

John Kerry and Bashir?

Democrat Senator Bill Nelson and Bashir?

How about Jimmy Carter and Bashir?

How about the pathetic leftist nitwit Dennis Kucinich -- who visited with the ruthless dictator a mere two years ago -- and appeared to "heap praise upon Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is being widely criticized for the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations"?

But don't worry: the greatest Secretary of State ever -- Hillary Clinton -- called Assad "a reformer", so we know this administration is on top of things.

As Egypt Burns, President Obama Cycles Into Action

Okay, you got me: the President isn't doing anything about Egypt, other than asking his State Department to support the Muslim Brotherhood. Here's the President taking quick action after word that hundreds have been slaughtered in Egypt:

Oh. And besides those decisive actions, the President met with writer/actor Larry David. On the golf course. For the 140th time.


Reminder: "John Kerry: Don’t ‘Prejudge’ The Muslim Brotherhood"

Female Member of Israeli Parliament Obliterates John Kerry: You will "cause the whole region to spin out of control"

Now, this is speaking truth to power:

In letter publicized to the press, Shaked attacks US pressure to release terrorists: "You are putting me and my children's lives at risk"

Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked has released a scathing open letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, for pushing the Israeli government to release convicted terrorist murderers...

"In light of the current situation that you have brought about, I feel that I cannot be bound by the restraints of 'politically correct' wording, and I therefore will allow myself to convey my following message to you in the most straightforward fashion... By forcing Israel to capitulate to terrorism by releasing murdering terrorists with so much blood on their hands that the US would never dream of releasing if it was their own citizens murdered – you are not only being extremely hypocritical, but are actually dabbling in experimentation and gambling, by putting me and my children's lives at risk..."

..."Mr. Secretary: the price of releasing over a hundred convicted murderers will be borne by my family and my people, not by you." she continued, asking "How will you carry the burden of the terrible price toward which you are leading us?"

"You forced us into peace talks during a period of time that the entire Middle East is in chaos, without realizing that by doing so, you have foolishly put us in an impossible situation in which we cannot and will not make any concessions."

By "raising expectations to a dangerous level" in this way, Kerry is threatening "to cause the whole region to spin out of control," she claimed... Shaked ended the letter with a word of "advice" for the US Secretary of State.

"The past four years in Israel have been as quiet and peaceful as ever. Therefore I suggest you perform your job in a much more effective and relevant fashion by focusing your attention on Syria and Egypt, where people are actually being slaughtered."

Oh, damn.

Which reminds me: Hillary Clinton is the greatest Secretary of State ever.


Hat tip: BB.

HIGH-LARIOUS: Man With $7 Million Yacht Lectures India on Carbon Emissions, Links Them to Deadly Floods

There's hypocrisy, there's flaming hypocrisy, and then there's John Kerry.

After expressing his condolences to the flood victims, Kerry said in a speech in New Delhi on Sunday night that the U.S. had donated $150,000 to the flood relief effort — “not the highest sum in the world,” he admitted, but “a beginning.” He went on to warn India not to dismiss the deadly intensity of the floods as a one-off tragedy. “Perhaps Mother Nature in her own way is telling us to heed some warnings,” Kerry said before a packed auditorium. “Today the science of climate change is screaming at us for action.”

I'll treat global warming climate change like a planetary emergency, when the mega-wealthy green profiteers like Al Gore and John Kerry treat it like a planetary emergency.

You know, when they sell their immense yachts and and multiple mansions.

Oh, and here's an idea. How about they use Skype rather than jet-setting around the world?

And pay their taxes to boot?


Via: Just the Tip.

As Egypt Implodes, Obama and Kerry Party, Golf, Kayak and Hit the Yachting Circuit. And Then Lie About It.

Lazy, incompetent liars. I refer, of course, to the Obama administration and the Secretary of State. With all due respect.

Lazy and incompetent, because while Egypt imploded this week, President Obama found time to catch his 130th round of golf (130!) and John Kerry was MIA.

As for lying, John Campbell elaborates:

On Wednesday, as Egypt remained in political upheaval, the Obama Administration wanted everyone to know that they were committed to working… Or at least tweeting a photo illustrating as such.

The White House tweeted out a photo of top Obama Administration advisers working diligently around a table, but conspicuously absent from the photo-op was Secretary of State John Kerry. As media outlets questioned why the Secretary of State was not present, CBS’ Moshesh Oinounou seemed to have the answer: Kerry was on his yacht.

Oinounou tweeted out a picture of Kerry’s yacht, the Isabel, and claimed that the Secretary of State was on it on Wednesday afternoon. The Obama Administration vehemently denied the claim.

“Since his plane touched down in Washington at 4 a.m., Secretary Kerry was working all day and on the phone dealing with the crisis in Egypt,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “He participated in the White House meeting with the president by secure phone and was and is in non-stop contact with foreign leaders, and his senior team in Washington and Cairo. Any report or tweet that he was on a boat is completely inaccurate.”

After the denials were met with understandable skepticism by media outlets, the Obama Administration reversed course and Psaki stated,

“While he was briefly on his boat on Wednesday, Secretary Kerry worked around the clock all day including participating in the president’s meeting with his national security council.”

This is the underlying problem: Why lie about it? Americans already know that John Kerry is a (to borrow the left’s ridiculous parlance) “one-percenter” who would much rather be soaking up the sun on his yacht than doing his job; the revelation is just one more eye-roll-inducing piece of information.

No, the real problem here is that the Obama Administration relies on deceit at every turn. The president and his masters of spin are pathologically incapable of telling the American public the truth.

Worse yet, they are only willing to admit that for which they have been caught red-handed.

If it takes investigative journalism to get the this administration to admit the whereabouts of the Secretary of State, it illustrates why the Obama Administration is so hell-bent on waging a war against journalism and it further begs the question, “What else are they doing that they’re not being caught for?”

Please note that this administration was willing to instantly and blatantly lie about John Kerry's whereabouts during a coup in Egypt.

What does that say about their other hidden activities, from gun-running to Mexican drug cartels (Operation Fast and Furious), the president's missing 8 hours during the Benghazi attacks, and the IRS scandals? What other lies have they foisted upon the American people in a craven attempt to retain their white-knuckled death grip on power?


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Afghanistan: Another Spectacular Administration Foreign Policy Success

Dan from New York calls the following a "slow-mo replay of Obama's latest diplomatic meltdown":

• US, Taliban to start talks on ending Afghan war - AP, June 18, 2013

The Taliban and the U.S. said Tuesday they will hold talks on finding a political solution to ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan, as the international coalition formally handed over control of the country's security to the Afghan army and police... The Taliban met a key U.S. demand by pledging not to use Afghanistan as a base to threaten other countries...

• Afghanistan: Taliban 'Admit' US Troop Attack - Sky News, June 19, 2013

The Taliban has said it was behind an attack that killed four US troops in Afghanistan, just hours after Washington announced planned talks with the insurgents...

• Afghan leader backs away from Taliban talks - AP, June 19, 2013

Afghanistan's president said Wednesday he will not pursue peace talks with the Taliban unless the United States steps out of the negotiations... Hamid Karzai's strong response and the Taliban attack deflated hopes for long-stalled talks aimed at ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan...

• Karzai, angry about Taliban's Qatar office, suspends peace, security talks - CNN, June 19, 2013

Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out Wednesday at the United States over the opening of a Taliban office in Qatar, pulling out of security talks with U.S. officials and refusing to take part in peace talks with the Taliban that he said would only benefit "foreigners' strategies and goals."

Comforting.

JOHN KERRY EDITION: What is it with these permanent Democrat politicians and their face-lifts?

The top couple of photos represent the John Kerry Before. The bottom four are the After.


Has anyone seen Kerry and Nancy Pelosi together?

Yacht Barnacle: the John Kerry Story

When it comes to hypocrisy, criminality, duplicity and elitism, is there anyone in America that tops John Kerry? For you drones: that's a rhetorical question.

BigGovernment.com has obtained records of Massachusetts Democrat Senator John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz’s stock portfolios that show almost perfectly timed pharmaceutical stock trades during the Obamacare debate, which fattened their already enormous personal fortune.

...Sen. John Kerry’s position on the powerful Senate Finance Committee’s Health Subcommittee gives him direct access to critical information regarding health care policy. In July 2009, pharmaceutical industry representatives met with key members of Congress to flesh out the Obamacare bill. Then, in November 2009, with the bill’s passage was looking more likely, the Kerrys’ portfolios reflect a drug stock buying spree...

...Even as their portfolios reflected aggressive purchasing of drug company stocks, Sen. Kerry was dumping investments in health insurance companies.

...[Peter Schweizer's new book] Throw Them All Out contends that Sen. Kerry is no stranger to making huge profits off of health care-related trading based on his rare access to information. “Some of [Kerry’s] biggest scores,” writes Schweizer, “were tied to his knowledge of obscure matters that had huge ramifications for certain companies.”

One such instance occurred in 2007, when the government was deciding whether an anemia drug made by Amgen would receive Medicare reimbursement. Before news of the congressional negotiations went public, however, the Kerrys’ investment fund executed two perfectly timed stock sales. On May 4th and 7th, between $500,000 and $1 million worth of Amgen were sold off. The move helped him avoid between $50,000 and $100,000 in losses.

Another example of Kerry’s deft congressional trading happened in 2003 during the negotiations over the prescription drug benefit plan. Kerry’s Senate committee was in charge of the plan’s oversight. In 2003, writes Schweizer, “a stunning 111 transactions of pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies” were made to the Kerrys’ portfolios.

Peter Schweizer's book is a must-read.


Hat tip: Instapundit.

Oh, This is Rich: HuffPo Nut Can't Remember When Members of Congress Ever Met With Foreign Leaders Against the Will of the White House

Some crackpot named Amanda Terkel, writing at the execrable Stuffington Roast, is shocked -- shocked! -- that a member of the the House majority met with the Israeli P.M.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday during a meeting in New York that the new GOP majority in the House will "serve as a check" on the Obama administration, a statement unusual for its blunt disagreement with U.S. policy delivered directly to a foreign leader...

...Ron Kampeas from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency news agency found Cantor's comments extremely surprising, writing, "I can't remember an opposition leader telling a foreign leader, in a personal meeting, that he would side, as a policy, with that leader against the president. Certainly, in statements on one specific issue or another -- building in Jerusalem, or somesuch -- lawmakers have taken the sides of other nations. But to have-a-face to face and say, in general, we will take your side against the White House -- that sounds to me extraordinary."

What a tool.

It's certainly easy to forget this meeting of Democrat Chris Dodd (D-CT) with Syrian dictator-slash-Iranian-terror puppet Bashar Assad against the wishes of the Bush White House.

Or this meeting between the pathetic John Kerry (D-MA) and Assad.

Or the time that the disgraceful Bill Nelson (D-FL) met with Assad.

And who could forget this meeting between Stretch Pelosi and Assad?

Not only did Democrat leaders meet with the head of the terror-state; not only did they fly across the globe to meet; but they also did so in the midst of the Iraqi conflict in which:

• Syria was secretly building its own nuclear facility (later destroyed by the Israelis, thankfully)...

• Credible military reports stated that Assad was (and is still) holding Saddam Hussein's WMDs...

• And, worst of all, Syria was actively exporting weapons to Iraq's insurgents during the war that were used to kill American troops.

In a late update to the article, however, Terkel happens to remember one of many visits by Democrat leaders to express support for Syria's terror-state, but only to attempt to point out GOP "hypocrisy".

Yes, dimwit, because Syria -- a puppet of Iran -- was and is a known terror-state and avowed enemy of the U.S. Its support for Hezbollah, for instance, was also instrumental in the bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines.

Not that you'd remember any of that, "Terkel" -- if that is your name.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

Shocka: New York Times and WikiLeaks Organize Al Qaqaa II (i.e., Yet Another Desperate October Surprise Intended to Swing the Elections)

Problem is: the illegal immigrants, felons, dead people, government dependents and union bosses -- the Democrats' core constituencies -- don't read the Times, so it's unlikely that Al Qaqaa II will have the same kind of impact as version one.

Why do I call this latest Halloween Surprise "Al Qaqaa II"?

A few months after the 2004 presidential election, Jonah Goldberg dredged up the long since forgotten dirty trick pulled by the New York Times-Fishwrap, which was clearly designed to swing last-minute support to John "D-Student" Kerry.

On Monday, October 25, 2004, the New York Times published a 2,600-word front page story headlined “Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq.” Written by three Times journalists [alleged that] 380 tons of very high explosives–munitions that could be used by Iraqi insurgents to attack American troops–were missing, and had probably been looted, from Iraq’s Al Qaqaa weapons-storage facility.

The story, published eight days before the presidential election, caused an immediate uproar. Aides to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry quickly arranged a conference call with reporters that Monday morning to push the Times’s findings...

Despite questions raised by critics about the story’s accuracy, completeness and timing, in the days that followed the Times mounted the journalistic equivalent of a full-court press on Al Qaqaa. On October 26, the paper ran a front-page article on Kerry’s quick pickup of the issue... That same day, Times columnist Paul Krugman charged that the administration’s handling of Al Qaqaa was part of a “culture of coverups.” ...The next day, October 27, the Times published two stories on the subject... Columnist Maureen Dowd also mentioned Al Qaqaa in an article entitled “White House of Horrors.”

The paper published two more stories mentioning Al Qaqaa on October 29 (one was another Krugman column), then two more on October 30, then two more on October 31, and then two more on November 1, the day before Election Day. Each day Kerry, who abandoned much of his planned final-week strategy to concentrate on Al Qaqaa, tried to capitalize on the latest reports. In all, in the eight days from October 25 to November 1, the Times published 16 stories and columns about Al Qaqaa, plus seven letters to the editor (all of which were critical of the Bush administration).

...And then, abruptly, it stopped. In the four months since the election, the Times appears to have simply dropped the Al Qaqaa story, publishing nothing about the munitions dump and the supposedly critical issues it raised about the Bush administration’s handling of the war in Iraq...

Simple: it was thinly disguised agitprop, designed to sway the masses the way Julius Streicher might have: by using "The Big Lie". And, yes, I'm using Nazi allusions because (a) they're accurate; and (b) I'm sick of the liberals constantly referring to those who love the Constitution as Nazi extremists, when it is they who constantly advocate for bigger government and for more centralized control without any limits whatsoever! But I digress...

Six years later, basically to the day, the Times will run a sensationalistic Sunday hit-piece designed to: (a) swing the elections; (b) undermine our troops; (c) hurt our allies; and (d) salvage six wavering subscribers.

And all of it will have the same impact as Al Qaqaa I. Which is to say: bupkis.

And they wonder why no normal American trusts the media. Get out on Tuesday morning with the other patriots. Line up thousands strong with your neighbors, family and friends. And help crush the liberal-progressive-Statist-Marxist machine. This time, we really are doing it for the children.


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

When Leftist Drones Attack!

Apparently, asking a question about an unusual display of military medals and ribbons on civilian attire has raised the hackles of the hard left Democrats. In this case, a thread on Free Republic mentioned the magically expanding ribbon rack of one Connie Pillich, an Ohio Democrat legislator and hard-core tax-and-spend liberal in the mold of Nancy Pelosi.

Many veterans pointed out the display of medals and ribbons on civilian attire appeared, well, a bit tacky. But one extremely brave commenter named Anonymous ripped this august journal for even discussing the topic.

The last time someone made fun of a veteran was when Mean Jean Schmidt made her infamous comment that became a Saturday Night Live legend.

Be careful who you piss-off. Veterans don't like to see criticism of one of their own, especially when neither you nor Wilson have done anything to serve your county.

Representative Pillich has served her country.

Questioning her medals was one area you never should have touched, especially as a front for Wilson.

You have discredited yourself and your blog.

I think you can call her Representative Schmidt, nut-rack. As for myself and Wilson, you have no idea who we are or what we've done, crap-clown.

Oh. Yes. I'm sure our proud vets and their families really appreciate the Democrat Party's support:

• John 'Our Soldiers are terrorizing women and children' Kerry: "I am confident it will not work... I am confident it will. Not. Work."

• Nancy 'Stretch' Pelosi: "The surge has failed."

• Little Dick Durbin: "The administration's policy in Iraq has failed."

• Diane 'Franken' Feinstein: "Today a majority of the Senate sees that the Surge is not working!"

• Patrick 'Traitor' Leahy: "We know that the President's Surge policy has not worked."

• Harry 'The Body Odor' Reid: "The war is lost. The surge is not working."

• Barack Obama: "20,000 troops is [sic] not going to make a difference."

Yes, I'm sure all of our veterans, the families of our veterans, our heroes, appreciate this despicable behavior by a political party that openly roots for our troops' failure -- for partisan gain -- while they are on the field of battle!

But don't question their patriotism!

Now get the hell off my blog, you Marxist loser. Never sully the pages of my blog again! And don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.


Nicknames: Mark Levin's Top 50 Nicknames

'This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow...'

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." -- Barack Obama, 3 June 2008

In the late nineties, members of the UN's International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were tasked with assessing the scientific validity of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Protocol was an international emissions reduction treaty which required signatories to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The IPCC subsequently produced the Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry.

The report found that "carbon offsets" and "carbon trading" were viable ways to barter the right to pollute, because they would fund new forestry initiatives.

But one critical detail was never disclosed in the report.

That is: members of the IPCC, such as Pedro Moura-Costa (above) and Gareth Philips, had major conflicts-of-interest. They owned, created and/or worked for businesses -- such as Ecosecurities and SGS Forestry -- that would directly profit from the report's conclusions.

In fact, the IPCC panel members' companies were positioned to earn millions of dollars from the report. But the mainstream media did not report these conflicts and instead piled on the "global warming" and "carbon offset" bandwagons.

The carbon offset market quickly exploded. And, just as quickly, it became the subject of rampant allegations of fraud.

In 2009 the market was estimated to be $100 billion; it was so rife with questionable trading that the United Nations suspended the world's largest auditor of 'clean-energy' projects.

Put simply, a wide range of respected scientists, environmentalists, researchers, agriculturalists, and activists believe that carbon offsets are a "scam", "fantasy", "fiction", "nonsense", "fraudulent" and worse. And they've been saying so since 2000, though to read the daily fish-wrap you wouldn't know it.

The World Rainforest Movement, for example, investigated these bizarre financial ties and concluded that the IPCC report must "...be shelved due to their clear conflict of interest and a new report instigated which will be free of the taint of intellectual corruption."

To demonstrate the fraudulence of the carbon offset market, one need only request quotes from various carbon offset sellers. The price for offseting a flight from London to Toronto and back?

• $85: from Climate Care (UK), which says 6 tons of CO2 must be offset.
• $60: Carbon Neutral (UK), which says 4.3 tons of CO2 must be offset.
• $195: Climate Friendly (Australia) asserts that 11.63 tons of CO2 must be offset.
• $180: Green Seat (Netherlands) says 8.68 tons of CO2 must be offset.

Executive Summary: they're all making it up as they go along.

Whether you believe the world is warming or cooling, there is no arguing Democrats want more expensive energy for American citizens.

All that said, the real problem — and the reason Pelosi really does deserve blame — is that Democrats’ political goal of reducing carbon emissions continues to trump their populist rhetoric on gasoline prices. The two stances are impossible to reconcile. Try as they might to blame oil companies for the pain Americans feel at the pump, the Democrats want higher prices for gasoline — and for all forms of energy that emit carbon. Economic barriers against CO2 emissions are a requirement for environmental progress in the Democrats’ view, and this is the entire purpose of the carbon cap-and-trade system... to create economic disincentives for emitting CO2.

Because of the falsity of its premise, cap-and-trade is intended to do one thing: allow Democrats to control industrial policy.

It all comes back to carbon offsets, which represent the currency for the "global warming" scam promoted by the UN's IPCC and the Democrat Statists in Washington.

Whether it's through unelected bureaucrats at the EPA, outright cap-and-trade, or John Kerry's 'compromise' climate plan, the economic toll on Americans will be devastating. Even in the latter case, estimated GDP losses of $2.1 trillion and consumer electricity price increases of up to 42% are estimated in less than two decades' time.

Democrats want to control your life. Your health. Your private property. And they don't care what kind of scam they use to justify it.

Remember in November.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

John 'D-Student' Kerry Handles Reporters' Questions on his $700,000 Yacht Tax Dodge With His Usual Grace and Aplomb: He Runs Away

Boston's WBZ television reports that John Kerry confronted reporters' questions on his $700K tax dodge with his usual courage and composure.

Senator John Kerry found himself answering questions Monday about his new $7 million yacht and the controversy about where he's docking it.

"There's nothing more to say about it," he told reporters at an event at the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station Monday... "Let's get this very straight, I've said consistently we will pay our taxes, we have always paid our taxes. It's not an issue period," he said.

...When asked "Did you berth the boat in Massachusetts?" he replied, "That depends on who owns it."

Then, he said to his driver, "Can I get out of here please?"

If you missed the original story, it turns out that Kerry docks his yacht in Rhode Island rather than in his home state of Massachusetts. This interesting gambit saved Kerry $500,000 in MA state taxes and $70,000 annually in excise taxes.

Last week, when the Boston Herald broke the story, Kerry's office released a statement saying, "The boat was designed by and purchased from a company in Rhode Island, and it's based in Newport at the Newport Shipyard for long term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes, not tax reasons."

"It's being worked on. It's under warranty down there. It's being worked on and it will come to Massachusetts and I look forward to that," Kerry said Monday.

Of course, like all elitist Democrats, Kerry lovingly decided not to volunteer the tax payments to his home state.

After all, although he and his wife are worth somewhere around a billion dollars, it's apparently not liquid. Liquid, get it? I guess he can't rustle up the cash to pay the taxes on his 76-foot yacht with two master cabins and a pilot house complete with wet bar and wine cooler.

The Nantucket Boat Basin [in Massachusetts] confirmed to WBZ on Monday that the Isabel has been docked at the marina "numerous" times this summer.

A spokesperson with the Department of Revenue who did not want to comment specifically on Kerry's case said ownership by an out-of-state corporation wouldn't matter. And, the law states if you bring the purchased property into the state within six months of buying it, you would be subject to the sales tax.

Coast Guard registration records show the vessel is owned by Great Point LLC, a limited liability corporation based in Pittsburgh, Heinz's longtime home.

So Kerry appears to have used the vessel repeatedly in Massachusetts, yet keeps it docked in Rhode Island "for maintenance" reasons.

And while he likely owes Massachusetts $700,000 in taxes, he hasn't paid them a dime.

Don't you just love the fact that these Democrat control-freaks never -- never -- voluntarily pay the higher rates they want you to pay? That's because they're hypocritical Statists who hate America -- and I hear that's the phrase they prefer.


Hat tip: Drudge. 'D-Student' Kerry Nickname: Mark Levin.

Exclusive Photo: Dick Blumenthal Receives Coveted John Kerry Endorsement and Gets to Wear His Magic Cambodian Special Ops Hat

I tried to stop myself, but I. Just. Couldn't. Resist.

Kudos to Lindsey Graham: Defer, Deflect and Delay Energy Tax

I've given Lindsey Graham plenty of grief over the years, but he deserves our praise today if Ben Geman's report is accurate.

Monday climate bill rollout scuttled as Graham decides to walk away

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) decision to walk away from Senate talks on climate change and energy legislation – at least for now – has prompted the measure's remaining architects to scuttle Monday’s planned unveiling of the bill.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who is crafting the bill with Graham and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), announced what he called a temporary postponement and said he remained committed to action this year on a sweeping climate and energy measure.

...Graham is upset over Democratic plans to take up immigration legislation this year – he accuses Democratic leaders of pushing forward immigration “haphazardly” and calls it an election-year political gambit.

Kerry praised Graham’s work on the climate effort and expressed hope that he would rejoin the initiative "once the politics of immigration are resolved," but vowed to press ahead one way or the other.

If Graham is doing his best to delay and deflect the National Social Democrat agenda, I salute him.

His office number is 202-224-5972. You can help strengthen his resolve by offering a word of encouragement.

Engagement with Syria working out well for Obama, Kerry and Clinton: Assad is arming Hezbollah with long-range Scud missiles

I wonder how all of those wonderful speeches, the flowery rhetoric and the humiliating, bended-knee outreach to the Arab Street is working out?

Syria Gave Scuds to Hezbollah, U.S. Says

Syria has transferred long-range Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Israeli and U.S. officials alleged, in a move that threatens to alter the Middle East's military balance and sets back a major diplomatic outreach effort to Damascus by the Obama administration.

...Republicans pressed on Capitol Hill to block the appointment of a new American ambassador to Damascus, according to congressional officials. The White House said it was pressing ahead.

The Scuds are believed to have a range of more than 435 miles—placing Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel's nuclear installations all within range of Hezbollah's military forces. During a monthlong war with Israel in 2006, Hezbollah used rockets with ranges of 20 to 60 miles.

Israeli officials called Scud missiles "game-changing" armaments that mark a new escalation in the Mideast conflict. They alleged that Mr. Assad is increasingly linking Syria's military command with those of Hezbollah and Iran.

...President Barack Obama has made engaging Mr. Assad's government a cornerstone of his Mideast policy, hoping to woo Damascus into a regional peace process and lure it from a strategic alliance with Iran.

...A spokesman for Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, who went as an emissary to Damascus on April 1, said that he couldn't comment... Detractors of the White House's policy of engagement with Damascus seized on the news Tuesday as evidence Mr. Assad has no intention of breaking Syria's strategic ties to Tehran and Hezbollah.

... "It's increasingly hard to argue that the engagement track has worked," said Andrew Tabler, a Syria analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a regional think tank with no party affiliation that some view as pro-Israel.

Little wonder the Democrats are known far and wide as "The Party of Weakness".

This isn't going to end well.


Hat tip: Dan from New York. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!