GoreBull Warming Update

According to the Arizona Republic, this is the "nicest" June in Phoenix since 1913:

"It's probably the best June since I've been here, and I've been here most of my life," said the National Weather Service's Valerie Meyers, who is in her late 40s. "It's been really nice."

Possibly the nicest June ever.

It's that type of thing that is fun to say but hard to quantify.

Thursday, however, was the 14th consecutive day to stay below 100 degrees. That's the longest stretch of its kind in any June since 1913.

I know, I know, "the plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'". But I've seen similar reports from Spokane, Chicago, Minneapolis/St.Paul, and ...all around the world. The 50-year-low sunspot numbers from last year may well be matched or even beaten this year, suggesting that the trend will continue.

But none of that mattered when it came time for the House of Representatives to vote on a draconian measure to restrict carbon dioxide emissions. And with the celebrity-obsessed media relenting from its coverage of the death of Farrah Fawcett only because of Michael Jackson's sudden demise, the average voter won't hear a word about it. Call your US Senators' offices and convey your opposition to Cap and Tax, before it's too late.

BonJovi Stands With Iranian People

Not exactly a "conservative" entertainer, Jon BonJovi and his bandmate Richie Sambora united with Iranian singer Andy Madadian, to produce a version of "Stand By Me" with the first verse in Farsi:

What If Government Ran Health Care?

Reason TV has a nice parody of the Sprint "what if ____ ran things?" commercials:

It's all about the "O"

No, not The Won. Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, is interviewed by Reason's Nick Gillespie about a variety of subjects, including how bad regulation creates problems that are used to demand more regulation, and how bad government schools are at the root of many contentious issues.

McCotter: Her Name Was Neda

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) speaks out on Neda's behalf:

In other Neda news, an effort to provide anonymous communications for Iranian protesters is named "NedaNet"

Her name was Neda.

The reign of the Mullahs died with her.
Warning! Graphic content

The Iranian woman who wrote the letter I linked to yesterday, wrote another letter today.

Yesterday I wrote a note, with the subject line "tomorrow is a great day perhaps tomorrow I'll be killed." I'm here to let you know I'm alive but my sister was killed...


I'm here to tell you my sister died while in her father's hands
I'm here to tell you my sister had big dreams...
I'm here to tell you my sister who died was a decent person... and like me yearned for a day when her hair would be swept by the wind... and like me read "Forough" [Forough Farrokhzad]... and longed to live free and equal... and she longed to hold her head up and announce, "I'm Iranian"... and she longed to one day fall in love to a man with a shaggy hair... and she longed for a daughter to braid her hair and sing lullaby by her crib...

my sister died from not having life... my sister died as injustice has no end... my sister died since she loved life too much... and my sister died since she lovingly cared for people...

my loving sister, I wish you had closed your eyes when your time had come... the very end of your last glance burns my soul....

sister have a short sleep. your last dream be sweet.

I have been riveted all day. Watching the Twitter feeds and the videos as they came out. Already, Neda's face has become the iconic image of the up-rising. I saw protesters holding her picture in front of the White House this afternoon. The revolution has been digitized.
Two sources I would never ordinarily recommend (but they have been doing stellar work on this story) The Huffington Post and Andrew Sullivan.

sister have a short sleep. your last dreams be sweet.

Edit: Sorry about the link. I thought is was directly to the video. Scroll down to 2:37 PM.
Here's a YT link (They have been taking them down all day)
Again, I warn that this is very graphic.

Tomorrow is the day for Iran

I can't understand one word but someone in Mousavi's camp has some SKilz!



If you aren't already, you need to be watching Raye Man Kojast? I don't know if there's a word in Persian but they should have called it "Dude, Where's My Vote?"

Also The Spirit of Man. [Made this a permalink to the article -TM]

This is a brief letter written by an Iranian woman who is going to attend the anti-regime rally tomorrow:

I'll participate in the rally tomorrow in Tehran. It might be violent. I may be one of those who will die tomorrow....

Federalism, we hardly knew ye

John Stossel interviews San Luis Obispo (CA) County Sheriff Pat Hedges, whose department investigated medical marijuana purveyor Charlie Lynch, who was operating within the state law. Hedges insists that Lynch was breaking California law, but no charges were filed to that effect. Instead, he cooperated with the DEA and the US Department of Justice to file charges in Federal court. Lynch's defense was forbidden to tell the jury that California has a law allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana.

Can someone show me where in the US Constitution it says that Congress can make a law regulating marijuana grown in California, sold in California, and consumed in California? I've read that thing literally hundreds of times, and I can't find where it has that kind of power. I've heard some wacky theories the Supreme Court has entertained to justify things like the USDA sticking its nose into intrastate agricultural dealings, but none of them make any sense to me.

Webathon to Retire Palin Legal Debt

Ever since John McCain named her as his running mate, Sarah Palin's political opponents have exploited the Alaska ethics complaint system to bring frivolous charges against her. Time and again, the complaints are rejected as unfounded, but she has incurred about a half million dollars in legal expenses just to defend against them.
A legal defense fund was established to help retire that debt (bizarrely sparking yet another ethics complaint, alleging that the fund itself is unethical; they like their victims unable to defend themselves), and a week-long Webathon is starting today to make a big push to get it done. Governor Palin has set the maximum allowable contribution from any individual at $150, and prohibited any corporations, oartnerships, or unions, foreigners, lobbyists, or anyone who thinks they might be doing business with the State of Alaska, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. That means there won't be any big donors, and they'll have to make it up in volume.

The fine folks at Conservatives4Palin.com have created this video to kick off the festivities, and briefly explain why it's needed:

Double Standard on Politicians' Kids

Well, David Letterman has offered up a pathetic explanation for his recent comments:

The late-night host had drawn particular fire from Palin and some pundits for a joke about one of Palin's daughters being impregnated by New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez during a trip to Yankee Stadium. Camp Palin apparently took the joke to be a crack against Palin's 14-year-old daughter Willow, who had recently attended a Yankees game, but Letterman insisted today that the real target was 18-year-old daughter Bristol.

Let's see if we can discern the rules here.

I'd like someone to diagram that joke any way that isn't calling Willow Bristol a whore. So, we've established that it's just fine to joke about a female politician being slutty, and her daughter being knocked up by a professional baseball player during the seventh inning, and the daughter is a whore. And that's OK because both the politician and her daughter are over 18.

Well, now. Let's set the Wayback Machine for February 2008, shall we? Chelsea Clinton was within a few weeks of her 28th birthday, and MSNBC's David Shuster commented on her participation in her mother's campaign.... He thought she was "sort of being pimped out" by the campaign. There are many interpretations of the phrase (Billy Mays and Vince Shlomi can be said to be "pimping" various products, or an actor appearing on Letterman's show might be "pimping" a movie role), but Hillary expressed her outrage at Shuster calling her daughter a whore. She received an apology from the head of NBC News, and Shuster was suspended from the air for two weeks.

Why is it OK to call Bristol Palin a whore, when she is nearly a decade younger than Chelsea Clinton was when Shuster made his remark?
[Click on the title above, or date stamp below, to see the full article.]

Adnan Barqawi Addresses Virginia Republicans

You'll never hear about this from the MainScream Media, because it doesn't fit the narrative of RethugliKKKans hating on brown-skinned immigrants. The quality of the audio and video is sub-par (and particularly rough at first with the people talking near the shooter's mic) but I think you'll find it worth your while to stick with it to hear a refutation of multiculturalism (don't call him a "Palestinian-American") and a ringing endorsement of American exceptionalism from someone who knows first-hand how exceptional this country is.

(Click on the image to play — it will open in a separate window/tab)

Why I love America, pt. 10,301

Purex has launched a new product.
http://www.purex.com/media-center
It's a sheet with detergent, fabric softener and anti-static all in one.
I have no idea if the thing works or how much it costs.
But the concept is frakkin' brilliant!
It's a bachelor's dream.
Now if someone could just invent the washer/dryer all-in-one machine.