• Columbus Day In A Politically Correct Age
• Revered UCSB Physicist Blasts Global Warming “Scam”
• Democrat Pollster Predicts GOP November Tsunami
• Assume the position here comes VMT
• Jones Quits Donilon Moves Up: Gates Steps In It
• Israel Could Fight and Win 5-Front Missile War
• Republican Raese Leads In WVA Senate Race
• German Catholics Say Bah Humbug
• Six Year Old Corrects Highway Sign
• Illiterate Brazilian Clown Top In Votes

The Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked as the top college football team in the nation as formerly #1 Alabama falls from the Top10, in some polls, after being beaten by University of South Carolina. Michigan State joined Ohio on the Big Ten’s undefeated list with its win over Michigan. In a scheduling fluke Ohio State does not play Michigan State in this regular season.

I expect somewhere Woody Hayes and Duffy Daugherty are grinning. As Duffy famously said “”When you are playing for the national championship, it’s not a matter of life or death. It’s more important than that.”

Today is Columbus Day a holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. Like almost everything else in this politically correct age there is controversy over the validity of honoring the explorer as a hero.

 There are three main sources of controversy involving Columbus  (1)  the use of violence and slavery, (2) the forced conversion of native peoples to Christianity, and (3) the introduction of a host of new diseases that would have dramatic long-term effects on native people in the Americas. The third is the twitchiest since nobody understood disease or its transmission until four hundred years after he showed up.

Many critics point to an infamous dairy entry of his first voyage in 1492, Columbus landed on an unknown Caribbean island after an arduous three-month journey. On his first day in the New World, he ordered six of the natives to be seized, writing in his journal that he believed they would be good servants. That began a time of harsh administration of native and mismanagement for his royal sponsors.

Eventually, his methods and actions caught up with Columbus. A number of settlers lobbied against him at the Spanish court, accusing Columbus of mismanagement. In 1500, the king and queen sent in a royal administrator, who detained Columbus and his brothers and had them shipped home. Although Columbus regained his freedom and made a fourth and final voyage to the New World, he had lost his governorship and much of his prestige.

Most historians agree that Columbus was or became a nincompoop but except for those who insist in crediting the Norsemen for discovering America Columbus did sail the ocean blue in 1492 and he should be recognized for it.

Although there is a move to replace Columbus Day with a new Discovers’ Day holiday a friend appropriately pointed out that a Texas A & M contest to define contemporary terms describes political correctness as trying to pick up dog droppings by the clean end.

 2010 is the year of the invisible Democrat with incumbents hunkering down and avoiding debates, opponents and Obama whenever possible. No more so than in California’s “Ribbon-of-Shame” 23^rd Congressional district that shakes for 175 miles along the coast to protect 6-term Democrat Congresswoman Lois Capps. So far she has only agreed to a 30-minute debate to be taped on October 28^th and shown on tape delay. It’s no wonder given this dismal appearance in a new video at a local hospital on Obamacare http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7d7c225mE0 

In a scathing October 6, 2010 letter of resignation to Curtis G. Callan, Jr., Princeton University, President of the American Physical Society revered U Cal Santa Barbara physicist Harold Lewis has ended his 67-year membership in the APS because of a pattern of hypocrisy of his science and fellow scientists over what he calls the “global warming scam.”

His letter is a ferocious indictment and revulsion of the decline of APS into scientific squalor. Among other charges he calls its statement on Climate Change “tendentious” saying it was written over a lunch and slathered with intentional bias. Dr. Lewis charges secrecy in an effort to silence debate and loudly laments the word “incontrovertible” to describe the lack of hard evidence while labeling its advice to world leaders as pompous and asinine saying APS has formed yet another secret effort at suppression of what he calls the trillions of dollars global climate change scandal.

What makes this most important to what is increasingly recognized as Al Gore’s conspiracy is Lewis’ stellar credentials including: Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; Former member Defense Science Board, chmn of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on Nuclear Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Former member, President’s Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman APS study on Nuclear Reactor Safety Chairman Risk Assessment Review Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former member USAF Scientific Advisory Board; Served in US Navy in WW II; books: Technological Risk (about, surprise, technological risk) and Why Flip a Coin (about decision making)

President Obama has moved a 12-day tour of India and Asia to right after the November election. I can’t imagine why he would want to leave the country right after the midterm election.– Leno

Republicans are on the brink of pulling off a landslide “of potentially epic proportions” that would bring them control of both Houses of Congress and a majority of governorships, Democratic pollster and Fox News commentator Douglas Schoen says.

In the Senate 9 Democrat seats are listed as leaning Repubican, and six others as toss-ups while no Republican seats are listed in either category.

Schoen says he now sees several indications that matters are going from bad to worse for Democrats in this election cycle.

He points to a RealClearPolitics.com analysis that now shows Republicans picking up a net gain of nine seats in the Senate, which would deadlock the upper chamber 50 to 50. And polls show several other GOP candidates, including Carly Fiorina in California and Dino Rossi in Washington state, remain within striking distance, he says.

Schoen, a pollster for former President Bill Clinton, is co-author of the new book “Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System.”

“We’re moving in the direction of the Republicans potentially picking up 10 or 11 seats,” Schoen says. “More likely it will be nine to 10, which is enough to either deadlock the Senate or give them control.

“You tie that in with a House that most people, myself included, concede is going to be 45 to 50 seats at the very least, if not more, and a generic vote that is now plus 7 or 8 percent for Republicans, combined with the Gallup turnout model predicting anywhere from 13 to 18 percent for the Republicans, you’re looking at the potential for the Republicans to win both houses of Congress and holding 30 or more governors’ seats. We’re looking at a landslide of potentially epic proportions,” Schoen says.

Asked if he believes the GOP wave will surpass that of 1994, when Republicans scored a net gain of 54 seats in the House and eight in the Senate, Schoen replied: “We’re looking at gains that are comparable to, and possibly in excess of, what we saw in ‘94.”

As a Democrat, Schoen hastens to add that he’s not at all happy about the impending political tsunami that he predicts.

“I’d rather the Democrats win than lose, but you know what, these are the facts,” he tells Newsmax. “This is not bashing the Democratic Party, this is just owning up to reality.”

As China has pushed the U. S. out of Asia back into mid-Pacific the first long-range intelligence-gathering and targeting drone, called the RQ-4 Global Hawk, has been deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. It can fly non-stop fpr 36-hours and cover 15,000 miles - but strategists warn it is no substitute for the strategic withdrawal.

Pay-per-mile federal driving tax appears to be gaining ground, despite White House opposition. Without a groundswell of public outrage to tamp it down it could spread through Congress quicker than an outbreak of swine flu.

The chairman of the House Transportation Committee, where a bill to impose such a tariff would ultimately be considered, said this week he thinks Congress needs to quit studying and start acting on a proposal to charge us for every mile we drive.

The idea behind the tax is to raise money for the federal highway fund, which now is dependent on revenue from federal gasoline and diesel fuel taxes. The federal tax on a gallon of gasoline is 18.4 cents.

The so-called vehicle mileage tax, or VMT, will be included in an annual highway and transit funding measure proponents plan to bring to a vote in the House  sometime next June. The rationale is if you use the road pay for building and fixing them.  Of course that was the origial idea when the first peny federal tax was placed on gasoline in 1932. Of course that idea has long since been coopted and those monies poured into the general funds or otherwise frittered away.

Last Thursday a Jerry Brown campaign aide who may have his tongue ripped out after he was recorded calling his bosses opponent Meg Whitman a “whore.” Brown desperately needs women voters and you can bet that misogynistic slur could mortally hurt the 72-year-old Brown’s quest to be the retread Governor of California. The very next day the National Organization for Women (NOW) endorsed Brown. Brown was up 46.5 to 43.2% over Whitman when the slur surfaced.

Retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones is stepping down as White House national security adviser later this month. Jones will be replaced by his current deputy, Tom Donilon whom, according to Woodward’s book Obama’s Wars Jones picked. Sec Def Gates said Donilon would be a disaster but now says that assessment is dated. In other words he got yelled at - Gates is leaving next year.

The move had been long anticipated because senior officials say Jones never quite clicked with other key members of Obama’s inner circle. Jones was not an active part of the Obama presidential campaign, and two people close to Jones told CNN that when he accepted the appointment in 2009, he agreed to stay on for only two years - he’s leaving after 20 months.

 The turnover at the sensitive post comes after a slew of other top Obama aides have already left the White House or signaled their plans to leave the administration either later this year or in early 2011 — including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, senior adviser David Axelrod, and top economic aides Larry Summers and Christina Romer.

Unless the tide turns by November there will be fewer old hands in Congress than even the White House.

Orange County, Ca. based pollster Adam Probolsky released a poll stating Meg Whitman’s illegal immigrant maid controversy is having only a small impact on the race.

The poll reveals nearly 65% of the voters say the issue makes no difference in their voting decision. Of those who said it did make a difference, the poll found those voters who said the situation made it less likely they would vote for Whitman out polled those who said it was more likely to vote for her by about 6%.

Israeli military is ’stronger than ever’ despite threat of 5-front missile war  Its intelligence community has assessed that the Jewish state was equal to the task of confronting a five-front missile war.

 Israel could face missile salvos from the Gaza Strip, Iran, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank. The main target of the four adversaries would be Tel Aviv, regarded as Israel’s economic capital.

Its intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, said Israel’s deterrence has also reached unprecedented levels despite the buildup in Iran, Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.

“I need to explain the probability for war and I can safely say that Israel’s deterrence and the Israel Defense Forces’s might are stronger than ever,” he said. “We do not sit idly by, and we constantly check the situation to see whether this is the calm before the storm or a direct result of our actions.”

“They are trying to increase their missile arrays in terms of range and accuracy,” Yadlin said.

In an address on Oct. 4, Yadlin said Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran and Syria were amassing huge missile and rocket arsenals for any next war. But the general, scheduled to leave his post over the next few weeks, said missiles would not decide any war against Israel.

“Tens of thousands of missiles are weapons of terror, not the kind you can conquer land or win a war with,” Yadlin said.

The intelligence chief said his main challenge has been monitoring both preparations and intent for a war against Israel. He said Iran, which has been developing nuclear weapons, has been the most dangerous threat.

“This is a radical regime which publicly negates Israel’s right to exist, calls for its annihilation, denies the Holocaust and calls for acts of terror against it,” Yadlin said.

The fifth front could come from the Palestinians in the West Bank. Yadlin said this war could be fought from Palestinian towns and cities.

“We are facing five fronts,” Yadlin said. “And we follow each of them closely.”

Another senior Israeli commander said the military has sought to increase the nation’s readiness for missile attacks. Home Front Command chief Maj. Gen. Yair Golan said the campaign would include preparing civilians for biological, chemical and nuclear attacks.

“Israel has developed capabilities in detection and interception of non-conventional weapons,” Golan said. “At this time we do not know if Hizbullah possesses non-conventional weapons (chemical and biological), nor do we know about such intentions, but we are prepared for such a situation.”  

Hanging over the entire conversation is Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Should Israel’s enemies become nuclear armed the balance would shift to what has been called “a one bomb” war where one nuke warhead could destroy Tel Aviv potentially unleashing its nuclear retaliation that could devastate the region.  Although Israel has never formally admitted to a nuclear weapons arsenal is seems safe to estimate it has at least 80 warheads and perhaps as many as 200 and the capacity to deliver them to almost any target in the Middle East and beyond.

The Taliban is getting taxpayer subsidy because some of the private contractor employees in Afghanistan have actually been working for the radical Jihadists..

In the bluest of blue States where Democrat Robert Byrd served longer than any other member of Congress in America’s history Republican John Raese now holds a six-point lead over Democratic Governor Joe Manchin in West Virginia’s shockingly competitive U.S. Senate race.

 The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in West Virginia finds Raese with 50% support, while the state’s highly popular governor earns just 44% of the vote. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided.

So strong is the anti-Washington national mood that not even Manchins high personal popularity able to turn the tide and keep it from seeping into the deepest valleys in those West Virginia mountains.

Byrd was 92 when he died last June while serving a  9th consecutive 6-year term.

Former vice president and presidential candidate Walter Mondale criticized President Obama for using teleprompters. He called them “idiot boards.” Of course, Democrats were stunned. They said, “Walter Mondale is still alive?”– Leno

A group of German Catholics wants to do away with Santa Claus because of the fictional figure’s commercial hype and replace him with St Nicolas and the selfless giving they say he represents.

Even before shops fill with Santa-themed goodies, the Bonifatiuswerk of German Catholics — a Catholic aid organization — has begun calling for “Santa Claus-free zones.”

The organization sees Santa as “an invention of the advertising industry designed to boost sales” and as “a representative of consumer society” who has little to do with the historical figure of St Nicolas.

Its website describes Nicolas, the patron saint of children, as “a helper in need who reminds us to be kind, to think of our neighbors, and to give the gift of happiness.”

The campaign is supported by several German celebrities.

“Unlike Santa Claus, Nicolas wants to give children inner riches and not just encourage them to strive for material wealth,” German TV presenter Nina Ruege was quoted saying.

Gallup estimates national unemployment at 10.1% and underemployment at another 18.6%. The Federal government puts unemployment at an unchanged 9.6% and does not estimate underemployment. In September the U. S. lost 95,000 private jobs. All this while government spending shot up 9% almost 5 times the inflation rate.

St. Louis County highway officials are crediting a 6-year-old boy with giving them some direction on making their road signs more accurate.

First-grader David Hindes apparently noticed that a sign in the St. Louis suburb of Manchester told motorists that a single curve was ahead rather than the multiple twists and turns that actually unfold.

The boy repeatedly complained to his parents about the discrepancy until his dad suggested he take action. The boy wrote a letter to highway administrators who called him the next day to tell him he’s right.

The sign has since been updated.

His attentiveness - and persistence - won him a tour of the county shop where signs are made.

David Hindes’ mom says he was so happy, it was as if he had visited Santa’s workshop.

Dutch uncle (duch UNG-kuhl) noun: Someone who advises or criticizes frankly and sternly. Etymology The English and the Dutch have fought in many wars during the 17th and 18th century. Even though they are friendly with each other now, the English language still carries traces of the past animosity, demeaning the Dutch: from Dutch treat (where each must pay his or her own share), Dutch gold (imitation gold), Dutch courage (courage inspired by liquor), and so on. A Dutch uncle is the opposite of a typical uncle (kind and indulgent), he’s not avuncular. You can be sure, he doesn’t believe in nepotism.

Voters the world over complain about having clowns for politicians, but Brazilians embraced the idea on Sunday by sending a real one to Congress with more votes than any other candidate.

Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva, better known by his clown name Tiririca, received more than 1.3 million votes in Sao Paulo state in Brazil’s presidential and congressional elections. That was more than double the votes of the second-placed candidate in Brazil’s most populous state.

Tiririca caught the attention of disillusioned voters by asking for their support with the humorous slogan: “It can’t get any worse” and a promise to do nothing more in Congress than report back to them on how politicians spend their time.

“What does a congressman do? The truth is I don’t know, but vote for me and I’ll tell you,” the 45-year-old said in his campaign advertisements.

The clown, whose stage name means “grumpy,” usually appears in public wearing a blond wig, a red hat and a garish outfit. He survived a last-minute attempt by public prosecutors to bar him from running because of evidence that he is illiterate.

His candidacy may not have been as spontaneous or innocent as it might appear.

Tiririca’s well-financed campaign will help elect other politicians because under Brazil’s election rules he can pass his substantial excess votes on to other candidates in his coalition, which includes the ruling Workers’ Party.

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Likely U.S. Voters now say they are Tea Party members or have close friends or family members who are part of the movement.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 17% describe themselves as members of the Tea Party, up four points from late August. Twelve percent (12%) more say they are not members themselves but have friends or family who are involved in the small government, anti-tax movement.

Anyone who owns a laptop computer can now fight crime from the safety of their home and win cash prizes for catching crooks red-handed, under a new British monitoring scheme that went live last week.

The service works by employing an army of registered armchair security guards who watch hours of CCTV footage from cameras in stores and high street venues across the country.

Viewers can win up to 1,000 pounds ($1,600) in cash a month from Devon-based firm Internet Eyes, which distributes the streaming footage, when offenders are caught in the act. Predictably civil libertarians are throwing a conniption fit saying it is more evidence that Britain has become a “Big Brother” surveillance society with CCTV on every corner.

Participants, who pay a fee to subscribe, press an “alert” button which relays an instant text message notifying a shop keeper of suspicious behavior. The SMS is followed up with a photographic image of the potential crime.

Founder of Internet Eyes, Tony Morgan, says the scheme puts shop owners back in control of security and allows local communities to tackle crime and anti-social behavior.

It has not landed in the USA yet but it is coming and soon.

As if voters don’t have enough to be angry about this election year, the Obama administration has  signaled that more than 58 million Social Security recipients will go a second year without an increase in their monthly benefits.

Last year Obama signed an Executive Order giving federal employees a 2% increase even though they already earn twice what private workers are paid. Federal workers are set to get a similar increase in 2011.

Economist John Hussman says the National Bureau of Economic Research will have to declare another recession soon whether is technically a double dip or not his forecast is morose.

Commenting on a recent report from the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research that said the recession that began in December 2007 is over, Hussman noted that, “the committee decided that any future downturn of the economy would be a new recession and not a continuation of the recession that began in December 2007.”

“The Committee took pains to make it clear that it was not forecasting the future or suggesting that economic progress has even been very good,” Hussman wrote in a recent note to investors.

He said the bulk of the growth coming off of the June 2009 economic low “was driven by a burst of stimulus spending coupled with a variety of programs to pull economic activity forward.”

He said that “to most Americans, it is not at all clear that the economy is in an expansion at all … a review of that data suggests that the NBER may have to deal with the prospect of a ‘future downturn of the economy’ much sooner than any of us would like.”

The average time between contractions might fall back toward its long-term average of about every four years compared with about eight years during the past two decades, Robert C. Doll, chief equity strategist for BlackRock, told Bloomberg Business Week.

“The cyclical recovery is under way now, but more recessions are down the line,” says Doll, who is buying U.S. stocks because he doubts the economy will relapse in the immediate future, and is betting returns in the next decade will fall short of their traditional average 12 percent.

In 2007 Congress banned incandescent light bulbs as energy wasting. Beginning with the 100-watt bulb in 2012 and ending with the 40-watt bulb in 2014 because those bulbs cannot meet efficiency requirements dictated by federal environmental law.

Now all those bulbs will all be made in China that will also make CFL ’s because making those in the U. S. would cost twice as much as a Chinese version. Part of those costs are -0 you guessed it - because of stiffer environmental regulations on manufacturing. The net impact is that the last light bulb plant in America has closed and more jobs have been lost.

All this while the question of mercury contamination from disposal of burned out CFLs and fire risks are unresolved.