No More Buckley

The intellectual father of conservatism, Mr. William F. Buckley, Jr., passed away this morning, appropriately, at his desk.

In a way, this is a sadder day than when Mr. Reagan died, because the argument can be made that without Buckley, there never would have been a Reagan Revolution. At the very least, it would not have looked the same.

National Review Online, naturally, has much more.

Godspeed, Mr. Buckley.

Oops! Guess the Planet isn't Warming After All

This just in, global warming is proven wrong once again:

Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on.

No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.

Meteorologist Anthony Watts compiled the results of all the sources. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to erase nearly all the global warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year time. For all sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.

Admittedly, one year's data is not a trend, but given that this past year has reversed all the cooling claimed thus far, it puts yet another nail in the coffin of man-made global warming.

Of course, that's why they stopped calling it "global warming" and started using "global climate change." Just one problem with that... if the planet is cooling, we want more greenhouse gases, not less, and all the proposals from the Goreacle and his followers are aimed at reducing them.

In other words, their policies would make the global cooling trend worse. But, don't worry, they'll have a solution for that problem... one that involves even more government intrusion into your life.

To a lefty, it matters not what the problem is, the answer is always more government. Even if government has caused or exacerbated the problem.

Breaking: Nancy Reagan Hospitalized

Still developing, here's what we know right now:

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - Nancy Reagan's spokeswoman says the former first lady is staying overnight in the hospital after falling in her home in Bel-Air.

Spokeswoman Joanne Drake says the 87-year-old Reagan was taken to St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica for examination Sunday. Doctors determined she did not break a hip as feared.

Drake says Reagan is staying in the same room where former President Ronald Reagan stayed after he broke his hip at home in 2001.

Everyone please pray for the former First Lady.

Rep. Lantos Passes Away

Courtesy Fox News:

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Lantos, who as a teenager twice escaped from a Nazi-run forced labor camp in Hungary and became the only Holocaust survivor to win a seat in Congress, has died. He was 80.

Spokeswoman Lynne Weil said Lantos, a Californian, died early Monday at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in suburban Maryland. He was surrounded by his wife, Annette, two daughters, and many of his 17 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Annette Lantos said in a statement that her husband's life was "defined by courage, optimism, and unwavering dedication to his principles and to his family."

Lantos, a Democrat who chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee, disclosed last month that he had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. He said at the time that he would serve out his 14th term but would not seek re-election in his Northern California district, which takes in the southwest portion of San Francisco and suburbs to the south including Lantos' home of San Mateo.

President Bush praised Lantos in a statement as "a man of character and a champion of human rights."

"After immigrating to America more than six decades ago, he worked to help oppressed people around the world have the opportunity to live in freedom," Bush said. "As the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, Tom was a living reminder that we must never turn a blind eye to the suffering of the innocent at the hands of evil men."

Flags were lowered to half-staff at the White House and U.S. Capitol.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, "Tom Lantos was a true American hero. He was the embodiment of what it meant to have one's freedom denied and then to find it and to insist that America stand for spreading freedom and prosperity to others."

Speaking to reporters at the State Department, she said, "He was also a dear, dear friend and I am personally quite devastated by his loss."

Godspeed, Congressman.

Enforcing Liberal Orthodoxy

Open mouth, insert donkey's hoof seems to be the reasoning behind the latest move made by the Democratic National Committee.

A bit of background is needed. The Party of the Donkey doesn't choose a nominee the way the GOP does... not only to the voters get to vote, but, in a move straight out of Mao or Lenin's Communist Party, the Party Members get two votes... one in their state primary, like all good citizens, and another one at the Convention; they're called "superdelegates." I guess the Donkeys don't want to leave the choice of the direction of the party up to, you know, the "little people."

Now comes the insert hoof part. Senator Joe Lieberman, who is a reliable lefty on basically every domestic policy, has been stripped of "superdelegate" status for the awful crime of (gasp) endorsing a Republican! And of course, this comes after the same Party of the Donkey kicked him out because he (gasp) supported the war in Iraq!

Just more evidence that the lefties support free speech only when it agrees with the Party Line.

(Cross-posted at Liberal Implosion)

Why Congress is Critical This Year

From CQ:

Between now and November, John McCain can make all the speeches and do all the reaching out he deems necessary to assuage the concerns of the conservative base of the Republican Party. He can even turn his considerable skills at political combat against the Democrats. It might help get him elected, or it might not. If it does, come next January he still will have to begin governing in the face of wider Democratic majorities in Congress, and he still will have to choose between success and failure.

In that instance, he will choose success. And it will be an easy choice for him to make because on a whole range of issues, both substantively and stylistically, he and the Democrats will measure success in the same way.

That, neighbors, is why we need to get as many conservatives in Congress as we can. No matter who wins, we'll have someone in the Oval Office who is just fine "working with" lefties, and that is bad news for the country.

Read the whole article... link, as usual, in the title.

New Thoughts on McCain

I have just finished reading the text of McCain's speech, and some commentary from those I trust, and I've come to a conclusion.

He hasn't sold me on voting for him. But I am now open to being sold. A lot of it will depend on who McCain picks to surround himself with. I am still concerned with the former Mexican official that is in his campaign.

However, in his speech today, he did acknowledge that he needs conservatives to win, and made some concessions, especially on immigration, that would be hard to weasel out of without everyone realizing that's what he is doing... and, thus, destroying his chances for re-election. So at least in a prospective first term for President McCain, we shouldn't have any amnesty bills signed.

We will see how things go.

Even If You Don't Vote for McCain, PLEASE VOTE!

As has been pointed out by two excellent posts on NRO's Corner today, even for those like me who cringe at the thought of marking our ballot next to "John McCain," it is critically important that you still vote. Perhaps even more so for those of us who don't want to vote for the McRINO.

Simply put, if we can install a conservative enough Congress, even President Hillary would have a hard time getting her socialist programs through... and even if we don't take a majority, every conservative voice added will help that.

So, my advice... write in Fred Thompson (or your favored candidate), and then vote for the most conservative people in each of the other races. I have a feeling we'll need them.

Why McCain Cannot Win

Okay, so he's now the official frontrunner. Senator John McCain still cannot possibly win the Oval Office.

First of all, he has devoted far too much time and energy into attacking--yes, attacking--the values of those whose votes he now needs. From deriding opponents of his immigration bill as racists to his embrace of socialist rhetoric (i.e. using "managed for profit" as an insult), McCain has done his level best to push the base of the GOP away from him.

Second, he currently enjoys favorable media coverage, because out of the GOP candidates, he is the one closest to the media's own views... something which should open any true conservative's eyes. However, once it comes down to him vs. Obama or Hillary, the media will turn against him. If McCain thinks Romney's "attack" ads are bad, wait till he sees what the media will dig up on him once the conventions are over.

Third, a large portion of his support comes from Democrats and "independents" voting in open primaries. The idea that these people would vote for him over Obama or Hillary fails the laugh test... one-on-one against a real Democrat, McCain's support among Democrats will disappear faster than an ice cream cone in a Phoenix summer.

Simply put, nominating McCain is a recipe for defeat, just like nominating Bob Dole was. It seems that every few elections, we need to remind the GOP what happens to those who stray too far from the conservative base, and it looks like it's gonna be this election.