After years and years of hearing about Global Warming, this article was very interesting:

Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966.

The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January “was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average.”

China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century. Temperatures in the normally balmy south were so low for so long that some middle-sized cities went days and even weeks without electricity because once power lines had toppled it was too cold or too icy to repair them.

[…]

And remember the Arctic Sea ice? The ice we were told so hysterically last fall had melted to its “lowest levels on record? Never mind that those records only date back as far as 1972 and that there is anthropological and geological evidence of much greater melts in the past.

The ice is back.

Funny we never heard a thing from the MSM on this. After all the years of hype pointed at global warming I guess it is to much to expect a bit of evidence to get in the way.

I wonder what Gore will think… no, never mind, I really don’t care what Gore thinks.

Makes me glad I sold my snow blower and moved to Houston.

Lets say you had this movie which accuses the US military of all sorts of atrocities. Lets say that said movie, as any movie with such content is bound to do, wins an Oscar. Who would you have introduce the movie as part of the Academy Awards?

Well it happened.

The Movie? Taxi To the Dark Side
The group asked to introduce the category? Why some of those same US soliders, fight in Iraq of course.

Surprised? Shame on you. Hollywood holds our troops with contempt, we can expect nothing more. Shame on the military for taking the bait.

Also Reporting:
Wizbang
Hot Air
Michelle Malkin

Mrs. Obama’s comments in cartoon.

Cartoon by Michael Ramirez
H/T to Discerning Texan.

Probably not an endorsement that someone running for President of the United States will want to proclaim, but it does add color to an already frightening picture. Be afraid, be very afraid.

From the AP:

In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the “hope of the entire world” that the U.S. will change for the better.

The 74-year-old Farrakhan, addressing an estimated crowd of 20,000 people at the annual Saviours’ Day celebration, never outrightly endorsed Obama but spent most of the nearly two-hour speech praising the Illinois senator.

“This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better,” he said. “This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama’s audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed.”

Picture from Watching America via Gatway Pundit

Also Reporting:
Astute Bloggers
Gateway Pundit
Discerning Texan

The following is my regular Second Amendment Update.

1. Bush Administration / Department of the Interior to adjust Firearms Rules for National Parks: For over 25 years the US Department of the Interior has banned firearms from national parks and wildlife refuges. This from the NRA:

In a letter hand-delivered today to the U.S. Senators who wrote him asking for this policy change, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has directed Lyle Laverty, Assistant Secretary for Fish, Game and Parks, to “develop and propose for public comment by April 30, Federal regulations that will update firearms policies on these lands to reflect existing Federal laws (such as those prohibiting weapons in Federal buildings) and the laws by which the host States govern transporting and carrying of firearms on their analogous public lands.”

[…]

The move for regulatory change by the Administration will restore the rights of law-abiding gun owners who wish to transport and carry firearms for lawful purposes in most national park lands and wildlife refuges and will make the laws consistent with state law where these lands are located. Fifty-one U.S. Senators from both parties sent a letter to the Department of Interior late last year supporting the move to make state firearm laws applicable to national park lands and wildlife refuges

You can find a copy of the letter from Secretary Kempthorne here. I can only say that this is an about time thing. Camping in our National Parks and refuges is an often dangerous thing. Not only are there natural dangers from wild animals, but there have been many cases of people disappearing or being killed in these areas. I would prefer to be able to defend myself.

2. Schumer / Boxer Propose tougher gun laws: The instinctive reaction from the anti-gun crowd in the wake of schools shootings is always to enact more laws. Never mind that the murder broke numerous laws already - lets add some more while failing to enforce the onces we already have. After all, we need to make our constituents think we are doing something productive. Taking the Norther Illinois University shooting as a case in point lets consider that the attacker already broke the law by obtaining some of his weapons illegally, brought guns into a gun free zone, and possessed psychological issues which would have precluded him from owning a gun under federal law. This from NewsDay:

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), at a news conference yesterday in Manhattan, said he and congressional colleagues plan to step up efforts to close loopholes in gun-control measures and create a federal task force to come up with national school safety guidelines. They also plan to push for congressional hearings on links between mental illness and school violence.

3. Kennedy Introduces another Handgun Ban into Congress: The ever delusional Ed Kennedy once again pushes his belief that the manufacture and sale of handguns should be terminated. At least he is consistent. From the NRA:

As we recently reported, on February 7 this year, ten days after endorsing another handgun ban supporter–Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.)–for president, Kennedy renewed his efforts to ban handguns by introducing S. 2605, a bill that seeks to ban the manufacture, importation, and transfer (sale, etc.) of any semi-automatic pistol that does not possess “a microscopic array of characters that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol . . . etched into the breech face and firing pin of the pistol,” and stamp both sets of characters into the cartridge case of a round of ammunition, when the round is fired. On the same day, Representative Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) introduced an identical bill, H.R. 5266, called the “National Crime Gun Identification Act.”

The Kennedy-Becerra bill is much more severe than the micro-stamping handgun ban passed in California last year. Where the California ban applies only to models of semi-automatic pistols that are produced after January 1, 2010, the Kennedy-Becerra bill would apply to all models of semi-automatic pistols.

I have already written on the issues with micro-stamping, so will not go into them again here.

4. Hillary Calls for “Presidential Summit on Gun Control”: Hillary confuses the hell out of me. Is this woman even speaking the same language as the rest of us? This from the Daily News:

Clinton started with the line she rolled out a couple days ago about recognizing that there is “no conflict” between letting lawful gunowners have weapons and keeping guns out of the hands of bad guys and the mentally ill.

She went on to propose a solution to coming up with a solution for the problem — kind of like her plan to come up with a plan for fixing another politically difficult problem, Social Security.

“I believe we really should have a summit where everybody comes together on all sides of this issue,” Clinton said. “Let’s figure out how we can be consistent with the Second Amendment, which I wholeheartedly support, and do more to keep people safe.

“I think we can do that, but it’s going to require us all to maybe give a little and understand the point of view of the other people,” she said. “That’s something I would do as President to really bring people together.”

“We know we need better background checks and we know we’ve got to have mental health information in there,” she said.

Moonbat.

I got this in e-mail the other day, and it was quite a laugh so I thought I would share it.

Are you a Democrat, a Republican, or a Texas Conservative?

The answer can be found by posing the following question:

Q: You’re walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, an Islamic Terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and charges at you.

You are carrying a Kimber 1911 cal. 45 ACP, and you are an expert shot.

You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?

Democrat’s Answer:

Well, that’s not enough information to answer the question! Does the man look poor or oppressed? Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack? Could we run away? What does my wife think? What about the kids? Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation? Does the pistol have appropriate safety built into it? Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children? Is it possible he’d be happy with just killing me? Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me? If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me? Should I call 9-1-1? Why is this street so deserted? We need to raise taxes, have paint and weed day and make this happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior. This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for few days and try to come to a consensus.

Republican’s Answer:
BANG!

Texas Conservative’s Answer:
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG !

Click….. (Sounds of reloading)

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Daughter: ‘Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those the Winchester Silver Tips or Hollow Points?!
Son: ‘Can I shoot the next one?!’
Wife: ‘You ain’t taking that to the Taxidermist!