The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog

Glenn Beck on Climategate

Posted by Paul Chesser on 11.23.09 @ 9:27PM

From today's broadcast:

topics: Global Warming, Environmentalism, Climate Change, Glenn Beck

IG-Gate: 'Hush Money' Charge in Sacramento Mayor's Sex Scandal Was Part of Probe

Posted by Robert Stacy McCain on 11.23.09 @ 8:31PM

Sexual abuse accusations by St. HOPE Academy students against Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson were apparently covered up, possibly with "hush money," according to a 61-page report issued by congressional investigators.

Failure of school officials to report sexual abuse of minors violates California state law, investigative staff of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) noted in their report on the June firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin.

The allegations investigated by Walpin's office were "very serious," Grassley said in a statement, saying that evidence indicates a political motive for the IG's firing. "It seems a lot of people might have been interested in protecting the AmeriCorps program and the Mayor of Sacramento from an IG who was discovering some unpleasant facts."

Byron York of the Washington Examiner reported today that Obama administration officials tried to mislead the public about the reasons for the firing of Walpin. The Grassley-Issa report details how Walpin's IG staffers investigated charges that Johnson's lawyer and officials of the federally-funded St. HOPE program suppressed sexual-misconduct charges against the former NBA star who was elected mayor of California's capital city last year.

Walpin pressed for criminal prosecution of Johnson, an Obama supporter. Instead, a deal that allowed the mayor to avoid prosecution and repay federal grant money was approved by Alan Solomont, a major Democratic fundraiser who is chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that oversees the AmeriCorps volunteer program.

The Grassley-Issa report says that agents of the inspector's general office who investigated the St. HOPE sex-abuse charges "immediately recognized what appeared to be improper handling of this allegation . . . and unethical conduct by Mr. Johnson's attorney," Kevin Hiestand, who was also the mayor's business partner. The report also implicates D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee who one witness said acted as "fixer" for the St. HOPE program. From the Grassley-Issa report (PDF):

In response to allegations first reported by CNCS and the California State Commission, CNCS Inspector General Gerald Walpin deployed Agents Jeffrey Morales and Wendy Wingers to Sacramento to investigate the use of federal dollars in contravention of St. HOPE's funding agreement. The alleged misconduct included claims that AmeriCorps tutors assigned to St. HOPE were put to work washing Johnson's car, running personal errands, and engaging in partisan political activities. It was also alleged that St. HOPE converted its own employees to AmeriCorps members in order to use grant funds to pay them.
While in Sacramento, Agents Wingers and Morales became aware of allegations of inappropriate contact between Johnson and three female St. HOPE students. Mr. Johnson’s attorney, Kevin Hiestand, approached at least one of the students describing himself only as "a friend of Johnson's," and "basically asked me to keep quiet."
According to her interview with OIG investigators, about one week later, Kevin Johnson offered her $1,000 a month until the end of the program, which she refused to accept. Moreover, the OIG uncovered evidence of two other female St. HOPE students reporting Johnson for inappropriate sexual conduct towards them. . . .
Walpin included details about these allegations in his criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney's office because they, "seriously impact … both the security of young [AmeriCorps] Members placed in the care of grantees and . . . the ability of AmeriCorps to continue to attract volunteers." The facts outlined in the referral give rise to reasonable suspicions about potential hush money payments and witness tampering at a federally funded entity. . . .
The OIG agents were alerted by a story in the Sacramento Bee describing an apparent violation of California state law. California state law classifies teachers and administrators as "mandated reporters," requiring them to report suspected child abuse to authorities. The Bee reported that contrary to California law, Johnson's lawyer and confidant, Kevin Hiestand, told school officials not to report the incidents because he was conducting his own internal investigation.
Hiestand conducted his investigation of the allegations under the guise of serving as the school's Title IX officer. . . . Hiestand interviewed the victims and witnesses, including a teacher who had heard of the allegations. According to the teacher, "Hiestand told me he had met with [one of the victims] and that she had told a different story and that I should change my story to fit the one they had been told." Erik Jones, the St. HOPE teacher who eventually reported one of the victim's allegations to the police, resigned in protest over the way the matter was handled by the school. In his resignation letter, Jones wrote "St. HOPE sought to intimidate the student through an illegal interrogation and even had the audacity to ask me to change my story." Another St. HOPE official, Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez, also left St. HOPE because of the way the allegations were handled.
Michelle Rhee, who is currently Chancellor of the District of Columbia Schools, was a St. HOPE board member at the time. According to Wong-Hernandez, Rhee learned of the allegations and played the role of a fixer, doing "damage control." . . . (Emphasis added.)

There is much, much more in the Grassley-Issa report. And the firing of Walpin is just one aspect of the larger scandal known as IG-Gate. For background, see my article "The War on Watchdogs" from the September issue of the American Spectator.

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Suicidal Wildlife

Posted by Paul Chesser on 11.23.09 @ 6:56PM

Drudge linked it, so a video that shows polar bears falling from the sky due to global warming is getting a lot of Web attention. There's another animated one out of Portugal (Hat tip: Washington Post's David Fahrenthold) that depicts animals losing all hope because of the planet's devastation from climate change. Just keep getting crazier, crazies!

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topics: Global Warming, Environmentalism, Climate Change

Health Care Legislation Creates Over 100 New Bureaucracies

11.23.09 @ 4:24PM

MEMO FOR THE MOVEMENT:

Health Care Legislation Creates Colossal New Bureaucracies

RE: The 2,032 page Speaker Pelosi Healthcare bill that was approved by a narrow margin in the House of Representatives on November 7th and the 2,074 page Senator Reid Healthcare bill just introduced creates over 100 new bureaucracies that are sure to be inefficient with taxpayer money.

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NYT Vs. NYT, Again

Posted by Joseph Lawler on 11.23.09 @ 2:52PM

Paul Krugman is running roughshod over New York Times editors. In previous incidents we've seen Krugman accuse fellow academic Times bloggers of making statements that are "flatly untrue or deeply misleading." In the latest episode, Krugman clashes with Times reporter Edmund Andrew over his front page story warning about the unsustainability of U.S. government deficits. Once again Krugman not only disagrees with his Times colleague, but he also questions his motives and journalism, at least indirectly.

Krugman starts off by stating that Andrews wrote a biased piece: "[Andrews's article is] saying that, on the one hand, some people say that we’re going to have a debt crisis any day now, while on the other hand … well, actually we never hear from the other side."

And he concludes that Andrews has ulterior motives in mind, or is serving those with nefarious designs: "This suggests that James Kwak is right: a lot of this is about scaring the government into inaction on unemployment."

One of these days he's going to slip and condemn the whole paper as a mouthpiece of the Republican establishment. I hope that his editors are watching closely.

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CNN Sucks: Climategate Never Happened

Posted by Paul Chesser on 11.23.09 @ 2:45PM

The last place cable news network is following the same tack it took on the ACORN scandal, which is, ignore the story that is not only overturning the cart and its apples, but is also crushing them into a pulp fit for a Mott's jar. Climategate was absent from CNN Sucks' weekend discussions (at least as far as the transcripts identify), and now this morning on its home page the network highlights a report on catastrophic sea level rise predictions from children of the same discredited bunch!

London, England (CNN) -- A possible rise in sea levels by 0.5 meters by 2050 could put at risk more than $28 trillion worth of assets in the world's largest coastal cities, according to a report compiled for the insurance industry. (!!!)...

The report, released on Monday by WWF and financial services Allianz, concludes that the world's diverse regions and ecosystems are close to temperature thresholds -- or "tipping points."

WWF is the "tipping points" specialist, finding new ones all the time. More from CNN Sucks:

According to the report, carried out by the UK-based Tyndall Centre, the impacts of passing "Tipping Points" on the livelihoods of people and economic assets have been underestimated.

Global temperatures have already risen by at least 0.7 degrees Celsius and the report says a further rise by 2-3 degrees in the second half of the century is likely unless deep cuts in emissions are put in place before 2015.

Incredibly the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit, from where this scandal has erupted, accounts for 11 of the 28 researchers listed as "founders" of the Tyndall Centre. So what is it? A collaborative effort of:

scientists, economists, engineers and social scientists, who together are working to develop sustainable responses to climate change through trans-disciplinary research and dialogue on both a national and international level - not just within the research community, but also with business leaders, policy advisors, the media and the public in general.

Also, UEA is the headquarters for the Tyndall Centre, but at the same time (at least based on some Climategate emails) it appears they are both competitors and collaborators for research projects and funding. The report for WWF was authored by UEA's Anthony Footitt and Tim Lenton, who are not listed as part of the CRU staff.

I could go off on so many tangents, but back to CNN Sucks. As with the New York Times and reporter Andrew Revkin, clearly the network has their own revenue-producing projects they need to protect (as does parent corporation Time-Warner). Expect them to continue to act as though nothing has been discredited, because then they would have to admit being discredited themselves.

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topics: Global Warming, Environmentalism, Climate Change

DeVore, Fiorina Differ on Sotomayor

Posted by Brian O'Connell on 11.23.09 @ 2:25PM

As Phil just reported, Carly Fiorina said this morning that had she been a senator she "probably" would have voted to confirm Justice Sonia Sotomayor because she seemed "qualified." When asked if Chuck DeVore would have confirmed Sotomayor, his campaign communications director Joshua Trevino told TAS "the answer is absolutely not" -- citing an improper understanding of the Constitution. "Chuck wants pro-life Supreme Court justices," Trevino explained.

The difference in opinion might indicate a difference with respect to policy, although the DeVore campaign did not firmly rule out the possibility of DeVore confirming a pro-choice judge. Fiorina has been under fire from the DeVore campaign for being what his website describes as "suspect on life issues." Fiorina maintains that their positions on social issues are largely identical. Fiorina also stated this morning that she was pro-life, believed that life began at conception, and that she was against the use of federal funds to pay for abortions.

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Fiorina: White Men Can't Beat Boxer

Posted by Philip Klein on 11.23.09 @ 12:15PM

U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina said at an American Spectator Newsmaker Breakfast this morning that her primary opponent, Chuck DeVore, could not beat Sen. Barbara Boxer in a general election because Boxer knows how to win against "white men."

Fiorina focused her opening remarks on contrasting herself with Boxer, who she painted as a liberal Democrat who has not accomplished much during her three terms in office and has advanced tax, spending, and regulatory policies that have crippled California's economy.

When asked what set her apart from DeVore, she said that they agreed on the issues, but that she wasn't a career politician and she had a better chance of beating Boxer.

"He is an honorable man," Fiorina said of DeVore. "He has every right to run. But he cannot beat Barbara Boxer."

She continued, "With all due respect and deep affection for white men -- I'm married to one -- but [Boxer] knows how to beat them. She's done it over and over and over."

Diane DeVore, Chuck's wife, responded on Twitter that, "Carly, I'm married to that 'white guy' & I can tell u he can win against mods and libs. Has record to prove it!"

Fiorina said her strategy was to "bang away at [Boxer's] voting record, from which she cannot hide." Fiorina also used the morning to expand on her beliefs on a wide range of issues including taxes, spending, the role of unions, and abortion. She also defended her record as CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Fiorina described herself as a fiscal and social conservative.

"I am pro-life," Fiorina said. "I believe that life begins at conception." She also said she supported the Stupak amendment in the House health care bill that bars women from using government subsidies to purchase policies that cover abortion.

I asked her to clarify her comments given that labels can mean different things to different people, and some who may describe themselves as personally pro-life may still believe that individual women should have the right to choose abortion.

"Well, that is the situation in the world today," Fiorina responded. "That is reality. What I think about it is, I'm not sure, relevant to the job I'm seeking other than of course Supreme Court nominees, but the reality is that a woman can walk into Planned Parenthood today and get an abortion. Now, I believe we should all be working to limit the number of abortions, so in that sense, no I do not believe that everyone should have that choice. But they do today. I'm just trying to be realistic. That's why I think this Stupak amendment is so important, and frankly, I think the debate the Stupak amendment has created is quite instructive about what the motivations mean behind some of these things. I believe that life begins at conception and I believe we must protect the rights of the unborn. And I believe that science continues to demonstrate that a fetus is viable at a younger and younger age, and I know, as a realist, that not everyone agrees with me. So the common ground that we can find is how to reduce abortions."

She also said that she believed in the sanctity of marriage as being between a man and a woman, and said she voted for Proposition 8, the California ballot measure to amend the state constitution to keep marriage between a man and a woman.

Responding to a question about her position on U.S. Supreme Court nominations, she said that she "probably" would have voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor because "elections have consequences" and "she seemed qualified." Fiorina cautioned that she was dealing with her own breast cancer at the time and thus was not in a position to closely examine the judge's record.

Fiorina said that she was opposed to bailouts and President Obama's economic stimulus package. Instead, she said, she supports low taxes and spending, and described the nation's debt as "unsustainable."

In response to a question about the dominant role of public sector unions in her state, she said that "there is growing anger in California over the vice grip that unions have over the state." She said that they have a disproportionate influence relative to the amount of workers they represent.

She said that she would bring an outsider's perspective to Washington as somebody who had spent her business career balancing billion-dollar budgets. She defended her tenure at HP, saying that she managed to double the size of the company during a severe "tech recession," and created jobs on a net basis. While she did outsource, she said it was only because California's tax code makes it difficult to employ people in the state. Remarking on her ouster from the company, she argued that subsequent revelations that her successor was spying on her and other board members vindicated her.

She said she wasn't too concerned about polls showing her within a point of DeVore, noting that her campaign was just starting and he's been campaigning for 18 months, and the primary isn't until June.

Asked whether she expected Sarah Palin to endorse a candidate in the race, Fiorina said she didn't know. But she added, "I share Sarah Palin's values."

UPDATE: A DeVore spokesman emails to say he has been running for 12 months.

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Knowing What They Have to Say

Posted by Robert P. Kirchhoefer on 11.23.09 @ 12:06PM

From the Associated Press:

The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday. Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it."

The terrorists won't be put on trial, they're already pleading guilty. In their minds, their trial is over. In their minds, it is now time for them to put the American system on trial. The 9/11 co-conspirators are going to explain to the rest of the world, why they felt justified in crashing four jumbo-jets into the heart of America.

This is going to get ugly.

Regarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Attorney General Holder states that "the world will see him for the coward that he is." That's a curious choice of words: "coward." Several months ago, Mr. Holder said that America is a "nation of cowards." I haven't forgotten that.

Holder went on to say "I'm not scared of what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has to say at trial -- and no one else needs to be, either."

I'm not scared of what he has to say. I know what he has to say. I just don't think we need to provide him with a platform to speak his misanthropic views with impunity courtesy of the United States Constitution.

I wonder how many Major Nidal Hasan's are out there, eagerly awaiting to hear what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has to say from the stand, in the center of America's 9/11 wound? I'm sure they're not afraid of what he has to say, either.

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MK Ham on Holder

Posted by Quin Hillyer on 11.23.09 @ 11:36AM

A "must read" of the day: Mary Katharine Ham's article about the reaction of 9/11 victims' families to the Holder decision on the KSM trial. Very moving. Sample:

"Peter Regan--who lost his dad, a New York firefighter, on 9/11--is disturbed by the plan on several fronts. After 9/11, the then 20-year-old joined the Marines, serving two tours in Iraq before coming back home to follow in his father's footsteps in the fire department. The possibility that they may face trial in civilian courts means suspected terrorists captured on the battlefield may have to be informed of their right to counsel and to remain silent. I just couldn't imagine," Regan says. "We're soldiers and Marines and sailors. It's not our job. We're not cops. We learn Miranda rights once we come back if we want to pursue that career.""

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Daily Must-Reads

Posted by Brian O'Connell on 11.23.09 @ 11:12AM

Newsweek: How Obama is a lot like Reagan. Because, he's a... big spender, likes to talk, and is bad with numbers.
Everyone wants their own interpretation of history studied as Texas debates the formation of high school textbooks (Houston Chronicle)
All the failing politicians in Sacramento can finally face the music, literally. $25,000 of federal stimulus money being used to pay for free orchestra concerts (Sacramento Bee)
Durbin threatens to be the Grinch who stole Christmas vacation is healthcare bill isn't worked out (Politico)

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Why Schiavo Mattered

Posted by Quin Hillyer on 11.23.09 @ 10:42AM

All of those horrible celebrators of death who completely misrepresented the Terry Schiavo case from EVERY angle -- moral, legal, legislative -- should take a look at this story (Drudge found it) about a man who was supposedly in a coma and an irreversible "persistent vegetative state" for 23 YEARS (!!!!!) while actually conscious all along. This story provides one more example of why it is always wise to err on the side of human life. Not to trivialize the issue with a cultural reference, but I am always reminded of the line from the Shelley Winters character in The Poseidon Adventure as she lay dying in Gene Hackman's arms after saving him from drowning. "Life matters," she said. Yes, life matters. Yes, it does. And what Ramesh Ponnuru rightly called "The Party of Death" consistently violates that basic insight. In doing do, the Party of Death is morally monstrous.

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Bo Versus Beau

Posted by Shawn Macomber on 11.23.09 @ 10:02AM

Writer/artist extraordinaire Katherine Eastland posts some typically smart, unconventional ruminations on the divergent doggy christening styles of Jimmy Stewart and Barack Obama over at the Blog Around the Corner. Here's a bite:

I don't want to read too far into names, but there's something to be said for the different spellings of Bo/Beau. "Bo" is a lighthearted reference to the singer Bo Diddley, related by sound to Michelle's father Diddley. But to those who might not know that, "Bo" sure does resemble President Obama's initials.

Jimmy named his pup Beau, and he was Jimmy's furry dandy, his escort with a tennis ball. It comes from the Latin bellus, -a, -um, meaning handsome, beautiful. I consider this a very good and generous name for a dog, with no tinge of selfishness or pretension in it either real or perceived.

Now go finish your meal. It includes a wonderful dessert of Jimmy Stewart reciting his Beau poem on Carson back in '81.

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Amazing Revkin Hard at Work

Posted by Paul Chesser on 11.23.09 @ 9:52AM

On Friday the New York Times' house global warming author Andy Revkin, reporting on the breaking (Revkin would prefer it be braking) global Climategate scandal, said repercussions "continue to unfold" and that "there's much more to explore, of course."

So what has Sherlock Andy, Warmth Detector focused on since then? Yesterday he noted a study on Antarctic ice loss that comes with "substantial uncertainty" and a "CO2toon," and then he elevated from Reader Comments at his original post the views of University of Chicago climatologist Raymond Pierrehumbert, who bemoaned the CRU "cyber-attack."

After all, this is a criminal act of vandalism and of harassment of a group of scientists that are only going about their business doing science. It represents a whole new escalation in the war on climate scientists who are only trying to get at the truth. Think — this was a very concerted and sophisticated hacker attack.

There is still no proof that this was a hacker attack (CRU certainly never stated that was the case) -- it could have been an insider. And just because I'm prone to add insult to injury, I'd like to see the evidence that the alarmist RealClimate Web site was hacked as well, which Revkin reports as fact. Just askin'.

Meanwhile, it's comforting to know that the Amazing Revkin is getting after all the "more to explore."

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topics: Global Warming, Environmentalism, Climate Change