Hugh Hefner to Marry Smokin' Hot Centerfold Crystal Harris

So she's a gold-digger, okay.

Hef doesn't seem to mind.

He gets to play around with those centerfold-quality breasties.

See: "Hugh Hefner Engaged to 26-Year-Old Playboy Centerfold Crystal Harris."

Check the link for the full entry, with more photos of the Playboy model's enhanced rack.

Bulldogs' Murray Pounded With Late Hit in SEC Championship Game

It's brutal, "Georgia Bulldogs QB Aaron Murray Hit by Quinton Dial (VIDEO)."

Connecting the Global Cooling Dots

 

By Alan Caruba

Winter doesn’t officially begin until December 21, but winter has a mind of its own as does all of nature. While the United Nations charlatans gathered in Doha, Qatar to try to save its global warming hoax by first calling it “climate change” and then by fashioning a funding mechanism to transfer the wealth of developed countries to those who are not, winter has arrived “early” around the world.

That might just have something to do with the cooling cycle that has been active for the past sixteen years, “inconveniently” blowing a big hole in the global warming lies we’ve been hearing and reading since the late 1980s.

From IceAgeNow.info, a site by Robert W. Felix, the author of a book about ice ages (the Earth has been through quite a few in its 4.5 billion years), here are some recent news stories:

On December 1, “Heavy snowfall severs Russia” told of “Hundreds of drivers (who) were caught by surprise in a 40km traffic jam after an unexpected snowfall and heavy winds.”

On November 30, “Finland snowstorm causes blackouts” reported that “Tens of thousands of households were without electricity on Friday as the result of a storm that dumped heavy snow across southern Finland and sent winds gusting up to 27 meters per second, felling trees and downing power lines.” That same day, across the former land bridge between Russia and North America, “Fairbanks – Coldest back-to-back November on record” was a news item what reported “The mercury hit 30 below for the first time this winter at Fairbanks International Airport…”

On November 29, the news was about a “Severe snow storm hits northern Japan” during which it was “blasted by an intense snow storm causing widespread havoc to residents of Hokkaido and Northern Honshu.”

On November 28, “Snowfall paralyzes life in China” was the headline of a report that “China has experienced the biggest snowfall in 52 years. Snow caused power outages in 57 villages, brought down thousands of trees and killed numerous domestic animals. Temperatures fell by as much as 14 degrees below zero in some areas.”

You don’t have to be a meteorologist to connect the dots. It is getting colder in the northern hemisphere of the world. To those who would dismiss this, saying that Russia has always been famous for its winters, that is the equivalent of whistling passed the graveyard.

In England, a November 29 report in The Telegraph, reported that “Councils are geating up for what could be Britain’s coldest winter in 100 years, as sub-zero temperatures and snow follow days of downpours that have devasted large parts of the country.” The Met Office, England’s equivalent of the U.S. Weather Bureau, warned that “The forthcoming cold snap, caused by clear skies and northerly winds, could herald the start of a freezing winter.”

This was not unforeseen, however. In late January 2012, the British daily, The Mail, reported that “The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planning has not warmed for the past 15 years. The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17^th century.” England and much of the northern Europe and North America was gripped by a mini ice age that lasted from 1300 to 1850.

It is no secret to climate scientists that the sun is in what they call a “grand minimum” by way of describing relatively few magnetic storms, also known as sun spots. Few storms means less solar radiation and, since the sun is the primary source of heat for the Earth that means things get colder here. This is worth keeping in mind when the Secretary General of the United Nations or any other lying politician or alleged scientist tells you otherwise.

In a new book worth reading, “The Whole Story of Climate” by E. Kirsten Peters, the author brings a wealth of knowledge to the subject from the standpoint of a geologist. As to the claim that carbon dioxide emissions are the “cause” of a warming that is not happening, she points out that “The fact is, if human beings had remained hunter-gatherers throughout our entire history, never producing a single molecule of greenhouse gases through agriculture or industry, climate today would still be changing. It would be lurching toward higher temperatures, crashing toward vastly colder temperatures, or at least swinging toward something different from what has been. That’s just the nature of Earth’s climate.”

Preceding the introduction and rise of humans was an age known as the Pleistocene Epoch about 1.8 million years ago. It “was not a time of only monotonous cold. In fact, it alternated between long periods of cold—lasting roughly 100,000 years—and short periods of considerably warming times—lasting about 10,000 years.”

We humans are the result of the Holocene Epoch, a much more temperate, warmer period that followed the Pleistocene and, writes Peters, “From the Earth’s point of view, the Holocene is no different at all from other brief, warm intervals in the Pleistocene…” We are now about 11,500 years into this warmer cycle and, if the current cooling cycle continues and gets colder, we are knocking on the door of the next ice age.

Nor is this a problem for the northern hemisphere. Southern hemisphere polar sea ice expanded in September 2012 to its greatest extent since satellites began measuring the Antarctic ice cap in 1979.

That’s what Robert W. Felix has been warning about in his book, “Not by Fire, But by Ice”, published initially in 2005. He’s not alone. Habibullo Abdusamatov of the Pulkovo Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences predicts that there will be a sharp drop in the temperature of the Earth starting in 2014. He’s predicting it will last about 200 years.

We are well past when the next ice age—mini or not—should have begun and, if all the global warming charlatans are right, we can actually THANK heightened levels of carbon dioxide for delaying it! However, the truth is that higher or lower levels of carbon dioxide show up centuries after any shift in the Earth’s temperature.

Just as the recent weather reports indicate, lower temperatures, greater snowfall, and other miseries of a colder Earth are in the future of the billions who live in the northern hemisphere. Bundle up.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

Bedtime Totty..........

Late News..........

CDR Salamander​: Sunday Funnies

Moonbatter​y » Who’s Racist?

West Point Chapel to Host First Same-Sex Wedding Ceremony

History of espionage declassified at Corry Station spy museum

Ukip may yet gatecrash the private party

Egypt's judges announce they will refuse to work with President Mohammed Morsi

Israel exacts retaliation for Palestinian statehood vote as it confiscates £75m in revenue

Mali Islamists Give Teenage Girls 100 Lashes for Talking to Boys

China’s Oil Quest Comes to Iraq

Electronic Privacy is the New 21st Century Battleground: Why We Must Fight Back

Obama Goes Powergolfing with Bill Clinton

Soldiers given extra Christmas leave as a 'thank you'

In Damascus, Tense Anticipation of Strongest Push Yet by Rebels

" ... i don't give a damn about a greenback dollar, spend it fast as i can ... "

Thanking the paper boys?....................from Rico

You have to completely ignore the day-to-day market 'white noise' and meaningless financial chatter associated with it [CNBC, MSNBC, et al], and instead FOCUS on the much larger picture.
- Gold is UP 580% since 2001.
- Silver is UP 725% since 2001.

If you insist on drilling-down, let's consider Barry's impact on returns over the past four years [chart attached], then consider what this means for the NEXT four years in that same context.
- Unless you are holding increasingly worthless paper, you should almost be 'thanking' those two paper boys....Barry and Benny.

Late Pic Dump............

Cheetahs on the Edge--Director's Cut

Cheetahs are the fastest runners on the planet. Combining the resources of National Geographic and the Cincinnati Zoo, and drawing on the skills of an incredible crew, we documented these amazing cats in a way that’s never been done before.

Cheetahs on the Edge--Director's Cut from Gregory Wilson on Vimeo.

H/T Canis 61

Sunday Inspiration: Must watch Jim Valvano 1993 ESPY Awards "Don't Ever Give Up" speech!...from Mike Haltman at TPC

This video of the Jimmy V "Don't Give Up" speech from the 1993 ESPY Awards is a must watch as this man who knew that he had only months to live provides a template for the way in which we should try to live our lives, every day!

Watch the video at The Political Commentator here.

Encroaching Control- Ronald Reagan, March 30, 1961

On March 30, 1961, future governor and president Ronald Reagan gave a speech to the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. No film remains of the event, only audio. This is that audio, set to images that relate to Reagan or the content of the speech.



H/T Glenwood

Christmas lights.................from Rico

OK, OK, I know this one has been going around, but it STILL makes me smile and that is a good thing these days
- so here goes!

Christmas lights remind me of Barry supporters.
- Thay are all tangled up, half of them don't even work, and the ones that do really aren't all that bright.

There! Hope I just made you smile!

Flashback article January 28, 2011: Egypt, I hate to say I told you so!...from Michael Haltman at TPC

A look back at my prediction concerning the future of Egypt from January 2011 which raises the question that if I could figure it out why our President and his national security people couldn't!

Read the article at The Political Commentator here.

Bonus Totty...........

Sign of the Times..........

H/T Rodney

Pic Dump..............

Cartoon Round Up....

Change!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

H/T George

The BIG joke..................from Rico

This is THE big joke of Keynesian economic theory and Central Banking, and very few actually 'get it' (although you can bet our privately-owned and for-profit FED does, since they are in on it).
- It's also one of the reasons they hate precious metals like vampires hate garlic.

While the career politicians prance about in their clownshoes and red rubber noses quacking about "the fiscal cliff" and are obediently parroted by the MSM and FTV charlatans, this is something they do NOT want to talk about or want anyone to even 'think' about.

This is actually very simple. Look at the two lines on this chart.
- The blue line reflects the falling purchasing power of the Dollar. From the creation of the FED when one Dollar was worth one Dollar to today, when one Dollar is really only 'worth' 3.8 cents.*
- The red line represents rising prices over time. This is the inflation the professional liars say does not exist.
- The turning point is pretty clearly indicated in the 1970's. This is one trend that is NOT your friend!

It has been said before, but is worth repeating:
- It isn't that the value (price) of Gold has gone UP. It has not. It is the value (purchasing power) of paper fiat that has gone DOWN.

*The Treasury will begin removing pennies and nickels from circulation in 2013. Pennies stopped being made of copper about 1984 and have been made of zinc with a copper 'wash' and are truly worthless in both nominal and real terms by now. Nickels still amazingly contain nickel, and are worth about seven nominal cents due to their metal content. Even the venerable Dollar bill, the greenback, is being 'looked' at for extinction by the 40# brains in government who dimly 'sense' something is wrong (well, a nominal Dollar is worth 3.8 cents in real terms anyway). Does this suggest to anyone...Bueller? Bueller? ...that a currency reset/revaluation looms? In sum, this is why Gold is better than garlic when dealing with the vampire squid of Keynesian and Central Bank fiat.

Iraq Update..................by DJ Elliott

Iraqi Security Force Update December 2012

The Sunday Best......................

Chinese Women, Carrier Style

My Plan to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff

Lockheed, DoD Agree on F-35 Fifth Block Purchase

Iraq PM Maliki does not consider use of force against Kurds

Navy's Next Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier to be Named Enterprise

I'm sure I'm wrong to wish this story were true

Trained Navy dolphins losing out to robots

AAA warns EPA to halt sale of E15 gas

CDR Salamander​: ... and the Salamander did grin ...

PM warns of 'ethnic conflict' in Iraq

Bank of America backs away from new fees; populists rejoice

Enterprise honors victims and survivors of 1969 fire

Long sought ecoterrori​st arrested at Canadian border

Congress to look at eliminatin​g the one dollar bill

Committee contracted with Russia for arms leave within three days to Moscow

Mal​iki reveals a proposal sent to Kurdistan about mixed areas protection

Gallup: Yes, Democrats, liberals favor socialism

Dogwhistling Democrats

Al Qaeda commander thought killed in South Waziristan drone strike

M&S Spitfires are made in Germany

Taliban target US Afghan base in suicide attack

Inside Jabhat al Nursa - the most extreme wing of Syria's struggle

Multi-million gold heist from boat in Caribbean

South African farmers fearing for their lives

Islamists demonstrate in support of Morsi

Lame duck lurches towards fiscal cliff

Muslim Brotherhood’s “Paid Rapists” Sexually Assault Female Protesters

Unusual activity at Syrian chemical weapons sites amid rumors Assad is dead or fled

Palin Slams White House Press Corps for Passivity

Iran stations defense staff at N. Korea site

and finally................

Doc's Computin' Tips: Windows Update - that extra mile

Sunday Totty.............

America Went Over the Fiscal Cliff Long Ago

 

 

By Alan Caruba
 

I doubt that President Obama will compromise with the House Republicans on anything that might be done to avoid the January 2^nd “fiscal cliff” that kicks in with higher taxes for everyone.

Obama has made it clear that increasing the tax rates on “millionaires” is his goal and he made that clear throughout the campaign. The income that would be generated from the increased rates would generate enough money to run the nation for about a week or so at most. In politics perception often trumps reality. And those “millionaires” are mostly middle class folks earning $250,000 or more.
 

As Chris Cox and Bill Archer, two veterans of the House, chairman of key committees, now in the private sector, wrote in a November 26 Wall Street Journal commentary, “The actual liabilities of the federal government—including Social Security, Medicare, and federal employees’ future retirement benefits—already exceed $86 trillion, or 550% of GDP” (Gross Domestic Product, i.e., the total the U.S. earns from the sale of all goods and services annually).
 

We are so far passed the fiscal cliff that the U.S. is unlikely to be able to borrow its way out of this huge debt. Cox and Archer said that “Borrowing on this scale could collapse the capacity of global capital markets—and bankrupt not only the programs themselves but the entire federal government.”
 

“When the accrued expenses of the government’s entitlement programs are counted, it becomes clear that to collect enough tax revenue just to avoid going deeper in debt would require $8 trillion in tax collections annually.”
 

By adding $6 trillion in debt during his first term, it seems to me that Obama’s goal has been to bring the nation to financial ruin. He added more debt that all the combined presidents before him. He squandered billions on bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler, loans to “green” companies, and increases in programs like food stamps. He cut off new sources of income from the energy sector and, with them, the prospect of jobs that would be generated. At one point he advocated developing algae—pond scum—as a new source of energy.
 

The total amount of earnings from individuals and corporations is not sufficient to cover the debt and operating expenses of a federal government that has been steadily expanding since early in the last century. Cox and Archer noted that “all individuals filing tax returns in America and earning more than $66,193 per year have an adjusted gross income of $5.1 trillion. In 2006, when corporate taxable income peaked before the recession, all corporations in the U.S. had a total income for tax purposes of $1.6 trillion.”
 

That’s a total of $6.7 trillion available and we have more than $8 trillion per year in liabilities. The U.S. is borrowing $4 million a day to pay the interest owed on its debt and other liabilities.
 

The tax system of the U.S. was created in 1913 with the introduction of the income tax and hasn’t seriously been updated since 1986, just over a quarter century ago. As Mitt Romney told a fund-raiser during the campaign, 47% of Americans pay no income tax at all. He caught a lot of flack for telling the truth.
 

On Election Day, responding to exit polls, 63% of Americans said they were opposed to increasing taxes. Two years earlier when the midterm elections returned power to the Republicans in the House where the Constitution mandates that all spending bills must originate, a compromise resulted in the extension of the Bush tax cuts for two years. Even Obama said it would be a mistake to raise taxes during a bad economy. He doesn’t have to compromise now and he won’t.
 

I have no doubt that Obama will blame whatever occurs regarding the “fiscal cliff” on the Republicans, but a January 2011 article by Paul Bedard in US News and WorldReport spelled out a plan by the House GOP to eliminate $2.5 trillion in spending over the next ten years. It’s not that Republicans haven’t a plan. It’s that Obama’s plan is to raise everyone’s taxes and keep on spending.
 

As Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and an opponent of all tax increases, wrote in mid-November, “Obama’s present demand is that the top two marginal tax rates be increased to 39.6% plus the 3.8% Obamacare tax surcharge for a top rate of 43.4%. The death tax would also jump back to 55%, capital gains tax would jump from 15% to 23.8%, and the tax on dividends would increase from 15% to 39.6%”, more than double its present rate.
 

“If Obama follows through on his threat,” wrote Norquist, “and refuses to extend the Bush tax cuts, then there would be an automatic $500 billion tax increase beginning on January 1, 2013, that would total $5 trillion over a decade.”
 

In plain words, Americans who still have jobs, who have invested in the stock market, and who have any savings, will be impoverished within a decade, if not sooner. The middle class is already paying 50% of what they earn in income taxes, payroll taxes, state taxes, property taxes, and taxes on gas, telephone use, and other levies.
 

Obama has not talked of cutting government spending, relying on the automatic “sequestration” that would begin in January. His Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, called the effect on the U.S. military “catastrophic” though the cuts would reduce what Norquist calls “the Obama debt machine” and would in theory strengthen the economy.
 

I say “in theory”, but federal regulations in 2011 added more than $231 billion in regulatory costs to private businesses and state and local governments, adding up to 133 million hours of paperwork, according to the American Action Forum. Tons more regulations are in the pipeline, particularly from the Environmental Protection Agency.

When you add in the 28 taxes hidden in Obamacare, it is clear that there will be precious little money left over for anything than the bare necessities of life.
 

Americans have been ill-served by their government, composed of those elected to exercise good judgment regarding the economy. It has been going on for a very long time and now the bill is coming due.
 

America is living in the greatest debt bubble the world has ever seen. I suspect most are completely unaware of it.

 

America went over the fiscal cliff decades ago and now is in free-fall. Life here and around the world is going to get very ugly.
 

 

© Alan Caruba, 2012

Point by Point Guide to the Fiscal Cliff: Obama vs. House Republicans...from Mike Haltman at TPC

A point by point guide from The Fiscal Times describing what Barack Obama wants, what House Republicans want and where there are sticking points between the two surrounding the fiscal cliff facing the United States.

At The Political Commentator here.

Saturday Night is Bath Night.........

NRA LIFE OF DUTY: "Forward March" Patriot Profile NOW LIVE

Click here to view more documentaries like this one on the NRA Life of Duty Patriot Profiles channel sponsored by Smith & Wesson.

The Obama's: Never let a "Fiscal Cliff" get in the way of your Hawaii vacation (cost breakdown included)!...from Mike Haltman at TPC

The looming fiscal cliff will not deter the First Family from heading to Hawaii for their Christmas, I mean holiday, vacation. 

The $4+ million cost to the American taxpayer is broken down in the article. 

Read about it at The Political Commentator here.

Bonus Totty..............

Video: AFTER the election Jay Leno slams the MSM for its Obama treatment!...from Mike Haltman at TPC

Video of Jay Leno talking about the mainstream media asking Obama tough questions and how the White House better watch out if that happens. The truth is, however, that it is already too late for that. 

Read and watch at The Political Commentator here.