The Greatest Turnaround In NFL History

Last year, my lowly 1-15 Miami Dolphins were a missed Raven FG and a long TD pass in overtime to undrafted rookie WR Greg Camarillo from beating this year's Detroit Lions to the first 0-16 record in the NFL.

During the offseason, Dolphin owner Wayne Huizenga cleaned house and brought in the best franchise rebuilder in the business - Bill Parcells. Parcells' rebuilding effort was two parts effort and one part luck.

First, Da Tuna raided the coaching staff of his former Dallas Cowboys team and brought over little known assistant Tony Sparano to be the new head coach. Sparano would change the entire culture of the Dolphins from a slack organization to a disciplined and physical team dedicated to the proposition that the team that made the fewest mistakes wins.

Then, 40% of the players were given their walking papers, including aging stars Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor, and replaced with a parade of rookies and no name cast offs whose primary qualifications were that they fit the Parcells model of a very large and physical team.

Finally, in a stroke of luck, the New York Jets discarded their extremely accurate, but injury prone, QB Chad Pennington after a trade for Brett Farve in a hail mary effort to get to the Super Bowl for the first time in a generation. Parcells had drafted Pennington, knew his worth and immediately signed him. Not only has Pennington put together a career season for Miami in 2008, but also took over leadership of the team and acted as a de facto second offensive coordinator.

Despite these moves, Miami was only predicted to win around 6 games and remain in the cellar of the AFC East. As Miami dropped to 0-2 after a fluky loss to the Jets and a rout by the Cardinals, it appeared that the naysayers were correct. Heading into Foxboro to play last year's nearly perfect New England Patriots, 0-3 appeared to be guaranteed. However, the Dolphins had other ideas.

Coach Tony Sparano borrowed a completely different offense from the Arkansas Razorbacks nicknamed the Wildcat, where the offensive line is unbalanced to the right, running back Ronnie Brown stands behind center to receive the hike, running back Ricky Williams lines up to the left and the QB lines up as a WR to the right. Brown will either hand off the ball to Williams, run it himself behind the unbalanced right side of the offensive line or start to run to the right and pitch it back to the QB Pennington for a downfield pass to an open RB.

After only one week of practice using this system, Sparano unleashed the Wildcat on a completely unsuspecting Patriot defense, allowing RB Ronnie Brown to pile up four rushing TDs and actually passed for a fifth TD to TE Fasano. Miami 38, New England 13 (The links go to NFL.com video highlights from the games).

The Dolphins returned home to host the AFC West champion San Diego Chargers as the underdogs again. However, undrafted second year WR Greg Camarillo stepped up for one TD and Ronnie Brown running off of the Wild Cat gashed the Bolts for a second TD, as the Miami defense kept their second playoff caliber opponent in a row to less than two TDs. Miami had reached .500 for the first time in two years. Miami 17, San Diego 10.

However, the young Dolphin team backslid as a defensive collapse allowed the Houston Texans to eke out a narrow win in the last few seconds and a resurgent Ravens team beat up on them. With the Dolphins at 2-4 and heading toward another wasted season, Chad Pennington stepped up and started leading meetings with his receivers and offensive line in the evenings after the coaches were through. The youthful mistakes stopped and Miami went on to win an incredible 9 of their last 10 games.

Miami started this improbable run by hosting a 5-1 Buffalo Bills team that led the AFC East and had won 7 of the last 8 games against the Dolphins. The Bills blocked rookie Dan Carpenter's FG attempt and broke out to a 16-7 lead. Just as it appears that Miami would fold again, second year WR Ted Ginn broke loose for his first 100 yard game of the season, the defense stole two turnovers and a safety and Dan Carpender made up for the blocked FG by kicking a handful of others. This game broke the Bills' spirit as they dropped 7 of their next 9 games. Miami 25, Buffalo 16.

Next, Miami travelled to Denver as the underdogs in a game with the Broncos. The Dolphins D continued their dominance with three picks, one returned for a TD. However, Denver nearly tied the game in the 4th quarter, trailing 19-17. Chad Pennington closed the door on the Bronco comeback with what would become a signature of the Miami offense for the rest of the year - a time consuming scoring drive to ice the game. At the half way mark of the season, Miami was back to .500. Impressive for a team who won only 1 game the year before, but far short of where Miami wanted to be - in the playoffs. Miami 26, Denver 17.

If Miami thought they would get a breather when they hosted the 2-6 Seattle Seahawks, they were mistaken. Miami broke out to an early lead when the normally short passing Pennington heaved a bomb to Ted Ginn in the end zone despite tight double coverage. Them Ricky Williams followed up with a 51 yard TD run out the the Wildcat. But the Seahawks battled back with a rare Pennington interception returned for a TD and a couple FGs. However, the Dolphins sealed the deal and their first winning record in years with a Ronnie Brown TD out of the Wildcat. Miami 21, Seattle 19.

The Dolphins then hosted the Oakland Raiders as a favorite. The highlight of this ugly win was a razzle dazzle double reverse with Ted Ginn turning on the jets and breaking tackles for a 40+ yard TD run. Miami 17, Oakland 15.

However, the Miami cinderella streak was brought to a rude halt as a proud Patriot team, stinging from their drubbing by the Dolphins in Foxboro, returned the favor in South Florida by passing all over the previously stingy Miami defense. Chad Pennington kept Miami in the game for three quarters in a shootout, but fell short in the 4th quarter. New England 48, Miami 28.

The only way the Dolphins had a shot at the playoffs would be to win out in a stretch dominated by road games and take the division championship outright. To make things worse, Miami had lost leading WR Greg Camarillo to a knee injury for the season. His replacement was undrafted rookie WR Devone Bess from Hawaii. Mission Impossible? Never say never.

Miami started on the road against a St Louis team that had just gained Pro Bowl RB Steven Jackson back from injury. In what would become a pattern over the next three weeks, the Miami defense would bend and give up yards, but not TDs. The Rams and Miami traded scoring drives, but St. Louis could only get FGs while Miami scored a TD as backup and now starter WR Devone Bess gouged the Ram secondary. Miami 16, St Louis 12 .

The Dolphins then traveled to Canada to meet the Buffalo Bills in one the the NFLs showcase games in foreign countries. This ended up being a big break for Miami as they avoided the windy arctic conditions of Buffalo's Rich Stadium for the cozy confines of a dome. The Miami defense dominated the game and only surrendered a single FG to the flagging Bills. The normally taciturn Coach Sparano actually started talking to a doubtful press about Miami making the playoffs. Miami 16, Buffalo 3

Miami returned for their final home game to play a rejuvenated San Francisco 49ers under new head Coach Mike Singletary, he of the insane eyes anchoring a legendary Bears chanpionship defense as middle linebacker. Once again, the Dolphins traded TD drives for Niner FGs and came out on top. Miami 14, San Francisco 9

At this point, the possibility of taking the wild card route into the playoffs was all but shut down. However, Miami owned enough tie breakers to win the AFC East if they could only win out on the road in Kansas City and in New Jersey against the division leading Jets.

The elements conspired against Miami in Kansas City with a -12 degrees wind chill, the second coldest game in KC stadium history and the coldest game in Miami franchise history. Global warming my arse. The warm weather Dolphins had never won a sub zero game. The brutal cold appeared to hit the Miami defense hard, as they were consistently a step behind a Chiefs offense that scored four straight TDs to blow out to a 31-24 lead. However, frozen or not, there was no quit in these Dolphins. Miami slashed the Chiefs D to tie the game with backup RB Cobbs ripping off a 40 some yard run out of the Wild Cat. Then Pennington iced the game with a several minute TD drive in the 4th quarter. In the middle of the drive, the CBS color commentator noted that Miami expected to score and would not be stopped. The Miami D then forced the Chiefs to go 4 and out to end the game. Miami 38, Kansas City 31.

Because the Jets lost in an upset to the Seahawks, the Miami Dolphins actually traveled to the Meadowlands in the division lead. The story line was made for NFL Films with Miami QB Chad Pennington coming back to the Meadowlands where he had played for years to duel with the the legendary QB Brett Farve who had replaced him. The prize was pride and the playoffs. However, this Jets team had defeated Miami in South Florida in the opening game of the season and has practically owned the Dolphins in the Meadowlands. The question was whether the 39 year old Brett Farve had one more magical game left in him and the answer was no. Farve showed flashes of the old spark, but he was off target for much of the game and the Miami D harvested 3 INTs, one returned by rookie DE Philip Merling for a TD, trampling Farve on the way to the end zone. In contrast, Pennington was his usual efficient self with a twist - the QB with a rep for a weak arm threw two pinpoint deep TD strikes. The only thing that kept the Jets in the game were Dolphins mistakes - a Pennington fumble during a blitz and a high snapped punt - giving the Jets the short field for scores and allowing the Jets to stay within 4 points during the 4th quarter. The Dolphins special teams gave the team breathing room by blocking a Jets punt, allowing Miami to run off the clock and kick a FG for a full TD lead. In the next series, DB Andre Goodman picked his second Farve pass and snuffed out any chance of Brett pulling off his own brand of last minute heroics. Miami 24, New York 17.

The Dolphins have won ten more games than the year before and took the division crown for the first time since 2000 - The greatest turnaround for a one win team.

Now, in the wild card round of the playoffs, Miami hosts the Baltimore Ravens, who like the Jets won against Miami at the beginning of the season. The visiting Ravens are favored by three and no one thinks the Dolphins can win. Sound familiar?

The Ravens could and probably should end the cinderella Dolphin season next Sunday. On paper, they are the better team. However, with this new Miami Dolphin team, it is better never to say never.

Get Ready For New Deal II

A few weeks ago, I posted a missive wishfully entitled "Could Obama Actually Govern As A Conservative?," that noted the relatively moderate nature of his cabinet nominees and speculating that this personnel might translate into policy. So far as economic policy is concerned, I am being painfully disabused of this notion.

Lawrence Summers, former free market Treasury Secretary of the Clinton Administration and newly appointed head of Obama's economic council, floated a trial balloon for the Obama "stimulus plan" in today' Washington Post. If you read between the lines of Washington speak, the former free marketeer Summers is outlining the most radical expansion of government since the New Deal failure. Here are the highlights with translations:

Investments [government spending] in an array of areas -- including energy, education, infrastructure and health care -- offer the potential of extraordinarily high social returns [not economic stimulus] while allowing our country to address some long-standing national challenges and put our economy on a solid footing for years to come.

In this crisis, doing too little poses a greater threat than doing too much. [Obama plans to borrow and spend on the high side of the $500 billion to $1 trillion estimates for his government expansion]...

A key pillar of the Obama plan is job creation. In the face of deteriorating economic forecasts, Obama has revised his goal upward, to 3 million. For one thing, significantly fewer positions would be created in the absence of any recovery plan. Second, more than 80 percent of these 3 million jobs will be in the private sector, including emerging sectors such as environmental technology...

The Obama plan represents not new public works but, rather, investments that will work for the American public. Investments to build the classrooms, laboratories and libraries our children need to meet 21st-century educational challenges. Investments to help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil by spurring renewable energy initiatives (many of which are on hold because of the credit crunch). Investments to put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding our roads, bridges and public transit systems. Investments to modernize our health-care system, which is necessary to improve care in the short term and key to driving down costs across the board...

Some argue that instead of attempting to both create jobs and invest in our long-run growth, we should focus exclusively on short-term policies that generate consumer spending. But that approach led to some of the challenges we face today -- and it is that approach that we must reject if we are going to strengthen our middle class and our economy over the long run. Far from being an excuse for inaction or delay, the magnitude of the work ahead is all the more reason to begin that work.

Translation: There will be no stimulus in the Obama stimulus. Instead, Obama plans to expand the size of government in these areas:

1) Infrastructure: Obama will hand out money to the states to build roads, schools and libraries to provide jobs and long term infrastructure. The problem is that new projects cannot get under way for a couple years, by which time the recession will be over. This means the states will simply spend this new federal money on current projects and shift their own shrinking revenues to other priorities. The net result will be no new infrastructure and no new jobs. Also, the school age population in not growing and any spending on additional schools will be make work that will not improve the infrastructure. Finally, infrastructure spending has never pulled our economy out of recession. See the New Deal during the Depression and the interstate expansion during the recession riddled 50s.

2) Green Energy: Obama is suggesting a form of corporatism where the federal government is going to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into failing industries like wind and solar power. These industries were not providing a cost effective product for consumers back when oil was at $140 a barrel. Now that oil is $40 per barrel, these industries are hopelessly overpriced. Apparently not one to allow reality to get in the way of a government subsidy, Obama plans to create an even larger ad utterly government dependent wind and solar industry that will need ongoing subsidies long after the recession has gone. Far worse than this, the Obama Administration may feel the need to artificially increase the cost of fossil fuels to make the wind and solar industries appear to be cost effective, spiking our energy bills.

3) Government Health Care: When Summers spoke of "investments" in health care, he was referring to the enactment of Obama care government mandated health insurance. No nation has ever pulled out of a recession when its government borrowed hundreds of billions of dollars of capital that would otherwise be invested in growing the economy and transferred it into a government entitlement program. Instead, this diversion of needed investment capital is likely to prolong the recession.

4) Higher Taxes: Initially, Obama plans to use the federal credit card to pay for this trillion dollar shopping spree. However, unless the United States wants to go the way of Peronist Argentina, the credit card spending will have to end pretty shortly. What will be left over is a vastly expanded government needing enormous ongoing revenues just as the boomers retire demanding Social Security and Medicare. Hold onto your wallets because the mother of all tax increases is heading your way.

If the GOP has any designs of being a relevant party in the future, now is the time to stand up to this monstrosity in the making and send it the way of Hillary care.

Unions Drive California and New York To The Edge Of Bankruptcy

For the past few weeks as the CEOs of the Big Three automakers came to Washington begging for a bailout, we have learned how the United Auto Worker cadillac contracts have driven the GM, Chrysler and maybe Ford to the precipice of insolvency. However, for all the angst, the UAW are the worst of a dying breed of private sector unions that do not make up much of our economy.

The growth sector for unions have been organizing government employees and then binding state and local governments to outrageous labor contracts. As with the UAW cadillac contracts, the bill has now come due for government employee contracts and two of our largest and bluest states - California and New York - are facing a fiscal collapse that makes the Big Three brush with death look like a sideshow:

In a preview of political fights to come, both New York State and California budgets are being crippled by outsized public sector union pension obligations that are now coming due in a perfect storm—a combination of an aging population, a declining tax base, and a fiscal crisis.

The Democrats who narrowly control both state legislatures have a notoriously cozy relationship with unions and they will be unlikely in the extreme to bite the hands that feed. But the unsupportable absurdities of the current arrangement are becoming evident.

The average state and local government employee now makes 46 percent more in combined salary and benefits than their private sector counter-parts, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute—including 128 percent more on health care and 162 percent more on retirement benefits. New York City, for example, not only spends 10 times more on pensions than it did ten years ago, it now spends more on pensions and benefits for firefighters than it does on firefighters' salaries.
These tax-payer sponsored paychecks cannot be renegotiated in tough times to balance a budget. They can only go up, never down.

The perfect storm being described is a vicious cycle of Dem misgovernance where Dem governments grew the bureaucracies imposing an ever greater regulatory burden on business, the growing public employee unions demanded and received lavish contracts, the Dem governments increased taxes to pay these contracts, business and young citizens moved out of the blue states, then the Dem governments raised taxes again on the smaller citizenry to make up for the lost revenue. Now there are simply not enough remaining productive citizens left in the blue states to pay for the government leviathan.

If you live in a purple or red state with a semblance of fiscal sanity, you might shrug and say what does that have to do with me? Folks, the $17 billion dollar bailout of the UAW was just the beginning. Not only will the Big Three be back for more money to bail out the UAW contracts when the first bailout runs out in March, California, New York and several other failing blue states are coming to DC asking their new blue Congress and President to pick the pockets of the citizens of red states across the country to bail out the public employee contracts. The tab for this union welfare could very well run above $100 billion.

What will make this robbery to line the pockets of the unions even more outrageous is that Mr. Obama and his Dem Congress will actually call it a stimulus package meant to grow the economy.

More change we can believe in!

UPDATE ONE: New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine opens the campaign raid the treasury to bail out the blue states.

Congressional Dem Leadership Approved Of The Terrorist Surveillance Program Before They Disapproved Of It

Once you have assumed power, who cares if you lied to the voters before the election?

A Will To Victory: Bush, Blair and Obama

The victory of the United States in Iraq gained by fundamentally changing its counter insurgency strategy and reinforcing Iraq with the Surge is well documented. What is not much discussed on this side of the pond is Britain's defeat in southern Iraq suffered by adopting the Obama strategy of rapid withdrawal and surrender of its area of operations to terrorists.

The Brit Sunday Times has published an absolutely scathing article comparing Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair's reaction to adversity in Iraq, America's victory and Britain's defeat, and questioning whether the UK has the stomach to be a great power any longer . I have posted some key passages from this important article below. However, I urge you to read the full article twice. Britain's shame is a signal lesson to America of the dangers of surrender as a "strategy."

Last week Gordon Brown announced a date for Britain’s withdrawal from Iraq. Most troops will be back in time for a spring general election. The prime minister posed with soldiers and expressed his sorrow over yet more fatal casualties in Afghanistan. He did not dwell on Britain’s humiliation in Basra, nor mention that this is the most inglorious withdrawal since Sir Anthony Eden ordered the boys back from Suez.

The fundamental cause of the British failure was political. Tony Blair wanted to join the United States in its toppling of Saddam Hussein because if Britain does not back America it is hard to know what our role in the world is: certainly not a seat at the top table. But, for all his persuasiveness, Blair could not hold public opinion over the medium term and so he cut troop numbers fast and sought to avoid casualties. As a result, British forces lost control of Basra and left the population at the mercy of fundamentalist thugs and warring militias, in particular Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.

The secondary cause of failure was a misplaced British disdain for America, shared by our politicians and senior military. In the early days in Iraq we bragged that our forces could deploy in berets and soft-sided vehicles while US forces roared through Baghdad in heavily armoured convoys. British leaders sneered at the Americans’ failure to win hearts and minds because of their lack of experience in counterinsurgency.

Pride has certainly come before a fall. British commanders underestimated both the enemy’s effectiveness and the Americans’ ability to adapt. Some apparently failed even to observe how much had changed. At a meeting in August 2007 an American described Major-General Jonathan Shaw, then British commander, as “insufferable”, lecturing everyone in the room about lessons learnt in Northern Ireland, which apparently set eyeballs rolling: “It would be okay if he was best in class, but now he’s worst in class.”

Around the same time Jack Keane, an American general, moaned that it was frustrating to see the “situation in Basra that was once working pretty well, now coming apart”. By then General David Petraeus had been appointed US commander, introducing intelligence and determination in equal measure.

If a fair-minded account of the Iraq war is written, credit should go to President Bush for rejecting two years ago the report by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group that called for force reductions. He defied conventional wisdom and ordered a troop surge instead. It has been an extraordinary success and, unlike Britain, the Americans will not withdraw in defeat. During debates in Washington, British forces’ ignominious withdrawal to barracks was cited to argue that the United States could not contemplate being humbled in a similar way. In the end Bush was not a quitter. Blair “cut and ran”.

Britain’s shaming was completed in March 2008 when Iraqi forces, backed by the US, moved decisively against the Mahdi Army, inflicting huge casualties and removing them from Basra. Operation Charge of the Knights was supervised by Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, exasperated that Iraq’s second city was controlled not by Britain but by an Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia.

Imagine now if the United States adopted the Obama/Blair surrender policy in 2006 instead of the Surge and all of Iraq descended into terror and chaos as did Britain's area of operations in the city of Basra. In the case of Basra after the British retreat, the US and a US trained Iraq Army restored the situation. In the hypothetical of Iraq descending into terror after a US retreat, who would be there to restore the situation then?

Junk Science On Parade: This Year's Ten Worst Global Warming Predictions

The Aussie Herald Sun offers a scathing take on their "10 worst warming predictions" here . A list of the bogus predictions discussed by the Herald Sun are as follows:

1. OUR CITIES WILL DIE OF THIRST

2. OUR REEF WILL DIE

3. GOODBYE, NORTH POLE

4. BEWARE HUGE WINDS

5. GIANT HAILSTONES WILL SMASH THROUGH YOUR ROOF

6. NO MORE SKIING

7. PERTH WILL BAKE DRY

8. ISLANDS WILL DROWN

9. BRITAIN WILL SWELTER

10. WE’LL BE HOTTER

Sum And Substance Of The Argument For The Creation Of Homosexual "Marriage" In California

Once all the rhetoric is stripped away, this sign pretty much is the sum and substance of the argument for the creation of homosexual "marriage" in California:



UPDATE ONE: This is apparently also the view of the California Attorney General Jerry Brown, as he violated his duty to defend the laws of California and instead seeks to reverse Prop 8 - legally defining civil marriage as between one man and one woman.

Global Cooling Hits United States Hard

Residents pose for rare snow pic as Las Vegas was covered with heaviest December snow in history


Ambulance skidded off road as Malibu was hit with freak snow closing down the city.


A rare December snow shuts down New Orleans as snow falls on graveyard.



This is the earliest it has snowed in Houston since 1944, in the middle of the last cooling period between 1940 and 1980.



Meanwhile, that snake oil artist algore is predicting that manmade global warming will melt the arctic ice caps will in five years. This man is such a laughing stock in the United States that the video clip had to be obtained from a foreign news service.

UPDATE ONE: Even CNN meteorologist beginning to question manmade global warming mythology as "arrogant:"



UPDATE TWO:



The LA Times is actually collecting photographs of early White Christmas in So Cal.

A Tale Of Two Recession Budgets - Blue NY vs. Red Alaska

Red State' Josh Painter offers an instructive contrast between the recession state budget of deep blue NY, where the state is proposing to loot the citizenry again with no less than 88 new taxes, and the budget of Sarah Palin's red Alaska, where the state is cutting spending and tapping into rainy day fund savings that the state was smart enough to tuck away during the fat times.

Meanwhile, our new blue President is planning to run the federal credit card to new record heights as he proposed to spend another Trillion dollars with a capital T.

I could not think of a better platform for Palin to run on in 2012.

Cheney: Obama Will Appreciate Some Of The Things We Put Into Place

VP Dick Cheney on the Rush Limbaugh Show:

My guess is, once they get here and they’re faced with the same problems we deal with every day, that they will appreciate some of the things we put in place,” said Cheney Monday in a telephone interview with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.
Furthermore, Cheney does not think Obama is about to give those hard-won gains back to Congress.

“I think the Obama administration is not likely to cede that authority back to the Congress,” said Cheney. “I think they’ll find that given a challenge they face they’ll need all the authority they can muster.”

And on ABC News discussing his part in creating the CIA Coercive Interrogation Program which broke 9/11 planner Khalid Sheik Muhammad and his officers:



Of particular interest is the statement that half of what the United States knows about al Qaeda came from the interrogation of KSM.

Moving Minutes

The Moving Pictures Institute is assembling a series of video clips about liberty from popular films that you can sign up to receive here. Here are the initial issue of videos"



John Adams - Liberty



300 - Age of Freedom



Rocky Balboa - The Pursuit of Happiness.

Not to bad a start, but here are a couple more clips the The Moving Pictures Institute might want to consider:



Gettysburg - Joshua Chamberlin's speech on how the American Army was formed to set other men free.



Braveheart - William Wallace's speech on Freedom

Unions And Management At War: What Ails The Big Three

Michael Barone offers one of the better discussions of why the Big Three and the UAW are going out of business.

Meanwhile, Newsweek's Daniel Gross discusses the success of the large US non-union auto industry operated by our foreign competitors.

Good reads.

Obama Chief of Staff Had Blago On Speed Dial

After Obama denied last week that he had any contact with Blago concerning his attempts to sell the appointment to fill Obama's vacant Senate seat, the Chicago Sun Times reports that Obama chief of staff and fellow Chicago politics alum Rahm Emanuel was taped by the FBI in no fewer than 21 different calls in the subject.

If Team Obama told Blago to take a hike when he solicited a bribe to fill the Senate seat, why all the calls?

It would be nice to be able to read a transcript of or better yet hear these calls.

The Troops And Mr. Bush

Gary Sinese - A Man For All Services

Given all of Hollywood's contempt and bashing of our military and the things they have accomplished. it is a please to link to this article praising actor Gary Sinese for his fine work with our military. Enjoy.

Hat tip to Supramom.

The Banality Of Modern Treason

Back during the Cold War, the traitors who sold secrets to the enemy acted out of belief in communism or simple greed for riches provided by the KGB. Today's traitors disclose secrets to our mortal enemies like al Qaeda out of simple partisan disaffection.

Newsweek has now revealed that the man who disclosed the top secret Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) to the NY Times and thus to al Qaeda is one Thomas M. Tamm, a prosector at the Department of Justice. As you may recall, the TSP is an intelligence gathering program that seeks to intercept al Qaeda telecommunications in and our of the United States like those used to coordinate the al Qaeda cells that executed the 9/11 attacks.

Tamm and his sympathetic Newsweek interviewer try to spin his disclosure of the TSP as the actions of a whistle blower revealing government crimes to the public. In reality, Tamm was not a whistleblower because he did not know any details about the program, never claimed to have reviewed the law and thus could not have reasonably concluded it was illegal:

He told reporters Eric Lichtblau and James Risen nothing about the operational details of the NSA program because he didn't know them, he says. He had never been "read into," or briefed, on the details of the program. All he knew was that a domestic surveillance program existed, and it "didn't smell right."

How can a career Department of Justice attorney fully briefed about the classification system and who swore to protect his nation's secrets in good faith disclose a top secret intelligence program to the enemy on nothing more than his surmise that "a domestic surveillance program existed, and it "didn't smell right?"" The answer is that he did not act in good faith and his whistleblower pose is pure CYA.

Here are Tamm's real motivations:

Tamm concedes he was also motivated in part by his anger at other Bush-administration policies at the Justice Department, including its aggressive pursuit of death-penalty cases and the legal justifications for "enhanced" interrogation techniques that many believe are tantamount to torture...

After John Ashcroft took over as President Bush's attorney general the next year, Tamm became disaffected. The Justice Department began to encourage U.S. attorneys to seek the death penalty in as many cases as possible. Instead of Reno's skepticism about recommendations to seek death, the capital-case committee under Ashcroft approved them with little, if any, challenge. "It became a rubber stamp," Tamm says...

Tamm grew frustrated when the story did not immediately appear. He was hoping, he says, that Lichtblau and his partner Risen (with whom he also met) would figure out on their own what the program was really all about and break it before the 2004 election. He was, by this time, "pissed off" at the Bush administration, he says. He contributed $300 to the Democratic National Committee in September 2004, according to campaign finance records...

This pathetic Democract betrayed his country by disclosing a top secret intelligence gathering program to al Qaeda out simple partisan disaffection for a Republican President.

Absolutely reprehensible.

The question is whether our new Democrat President will prosecute this admitted felon and betrayer of his country?

UPDATE ONE: Back in August 2008 when the FBI executed the search warrant on Tamm's home and his name first appeared on the radar screen as the possible source of the NY Times story, Strata Sphere quickly discovered that Tamm worked with the George Soros funded anti-capital punishment group Equal Justice while working for Justice as a capital case prosecutor.

What the hell was a capital punishment opponent doing on the Justice capital case team? Did he ever inform his superiors of his positions?

Additionally, it appears that Tamm also liked targeting the occasional snark at the Bush Administration at lefty blogs like NY Times' The Caucus and Media Matters.

One has to wonder whether Tamm's posts also attracted the FBI's attentions.

In any case, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Tamm fancied himself an ideological and partisan mole inside the Bush Administration.

Update On Obama & Blago Conection

Obama Admits Team Obama Was In Contact With Blogo Over Senate Seat Appointment

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's indictment for attempting to sell his appointment to Barack Obama's open Senate seat and Team Obama's involvement in this sleaze dominated the Obama press conference today rolling out Tom Daschle as the new HHS Secretary.

Here are Obama's money quotes from the presser:

"I have never spoken to the governor on this subject. I am confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat. I think the materials released by the U.S. attorney reflect that fact," Obama said. "I've asked my team to gather the facts of any contacts with the governor's office about this vacant seat so that we can share them with you over the next few days."

Later, Obama added: "But what I'm absolutely certain of is that our office had no involvement in any dealmaking around my Senate seat. That, I'm absolutely certain of. That would be a violation of everything that this campaign has been about. And that's not how we do business."

Obama never answered what his team told him concerning Blago's pitch to sell the appointment to fill his old Senate seat nor why this solicitation for a bribe was never reported to the FBI or anyone else.

It is interesting that Obama is only "confident" that his team had "any part of any deals related to this seat."

Is it a job requirement for Dem Presidents to enter the office covered with corruption slime?

UPDATE ONE: Obama chief of staff and fellow Chicago pol Rahm Emanuel had multiple conversations with Blago concerning who should be appointed to fill Obama's vacated Senate seat, reports Fox News Chicago:



Looks like negotiations over Blago's bribery demands rather than the flat refusal being spun.

FBI Investigating Obama Land Deal

Antoin "Tony" Rezko is a real estate developer, Chicago machine fundraiser and political fixer with a long relationship with Barack Obama.

The most interesting incident in that relationship was a joint land deal for Obama's Chicago home. The seller in that land deal owned two adjacent parcels of land, one with a pre-existing home. Rezko arranged for the owner to sell the lot with a the pre-existing home to Obama for $1.65 million and the undeveloped lot to Rezko for $650,000.

The reason why the deal smells like a political payoff by Rezko to Obama is that Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price for his parcel and Rezco paid at least $150,000 more than the market values for his parcel. Then Rezko sold a ten foot wide strip of his lot to Obama, making the Rezko lot undevelopable and enhancing the value of the Obama property by expanding its size and keeping the adjacent lot empty.

While this apparent Rezko payoff to Obama was largely ignored by the Dem press during the election, it apparently did not escape the notice of the FBI.

In a federal prosecution for fraud, Rezko entered into a plea agreement with the Feds to sing about his extensive knowledge of Chicago machine corruption. Back in June 2008, Rezko wrote a letter to the court complaining that FBI was questioning him about Obama and newly indicted Illinois Gov. Blagojevich.

On the day Obama was elected President, the Washington Times reported:

A former Illinois real estate specialist says FBI agents have questioned him about a Chicago property that had been bought by convicted felon Tony Rezko's wife and later sold to the couple's next-door neighbor, Sen. Barack Obama.

The real estate specialist, Kenneth J. Conner, said bank officials replaced an appraisal review he prepared on the property and FBI agents were investigating in late 2007 whether the Rezko-Obama deal was proper.

“Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time, though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued,” Mr. Conner told The Washington Times Monday.

“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. “This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.”

In a wrongful-termination complaint filed last month in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Mr. Conner said his appraisal of the Rezko property, held in Rita Malki Rezko's name, was replaced with a higher one and he was fired when he questioned the document.

Dispelling the notion that this stiker might have just gone away since the election, the newly released indictment of Blago reports that the FBI is still following up Rezco leads:

A footnote to the 76-page criminal complaint and affidavit charging Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) with soliciting bribes confirms what has long been rumored -- that a former longtime friend and fundraiser for President-elect Barack Obama is talking to federal prosecutors in hopes of a reduced sentence.

Antoin "Tony" Rezko's offer to provide authorities with evidence of others' wrongdoing is "not complete," and prosecutors are working to corroborate the claims he has made so far, the footnote said.

Rezko, a 53-year-old developer, was convicted in June of 16 criminal counts, including fraud, money laundering and abetting bribery. He is in custody awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors depicted Rezko at trial as a fixer for Blagojevich and the man to see to secure a high-level appointment with the governor's administration. Rezko had been a longtime fundraiser for Blagojevich and other Illinois politicians, including Obama.

It appears that Rezko assisted the Feds on their prosecution of Blago.

Is Rezko also singing about the Obama land deal?

Now that Blago has joined Rezko in the Feds' cross hairs, will he start singing about Rezko and Obama?

Stay tuned to the next episode of the Chicago Way.

The Chicago Way And Perjury Traps

Today, the FBI has arrested Illinois Governor and and close Obama political ally Rod Blagojevich for trying to sell Obama's open Senate seat, which the Governor has the power to fill. More disturbingly, it appears as if Blago tried to sell the seat to Obama to fill in exchange for an appointment to a position in the new Obama Administration.

Paragraph 101 of the Blagojevich indictment describes how Blago negotiated with unnamed "Washington DC Based advisors" trying to sell the power to choose who would fill the vacated Obama senate seat in exchange for Administration positions for himself or his wife. It is clear that these "advisors" were members of the Obama team and it appears that Team Obama was unwilling to give Blago anything more than "appreciation" for allowing Obama to choose his own successor to the Senate.

Obviously, the indictment begs the question of whether Obama himself participated in these negotiations with Blago or knew of them.

When a reporter posed this question to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald during a press conference this morning announcing the indictment, Fitzgerald sidestepped the question:

QUESTION: [W]ould you address the fact -- and I know you referred to this -- would you just address whether or not President-elect Obama was aware that any of these things were taking place?

MR. FITZGERALD: OK. I'm not going to speak for what the president- elect was aware of. We make no allegations that he's aware of anything. And that's as simply as I can put it.

Very Clintonesque. The fact that the Blago indictment did not allege that Obama was aware of Blago's sale of the Senate seat hardly means that Fitzgerald did not uncover evidence of Obama's knowledge or participation during his investigation of Blago. Why not a flat denial?

But wait, it gets more interesting.

After the Fitzgerald presser, Obama appeared at a press conference with Al Gore to discuss the environment. When asked about the Blago indictment, Obama replied:

“I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening, ” Obama told reporters today in Chicago. “It’s a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment.”

However, just last month, Obama consigliere David Axelrod told the press that Obama talked with Blago about several candidates to fill is old Senate seat:



When confronted with his prior televised statement, Axelrod quickly released this retraction:

I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.

Either Axelrod or Obama was lying and Axelrod had no reason to lie during his press interview.

Mr. Obama and his team had better be EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS about what they say concerning their roles in the Blago Senate seat sale. This latest example of the Chicago Way where you pay to play is a perfect setting for a perjury trap.

The indictment makes it clear that Blago tried to sell the Senate seat to Team Obama for favors, but did not receive what he demanded. More importantly for Team Obama, the indictment is based upon recorded calls with "Wasington DC based adivsors" who most certainly include members of Team Obama and perhaps even Obama himself.

Let us say that Obama and/or his team turned down Blago as they should have done, but failed to tell law enforcement about the solicitation for a bribe. This probably is not a crime, but it is politically embarrassing.

Now let's say that the US Attorney has the FBI interview the undisclosed "Washington DC Based advisors" - which may refer to Obama and his team members - about what they discussed with Blago. In order to avoid political embarrassment, Obama and/or his team members lie to the FBI in contradiction of the taped telephone calls. Now we have obstruction of justice.

Next the lying interviewee(s) gets hauled in front of a grand jury and repeat the lies they told the FBI, but this time under oath. Now we have perjury.

There is no underlying crime, but all the sudden Team Obama has a major criminal scandal on its hands which may reach the new President.

This is how Clinton was impeached.

This is why Martha Stewart went to prison.

This is how the same U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald obtained a felony conviction of Scooter Libby, although he could not prove that Libby committed the underlying crime of disclosing the identity of a CIA agent.

If he had any contact with Blago on this matter, the best thing for Obama would be to publicly come clean, especially if he turned Blago down. However, as I documented in my series of posts entitled The Revisionist Lies Of Barack Obama, Mr. Obama demonstrated a Clintonesque pattern of repeatedly lying about his politically embarrassing past in Chicago. If he continues to follow that path, it could lead to his downfall.

UPDATE ONE: Jim Lindgren over at The Volokh Conspiracy offers these educated guesses as to the timeline of Blago's negotiations with Team Obama and the identities of the unidentified persons in the Blago indictment.

UPDATE TWO: Hugh Hewitt is calling for Mr. Obama to promise not to fire and replace US Attorney Fitzgerald the way Clinton did the US Attorney investigating him.

Is The Global Cooling Being Compounded By Ocean Changes?

Dr. Don Easterbrook, professor of Western Washington University and one of the lead scientists the UN IPCC relied upon for its manmade global warming claims, released a study noting that changes in global temperatures appear to be tied to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Because the PDO has shifted from its warming mode to its cooling mode, Easterbrook is predicting that we have started 25 to 30 years of global cooling.

If this study is correct, the combination of reduced solar activity and the PDO shift could mean that we are in for a very cold period indeed.

A Stroll Down Freddie And Fannie Memory Lane

Today, the House Dems are holding a hearing to assign blame for the melt down of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's policy of lending hundreds of billions of taxpayer guaranteed money to non-credit worthy borrowers requiring you and I to bail out these mortgage giants to the tune of tens of billions of dollars to date. However, do not expect the Dems to point their fingers to the true culprits - themselves.

Here is a collage of video clips from a similar 2004 hearing where these self same Dems protected Freddie and Fannie from GOP attempts to reign them in:



Hat tip to Gateway Pun

The Dem Congress Is Asking You To Pay UAW Workers $70 Per Hour In Wages And Benefits

The Heritage Foundation provides
a detailed breakdown of the UAW contract labor costs.

The Dem Chicago Goodfellas Bring Change To Town

Chicago's Republic Windows and Doors could no longer get a line of credit from Bank of America to operate and closed its doors. The worker's union took over the factory and demanded to be paid.

The Dems' solution? Taking is cue from Barack Obama, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says he will deny government business to Bank of America until the bank makes a loan to Republic which cannot be repaid in order to pay off the Dems' union supporters.

Blagojevich's shakedown is coming fast on the heels of that corrupt Senate committee baron, Chris Dodd, calling for the firing of the GM CEO and his effective replacement with a government auto czar as the price for a government bailout of GM. Here we have a slimy politico, who received a sweet heart mortgage deal from Countrywide for providing poltical cover for the Countrywide's mortgage scams, planning to use a government loan to take over and run GM.

When the Dems promised "change," they sure as hell were not kidding. We apparently can look forward to the Chicago machine version of the scene from the movie Goodfellas, where the gang leader Paulie makes a loan to the Bamboo Lounge, becomes Sonny Bamboo's partner and then proceeds to loot the lounge and run it into the ground:

Now the guy's got Paulie for a partner.

Any problems, he goes to Paulie.

Trouble with the bill? He can go to Paulie.

Trouble with the cops? Deliveries? Tommy? He can call Paulie.

But now the guy has got to come up with Paulie 's money every week, no matter what.

Business bad? Fuck you, pay me.

You had a fire? Fuck you, pay me.

The place got hit by lighting? Fuck you, pay me.

Also, Paulie could do anything. Especially, run up bills on the joint's credit. Why not? Nobody's gonna pay for it anyway...

And, finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out.

UPDATE ONE: In an apropos coda to this post, the FBI has arrested Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich for trying to sell his appointment to fill Obama's open Senate seat.

Now if the FBI would look into Senator Chris Dodd's bit of mortgage bribery...

Victory In Iraq Day

Today, a democratic Iraq accepted responsibility for their liberated country from the United States military by approving the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). This marks the effective end of the Iraq War in victory with all of our pre-war objectives obtained.

Under the SOFA, our combat forces will hand over day-to-day security in the now pacified cities to the Iraq Army and our support forces will gradually return in victory over the next three years.

In a call ripe with irony, President-elect Barack Obama, who as a candidate called for the surrender of Iraq to the enemy during the dark days of 2006 al Qaeda offensive and who opposed the 2007 Surge which brought the United States victory, called Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki today to congratulate him on approving the SOFA which was made possible by the Surge.

Perhaps, Mr. Obama will also congratulate George Bush for handing him a victorious war. I won't hold my breath waiting for that call.

Has The UAW Bailout Been Stopped?

GM, Ford and Chrysler are saddled with the highest labor costs in the world under cadillac United Auto Worker (UAW) contracts obligating the automakers to pay the world's highest auto worker wages and health care and keep paying a substantial portion of these when workers are laid off or retired and no longer work. The Big Three automakers have been teetering on the brink of insolvency for years and now this recession has pushed them over the edge.

Normally, the Big Three would follow the route of the airline industry over the past decade and enter Chapter 13 bankruptcy to compel their unions to renegotiate their contracts to return back to market labor costs. However, the unions spent tens of millions of dollars of their members' dues to buy a Dem Congress and they were damn well going to collect. The Dem congressional leadership dutifully offered to spend over $30 billion of our tax dollars to finance auto worker labor costs and thereby pay the Big Three not to enter bankruptcy to terminate the UAW cadillac contracts.

However, the tax payers for some reason took exception to this looting of their money as roughly 60% of respondents to a CNN poll told the UAW to "Drop Dead."

Facing opposition from a unified GOP opposition and more than a few Dems, the UAW/Dem congressional leadership is now demanding that Mr. Bush take the political heat from the voters by bailing out the UAW from funds Congress set aside to bail out the banks (another wildly unpopular idea). Mr. Bush is also telling the UAW to "Drop Dead."

Thanks to GOP opposition, it appears that the Big Three are now seriously talking about entering bankruptcy in order to obtain a government bridge loan to provide operating expenses while the automakers restructure into something resembling a competitive company. Given that GM will run out of money before the newly elected Dem President and Congress can bail them out, the GOP may be able to force the UAW and its Dem servants to accept bankruptcy rather than mass layoffs by the new year as GM cannot make payrolls.

Its long past time that the GOP started looking out for the tax payers again. Good job!

Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan Lowest In Five Years

USA Today reports:

U.S. combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan last month dropped to the lowest combined level since the United States began fighting the two wars more than five years ago.

Eleven American servicemembers died in combat in the conflicts in November. Seven others died in non-hostile incidents. The highest monthly total for combat deaths in both wars was 129 in November 2004...

A brigade commander stationed in eastern Afghanistan, Col. John Johnson, said he has seen a decline in violence in his sector over the past several months.

Taliban and foreign fighters often hide in the region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Johnson said the decline in fighting could be the result of increased Pakistani military activity in the area.

The nearly nonexistent casualty rate in Iraq is no surprise. This has been the pattern since we won the war during the Surge.

The drop in casualties in Afghanistan is a welcome development, though. Hopefully, the report of the Pakistanis cleaning up their own mess in the tribal areas is correct.

The First Opening For The GOP

The Dems appear bound and determined to throw away some $37 billion of tax payer money to help GM, Ford and Chrysler pay for cadillac UAW contracts under the spin of "saving the auto industry from bankruptcy." However, today's CNN poll reports that
60% of respondents are dead set against paying this bill.

McCain's post convention lead over Obama evaporated and he fell into an electoral pit when the GOP candidate got out in front of the wildly unpopular $700 bailout of the banks. The congressional GOP would be well advised to unanimously oppose this latest bailout and hang that albatross firmly around the necks of Obama, Pelosi and Reid. Nothing would reestablish the GOP brand of fiscal conservatism better.

That Was Then, This Is Now - The Iraq Withdrawal Edition

Beginning its service as the new Obama Administration's chief propaganda organ and apologist, the NY Times spun Obama's breaking his campaign promise to cut and run from Iraq within 16 months during a press conference introducing his largely GOP national security team:

On the campaign trail, Senator Barack Obama offered a pledge that electrified and motivated his liberal base, vowing to “end the war” in Iraq.

But as he moves closer to the White House, President-elect Obama is making clearer than ever that tens of thousands of American troops will be left behind in Iraq, even if he can make good on his campaign promise to pull all combat forces out within 16 months.

“I said that I would remove our combat troops from Iraq in 16 months, with the understanding that it might be necessary — likely to be necessary — to maintain a residual force to provide potential training, logistical support, to protect our civilians in Iraq,” Mr. Obama said this week as he introduced his national security team...

There always was a tension, if not a bit of a contradiction, in the two parts of Mr. Obama’s campaign platform to “end the war” by withdrawing all combat troops by May 2010. To be sure, Mr. Obama was careful to say that the drawdowns he was promising included only combat troops. But supporters who keyed on the language of ending the war might be forgiven if they thought that would mean bringing home all of the troops.

Actually, the part limiting the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq to the 40% making up the combat troops never made it into his stump speeches to the surrender wing of his Dem Party.

The generous interpretation for this change is that the inexperienced Obama was simply clueless when he made these promises and is now backtracking when hit over the head with the 2x4 of the reality of governance. The less generous interpretation and likely reality of this change is that Obama repeatedly lied to his leftist base to get elected and then betrayed them without a second thought.

The upcoming Obama Administration may be a repeat of the old Clinton Administration in ways beyond the number of retreads at the cabinet table.

Heavy Metal Warfare

Iraq and Afghanistan are our first Youtube wars where the soldiers are creating their own music videos showing their war experiences set to a heavy metal backdrop. The video below is one of the better produced examples of the genre.

The video shows battle scenes from my old unit - the Third Infantry Division - and the Marines during the Surge. The video is set to the heavy metal song "Sonne" by the German group Rammstein with the theme of victory by our troops bringing a new dawn for Iraq.

According to some of the posted comments at Youtube, the Marines played this video during Officer Candidate School to fire up the trainees. Be warned: This is pretty hardcore stuff and may not be everyone's cup of tea. However, it does reflect the viewpoint of a lot of infantry grunts.

Dead weight

As the Dem Congress is set to soak the tax payers for another $35+ billion dollars ostensibly to bail out Auto industry, but really to keep GM, Ford and Chrysler from entering bankruptcy and divesting themselves of the dead weight of United Auto Workers cadillac contracts and retirement benefits, the cartoonist Ramirez neatly sums up the situation facing the auto industry:

Preview of 2012?

Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss credited Governor Sarah Palin with firing up the GOP base on the eve of his double digit reelection victory:

“I can't overstate the impact she had down here,” Chambliss said during an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News.

“When she walks in a room, folks just explode,” he added. “And they really did pack the house everywhere we went. She's a dynamic lady, a great administrator, and I think she's got a great future in the Republican Party.”

Chambliss said that after watching her campaign on his behalf at several events Monday, he does not see her star status diminishing within the party.

The Republican also thanked John McCain and the other big name Republicans that came to Georgia, but said Palin made the biggest impact.

“We had John McCain and Mike Huckabee and Gov. Romney and Rudy Giuliani, but Sarah Palin came in on the last day, did a fly-around and, man, she was dynamite,” he said. “We packed the houses everywhere we went. And it really did allow us to peak and get our base fired up.”

That Was Then, This Is Now

Catch Obama trying to square his denigration of Hillary Clinton's foreign policy experience as simply having tea with foreign dignitaries with his appointment of her as Sec State:



In reality, Mr Obama's campaign comments were correct. Hillary has no substantive foreign policy experience which qualifies er to be the nation's top diplomat. However, qualifications appear to count less to Obama than placing political arch rival Clinton under his command.

UPDATE ONE: The rest of the Obama press conference sounded like, well, a Bush press conference. Obama has backed completely away from his silly campaign promise to withdraw all US troops from Iraq in 16 months and is now limiting the withdrawal to the roughly 40% of the force made up of combat troops and will modify that withdrawal based upon conditions on the ground and the recommendations of his commanders. Finally, he accepted the Bush Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq calling for a 3 year draw down of US troops without a quibble.