Is "Hockey Stick" Prof. Michael Mann hiding something?....

Recently, the JMU faculty came out in support of "academic freedom" and Professor Michael Mann in his refusal to release his data supporting his manmade global warming claims and conclusions, as requested by Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli. The AG is seeking the data to determine if any fraud was committed against the taxpayers who funded Mann's research while at U.Va.

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This was contradicted in several "leaked" e-mails that eluded to data manipulation to get his desired results and his "Hockey Stick" theory.

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Is it a matter of "academic freedom" or simple accountability of the data compiled with the use of taxpayer money that funded Professor Mann's research and conclusion? Research grants acquired by professors bring much to universities, and this, too, has become a big business in itself.
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Over at the American Spectator, there is information disclosing the amount of grant money Mann has been associated with, and it totals more than $6 million. This shows research grants are "big business" to say the least.

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It is obvious research is both a valuable and a needed aspect along with being a "big business" in itself, but when it is the result of taxpayer funded grants, should not we have access to the data supporting the conclusions?

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This Letter to the Editor appeared recently in the Staunton NewsLeader and it is interesting to see the comments that came in regarding this issue....

Remember when Speaker Pelosi accused "Failed Policy"?...

Remember the many times over the years that you heard Speaker of the House Pelosi, Senate leader Reid, and their back pocket media outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and the alphabet networks repeat the claims of "Bush's failed policies"?...

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Seems ironic know after all these years of Democrat Party control of Congress we can take a look back at the "failed policies" of these Democrats & their party...

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General George Washington and the Constitution ~J.R. Manship~

Came along this video of J.R. Manship who portrays General George Washington and I have had the opportunity to meet and speak with him several times while at conservative events. Here he is interviewed by Dean Welty and Suzanne Curran who are also strong conservatives here in the Shenandoah Valley... Good stuff...

J.R. Manship this past Labor Day Parade in Buena Vista walking with Delegate Ben Cline. More photos and info from the parade available here....

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After this parade I had the opportunity to speak with Manship regarding the "Appeal to Heaven" flag that he carried in the parade and further information available here....

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Election Day 2010...

Frost on the signs this morning at 28f degrees but coffee was hot at the 7-eleven when I got there... Need to take a ride past Starbucks to see if the local Democrats are held up there with their overpriced free trade, free roaming, organic, feel good java and afraid to come out.....

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Boucher and the Dem's have a problem with "foreign" money in politics?....

Last week there was much noise in the news, most of it from our President and his back pocket media, about "foreign" money in politics especially regarding the Chamber of Commerce contributions to Republican candidates....

Seemingly referring to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President Obama said earlier this month that that “one of the largest groups paying for these ads regularly takes in money from foreign sources.” According to a Democratic National Committee TV commercial, “It appears they’ve even taken secret foreign money to influence our elections.”

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Congressman Boucher in the 9th is now crying about "outside influence" effecting his campaign in the 9th district of Virginia...

“What we’re seeing is unprecedented,” Boucher said moments before speaking at a campaign stop in Abingdon on Saturday. “It’s an avalanche of attack ads against me, funded maybe by outside sources across the nation, maybe even outside the country.”

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So let's take a look at that "foreign" money that our Democratic Party friends are complaining about and where most of it actually goes....

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The Chamber’s website explains how AmChams work: “AmChams are independent organizations, created to represent American companies in overseas markets, and they do not fund U.S. Chamber political programs. Collectively, AmChams pay nominal dues to the Chamber — approximately $100,000 total across all 115 AmChams. Under our budgeting system, the nominal funds received from AmChams and business councils are used to support our international programs.”

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Look at what the top 23 unions out there contribute to the candidates and where that "foreign" money actually comes from...

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The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation provided me with data taken from the U.S. Labor Department’s LM-2 disclosure forms filed by 23 unions that make substantial campaign donations. These figures are from each union’s 2008 reporting period (either calendar or fiscal year 2008). Rather than union dues, the money disclosed on the LM-2 forms is income from international affiliates, overseas royalties, legal-settlement payments, and other miscellany.

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This foreign money presumably was segregated from union campaign coffers. Still, it is interesting to see how these 23 unions distributed their political cash. While the Chamber was giving $258,907 in 2008, these unions jointly contributed $35,025,103 to candidates, PACs, and parties. Democrats scored $32,859,130, or 93.8 percent, of this cash. Republicans got the remaining $2,165,973, or 6.2 percent.
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The SEIU union has also been in the news recently for its bullying tactics used in the past...

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The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in particular has been unfriendly to Republicans and friendly to foreign donations. It directly gave Democrats $2,771,213, or 95.3 percent, of its donations to candidates, parties, and PACs. Republicans got the rest: $137,000 (4.7 percent). Its members’ mandatory dues supply SEIU’s political treasure chest.
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Maybe Congressman Boucher should worry about this "foreign" money in the campaigns....
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“SEIU is the largest union of immigrant workers in the country, and a number of them are undocumented,” Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina has said. “But let me hasten to add, these are not just Latinos. In our membership are Eastern Europeans, Irish, Polish, Indians, Chinese — the whole world is represented among the undocumented and also in our membership.”

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