If you needed more proof that the Copenhagen summit has nothing to do with environmental reality you’ve got it.

I know…we’ve got the bogus math, Al Gore’s lies, the CRU scandal, the fleet of limos and jets, and the rioters in the streets.  No one could possibly need any more proof.  Well, sorry, but you’re going to get some anyway.

Hugo Chavez, mass murdering thug and de facto owner of one of the planet’s largest oil companies, spoke today, and he brought the house down.  “There is a ghost in the room,” he said.  “Capitalism. Capitalism is that ghost.”

He continued on with an anti-western, anti-capitalist tirade that quoted just about every philosopher the world has ever known, eventually building to the following crescendo:  “Our revolution,” he said, “seeks to help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell….let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.”

At this, the crowd went absolutely crazy, rewarding Chavez with a standing ovation.

Never mind that he has killed dozens, if not hundreds of people, and that his is the only Latin American country EVER to expel Human Rights Watch.   Ignore the fact that, by forcibly seizing privately owned oil fields, Chavez basically controls all oil production in Venezuela and that through deals with his administration, Chevron has grown into one of the planet’s 6 largest oil drillers.  Chevron’s list of environmental offenses?  Pay them no mind.  Likewise, ignore Citgo, Hugo’s US-incorporated chain of refineries and gas stations.

Hugo hates capitalism.  He loves being rich, but he hates capitalism, and that’s all that matters because, in the end, that’s what the Copenhagen summit is really about. 

If Sarah Palin wants to drill for oil, she’s a crazed crackpot.  If drilling for oil will support a violent, human rights violating dictator?  Well, that’s another story…

Today, Obama is leaving the U.S. to speak at the summit.  When he gets up there, turns on the charm, and apologizes for his country’s ignorance regarding global warming, please try to keep one thing in mind.  The people in that room, the people Obama can’t wait to agree with, think Chavez is a hero.

- Robert Laurie

Part of Chavez’s “speech” below:

Things just keep getting worse for the Democrats and, according to a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll, they have only themselves to blame. 

The poll, released this morning, shows that only 47% of Americans approve of the job Obama’s doing.  That’s the first time this poll has had the President under 50% and the low brings it in line with what Gallup and Rasmussen have been saying for the last month.  The poll shows the Commander In Chief’s numbers in a steep freefall since April. 

Moving past Obama, we have the classic “Are we headed in the right direction” question.  Evidently, people aren’t nuts about where the Democrats are taking them, with only 33% of those polled responding favorably.

Finally, people’s feelings for the Democrats have bcome quite frosty as only 35% said they viewed the party positively.

If Dems are looking for hope, they have a single, rather dim, bright spot.  The fact is, nobody much cares for the Republicans either.  They only have a 28% positive when the same question was asked.

However, given that the “party affiliation” pie chart in the upper right corner of the poll shows a significant margin for the Democrats, the 7 point approval gap is nothing to brag about.  The spread should be wider, especially since they’re the ones presenting the agenda.  The Republicans have been largely silent for most of the year.  If the GOP comes out with an actual strategy and someone articulate who can voice it, those numbers could change drastically in a very short time.

Besides, the worst news facing Democrats may not be the numbers.  It’s the reason behind them.  According to the poll, people don’t want health care reform.  For the first time (at least according to this survey) people would prefer the Democrats did nothing about health care, rather than see the current proposals pass.  What’s more, the decline in the their numbers can be linked almost directly to the issue.  The more Dems press for their “reforms” the worse their ratings get.

Break the number down by the individual groups who supported Obama in the last election, and things somehow manage to get even uglier.  A third of voters under 34 now have a negative opinon of the DNC.  Likewise, Hispanic support for the party has dropped from 60% all the way down to 38%.

Couple the DNC’s dwindling support with the President’s year long effort to alienate independents, and you’ve got the recipe for a 2010 Democrat disaster.  Nancy Pelosi is well aware of the red flags, saying yesterday that she was switching to “campaign mode” and claiming that Democrats “intend” to hold their power a year from now.

What was that saying about the road to hell?

- Robert Laurie

For the full poll, and the WSJ article about it, go HERE.  While you peruse the numbers, remind yourself that, in part, NBC paid for them.  It’s just gotta drive ‘em crazy.

Why is it that when politicians make news in their off-hours, it’s never for anything good?  If it isn’t Ted Kennedy groping a cocktail waitress, it’s Mark Sanford running off to Argentina for an affair.  They never seem to be spotted getting kittens out of trees or running into burning buildings to save the elderly.

The latest congressmen to make unpleasant news are Democrat Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand who, on Sunday, got into a nice little tussle with a  US Airways flight attendant.

Apparently, the DC to New York shuttle couldn’t take off because the Senators were on their phones.  When the attendant asked them to hang up, informing Schumer that the entire plane was being held up by his call, Schumer said simply, “No.” 

With that, the pair went right on talking.

So the attendant asked again and, at this point, Chuck started to argue.  He claimed the door wasn’t closed, saying that unless the door was closed, he didn’t have to turn off his phone.  The flight attendant responded that passengers have to do as the flight crew tells them.

So, Chuck called her a “bitch.” 

Unfortunately, all of this happened within earshot of a GOP aide seated nearby. According to the aide, the Senators then ended their calls,but Schumer’s phone rang again a few minutes later.  Chuck took it out, looked at it, bud did not answer. 

Instead, he said loudly, “It’s Harry Reid calling!  I guess health care will have to wait until we land.”

Since health care waited three days for a Reid fund raiser, it’s hard to see what damage an hour long flight would cause.

It’s worth noting that Schumer was a big proponent of the “Passengers Bill of Rights.”   Maybe he should pen a new “Airline rules don’t apply to Senatorial muckity-mucks” law because clearly, it already exists in his mind… 

- Robert Laurie

File this one under “seriously creepy,” folks.

During World War II, the Germans would throw you into a POW camp free of charge.  These days,  POWescapes.com will sell you the experience of spending a week in a newly constructed Luftwaffe prisoner of war facility for just $3500.00.  Your money buys you (I swear I’m not making this up) sightseeing tours of the Jewish Ghetto and Nazi installations, a week in the camp, your meals, a delightful concentration camp uniform, recreated documents, a “liberation dinner” at the end of your stay, and the knowledge that you’ve just made a vacation out of the darkest chapter in human history.

As the website boasts: “At some point during your intelligence gathering (the tour) an informer will tip off the Germans and you will be arrested by the Gestapo as a spy and forced to change into uniform.  You will then be taken away for interrogation and your Polish helpers will be shot.  Following you interrogation, you will be taken to Stalag Luft XIX where you will be held captive.”

If you’re thinking of trading that Hawaiin vacation for a week of standing around in the mud, you should know that airfare to Warsaw is not included.  No, seriously.  These guys built a brand new concentration camp in Warsaw.

People who wish to partake in the “fun” will choose their branch of service and nationality, learn a cover story, and are ordered never to reveal their true identities during their imprisonment.  That’s probably sage advice since the trip and the unimaginable level of political incorrectness it involves, will give anyone who knows your real name ammo they can use against you for the rest of your life.

Want to run for office one day?  I’d reccomend avoiding a concentration fantasy-camp.

- Robert Laurie

Yesterday, the Pentagon confirmed that they would be changing their missile defense drill,  usually focused on North Korea, to a wargame that centers around an Iranian missile attack.

Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly told Reuters that “Previously, we have been testing the GMD system against a North Korean-type scenario. This next test … is more of a head-on shot like you would use defending against an Iranian shot into the United States. So that’s the first time that we’re now testing in a different scenario.”   O’Reilly went on to say that the Iranian angle of approach would cause the missile to reach us faster, and make it harder to hit.

The test is expected to take place in January, will cost $150 million, and will consist of an interceptor missile being fire from California’s Vandenberg AFB.  The simulated Iranian missile will be coming from the Marshall Islands.

Here’s hoping they can hit it because, according to repeated statements from the Israeli government, Iran will have the bomb in the first quarter of 2010.

The new wargames mark the first outward sign that the United States is beginning to see the light regarding Iranian nuclear ambitions.  Previously, President Obama has gone on record saying that Iran has a right to nuclear power, if it can prove it will be used peacefully.  Iran has been stalling on the matter for months and has used Obama’s willingness to wait as a way to buy it, and its reactor program, time.

Perhaps, then, yesterday’s London Times will serve as a wake up call to the administration.  According to leaked documents revealed in the paper, Iran is, and has been, working on a bomb.  The scientific notes, dated 2007, regard Iran’s four year plan to build and test a neutron initiator, the final key component that triggers a nuclear warhead.  In addition, they describe the use of uranium deuteride in the device – a substance with no civilian applications, used only to manufacture a bomb.

Once authenticated, the Iranian papers will be proof positive of what we’ve known all along.  Ahmadinejad’s after a bomb, not electricity.

Now all that remains, for the U.S. at least, is to wait and see what Obama does with the information.  The notes have already been disseminated to the world’s governments, and the United Nation’s IAEA.  Surely, they’ll want to study them for several months before convening to discuss the possibility of more sanctions.

If Obama wants to avoid the PR nightmare of an Israel beset by a nuclear Iran, he’d better articulate a plan quickly.  Testing our missile defense system is a good start, but playing defense won’t work forever.

- Robert Laurie

For the leaked documents, go to the TimesOnline

According to the Cape Cod Times, it’s not Global Warming that’s killing the local sea life, it’s a harsh and windy winter.

Over the last 10 days, multiple dolphins have been stranded along the New England shore, requiring local animal rescue workers to save them.  Sadly, in the majority of cases, their efforts have failed.  According to C.T. Harry, assistant coordinator of the acronym-needing International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Stranding Network, only two of the dolphins survived.

Harry blames high tides, high winds, bitter cold, and ice covered water for the difficulty the marine mammals are having. 

Dolphins, however, are not the only ones having a tough time.  The IFAWSN has also had to rescue over a hundred Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, an endangered species, in the last week.

If only there was some way for mankind to raise the temperature of the world’s oceans, we could save all of these magnificent beasts…

- Robert Laurie

Last night, Obama told Oprah that the first year of his Presidency deserves “A good solid B+”

Obama cited his “restoration” of America’s global image as a big positive, along with his handling of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the economy.   He admitted that slow job growth was an ongoing challenge.

I guess 10% unemployment might be enough to keep him from getting an A.  However, Obama doesn’t think that’s the real problem.  Oh-so-shockingly, Obama blamed the Bush administration for his inability to achieve top marks, saying he ”inherited the biggest set of challenges of any president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”  

Mathematically, a B+ equals 86%, so that means he feels he’s done a better job that 85% of previous U.S. Presidents.  Impressive.  Out of 44 presidents, Obama thinks he is superior to 37 of them.

My Picks for the 7 presidents Obama thinks did a better job right of the bat:

1. Jimmy Carter
2. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
3. Herbert Hoover
4. Abraham Lincoln (who he’s a lot like, in case you haven’t heard)
5. Barack Obama in an alternate dimension where he’s managed to hand over control of internal U.S. policy to the U.N.
6. John F. Kennedy
7. Fidel Castro

I’d love to hear your picks.  Who do you think Obama feels was a better first-year President?

- Robert Laurie