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Lights at the Denver City-County building

The lights at the Denver City-County building are turned on from December 1 though January 1. They are turned on again for the National Western Stock Show in mid January.

Sometimes saying goodbye is easy

Obama makes New Year's resolutions

Warming skeptic predicts brutal winter

From a report at the link below:

British meteorologist Piers Corbyn appeared on Fox and Friends to not only celebrate his accurate prediction of a bone-chillingly cold winter, but to also share his disgust with what he believes to be the “failed science” behind global warming.

Despite it often being mentioned that the consensus in the scientific community is that global warming is undisputedly occurring, Corbyn proudly goes against the grain and advocates for his hypothesis of the coming global cooling.

From one commenter:

This is why they have stopped calling it Global Warming and started calling it Global Climate Change.

Global Climate Change is a much more flexible scam than Global Warming or Global Cooling.

Is it hotter than average today? It is caused by Global Climate Change.

Is it colder than average today? It is caused by Global Climate Change.

Wetter? Dryer? Windier? Less Windy? It doesn't matter! No matter what the weather happens to be, it is caused by Global Climate Change.

And besides, it's all Bush's fault. Look at all those SUV's they cranked out while he was in the White House.

When they talk about consensus, I'm reminded of the consensus many years ago of the best medical knowledge that had patients treated with leeches, bleeding, and even arsenic.

Link

University protester in Rome

A student wears a mask during a march on the ring road during a demonstration in Rome.

Thousands of students gathered in Rome to protest a new university law.

The new education law, which the government says will strengthen Italy's crumbling university system but which critics say will merely cut funding.

PGA producer dings Obama for excessive golfing

Most do not seem to begrudge Barack Obama the occasional golf outing.

John Kim, however, a producer for PGA.com (the PGA Tour runs the primary men's professional golf tours in North America), went on Twitter to ding Mr. Obama for excessive golfing.

In response to learning of Obama's 50-plus rounds of golf since taking office, Kim wrote, "that's more than me! But then again, my job is ... golf. Wait, that doesn't seem right."

And later: "the old adage is: those who work in golf never get to play. Guess I need to run for president to hit the links!"

Link

Prince William and Kate to have no servants

Prince William and Kate Middleton will have no servants after they get married.

The pair - who will marry in London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 - have decided to continue to live a simple lifestyle at William's rented cottage in Wales for the next three years while he finishes his Royal Air Force (RAF) rescue pilot training.

A senior royal source told the Daily Telegraph: "It's very much their instinct to manage on their own.

By contrast Prince Charles, father of Prince William, has 149 servants, 25 of them are personal attention servants!

The future king and queen already do their own cooking, cleaning and shopping at their Welsh cottage where they spend weekends together.

The couple are said to believe a lack of staff at their home will allow them to enjoy a closer, more intimate relationship.

However they will have round-the-clock bodyguards protecting their isolated home.

Link

Multi-million dollar Christmas vacation in Hawaii for Obama family

The following are estimates on part of the costs of the latest Obama Hawaii trip during a recession:

* Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii: $63,000 (White House Dossier)

* Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii: $1 million (GAO estimates)

* Housing in beachfront homes for Secret Service and Seals in Kailua ($1,200 a day for 14 days): $16,800

* Costs for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel: $134,400 ($400 per day for 24 staff) – excluding meals and other room costs

* Police overtime: $250,000 (2009 costs reported by Honolulu Police Department)

* Ambulance: $10,000 (City Spokesperson)

TOTAL COST: $1,474,200

But that $1.47 million figure leaves out a number of significant costs that simply could not be calculated by the Hawaii Reporter newspaper:

* Rental of office building in Kailua on canal

* Security upgrades and additional phone lines.

* Costs for car rentals and fuel for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel (Secret Service imports most of the cars used here to escort the president).

* Surveillance before the president arrives.

* Travel costs for Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President.

While WH spokesmen say Obama's vacation expenses are not out of line, but the government refuses to disclose many important details about any presidential journey, nobody can know for sure.

There appear to be reasons to suspect the Obamas' trip could have been done for less, according to the Hawaii Reporter newspaper. And now the multi-million dollar vacation has been extended (see third link below).

Link here, here and here.

NY union workers selfishly slowed down snow removal

From a New York Post report:

Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts -- a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles.

Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south shore of Staten Island still remained treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition and budget cuts.



Center photo shows a snowplow operator taking a 'plower nap.'

"They sent a message to the rest of the city that these particular labor issues are more important," said City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), who was visited yesterday by a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers who confessed the shameless plot.

Link

Report: Liberals give till it hurts (you)

Ann Coulter has never been one of our favorite pundits, however, she hit the nail squarely on the head concerning the lack of generosity by liberal politicians in her report at the link below.

Liberals never tire of discussing their own generosity, particularly when demanding that the government take your money by force to fund shiftless government employees overseeing counterproductive government programs.

Coulter takes a look at the charitable giving of a few liberals:

In 2009, the Obamas gave 5.9 percent of their income to charity, about the same as they gave in 2006 and 2007. In the eight years before he became president, Obama gave an average of 3.5 percent of his income to charity, upping that to 6.5 percent in 2008.

How generous. But then, Jeremiah Wright, his radical Chicago pastor, preached hating America rather then tithing.

Others with underwhelming charitable contributions:

In the decade before Joe Biden became vice president, the Bidens gave a total – all 10 years combined – of $3,690 to charity, or 0.2 percent of their income. They gave in a decade what most Americans in their tax bracket give in an average year.

That's a whopping two tenths of one percent for the Bidens. We wonder how they could spare it.

John Kerry hasn't been mentioned yet. In 1994, Kerry gave a stunning $175.

In 1998, Al Gore gave $353 to charity – about a day's take for a lemonade stand in his neighborhood.

And what about the late Sen. Ted Kennedy? When Kennedy released his tax returns to run for president in the '70s, they showed that he gave a bare 1 percent of his income to charity. That's right, only one percent. As the report reminds us, cash tips to bartenders and cocktail waitresses are not considered charitable donations.

Link

TSA plans additional patdowns

Republicans name top 2012 Senate targets

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has its eye on five key races it hopes will pave the way for the GOP to take the majority in the upper chamber in 2012.

The committee believes there is "fertile ground" for Republican gains in Montana, Virginia, Nebraska, Florida and North Dakota.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson is in "serious trouble and kind of in a league of his own," and that Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) also "is in a lot of trouble."

The report also says Republicans appear eager to challenge Democrat Sen. Jim Webb in Virginia.

Link

Darth Vader floats over Leon, Mexico

A Star Wars Darth Vader hot air balloon hovers next to another participant during the Hot Air Balloons Festival in Leon, Mexico last November.

United States geography test

Click here for a United States geography test. Drag the state names to the correct state outline on the map.

Ice removal in Hawaii

Gore: snow and ice around world vanishing quickly

Flashback to December, 2009 Climate Summit in Copenhagen:

Snow and ice across the planet are melting much faster than anticipated, and the cryosphere - the Earth's ice and snow cover - is very vulnerable to climate change, finds a new report presented today at the United Nations Climate Summit by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Snow cover is diminishing, and glaciers from the Himalayas to the Alps are melting rapidly, with the greatest reductions in the Andes and the Rockies, the report shows.

It is interesting to note that Mr. Gore didn't even bother to attend the Climate Summit in Cancún this year.

Was he afraid to answer embarrassing questions about his predictions made in Copenhagen last year? Or maybe he was afraid of embarrassing questions about the sexual assault charges filed against him in 2010.

Link here and here.

Watch as minifigs operate a Lego computer printer

No income tax States lure New Yorkers

A New York Post report is titled, Taxes trigger a texodus in New York:

The Lone Star State is scooping up more than just our congressional seats -- some $846 million in personal income shifted from New York to Texas in an eight-year period during the last decade, according to an analysis of IRS tax returns.

Texas, which has no state or local income taxes and an enviably low cost of living, has been steadily poaching New Yorkers since the '90s, according to data from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research organization based in Washington.
From 2000 to 2008, more than $846 million in personal income moved from New York to Texas -- with more than $212 million leaving in 2006 and '07.

New Jersey and California are also states that have been rapidly raising taxes on their productive citizens in order to spread the wealth to those who choose not to work.

Right-to-work states with no income taxes are becoming more attractive all the time for both businesses and wage earners.

Link