Sprinkled into the drama are comments from experts.  As the family makes decisions, some right and others very wrong, these authorities provide context and background.  Included among them are Kathy Harrison, a blogger and author of Just in Case,  Kevin Reeve from onPoint Tactical, Michael Bane of DownRange TV, and Dr. Joseph Tainter author of  The Collapse of Complex Societies.  I have not read Dr. Tainter’s book, but the others were familiar resources to me.

            Years ago, I lived in Los Angles and I wondered, as the program unfolded, would I have made better decisions back then?  Fortunately, even as a young man I realized that the veneer of civilization was very thin.  I got out of the city and this program made me glad, once again, that I did.  The family in the program waited too long to leave.  When they finally did flee, they were ill prepared to travel across a looted and gang infested land. 

            One thing I did not like about the program is that Christian faith during the emergency is depicted as fanatical and racist. 

            If you have contemplated TEOTWAWKI you probably have already begun making preparations and are certainly prepared than the family described in the program.  However, if you wondering what all of this is about I strongly recommend you go to the History Channel, find out when the program will be aired next or buy the DVD. 

            Apparently abortion supporters, such as NARAL and Planned Parenthood, have schemed with liberal legislators to limit or prohibit much of the information provided by Pro-Life pregnancy centers while at the same time specifically exempting abortion providers, or as the bill euphemistically calls them, “Comprehensive Birth Control Services” providers.  According to LifeNews.com, State Senator Joe Zarelli, a Republican, opposes the legislation saying that it goes against the free speech rights of pregnancy resource centers.  I agree. 

            Despite this legislation, I am encouraged.  If we were not winning the debate, the abortion supports would ignore us.  Still this inane legislation has a fairly long list of sponsors in both the House and Senate, which shows that only goes to show that we do not need a full-time legislature and, if fact, our representatives spend too much time in session.  I urge you to contact your elected officials and persuade them to solve the real problems of the state.

Scott Brown

           That was the first observation I made as I mulled the victory of Republican Scott Brown in the bluest of blue states.  While the Democrats are still gnashing their teeth and the Republicans still patting themselves on the back, what other things could we learn from this clearly momentous election?   

           Clearly, Martha Coakley felt entitled to the “Kennedy seat.”  After winning the Democratic primary, she apparently believed the race was over and went on vacation—for weeks.  Brown started off behind, but never went on vacation and like the tortoise and the hare, he kept moving forward and won the race. 

           Twice in the last six years, the Democrats of Massachusetts changed the rules of Senate succession to forestall the possibility that a Republican might capture the “Kennedy seat.”  In 2004, believing that John Kerry might be elected President (silly Democrats); they changed the state constitution to prevent then-governor Mitt Romney from appointing a replacement.  Just last year they changed the rule back to allow Governor Deval Patrick to appoint an interim appointee. The irony is, if the Democrats had left things alone they might have held the seat.

           The Republicans damaged their brand when, during much of the Bush Administration, they grew government to monstrous proportions and spent money like Democrats.  Can the GOP reclaim their limited government heritage? That remains to be seen.   

           Meehan served as Senator Maria Cantwell’s aide in 2006.  He is now a senior vice president at Virilion, a Washington D.C. consulting firm.  According to the Virilion website, Meehan managed Cantwell’s Senate office and served as the chief strategist of her 2006 landslide re-election campaign. 

           In a statement to Fox News Meehan stated that a number of reporters were chasing Martha Coakley and that “in the confusion the reporter fell over the fence.”  When told that the incident had been caught on video he said, “It wasn't my intention to knock him on the ground.”

           According to Fox News, Coakley blamed GOP “stalkers” for the incident outside the fundraiser and told the Boston Herald she was not “privy” to what happened despite the fact that photos shown on FoxNews.com and the WeeklyStandard.com clearly show her watching the events.  Apparently, Michael Meehan believes in bare-knuckle politics.     

Rush Limbaugh at CPAC in 2009

          Like Rush Limbaugh, I’m a conservative.  That is our bias and we're up front about it.  The AP pretends to be an unbiased recorder of events.  They are not. 

          On that day as I stared down at the somewhat crumbed article I could not help but think that while it may be a new year, some things, like the AP, never change.   

          Digging into the box of stuff where I file interesting newspaper articles, magazines and letters, I came across this quote from Dr. William Gray, a well-known hurricane forecaster and Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University (CSU). 

          I unfolded the paper and continued to read the December 2009 statement. “These warming scenarios have been orchestrated by a combination of environmentalists, vested interest scientists wanting larger federal grants and publicity, the media which profits from doomsday scenario reporting, governmental bureaucrats who want more power over our lives, and socialists who want to level-out global living standards.”

          In an earlier statement Dr. Gray did not totally discount manmade warming but stated, “…humans might have caused a very slight amount of this warming. Very slight. But this warming trend is not going to keep on going. My belief is that three, four years from now, the globe will start to cool again, as it did from the middle '40s to the middle '70s.”

          Consequently I have made two resolutions; first to be even more skeptical of global warming claims and secondly to dig into my box of stuff more often.

            Even though this is a New York City program, not the Seattle nonsense I usually deal with, the principle remains the same.  It does not matter whether it is a needle exchange program or this Heroin for Dummies guide, all such efforts are a misuse of taxpayer funds.  It takes money from those who earned it and gives it to those who did not so they may continue an illegal and destructive lifestyle.  If the liberals really want to do these things, let them use their own money.

          Immediately after filing that silly bill, they filed SJR 8219, an proposed amendment to the state constitution that would allow an income tax and Senate Bill 6250 that would institute the tax.  

          So, what do Senators Franklin and McDermott want for Washington State?  Apparently feel good, but meaningless edicts such as the “Kids at-Hope” bill and higher taxes to fund those meaningless laws.  That may be what they want, but I want a legislature that enacts real budget cuts and passes only meaningful legislation. 

          Well, with the worst recession since the great depression, a state budget shortfall of over 2.6 billion dollars and an unemployment rate of nearly 8.8 percent, nine of our state senators decided that the best thing they could do is introduce Senate Bill 6249.  According to the Tacoma News Tribune the bill would, if passed, “remove from state law any references to school kids that are considered negative.”  Washington students who had been “at-risk” would then be “at-hope.”   The nine senators that believe this is the best use of their time and our tax dollars are, Franklin, Kauffman, McAuliffe, McDermott, Regala, Keiser, Kilmer, Hatfield, and Fraser. 

          Can you image what they would do if they had more time?

          What can we learn from all this cold weather?  Is the world really getting warmer, as Al Gore continues to tell us, or is it headed into another mini-ice age? 

           Accu weather.com states that this could be the coldest winter in 25 years, with some places in Minnesota reaching -40 degrees.  Burlington, Vermont just set an all time record of 33 inches of snow in a single storm.  Iowa temperatures have recently struggled to reach zero, with a low of -17 in Des Moines.  Wind chills hovered around -20 and 30.  At such temperatures, frostbite can occur in minutes.  Just to the south, ice on the Delaware River forced a partial shutdown of a nuclear plant.  In Memphis, three people have died from hypothermia.  Further south, residents are donning coats and gloves as temperatures drop to freezing in Miami and as low as 21 in Orlando.  Heating systems in southern states are often not adequate to warm homes during such cold winters. 

          A cold winter has pushed British supplies of natural gas to critically low levels and in Scotland and Wales temperatures hovering below zero.  In Swansea, Wales some bookstores report pensioners buying books to burn in the fireplace.  They say thick books “make ideal slow-burning fuel for fires and stoves.”  On the other side of the planet, air and ground traffic have slowed to a crawl in Seoul, South Korea, where residents are digging out of the worst snowstorm in modern Korean History. 

           Despite the Gore Effect and a torrent of reports like those above, people who make their living preaching global warming doom, gloom and death continue their mantra.  However, recently I’ve noticed that many of those who preached the dangers of “global warming” now use the term “global climate change.”  Possibly they have observed that recent trends don’t support “warming?”

           The chief global warming profiteer, Al Gore, has declared, “The debate is over,” and “Mother Nature is making the evidence ever more obvious.”  Perhaps it is obvious to Al, but for me the jury is still out.