Note: This post has been moved to the top because the size of the proposed tax increase ($900 billion) needs some visibility.

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Dan Clifton says that “repealing tax cuts” that have been in place for 4 years is really a tax increase — one that, if allowed, will be the largest in history.

Someone else has been saying that sticking with the “repealing” language has been weak for some time — at least as far back as December 2005 (near the end of the post).

But unlike the current situation, where revenues have ballooned for three years and continue to in the current fiscal year, the tax increases the current congressional majority so desires won’t achieve the revenue increases promised.

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UPDATE: Thankfully, the Club for Growth is all over this.

UPDATE 2: The Club for Growth (same link as first update) and others are claiming that the proposed tax increase amounts to roughly $900 billion — almost FOUR TIMES the size of the despised 1993 Clinton Administration tax increase. Even considering inflation, the proposed tax increases are about 2.5 as big as 1993’s.

In case you missed it on Friday — For a variety of reasons, and for the foreseeable future, I’m going to stick to posting only the Positivity and briefer early AM items during weekdays.

Crushing climate change dissent at RealClimate.org (HT Amy Ridenour, who makes a dare that won’t be addressed):

[lengthy excerpt eliminated. readers can go to this link if they like. But lets not pretend this is honest information; this is an industry-funded disinformation site]

Real Climate’s about page says (bold mine):

RealClimate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. We aim to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary.

Quick indeed, to edit out anything that doesn’t conform to globaloney and the globalarmist agenda.

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Meanwhile, a two word reaction to this warning (HT CCnet e-mail): Too, late.

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Debate-is-over Debunker: Add this guy to the “Consensus, Conschmensus” list. Oh, and these guys (HT Porkopolis).

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Really good question — Cornell McCleary wonders why the black community, and especially key black political leaders, are so uncritical of Ohio’s new governor. Specifically, no one is objecting strenuously, if at all, to Governor Strickland’s plans to put the kibosh on any future growth in the state’s school voucher program, and to gut privately-run charter school efforts, even though the less well-off are the targeted beneficiaries.

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Radio Equalizer: Attention would-be looters of inner-city charities: New York is the place to be!

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Skeptical Optimist: We’re still on track for a “balanced budget” (which I have noted frequently, is not a term I buy into because it uses the Social Security surplus to get there) in June 2008. Coming just ahead of the political conventions, that would be, to say the least, interesting timing.

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Most of the public thinks the news leans left, according to Zogby. Willisms reminds us why: Conservatives are 7% of the newsroom contingent in the national press, and 12% in the local press. The claim by most of the rest of those in the newsrooms that they are “moderate” is dubious at best.

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Evidence (as if needed) that the news leans left: You don’t see pictures like the ones here (warning: strong language), which can be obtained at many antiwar rallies, and almost any that are sponsored by International ANSWER, in the newspapers. Does anyone doubt that prowar demonstrators carrying signs with similarly profane or hateful messages would see pics of them in the papers?

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Further Evidence (as if needed) that the news leans left: This will get the “no big deal, move along now” treatment from most of the Formerly Mainstream Media.

From the Houston Business Journal:

Halliburton plans to add 13,000 jobs by end of 2007
3:32 PM CDT Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Halliburton Co. said it plans to add more than 13,000 new employees this year.

In an internal memo sent Tuesday, Andrew Lane, chief operating officer, wrote, “It is our expectation that our planned growth for 2007 to 2009 will mean that we will hire more than 13,000 new employees in 2007. This will include growth in our Houston employment numbers.”

Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) said the job growth is similar to its plan in 2006, when it also added more than 13,000 new employees worldwide. More than half of the employees were hired in the United States.

Not bad for the company that one would think is the focus of all evil in the world

That is, in my opinion, the inescapable conclusion one reaches from this post (HT Instapundit) and its supporting links. Failure to adequately investigate the items described, or perhaps even to investigate them at all, is sufficient reason (not that any is constitutionally needed) to strongly consider getting rid of the US attorney involved — assuming one cares about the integrity of the voting process.

From Australia:

March 12, 2007

TRUCK driver Daryl Smith said the searing flames were not what scared him the most as he dived into a burning car to save a trapped man.

It was the smell of gas leaking from the car’s tank that made the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

Mr Smith, a 40-year-old father of three from Mount Gambier in South Australia, was heading to work in his semi-trailer on the isolated Nelson Road near Caveton when a woman appeared in his headlights crawling across the road late at night.

She had been thrown from her car in a nasty accident only moments before.

Mr Smith, who has been honoured with a bravery award, today recalled the events of November 17, 2002, when he put his own life on the line in a dramatic rescue.

He downplayed his heroism saying: “You can’t just walk away to let someone die and not try to help.”

He said it was only after he returned to his truck to phone for an ambulance that he realised a second person was in danger when a ute burst into flames about 80m away.

He made one attempt to free the semi-conscious driver but was forced to retreat when he found him trapped by a seatbelt.

Then he returned with a pocket knife from his truck and climbed into the cab.

He cut the man’s seat belt as flames shot over their heads and dragged him to safety, only to return with extinguishers to douse the fire. He then crawled underneath the ute to disconnect the leaking gas bottle.

“You don’t think – you just try to help,” Mr Smith said simply of his actions.

Today Mr Smith has been awarded a Star of Courage in the Australian Bravery Decorations for his heroism that night.

The award is one of only two presented this year and is the second-highest accolade for bravery in non-war situations in the country.

….. “I am a big believer in everything happening for a reason,” Mr Smith said.

“The fact that I had helped my nephew and been part of an accident before, that I had a phone in my truck (only four in the company had a satellite phone) and that I had left for work early that night meant I was supposed to be there.”

Each year Mr Smith and the man he rescued meet on the anniversary of the accident to have a beer.

He said the pair had become good friends.

“He thanks me for saving him so he can see his two children grow up,” a feeling Mr Smith, a father of three girls of his own, said he understood.

Despite nearly four years on since the accident Mr Smith said he could still smell the gas, hear the screams and relive the awful wait for help to arrive but he was honoured and proud to receive the bravery award.

“People ask me if I can still remember what happened that night and I tell them that it is something I could never forget,” he said.

“It will always be a part of me.”