Calling all British mobs: Are you ready to riot like it’s 1649?

March 27 (Bloomberg) — Mark Barrett, a professional tour guide, spent last Saturday painting Barack Obama’s election catchphrase “yes we can” on a banner that protesters will carry as they try to occupy London’s financial district April 1.

Barrett is helping organize a protest outside the Bank of England, one of several called to express anger against banks and bankers and mark the arrival in London of leaders of the Group of 20 nations — including Obama, now president.

“We want a very English revolution,” he says from a café near his home in north London. “The first English revolution in 1649 was about winning sovereignty for parliament over the king.” Now, protesters are campaigning for sovereignty for everyone.

Are you swelling up with National pride?:

All police leave has been canceled to increase security and financial workers have been told to wear casual clothes amid warnings that protests could turn violent.

“There are a lot of hacked-off people,” said Mike Bowron, commander of the City of London Police. “There’s potential for disruption and certain individual groups see violence as their raison d’etre.”

How very Robespierre.

Class War, an anarchist newspaper, has produced a special edition to promote the protest with an image of former Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc CEO Fred Goodwin, whose house was vandalized this week, on a guillotine under the headline “Ready to Riot.” Another shows people dancing around a fire with the slogan “How to keep warm in the credit crunch — Burn a Banker!” Public anger erupted at Goodwin’s 703,000 pounds annual pension after RBS was bailed out by the government.

The English Revolution culminated with the beheading of Charles I in 1649, ending the so-called divine right of kings in England. Today’s protesters say they draw inspiration from 17th century radicalism.

Read the rest here.

(Hat tip: Drudge)

UPDATE:

1. Michelle Malkin reports in depth on the guillotine-happy mob here. 

2.  April 1st. The violence begins.

Attention Useful Idiots: Are you ready for “Earth Hour”?

Joshua Rhett Miller reports for Fox News:

In what it’s calling a "vote for the future of planet Earth," the World Wildlife Fund wants every light in the world to go dark for one hour on Saturday as a symbolic gesture to call for action on climate change.

It’s called Earth Hour — and among the places where the lights will go out are the Eiffel Tower, the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, the Pyramids of Giza and Niagara Falls.

And, for the first time in the event’s three-year existence, the New York headquarters of the United Nations will also go dark, a move officials say will save a whopping $24,300.

Earth Hour — 8:30 to 9:30 p.m in every time zone on the planet — promises to be “the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change ever attempted," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier this month.

The usual suspects are involved; I look forward to seeing photos of clueless celebrities patting themselves on the back in a Karmic gesture of self-congratulatory ecstasy:

WWF organizers say nearly 2,900 cities worldwide will participate in Earth Hour, with at least 250 American cities among them, including Chicago, Dallas, Miami and San Francisco. Plenty of celebrities have signed on to the cause, including musicians Alanis Morissette, Melissa Etheridge and Wynonna Judd, as well as actors Edward Norton, Cate Blanchett, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick.

And, of course, the United Nations.

Blah, blah, blah:

WWF spokeswoman Leslie Aun said Earth Hour will serve as a dramatic "visual message that the people of the world" are concerned about climate change.

"This is a reminder to our leaders around the world that people care about this issue," she said. "People told us last year they loved feeling connected to something big."

Asked to estimate how much energy could be saved worldwide during the 60 minutes of darkness, Aun replied, "We don’t even calculate the emissions that we save in that hour. That’s not the point."

Can you handle the truth?:

But Bjorn Lomborg, author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist" and director of the Denmark-based think tank Copenhagen Consensus Centre, said the event could actually increase emissions.

"When asked to extinguish electricity, people turn to candlelight," Lomborg wrote in an op-ed in The Australian. "Candles seem natural, but are almost 100 times less efficient than incandescent light globes, and more than 300 times less efficient than fluorescent lights. If you use one candle for each extinguished globe, you’re essentially not cutting CO2 at all, and with two candles you’ll emit more CO2. Moreover, candles produce indoor air pollution 10 to 100 times the level of pollution caused by all cars, industry and electricity production."

Dr. Kenneth Green, a resident scholar on environmental science at the American Enterprise Institute, said Earth Hour shouldn’t even be considered an environmental activity, since there will be no tangible benefits.

"If the U.N. is trying to show it’s really committed to the Earth," he said, "they should scrap the giant fleet of black limousines they drive around in and buy hybrid cars in the United States to help the economy of the country they’re in.

"That’s the real tragedy in what this symbolizes. They’ve taken the one thing that symbolizes man’s advancement over animals — that is, man’s ability to create light — and they’ve turned it into a bad thing.

UPDATES:

1. Heh. Ed Morrissey has a must read post, providing analysis about this related story from Fox News:

A United Nations document on “climate change” that will be distributed to a major environmental conclave next week envisions a huge reordering of the world economy, likely involving trillions of dollars in wealth transfer, millions of job losses and gains, new taxes, industrial relocations, new tariffs and subsidies, and complicated payments for greenhouse gas abatement schemes and carbon taxes — all under the supervision of the world body. …

2. In the you can’t make this stuff up department, Newsbusters reports:  On ‘Today’: Actor Ed Norton Compares His ‘Earth Hour’ to March On Selma

3. In the U.K., a nutty professor  vile anarcho-terrorist nicknamed Mr. Mayhem has plans for those who fail to observe “Earth Hour”:

Knight, whose house in a south ­London street known as Millionaires’ Row serves as the unlikely headquarters for the G20 Meltdown group organising the siege of the Bank of England on 1 April, intends to “harness the rage” of social action groups and wants to use “Earth Hour”, a worldwide “power down” planned by the World Wildlife Fund to express solidarity against ­climate change, to target City firms that fail to turn off their lights at the appointed time of 8.30pm on Saturday night

La dee dee. La dee da. I wonder what the aforementioned celebutards think about the concept of climate change thugs enforcing “Earth Hour”:

“We are expecting up to one million people on the streets of the capital on Saturday afternoon and just before sunset thousands of us will fan out across the City to enforce Earth Hour,” he says. “We’re focusing on Canary Wharf but every office block in London with lights on will be fair game. We will go to the building and demand they switch off the lights. If they refuse, our agents will find ways to enter the building, even if it means knocking down doors and ­windows to break in.”

Aw, he uses talking points from fellow ‘distinguished professor’ Bill "It’s not terrorism because it doesn’t target people, to kill or injure” Ayers:

Is he advocating violence? “Not against people but I’m not too bothered about damage to property,” he says brazenly. “Let’s just say we prefer to avoid it and expect to be invited in by cleaners and janitors. But make no mistake, we’re prepared to go the whole way. One way or another, those lights will get switched off.”

Hey, it’s totally worth it. We’re saving the planet don’t ya know.

(H/T: Michelle Malkin who has a full rundown on the coming G20 Mob fest).

4. Cool. There’s an antidote to “Earth Hour”: Human Achievement Hour.   Resist! 

5. Via Hot Air headlines, more on “Earth Hour” enforcer, Mr. Mayhem. He’s a moderate!  

Chris Knight, a professor of anthropology at the University of East London, and one of the co-ordinators of G20 Meltdown, describes himself as moderate. "I’m the kind of anarchist that adheres to some form of organisation," he says. "I’m not into throwing bricks through windows; what I’m talking about is something closer to revolutionary, or anarcho, communism."

Phew! I don’t know about you but I just breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Related post:

Was Earth Hour an epic fail?

Obama supporters dissent from his vision to emulate hellish South Korean education model

Recently I noted that Obama (who seems pathologically incapable of finding anything good to say about our own country) is infatuated with South Korea’s education model:

Barack Obama wants to emulate South Korea’s education system with “longer school days, school weeks and school years”

Clay Burell, an Obama supporter who knows a thing or two about South Korea, deconstructs Barack’s argument here:

I live in Korea. I’ve taught in Korea for three years. My wife is Korean, and my in-laws are parents of children in the Korean education system. And I’m here to warn President Obama that Korea is a model to treat with way more skepticism than he shows above.

Burell then cites a study from the Korea Times:

Kim said in the thesis that such a high dropout rate is largely attributable to Korean parents forcing their children to study rather than participate in extracurricular activities, an essential part of overseas education for foreign students to acclimate themselves to American society and get a good job in the long run.

According to the thesis, Korean students consume 75 percent of their time available for studying, while they allocate only 25 percent to extracurricular activities such as community service.

In contrast, American students and those from other countries tend to equally share their time for both study and other activities.

He continues with his own observations:

Let me drive the point home: Koreans are so good on international test scores because they work overtime being taught to pass these tests. When they hit the real academic world in college, they don’t have the skills necessary to succeed. They’re great at acing college admissions tests – that’s what their k-12 education emphasizes – but they’re America’s worst at actually getting through college. And Obama and Duncan are sorely disappointing for not understanding this.

And I’ll end with my own observations and readings while living and teaching here in Korea: Korean students are forced to study in "hagwons" – private night- and weekend-classes, and yes, full summer classes too….

I see these kids in their school uniforms at midnight outside my apartment, going home after their night classes at the English hagwon down the block. And the funny thing? Koreans spend all this time and money on English, but they don’t learn it. They don’t speak it to foreigners, they write and read it horribly for all the time invested. A westerner who teaches English at Korean universities blogs about the problem here. I’ll just add that most of that study is worksheet-based, scripted, and devoted to passing college examination tests, the SAT, TOEFL, and all the other tests these classes teach to.

This sounds like an absolutely hellish existence.  Like everything Barack has planned for us.

Meanwhile, his Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, thinks we should get rid of summer vacations and convert to year-round-schooling so we can be more like…the Chinese.

Hillary to North Koreans: Hey, if you’re listening to Greta Van Susteren, call me so we can move on with that six-party talks thingy

Are the phones out of order in the White House, or something?  Transcript from Fox News:

VAN SUSTEREN: Back home, headlines now about North Korea, and so I’m going to try to pry some answers out of you on North Korea. What are we going to do about North Korea?

CLINTON: Well, you and I were just talking before the cameras started rolling because you’re one of the few people I know who’s actually been there and who understand that it is a — you know, it’s a different environment.

You’ve got to figure out how to convince them to act in what we consider to be, you know, the interests of the people of North Korea but also the interests of the rest of the world.

I have been very clear, President Obama has been very clear, we would like to get back to the kind of talks that led to the initial steps in their de-nuclearization. The six-party framework that involves all of the neighbors, each of whom have a stake in what happens in North Korea — we have offered that. I sent word that we would like to have our special envoy for North Korean policy go to Pyongyang. They didn’t want him to come.

So we’re working hard. And if they’re watching you, I’m sure that since you were there, you made a big impression, went to a karaoke bar in Pyongyang.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: They probably still remember you. If they’re watching — if anybody from North Korea is watching this program with you, Greta…

VAN SUSTEREN: I do a mean Elvis karaoke.

CLINTON: I bet. You know, we’d love for them to begin to talk about what we can do together to fulfill the framework of the six-party talks.

(Hat tip: Rush Limbaugh)

Confirmed: Useful Idiot Nancy Pelosi is dumber than a rock

March 26 (Bloomberg) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House this year will consider health-care legislation including an option for a government-run program that would compete with insurers.

Right, because It’s easy-peasy to compete with the full force and power of the Federal Government.

“This is a big agenda, and I believe it should have a public option in it for it to be really substantial,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference in the U.S. Capitol….

Pelosi said the Democratic-controlled House will be “aggressive” in its approach to a health-care overhaul, which is a centerpiece of Obama’s agenda. She said a government role in health care will help U.S. companies be more competitive.

Brace yourself for the logic of PelosiThink:

“This is not only about the health of individuals in our country, which will be justification enough,” said Pelosi, a California Democrat. “It’s about the competitiveness of our businesses to make them globally competitive because they are competing with companies and countries where the federal government — their governments — pay for health care. They don’t have to bear those health care costs.”

You see, In Socialist countries they get their health care for free!  A unicorn riding on a rainbow, carrying a pot of gold pays for everything! And private insurers will be able to compete globally in these countries without private insurers because they sing,  “yes we can!”. As for the global competitiveness of companies who are not in the health insurance racket, we will tax them into prosperity because they dare to have overseas operations which make a profit for American shareholders. Wheeeee!

The contrarian view:

Ronald Williams, chief executive officer of Hartford, Connecticut-based Aetna Inc., told a Senate panel this week that insurers would be at a competitive disadvantage under a plan that would, in effect, extend Medicare, the U.S. government health plan for the elderly and disabled, to more people. Williams said the industry pays an extra $89 billion a year to providers to make up for “underpayments” from patients covered by existing government programs.

DUH.

Cheer up Seniors: It’s never too late to achieve the American Dream!

Hope is on the way. There’s a Senior Community Service Employment Program at the ready to assist you in this goal:

At SCSEP, we believe that achieving the American Dream is possible for everyone, regardless of age. Our mission is to promote economic self-sufficiency for older individuals who are working to achieve this dream.

Better get cracking, gramps – time’s a wastin’. 

Freedom Tower? We don’t need no stinkin’ Freedom Tower

Hey, let’s call it the Universal Service Tower! 

Douglas Feiden of The Daily News reports:

The Port Authority is taking the "Freedom" out of the Freedom Tower.

Although the 1,776- foot tower hasn’t been fully built, funded or leased – and won’t be occupied until 2014 – the agency decreed Thursday it will no longer be called the Freedom Tower. It will simply be known as 1 World Trade Center.

"As we market the building, we will ensure that it is presented in the best possible way – and 1 World Trade Center is the address that we’re using," said PA Chairman Anthony Coscia.

"It’s the one that is easiest for people to identify with – and frankly, we’ve gotten a very interested and warm reception to it."

The name change for the 102story, $3.1 billion skyscraper, unveiled after a PA board meeting, drew a sharp rebuke from former Gov. George Pataki, whose April 24, 2003, speech gave the building its brand.

"The Freedom Tower is not simply another piece of real estate and not just a name for marketing purposes," Pataki said.

"In design and name, it is symbolic of our commitment to rise above the attacks of Sept. 11. Where 1 and 2 World Trade Center once stood, there will be a memorial with two voids to honor the heroes we lost – and, in my view, those addresses should never be used again."

The change came after board members voted to sign a 21-year lease deal with Vantone Industrial Co., a Chinese real estate giant, which will become the first commercial tenant at Ground Zero. It plans to create the China Center, a trade and cultural facility, in 191,000 square feet on floors 64 through 69.

Just a coincidence!

The negotiations with Vantone, which is closely affiliated with the Chinese Communist government, had nothing to do with the name change, PA officials insisted, but was based primarily on bottom-line marketing considerations.

Right, cause freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. 

Despite a five-year global hunt and millions of dollars plowed into marketing efforts, until the Chinese deal was inked, the PA had failed to snag a single private-sector tenant at Ground Zero. It has tentatively lined up a number of state and federal agencies to take big chunks of space.

Will New Yorkers discard Freedom Tower and buy the new name?

"If ‘Freedom Tower’ is the popular name, that will be the choice of the people as to how they think of downtown," said PA Executive Director Chris Ward.

"On the other hand, this is a piece of real estate. It has an address – legally, it is 1 World Trade Center."

Most New Yorkers, tourists and families of victims – gripped by the massacre of nearly 3,000 innocents at the site – quickly disagreed.

Who cares what they think?  We’re supposed to be like China now!

"My gut reaction is calling a building the World Trade Center when it really isn’t the World Trade Center is pretty creepy," said Rosaleen Tallon, who lost her brother Sean, a 26-year-old probationary firefighter with Ladder 10, on 9/11.

On Liberty St., across from the 16-acre site, Michael Gardner, 52, a tourist from London visiting the WTC Tribute Center, argued that the name Freedom Tower must endure.

"It is a symbol. The name is about freedom and peace. America – land of the free – that is the message that should be put out there."

Eh, what do you know? Were you educated in South Korea, or China?

The concept for the Freedom Tower building dates to the months after Sept. 11, when master planners vowed that a massive downtown-defining skyscraper would take the place of the twin towers.

Two years later, Pataki came up with the name. It was initially derided by critics, who found it gimmicky and too self-consciously patriotic, but later embraced by most New Yorkers, who saw it as a symbol of a resurgent America on the mend from the horrors of 9/11.

"I was always taught to like the word ‘freedom,’" said Enrique Saurez, a dishwasher from Venezuela who worked at Windows on the World, where 73 restaurant employees died. "Why get rid of it?"

Ha! A dishwasher! A mere peasant!  What does he know?

UPDATE:

Jammie Wearing Fool links to the New York Post’s report which includes this quote:

Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles Burlingame was the pilot aboard American Airlines Flight 77 that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon, said the renaming of the tower is one more example that the nation is forgetting 9/11.

"If we can’t say the word freedom out loud, God help us," she said.

J.W.F. concludes by saying:

Next thing you know we’ll be having Club Gitmo guests living on the dole on American soil.
Oh wait…