We live in such a Target-Rich environment, it's hard for me to focus sometimes. Here's what some of my favorite typists are sounding off on:
Harper explains why our employment numbers are a mess, and she rips into The Teleprompter Jesus for giving unions a free pass on the "cadillac" insurance tax (because unions are so much more wholesome than the rest of us).
I don't like racism, or racist language. It does nothing to make things better. Never. Ever. Race, like eye color, left-handedness, or hair color, can't be helped. Now that I've thrown all those politically correct caveats in there, let me just say that my friend Paul is working through some issues. Yeah. I started it. My bad. It was like throwing gasoline and napalm on hot ashes.
The Humble Libertarian continues to explain Freddy Bastiat's "Broken Windows" concept. This time it's about the false benefits attributed to Food Stamps.
Francis over at Food and Fort Worth has a hapless, overwhelming post about "feckless". Francis does have hap, and he often whelms with his feck.
Dr. Ralph got to go hear Matt Weiner, creator of Mad Men, last night at Casa Manana. The Good Doctor's insights on the nature of people who ask questions at public Q&A's are worth a look. (Typical preface to a question at these events: "Mr. Doe, I've read all your work on the subject of mayonnaise packaging, and referenced some of your magazine articles while working on my masters degree in retail marketing, and as a mother of two, and the wife of a food transport specialist, and the owner of two collies who can tell the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip, I wanted to ask you a question that came up during our last weekend on our 40 acre spread in Aledo, where we often use mayonnaise while entertaining all the public officials and movie stars that we've met as a part of our Aid To Haiti relief initiative....and it goes on and on before they get over themselves and get to the point.) Mad Men is GREAT, by the way.
William Grigg, over at Pro Libertate, has the best thing I've ever read on American Fascism. Mr. Grigg makes me look downright minimalist. Be warned. But it's worth it. Go there.
End The War On Freedom wonders about the life expectancy of politicians.
Uncle Fester adds to John Stossel's discussion of Ayn Rand.
NickM at Counting Cats beat me to the punch on Danny Glover, Global Warming, Earthquakes and Religion.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
John Stossel on Crony Capitalism
Tonight’s John Stossel program was on “Crony Capitalism”, also known as “Fascism”. I didn’t sleep well last night, it was a long day at work, so I’m just going to type as it plays.
Stossel started off by highlighting a company called Serious Materials, and the cozy relationship they have with Obama and Biden. Biden wandered through the plant a few times, looking exactly like Ted Knight from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and said some good things about the company's obvious politically correct virtue level.
Obama gave Serious Materials a shout-out during a speech on the economy. Then the dynamic duo announced some tax credits for “green companies”. Only one window company was given their tax money back – Serious Materials.
Then Stossel showed the Company VP of Policy, hanging out with energy leaders in the Obama administration….and then he showed Cathy Zoi, who is in charge of Obama’s weatherization policy, talking about how they were going to have SWAT teams move in and weatherize entire neighborhoods with new storm windows, paid for by stimulus dollars.
Stossel eventually revealed that Serious Materials’ VP of Policy is married to Cathy Zoi. Well, shit. That takes some of the down-home, wholesome, green environmental goodness out of the equation, doesn’t it? Weren’t you happier not knowing this?
He brought on some panelists, Annette Meeks and Jonathan Blake, from the Freedom Foundation Of Minnesota. These two are familiar with the window industry, and knew that it was going through hard times. They started wondering why so much attention was being paid in the Mainstream Media, the Teleprompter Jesus Press Conferences, and press releases to one little ol’ window manufacturer. Then they found out that Cathy Zoe controls 16.8 billion stimulus dollars. That’s $16,800,000,000.00, if you like to see zeroes.
How in the heck did one window manufacturer happen to win this sweepstakes? Did it have anything to do with contributing thousands and thousands of dollars to the Obama campaign? And some other connections having nothing to do with their entitlement to your money?
(My biggest problem with Serious Materials is the little environmental savings counter on their website. You can see how many thousand pounds of carbon they’ve saved, how much energy they've saved, etc. I’ve saved far more carbon than that. So have Somali shepherds. How do we do it? By not manufacturing windows. Who and what exactly are they measuring against?)
The next guest was Denis Calabrese, who explained that Congress spends its day listening to lobbyists and donors, not debating the merits of specific proposals. They pick winners and losers, and the losers (at all the other window companies) don’t get the subsidies, the tax breaks, and the breaks on quotas. Tim Carney, author of “The Big Rip-off”, explained why Big Government just LOVES some Big Government. Why? Because the more a business is regulated, the harder it is for new competitors to enter a market. Carney gave example after example.
(This is why all sorts of lobbyists from Big Pharma and the insurance industry are showing up at Martha Coakley’s fund-raising banquets, BTW.) Both sides are cozying up to each other to stay in power.
THEN STOSSEL COVERED THE BUTTER VS. MARGARINE CONTROVERSY ! (It’s been one of my favorites for a long time.) The Butter industry was terrified of the margarine industry. They got Congress to pass legislation requiring margarine to be dyed PINK. Swear to God, it happened.
THEN HE HIT ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITES. Go to Google, and put in the phrase “Guess who helped write the new tobacco bill”. I’ll be there. Typing fast as I can. No time for links. The alleged consumer protection in this bill was nothing but an industry protection bill. Philip Morris stock rose 35% immediately after Obama signed the bill.
THEN HE WENT OFF ABOUT BUILDING JETS AT BOEING AND LOCKHEED FACTORIES, jets we don’t need, jets that the military doesn’t want, simply to “protect jobs”.
Calabrese challenged Stossel to identify a single aspect of our so-called free enterprise system where our government wasn’t picking the winners and losers. Bill Gates and Company did very little lobbying until he got hauled into Congress for monopolistic practices. Then he hired a huge lobbying operation, and decided to spend a lot more time in Washington. His difficulties have ceased.
Then the focus switched to toys. Government, of course, had to get involved For The Children. They wrote a slew of regulations for testing that no small toymaker could ever afford. They regulated the sale of used toys, which meant that the toy resale industry was eliminated. (Don’t you know that Mattel and Hasbro partied hard when that regulation went into effect?) Goowill had to stop accepting used baby beds, strollers, play pens. They might not have been tested properly.
Anne Northrup, one of 5 commissioners on the Consumer Products Safety Commission, was brought out to explain how the process works. She evaluated a simple wooden locomotive, and immediately identified 5 or 6 tests that would have to be performed before it could be sold. She was surprisingly sympathetic to the plight of the small toy and resale industries and made some appropriate sounds. (Note to Mom: The Consumer Products Safety Commission has come out with a book of advice for people wanting to hold garage sales. Since the law is retroactive, it condemned a lot of products that were declared “safe” when they were manufactured. The handbook recommends scanning all items with an X-Ray Fluorescence machine. Swear to God, it says it. The machines cost $30,000.00)
Northrup went on to say that the Consumer Products Safety Commission isn’t going to send an inspector out to check your garage sale. (But guess what? This creates a chilling effect that makes you hesitate to sell and old item, or to purchase one. It IS illegal to sell this stuff. Check out a book called “Three Felonies A Day” when you get a chance. Chances are, you’re committing a large number of crimes without even knowing it. They’re not going to prosecute you unless they need to.)
The next segment was about the bad rap that capitalism has gotten during the last two years. Michael Moore’s movie came in for appropriate levels of abuse.
OK, THE GUY THAT STOSSEL SHOWED TESTIFYING BEFORE CONGRESS BEFORE EACH SEGMENT? THAT’S GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY’S RUSS ROBERTS ! ! ! RUSS ROBERTS OF THE “CAFÉ HAYEK” BLOG ! ! I HAD NO IDEA WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE. HIT THE RUSS ROBERTS OR CAFÉ HAYEK LABEL AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST !
I love that guy. Russ Roberts is on Stossel. This is freakin’ great. Roberts explains that Capitalism requires prudence. And if you take out the potential for any kind of loss, you’re left with “socialism for the rich”. The taxpayers have to cover the losses. It’s almost always an after-the-fact bailout. Roberts went on to say that there was absolutely no evidence for a potential disaster if we didn’t bail out, Wall-Street or GM, or any other entity.
Marta Mossburg (spelling corrected on 1-16-10, see comment from Mr. MossBURG, below) of the Franklin Center, explained that most D.C. lobbyists have worked on Capitol Hill. If the tax code was only 10 pages long, instead of tens of thousands of pages long, the lobbyists wouldn’t be necessary. But then, Congress wouldn’t be able to sell tax indulgences in exchange for donations.
Lehmann Brothers wasn’t politically connected. They didn’t spend much on lobbying. They were allowed to go under. The others? They were too big to fail.
Russ Roberts – “Let’s let people fend for themselves. It’s called Capitalism. Why don’t we try it.”
I kind of miss the audience involvement. Yes, it was all hostile questions. Yes, many of the people asking the hostile questions were doofuses. But then, how many of the people who hold those Statist opinions….. never mind.
Stossel closed the program with a monologue about the Constitution and the Declaration Of Independence. They’re paper-thin. Then he showed a 3-foot tall stack of regulations about toy safety and manufacturing.
Stossel explained why Big Steel lobbied Washington/G.W. Bush to keep cheap foreign steel out of the U.S., and how they succeeded. Then he explained how this played hell with manufacturers who used steel. Plus, YOU had to pay more for anything made with the more expensive U.S. steel. But then, you don’t have a lobbyist.
If you made it this far, I’m amazed. Going to bed now. Good night. Remember to set your Tivo to record Stossel every week. There’s nothing else like it on television.
Stossel started off by highlighting a company called Serious Materials, and the cozy relationship they have with Obama and Biden. Biden wandered through the plant a few times, looking exactly like Ted Knight from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and said some good things about the company's obvious politically correct virtue level.
Obama gave Serious Materials a shout-out during a speech on the economy. Then the dynamic duo announced some tax credits for “green companies”. Only one window company was given their tax money back – Serious Materials.
Then Stossel showed the Company VP of Policy, hanging out with energy leaders in the Obama administration….and then he showed Cathy Zoi, who is in charge of Obama’s weatherization policy, talking about how they were going to have SWAT teams move in and weatherize entire neighborhoods with new storm windows, paid for by stimulus dollars.
Stossel eventually revealed that Serious Materials’ VP of Policy is married to Cathy Zoi. Well, shit. That takes some of the down-home, wholesome, green environmental goodness out of the equation, doesn’t it? Weren’t you happier not knowing this?
He brought on some panelists, Annette Meeks and Jonathan Blake, from the Freedom Foundation Of Minnesota. These two are familiar with the window industry, and knew that it was going through hard times. They started wondering why so much attention was being paid in the Mainstream Media, the Teleprompter Jesus Press Conferences, and press releases to one little ol’ window manufacturer. Then they found out that Cathy Zoe controls 16.8 billion stimulus dollars. That’s $16,800,000,000.00, if you like to see zeroes.
How in the heck did one window manufacturer happen to win this sweepstakes? Did it have anything to do with contributing thousands and thousands of dollars to the Obama campaign? And some other connections having nothing to do with their entitlement to your money?
(My biggest problem with Serious Materials is the little environmental savings counter on their website. You can see how many thousand pounds of carbon they’ve saved, how much energy they've saved, etc. I’ve saved far more carbon than that. So have Somali shepherds. How do we do it? By not manufacturing windows. Who and what exactly are they measuring against?)
The next guest was Denis Calabrese, who explained that Congress spends its day listening to lobbyists and donors, not debating the merits of specific proposals. They pick winners and losers, and the losers (at all the other window companies) don’t get the subsidies, the tax breaks, and the breaks on quotas. Tim Carney, author of “The Big Rip-off”, explained why Big Government just LOVES some Big Government. Why? Because the more a business is regulated, the harder it is for new competitors to enter a market. Carney gave example after example.
(This is why all sorts of lobbyists from Big Pharma and the insurance industry are showing up at Martha Coakley’s fund-raising banquets, BTW.) Both sides are cozying up to each other to stay in power.
THEN STOSSEL COVERED THE BUTTER VS. MARGARINE CONTROVERSY ! (It’s been one of my favorites for a long time.) The Butter industry was terrified of the margarine industry. They got Congress to pass legislation requiring margarine to be dyed PINK. Swear to God, it happened.
THEN HE HIT ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITES. Go to Google, and put in the phrase “Guess who helped write the new tobacco bill”. I’ll be there. Typing fast as I can. No time for links. The alleged consumer protection in this bill was nothing but an industry protection bill. Philip Morris stock rose 35% immediately after Obama signed the bill.
THEN HE WENT OFF ABOUT BUILDING JETS AT BOEING AND LOCKHEED FACTORIES, jets we don’t need, jets that the military doesn’t want, simply to “protect jobs”.
Calabrese challenged Stossel to identify a single aspect of our so-called free enterprise system where our government wasn’t picking the winners and losers. Bill Gates and Company did very little lobbying until he got hauled into Congress for monopolistic practices. Then he hired a huge lobbying operation, and decided to spend a lot more time in Washington. His difficulties have ceased.
Then the focus switched to toys. Government, of course, had to get involved For The Children. They wrote a slew of regulations for testing that no small toymaker could ever afford. They regulated the sale of used toys, which meant that the toy resale industry was eliminated. (Don’t you know that Mattel and Hasbro partied hard when that regulation went into effect?) Goowill had to stop accepting used baby beds, strollers, play pens. They might not have been tested properly.
Anne Northrup, one of 5 commissioners on the Consumer Products Safety Commission, was brought out to explain how the process works. She evaluated a simple wooden locomotive, and immediately identified 5 or 6 tests that would have to be performed before it could be sold. She was surprisingly sympathetic to the plight of the small toy and resale industries and made some appropriate sounds. (Note to Mom: The Consumer Products Safety Commission has come out with a book of advice for people wanting to hold garage sales. Since the law is retroactive, it condemned a lot of products that were declared “safe” when they were manufactured. The handbook recommends scanning all items with an X-Ray Fluorescence machine. Swear to God, it says it. The machines cost $30,000.00)
Northrup went on to say that the Consumer Products Safety Commission isn’t going to send an inspector out to check your garage sale. (But guess what? This creates a chilling effect that makes you hesitate to sell and old item, or to purchase one. It IS illegal to sell this stuff. Check out a book called “Three Felonies A Day” when you get a chance. Chances are, you’re committing a large number of crimes without even knowing it. They’re not going to prosecute you unless they need to.)
The next segment was about the bad rap that capitalism has gotten during the last two years. Michael Moore’s movie came in for appropriate levels of abuse.
OK, THE GUY THAT STOSSEL SHOWED TESTIFYING BEFORE CONGRESS BEFORE EACH SEGMENT? THAT’S GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY’S RUSS ROBERTS ! ! ! RUSS ROBERTS OF THE “CAFÉ HAYEK” BLOG ! ! I HAD NO IDEA WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE. HIT THE RUSS ROBERTS OR CAFÉ HAYEK LABEL AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST !
I love that guy. Russ Roberts is on Stossel. This is freakin’ great. Roberts explains that Capitalism requires prudence. And if you take out the potential for any kind of loss, you’re left with “socialism for the rich”. The taxpayers have to cover the losses. It’s almost always an after-the-fact bailout. Roberts went on to say that there was absolutely no evidence for a potential disaster if we didn’t bail out, Wall-Street or GM, or any other entity.
Marta Mossburg (spelling corrected on 1-16-10, see comment from Mr. MossBURG, below) of the Franklin Center, explained that most D.C. lobbyists have worked on Capitol Hill. If the tax code was only 10 pages long, instead of tens of thousands of pages long, the lobbyists wouldn’t be necessary. But then, Congress wouldn’t be able to sell tax indulgences in exchange for donations.
Lehmann Brothers wasn’t politically connected. They didn’t spend much on lobbying. They were allowed to go under. The others? They were too big to fail.
Russ Roberts – “Let’s let people fend for themselves. It’s called Capitalism. Why don’t we try it.”
I kind of miss the audience involvement. Yes, it was all hostile questions. Yes, many of the people asking the hostile questions were doofuses. But then, how many of the people who hold those Statist opinions….. never mind.
Stossel closed the program with a monologue about the Constitution and the Declaration Of Independence. They’re paper-thin. Then he showed a 3-foot tall stack of regulations about toy safety and manufacturing.
Stossel explained why Big Steel lobbied Washington/G.W. Bush to keep cheap foreign steel out of the U.S., and how they succeeded. Then he explained how this played hell with manufacturers who used steel. Plus, YOU had to pay more for anything made with the more expensive U.S. steel. But then, you don’t have a lobbyist.
If you made it this far, I’m amazed. Going to bed now. Good night. Remember to set your Tivo to record Stossel every week. There’s nothing else like it on television.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Pat Robertson on the earthquake in Haiti, and Pat Robertson's father's failed bargain with Satan
This is from Salon.com:
....And you know, Christy, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it, they were under the heel of the French, uh, you know, Napoleon the third and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the devil, they said, we will serve you, if you get us free from the Prince, true story. And so the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' And they kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free, and ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor. . . the Island of Hispaniola is one island cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is, is, prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty, same Islands, uh, they need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come, but right now we're helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable.
Lemme tell you about another deal with the devil....
Pat Robertson's father was a southern segregationist, and a U.S. Senator from Virginia.
Robertson Sr. fought against Brown Vs. Board Of Education with all his being. Let it be known that Absalom Willis Robertson did not like black people.
When LBJ sent Lady Bird Johnson on a tour of the southern United States, trying to get support from southern politicians for the Voting Rights Act, Old Man Robertson was one of four senators who refused to meet with her.
LBJ got pissed, and you didn't want Lyndon Johnson pissed. LBJ eventually recruited a man named William Spong (a cousin, I think, to a hero of mine named John Shelby Spong) to run against Senator Robertson.
Spong won the election in one of the biggest upsets in Virginia political history. You know why? Because Absalom Willis Robertson's father made a pact with Satan to try to win the election.
Shortly before election day, A.W. Robertson went upstairs to his bedroom, drew some pentagrams on the floor, said the Lord's prayer backwards a few times, and conjured up Satan. A.W. tried to swap his son, Pat, in exchange for winning the election. Satan double-crossed him, and as punishment, made A.W.'s son a total idiot.
....And you know, Christy, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it, they were under the heel of the French, uh, you know, Napoleon the third and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the devil, they said, we will serve you, if you get us free from the Prince, true story. And so the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' And they kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free, and ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor. . . the Island of Hispaniola is one island cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is, is, prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty, same Islands, uh, they need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come, but right now we're helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable.
Lemme tell you about another deal with the devil....
Pat Robertson's father was a southern segregationist, and a U.S. Senator from Virginia.
Robertson Sr. fought against Brown Vs. Board Of Education with all his being. Let it be known that Absalom Willis Robertson did not like black people.
When LBJ sent Lady Bird Johnson on a tour of the southern United States, trying to get support from southern politicians for the Voting Rights Act, Old Man Robertson was one of four senators who refused to meet with her.
LBJ got pissed, and you didn't want Lyndon Johnson pissed. LBJ eventually recruited a man named William Spong (a cousin, I think, to a hero of mine named John Shelby Spong) to run against Senator Robertson.
Spong won the election in one of the biggest upsets in Virginia political history. You know why? Because Absalom Willis Robertson's father made a pact with Satan to try to win the election.
Shortly before election day, A.W. Robertson went upstairs to his bedroom, drew some pentagrams on the floor, said the Lord's prayer backwards a few times, and conjured up Satan. A.W. tried to swap his son, Pat, in exchange for winning the election. Satan double-crossed him, and as punishment, made A.W.'s son a total idiot.
This is what happens when fathers make bad deals with Satan. It never works out well. Satan deceives them every time, and the Satanic curse is handed down to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generations.
If you were to dig up the segregationist remains of Senator Absalom Willis Robertson, you would find, on the back of his head, a tattoo of a pentagram surrounding a Confederate Flag. A son like Pat Robertson is what happens if you allow Satan to put his mark on you like this.
Senator Absalom Willis Robertson participated in Witches' Sabbaths, where the senator and his demonic mistresses danced naked beneath the Virginia moon.
This is why Pat Robertson is cursed. His father tried to make a deal with the devil.
If Pat Robertson can make up crap like this, then so can I.
Picture of white dude making a bargain with Satan came from here.
Two fresh coats of Whitening and a powder-coated escutcheon to Bow Wow for being the first to send me a link.
Guess who came to dinner?
Martha Coakley, democrat candidate for the senate seat vacated by Ted Kennedy, held a fundraiser last night. Here's The Wall Street Journal:
We've argued that the leading health industry CEOs will one day be exposed as the most short-sighted business leaders in history, but how to explain the gala fundraiser that their top lobbyists hosted for Martha Coakley last night?
Amid a Beltway panic, the health lobby is riding to the rescue of the Massachusetts liberal, whose defeat in the special Senate race next Tuesday could deny Democrats the 60th vote for ObamaCare and thus maybe spare the U.S. health system from the coming damage.
As first reported by Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner, the host committee for the fundraiser at Pennsylvania Avenue's Sonoma Restaurant includes lobbyists for Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, Novartis and sundry other drug companies that have been among the biggest of ObamaCare's corporate sponsors. Other hosts—who have raised at least $10,000 for Ms. Coakley—include representatives from UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana and other insurers. As far as we can tell, the insurance industry claims to oppose ObamaCare's current incarnation.
Naturally, lobbyists from America's Health Insurance Plans and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the major trade groups, were on hand too. Money follows power in Washington, obviously, though this example seems especially inexplicable given that Ms. Coakley's GOP opponent, state senator Scott Brown, may be the last chance to defuse the health-care doomsday machine. But maybe someone in the press corps will bother to mention this episode the next time President Obama takes aim at the "special interests" he claims are opposing his agenda.
Against overwhelming public opposition, the only things keeping ObamaCare alive at this point are power politics and the misguided corporate cease-fire that Democrats have either coerced or bought—or is homegrown at companies like Pfizer that are deeply invested in more government control of the economy. Ms. Coakley's election would make that outcome a certainty.
Can someone please explain to me, using little-bitty words that I can understand, why it is that requiring us to spend money with these monopolist wannabes is some kind of "reform" ?
We've argued that the leading health industry CEOs will one day be exposed as the most short-sighted business leaders in history, but how to explain the gala fundraiser that their top lobbyists hosted for Martha Coakley last night?
Amid a Beltway panic, the health lobby is riding to the rescue of the Massachusetts liberal, whose defeat in the special Senate race next Tuesday could deny Democrats the 60th vote for ObamaCare and thus maybe spare the U.S. health system from the coming damage.
As first reported by Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner, the host committee for the fundraiser at Pennsylvania Avenue's Sonoma Restaurant includes lobbyists for Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, Novartis and sundry other drug companies that have been among the biggest of ObamaCare's corporate sponsors. Other hosts—who have raised at least $10,000 for Ms. Coakley—include representatives from UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana and other insurers. As far as we can tell, the insurance industry claims to oppose ObamaCare's current incarnation.
Naturally, lobbyists from America's Health Insurance Plans and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the major trade groups, were on hand too. Money follows power in Washington, obviously, though this example seems especially inexplicable given that Ms. Coakley's GOP opponent, state senator Scott Brown, may be the last chance to defuse the health-care doomsday machine. But maybe someone in the press corps will bother to mention this episode the next time President Obama takes aim at the "special interests" he claims are opposing his agenda.
Against overwhelming public opposition, the only things keeping ObamaCare alive at this point are power politics and the misguided corporate cease-fire that Democrats have either coerced or bought—or is homegrown at companies like Pfizer that are deeply invested in more government control of the economy. Ms. Coakley's election would make that outcome a certainty.
Can someone please explain to me, using little-bitty words that I can understand, why it is that requiring us to spend money with these monopolist wannabes is some kind of "reform" ?
I think somebody has messed with Joe
Here's Brett J. Blackledge, writing for the Associated Press. The title of his article should've been "While Biden Slept".
WASHINGTON – The White House has abandoned its controversial method of counting jobs under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus, making it impossible to track the number of jobs saved or created with the $787 billion in recovery money.
No serious economist takes the "jobs created or saved" chant seriously. It's an impossible number to know. Money is taken from the public, or their unborn grandchildren in this case, and thrown out there with other money. Taking the money away from you costs jobs in the areas where you would've preferred to spend it. But once it's stolen from you, the money doesn't stay segregated in the stash of the recipient. There is no way to tell how many jobs were created or saved because of the wealth transfer.
I think this is the Obama administrations way of saying "we're not gonna just let people make this shit up any more. We're going to invent a consistent bullshit formula. If you got money from us, and you're paying employees, then money given = jobs saved."
Despite mounting a vigorous defense of its earlier count of more than 640,000 jobs credited to the stimulus, even after numerous errors were identified, the Obama administration now is making it easier to give the stimulus credit for hiring. It's no longer about counting a job as saved or created; now it's a matter of counting jobs funded by the stimulus.
Ok, take the dollars given to your hypothetical company in kickbacks stimulus. Deduct the amount you gave in bribes campaign contributions. Divide the remainder by the average hourly rate at your company. That's how many hours of work you can pay for with that money. Multiply that by 2080, the number of hours in a year, assuming a 40 hour work week. There's your jobs "saved" in Obamathematics.
So if your company got a million dollar kickback stimulus check in exchange for a $5,000.00 bribe campaign donation, the math would look like this: A $1,000,000.00 government check minus a $5,000.00 donation divided by $20.000 per hour average rate, divided by 2080 hours in a year equals 23.91 jobs created or saved for the year.
Brilliant economic thinking. Brilliant. You just throw a million bucks into the pile, and you can claim that it "created or saved" a million dollars worth of jobs. And if you think THAT doesn't make a lick of sense, read the next paragraph:
That means that any stimulus money used to cover payroll will be included in the jobs credited to the program, including pay raises for existing employees and pay for people who never were in jeopardy of losing their positions.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt jumping up and down on a Keynesian pogo stick in Jimmy Carter's stagflation peanut patch, what a bunch of Geithner guano. Let's say that you have 32 neighbors on your block, and each family, including yours, pays $33,333.00 in taxes each year. That's 33 families each paying $33,333.00 to equal that $1,000.000.00 in question.
What were you and the other 32 families going to do with that million dollars if the government hadn't taken it? Were you going to leave it under your mattress? Were you going to burn it? Were you going to give it to Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's ex-pollster, who got six million porkulus dollars to help publicize the switch from analog to digital?
Hell no. You were going to spend it on clothes, food, a guitar amp, a dachshund sterilization program, Jim Beam, washing the truck, a vacation trip to watch them film "Stossel", a new laptop, or (God help us all) college tuition. That million dollars, divided by the average hourly rate at Wal-Mart (clothing), Big Rodrigo's House O' Grease (food), Guitar Center, the veterinarian, the Jim Beam distillery, the car wash, Stossel's film crew, Dell, or (God help us all) Texas A&M University - this would've paid all the people that you chose to pay. Not the people that Barry, Nancy and Harry want to pay.
That's what this is about. The choice is taken from you, and given to them. (But why do so many stimulus supporters call themselves "Pro Choice" on other issues?)
The money in this utterly ludicrous system is taken from your job-funding programs and given to theirs. And when you do look at the growth of companies Nuzzling On The Nurturing Obamabreast, but deduct the job LOSSES at the places where you would've preferred to spend the money, then deduct the amount government keeps for itself, you're looking at a net job loss. It really is that simple.
You could be doing things with the ridiculous amount of money being taken from you. You are the best judge of the best companies and the best jobs to support with your money.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
T. Christopher on abortion
Here's T. Christopher on abortion.
This is a topic that I seldom post about, other than the Libertarian position that it's a 10th amendment issue (for the states), and that no government money should be used.
T's main argument is about the labels and language we use, and their tendency to obscure what both sides are trying to say:
What if a conservative came along? Lets just call him Thomas Jefferson. He was a champion of individualized Principle protected by the 1st Amendment, so we will use his name here. Jefferson dismisses the Pro-Choice argument and believes abortion is murder. What if Thomas Jefferson, relying upon his own 1st Amendment protected list of principles, which were only loosely “religious” in nature, believed that life began at birth? His religion, or more accurately, his guiding principles led him to believe life begins when a baby is born. This would certainly disqualify him from the Pro-Life camp in the 21st Century, but would it make him any less “conservative?” Perhaps more importantly, would it make him Pro-Choice or dare I say Pro-Abortion? Maybe it makes him something else.
He concludes with:
I genuinely believe that the conventional “conservative” position is anything but conservative as it is expressed in contemporary politics. I believe it is merely an expression of personal beliefs masked in the legitimacy of “conservatism.” I believe this endeavor discredits true conservatism with every word that is uttered in its name. I believe that real progress will not be made on this issue until ALL conservatives can admit that their position is rooted in religious, social, and moral beliefs rather than an ideology which would never intend to make any of those compulsory. Conservatism is about principled governance, but it is not about choosing those principles for American citizens, and being Pro-Life is about saving the lives of the innocent – not about telling our fellow citizens where that Life begins.
T. Christopher. The busiest man on the internet. Go here to read the entire post.
This is a topic that I seldom post about, other than the Libertarian position that it's a 10th amendment issue (for the states), and that no government money should be used.
T's main argument is about the labels and language we use, and their tendency to obscure what both sides are trying to say:
What if a conservative came along? Lets just call him Thomas Jefferson. He was a champion of individualized Principle protected by the 1st Amendment, so we will use his name here. Jefferson dismisses the Pro-Choice argument and believes abortion is murder. What if Thomas Jefferson, relying upon his own 1st Amendment protected list of principles, which were only loosely “religious” in nature, believed that life began at birth? His religion, or more accurately, his guiding principles led him to believe life begins when a baby is born. This would certainly disqualify him from the Pro-Life camp in the 21st Century, but would it make him any less “conservative?” Perhaps more importantly, would it make him Pro-Choice or dare I say Pro-Abortion? Maybe it makes him something else.
He concludes with:
I genuinely believe that the conventional “conservative” position is anything but conservative as it is expressed in contemporary politics. I believe it is merely an expression of personal beliefs masked in the legitimacy of “conservatism.” I believe this endeavor discredits true conservatism with every word that is uttered in its name. I believe that real progress will not be made on this issue until ALL conservatives can admit that their position is rooted in religious, social, and moral beliefs rather than an ideology which would never intend to make any of those compulsory. Conservatism is about principled governance, but it is not about choosing those principles for American citizens, and being Pro-Life is about saving the lives of the innocent – not about telling our fellow citizens where that Life begins.
T. Christopher. The busiest man on the internet. Go here to read the entire post.
Help The Aggie stand up for YOUR rights as a Texas pet owner ! ! !
This came from The Aggie.
A message from Dave and Tracy Barker
Dear Fellow Texans,
Last week Tracy and I met with a member of the staff of Senator Hutchison. He was very interested to hear about Senate Bill S373, the so-called anti-python bill (actually, pythons, anacondas and boas). We gave him a lot of printed information and he listened to what we had to say for over an hour. I feel that he will well represent our interests to the Senator. However, he gave us this good advice. Politics is a numbers game.
You bet it is. I spend a couple of hours at last night's Tarrant County Libertarian Meetup, listening to a guy explain how the numbers work.
Some doofus in the Senate has figured out that there are more people who are afraid of snakes than there are people who like them. This doofus sees an opportunity to get somethinig passed with his name on it. He or she probably claims that it's FOR THE CHILDREN ©
Our representatives only know what we tell them, and right now we Texans have not told the local offices of Senator Hutchison anything. We were told that we are the first and only people to talk with any of our Senator’s local offices on the matter of S373. If that is so, it seems likely that not many have contacted Senator Cornyn’s office, either. It may be that a lot of you have called the Washington DC office, that’s good. Hopefully all of you are contributing to the USARK letter-writing campaign.
Thanks
Dave and Tracy
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
LOCAL OFFICES
Austin, Texas
512-916-5834
Dallas, Texas
214-361-3500
Houston, Texas
713-653-3456
San Antonio, Texas
210-340-2885
Abilene, Texas
325-676-2839
Harlingen, Texas
956-425-2253
Senator John Cornyn
LOCAL OFFICES
Dallas, Texas
972-239-1310
San Antonio, Texas
210-224-7485
Tyler, Texas
903-593-0902
Austin, Texas
512-469-6034
Lubbock, Texas
806-472-7533
Harlingen, Texas
956-423-0162
Houston, Texas
713-572-3337
Here's a Dave Barker video:
A message from Dave and Tracy Barker
Dear Fellow Texans,
Last week Tracy and I met with a member of the staff of Senator Hutchison. He was very interested to hear about Senate Bill S373, the so-called anti-python bill (actually, pythons, anacondas and boas). We gave him a lot of printed information and he listened to what we had to say for over an hour. I feel that he will well represent our interests to the Senator. However, he gave us this good advice. Politics is a numbers game.
You bet it is. I spend a couple of hours at last night's Tarrant County Libertarian Meetup, listening to a guy explain how the numbers work.
Some doofus in the Senate has figured out that there are more people who are afraid of snakes than there are people who like them. This doofus sees an opportunity to get somethinig passed with his name on it. He or she probably claims that it's FOR THE CHILDREN ©
Our representatives only know what we tell them, and right now we Texans have not told the local offices of Senator Hutchison anything. We were told that we are the first and only people to talk with any of our Senator’s local offices on the matter of S373. If that is so, it seems likely that not many have contacted Senator Cornyn’s office, either. It may be that a lot of you have called the Washington DC office, that’s good. Hopefully all of you are contributing to the USARK letter-writing campaign.
Based on letters we have seen from Senator Cornyn’s office, he has taken a position to oppose S373. Senator Hutchison has not yet taken a position on S373. It is particularly important to call her offices and let her know that we Texans, her constituents, do not favor S373. So we all need to pick up the phone and make a quick call to the closest local office of each of our Senators. Please tell the staff who answers the phone that you oppose S373 and you want the Senator to oppose this ill-advised, Democrat-sponsored bill.
Isn't it funny how, after only one year of Democrat control, the phrase "Democrat-sponsored bill" is now an effective scare tactic?
If you have a business, if you breed snakes, If you are a vendor or a participant at reptile shows, if you have made an investment in snakes, you need to stress that this bill will hurt Texans and hurt the Texas economy.
The Aggie and I have been going to reptile shows ever since she got out of diapers. At one point we had 27 lizards in the house. One was a Basilisk named Norbert. If you've ever watched Animal Planet (The Aggie went through a stage where she turned all the TV's to Animal Planet and threw away all the remotes) you might remember seeing a long lizard running upright on top of a pond. That's how Basilisks got their nickname - The Jesus Lizard - since they can walk on water.
The first time Reverend Brett Younger saw Norbert, and learned of his water-walking abilities, he went on an extended riff about the now-extinct Simon Peter Lizard, which would try to run on the water, lose faith, and then sink.
You either think that's really funny, or you don't. I liked it.
Even if you just like these animals, and you feel that Americans should have the right to possess animals, then you oppose S373 and you need to let your Senators know.
Even if you don't give a rip one way or the other about people keeping animals, you should be aware that Congress knows as much about keeping reptiles as they know about Taiwanese socket set manufacturing practices. Nothing. Nothing at all.
Some people want money, some want fame. Government wants power and control.
The point that Tracy and I feel is most important is that S373 is an inappropriate national law for what is a local problem in a small area of South Florida. Any monies generated by S373 will go only to Florida, Texas will not benefit in any way and Texans who choose to keep and breed snakes will be damaged.
And besides that, it's none of Nancy Pelosi's damn business. Let's worry about getting the snakes out of Congress.
And please realize that as soon as S373 is voted on in the Senate, then we all face another bill, S669. This law will ban almost all herps from American homes. If passed, even in a modified form, you can bet that most exotic snakes and ALL VENOMOUS SNAKES will be banned. Even if you personally don’t keep pythons, anacondas or boas, realize that if we all don’t beat S373 now, we will probably not beat S669. Please call and tell your Senators what you think is bad about S373 and ask them to oppose it. The phone numbers for those offices are listed below. A call takes only a few minutes.
Thanks
Dave and Tracy
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
LOCAL OFFICES
Austin, Texas
512-916-5834
Dallas, Texas
214-361-3500
Houston, Texas
713-653-3456
San Antonio, Texas
210-340-2885
Abilene, Texas
325-676-2839
Harlingen, Texas
956-425-2253
Senator John Cornyn
LOCAL OFFICES
Dallas, Texas
972-239-1310
San Antonio, Texas
210-224-7485
Tyler, Texas
903-593-0902
Austin, Texas
512-469-6034
Lubbock, Texas
806-472-7533
Harlingen, Texas
956-423-0162
Houston, Texas
713-572-3337
Here's a Dave Barker video:
Monday, January 11, 2010
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Libertarians, 9-12'ers, and The Tea Party Movement. And John Spivey. And Adrian Murray. (plus Dirty Harry !)
I didn't get a chance to look through the Star-Telegram this a.m.
My friends Adrian Murray and Big Daddy John Spivey were both quoted.
By AMAN BATHEJA
FORT WORTH — Elected officials — Democrats and Republicans — have been routinely and loudly booed at Tea Party rallies and other conservative events over the past year.
But as area activists try to turn that anger into action, they are setting their sights on fellow Republicans more than Democrats.
Members of several local conservative groups that formed last year are focusing on a handful of Republican primary races in the hope of moving the party in a more conservative direction.
"The Tea Partiers, the 9-12ers and the Libertarians all need to come together and work together," said Adrian Murray, an organizer with the 9-12 Project Fort Worth. "It’s the outcome of those primaries that are going to determine what kind of support the Republican Party gets" in November.
They aren’t endorsing candidates, but the anti-incumbent sentiment at rallies last year was palpable and is playing a role in local races. Several Republican challengers in races for Congress and the state Legislature say their appeal to those protesters fed up with the status quo will lead them to a primary win in March.
"A lot of people think that these are Republican groups, but they’re not. They’re actually as mad at Republicans as they are Democrats," said conservative activist Bill Burch, who is running against former Arlington City Councilwoman Barbara Nash in the Republican primary for the state House seat held by Rep. Paula Pierson, D-Arlington.....
But as area activists try to turn that anger into action, they are setting their sights on fellow Republicans more than Democrats.
Members of several local conservative groups that formed last year are focusing on a handful of Republican primary races in the hope of moving the party in a more conservative direction.
"The Tea Partiers, the 9-12ers and the Libertarians all need to come together and work together," said Adrian Murray, an organizer with the 9-12 Project Fort Worth. "It’s the outcome of those primaries that are going to determine what kind of support the Republican Party gets" in November.
They aren’t endorsing candidates, but the anti-incumbent sentiment at rallies last year was palpable and is playing a role in local races. Several Republican challengers in races for Congress and the state Legislature say their appeal to those protesters fed up with the status quo will lead them to a primary win in March.
"A lot of people think that these are Republican groups, but they’re not. They’re actually as mad at Republicans as they are Democrats," said conservative activist Bill Burch, who is running against former Arlington City Councilwoman Barbara Nash in the Republican primary for the state House seat held by Rep. Paula Pierson, D-Arlington.....
Hit the link up top to read the entire article.
....While the spotlight is on the primary for now, it remains unclear what these grassroots activists will do if a Republican deemed insufficiently conservative wins the party’s nomination.
"I would think it’s a mixed blessing for the Republican Party," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "If [activists] think that the two main party candidates aren’t sufficiently conservative, they’ll mount a party challenge."
He pointed to a special congressional election in New York in November in which grassroots conservatives, unhappy with the Republican candidate, backed a third-party candidate instead. In the end, a Democrat won the district for the first time since the Civil War.
"I would think it’s a mixed blessing for the Republican Party," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "If [activists] think that the two main party candidates aren’t sufficiently conservative, they’ll mount a party challenge."
He pointed to a special congressional election in New York in November in which grassroots conservatives, unhappy with the Republican candidate, backed a third-party candidate instead. In the end, a Democrat won the district for the first time since the Civil War.
It makes me nuts, totally nuts, when journalists, political scientists, or for that matter, my relatives try to raise that particular objection to 2nd-party candidates. The Democrat in that upstate New York election was funded by the Democratic party. The candidate of the Republican establishment (Dede Scozzafava) would have voted like a Democrat, but would've been funded by the Republican party. It's more efficient when the Democrats fund their own candidates, don't you think?
Representatives from local Tea Party groups and the 9-12 Project Fort Worth say they will remain nonpartisan while encouraging voters to back candidates who support certain principles, including limited government and personal liberty.
"There’s nothing more powerful, we feel, than an informed voter," said Angela Cox, founder of the Burleson Tea Party.
John Spivey, Tarrant County Libertarian Party chairman, said many Tea Party and 9-12 Project members lean Libertarian and predicted that they will support the GOP only if Republican incumbents are replaced in the primary with "true conservatives."
"I’m looking forward to post-primary that we may see some support from them for some of our candidates," Spivey said.
Leaders with the 9-12 Project Fort Worth and the Burleson Tea Party expressed doubt that supporting third-party candidates is a viable option.
"There’s nothing more powerful, we feel, than an informed voter," said Angela Cox, founder of the Burleson Tea Party.
John Spivey, Tarrant County Libertarian Party chairman, said many Tea Party and 9-12 Project members lean Libertarian and predicted that they will support the GOP only if Republican incumbents are replaced in the primary with "true conservatives."
"I’m looking forward to post-primary that we may see some support from them for some of our candidates," Spivey said.
Leaders with the 9-12 Project Fort Worth and the Burleson Tea Party expressed doubt that supporting third-party candidates is a viable option.
And if they can't make that an option, they will be forced to support more guys who brag about their ability to reach across the aisle, and who get pats on the head from the mainstream media for making gracious concession speeches. I went to one of Adrian's meetups tonight, and saw a very positive response to Spivey's presentation on the Libertarian Party. People are ready for a change from the false choice between Republicrats and Demoblicans. We can put aside small differences, and find a way to join together long enough to boot out some of the worst-offending Statists.
(Conservative activist Bill Burch)....predicted that conservative grassroots voters would support the Republican ticket no matter who wins the primary.
"If they make it through the primary, your choice is no longer for the individual," Burch said. "Your choice is . . . freedom or socialism."
"If they make it through the primary, your choice is no longer for the individual," Burch said. "Your choice is . . . freedom or socialism."
Mr. Burch, people felt that way until the last three Republican Presidents came in and spent money like drunk cowboys. Your choice is . . . more of the same or something different. I don't know of any Libertarians who supported TARP, the bailouts, or the Porkulus plan. I can't say that about Republicans.
Come on, hold your nose, and come see what we're about. I think we're going to have an interesting melting pot in November.
Harry Reid is coming to Texas for a fundraiser on Friday, January 15 at 11:00 a.m. He'll be at the Las Colinas Marketing Center at 5221 North O'Conner Boulevard, in Irving. Ask yourself....why is Harry Reid, Senator from Nevada, holding a fund-raiser in Texas?
I bet we can all agree on that one, can't we?
Do Reid and Clinton really prefer having the light-skinned guys bring their coffee?
Several years ago, Republican Trent Lott had to resign his position as Senate Majority Leader after saying a few complimentary things about segregationist Strom Thurmond. Lott's unfortunate comments were about the era when Thurmond was either a Democrat or Dixiecrat.
"I want to say this about my state (Mississippi): When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either," Lott said at last week's party.
Thurmond ran as the presidential nominee of the breakaway Dixiecrat Party in the 1948 presidential race against Democrat Harry Truman and Republican Thomas Dewey. He carried Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and his home state of South Carolina, of which he was governor at the time.
Thurmond ran as the presidential nominee of the breakaway Dixiecrat Party in the 1948 presidential race against Democrat Harry Truman and Republican Thomas Dewey. He carried Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and his home state of South Carolina, of which he was governor at the time.
The media outrage was deafening. Maybe it should have been.
Well, this should be interesting.
Go here for Harry Reid's analysis of Barack Obama's complexion (or lack of it) and "Negro dialect" (or lack of it).
Hold on. We aren't through yet. Go here for some comments that Bill Clinton made to Ted Kennedy, on Barack Obama getting uppity.
If this seems like excessive ridicule over a few offhand comments, go to the Democratic Party's rule book: Saul Alinsky's Rules For Radicals. See rule #4.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
My final post on the Global Warming Scam. The last one. Ever.
This is from the (London) Daily Mail, written by David Rose.
Don't bother reading any of this. The article, which is extremely well-written, tells us things we already knew, and will only serve to make you angry. I repeat, don't bother reading the article, or my snarky comments accompanying each paragraph. I'm just working the rage out of my system while watching some NFL and filtering some Jim Beam. Here's Mr. Rose:
The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists.
This....just....cannot....be....so. We're supposed to be boiling by now. We're supposed to reach the "tipping point" any day, aren't we? Hell's Bells, the north pole is supposed to melt by 2013 ! !
Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in summer by 2013.
Please. Stop reading now. I'm going nowhere with this. David Rose, of The Times, and The Whited Sepulchre, of East Funkytown, are wasting valuable time trying to explain why THE SKY IS NOT FALLING.
But you're damn right, Santa's Workshop being ice-free is one of global warming orthodoxy's most deeply cherished beliefs. Check out the countdown widget to your right. At the time of this typing, Al Gore has 1,051 days, 5 hours, and 31 minutes to make the ice caps melt. If that doesn't happen, can we not all agree that Al Gore is a con man? I mean, if it had worked out for him in Copenhagen, he could've become the world's first carbon billionaire by requiring you to give him and Kleiner Perkins your money for.....green things and organic crap and perpetual motion machines and stuff.
According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this.
If you're having a hard time reading the captions on some of these pictures, lemme help. Starting at the top left, going counter-clockwise, Nebraska is colder than it's been since 1973. Florida, where the orange groves are freezing, is the coldest it's been since 1980. Scotland, since 1995. Amsterdam, since 1993. Hamburg, Germany, since 1963. Siberia, since 2001. Beijing is the coldest it's been since 1970. (My brother-in-law, Sauron, is in Shanghai now, and he says everyone is freezing their rear ends off.)
....For example, in 1922, the Washington Post reported that Greenland’s glaciers were fast disappearing, while Arctic seals were ‘finding the water too hot’.
Don't bother reading any of this. The article, which is extremely well-written, tells us things we already knew, and will only serve to make you angry. I repeat, don't bother reading the article, or my snarky comments accompanying each paragraph. I'm just working the rage out of my system while watching some NFL and filtering some Jim Beam. Here's Mr. Rose:
The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists.
This....just....cannot....be....so. We're supposed to be boiling by now. We're supposed to reach the "tipping point" any day, aren't we? Hell's Bells, the north pole is supposed to melt by 2013 ! !
Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in summer by 2013.
Please. Stop reading now. I'm going nowhere with this. David Rose, of The Times, and The Whited Sepulchre, of East Funkytown, are wasting valuable time trying to explain why THE SKY IS NOT FALLING.
But you're damn right, Santa's Workshop being ice-free is one of global warming orthodoxy's most deeply cherished beliefs. Check out the countdown widget to your right. At the time of this typing, Al Gore has 1,051 days, 5 hours, and 31 minutes to make the ice caps melt. If that doesn't happen, can we not all agree that Al Gore is a con man? I mean, if it had worked out for him in Copenhagen, he could've become the world's first carbon billionaire by requiring you to give him and Kleiner Perkins your money for.....green things and organic crap and perpetual motion machines and stuff.
According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this.
If you're having a hard time reading the captions on some of these pictures, lemme help. Starting at the top left, going counter-clockwise, Nebraska is colder than it's been since 1973. Florida, where the orange groves are freezing, is the coldest it's been since 1980. Scotland, since 1995. Amsterdam, since 1993. Hamburg, Germany, since 1963. Siberia, since 2001. Beijing is the coldest it's been since 1970. (My brother-in-law, Sauron, is in Shanghai now, and he says everyone is freezing their rear ends off.)
The scientists’ predictions also undermine the standard climate computer models, which assert that the warming of the Earth since 1900 has been driven solely by man-made greenhouse gas emissions and will continue as long as carbon dioxide levels rise.
Well, those things happen. That's one of the great things about science. You set up a theory, and see if it can be contradicted. In this case, the theory can be contradicted. You start over. No harm, no foul. But in this case, the voices of reason were up against Global Warming Alarmists who believed that Global Warming Deniers should be executed.
They say that their research shows that much of the warming was caused by oceanic cycles when they were in a ‘warm mode’ as opposed to the present ‘cold mode’.
Whoops. Sorry we screwed up, guys. Good thing NASA's James Hanson didn't get his way and put the chief executives of oil companies on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature. Simple mistake. Coulda happened to anybody.
This challenge to the widespread view that the planet is on the brink of an irreversible catastrophe is all the greater because the scientists could never be described as global warming ‘deniers’ or sceptics.
Seems like it was just a couple of years ago that Robert Kennedy Jr. was calling these CEO's and their companies "treasonous", and that they should be treated like traitors. Or that another CEO should be "in jail for all eternity".
However, both main British political parties continue to insist that the world is facing imminent disaster without drastic cuts in CO2.
I have only one question, a question I've asked in the comment fields of this blog dozens and dozens of times: This imminent disaster we're supposedly facing.....Will it be a cold disaster, or a warm disaster? Please, please, please. For the love of God, pick one and stick with it for more than a decade. In the 1970's, we were going to freeze unless we repented. In the 1990's, Global Warming was going to kill us all. Now, at the end of the 'Noughts, we're back to a thirty year cold snap.
This image of the UK taken from NASA's multi-national Terra satellite on Thursday shows the extent of the freezing weather
Last week, as Britain froze, Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband maintained in a parliamentary answer that the science of global warming was ‘settled’.
Theology is "settled". The doctrine of substitutionary atonement, transubstantiation, the virgin birth, and predestination are all "settled". Science is not settled. "Settled science" is an oxymoron. That's the difference between science and religion. Go here to learn why this dispute is not about science, but about religion.
Among the most prominent of the scientists is Professor Mojib Latif, a leading member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has been pushing the issue of man-made global warming on to the international political agenda since it was formed 22 years ago.
I'm just wondering....why is it that Al Gore is still hired and paid huge sums of money to talk about this issue?
Prof Latif, who leads a research team at the renowned Leibniz Institute at Germany’s Kiel University, has developed new methods for measuring ocean temperatures 3,000ft beneath the surface, where the cooling and warming cycles start.
Cooling and warming cycles start 3,000 feet below the surface? All this time, I thought the cycles started in Honda Civics, coal stacks, electric companies, and bovine flatulence.
He and his colleagues predicted the new cooling trend in a paper published in 2008 and warned of it again at an IPCC conference in Geneva last September.
Last night he told The Mail on Sunday: ‘A significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000 and at earlier periods in the 20th Century was due to these cycles – perhaps as much as 50 per cent.
In 2006, the eco-magazine Grist called for Nuremberg-Style trials for skeptics. In 2008, Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki called for government leaders skeptical of global warming to be thrown “into jail.” In 2007, The Weather Channel's climate expert called for withholding certification of skeptical meteorologists. (All links for this came from here.) Good thing that Professor Mojib Latif came along when he did. We mighta had a lynching.
'They have now gone into reverse, so winters like this one will become much more likely. Summers will also probably be cooler, and all this may well last two decades or longer.
‘The extreme retreats that we have seen in glaciers and sea ice will come to a halt. For the time being, global warming has paused, and there may well be some cooling.’
Bullshit. Summers has it all backwards. For a while during the 1990's, global cooling paused, and we had some warming. Prove me wrong. There are so many ways to look at the data, nobody has a freakin' clue. It's called "the weather", and if anybody could accurately pick what it's gonna do, he could make a fortune.
As Europe, Asia and North America froze last week, conventional wisdom insisted that this was merely a ‘blip’ of no long-term significance.
Though record lows were experienced as far south as Cuba, where the daily maximum on beaches normally used for winter bathing was just 4.5C, the BBC assured viewers that the big chill was merely short-term ‘weather’ that had nothing to do with ‘climate’, which was still warming.
I should've mentioned this earlier. In the Alarmist industry, ALL cooling is mere weather. ALL warming is climate, and a call for action. And money. And power.
The work of Prof Latif and the other scientists refutes that view.....
It goes on and on and on for a while. I'm going to delete a bunch of technical stuff, just in case anyone is still hanging on. I want to get to more of the silly quotes by the Alarmists.
Pictures of the snow in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, last week show the city is the coldest it has been since 1970
It interviewed a Captain Martin Ingebrigsten, who had been sailing the eastern Arctic for 54 years: ‘He says that he first noted warmer conditions in 1918, and since that time it has gotten steadily warmer.
'Where formerly great masses of ice were found, there are now moraines, accumulations of earth and stones. At many points where glaciers formerly extended into the sea they have entirely disappeared.’
As a result, the shoals of fish that used to live in these waters had vanished, while the sea ice beyond the north coast of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean had melted.
Warm Gulf Stream water was still detectable within a few hundred miles of the Pole.
In contrast, Prof Tsonis said, last week 56 per cent of the surface of the United States was covered by snow.
‘That hasn’t happened for several decades,’ he pointed out. ‘It just isn’t true to say this is a blip. We can expect colder winters for quite a while.’
He recalled that towards the end of the last cold mode, the world’s media were preoccupied by fears of freezing.
For example, in 1974, a Time magazine cover story predicted ‘Another Ice Age’, saying: ‘Man may be somewhat responsible – as a result of farming and fuel burning [which is] blocking more and more sunlight from reaching and heating the Earth.’
....According to Prof Gray, these distort the way the atmosphere works. ‘Most of the rise in temperature from the Seventies to the Nineties was natural,’ he said. ‘Very little was down to CO2 – in my view, as little as five to ten per cent.’
But last week, die-hard warming advocates were refusing to admit that MDOs were having any impact.
In March 2000, Dr David Viner, then a member of the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit, the body now being investigated over the notorious ‘Warmergate’ leaked emails, said that within a few years snowfall would become ‘a very rare and exciting event’ in Britain, and that ‘children just aren’t going to know what snow is’.
Now the head of a British Council programme with an annual £10 million budget that raises awareness of global warming among young people abroad, Dr Viner last week said he still stood by that prediction: ‘We’ve had three weeks of relatively cold weather, and that doesn’t change anything.
'This winter is just a little cooler than average, and I still think that snow will become an increasingly rare event.’
The longer the cold spell lasts, the harder it may be to persuade the public of that assertion.
Picture of David Viner freezing his ass off in the snow came from here.
The Curse Is Broken
The curse has been broken.
Someone must have brought the Holy Grail back to Camelot.
Maybe somebody helped Frodo the Hobbit throw that damn ring back into the fires of Mount Doom.
Was King Tut's mummy returned to Egypt?
Is there any better way to explain it? The Dallas Cowboys, who haven't won a playoff game since 1996, broke the curse.
Last night, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles 34-14.
Dang it, I've been winning bets off that losing streak for 10 years. My winnings are probably up to 3 grand by now. This year, thanks to some Cowboys diehard fans changing jobs, I wasn't able to get any money down on their playoff chances at the beginning of the season.
This is a good thing, because I didn't think they had a chance of winning a big one this year.
I don't think any other NFL General Manager has ever kept his job through this long of a losing streak, so congratulations to Jerry Jones for finally making it happen.
Or maybe Jerry didn't make it happen. Even a blind hog can find an acorn every now and then.
Go here to read outdated speculation about why the Cowboys used to be cursed, going back to November of '07. Basically I thought that ever since Jerry and the City of Arlington stole and bulldozed all those houses, they were cursed. Maybe not. Let's see how the do against Brett Favre (of The University Of Southern Mississippi) and the Minnesota Vikings.
Someone must have brought the Holy Grail back to Camelot.
Maybe somebody helped Frodo the Hobbit throw that damn ring back into the fires of Mount Doom.
Was King Tut's mummy returned to Egypt?
Is there any better way to explain it? The Dallas Cowboys, who haven't won a playoff game since 1996, broke the curse.
Last night, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles 34-14.
Dang it, I've been winning bets off that losing streak for 10 years. My winnings are probably up to 3 grand by now. This year, thanks to some Cowboys diehard fans changing jobs, I wasn't able to get any money down on their playoff chances at the beginning of the season.
This is a good thing, because I didn't think they had a chance of winning a big one this year.
I don't think any other NFL General Manager has ever kept his job through this long of a losing streak, so congratulations to Jerry Jones for finally making it happen.
Or maybe Jerry didn't make it happen. Even a blind hog can find an acorn every now and then.
Go here to read outdated speculation about why the Cowboys used to be cursed, going back to November of '07. Basically I thought that ever since Jerry and the City of Arlington stole and bulldozed all those houses, they were cursed. Maybe not. Let's see how the do against Brett Favre (of The University Of Southern Mississippi) and the Minnesota Vikings.
A warning about Christian Drum Circles
Here's a word of warning about Christian Drum Circles.
Repent now, while there's still time.
Picture of the (supposedly Pagan) drum circle came from here.
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