Not One Vote

The Heller decision is still reverberating and Glen Reynolds over at his Instapundit site makes the point

... What's most striking about Heller is that absolutely everybody -- majority and dissents -- says the Second Amendment protects an individual right.

Not one vote for the Schumer-Fienstien flat Earth militia only interpretation of the Second Amendment. WOW, that's going to hurt long after the dust settles. The 'collective rights' view has been the mainstay of gun-control groups for ages.

A point that was made in the Justice Scalia majority decision was

"It may be objected that if weapons that are most useful in military service—M-16 rifles and the like may be banned, then the Second Amendment right is completely detached from the prefatory clause. But as we have said, the conception of the militia at the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification was the body of all citizens capable of military service, who would bring the sorts of lawful weapons that they possessed at home to militia duty. It may well be true today that a militia, to be as effective as militias in the 18th century, would require sophisticated arms that are highly unusual in society at large. Indeed, it may be true that no amount of small arms could be useful against modern-day bombers and tanks. But the fact that modern developments have limited the degree of fit between the prefatory clause and the protected right cannot change our interpretation of the right."

Specific reference to the current military weapon, the M-16, in common use by the militia. Here the Justice is arguing that military style weapons are attached to the individual right and may not be banned, even if those weapons are succeeded by far more potent weaponry.

I also note, repeatedly the majority decision refers to 'weapons', not duck hunting guns.

California's Carbon Footprint

WOW - and it's a whopper. I wonder who is going to pay? Maybe we should bill the Governor.



In the last week of June 2008, California was the focal point of national fire activity. Over the first weekend of summer, record-breaking lightning activity in the state triggered hundreds of wildfires. Vegetation was dry due to months of drought, and some of the fires spread rapidly. As of June 26, the National Interagency Fire Center reported that 34 uncontained large forest fires were burning in the state, affecting nearly 190,000 acres. (That total does not count fires that are being allowed to burn with minimal management to benefit the ecosystem.)

This natural-color image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the state on June 25, 2008. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires are outlined in red. (It is likely that additional fires were burning but could not be detected because of the thick smoke.) Fire activity is concentrated in Northern California, and the Sacramento Valley is filled with gray smoke. However, the largest fire in the scene is the Indians Fire, which was burning south of Salinas. That blaze was nearly 60,000 acres as of June 26, and about 70 percent contained. Just to the northeast is the Basin Complex Fire, which was about 20,000 acres. In the previous 24 hours, it grew more than 7,000 acres, and it was only 3 percent contained.

Forecasters warned that hot weather and additional lightning storms were in the forecast for many areas during the upcoming weekend.

America's Energy Crisis

Has a one word cause Democrats.

Democrats sweating bullets. The leadership is desperate to avoid debating a Department of Interior spending bill, because they know Republicans will offer amendments lifting the drilling moratorium that may peel off some Democrats. Last week, Chairman David Obey shut down the Appropriations Committee rather than countenance more domestic energy production. Given Democratic energy illiteracy, this is a fight the GOP can win if it keeps up the pressure.

The WSJ has an opinion piece on the subject "Obama's dry hole".

Global Warming Debunked

The global warming hoax is all but finished off with this new research. The mathematical computation computer models that pass for global warming research are just that, they are computer models, they make predictions and no one verifies they actually predicted what happens on Earth. They have been making these predictions for 20 years. Well yes some have, and no the computer models don't match the real world, so that explains why you never hear about that fact.

In fact, nothing predicted by the computer models has been born out with empirical data. You would think after 20 years, that would bury the hoax.

This new paper establishes the computer modelers get the feedback effect precisely wrong. Feedback effects, in this case the models use positive feedback, are the computer modelers way of magnifying the trivial 20th century warming, less than one degree, into something threatening -- the in-famous hockey stick and it's friends. Without the positive feedback fudge factor, which is a rare and particularly destructive form of feedback not found very often in nature, the computer models would predict no warming, which is close to what has actually happened.

Why do the modelers do it, simple, 'nothing' is a whole lot less scary that what they are throwing around, is it not? The interesting point is even without the positive feedback fudge, the computer models do not predict the cooling trend that has happened over the last 10 years or so, which is further evidence of the models uselessness for real science -- Real science does not do predictions that's what astrologers do.

Paper Abstract .... Dr. Roy W. Spencer paper "Global Warming: Has the Climate Sensitivity Holy Grail Been Found?"

This article addresses new satellite and modeling evidence that previous satellite diagnoses of high climate sensitivity--which directly translate into predictions of dangerous levels of global warming--contain a large spurious bias. It is shown that those exaggerated estimates were the result of faulty assumptions regarding clouds when analyzing variations in average global temperature and average reflected sunlight off of the Earth.

Specifically, it has been assumed (explicitly or implicitly) that, for global averages on time scales of three months or more, temperature variations cause clouds to change, but that cloud variations do not cause temperature to change. But when properly filtered, the satellite data reveal evidence of cloud variations indeed causing temperature changes, and that this source of natural climate variability biases the estimate of climate sensitivity in the direction of a very sensitive climate system.

The new interpretation suggests a very low sensitivity. If the new sensitivity estimate is accurate, it would suggest only 0.5 deg. C of manmade warming by the year 2100. The new sensitivity estimate also suggests that warming over the last century can not be explained by human greenhouse gas emissions alone, but instead might require a mostly natural explanation.

Case closed, for normal people. You pols, carry on with the lies as long as you think you have any credibility left. Proceed at your own risk.

Maybe before we take the economies in the Western world into the toilet, we should have a little more real data and a whole lot less hype and unfounded speculation.

Another Successful Missile Defense Test

Missile defense success: First intercept of warhead after separating from missile

WASHINGTON — A U.S. missile defense system sought by several Middle East countries has intercepted a missile with a separating warhead.

A test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) successfully intercepted a warhead on June 25. Lockheed Martin

In the first such achievement, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, shot down a target warhead that separated from the booster missile.

The June 25 test, which took place at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii, marked the fifth successful intercept for the THAAD program in five attempts.

"The primary objective of this highly operationally realistic test was to demonstrate target acquisition, tracking and aimpoint selection by the avionics software contained in the THAAD interceptor, and to intercept a separating target," the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.

Not All Change is Change

Gateway Pundit has a piece about Ralph Peters and the silent story of Iraqi success and also looking at what change Comrade Obama really talking about. This for instance ... in his New York Post story Liars Round-up, comes this gem

Whopper No. 6: As president, Barack Obama would bring positive change to our foreign policy - and John McCain's too old to get it.

Hmm: Take a gander at Obama's senior foreign-policy advisers: Madeleine Albright (71), Warren Christopher (82), Anthony Lake (69), Lee Hamilton (77), Richard Clarke (57) .

Yes that's right, the brilliance of the people who brought us Iran as the world's terror state, Zimbabwe as the world's murdering Communist thug, and then there 9/11 and all it's runup for the USA, now want to try and do it all over again. And how many terror attacks have there been on the USA or USA interests aboard under Bush, since 9/11. Doesn't anyone think any more?

Peter's main thesis is Iraq's government has performed better than the US Congress, when you consider the people now rate Congress with 12% approval, it's not hard to reach that conclusion.

The North Pole Is Melting

Surprised scientists find that their theories of how undersea volcanoes were thought to behave were wrong. Even when the volcanoes are miles deep under water, they can violently erupt and spew rock, lava and huge quantities of hot gases of all sorts.

Even under the Arctic ice cap.

New evidence deep beneath the Arctic ice suggests that a series of underwater volcanoes have erupted in violent explosions in the past decade.

Hidden 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) beneath the Arctic surface, the volcanoes can range up to more than a mile (2 kilometers) in diameter and a few hundred yards (meters) tall. They formed along the Gakkel Ridge, a lengthy crack in the ocean crust where two rocky plates are spreading apart, pulling new melted rock to the surface.

Until now, scientists thought undersea volcanoes only dribbled lava from cracks in the seafloor. The extreme pressure from the overlying water makes it difficult for gas and magma to blast outward…..

Robert Reeves-Sohn of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and his colleagues discovered jagged, glassy fragments of rock scattered around the volcanoes, suggesting that explosive eruptions occurred between 1999 and 2001.

Now there is this standard disclaimer that any of these volcanoes could possibly have anything to do with the melting of Arctic ice is pure fiction, right? Huge volcanoes under the North Pole, melting the Arctic sea ice, naw couldn't be, could it? How would it warm the water it's so deep. I wonder, is the calderas still hot down there? Yes I know it sounds convoluted that volcanoes couldn't possible melt the ice above them and change the Arctic currents, but these days you have to be politically correct.

While much is made by the true believers and the media (yes, that was redundant, wasn't it?) about the melting of Arctic ice, very little is written about the rapidly growing Antarctic ice. And it is growing very rapidly, indeed. See for yourself: North Pole, South Pole. Here's the Southern anomaly. That is not a declining trend, folks.

News Flash: The Constitution Means What It Says

Heller says that there may not be bans on guns “typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.”

This should go a long way towards protecting the people's right to a proper battle rifle, like the AR-15. Throughout history civilian copies of all battle rifles have been made available to the people for their use.

It is now beyond dispute, in an American court, that self-defense is an inherent right, and that it is protected by the United States Constitution.

Quoted from SCOTUS Blog. Points Ben Winograd makes in his well worth the time to read, posting on the merits of the Heller decision.

Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion in yesterday's Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller is historic in its implications and exemplary in its reasoning.

A federal ban on an entire class of guns in ordinary use for self-defense – such as the handgun ban adopted by the District of Columbia – is now off the table. Every gun controller's fondest desire has become a constitutional pipe dream.

Now if we could only revise and extend the SC to the point where it debated the Constitution on every issue, then we would have something. This penumbra and emanations approach is damaging their credibility.

Read the rest here.

When will we see the ACLU defend this self defense right as vigorous as the defend the other? Doubful, it will be up to gun owners to continue the pursuit, and to push back the hoards, but, it's a good start.

SST Anomaly Chart

Current Operational SST Anomaly Charts for the year 2008

Click on the map to go to your region of interest.

For information about these images, go to the methodology

In 2005 at the end of June the SST chart shows the Caribbean sea in deep yellow, much warmer than today. The tropical storm formation area off of the coast of Africa is also quite abit cooler today thatn in June 2005. 2007 appears to have been a transition year, cooler than 2005, not quite as cool as today. How cool will it go? No one knows. The effect of the sun reducing it's spots sometime in late October 2005 is being felt now. The southern hemisphere is also quite a bit cooler than in June 2005. Leaving the influences of the sun out of AGW models is risky, as it very likely invalidates the whole computer model.

For comparison here is the June 28, 2005 static non-clickable gif.

Jive Talking

Here is how you define jive talking ...


Tell me nothing but lies

We Don't Want No Stinking Oil Wells Cluttering Up The Place

Coffee Prices, Searching For A Little Global Warming

The market is concerned that frost and extremely low temperatures in Brazil, which is entering the winter season, will damage coffee trees, Sette said. "In the short term, that's what has helped this market to increase."

It's winter in the southern hemisphere, looks like it's a bad one at that.

Read the rest here.

NewsBusted

Next

Watch Mayor Daley rant, rave and whine right here! Obligatory breathless twit reporterette.




These very same people think nothing about taking your rights away. Lunatics come in all colors.

Breaking: Second Amendment Decision

From the Syllabus of today’s majority opinion in Heller v. DC, written by Justice Scalia:

The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

The opinion of the Court is here. Note that the first part, the 'syllabus' is written by the reporter of decisions, the holdings are the part that binds future cases. The 'official' majority opinion begins with the statement Opinion of the Court, or with the dissents, the name of the Justice writing it. Note: 'Holding' is also used as 'Opinion of the Court' the part of a decision that binds future Courts, that's the official part of the decision.

Tom Goldstein - Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm.

Decision was 5-4, one vote away from Marxism. When you can read, you know what the Second Amendment meant, and it is a perfect barometer of the America rulers, not the people. Do these Democrat Marxist think that people are just going to roll over why they enslave the population with high taxes and crushing regulations?

UPDATE: Quotes from the opinion:

“Logic demands that there be a link between the stated purpose and the command.”

“We start therefore with a strong presumption that the Second Amendment right is exercised individually and belongs to all Americans.”

“the most natural reading of ‘keep Arms’ in the Second Amendment is to “have weapons.”

“The term was applied, then as now, to weapons that were not specifically designed for military use and were not employed in a military capacity.”

“Putting all of these textual elements together, we find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.“

So now the fight with the left will encompass what can be banned, restrictions on ammo, and other nonsensical harassment approaches to banning guns.

My question is why do the Democrat Marxists support gun bans in the first place?

UPDATE: The most troubling thing about the decision is reading the descent opinions. These people think the written US Constitution is meaningless and they can write what they want. As they proved in other decisions issued this week, where the liberal tripe was readily apparent.

Choose wisely this election, Comrade Obama is Marxist tyranny posing as just a friendly face.

What Do You Think They Mean

When the Democrat Marxists talk about dialing back emmissions to say 1918 levels, what exactly do you think they mean?

Canadian Health Care Lies In Ruins

Claude Castonguay, the father of the Canadian Health Care(Socialized Medicine) says the Canadian health care system lies in ruin.

Back in the 1960s, Castonguay chaired a Canadian government committee studying health reform and recommended that his home province of Quebec — then the largest and most affluent in the country — adopt government-administered health care, covering all citizens through tax levies.

The government followed his advice, leading to his modern-day moniker: "the father of Quebec medicare." Even this title seems modest; Castonguay's work triggered a domino effect across the country, until eventually his ideas were implemented from coast to coast.

Four decades later, as the chairman of a government committee reviewing Quebec health care this year, Castonguay concluded that the system is in "crisis."

And what is the solution he proposes to the 'crisis'?

"We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."

Privatization, that's what. So tell me once again why we should follow their lead, as the Democrat Marxists say we should?

What brought the failure? The same thing that causes failure with any system where it is all offered free, or appears to be free. That in turn causes infinite demand which cannot be met. The result is rationing, which just has to get more serve as demand for free does not moderate itself. In the end, collapse. The moderating factor for market based economies is the market. If goods or services become priced too high, this motivates new suppliers to enter the supply side and take part of the demand.

If you are waiting for your Canadian style health care, this IBD Commentary is a must read.

If price is too high, the supply is too low. Drill here drill now, pay less. Something even the densest no-drill Democrat Marxists should be able to understand, if they wanted to. The problem is the Marxists don't want to, they want control.

CentOS 5.2 Now Available

I use two distribution, Centos and Ubuntu. The latest Unbuntu, 8.04 is the best desktop yet, IMHO. For the server side, CentOS is used by many and is an ever popular server distribution. Personally I use Ubuntu server which has most of the features of RH EL without the cost. Ubuntu 8.04 server is particularly full featured, including Sun's ever popular Virtual Box VM engine.

Ubuntu is available here, the latest CentOS is available here. Both are quite a bit cheaper at free, than any of the alternatives. I think it's been free Linux which has made the Internet what it is today, and will propel it in the future. Even Sun is recognizing the power of free, it's good for business. Their new distribution, OpenSolaris, mimics the Ubuntu packages with a Solaris core.

Both come with Firefox 3, which is worth the effort to fetch, even if you run windows as your desktop. Get Firefox 3 here.

Gun Rights, Decision Tommorrow

Accroding to SCOTUSBlog the long awaited Heller 2nd Amendment rights decision will be issued tomorrow around 10:00 AM. Stay tuned to see if the Bill of Rights is still the Bill of Rights.

FPL, And Money For Green Energy

Look, from the outset, the whole of the "green push" has been marketing with no substance. Most of the crap being shovelled has been shovelled before, think Jimmy Carter and his disastrous Presidency, and the needed breakthroughs in terms of science and engineering have not happened. I bought my first miracle solar system in 1979, it didn't work, because the energy supplied never recovered the cost to build it. If I hadn't had a government grant for the whole cost, I would have never bought. Given that it was "free" to me at least, it did what it said it would, heated my hot tube and hot water heater. We lived in a "bright sunshine" cold area at the time, great for solar. But it sure wasn't the way to energy independence that Pres Carter said it would be. The program was terminated shortly after I bought in.

So now we are into the heavy marketing of "green" as big a scam as the global warming hoax itself. Business es see it as a 'selling point' to be green. Grocery stores 'going green' -- Does anyone stop and think what does that actually mean? Nothing, simply nothing. It's just marketing phrase-ology. Yes I actually asked at the local super, what does 'going green' mean? Paper or plastic was the best answer, and they were trying to cut energy costs, because they cut into the bottom line so badly under Democrat rule.

So who is surprised that FPL, my electric supplier, is using the 'green money' to tell people they are going green. Sort of like a loop if you ask me, you talk into one end and the answer, what you want to hear, comes out the other end. All smoke, no substance. You really didn't think a few bucks was actually going to do anything when power stations now cost billions?

Report: FPL green energy program misleading - Forbes.com

Nearly 39,000 Florida Power & Light customers gave the company $11.4 million over four years to develop green energy, but a report shows most of the money went toward administrative and marketing costs.

According to a 19-page report written by the staff of Florida's Public Service Commission, FPL's Sunshine Energy Program suffers from several problems and "does not currently serve the interest of the program's participants."

The voluntary program charges FPL customers $9.75 per month - on top of the regular energy bill - to help develop alternative power sources. Nearly 39,000 FPL customers participate in it.

According to FPL's web site, for every 10,000 subscribers, the company will develop 150 kilowatts of solar energy in Florida and buy 1,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy credits.

Public Service Commission staff said only 24 percent of the $11.4 million collected from customers went toward developing renewable energy. The rest went to marketing and administrative costs.

Get your energy credits right here, I have a book of renewable energy coupons that I sell for a few dollars a piece, no guarantee I will do anything, except spend the money telling you I spent your money.

Sheesh, how dumb are people.

Magic Energy Beans

In case you missed the first run of this horror show, here is a quick trip down memory lane, provided by the DOE. One of the worst four years in American history.

The solution to energy independence has always been simple, do what it takes to keep America supplied with energy. The problem has always been equally simple to define .. DEMOCRATS.

January 20, 1977
Jimmy Carter is inaugurated President.

February 2, 1977
President Carter signs the Emergency Natural Gas Act of 1977.

February 7, 1977
John F. O'Leary is named Administrator, Federal Energy Administration.

April 18, 1977
President Carter announces National Energy Plan in his first major energy speech. His plan calls for the establishment of an energy department.

August 4, 1977
President Carter signs the Department of Energy Organization Act. The Federal Energy Administration and Energy Research and Development Administration are abolished.

August 5, 1977
James R. Schlesinger is sworn in as first Secretary of Energy.

October 1, 1977
DOE is activated. Bringing together a score of organizational entities from a dozen departments and agencies, the new department is also given responsibility for the nuclear weapons program.

November 9, 1978
President Carter signs the National Energy Act, which includes the National Energy Conservation Policy Act, the Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act, the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act, the Energy Tax Act, and the Natural Gas Policy Act.

January 16, 1979
Shah flees Iran. Cessation of oil exports results in worldwide shortage of oil. Oil-consuming nations are using two million barrels of oil a day more than are being produced.

March 28, 1979
An accident occurs at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

April 5, 1979
President Carter, responding to growing energy shortages, announces gradual decontrol of oil prices and proposes windfall profits tax.

June 20, 1979
President Carter announces program to increase Nation's use of solar energy, including solar development bank and increased funds for solar energy research and development.

July 10, 1979
President Carter proclaims a national energy supply shortage and establishes temperature restrictions in nonresidential buildings.

July 15, 1979
President Carter declares energy to be the immediate test of ability to unite the Nation and proposes $88 billion decade-long effort to enhance production of synthetic fuels from coal and shale oil reserves.

August 24, 1979
Charles W. Duncan, Jr., is sworn in as second Secretary of Energy.

June 30, 1980
President Carter signs the Energy Security Act, consisting of six major acts: U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corporation Act, Biomass Energy and Alcohol Fuels Act, Renewable Energy Resources Act, Solar Energy and Energy Conservation Act and Solar Energy and Energy Conservation Bank Act, Geothermal Energy Act, and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Act.

The Next Intern ?

Still can't leave them young ones alone.

A Facebook page belonging to Avra Siegel, and bearing a picture profile that closely resembles the woman holding Clinton's hand, was taken down within an hour of her name being posted on TMZ.com.

Before it vanished, the profile showed Siegel was friends with the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea.

It also identified Siegel as being from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and an alumnus of New York University.

More here.

Obama is a Post Turtle

Following Obama's comments last week regarding small-town America, a journalist decided to criss-cross the country through the small towns of America to get their opinions. As the journalist was passing through a long desolate stretch of I-20 through Texas, he sees a rancher mending his barbed-wire fence..so he decides to stop and talk to the Texan.

Upon approaching the rancher, the journalist sees he is an older, gangly looking gentleman. Definitely weathered, but still working his ranch. The journalists introduces himself.

Journalist - Excuse me, sir?

Rancher - Howdy.

Journalist - I've been crossing the country to speak to our small-town Americans looking to get their reactions regarding Senator Obama's comments last week. You know, about being bitter and clinging to religion and their guns and what not? Would you care to comment.

Rancher - Sure. He's a post turtle.

Journalist - A what?

Rancher - A post turtle.

Journalist - Would you care to explain what that is?

Rancher - Sure. Well. You know how when you're driving down a country road..well, maybe you don't....but, as you're driving down a country road, you come across a fence post, much like this one here, with a turtle balancing on top of it. We call that a post turtle.

Journalist - Okay. But, what does that have to do with Senator Obama?

Rancher - Well. You know he didn't get up there by himself. You know he doesn't belong up there. He sure as hell doesn't know what to do now that he is up there, and, you just want to help the dumb ass get down on the ground where he belongs.

-----

That's the best explanation for Obama I have heard ... Don't know where this came from, it came to me in an e-amil from a friend.

Environmental Marxism

Just the latest chapter ... From Democrat Marxist mayors, not real mayors.

U.S. mayors urge cities not to use oil-sands-derived fuel

The Canadian Press

June 23, 2008 at 2:28 PM EDT

U.S. mayors have become the latest group trying to reduce the use of gasoline made with oil from Alberta's oil sands.

A resolution has passed at their annual conference in Miami that urges cities to forbid the use of such gasoline in municipal vehicles.

The resolution says development of fuel from the oil sands threatens forests and releases three times as much greenhouse gases as conventional oil.

It also says importing oil sands fuel slows the transition in the United States to cleaner energy sources.

U.S. federal legislation already prohibits the use of unconventional fuel that creates high greenhouse gas emissions, but officials have said those laws won't apply to the oil sands.

Other organizations such as airlines have also come under pressure to stop using fuel made from oil sands oil.

Newsbusted

Available from News Busters along with many other interesting tidbits of news and commentary.

Shifting Sands

With Oil's Rise, Floridians Shift on Drilling

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. -- Neighbors Jo Ellen Sharp and Kristin Jenkins stood beside each other after a day on the beach of this barrier island, divided by the thought that Florida's corner of the Gulf of Mexico could some day be dotted by gigantic oil rigs.

"This is such a big part of our economy and our lifestyle; nobody is going to come here if there is drilling," said Ms. Sharp, 39 years old, who runs a marketing firm with her husband.

Ms. Jenkins quickly cut in. "Do what you've got to do," the 35-year-old schoolteacher

First off oil production platforms are not gigantic, they wouldn't be noticed if they were five miles out, except by the fishermen who would frequent the fish attracting oil well production platforms. Second off, why are "gigantic oil rigs" offensive, yet truly gigantic windmills whacking birds right and left are beautiful? Me I see the stupid windmills as offensive, yet didn't that Gov Crist want windmills everywhere?

Newspaper Dinosaur Not Waiting For the Asteroid

Newspaper advertising revenue growth slowed in Q1 2008 by the largest amount since the Newspaper Association of America began measuring ad results back in 1971.

Total print and online ad revenue fell 12.8% to $9.2 billion in Q1 of this year compared to last according to figures released by the Newspaper Association of America. Classified ad revenue plummeted 25% during the same period to $2.5 billion and national ad revenue slid 9.5%.

Even online newspaper ad revenues couldn’t soften the fall. Growth in this area also slowed, rising just 7.2% to $804 million, a stark contrast to Q1 2007 which saw a 22% gain.

The damaging drops are forcing newspaper publishers to cut back on staff. As McClatchy Chief Executive Gary Pruitt explained, "The effects of the current national economic downturn -- particularly in real estate, auto and employment advertising -- make it essential that we move faster now to realign our work force and make our operations more efficient.”

More here. The DNCs drive media parrot is dying.

Environmental Marxism

You hear a lot of hype about global warming errr, climate change since it suddenly got cool because the sun didn't cooperate, but very little about the Environmental Marxism behind it Today's must read comes from the Canada Free Press

At a 2004 conference of the Russian National Academy of Sciences Sir David King, Chief Scientific Adviser to Tony Blair’s government made the startling statement that, “Global warming is worse than terrorism.” He was right, but not as he intended. The false premise promoted by the IPCC that human CO2 was causing global warming was being used to terrorize and undermine developed nations in pursuit of Maurice Strong’s goal of getting rid of them.

Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic, was the only world leader to openly understand the science and what Strong and his instrument the IPCC were about. He was also immediately aware of communism and recognized what is happening. In a 2008 article for The Australian he wrote,

“I am afraid there are people who want to stop the economic growth, the rise in the standard of living (though not their own) and the ability of man to use the expanding wealth, science and technology for solving the actual pressing problems of mankind, especially of the developing countries. This ambition goes very much against past human experience which has always been connected with a strong motivation to better human conditions. There is no reason to make the change just now, especially with arguments based on such incomplete and faulty science.” (The Australian)

Rather than summarize how Maurice Strong used the United Nations and specifically the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to achieve his goal of getting rid of the industrialized nations this final article examines the devastation it has already brought. Reports of the IPCC, falsely presented as based on science, were used to scare the world, initially about global warming and then climate change. Politicians caught up with the need to appear green grasped at the output of the IPCC. They were thus vulnerable and easily fooled because they didn’t understand and the entire objective of the IPCC was to mislead, misdirect and distort.

Confidence In Congress

We hear a lot about Bush's low approval rating, somewhere around 28%, but never seem to hear anything about how the Democrat Congress is doing. Well guess what, they are not doping very well. A new Gallup poll shows Confidence in Congress is now the lowest it has ever been for any Institution. It stands at a whopping 12 %. Yep, you read that right, 12 %.

Confidence in Congress: Lowest Ever for Any U.S. Institution
Just 12% of Americans express confidence in Congress

And who has run Congress for the last two years, yes that's right, the party of no name, The Democrat Marxists. It is beginning to appear that Marxism is not a big hit with the American people. Time for change, back to prosperity, back to Republican Congress.


The US military has a confidence of 71%.

Now that the war in Iraq has been won, Iraq's oil is coming to the world market at higher levels each month, near 50 million people are free, what's the Democrats to do. They have a three plank platform for 2008, raise taxes, raise taxes, and raise taxes. That's change.

Environmental Marxism, What Is It

One step definition ... Shell suspends Alaska offshore drilling plan

Shell says it's giving up on plans to drill in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea this year due to an unresolved court challenge. This marks the second straight year the Dutch oil giant has been forced to shelve its offshore drilling plans over the court case.

Shell said Friday it will not drill this year because an appeal court has yet to rule on whether U.S. government approval of the company's 2007-09 exploratory plan was proper.

I wonder, is the court waiting for Comrade Obama to redo the already plan and put the oil off limits? Or is the court delaying to let the plan jjust expire, only one year to go. Otherwise you see, the court might have to act as a foil for the oil companies, and you know how public sentiment is running right now. So this is how it works, the courts now can make the drill no-drill calls based on what? Obviously the courts vast understanding of the wildlife and the environmental Marxists needs. Nice little cozy picture.

Several groups argue industrial noise and potential spills court hurt migratory whales and the Beaufort Sea ecosystem. Shell intends to proceed with seismic testing in the Beaufort and the neighbouring Chukchi Sea.

Industrial noise is now the cause celeb, the caribou, seals and polar bears might hear something. Aren't we keen on the animals, just not so keen on humans. The usefulness of the polar is to block these drilling operations. Modern drilling has no interference with wildlife, like on the Alaska North Slope, wildlife finds the drill rigs and pipelines a warming influence and helps to multiply the species.

Down the road in Canada, they are pursuing their fossil fuel resources, right in the same areas. All being done in an environmentally sensitive manner, without any concern for the noise that might interfere with the wildlife, or that fact that an animal might see a drill rig. So how much interference with human life is it going to take, before the humans tell the environmental Marxist to stuff it?

Fluorescent Bulb Idiocy

Democrat Marxism. Here are the rules for disposal -- the bulbs contain mercury, you better be prepared by reading the Environmental Protection Agency’s lengthy clean-up process.

2000 Years of North Icelandic Sea Surface Temperatures

Here is a link to Jennifer Marohasy's blog. She has a great post about a new paper with details of 2000 years of North Icelandic Sea Temperatures.

A chart from the post:
Can you see the warming trend? Me either.

Congress Cannot Deflect The Blame

IBD editorial, must read.

First, Democrats dishonestly blamed oil companies for overcharging. Now they falsely accuse them of keeping their high-priced oil off the market. With public support for drilling growing, Congress is panicked.

As well they should be, the blame is with the Democrats in Congress. The Democrats have blocked oil exploration and drilling, blocked new refineries and blocked new nuclear power stations. And now these same Democrats tell us the answer is windmills. Well I have news for them, has anyone seen one of these monstrous windmills lately, their gargantuan size, the noise they make, some alternative to a small oil well near silent pumping a way. An oil well has a much less intrusive footprint than one of these stupid windmills.

The old drive-by parrot can no longer bottle up the truth leaving people to believe the lies and propaganda the Democrats spew packaged as truth -- The AP is the worst of the lot, I doubt the AP know how to report the truth. The AP has become nothing more than the DNC house organ.

President Bush asks Congress Wednesday to lift the 1981 drilling ban on offshore oil well exploration and drilling. The no-drill Democrats will call it flip-flopping. Drill here, drill now, pay less, change you can believe in.

Democrat Marxist Goals Made Simple

Change, the translated version

Iraq Oil

Notice how the drive-by media is playing the Iraq story, by ignoring it. Now that success has come, the drive-by media has moved on, pumping their chosen Comrade and hoping to sell their counterfeit American to an unsuspecting public. Iraq is but a distant memory. The drive-by media and the Democrat Marxist party think just because the polls show, don't you love polls, that a high percentage of American voters think Iraq was a mistake, comes word that Iraq has lots of oil, much of it unknown before the freeing of Iraq from the slavery of Saddam Husein.

The polls are figments of the minds of deranged Democrats and their eneblers the drive-by parrots in the media. One thing with polls, they can change suddenly.

The International Herald Tribune has this story today about what is taking place regarding Iraq's oil. No they haven't got an oil deal amongst themselves yet, revenue sharing is still the stuck point, but they are pursuing the development and increase in production -- They need the money additional oil sales will bring in. Some choice quotes, while navigating around the BS ...

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq's Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq's largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

The U.S. oil companies return to Iraq looks promising, Iraq knows U.S. technology is the best there is.

The Iraqi government's stated goal in inviting back the major companies is to increase oil production by half a million barrels per day by attracting modern technology and expertise to oil fields now desperately short of both. The revenue would be used for reconstruction, although the Iraqi government has had trouble spending the oil revenues it now has, in part because of bureaucratic inefficiency.

Translation, Iraq wants the money added sales will bring in, and why not.

The Iraqi Oil Ministry, through a spokesman, said the no-bid contracts were a stop-gap measure to bring modern skills into the fields while the oil law was pending in Parliament.

It said the companies had been chosen because they had been advising the ministry without charge for two years before being awarded the contracts, and because these companies had the needed technology.

A Shell spokeswoman hinted at the kind of work the companies might be engaged in. "We can confirm that we have submitted a conceptual proposal to the Iraqi authorities to minimize current and future gas flaring in the south through gas gathering and utilization," said the spokeswoman, Marnie Funk. "The contents of the proposal are confidential."

While small, the deals hold great promise for the companies.

Sets up the obvious, which is developing the newly discovered oil fields which some say bring Iraq into the lead position worldwide with oil reserves. Estimates range to a high of about 1.5 times the reserves of Saudi Arabia.

The impact, experts say, could be remarkable increases in Iraqi oil output.

And that my friends is the goal for everyone.

Oh yeah, about that counterfeit American, the Kenyan Marxists Comrade Obama, that's a no sale as well, just wait.

Marxism Is What It Is

The mask slips once again.

Democrat Marxism in it's full throated yell ... Bend over.

House Democrats call for nationalization of refineries

Read it all, and you will see what is planned by Comrade Obama, the Democrat Marxists in Congress are just jumping the gun. What's the difference between this a government run health care? Or government run education? See the problem?

Link: sevenload.com

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. -- Ronald Reagan

This is the Hugo Chavez model, who stole it from Democrat Jimmy Carter, although Carter was into distribution not refining.

Ever wonder why the only one who can sue the oil companies on behalf of the environment are the eco-Marxists -- Why is that, because Congress granted them standing to do so, no other group has standing. This is Marxism.

BTW, Rep Hinchey is a nut-case, but he does expose what is likely being talked about in the Democrat Marxist cloakrooms, following the model put forth by Hugo Chavez. MArxism is what it is, and the Democrats have it bad.

Nuclear Power

Face it, the only viable alternative to coal fired power plants are nuclear power plants. Noen of the other technologies produce eneough power to even make adent in what is required to replace coal, no matter how much braying the moonbats do. NONE. So itf CO2 reduction is your religion, you either worship at the alter of nuclear power, or go live in your cave somewhere. Society is not going to destroy modern lifestyles for a hoax. Just not going to happen.

Heritage Foundation: Road to Clean Air Runs Through Yucca Mountain

Politicians have a knack for saying one thing and doing another.

Take their seemingly never-ending preaching over CO2. The world is in peril without major action, we’re told. According to Al Gore, we’ve never faced a greater threat, which ought to come as news to any veteran of World War II.

What is Washington’s response?

"America’s Climate Security Act," which the Senate recently debated. Sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va., it would mandate economy-busting caps on emissions and push subsidies for failed technologies. Add in some energy rationing, and you have Washington’s global-warming policy.

But there are ways to reduce greenhouse gases without wrecking the economy. Nuclear energy, for one, affordably can meet growing energy demand without emitting pollution or carbon dioxide.

But politicians, led by those from Nevada, are standing in the way. A major obstacle to commencing the nuclear renaissance remains the failure to open the nation’s repository for spent nuclear fuel at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. Yucca is more than a decade behind schedule. Even if it were given a green light today, it would remain about a decade from opening.

Delaying Yucca has unintended consequences for Nevada and the nation. Opposition to Yucca has made building nuclear plants much more difficult. By hamstringing America’s energy options, obstructionist politicians are forcing fossil fuel plant construction when utilities might have chosen to build emissions-free nuclear.

But the past is past. Opening Yucca now would lead to a cleaner future.

Nuclear power, which provides about 20 percent of the nation’s electricity, has off-set millions of tons of CO2 and pollutants that would have been fossil-fuel power plants. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, had America’s reactors not been operating, approximately 48 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 19 million tons of nitrogen oxides and 8.7 trillion tons of carbon dioxide would have been emitted since 1995.

In other words, by obstructing Yucca and, thus, nuclear power, these politicians, well-intentioned though they may be, are causing the very pollution they claim to deplore. This should outrage America. Yet the Yucca opposition continues to succeed in blurring the contradictory aims of its energy and environmental agendas.

For example, environmental groups in 2003 lauded Nevada Sen. Harry Reid for voting to cap CO2 emissions. But his anti-Yucca stance virtually assures that more fossil-fuel plants will be built.

Ironically, cap-and-trade schemes such as the one put forth in the Lieberman-Warner climate-change bill disproportionately will harm states such as Nevada that derive nearly all of their electricity (88.9 percent in Nevada) from fossil fuels.

Unfortunately, the debate over Yucca is at a stalemate. For many, it has become personal. But nuclear energy’s potential and Yucca Mountain are too important to America’s future. It’s time to put the political positioning and personal rancor aside.

The debate needs to shift to the potential that Yucca provides Nevada. It’s a valuable resource that could be leveraged to attract high-paying, long-term jobs.

The reality is that a nuclear resurgence will require a broad industrial and technological expansion. It is about enriching uranium, fabricating fuel, recovering valuable resources from spent fuel and recycling it and researching and developing new technologies.

All of this can be done safely and in Nevada. The state could become the Simi Valley of the nuclear renaissance.

By opposing the Yucca project, Nevada lawmakers not only deny Nevadans the economic benefit of a robust nuclear industry, but they deny the rest of the country the clean-air benefits of nuclear power. Without nuclear construction, demand will be met with more coal- and gas-fired power plants — and electricity rationing.

Nuclear power also would help locales meet stringent state and federal clean-air mandates, with which many struggle.

"Renewable" energy, such as wind and solar, simply cannot affordably meet the 40 percent increase in electricity demand that America will face over the next 25 years. No politician seriously can oppose nuclear power while advancing a clean-air agenda and expect the lights to stay on.

Ultimately, the road to cleaner air must run through Yucca Mountain. The choice, then, is clear. Nuclear energy, carbon dioxide or the lights go out. What’s it gonna be?

CO2 Chases Away The Sunspots

Scientists not sure why Sun ‘continues to be dead’

My guess is that this is just another phenomenon like hurricanes, floods, droughts, and snow in Baghdad, that can be traced back to human-generated CO2 increases.

Fortunately, the Carbon Tax proposed by Rep. John Dingell, et al, will probably cause sunspots to return soon... maybe not in as many numbers as before, but before the sun goes out forever.

Meanwhile, earth remains in a cooling phase oddly coincidental with the sunspot decrease. This proves that CO2 is driving climate change since it causes sunspot decreases which have been linked to a cooling climate.

No longer can we just talk about global warming attributed to anthropogenic CO2 increases. We must now speak about Climate Change... either warming or cooling causes by driving SUVs.

The debate is over!

.. Stolen post from here. I couldn't stop laughing, the reasoning is so spot on.

Firefox 3 Is Here

Download here, be part of history.

Somebody Been Illegally Idling Their Car?

Or do you think it is one of those pesky bonfires in Washington ... The global warming horror of it all, but no it's a wildfire in North Carolina sparked by lightening. Come to think of it, we have one burning for months just down the road, also set by lightening. Finally the rains came and doused part of it, so the smoke has gone away for now.


Plumes of smoke rise from a wildfire raging in peatlands near the North Carolina coast in a June 7, 2008, satellite image.

On June 11, 2008, the blaze became the largest active wildfire in the U.S., and officials say it could burn for months unless the region gets the type of heavy rain that usually accompanies a tropical storm.

More here.

Drill, Drill, Drill -- Pay Less

Some iteresting question to add to your quiver when confronting a global warming hoaxer. The answers will make no sense to them, but then agiain the hoax makes no sense either. Earth's fever has broken but CO2 contunies to rise....

Q: Does carbon dioxide cause global warming?
A: Increases in carbon dioxide have been proven to follow temperature increases, not lead them. Even the graph presented in Al Gore’s fictional film, An Inconvenient Truth, show that temperatures spike ahead of carbon dioxide.

Q: Why isn’t the sun taken into consideration as a factor in the planet’s climate?
A: The sun should be taken into consideration. Solar Cycle 24 is off to a very slow start, resulting in almost no sunspots. The Earth has shown a dramatic cooling during this same period, which could easily be attributed to the lack of solar activity even while greenhouse gases continue to mount.

Q: If all global warming deniers are shills for big oil, aren’t scientists that find man to be the cause of global warming just shills for the government?
A: Many scientists do receive their funding from the government. Continued research that determines anthropogenic global warming allows those scientists to continue receiving their grants, and keeps them in a job.

Q: If the threat of global warming is so dire, why can the rich always buy themselves out of adhering to the “green” lifestyle rather than having to sacrifice like everyone else? A total reduction in carbon emissions, rather than a cap-and-trade system, would take care of the problem quicker.
A: The rich shouldn’t be able to buy themselves out of reducing carbon. This is a total scam to allow those with lots of available capital to make the reduction of carbon someone else’s problem.

Q: The Medieval Warm Period was actually warmer than today with no carbon emissions from humans. How do you explain that?
A: It can’t be explained, at least in terms of anthropogenic origins. While the period of warmth was large enough to not be an anomaly, science just doesn’t know how global warming happened during that period of time. It certainly wasn’t at the hands of man.

Q: In light of evidence that carbon dioxide isn’t prevalent enough in our atmosphere to truly cause any harm, that the sun plays a large part in contributing to our climate and that the planet hasn’t warmed since 1998, why won’t Al Gore debate the issue instead of ducking questions?
A: Because he knows he’s wrong and global warming is nothing but a tax and power grab.

Source

Sun Now

EIT 304

Click for source
The cause of all Earth's global warming.

Images: From left to right: EIT 171, EIT 195, EIT 284, EIT 304

EIT (Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope) images the solar atmosphere at several wavelengths, and therefore, shows solar material at different temperatures. In the images taken at 304 Angstrom the bright material is at 60,000 to 80,000 degrees Kelvin. In those taken at 171 Angstrom, at 1 million degrees. 195 Angstrom images correspond to about 1.5 million Kelvin, 284 Angstrom to 2 million degrees. The hotter the temperature, the higher you look in the solar atmosphere.

Visit SOHO Explore! to learn more about the Sun.

Explains A Lot

Drill here, drill now -- Pay Less!!!

USA Energy Independence

"The liquid hydrocarbon fuel available from American coal reserves exceeds the crude oil reserves of the entire world." --- Dr. Arthur Robinson

If I hear one more inane Democrat Marxist's comment about how we need to be energy independent, I am going to puke on the TV. American Thinker has a top ten list of why to blame Democrats for the oil price crisis, followed by this article by Dr. Arthur Robinson at Human Events.

Thunder Horse May Gallop Soon

The Thunder Horse production platform located at the Thunder Horse filed, is about ready to begin production. That could add about 250,000 barrels per day to the nations oil output if all goes to plan.

The Thunder Horse field is in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 778 and 882, 150 miles (241 km) southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. When operational, the Thunder Horse semisubmersible will be the largest production semi ever built and one of the Gulf of Mexico's largest producers. Thunder Horse is designed to process 250,000 b/d of oil and 200 MMcf/d of natural gas, drawn from 25 subsea wells. BP is the operator of Thunder Horse and owns a 75 percent interest, with ExxonMobil holding the remaining 25 percent.

More here.

UPDATE: It's alive after a string of setbacks, BP is producing oil and gas from an initial well at its Thunder Horse site in the Gulf of Mexico and plans to add additional wells at the site later this year, spokesman Daren Beaudo said.

Communist

"Ignorance. the most expensive commodity produced by mankind"
----- Rush Limbaugh from his radio show


“This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.” –Che Guevara

Probably not what the waifs had in mind, but it is what Che Guevara had in mine. I doubt they know. He was after all a murdering communist counterculturist, that means he was a murdering tyrant in waiting. Waiting while he convinced enough stooges to follow him and crown him king. Sorta like a Fidel without a country, yet.





If you believe that Cuba is a prosperous place with a burgeoning economy and wonderful health care, as the America Marxists like to portray it is, then I have some swamp land I would like you to look at, as soon as the tide goes out. Because you really are a fool.

So why would Comrade Obama have Che look-a-like tees on his website for sale?

They're Number One

WE'RE NUMBER TWO!

China has now clearly overtaken the United States as the world's leading emitter of climate-warming gases, a new study has found. The increasing emissions from China - up 8 percent in the past year - accounted for two-thirds of the growth in global greenhouse gas emissions in 2007, the study found.

Been this way for some time, but it's nice the drive-by media is finally on board with the obvious. Another hoax dispelled.

Now if CO2 really were climate changing gas, that would be news. Did anybody in the drive-by media learn about photosynthesis when they were in school? Probably not.

Posuer Wearing Gloves

Who the hell wears gloves to lift a few shovel fulls of sand for the camera? Only a Marxist poseur that's who.

Caption the kids thought bubble.

Doesn't this remind you of the old times when the Soviet Union was till around and you saw the Politburo member posing for the camera, takes off his coat, puts on gloves, shovels twice says have fun now, leaves quickly. Comrade Obama must have studied the act.

Ulysses Mission Ends

Ulysses ends its career after revealing that the magnetic field emanating from the sun's poles is much weaker than previously observed. This could mean the upcoming solar maximum period will be less intense than in recent history.

-- NASA



After 17 years of service studying our star, so long old friend. Here is the main website where you can read about the history and science. Ulysses has changed the way we see our star forever and how it interacts with the surrounding universe.

Get This Crap Out Of My Gasoline

There is a point to be made, anyone with a little science background could have told you that adding 10% ethanol to gasoline will reduce the BTUs in the gasoline by about 3-5% closer to the 5% figure. It's actually elemental, the BTUs go down, the energy goes down, the mileage goes down.

The local gas stations have switched to E10 blend gas and the results are dismal. I've noticed a 2-mile per gallon decrease in fuel efficiency using the ethanol-laced E10 gas. Friends have noticed the same. It's costing significantly more to use the stuff. Where I was getting about 30+ mpg on my usual commute, using E10 my mpg now barely breaks 28 mpg, a 7% drop. The price is the same. So much for the plan to stretch fuel, by adding food, if you add 10% Ethanol at the same price and lose 7% in mileage, sounds to me like this is a loser for the people big time.

With a worldwide oil shortage this has got to rank right up there with dumb. Shouldn't we be trying to stretch our oil supply not use it up faster?

Meanwhile, back at Congress, most of America's oil reserves remain locked up by the Democrat Marxists in Congress. Would someone tell me why people vote for these fools? A planned Marxist economy is only for fools, not educated people.

Congress' Crude Squeeze

Read about what the real problem with energy is in the US market. We could be energy independent, if Congress would let us.

The biggest obstacle to putting more domestic oil in the pipeline is not economics or tech hurdles, though. It is the pro-OPEC, Democratic-majority, maddeningly irrational U.S. Congress. Oil companies, whose investments in the Bakken Formation have been stranded, are hamstrung by a congressional moratorium on developing oil shale fields on federal lands, where much of the crude is found.

Why are we shipping $100s of billions to terror states when there is no need? Ask the nearest Democrat Marxist for the answer.

Comrade Obama Makes Shocking Confession

Comrade says he is inexperienced ... but he gained the needed experience where? It sure wasn't in picking and vetting people for positions on his campaign.

Something for Comrade's FightTheSmear To Check Out

Apparently Comrade Obama's half brother didn't get the memo or wasn't on the list, don't know how they work this over in Kenya, may not even have email. But this definitely needs correcting

Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background.

In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya.

More here. I hope they track Malik down post haste and put an end to this deadly smear campaign.

You see, a smear to a Democrat Marxist is telling the truth about them. Swiftboating a Democrat Marxists is telling the truth about them. All very odd.

I wonder if Comrade Obama wants to share his Muslim background with America? More here.


Barack and Malik Obama, circa 1985 (when the former was about 24)


Obama and Raila Odinga part of the corrupt Marxist government of Kenya.

A Marxist Muslim ruler, just what America needs.

How The Sun Used To Be

An EIT 304Å image captures a pair of curving erupting prominences on 28 June 2000 -- Prominences are huge clouds of relatively cool dense plasma suspended in the Sun's hot, thin corona. At times, they can erupt, escaping the Sun's atmosphere. Emission in this spectral line shows the upper chromosphere at a temperature of about 60,000 degrees K. Every feature in the image traces magnetic field structure. The hottest areas appear almost white, while the darker red areas indicate cooler temperatures.

We miss you, some are saying you are dead.

Jimmy Carter Endorsed Obama, Before He Didn't

Former President Jimmy Carter, on November 30, 2006, asked about a presidential run by Barack Obama:

"I just don't think he's got yet the proven substance or experience to be president."

Carter endorsed Obama on June 3. 2008.

Did Jimmy Carter actually get one thing right?

Message For McCain, Harsh Words To Follow

A great editorial from the Wall Street Journal this morning. Target audience, the Arizona Senator who thinks ANWR is just like the Grand Canyon, the reasoning is mostly nonsensical, the article closes with a blunt message --

Recent weeks have seen some GOP stirrings on Capitol Hill, but John McCain has so far refused to jettison his green posturings, such as his belief in carbon caps and his animus against offshore development. A good reason for a rethink would be $4 gas. At present, it is charitable to call Mr. McCain's energy ideas incoherent, and it may cost him the election.

Amid $135 oil, it ought to be an easy, bipartisan victory to lift the political restrictions on energy exploration and production. Record-high fuel costs are hitting consumers and business like a huge tax increase. Yet the U.S. remains one of the only countries in the world that chooses as a matter of policy to lock up its natural resources. The Chinese think we're insane and self-destructive, while the Saudis laugh all the way to the bank.

The whole of the 'shortage is politically contrived, to try and make people think 'peak oil'. There is no peak oil, there is plenty of oil worldwide, in particular in the US, there is just political roadblocks and obstructions put up by the Democrat Marxists preventing recovery and refining. The left has been hard at work for thirty years preventing drilling, preventing building new refineries, prevent nuclear power plant construction, in fact doing all they can to prevent construction of new coal power plants.

.....

About 72% of all US energy is domestically supplied or produced, the rest is imported, mostly transport fuels. There are enough energy sources in the US for 100% domestic production, there is no need to send billions, no hundreds of billions of dollars to terror states -- None whatsoever.

The crap about energy independence is just another lie told by the left to control the economy. Do you know how much coal the US has that can be used for energy production? Do you know how clean our coal power plants are compared to other nations? Did you know that electricity is the dominate energy in the US, which can easily be produced with no CO2 discharge and much cheaper than any other? Nuclear produced electric power is about 1.3 the next best alternative. The Environmental Marxists are doing all they can to drive that cost up with various roadblocks, nonsense requirements and other legal means.

All for the worshippers of the God Gaia. Your life is empty without a God to worship, so the Envirommneatl Marxists invented their own.

Oil Not Flowing? Maybe Someone is blocking Your Hose?

Cap and Trade == Tax and Spend
Pay no attention to who is causing the real problems. Cartoon credit Red Planet Cartoons.

ANWR Exploration
House Republicans: 91% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Coal-to-Liquid
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 78% Opposed

Oil Shale Exploration
House Republicans: 90% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Exploration
House Republicans: 81% Supported
House Democrats: 83% Opposed

Refinery Increased Capacity
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 96% Opposed

Who wants to expand the US economy and who wants to shut it down. Easy to see from this chart isn't it. Tell the Democrat Socisailist in Congress you want none of their energy rationing by denial plan.

DRILL HERE - DRILL NOW

Messiah Left His Teleprompter Home

This is what you must consider as deep thought, something it would not be possible for President Bush to come up with.


I am sure he would do fine as President, of oh, ... can't think of the name right off the top.

Suppose Sen McCain had said this identical thing?

...the power which has always started the greatest religious and political avalanches in history rolling has from time to immemorial been the magic of power of the spoken word, and that alone.

Particularly the broad masses of the people can be moved only by the power of speech. -- Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf.

While you are here, take a look at this post at American Thinker.

Environmental Socialism

The socialist kooks never stop, never go away, they just keep coming after the fruits of YOUR labor. The next act looks like it will be Comrade Obama's Collectivist, er sorry that's just Harvard speak for Communist, tour, trying the same thing.

Pay more in taxes and government will pretend to control the weather. OK, so why don't they just pretend to control the weather without new taxes?

Eventually even the most ignorant will understand it's a scam.

You think I'm kidding about more taxes, the Democrat Socialist in Congress just passed there blueprint which calls for a cool $3.5 TRILLION dollars in new taxes. Wait until they add reparations to that total, and then tack on the "climate taxes for good measure. Bye bye freedom, liberty and America. Don't know about you, but I am not going to work for the collective. I am going to feed off the riches just like the other free loaders. Yeah baby, going to get mine before you ...

Tax And Spend Returns With A Vengeance

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
--- Karl Marx

Short post about the lies Democrats tell. Question, who is going to pay all these new taxes? Well you are. If you think the crap about taxing the rich is going to hold, I have some Florida swamp land I would like to talk to you about buying, it's a good deal, it's zoned National Park, you can get it cheap ... Today only sale so come quick.

Heritage senior policy analyst Brian Riedl has taken a close look at the budget passed by Congress this week and notes that it:

* Assumes tax increases topping $3 trillion over the next decade, or $3,135 per household annually
* Includes 64 reserve funds that could be used to raise taxes by hundreds of billions more
* Increases discretionary spending by 8 percent for the second consecutive year and does not terminate a single wasteful program
* Completely ignores the impending explosion of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid costs
* Creates rules that bias the budget toward tax increases
* Assumes that Congress will violate its own PAYGO rules

It is hard to choose which of these is the worst aspect of the budget. Is it the growth killing tax raise? The runaway spending? The continued refusal to deal with the reality of the coming entitlement nightmare? Or maybe it is the fact that Democrats just outright lied to the American people when they promised pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budgeting that would prevent new deficit spending.

I chose the latter, they lied. Democrat Socialists always lie, it's all they know how to do. Hey, Nan, about that gas price decrease? You making any headway on that? You even trying to do anything except blame the oil companies? How about we drill a few wells and put in some new refineries. Haven't done that in thirty years, what you waiting for? 85% of the US coastline is off limits to oil exploration and production and about 65% of the land area. We can't do coal to liquids, Democrat Socialists blocked that, can't do oil shale, Democrat Socialists blocked that.

But the Democrat Socialists sure can raise taxes ... Soviet style communism was a failure, only because they run out of money before they achieved their utopia. I wonder why that happened. Now all Comrade Obama needs to do is come up with the appropriate salute to recognize his superior intellect at saying nothing better than anyone has ever said nothing before. I would recommend the NAZI salute, but that might be a little too much right off the bat.

Hey hey, ho ho, wholly cow where did the economy go. Democrat Socialists don't care about America, you, your family or their well being, they only care about their power.

Hurricane Drones

US researchers are ramping up their use of unmanned, remote-controlled airplanes this year to penetrate the heart of Atlantic hurricanes in the hope of learning more about what makes the giant storms tick.

But they will be flying the rugged drones from the eastern Caribbean island of Barbados because American aviation authorities won't let them launch the tiny aircraft from US soil out of concern they could endanger other planes.

Nonetheless, storm researchers are confident their drones, which resemble hobbyists' model airplanes but can be controlled by satellites, will give them a more complete picture of the core of cyclones than they've ever had before.

The drones can fly into the eye of a storm just 300 feet above the sea surface and send back a constant stream of temperature, pressure, wind and humidity readings.

"It can get measurements we couldn't get otherwise," said Joe Cione, a research meteorologist with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"That area of the storm is critical because that's where the maximum winds are. It will give us a better understanding of where the energy is extracted out of the sea."

Made by Australia's Aerosonde Pty Ltd and worth between $50,000 and $80,000, the unmanned aircraft measure just 2.1 metres long, with a 2.7-metre wingspan, and weigh only 12.7 kg.