Friday, January 30, 2009
How The Second Amendment Was Won
Even if you are concerned for your gun rights, make time to read Brian Doherty's history of the Heller case. It gives a quick run-down of how the case came to be and the numerous near-misses it had along the way.
You have to wonder if there was some self interest in keeping a cloud over the second amendment issue for NRA fund raising purposes. Don't know, but it is interesting how the NRA may have nearly lost the second amendment, by not vigorously pursuing in court it's defense. Four Justices did after all, vote against what is clearly an enumerated right in the Bill of Rights.
Particularly troubling is how the NRA played an obstructionist role in an effort to block Heller in the early stages, out of apparent fear that the time wasn't right for a Second Amendment challenge.
The Heller case quickly found a powerful opponent in the
National Rifle Association. This surprises nearly every layman I
discuss the case with, most of whom assume the NRA was behind the
lawsuit in the first place. The Parker lawyers received
backroom visits from allies of the NRA before their case was filed,
discouraging them from going forward. The Supreme Court (which still
had Sandra Day O’Conner back then) would not reliably deliver a
victory, they argued, and an authoritative statement from the Supremes
that the Second Amendment did not protect an individual right could
prove devastating to the long-term cause.
National Rifle Association. This surprises nearly every layman I
discuss the case with, most of whom assume the NRA was behind the
lawsuit in the first place. The Parker lawyers received
backroom visits from allies of the NRA before their case was filed,
discouraging them from going forward. The Supreme Court (which still
had Sandra Day O’Conner back then) would not reliably deliver a
victory, they argued, and an authoritative statement from the Supremes
that the Second Amendment did not protect an individual right could
prove devastating to the long-term cause.
Concluding, Doherty says:
The Heller case was a prime example of how calm, dedicated,
and strategic thinking on the part of crusaders for smaller government
can achieve real and (probably) lasting victories. Fighting against
even those who should have been their staunchest allies, Levy and his
team of libertarian lawyers watched the zeitgeist, crafted a smart
(though risky) strategy, and won.
An excellent book.and strategic thinking on the part of crusaders for smaller government
can achieve real and (probably) lasting victories. Fighting against
even those who should have been their staunchest allies, Levy and his
team of libertarian lawyers watched the zeitgeist, crafted a smart
(though risky) strategy, and won.
You have to wonder if there was some self interest in keeping a cloud over the second amendment issue for NRA fund raising purposes. Don't know, but it is interesting how the NRA may have nearly lost the second amendment, by not vigorously pursuing in court it's defense. Four Justices did after all, vote against what is clearly an enumerated right in the Bill of Rights.
Hyperinflation Is Coming
Hyperinflation is Coming! Weimar Republic of Germany. Obama-inflation Socialist States of America
New bank bailout could cost up to $2 trillion:
U.S. government officials seeking to revamp the financial bailout have discussed spending another $1 trillion to $2 trillion to help restore banks to health, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The paper said the Barack Obama administration could announce its plans within days but has not yet determined the final shape of its new proposal, and the exact details could change.
The administration is also seeking more effective ways to pump money into banks, and is considering buying common shares in the banks, according to the paper.
New bank bailout could cost up to $2 trillion:
U.S. government officials seeking to revamp the financial bailout have discussed spending another $1 trillion to $2 trillion to help restore banks to health, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The paper said the Barack Obama administration could announce its plans within days but has not yet determined the final shape of its new proposal, and the exact details could change.
The administration is also seeking more effective ways to pump money into banks, and is considering buying common shares in the banks, according to the paper.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Custom Firefox Toolbars
Great detailed tutorial on how to create a custom Firefox Toolbar: BornGeek.com has very elaborate tutorial on how to create your very own Firefox toolbar.
Toolbars as branding is becoming quite common if little known technology. The usefulness to both the user and owner is not completely understood yet, but looks promising. Brand Thunder is one such outfit specializing in toolbar branding.
One of the best design toolbars is the Firefox extension Web Developer.
For instance, how hard would it be to design a toolbar for PajamasMedia? hmmm, may give that a try myself.
Toolbars as branding is becoming quite common if little known technology. The usefulness to both the user and owner is not completely understood yet, but looks promising. Brand Thunder is one such outfit specializing in toolbar branding.
One of the best design toolbars is the Firefox extension Web Developer.
For instance, how hard would it be to design a toolbar for PajamasMedia? hmmm, may give that a try myself.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
James Madison
“Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.” — James Madison
A Vision Test For CO2 Belivers
Dr Roy Spencer has a thorough vision test for the true believers, here.
Al Gore Is Coming To Town
After some delay, today is supposed to be the day when Al Gore blows hot air up John Kerry's kilt in the Senate. Visions of trillions of new taxes dancing in their tiny little heads, of course Al Gore's company, the carbon credit scam organization he runs, profits from the laws the Congressional fools pass. What you didn't know that? So what happens when Al Gore comes to town?
Utility companies and road crews prepared for the worst Wednesday as a winter storm barreled into the Northeast, while officials in areas already hit hard by the blast warned it may be days before some shivering communities have electricity again.Yesterday, the former NASA boss of Dr Hansen, the chief prognosticator of the lie of human caused global warming said this:
The storm has been blamed for at least 19 deaths, shuttered government offices and kept kids home from dozens of schools from the Southern plains to the East Coast. With more than a foot of snow forecast for New Hampshire, the Legislature canceled Wednesday's sessions. In Louisville, Ky., the mayor delayed opening government offices until 10 a.m. and urged businesses to follow suit.
Tree limbs encased in ice tumbled onto roads and crashed onto power lines in hard-hit Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma, keeping thousands without power. In Arkansas — where ice in some places was 3 inches thick — people huddled next to portable heaters and wood-burning fires as utilities warned electricity may be out for days.
"We fully expect this to be one of the largest outages we've ever had," said Mel Coleman, CEO of the North Arkansas Electric Cooperative in Salem. "Right now, we're just hoping it's days and not weeks."
Retired senior NASA atmospheric scientist, Dr. John S. Theon, the former supervisor of James Hansen, NASA’s vocal man-made global warming fear soothsayer, has now publicly declared himself a skeptic and declared that Hansen “embarrassed NASA” with his alarming climate claims and said Hansen was “was never muzzled.” Theon joins the rapidly growing ranks of international scientists abandoning the promotion of man-made global warming fears.
“I appreciate the opportunity to add my name to those who disagree that global warming is man made,” Theon wrote to the Minority Office at the Environment and Public Works Committee on January 15, 2009. “I was, in effect, Hansen’s supervisor because I had to justify his funding, allocate his resources, and evaluate his results,”
Theon declared “climate models are useless.” “My own belief concerning anthropogenic climate change is that the models do not realistically simulate the climate system because there are many very important sub-grid scale processes that the models either replicate poorly or completely omit,” Theon explained. “Furthermore, some scientists have manipulated the observed data to justify their model results. In doing so, they neither explain what they have modified in the observations, nor explain how they did it. They have resisted making their work transparent so that it can be replicated independently by other scientists. This is clearly contrary to how science should be done. Thus there is no rational justification for using climate model forecasts to determine public policy,” he added.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
FDR's Legacy
Before we get into FDR II, maybe we should look at how FDR I worked out. That view is best summed up by 1939 admission of FDR’s Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, in which he said:
UPDATED: moved to current.
“We are spending more than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. We have never made good on our promises . . . I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started . . . And an enormous debt to boot!”Save a lot of time, wasted money and grief for the nation ... Next!
UPDATED: moved to current.
How Much Is $825 billion ?
The “Stimulus” Bills Your Family – $825 Billion is equivalent to borrowing $10,520 from EVERY FAMILY IN AMERICA. This money has to be paid back.
More here:
The single word for all this is "STUPID".
More here:
The single word for all this is "STUPID".
Top 20 Fast Facts About the House Democrats' Trillion Dollar Spending Plan
It's like a drunken spending binge .... Only it's your money. It will total $1.1 TRILLION by the time interest is paid.
Earlier this month, when then-President-elect Obama met with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, he laid out a vision of crafting a bipartisan economic recovery package focused on creating jobs and fast-acting tax relief. However, in the weeks since that meeting, Democratic leaders in Congress have taken that vision and turned it upside down, crafting a plan loaded with hundreds of billions in spending on programs and projects – most of which will not impact our ailing economy for many years, if ever, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Rather than working with Republicans on a proposal that lets families, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed keep more of what they earn to create jobs and help fix our economy, it seems congressional Democrats are prepared to barrel ahead with the same-old, same-old – more and more aimless spending – at a time when the American people expect so much more out of their elected officials in Washington. For a taste of just how badly Capitol Hill Democrats have strayed from the vision of a bipartisan plan to get our economy moving again, take a look at these 20 fast facts about their bloated plan:
1. The $825 billion package slated for a House vote later this week will exceed more than $1.1 trillion when adding in the interest ($300 plus billion) between 2009-2019 to pay for it.
2. The Capitol Hill Democrats’ plan includes funding for contraceptives; regardless of where anyone stands on taxpayer funded contraception, there is no question that it has NOTHING to do with the economy.
3. The legislation could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which has been accused of voter fraud, is reportedly under federal investigation; and played a key role in the housing meltdown.
4. Here are just a few of the programs and projects that have been included in the House Democrats’ proposal:
· $650 million for digital TV coupons.
· $600 million for new cars for the federal government.
· $6 billion for colleges/universities – many which have billion dollar endowments.
· $50 million in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts.
· $44 million for repairs to U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters.
· $200 million for the National Mall, including $21 million for sod.
5. The plan establishes at least 32 new government programs at a cost of over $136 billion. That means more than a third of this plan’s spending provisions are dedicated to creating new government programs.
6. The plan provides spending in at least 150 different federal programs, ranging from Amtrak to the Transportation Security Administration. Is this the “targeted” plan Democratic leaders promised?
7. Even though the legislation contains at least 152 separate spending proposals, the authors of the plan can only say that 34 have any chance at keeping or growing jobs.
8. Just one in seven dollars of an $18.5 billion expenditure on “energy efficiency” and “renewable energy programs” would be spent within the next 18 months.
9. The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.
10. The House Democrats’ bill will cost each and every household $6,700 in additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.
11. The bill provides enough spending – $825 billion – to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700. $825 billion is enough to give every person in Ohio $72,000.
12. $825 billion is enough to give every person living in poverty in the United States $22,000.
13. Although the House Democrats’ proposal has been billed as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, in actuality only $30 billion of the bill – or three percent – is for road and highway spending. A recent study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that only 25 percent of infrastructure dollars can be spent in the first year, making the one year total less than $7 billion.
14. Much of the funding within the House Democrats’ proposal will go to programs that already have large, unexpended balances. For example, the bill provides $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) – a program that already has $16 billion on hand. States also are sitting on some $9 billion in unused highway funds – funds that Congress is prepared to rescind later this year.
15. All board members of the “Accountability and Transparency Board” created by this legislation are appointees of the President; none will be appointed by Congress.
16. A scant 2.7 percent, or $22.3 billion of the overall package, is dedicated to small business tax relief.
17. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the legislation increases by seven million the number of people who get a check back from the IRS that exceeds what they paid in payroll and income taxes.
18. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit at the center of the plan amounts to $1.37 a day, or about the price of a cup of coffee.
19. Almost one-third of the so-called “tax relief” in the House Democrats’ bill is spending in disguise, meaning that true tax relief makes up only 24 percent of the total package – not the 40 percent that President Obama had requested.
20. $825 billion is just the beginning – many Capitol Hill Democrats want to spend even more taxpayer dollars on their “stimulus” plan. In fact, the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey (D-WI), told Roll Call earlier this month, “I would not be surprised to see us go further on some of these programs down the line.”
From leader Beohner's website.
Earlier this month, when then-President-elect Obama met with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, he laid out a vision of crafting a bipartisan economic recovery package focused on creating jobs and fast-acting tax relief. However, in the weeks since that meeting, Democratic leaders in Congress have taken that vision and turned it upside down, crafting a plan loaded with hundreds of billions in spending on programs and projects – most of which will not impact our ailing economy for many years, if ever, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Rather than working with Republicans on a proposal that lets families, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed keep more of what they earn to create jobs and help fix our economy, it seems congressional Democrats are prepared to barrel ahead with the same-old, same-old – more and more aimless spending – at a time when the American people expect so much more out of their elected officials in Washington. For a taste of just how badly Capitol Hill Democrats have strayed from the vision of a bipartisan plan to get our economy moving again, take a look at these 20 fast facts about their bloated plan:
1. The $825 billion package slated for a House vote later this week will exceed more than $1.1 trillion when adding in the interest ($300 plus billion) between 2009-2019 to pay for it.
2. The Capitol Hill Democrats’ plan includes funding for contraceptives; regardless of where anyone stands on taxpayer funded contraception, there is no question that it has NOTHING to do with the economy.
3. The legislation could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which has been accused of voter fraud, is reportedly under federal investigation; and played a key role in the housing meltdown.
4. Here are just a few of the programs and projects that have been included in the House Democrats’ proposal:
· $650 million for digital TV coupons.
· $600 million for new cars for the federal government.
· $6 billion for colleges/universities – many which have billion dollar endowments.
· $50 million in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts.
· $44 million for repairs to U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters.
· $200 million for the National Mall, including $21 million for sod.
5. The plan establishes at least 32 new government programs at a cost of over $136 billion. That means more than a third of this plan’s spending provisions are dedicated to creating new government programs.
6. The plan provides spending in at least 150 different federal programs, ranging from Amtrak to the Transportation Security Administration. Is this the “targeted” plan Democratic leaders promised?
7. Even though the legislation contains at least 152 separate spending proposals, the authors of the plan can only say that 34 have any chance at keeping or growing jobs.
8. Just one in seven dollars of an $18.5 billion expenditure on “energy efficiency” and “renewable energy programs” would be spent within the next 18 months.
9. The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.
10. The House Democrats’ bill will cost each and every household $6,700 in additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.
11. The bill provides enough spending – $825 billion – to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700. $825 billion is enough to give every person in Ohio $72,000.
12. $825 billion is enough to give every person living in poverty in the United States $22,000.
13. Although the House Democrats’ proposal has been billed as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, in actuality only $30 billion of the bill – or three percent – is for road and highway spending. A recent study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that only 25 percent of infrastructure dollars can be spent in the first year, making the one year total less than $7 billion.
14. Much of the funding within the House Democrats’ proposal will go to programs that already have large, unexpended balances. For example, the bill provides $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) – a program that already has $16 billion on hand. States also are sitting on some $9 billion in unused highway funds – funds that Congress is prepared to rescind later this year.
15. All board members of the “Accountability and Transparency Board” created by this legislation are appointees of the President; none will be appointed by Congress.
16. A scant 2.7 percent, or $22.3 billion of the overall package, is dedicated to small business tax relief.
17. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the legislation increases by seven million the number of people who get a check back from the IRS that exceeds what they paid in payroll and income taxes.
18. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit at the center of the plan amounts to $1.37 a day, or about the price of a cup of coffee.
19. Almost one-third of the so-called “tax relief” in the House Democrats’ bill is spending in disguise, meaning that true tax relief makes up only 24 percent of the total package – not the 40 percent that President Obama had requested.
20. $825 billion is just the beginning – many Capitol Hill Democrats want to spend even more taxpayer dollars on their “stimulus” plan. In fact, the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey (D-WI), told Roll Call earlier this month, “I would not be surprised to see us go further on some of these programs down the line.”
From leader Beohner's website.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Obama Stimulus: Good For Government, Bad For Economy
Stimulating government, and Democrat interest groups, not the economy.
Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute explains why the Obama stimulus is bad for the overall economy.
Here is his first installment on Keynesian economics.
Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute explains why the Obama stimulus is bad for the overall economy.
Here is his first installment on Keynesian economics.
Hyperinflation Ahead ?
Like this is not going to cause inflation ... ya Know.
Without the scales....
The above chart shows the monetary base, the actual cash money supply, skyrocketing up as the idiots in Washington think somehow printing more money will save this economy. At about $2 Trillion it will produce about 12% inflation, unless the GDP contracts too fast.
More here.
Without the scales....
The above chart shows the monetary base, the actual cash money supply, skyrocketing up as the idiots in Washington think somehow printing more money will save this economy. At about $2 Trillion it will produce about 12% inflation, unless the GDP contracts too fast.
More here.
Stimulus Roundup
From the Heritage Foundation. If you overlook the ignorance of Speaker Pelosi saying fewer people costs government less, so we need more abortions. Yes, if you read close, that is exactly what she said.
Best I can say is botox is a repellent to rational thought, as illustrated by Ms Pelosi.
UPDATE: For the not so feint at heart Rob Neppell at Truth Laid Bear and Kithbridge has put together a website that indexes the bill Read the Stimulus. Rob has transformed the 1,588 pages of legislation and committee reports into a searchable website designed to shine a light on the Congressional porkaPelosi. What had once been an inaccessible and forbidding mountain data becomes accessible to those motivated to find the pork, waste, and outright fraud in them thar bills.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) yesterday told Politico: “Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election.” The House bill perfectly demonstrates how the left is using the economic stimulus bill as cover to accomplish its long-held desire to permanently increase the size of the federal government, with little or no benefit to the American taxpayer.Here is the rest of their writeup.
Today’s top six disastrous highlights are:
1. Medicaid Bailout: The House bill includes an $87 billion bailout for state Medicaid spending. Supposedly, this federal spigot will expire in two years. But there is simply no reason to believe states will be prepared to meet their Medicaid obligations any more in 2011 than they are today. Medicaid is funded by a formula that matches state spending levels with federal dollars. If we keep bailing states out, they will have every incentive to continue irresponsible spending. For example, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) significantly expanded health care spending in Illinois while Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) prudently made “hard choices” to maintain adequate reserves. When the bailout comes, Indiana taxpayers are going to have to pay for the Illinois governor’s mistakes.
2. Medicaid Expansion: The House bill expands Medicaid eligibility to cover unemployed workers whose income does not exceed 200% of the Federal Poverty Line. This provision is supposed to expire in two years, but does anyone really expect political will at the state or federal levels to kick new populations off the Medicaid rolls once states put them on? No. States will push for indefinte expansion of the program and neither the White House nor this congressional leadership is ideologically predisposed to say no. Mark our words, this is a permanent expansion.
3. Family Planning Loophole: Section 5004 of the Medicaid expansion includes language that smuggles the left’s social agenda into law under the guise of stimulus. This section undercuts parental authority, increases control over taxpayer dollars by family planning clinics, and expands exactly who is eligible to receive the benefits. Contrary to current law, the income of parents or even a spouse would not be counted in determining eligibility. So a child in a family at any income level could be eligible for free family planning services. And thanks to a “presumptive eligibility period” in the legislation, no parent ever needs to be notified that his or her child applied for Medicaid. Finally, applicants would not have to prove citizenship before “presumptive eligibility” is determined.
4. Education Bailout: The House bill creates a $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to help states pay for public services, 61% of which must be spent on education. Not only does this money encourage states not to make tough budgeting decisions, it also comes with new federal restrictions designed to please leftist constituencies. For example, the bill forbids bailout funds to increase school choice by specifying that “no recipient of funds under this title shall use funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools.”
5. Education Shopping Spree: Besides that $79 billion, the House bill includes more spending for a slew of other programs, bringing the total price tag for education “stimulus” to $142 billion. Winners of this round include $1 billion for Technology Education, $1.5 billion for Pell Grants, $6 billion for higher education institutions, $2.1 billion for Head Start, $2.5 billion for the National Science Foundation, and $2 billion in Child Care Development Block Grants. Are any of these increases intended to be temporary? Can you imagine Democrats in Congress standing up to cut Head Start and Pell Grant funding in two years? Of course not. This $142 billion increase in education spending would nearly double total outlays in 2007 for the Department of Education.
6. New Jobs? President Obama has said the stimulus could create as many as 3 million jobs, but Speaker Pelosi said yesterday that 4 million jobs will be created or saved. Yet, when pressed by Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) earlier this week, Tax Committee staffer Thomas Barthold could only shrug and admit to having no estimates that any jobs or economic growth would be created. The video is priceless.
Some legislators are beginning to catch on to the left’s game. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says he opposes the Medicaid bailout “because some governors would use the money to mask poor decisions in other portions of their budgets.” Rep. Heath Shuler (D-TN) says he is “concerned about returning fiscal responsibility to Washington” and adds that the stimulus bill “can’t be the pet projects of the House and Senate.”
Best I can say is botox is a repellent to rational thought, as illustrated by Ms Pelosi.
UPDATE: For the not so feint at heart Rob Neppell at Truth Laid Bear and Kithbridge has put together a website that indexes the bill Read the Stimulus. Rob has transformed the 1,588 pages of legislation and committee reports into a searchable website designed to shine a light on the Congressional porkaPelosi. What had once been an inaccessible and forbidding mountain data becomes accessible to those motivated to find the pork, waste, and outright fraud in them thar bills.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Windows 7
Yes, I am a beta tester, yes it works great, better than any other beta so far. There still is some issues with IE8, it seems to somehow get itself twisted in knowts and quit working, but MS says it's not the latest version in Windows 7.
So here is the latest from the Windows 7 beta team:
So here is the latest from the Windows 7 beta team:
The shutdown of general availability for the Windows 7 Beta will occur in 3 phases over the course of the next few weeks:More here.
* Starting January 27th, the Windows 7 page will be updated with a warning that time is running out on downloading the Windows 7 Beta and that we will be limiting downloads shortly. People will be encouraged to register and start the download of the Windows 7 Beta sooner rather than later.
* February 10th, new downloads of the Windows 7 Beta will no longer be available. People who have already started their Windows 7 Beta download and have not yet finished will still be able to finish their download and are encouraged to do so.
* February 12th, people will no longer be able to complete their download of the Windows 7 Beta. Anyone who hasn’t finished downloading the Windows 7 Beta will be unable to do so.
Product keys for the Windows 7 Beta will continue to be available. So if you have the Windows 7 Beta but didn’t get a product key you will be able to do so even after February 12th.
MSDN and TechNet Subscribers will continue to have access to the Windows 7 Beta bits throughout the Windows 7 Beta phase. The above dates do not apply to MSDN and TechNet Subscribers.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Ford's Most Advanced Auto Assembly Plant
Is located in Brazil, yes that's where it's located. Yes laddies, not in the USA, but in a foreign country. Watch the video here.
So people who say USA car companies cannot compete, simply do not know what the real problems are in the USA, taxes and unions.
So people who say USA car companies cannot compete, simply do not know what the real problems are in the USA, taxes and unions.
Obama Shredding The Constitution
Remember how noisy, loud and long did the left howl on the nightly cable shows, the blogosphere about the warrant less wiretaps? Pretty much last the entire time since 9/11 of the Bush administration was in office. They claimed he was "shredding the constitution." Guess what? Obama will be "shredding the constitution" as well:
Do you want a GITMO prison in your neighborhood?
The Obama administration fell in line with the Bush administration Thursday when it urged a federal judge to set aside a ruling in a closely watched spy case weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress and establish a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.At least he's keeping something to keep America safe.
Do you want a GITMO prison in your neighborhood?
Friday, January 23, 2009
The TARP Song
Celebrate the thrid crap sandwiche, this one is a doozy.
Stimulus Package: $825 Billion With Millions For Contraceptives
As Rep John Boehner said, "How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives?... How does that stimulate the economy?"
Glenn Reynolds called it, "This is not so much a stimulus, as a massive transfer of wealth from the politically unconnected to the politically connected." All so true.
Here's "The TARP Song"-- This is a hilarious parody on the government bailout.
Video by Bill Zucker. Tell your friends about the funny video....pickup mp3 at itunes, amazon, etc..comedy ... recorded at www.audacityrecording.com ... video edited at www.creativewebvideo.com..
If you dare, here is a hockey stick that ought to really scare you.
Stimulus Package: $825 Billion With Millions For Contraceptives
As Rep John Boehner said, "How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives?... How does that stimulate the economy?"
Glenn Reynolds called it, "This is not so much a stimulus, as a massive transfer of wealth from the politically unconnected to the politically connected." All so true.
Here's "The TARP Song"-- This is a hilarious parody on the government bailout.
Video by Bill Zucker. Tell your friends about the funny video....pickup mp3 at itunes, amazon, etc..comedy ... recorded at www.audacityrecording.com ... video edited at www.creativewebvideo.com..
If you dare, here is a hockey stick that ought to really scare you.
IE8 RC1 Expected Monday.
According to Microsoft's Internet Explorer blog, RC1 of IE8 is almost ready to go, albeit not for Windows 7 testers. The news was mentioned in a post about the rendering of the whitehouse.gov website in the Windows 7 version of IE8 beta 2.
"This is because the version of IE8 in Windows 7 Beta is somewhat older than the Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate (IE8 RC1) that we're about to release for Windows Vista and Windows XP," wrote Frank Olivier, the team's UX and Compatibility program manager.
Meanwhile, over on NeoWin, "Insiders indicate it might be worth penning Monday 26th January in your calendar as the date for IE8 RC1". IE8 introduces several new and updated features for Internet users, for a full overview of the features included in Windows 7 IE8 checkout this IE8 review.
"This is because the version of IE8 in Windows 7 Beta is somewhat older than the Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate (IE8 RC1) that we're about to release for Windows Vista and Windows XP," wrote Frank Olivier, the team's UX and Compatibility program manager.
Meanwhile, over on NeoWin, "Insiders indicate it might be worth penning Monday 26th January in your calendar as the date for IE8 RC1". IE8 introduces several new and updated features for Internet users, for a full overview of the features included in Windows 7 IE8 checkout this IE8 review.
Rush Talks To Sean
Here is complete video Part 1 and Part 2 of Sean Hannity's interview with Rush Limbaugh, which aired last night, January 22, 2009:
Segment 1 - Rush talks about the GOP
Segment 1 - Rush talks about the GOP
Segment 2 - Rush talks about the next 4 years under Obama
In case you missed the previous Part 1 segments from January 21, 2009, here they are:
Segment 1 - Rush has direct words for the new administration
Segment 2
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Hah, It's Obammunist Cheese.
It's not edible either.
The election of 2008 proved it's very easy to make idiot voters out of ignorant people if you promise them enough free stuff.
The election of 2008 proved it's very easy to make idiot voters out of ignorant people if you promise them enough free stuff.
Not Easy Being Green
Greenest inauguration ever? Nowhere near as easy as telling everyone else to be green.
Toyota Now Leads The World
Today, GM announced 2008 global auto sales. With 8.35 million vehicles sold, the automaker fell 620,000 short of Toyota's 8.97 million 2008 car and truck sales. Toyota is now officially the world's largest automaker.
But the UAW has a bigger benefits package.
But the UAW has a bigger benefits package.
Saber Tooth Tiger and the Woolly Mammoth, Pratical Guide
What would we do without it, CO2 runs our world. CO2, mmmm plants love the stuff. Grow big and strong plants with lots of CO2. What do you think they do in a greenhouse? No CO2, dead world. Why do you think we and every other form of life on plant Earth are called carbon life forms? Strange name, isn't it.
When you are an engineer, as am I, one thing to do is check the boundary conditions. For example, halve the suns output and decide what would happen to Earth's temperature. Then double it, and decide what would happen to Earth's temperature. Then add or subtract all the CO2 your little heart desires and rerun the assumptions and decide the result. Hmm, get the point yet?
Following that, to check your computer models, roll back time. Say to 1500 or even to 0 BC and run your models forward and see if they accurately predict the known temperature record, no not the faked one that shows it's flat, the real one that shows the little ice age and other features. If not then don't let them see the light of day until you've fixed the models.
The Earth has been warming since the end of the little ice age, about 1,700 AD, with temperature going up and down along the way.
Another thing for a budding student of climate studies to do, a few hundred years is nothing to the planet, which has been around for billions of years. We know enough about the climate paleontology to know that ice ages have started to cycle every 100,000 years, with a brief period of interglacial of about 10,000 years. The current interglacial, the Holocene period is about 12,000 years old today. The one thing certain the next glacial ice age is coming, and New York will be under several thousand feet of ice. At least there will be that to take consolation in. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Ask yourself, "I wonder what SUV the Saber Tooth Tiger and the Woolly Mammoth were driving in 10,000 BC. You have watched the movie Ice Age, haven't you?
Prof Bob Carter has some lecture videos on youtube if you care to watch.
When you are an engineer, as am I, one thing to do is check the boundary conditions. For example, halve the suns output and decide what would happen to Earth's temperature. Then double it, and decide what would happen to Earth's temperature. Then add or subtract all the CO2 your little heart desires and rerun the assumptions and decide the result. Hmm, get the point yet?
Following that, to check your computer models, roll back time. Say to 1500 or even to 0 BC and run your models forward and see if they accurately predict the known temperature record, no not the faked one that shows it's flat, the real one that shows the little ice age and other features. If not then don't let them see the light of day until you've fixed the models.
The Earth has been warming since the end of the little ice age, about 1,700 AD, with temperature going up and down along the way.
Another thing for a budding student of climate studies to do, a few hundred years is nothing to the planet, which has been around for billions of years. We know enough about the climate paleontology to know that ice ages have started to cycle every 100,000 years, with a brief period of interglacial of about 10,000 years. The current interglacial, the Holocene period is about 12,000 years old today. The one thing certain the next glacial ice age is coming, and New York will be under several thousand feet of ice. At least there will be that to take consolation in. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Ask yourself, "I wonder what SUV the Saber Tooth Tiger and the Woolly Mammoth were driving in 10,000 BC. You have watched the movie Ice Age, haven't you?
Prof Bob Carter has some lecture videos on youtube if you care to watch.
Truth Be Upon You
If only the press would investigate and expose the AGW hoax with the same zeal as they chased down President Bush, lied about what he was doing and exposed secret national security issues ... Since they won't, maybe that's why they are near broke, they no longer serve a useful function for society.
Cold weather is doing more to raise questions about the scam of global warming than all the appeals to scientific accuracy and reason. Even people who don’t understand the science recognize the illogical aspects of arguing that colder temperatures are due to warming. This is causing advocates of human caused global warming to take increasingly extreme and ridiculous positions to defend the indefensible. They are making more strident calls for action accompanied by claims the tipping point, beyond which action is too late, is ever closer. Politicians are warned not to let economic woes divert them from saving the planet.
OK, out with the truth, the UN IPCC GCM computer models are widely off when used to attempt to predict the past temperature records. Who knew, and isn't that the numb of the problem with the press?
As an engineer, there is another way to use computers to try and predict the future of things like temperature of planet Earth. That method attempts to find patterns in observed data, most science and engineering types already know that natural things are rhythmic. The reasons may not be known, but the patterns are there. Sunspots follow this form, starting with the 11 year sunspot cycle and so on. By identifying mathematical patterns within the data and projecting these patterns into the future, then using statistics and empirical methods to try and figure out what may happen in the future is usually fairly accurate. And yes it can be back dated and used to predict the past with some degree of high accuracy.
So why isn't the far more accurate methods used to try and divine the future? I leave that to the reader to figure out.
Cold weather is doing more to raise questions about the scam of global warming than all the appeals to scientific accuracy and reason. Even people who don’t understand the science recognize the illogical aspects of arguing that colder temperatures are due to warming. This is causing advocates of human caused global warming to take increasingly extreme and ridiculous positions to defend the indefensible. They are making more strident calls for action accompanied by claims the tipping point, beyond which action is too late, is ever closer. Politicians are warned not to let economic woes divert them from saving the planet.
The perfect scam, pay more in taxes to the government, so government scientists can pretend to control the weather. How dumb are you? We are about to find out.So how did I get here, simple really, Al Gore forced me to look into this whole area. As an engineer for quite some time, science is not foreign. Computer models were used frequently in my work. We had a technique of using the concocted model to predict known behavior. The equivalent for the AGW hoax would be to set the computer models for say the year 0 and run them forward for 2,000 years and compare their results with the known temperature record. There is a reason they won't do this, and it does not bode well for the models. After some research into what was going on, I found myself firmly in the camp that AGW doesn't exist.
OK, out with the truth, the UN IPCC GCM computer models are widely off when used to attempt to predict the past temperature records. Who knew, and isn't that the numb of the problem with the press?
As an engineer, there is another way to use computers to try and predict the future of things like temperature of planet Earth. That method attempts to find patterns in observed data, most science and engineering types already know that natural things are rhythmic. The reasons may not be known, but the patterns are there. Sunspots follow this form, starting with the 11 year sunspot cycle and so on. By identifying mathematical patterns within the data and projecting these patterns into the future, then using statistics and empirical methods to try and figure out what may happen in the future is usually fairly accurate. And yes it can be back dated and used to predict the past with some degree of high accuracy.
So why isn't the far more accurate methods used to try and divine the future? I leave that to the reader to figure out.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Oil Price Trend Down
The price of oil continued declining today as investors bet on a long recession. Despite OPEC’s plans to scale back production, oil dropped below $34 per barrel in light of a glut on the market and no increase in demand foreseen in the immediate future. That will help the USA ease its economic woes, but bodes ill for the global economy (via Instapundit).
Oil prices fell below $34 a barrel Tuesday on the continued gloomy outlook for global energy demand and as traders sold the expiring benchmark contract due to a lack of space at a key U.S. storage facility.The oil producers are caught in their own trap. They ran up so much debt when oil was spiking, that now it takes massive production(overproduction?) to satisfy the payments. Sorry guys, you didn't buy into the T Boone Pickens joke we will never see oil below $100 a barrel again, did you? Shame.
By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for February delivery was down $3.14 to $33.37 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Hundreds of Economists Call Obama a Liar in Ad
They say that government spending is not beneficial to the economy and that lowering governments burden on taxpayers is a better route. You can read the full text at the Cato Institute.
President Obama says that "economists from across the political spectrum agree" on the need for massive government spending to stimulate the economy. In fact, many economists disagree. Hundreds of them, including Nobel laureates and other prominent scholars, have signed a statement that the Cato Institute has placed in major newspapers across the United States.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Science
My friends, the CO2 myth may finally be being busted. Scientist from across the world are starting to man-up and not let politics decide that facts.
Dr. Kunihiko, Chancellor of Japan’s Institute of Science and Technology said this: “CO2 emissions make absolutely no difference one way or the other … every scientist knows this, but it doesn’t pay to say so.” Now why would a learned man say such a crazy thing?
This is where the looney left gets lost. Their mantra is atmospheric CO2 levels are escalating and this is unquestionably causing earth’s temperature rise. But ask yourself — if global temperatures are experiencing the biggest sustained drop in decades, while CO2 levels continue to rise — how can it be true?
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Record Cold
United States - A record cold front sweeping down from Canada is blanketing much of the United States. At least one new state record (by 2 degrees Fahrenheit) for the coldest temperature ever recorded occurred in Illinois, where in Rochelle temperatures dropped to -38 degrees Fahrenheit today, January 16, 2009.
Even colder temperatures were reported than Illinois' state record. In Bismarck, ND temperatures dropped to -44 degrees Fahrenheit. In Clayton Lake (western Maine) temperatures also dropped to -44 degrees Fahrenheit. Concord, NH saw -22F, while Long Island reached -14F with fresh snow. Temperatures at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, IL were -17F. Cleveland, OH saw -13F as did Detroit, MI. In Iowa City, temperatures dipped to -24F. In Omaha, Nebraska temperatures were -13F.
The wind chill factor has driven temperatures in many northern mid-western states into the middle double digits below zero (-50F and colder in some areas).
Frigid temperatures across much of the United States, new state record low set in Rochelle, IL at -38F.
The wind chill factor has driven temperatures in many northern mid-western states into the middle double digits below zero (-50F and colder in some areas).
Friday, January 16, 2009
Is It Cold Enough For You ?
Patience -- If the current solar trend continues, and no real solar scientists thinks it won't, it will soon be so cold, the snow piled so high, the glaciers growing so fast and the sea ice getting so thick, that soon Al Gore will be the only one on the planet who does not think Al Gore is nuts.
Patience, said the Tortoise to the hare.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
USB 3.0
Transfer of a 25GB HD movie:
* USB 1.0: 9.3 hours
* USB 2.0: 13.9 minutes
* USB 3.0: 70 seconds
In the video below, Ravencraft, who is president of the USB Implementers Forum, discusses the merits of SuperSpeed USB and the schedule for commercial rollout.
Will USB be the final interconnect answer? Probably not. More here.
* USB 1.0: 9.3 hours
* USB 2.0: 13.9 minutes
* USB 3.0: 70 seconds
In the video below, Ravencraft, who is president of the USB Implementers Forum, discusses the merits of SuperSpeed USB and the schedule for commercial rollout.
Will USB be the final interconnect answer? Probably not. More here.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Proud To Be A Communist
Maybe not so much ...
Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.The kooks and hoaxers are just doing a little house cleaning, But -- Maybe not so much so, proud is an interesting word, at least not in public. Other notorious members are the Communist Party Of China, Putin's Russia and Fidel Castro's Cuba. An all Communist festival. So why remove her name from the esteemed organization lists? Will the media report?
By Thursday, Mrs. Browner's name and biography had been removed from Socialist International's Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group's congress in Greece was still available.
Socialist International, an umbrella group for many of the world's social democratic political parties such as Britain's Labor Party, says it supports socialism and is harshly critical of U.S. policies.
The group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, the organization's action arm on climate change, says the developed world must reduce consumption and commit to binding and punitive limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
...
Her name has been removed from the Gore organization's Web site list of directors, and the Audubon Society issued a press release about her departure from that organization.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Venezuela: Falling Down
In a mirrored office tower overlooking Caracas, a top Venezuelan official says his government is ready to accept Barack Obama’s offer to talk with U.S. adversaries -- if the president-elect scraps George W. Bush’s division of the world into friends and foes.Doesn't the "inconsistent record on Democracy" just say it all? Hugo Chavez is doing all he can to convert Venezuela into the latest version of Cuba's Communist paradise. Watch the video, inadequately called "The Hugo Chavez Show" as if life is a show to be watched. Come to think of it, the dimwitted actor we hired makes that seem more real today than before.
Such categories are “simplistic,” says Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela’s former envoy to Washington. “Why do nations have to be friends? What we have to do is sit down and discuss issues.”
Venezuela may provide a useful first test for Obama’s pledge to engage rather than isolate antagonists. While President Hugo Chavez is one of Washington’s noisiest critics, frayed relations would likely be easier to mend than those with nations such as Iran and Cuba, whose leaders are even more hostile toward the U.S.
Still, “Obama needs to be cautious” given Chavez’s inconsistent record on democracy, says Elsa Cardozo, an international-relations scholar at the Metropolitan University of Caracas. The 54-year-old former lieutenant colonel has allowed open elections and an opposition press while consolidating power over the government and selectively persecuting political rivals.
Obviously the poor ignorant reporter thinks you are more ignorant than they, else who would believe such drivel.
This is just too rich to pass up. Venezuela is the 'boots to lick' of choice for the Democrat Socialists in Congress. Their template on how to take over a country. They flock down there every chance they get, not so much now as everything seems to be going to shit at the present. The free pies factory was supposed to be the oil dollars, but now that prices have crashed, well what you going to do now. Hey I got it, takeover the gold mines. Not much going on in Venezuela these days as the misery spreads throughout the country.
I think Obama wants tips on how to screw the USA, so it looks more like Venezuela, or Kenya.
Second Hand Science
Instructive lesson included -- Substitute Global Warming, Asbestos, Acid Rain, Embryonic Stem Cells, DDT ban, or even Obama's presidential campaign for "second hand smoke" in this presentation, and voila! The leftards twist truth into lies, and repeat ad nauseum to people incapable of critical thought.
Isn't the self appointed arrogance obvious?
Pravda Becomes News Source, NYTimes Becomes Pravada
It's nice to see a rotation of sorts in the news business. It wasn't too long ago that you could count on Pravda for your daily dose of Politburo nonsense, now that niche is being nicely filled by the New York Times. It looks like Pravda is going legit. This article is talking about the Milankovich cycles, the movements of planets and their orbits. Here is a chart that establishes the reference for the article and my comments.
Earth on the Brink of an Ice AgeIce ages come and go, they started cycling during the last 5 million years. Before that it was much warmer than today. The ice age is defined as 'glaciation periods, that last about 100,000 years. The interglacial periods last about 10,000 years. The present warm period is an interglacial,called the Holocene Period, has lasted so far about 12,000 years. So it is easy to see, the next ice age is coming. Prof Bob Carter, a paleoclimatology professor, who has a lecture series on geologic climate where he explains it all to the laymen - Video here.
The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science. Many sources of data which provide our knowledge base of long-term climate change indicate that the warm, twelve thousand year-long Holocene period will rather soon be coming to an end, and then the earth will return to Ice Age conditions for the next 100,000 years.
Ice cores, ocean sediment cores, the geologic record, and studies of ancient plant and animal populations all demonstrate a regular cyclic pattern of Ice Age glacial maximums which each last about 100,000 years, separated by intervening warm interglacials, each lasting about 12,000 years.
Most of the long-term climate data collected from various sources also shows a strong correlation with the three astronomical cycles which are together known as the Milankovich cycles. The three Milankovich cycles include the tilt of the earth, which varies over a 41,000 year period; the shape of the earth’s orbit, which changes over a period of 100,000 years; and the Precession of the Equinoxes, also known as the earth’s ‘wobble’, which gradually rotates the direction of the earth’s axis over a period of 26,000 years. According to the Milankovich theory of Ice Age causation, these three astronomical cycles, each of which effects the amount of solar radiation which reaches the earth, act together to produce the cycle of cold Ice Age maximums and warm interglacials.
Elements of the astronomical theory of Ice Age causation were first presented by the French mathematician Joseph Adhemar in 1842, it was developed further by the English prodigy Joseph Croll in 1875, and the theory was established in its present form by the Czech mathematician Milutin Milankovich in the 1920s and 30s. In 1976 the prestigious journal “Science” published a landmark paper by John Imbrie, James Hays, and Nicholas Shackleton entitled “Variations in the Earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages,” which described the correlation which the trio of scientist/authors had found between the climate data obtained from ocean sediment cores and the patterns of the astronomical Milankovich cycles. Since the late 1970s, the Milankovich theory has remained the predominant theory to account for Ice Age causation among climate scientists, and hence the Milankovich theory is always described in textbooks of climatology and in encyclopaedia articles about the Ice Ages.
In their 1976 paper Imbrie, Hays, and Shackleton wrote that their own climate forecasts, which were based on sea-sediment cores and the Milankovich cycles, "… must be qualified in two ways. First, they apply only to the natural component of future climatic trends - and not to anthropogenic effects such as those due to the burning of fossil fuels. Second, they describe only the long-term trends, because they are linked to orbital variations with periods of 20,000 years and longer. Climatic oscillations at higher frequencies are not predicted... the results indicate that the long-term trend over the next 20,000 years is towards extensive Northern Hemisphere glaciation and cooler climate."
During the 1970s the famous American astronomer Carl Sagan and other scientists began promoting the theory that ‘greenhouse gasses’ such as carbon dioxide, or CO2, produced by human industries could lead to catastrophic global warming. Since the 1970s the theory of ‘anthropogenic global warming’ (AGW) has gradually become accepted as fact by most of the academic establishment, and their acceptance of AGW has inspired a global movement to encourage governments to make pivotal changes to prevent the worsening of AGW.
The central piece of evidence that is cited in support of the AGW theory is the famous ‘hockey stick’ graph which was presented by Al Gore in his 2006 film “An Inconvenient Truth.” The ‘hockey stick’ graph shows an acute upward spike in global temperatures which began during the 1970s and continued through the winter of 2006/07. However, this warming trend was interrupted when the winter of 2007/8 delivered the deepest snow cover to the Northern Hemisphere since 1966 and the coldest temperatures since 2001. It now appears that the current Northern Hemisphere winter of 2008/09 will probably equal or surpass the winter of 2007/08 for both snow depth and cold temperatures.
The main flaw in the AGW theory is that its proponents focus on evidence from only the past one thousand years at most, while ignoring the evidence from the past million years -- evidence which is essential for a true understanding of climatology. The data from paleoclimatology provides us with an alternative and more credible explanation for the recent global temperature spike, based on the natural cycle of Ice Age maximums and interglacials.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Sun Is In A Funk
I add my conclusions -- as I see it, something changed in the sun's internal systems in October 2005. Are they cyclic, one time, what does it mean. No one knows, since this is the first time mankind has ever had the instruments and ability to observe the sun in any detailed way. Has it happened before, same answer, no one knows. I recall when we were building Apollo science instruments that were later placed on the moon -- What would we find, what discoveries could be made. Pretty much it all confirmed what we were seeing from Earth, various sounding rocket programs had shown what was happening, but not the why. there is a whole lot of stuff coming from the sun, being blown out into space and hitting our planet.
We also concluded these particles heated the upper Earth's atmosphere, and it expanded. Not from the moon, but the nature of the particles observed meant the conclusions were obvious.
The nerve of the sun doing this.
See the details at Watts Up With That. Some of Anthony's readers found the historical Ap data now going back to 1932, and it appears that is all the data we have on Ap. Using that data, here is the latest on the current lowest recorded Ap Index. The drop off happened in Oct 2005 and has continued trending lower since then. Will it go lower, who knows, but the trending says it will. For how long? Yes, maybe no.
What does all this mean? No one on planet Earth knows for sure. We simply do not have the data records for long enough, the instruments available for long enough, nor the understanding of the science involved.
I do think one think is safe to say, Earth's climate is not driven by CO2.
Pure conjecture on my part ...
Something to think about. I offer this as my own pet hypothesis, and like Al Gore, can prove none of it. About 5 million years ago, the Earth started cycling into and out of ice ages. The reasons and science driving this are not proved. I postulate that maybe the sun is a cyclic star, burning bright, then dimming, then bright. Not a huge swing, but enough to exhaust the available fuel for a period of time. Brighter, much more so than just the sunspot cycle would suggest. Suppose the sun burns real bright for 12,000 or so years, then relaxes into a lower level output for 100,000 years, then back to brighter. The ice ages. Who says the sun has to be a constant star.
We also concluded these particles heated the upper Earth's atmosphere, and it expanded. Not from the moon, but the nature of the particles observed meant the conclusions were obvious.
The nerve of the sun doing this.
See the details at Watts Up With That. Some of Anthony's readers found the historical Ap data now going back to 1932, and it appears that is all the data we have on Ap. Using that data, here is the latest on the current lowest recorded Ap Index. The drop off happened in Oct 2005 and has continued trending lower since then. Will it go lower, who knows, but the trending says it will. For how long? Yes, maybe no.
What does all this mean? No one on planet Earth knows for sure. We simply do not have the data records for long enough, the instruments available for long enough, nor the understanding of the science involved.
I do think one think is safe to say, Earth's climate is not driven by CO2.
Pure conjecture on my part ...
Something to think about. I offer this as my own pet hypothesis, and like Al Gore, can prove none of it. About 5 million years ago, the Earth started cycling into and out of ice ages. The reasons and science driving this are not proved. I postulate that maybe the sun is a cyclic star, burning bright, then dimming, then bright. Not a huge swing, but enough to exhaust the available fuel for a period of time. Brighter, much more so than just the sunspot cycle would suggest. Suppose the sun burns real bright for 12,000 or so years, then relaxes into a lower level output for 100,000 years, then back to brighter. The ice ages. Who says the sun has to be a constant star.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?
UPDATE: Bumped from times gone by, because Barney's Fwank is now attacking Republicans and capitalism as the cause of the mortgage crisis. Everybody knows it's giving loans to people who could not pay that is at the root cause. It starts with Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act CRA of 1977. That Investment, liberal style.
What a Communist says about sub-prime mortgags
The root cause of the crisis is the housing foreclosure crisis, and what caused that, loans to unqualified individuals, loans made by the Government Sponsored Enterprises(GSE) Fannie MAe and Freddie Mac. Yes, the federal government forced home mortgage loans to be made to people who had no means to pay them back, that's what a sub-prime mortgage is. People who had no stake in America, people who were here illegally. As interest rates climbed, gas prices rose, food prices rose, the party ended.
And what forced the demands for unqualified loans, Pres Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977. Who was the enforcer of the CRA, that would be people like Barack Obama, your helpful Community Organizer from the voter fraud group ACORN.
Thomas Sowell is always a good read.
Among the Congressional “leaders” invited to the White House to devise a bailout “solution” are the very people who have for years created the risks that have now come home to roost.
Five years ago, Barney Frank vouched for the “soundness” of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and said “I do not see” any “possibility of serious financial losses to the treasury.”
Moreover, he said that the federal government has “probably done too little rather than too much to push them to meet the goals of affordable housing.”
Earlier this year, Senator Christopher Dodd praised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for “riding to the rescue” when other financial institutions were cutting back on mortgage loans. He too said that they “need to do more” to help subprime borrowers get better loans.
In other words, Congressman Frank and Senator Dodd wanted the government to push financial institutions to lend to people they would not lend to otherwise, because of the risk of default.
And that folks, is the root of the current financial crisis. So what is to be done. We have a data point:
Here is a short video of one of the hearings in 2004 where the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regulator was explaing that Fannie and Freddie were going out of control with bad paper. Demcorats in their own words.
What a Communist says about sub-prime mortgags
FDR's Raw Deal For America
Summary of the failed FDR Raw Deal for America. The New Deal and FDR was a toal flop, one of the many myths of the leftists. One simple graphic will answer most of the questions.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Sun Has Changed
Monckton:Temperature Change and CO2 Change - A Scientific Briefing
And then there is this ...
Danger ahead as the Sun goes quiet
THE CHIEF REASON for skepticism at the official position on "global warming" is the overwhelming weight of evidence that the UN's climate panel, the IPCC, prodigiously exaggerates both the supposed causes and the imagined consequences of anthropogenic "global warming"; that too many of the exaggerations can be demonstrated to have been deliberate; and that the IPCC and other official sources have continued to rely even upon those exaggerations that have been definitively demonstrated in the literature to have been deliberate.
And then there is this ...
Danger ahead as the Sun goes quiet
THE sun's ability to shield the solar system from harmful cosmic rays could falter in the early 2020s, just in time to threaten the health of NASA astronauts as they return to the moon.The modern solar maximum, that's a term you probably hadn't heard in the last years, have you, has ended, that appears certain. Personally, I think the change seen in October 2005 portended the onset of a state change in the sun. But you are free to have your own opinions, that is what science is supposed to be. At least until we have provable fact to the contrary. Consensus in science is just so much meaningless gibberish.
As well as the 11-year cycle of sunspots and solar flares, the sun's activity experiences longer-term shifts lasting several decades. The sun is currently in a long-term high, having been relatively active for nearly a century, but it is not known when this will end.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
December temperature data is now in the National Climatic Data Center database, Watts Up With That spots a cooling trend.
The WattsUpWithThat comment section already sports complaints that the graph above is generated by beginning in the very hot year of 1998 — hence the trend is bogus. That would be wrong to do, wouldn't it — carefully selecting when to start tracking temperature trends?
Or better yet, the could always strike up the propaganda band.
Strange Things
A once-popular bumper sticker says simply, "When Bush took office, gas was $1.46." It was meant to be a slam, but as the end of his eight years approaches, President Bush is seeing gas prices that, adjusted for inflation, are lower than when he was inaugurated.
What happened, we didn't do a damn thing to solve the problem of crushing gas prices, like something stupid like drilling for our own oil and natural gas, and so the oil spike helped push the economy over the hump. May not have had any effect on stopping the economy crash because of the CRA and the attendant housing mortgage meltdown, but it wouldn't have hurt that's for sure. Who could have predicted making interest only, no down payment loans to unqualified people, and then packaging these into mortgage bundles to sell to investors as grade A government backed securities, wouldn't work.
Here is another, the Earth has cooled during the time President Bush was in office. Maybe his policy on the loons AGW was correct all along, ignore these ignorant people. Which appears to be exactly what Pres Bush did.
And then there is Joe Biden, we are at war to save the economy. FDR used the similar terms in the great depression, we had to declare war on the economy to save it ... And used it to con the public into allowing "emergency powers", which were when used to plant the seeds of socialism. Trying to further the cause, of liberals everywhere.
News flash, FDR didn't fix the economy he made it worse. WWII fixed the economy, when the wartime production machine was turned on making consumer goods in the late 40s.
The ultimate goal of the Democrat Socialists in Congress, destroy America's free economy ...
What happened, we didn't do a damn thing to solve the problem of crushing gas prices, like something stupid like drilling for our own oil and natural gas, and so the oil spike helped push the economy over the hump. May not have had any effect on stopping the economy crash because of the CRA and the attendant housing mortgage meltdown, but it wouldn't have hurt that's for sure. Who could have predicted making interest only, no down payment loans to unqualified people, and then packaging these into mortgage bundles to sell to investors as grade A government backed securities, wouldn't work.
Here is another, the Earth has cooled during the time President Bush was in office. Maybe his policy on the loons AGW was correct all along, ignore these ignorant people. Which appears to be exactly what Pres Bush did.
And then there is Joe Biden, we are at war to save the economy. FDR used the similar terms in the great depression, we had to declare war on the economy to save it ... And used it to con the public into allowing "emergency powers", which were when used to plant the seeds of socialism. Trying to further the cause, of liberals everywhere.
News flash, FDR didn't fix the economy he made it worse. WWII fixed the economy, when the wartime production machine was turned on making consumer goods in the late 40s.
"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth" --- Franklin D. RooseveltA really good quote for today's Democrat socialist to remember.
The ultimate goal of the Democrat Socialists in Congress, destroy America's free economy ...
True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made. --- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Message to Congress, 1944
Monday, January 5, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Sunspots: Make your Predictions
It's tough to tell what the future may hold, when you have so little understanding of the past. When we were studying the solar wind a short while back, hardly anyone knew what it was made of ... Lots of assumptions, suspicion, mostly correct, but little fact. Modern satellites have pulled back the blinders, partially. Just recently THEMIS discovered the probable mechanism that fires off an aurora. Who knows what they will find next. The beauty of exploring.
It's quite possible the macro cycle time of our star is much longer than we think. Why has our solar system, and principally the Earth, switched to alternating ice ages and inter-glacier periods over the last 5 million or so years. What change(s) has caused that? When will it end, the glacial cycle, or what will come next. Could Earth settle out hot, or settle out at cold, who knows.
It's all guess work, because our hard data of the past is so crude.
I think the drop in The Average Planetary Magnetic Index (Ap) in late 2005 was a key event, signifying a 'change of state' with our star. Fortunately, we had the instruments in place to witness the event, but has it ever happened before? Correlates with what other event(s). But then again, it's just my guess, I can prove nothing, and will have to sit and wait like the rest.
My guess, sunspot activity will continue low, and will very likely duplicate the 1912-13 low activity time-frame. But then what comes next?
It's quite possible the macro cycle time of our star is much longer than we think. Why has our solar system, and principally the Earth, switched to alternating ice ages and inter-glacier periods over the last 5 million or so years. What change(s) has caused that? When will it end, the glacial cycle, or what will come next. Could Earth settle out hot, or settle out at cold, who knows.
It's all guess work, because our hard data of the past is so crude.
I think the drop in The Average Planetary Magnetic Index (Ap) in late 2005 was a key event, signifying a 'change of state' with our star. Fortunately, we had the instruments in place to witness the event, but has it ever happened before? Correlates with what other event(s). But then again, it's just my guess, I can prove nothing, and will have to sit and wait like the rest.
My guess, sunspot activity will continue low, and will very likely duplicate the 1912-13 low activity time-frame. But then what comes next?
Saturday, January 3, 2009
NASA's Hansen: Use Global Warming To Redistribute Wealth
The biggest scam in the history of mankind -- A far better way to summarize man made, AGW, global warming -- Pay more taxes to the government, so government scientists can pretend to control the weather, and give your money to THEIR SOCIALIST VOTERS. IBD starts our wealth redistribution discussion off with this observation:
In the end the sun will win. If the current solar trends continue, it will soon be so cold, the glaciers growing so fast, the sea ice stacked so high, the driveways not shoveled, that Al Gore will be the last person left on the planet that doesn’t know Al Gore is a kook.
Acting either out of boldness or desperation, Hansen goes on to reveal the environmentalist left's deeper ambition: a collectivist redistribution of wealth. He recommends that the carbon tax be returned to the public in "equal shares on a per capita basis."NASA's Hansen in his open letter to Obama titled “Tell Barack Obama the Truth – the Whole Truth”, on page five of the PDF Hansen published at Columbia University's website on December 29. He has a more obfuscated way to describe wealth redistribution -- But, this sure has a lot to do with science as well as fixing the planet. Well, at least it is a NASA scientist, who is purported to be in charge of the 'science' of man made global warming, as if there really is any science there, but to come right out and say this, it's amazing. And in public as well.
Take it out of one pocket and put it in another, the magic of government -- And how exactly does this change the climate?A rising carbon price is essential to “decarbonize” the economy, i.e., to move the nation toward the era beyond fossil fuels. The most effective way to achieve this is a carbon tax (on oil, gas, and coal) at the well-head or port of entry. The tax will then appropriately affect all products and activities that use fossil fuels. The public’s near-term, mid-term, and long-term lifestyle choices will be affected by knowledge that the carbon tax rate will be rising.
The public will support the tax if it is returned to them, equal shares on a per capita basis (half shares for children up to a maximum of two child-shares per family), deposited monthly in bank accounts.
Newsbusters has the details here, which expounds on the genius of a socialist redistribution idiot. Bet you knew all along this is really what was behind the hoax, didn't you.No large bureaucracy is needed. A person reducing his carbon footprint more than average makes money. A person with large cars and a big house will pay a tax much higher than the dividend. Not one cent goes to Washington. No lobbyists will be supported. Unlike cap-and-trade, no millionaires would be made at the expense of the public.
The tax will spur innovation as entrepreneurs compete to develop and market low-carbon and no-carbon energies and products. The dividend puts money in the pockets of consumers, stimulating the economy, and providing the public a means to purchase the products.
A carbon tax is honest, clear and effective. It will increase energy prices, but low and middle income people, especially, will find ways to reduce carbon emissions so as to come out ahead. The rate of infrastructure replacement, thus economic activity, can be modulated by how fast the carbon tax rate increases. Effects will permeate society. Food requiring lots of carbon emissions to produce and transport will become more expensive and vice versa, encouraging support of nearby farms as opposed to imports from half way around the world.
In the end the sun will win. If the current solar trends continue, it will soon be so cold, the glaciers growing so fast, the sea ice stacked so high, the driveways not shoveled, that Al Gore will be the last person left on the planet that doesn’t know Al Gore is a kook.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Carnival Of Cars
Tapscotts Behind The Wheel blog has taken over the every Friday blog publication Carnival of Cars from the Straightline blog. I was a sometimes reader of it, I think I will give it another go at it's new home.
If you are unfamiliar with the CARNIVAL concept, it's a witty scan of the weeks blog posts about a single subject.
If you are unfamiliar with the CARNIVAL concept, it's a witty scan of the weeks blog posts about a single subject.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
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