Filed under: Climate Change, Energy, Global Warming, Science/Technology, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Democrat Corruption, Junk Science, Liberal lies
Moviemakers are always dreaming up new catastrophes. We have had giant asteroids headed for earth; the end of days; raging seas sweeping across Manhattan; Manhattan again, empty, the population felled by a mysterious virus; Manhattan populated only with zombies; aliens from outer space in giant ships arriving over Los Angeles; alien ships from outer space arriving all over the world all at once; pod people; and an earth inexorably warming, the seas rising, hurricanes increasing, polar bears drowning — oh wait…
The big sticking point that keeps people from understanding what a fraud Al Gore’s movie was, is the idea that there is a “scientific consensus.”
But in the real world, there is no such thing. The scientific method involves observing a phenomenon, and from careful observation developing a hypothesis. Then testing the hypothesis trying to disprove it. If the hypothesis stubbornly resists being disproven, it may be true. So continue testing.
If a “consensus” of scientists fervently believe in a different hypothesis, it doesn’t matter. There is no “consensus” in science, only what evidence shows to be true, and that continues to be open to further questioning and proof. The idea that ulcers were caused by acid stomach, pointed out Professor Ian Plimer, was accepted by everyone until two Australian scientists demonstrated that ulcers were caused by bacteria, and easily treated.
“Weather” is what you experience when you go outside. “Climate” consists of worldwide averages and is a statistic. The two should not be confused.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a benign, odorless, colorless gas caused by burning carbon and organic compounds and by respiration. It is not a pollutant.
Carbon is the chemical element of atomic number 6, a nonmetal that has two main forms (diamonds and graphite) and that also occurs in impure form in charcoal, soot and coal. Carbon is a solid. Carbon Dioxide is a gas.
The objective is to link CO2 with coal, for coal is seen as truly evil. It is mined, disturbing mother earth. Mining is evil. Coal is loaded on long trains, called “death trains” by uber greenie NASA scientist and activist James Hansen. Burning coal to create electricity is evil because it creates the “pollutant” CO2. But if CO2 is NOT a pollutant — which it isn’t— then the whole thing falls apart.
Take a few minutes to watch the interview with Professor Ian Plimer, Australia’s most renowned earth scientist, linked above. Each of the three segments is only about 9 minutes, and very worth your time.
Happy Fourth of July! I’m off to celebrate my freedom and independence by watching a government approved fireworks show, since, in this free and independent state, the government prohibits me from lighting off my own. Sigh.
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“If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.”
Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States of America
Filed under: Freedom, History, The Elephant's Child, United States of America
Filed under: Democrat Corruption, Freedom, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Healthcare, National Health Service, Universal Health Care
Britain’s Daily Mail has a story about a hospital patient who was so shocked at the dirty ward around her, that she climbed out of bed, dragging her ‘drip trolley’ behind her, gathered up the antibacterial fluid dispenser and some hand towels from the bathroom and started cleaning.
She said it took her about an hour because she could hardly move her neck from the abscess on her neck that put her in the hospital.
A Colchester Hospital University NHS spokesman said: “In the annual health check ratings for 2007-2008 we scored maximum marks for safety and cleanliness and we have also been praised for our very low levels of infections such as C. difficile and MRSA.
Oddly enough, last night we were watching some reruns of the British comedy series “Yes, Minister,” which if you have never seen it, is based on the worst effects of bureaucracy. It’s beginning to seem not as funny as it once did. The idea that “it can’t happen here” no longer seems so remote.
Just another little story in the long, long list of stories about the wonders of socialized medicine.
Filed under: Economy, Energy, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Junk Science, Obama, Consequences
One of the main features among many in the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill is the requirement that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions be 17 percent below those of 2005 by 2020 and that 15 percent of electric power generation come from “clean energy sources” such as wind, solar, biomass or geothermal by 2020.
Population increase is estimated to grow by 40 million more than that in 2005, a 13.5 percent increase. So we need a 28 percent decrease in fossil energy use which will mean a major decrease in such comforts as hot water, heating and air conditioning. Not to figure how much energy is required for the vast fleets of electric cars that the administration is counting on.
Many states are unsuitable for the use of solar or wind as energy sources. These states will have to buy power from more wind-friendly states at much higher rates. Solar power is far more expensive, so wind power will probably be the greatest source of renewable power. If there is no growth for for the intervening 15 years to 2020 we would need something like 600 billion KWh. The typical wind-power plant produces about 3.3 million KWh per year.
Thus, in the eleven years to 2020, the United States would need about 180 thousand 1.5 megawatt wind turbines. This means 45 new wind turbines per day!
And that does not count the new coal-fired plants needed for all the times when the wind does not blow.
I wonder how much 180,000 wind turbines cost?
(Thanks to Professor James Rust for this information from CCNet News)
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Progressivism., The Elephant's Child | Tags: Democrat Corruption, Obama
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The Obama team put out a report in January 2008 that purported to show what would happen with and without a fiscal stimulus. The graph above is from that report with the actual current results added in red.
The unemployment figures were down by 467,000 more in June. The national unemployment rate was 9.5 percent, but much higher in some states. Michigan in May had 14.1 percent unemployment, Oregon 12.4 percent. Rhode Island and South Carolina 12. percent. And California, Nevada and North Carolina all topped 11 percent. June figures for the states won’t be released until the middle of the month.
The stimulus plan has not worked, but the Obama administration was advised by many that stimulus plans don’t work. Of course much of the so-called stimulus has not yet been dispensed, for the majority was designed to be implemented just in time for the 2010 mid-term elections.
Most of the spending has gone to transfer payments: jobless benefits and Medicaid that are needed for the unemployed, but do nothing to create jobs. And much of the money is directed to the President’s backers. Even money meant for those famous “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects is directed to union workers.
Job creation and sustained expansion comes from entrepreneurs and risk-taking, but as businessmen look to Washington, they see uncertainty and higher costs as well as the risk of government interference. The administration tries to claim that the economy would be worse without the stimulus, which is as impossible to disprove as the claim that they have “saved” all sorts of jobs. The Waxman-Markey bill promises higher costs, new tariffs and threats of trade protectionism, and Democrats in congress are already talking about raising taxes which will really sink the economy.
As the Wall Street Journal says,” the best thing Mr. Obama could do to create jobs would be to declare he’s dropping all of this and starting over.”
Filed under: Humor, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, The Elephant's Child
James Taranto’s “Best of the Web” column on the Opinion page of the Wall Street Journal is a constant source of delight. He castigates unintelligible headlines, nonsense phrases, mixed metaphors and general journalistic misbehavior. He finds humor in odd places and singles out serial offenders for scorn.
I loved this round-up of President Obama’s deep concern:
- “Obama Breaks Silence on Gaza, Voices “Deep Concern” over Civilian Deaths” —headline, Ha’aretz, Jan. 7
- “Obama Voices Concern About Freed Guantanamo inmates” — headline, Reuters, Feb. 3
- “Obama Voices Concern About Pakistan” — headline, New York Tmes, April 30
- “Obama Expresses Concern for Tissainayagam” — Headline, TamilNet.com, May 2
- “Obama: Long-Term Joblessness a Concern” — CNN.com, May 20
- “Obama Says North Korea Nuclear Test a ‘Grave Concern’ ” — Headline, Reuters, May 25
- “Obama to ‘Voice Concerns’ in Egypt Speech” — headline, Hill, May 29
- “Obama Concerned at Sentence of Journalists in N Korea” — headline, Agence France-Presse, June 8
- “Obama Names Video Games as Health Concern in Speech to A.M.A.” — headline, GamePolitics.com., June 15
- “Obama Has ‘Deep Concerns’ About Iran’s Election” — headline, Newsweek Web site, June 16
- “Obama Concern About Oil Speculation Unchanged-W House” — headline Reuters, June 18
- “Obama Expresses Deep Concern Over Honduras Coup” — headline, Deutsche Presse Agentur, June 28
- “Obama Tells the AP He is Deeply Concerned About Rising Unemployment” — headline, Associated Press, July 2
Filed under: Economy, Energy, Environment, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Democrat Lies/Dirty Tricks, Culture War, Junk Science
Here is the Must Read Article for the weekend, and for the foreseeable future. Stephen Spruiell and Kevin Williamson have rounded up 50 reasons why the Waxman-Markey climate bill is part government power-grab, part enviro-fantasy, and should be stopped. You have no idea of the horrors to be found within its many pages, but of course your representatives have no idea either, because nobody read it before they voted to pass it.
Read it, print it out and pass it around. Take it to a Tea Party. Inflict it on your relatives. Discuss it with your friends. Challenge the Democrats you know. You can have all sorts of fun with this.
Filed under: Foreign Policy, Iraq, Middle East, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Democracy, The War in Iraq, U.S. Military
Charles Krauthammer said something important last night, as he often does. He spoke about Obama’s remarks as U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities yesterday:
He referred to what we have achieved as a “sovereign, stable, self-reliant” Iraq. He left out one word, and he left it out because it was a George Bush word —democracy. That was a Bush idea — to implant a democracy in Iraq.
If we had wanted to have merely a sovereign, stable self-reliant Iraq, we could have chosen a Saddamist general to succeed Saddam after the war and gotten out.
It’s true that the democracy established here is a fragile one. It’s still struggling, and we will argue for decades over whether it was worth the 4,000 American lives, as we still argue half a century later whether or not it was worth 36,000 lives to salvage a democracy in half of the Korean Peninsula.
Nonetheless, it [Iraq] is a democracy, and that’s what makes it unique and distinctive, and an amazing achievement in a sea of autocracies and dictatorships — having an effect, by example, on Lebanon, on the Gulf states, and even on Iran, where Iranians look to their west and see a country which is also Shiite, Arab, (which the Persians consider culturally inferior), and yet it has a democracy, it has elections, it has an Ayatollah Sistani who says the clerics ought to stay out of politics, and the Iranians are living under a sixth-century dictatorship run by mullahs.
So it’s a remarkable achievement, and we ought to emphasize what we have achieved in terms of democracy.
And it’s a pity that the president ignores that because the democratic nature of Iraq will establish the basis for a strategic alliance between America and Iraq in the future.
So well done, President Bush, and well done, U.S. troops. You have accomplished wonders that seemed, for a time, impossible. And well done, Mr. Krauthammer, for pointing it out so gracefully.
Filed under: Business, Capitalism, Economy, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Europe, Political Correctness/Multiculturalism
European greengrocers have been released from restrictions on the appearance of fruits and vegetables that have bedeviled them for 20 years. Busybodies in Brussels have long issued regulations on the shape of a proper carrot, the curve that a banana must have, the lumpiness of a potato. The reasons for all this intrusion in shoppers’ lives were mysterious, but the bans have been lifted. Reason reigns.
“J Sainsbury said that consumers could save up to 40 percent.” Forty percent off the average European’s grocery bill. Mother Nature wins. Not every carrot grows long and svelte, but a farmer loses a lot by having to sort out all the ungainly ones.
The relaxation of the ban doesn’t cover everything, but it’s a start. Shoppers are perfectly able to sort out what they want to buy for themselves, and don’t need the intrusive edicts from the Nannies. Nannies here need to pay attention before they get big ideas.
Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Freedom, Political Realism, The Elephant's Child | Tags: International Weakness, Obama, Political Correctness/Multiculturalism
Authorities in Iran warned the opposition that they would tolerate no further protests over the disputed June 12 presidential election. The Jerusalem Post reports that six Mousavi supporters were reportedly hanged in the holy city of Mashhad on Monday. There was no independent confirmation of the report.
It was also reported that a prominent cleric gave a speech to protesters in which he acknowledged that the very act of speaking at the gathering would likely cost him his life. Pro-Mousavi green bands have been declared illegal, and drivers who beeped their horns were apt to have their windshields broken by the Basji.
In a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Obama said:
I would suggest Mr. Ahmadinejad think carefully about the obligations he owes to his own people. And he might want to consider looking at the families of those who have been beaten or shot or detained.
Anne Bayefsky responds “Most of us are aware of the fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has thought carefully about it (for three decades) and then decided both that the Iranian people have no rights to assemble or speak freely and that the Iranian government has a right to order that they be beaten, shot, and/or detained at will.
The next question was don’t the events of the past few weeks undermine your hopes for meaningful dialog, and aren’t you just losing time? Obama responded”
On the Iranian issue, I think that we are still waiting to see how the situation in Iran plays out…We don’t yet know how any potential dialogue will have been affected until we see what’s happened inside of Iran.
Reporters pressed, and the president said that events in Iran will have no effect on his policy of engaging in dialogue with Iran. Merkel went from the current events in Iran to say:
We would like to have a diplomatic solution to preventing Iran from gaining possession of a nuclear weapon. So I completely agree with the president here…I think we can be successful in the Middle East [peace] process , and then be successful in our talks with Iran.
There’s more pandering from assorted members of the administration, but it is clear that they simply do not grasp that a president who has denied that the Holocaust ever happened, has advocated the elimination of the Jewish state, is determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and blithely beats, shoots and hangs any internal opposition might just possibly be completely resistant to the Obama charm offensive.
Meanwhile, as troops withdraw from the cities in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, the top US military commander in Iraq accused Iran of continuing to support and train militants who are carrying out attacks in Iraq. But if we ask Ahmadinejad really, really nicely maybe he’ll stop.
Filed under: Foreign Policy, History, Latin America, Middle East, Political Realism, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Central America, Honduras, Politics
White House sources have said that President Obama just isn’t interested in foreign policy. People who know him well say that he has never really had any interest in history. It shows.
Democrats do have trouble recognizing who our friends are and who are the bad guys. Jimmy Carter was astounded when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and still can’t get over his love affair with Hamas. All sorts of Democrats were sure that Ho Chi Minh was the good guy, and a number even went to N. Vietnam to visit. Castro is idolized for his communist paradise with its 15,000 imprisoned enemies of the state. You have seen the tee shirts and posters featuring that bloody killer Ché Guevara.
Two weeks ago, President Obama refused to “meddle” in a totalitarian country where unarmed, peaceful students demonstrating in the streets were being beaten and shot for opposing the election that they believed to be fraudulent. He didn’t want to take sides. Now he’s eager to “meddle” in the situation in Honduras. And goodness, is he meddling! National Review’s Andy McCarthy says:
Now that the president has decided it’s okay to meddle in Honduras (where they are fighting to preserve their democracy against the Chávez-style thug who Obama wants to re-install) but not Iran (where thousands of Iranians who seek democracy are being killed, maimed and jailed by a regime which has been at war with the United States for 30 years), the president’s tack is to say that Honduras’s action in removing Zelaya is ”not legal.”
What on earth makes Obama think he knows better about what is legal under the law of Honduras than the Supreme Court of Honduras and the law-writing legislature of Honduras? The Honduran military acted after Zelaya defied an order by that nation’s highest court which pronounced his coup attempt illegal; he has been replaced under a Honduran legal process by that nation’s Congress, which essentially impeached him and democratically voted in a successor. That sounds pretty legal to me. I am the first to admit I am not an expert in Honduran law, but I’d bet the Honduran Supreme Court has a better grasp on it than President Obama. On the issue of what is legal in Honduras, as between Hugo Chávez and the Honduran Supreme Court, our president has decided to go with Chávez.
Secondly, as IBD notes, the Obama administration is now “threatening to halt its $200 million in U.S. aid, immigration accords and a free-trade treaty if it doesn’t put the criminal Zelaya back into office.” Can someone explain to me how it is that Obama is willingly giving $900M to Hamastan (i.e., the jihadist-controlled Gaza strip) but would pull back a comparative pittance of aid in order to penalize a poor country in our own hemisphere for trying to preserve its democracy against a would-be left-wing dictator?
The Obama administration is about to release their plan for meddling in the “peace process” between Israel and Hamas-controlled Palestine. He is not impressed that Israel is our greatest ally in the Middle East, but wants to bully, arm-twist and demand that Israel agree to his proposals. Obama seem to be interested in a feather in his cap rather than peace on the ground. His lack of knowledge about the history of Israel, as demonstrated in his Cairo speech, leads him to the false conclusion that if Israel just gives up more land, more security, and more settlements then the Arabs will make peace, for all they want is their own state.
Unfortunately the Palestinians have already turned that one down. Every one of the Islamist Mullahs’ rallies is led with cries of Death to Israel, and Death to America. It would seem sensible to assume that they mean it.
Obama seems to have a gift for picking the wrong side.
Filed under: American Elephant, Democrat Corruption, News, Politics | Tags: EPA, Liberal lies, Obama
The EPA under Obama has moved to silence scientists in the rush to push their political agenda. The EPA has blocked a scientific report from one of their own scientists which pointed out that information the agency is using is out of date and contradicted by newer data. The report was ignored and the scientist aggressively muzzled.
Why do liberals hate science so much?
Filed under: American Elephant, Democrat Corruption, Liberalism, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics | Tags: John Conyers, Monica Conyers, Obama
When Obama and the Democrat party can seize the entire American automobile industry, slap a bow on it, give it to their biggest campaign contributors and get away with it, pointing out the rampant corruption perpetrated by that party seems like so much whistling in the wind. Nevertheless…
Last Friday, Democrat Congressman John Conyers (MI), Chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, abruptly dropped a planned investigation into ACORN, the liberal activist group with close ties to the Obama administration, on the very same day that his wife, Monica Conyers pleaded guilty, in a deal with federal prosecutors, to charges of conspiring to commit bribery:
Conyers could be facing about three years in prison under her plea agreement. Her attorney, Steve Fishman, believes federal sentencing guidelines of 30-37 months apply.
Federal prosecutors believe she would get the full five years under sentencing guidelines. [more]
Fortunately, she has a husband who chairs a powerful committee that can threaten the man who is in charge of the people prosecuting her. I guess that’s what Congressman Conyers meant when he said, “the powers that be” decided against further investigation of ACORN.
How convenient.
(h/t HotAir)
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Freedom, Progressivism., The Elephant's Child | Tags: Healthcare, Democrat Lies/Dirty Tricks, Economy
“Since when do we call it a “town hall” meeting when a bunch of pre-screened experts ask the president a bunch of pre-approved questions in the East Wing of the White House?” Michael Cannon asked in the Corner at National Review Online. Good question!
The president held a so-called “town hall” meeting with a pre-selected audience last Wednesday under the benevolent auspices of ABC. Critics, other opinions, and disagreement were not included. Republicans formally requested a chance to participate or time to respond, but those who were not fully in the Obama tank were not invited.
Health Care experts from the Cato Institute respond, in the video above, with some of the information you need. Much of the ObamaCare plan is based on the idea that there is a best treatment for any situation, and with a modern Internet technology approach, and with all your health records online, the government can choose the best care for everyone, and by “incentivising” [fining the doctors who don't follow the rules] best care, they think they will improve care and reduce costs. “One size fits all” says Michael Cannon.
But it doesn’t work that way. My next-door neighbor can take only very small amounts of medicine. A full dose knocks her out. I need the full dose and then some. And as far as government management is concerned, a couple of notes. When the car czar and his czarettes made the decision to close a large number of Chrysler dealerships [a very odd decision, since the dealerships were not owned by Chrysler, but were independent businesses privately owned, who bought their stock of vehicles from Chrysler], Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) immediately went to Chrysler to make sure that the dealer in his district, who was on the closure list, stayed in business. This is only a tiny sample of how government control works.
These people are politicians and bureaucrats. What do they know about running the health care of 300 million people? Canada has 33 million people and cannot manage their health care. Great Britain has 66 million people, and theirs is a mess. Even Massachusetts, population about 6.5 million, has a new health care plan that is a flop. But the Great and Wonderful Obama —who has never run as much as a candy store — is perfectly sure that he can manage the whole system, cover the uninsured, reduce costs and insure a healthier, happier America.
The one thing that you most need to know about the “Kennedy Health Care Bill” working its way through the Senate, is that members of Congress, and the Administration and whoever else is currently on the admirable health care plan that they all love are excused from ever participating in the Health Care Plan they stick the rest of us with. And Obama has excused his friends in the Unions from any tax on their benefits.
