Saturday, February 19, 2011

Gulf of Mexico Drilling Permits; Global Warming Causes Lack of Snowfall; Global Warming Causes Historic Snowfall; Cap & Tax in CA is Halted by Judge; Earth's Wobble Causes All Climate Change; America About to Give Up Ownership of our Oceans

Michigan Capitol Confidential writes: Contract negotiations between the administration and unions began in October 2009. The teachers’ union contract expired Aug. 31, 2010.
West Bloomfield teachers do not do any premium sharing for health insurance and do not have a deductible in their plan, Andrees said.
“The district can no longer afford to pay for everything,” Andrees said. “The money is not there now. I can not continue that practice.”
The total compensation of a West Bloomfield teacher grew 173 percent over an 11-year period, going from $47,346 to $129,637, according to information that was presented at a school board meeting in December.
The teacher’s salary started at $31,881 in 1999-00 and grew to $85,836 in 2010-11. Meanwhile, insurance payments climbed from $9,309 to $19,304 per year, and retirement contributions jumped from $3,717 to $16,854 per year. http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14584
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A handful of states, including Massachusetts, are considering abolishing their presidential primaries — mainly because there's not enough money in the budget.: ttp://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0211/Not_enough_money_for_a_2012_primary
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Repealing the new national healthcare law would result in gross savings of $1.4 trillion, a new report by the Congressional Budget Office finds. During the health care debate, Democrats were hard pressed to keep up with President Obama's promise that the legislation would cost "around $900 billion." So they employed the gimmick of delaying the major spending provisions until 2014 to make the legislation appear cheaper within the CBO's ten-year budget window, then 2010 through 2019. http://spectator.org/blog/2011/02/18/cbo-repealing-obamacare-to-red
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American Spectator writes: Over at NRO, Jay Nordlinger makes an incredibly good point: Barack Obama should be urging calm in Wisconsin, no matter WHAT side of the underlying issue he is on. It is not just unpresidential of him, but despicable, for him in effect to be urging on the mass demonstrations.These are dangerous times. The Obama left will not go quietly into that good night. And they will not let their targets sleep quietly at night. They want their targets -- in the Wisconsin legislature, and at Speaker Boehner's house, and, watch, in other places as well -- to feel fear of the mob.
They have Saul Alinsky. We have James Madison and George Washington. We win, they lose. http://spectator.org/blog/2011/02/17/obama-wants-wisconsin-mess
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The Washington Times ran this Editorial: Message to Wisconsin taxpayers: President Obama and the Democratic National Committee have declared war on you. Message to other states: You're next.
The political unrest in Wisconsin, billed as some kind of grass-roots uprising, is being organized and directed by Barack Obama's Organizing for America and the Democratic National Committee. This development is consistent with Mr. Obama's instructions for supporters to "get in the face" of those who oppose them, but in this case, they are seeking to derail a lawful legislative process. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/18/obamas-war-on-democracy/print/
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Floyd Reports: In 2006, the United Nations decided it was time to explore “the feasibility, scope and draft parameters for a comprehensive, legally binding instrument establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional weapons.”

The Bush administration voted against the creation of this proposed Arms Trade Treaty, believing that such oversight would be more productive on a national level. But on October 30th, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama reversed course, quite possibly turning the sovereignty of the United States, its Constitution and the rights of its gun owning public over to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the member states.... http://floydreports.com/obama-puts-gun-rights-in-question-through-the-un/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=73b06be434-EO_02_18_20112_18_2011&utm_medium=email
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Newsmax writes: U.S. offshore energy regulators have 30 days to act on five Gulf of Mexico drilling permits that the Obama administration’s offshore drill bans have delayed unreasonably, a New Orleans judge ruled today.
“The government is under a duty to act by either granting or denying a permit application within a reasonable time,” U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman said in his ruling. “Not acting at all is not a lawful option.”
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 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70iXVN5EVM&feature=player_embedded   
[Here is hilarious video from 2007 when two Democrats explain that that's year's lack of snowfall was caused by global warming, adding that 70% of our snow pack will disappear.  This year, of course, we are told that all this extreme cold and record-breaking snowfalls are caused by - global warming!]
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Big Government writes: Judge Halts Implementation of CA's Cap and Tax:
The voters of California even had an opportunity last year to put the brakes on it at the ballot box with Proposition 23, but the environmental left spent millions fighting the proposition. Considering their unemployment rate is well over 12% here, the California voters essentially supported assisted economic-suicide of their own state.
A challenge to the law, based on other environmental laws, specifically CEQA, (the California Environmental Quality Act), finally prompted a judge to halt the law’s implementation. CEQA says that legislation that has an impact on the economy or the environment has to be analyzed for less destructive alternatives. Such an analysis was not adequately done according to the judge. CEQA was signed by then Governor Ronald Reagan.  (May he rest in peace.)
The group that brought the legal challenge to the law was the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment,  This group claims to defend minorities from the ravages of the environment. They thought the legislation was too business friendly!
The judge's ruling is now an opening for the business community to permanently defeat this law. The California Air Resources Board, one of the state’s largest and most unaccountable agencies has to now study and find alternative solutions to reducing green house gases. http://biggovernment.com/asparks/2011/02/05/judge-halts-implementation-of-california-cap-and-tax/
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[Following is an amazing study which some of you may enjoy reading.  It actually takes away from man the power to do anything to disrupt our climate.]  A Danish study published in the scientific journal Geology, found strong correlation between climate change, weather patterns and the magnetic field.  The magnetic field drives weather to a significant degree and when that field starts migrating superstorms start erupting.
"The earth's climate has been significantly affected by the planet's magnetic field, according to a Danish study published Monday that could challenge the notion that human emissions are responsible for global warming.
According to some geologists and scientists, we have left the last interglacial period behind us. Those periods are lengths of time—about 11,500 years—between major Ice Ages.
One of the most stunning signs of the approaching Ice Age is what's happened to the world's precessional wobble. And the Earth stopped wobbling—exactly as predicted as another strong sign of an imminent Ice Age.
So, the start of a new Ice Age is marked by a magnetic pole reversal, increased volcanic activity, larger and more frequent earthquakes, tsunamis, colder winters, superstorms and the halting of the Earth's precessional wobble.  [And there is nothing we can do to blame ourselves or to stop it?]
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The Intel Hub writes:  US House puts oceans, coasts under UN: Senate vote will seal the deal. HR 3534 (CLEAR Act).HR 3534 is a thinly disguised permanent roadblock to American energy which drives American companies out of the Gulf, delays future drilling, increases dependency on foreign oil, implements climate change legislation and youth education programs; but most important, it mandates membership in the Law of the Sea Treaty without the required two-thirds vote to ratify it in the U.S. Senate.

The House passed the CLEAR Act (HR 3534)  209-193, July 30, 2010. This bill was originally introduced July 8, 2009, but was resurrected by the recent Deep Water Horizon oil spill crisis.  According to www.govtrack.us, a debate may be taking place on a companion bill in the Senate, rather than on this particular bill.
Truth is, HR 3534 could have been stopped in the House and wasn’t.  Why? Because 21 absent Republicans chose not to show up for this critical vote, while another REP just voted Present: 
The Consolidated Land, Energy, Aquatic Restoration Act of 2009 (aka:  CLEAR Act, HR 3534) gives away ownership of America’s oceans to the United Nations, and sectors America into nine geographic areas.  This bill possesses a cap and trade/climate change component as well.
America will be forced to become a member of the UN Law of the Sea Treaty (aka: LOST), circumventing the normal two-thirds U.S. Senate vote necessary for ratification of any treaty.  This was accomplished surreptitiously via Section 106 of the bill, which specifies that Executive Orders, rules, regulations, directives or delegations of authority that precede the effective date of this act are applicable to the CLEAR Act.
It just so happens two important documents did precede the  CLEAR Act. Documents that contain the deleterious intent and scope of the bill:  Obama’s Stewardship of the Oceans, Our Coasts and the Great Lakes Executive Order, July 19, 2010, and the Interim Report of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, July 10, 2009.  Look at the time line very closely:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3534
http://theintelhub.com/2010/09/22/17314/
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Friday, February 18, 2011

House Votes to Dethrone 9 of Obama's Czars, and to Bar FCC:The Chaotic Nature of Weather Caused Floods; Electric Cars Quit in Cold Weather; Hoard Lightbulbs; A Move to Ban Bottled Water Hurts America; Invest In Golf Cart Technology; Spilled Milk Needs Emergency Management by EPA?

On left, a photo taken during the 2010 Great Lakes Cyclone
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 In a stunning move, the U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled another "conference" on a legal challenge to Barack Obama's eligibility to occupy the Oval Office, but officials there are not answering questions about whether two justices given their jobs by Obama will participate.
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The House voted Thursday to dethrone nine White House “czars.”
Republicans successfully added an amendment to the continuing resolution that would leave President Barack Obama’s senior advisers on policy issues including health care, energy and others out of a job.
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The House passed an amendment Thursday that would bar the Federal Communications Commission from using any funding to implement the network-neutrality order it approved in December.
The amendment, approved on a 244-181 vote, was offered by Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., to legislation that would fund government agencies for the rest of fiscal year 2011. http://www.nationaljournal.com/house-passes-amendment-to-block-funds-for-net-neutrality-order-20110217
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The Daily Caller opines: There’s a peer-reviewed paper about to be published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, and in the press release about the paper, they don’t even mention the word “climate.” Simply put, a rogue storm system, part of the normal chaotic nature of weather on this planet, was the cause of last summer’s devastating floods. Nothing else.
This paper was presented on Tuesday at the annual American Meteorological Society meeting in Seattle.
From Eurekalert
“We looked through 10 years of data from the satellite and we just never saw anything like this,” he said.   [Wow!  A whole ten years of data!  Let's make a prediction based on that, okay?]
This comes on the heels of the debunking of other claim about climate change-caused weather. The debunker this time? None other than the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a.k.a. NOAA.
A number of people, including Secretary Clinton, have suggested that last summer’s Russian heat wave and forest/peat fires around Moscow were a direct result of “climate change,” a.k.a. global warming. It turns out to be, surprise, just weather.
NOAA says: 
The extreme surface warmth over western Russia during July and early August is mostly a product of the strong and persistent blocking high.

The indications are that the current blocking event is intrinsic to the natural variability of summer climate in this region…
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The Washington Post opines: Count me among the many thousands of Washington area residents who spent Wednesday night stuck in traffic as a snowstorm sowed chaos all around us. Being car-bound in sub-freezing weather for six hours can make a guy think. I counted my blessings. The situation could have been worse, I realized: My fellow commuters and I could have been trying to make it home in electric cars, like the ones President Obama is constantly promoting, most recently in his State of the Union address.
It is a basic fact of physical science that batteries run down more quickly in cold weather than they do in warm weather, and the batteries employed by vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf or the Chevy Volt are no exception. "Alongside the negative impact on the batteries cold also has a negative impact on the driver as well. Drivers need to be warm to operate the vehicle effectively so on top of the reduced range and power of the batteries just from the temperature they also must operate the car heater to keep you warm. This will further reduce the range of the car. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012706170.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
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American Thinker writes this about lightbulbs:  Hoard.  Incandescent bulbs are going for a buck or two a package these days.  You won't be able to get them for love or money a couple years down the line.  Or do you like the idea of being ordered to fill your home with fragile glass objects requiring an eight-hour decontamination procedure if broken? [ I have seen it suggested that we all send our burned out bulbs to Congress for disposal.  This might wake them up. Or would they pass a law making doing so a misdemeanor?]  http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/outwitting_lethal_government_p.html
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Daily Caller writes: For more than a few years environmentalists have fueled a movement to ban or significantly reduce consumer use of bottled water. Dozens of universities and municipalities have already taken action to curb bottle water use.  But the impact of such a ban on the U.S. economy, especially in the current economic climate, could be significant.
“It could be massively destructive for the industry,” said Tom Lauria, spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association.
More than 150,000 jobs in the water bottle industry could be at risk, and billions of dollars of exports of polyethylene terephthalate, a primary ingredient used to produce water bottles, could also be at risk.
The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) said 1.4 billion pounds of PET were collected for recycling in 2009. Of that, 780 million pounds was exported, mainly to China, which purchased 726 million pounds of PET. [OK - aren't we enriched by each dollar China spends on American products?]
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American Thinker opines: The secret to instant wealth is to spot a mass delusion and bet against it.  The Tulip Craze.  Florida swamp land.   There is the Chevy Volt, a fantasy "hybrid," financed in part by thirteen trillion tax dollars from Obama.  There will be huge government subsidies for electrical charging stations to juice up your golf cart every forty miles.  So invest in golf cart technology. 
When Bill Clinton federalized Utah Lands, Senator Feinstein's billionaire husband shifted his money to Chinese mining.  Why?  Because Clinton took known Utah minerals off the market "to protect the environment."  Chinese minerals were bound to go up because there are only so many identified mineral sources.  The eco-ninnies were manipulated, but they still adore Bill for playing to their batty beliefs.  It's happy time for all, especially the Bernie Madoffs of this world.   http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/how_to_get_rich_from_liberal_d.html
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Townhall writes: We all understand why the Environmental Protection Agency was given the power to issue regulations to guard against oil spills, such as that of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska or the more recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But not everyone understands that any power given to any bureaucracy for any purpose can be stretched far beyond that purpose.
In a classic example of this process, the EPA has decided that, since milk contains oil, it has the authority to force farmers to comply with new regulations to file "emergency management" plans to show how they will cope with spilled milk, how farmers will train "first responders" and build "containment facilities" if there is a flood of spilled milk.
Does anyone seriously believe that any farmer is going to spill enough milk to compare with the Exxon Valdez oil spill or the BP oil spill?
Do you envision people fleeing their homes, as a flood of milk comes pouring down the mountainside, threatening to wipe out the village below?
It doesn't matter. Once the words are in the law, it makes no difference what the realities are. The bureaucracy has every incentive to stretch the meaning of those words, in order to expand its empire. http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2011/02/01/spilled_milk
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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Obama's Clean Energy; Dead Birds Were Poisoned; 43 Fellows Complain to the Royal Society; Restoring New Orleans' Marshes; Keystone Pipeline; Oops - IPCC Wrong Again

“Now, clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they’re selling. So tonight, I challenge you to join me in setting a new goal: by 2035, 80% of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources. Some folks want wind and solar. Others want nuclear, clean coal, and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all — and I urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it happen.” — Barack Obama
Daily Caller opines: Folks, you are being treated like infants — while you are being robbed. Windmills and solar panels are not “innovative”; they exist only because some politicians have made icons of them and are wedded to them as a result.
The answer to that drivel is not only that being new does not in any way mean a company needs welfare but also: if your company can’t survive without government subsidies, then go bankrupt. After all, the truth is that they’ll go bankrupt even if we do give them that wealth transfer.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/01/25/on-energy-policy-obama-talks-down-to-americans/#ixzz1C96EHQtD
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A South Dakota TV News reports: It happened in places like Louisiana, Arkansas and Kentucky. Hundreds of birds mysteriously found dead.
Folks in Yankton, South Dakota, thought they were being added to the list after hundreds of dead birds were found there on Monday.  Turns out the unpleasant feathered discovery has a solid explanation.  They were poisoned.
Some had thought 200 starlings found dead in Yankton's Riverside park had frozen to death. But they were actually poisoned on purpose, by the US Department of Agriculture.
They say a local farmer had been having troubles with about 5,000 starlings defecating in his feed meal. Department of Ag officials say because of health concerns for the farmer's animals and staff they decided to kill the birds. [You mean they actually put the health of cows and human beings above the lives of starlings?] http://www.ktiv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13865540
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The UK Telegraph writes:  As I’ve reported before, the Warmist bias of the Royal Society has become such a standing joke that last year 43 of its fellows wrote in to complain. Under its two previous presidents, Lord May and Lord Rees, it has tossed aside its traditions of lofty neutrality and eagerly embraced a new role as political activist for the green lobbyhttp://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100073116/oh-no-not-another-unbiased-bbc-documentary-about-climate-change/ 
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The Boston Globe writes: For years, coastal scientists have been saying that the best way to protect New Orleans from hurricanes is to restore Louisiana’s marshes so they can tampen down hurricane-generated storm surges. Researchers have calculated that every mile of healthy marsh reduces storm surges by a foot. In other words, if Louisiana had allowed its marshes to grow naturally for the past 75 years, the storm surge generated by hurricane Katrina would have never broken New Orleans’ levees and flooded the city.
While there are no guarantees, it is clear that this is probably Louisiana’s last and best chance to repair her ravaged shoreline, and not a moment too soon. It is only a matter of time before the next Katrina bears down on this low-lying and vulnerable coast. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/01/24/in_louisiana_a_welcome_side_effect/
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The Washington Post writes: A massive feat of engineering by any measure, the Keystone pipeline expansion project would transport crude oil close to 1,700 miles from "oil sands" in the icy reaches of Hardisty, Alberta, down through the Great Plains to the refineries of Port Arthur, Tex. In doing so, the giant pipe also promises to allay some fears about U.S. energy security: The oil will come from a trusted ally, and its cross-continental path avoids visions of another deep-sea drilling disaster.
On one hand the move to extend TransCanada's existing pipeline - which runs from Hardisty to the Illinois towns of Wood River and Patoka and has a daily capacity of 435,000 barrels - offers obvious benefits. The extension will generate 13,000 construction and 7,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States over roughly two years, according to the company, and could transport as much as 500,000 additional barrels of oil a day. It also could help stabilize electricity prices for several rural co-ops along the route.
. The process consumes more energy and water than most conventional drilling methods, can require clear-cuts of forests and creates tailings that can pollute nearby waterways.
When I think of the State Department I think of many things they do well," said Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.). "But I would tell you, siting pipelines is not anything I would think of when I think of State Department expertise." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/23/AR2011012303411.html?hpid=topnews
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The UK Guardian writes: One paragraph, buried in 3,000 pages of reports and published almost three years ago, has humbled the head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Facing global outcry, Rajendra Pachauri backed down and apologised today for a disputed IPCC claim that there was a very high chance the Himalayan glaciers would melt away by 2035.
The assertion, now discredited, was included in the most recent IPCC report assessing climate change science, ­published in 2007. Those reports are widely credited with convincing the world that human activity was causing global warming.
But Pachauri admitted in an IPCC statement (pdf) that in this case "the clear and well-established standards of evidence required by the IPCC procedures were not applied properly", and "poorly substantiated estimates" of the speed of glacier melting had made it into print.
Glaciologists who spoke to the Guardian say Himalayan glaciers contain so much ice it will be 300 years before it vanishes. [I dare say that would be true only if this planet does not have another Ice Age.]
.http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/20/himalayan-glaciers-melt-claims-false-ipcc
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Eight Botched Environmental Predictions; Methane from Freshwater; EPA Blocked in Texas; "Great Garbage Patch" 1% of Stated Size; Fluorescents Cost More; Obama: "Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket"

To read the entire article from Fox News, go to http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/30/botched-environmental-forecasts/?cmpid=cmty_email_Eight_Botched_Environmental_Forecasts    The explanations and excuses for each prediction are almost comical.  And we are expected to take them seriously and be mightily afraid.

Eight Botched Environmental Predictions 

1. Within a few years "children just aren't going to know what snow is." Snowfall will be "a very rare and exciting event." Dr. David Viner, senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, interviewed by the UK Independent, March 20, 2000.

2. "[By] 1995, the greenhouse effect would be desolating the heartlands of North America and Eurasia with horrific drought, causing crop failures and food riots…[By 1996] The Platte River of Nebraska would be dry, while a continent-wide black blizzard of prairie topsoil will stop traffic on interstates, strip paint from houses and shut down computers." Michael Oppenheimer, published in "Dead Heat," St. Martin's Press, 1990.
Oppenheimer told FoxNews.com that he was trying to illustrate one possible outcome of failing to curb emissions, not making a specific prediction.

3. "Arctic specialist Bernt Balchen says a general warming trend over the North Pole is melting the polar ice cap and may produce an ice-free Arctic Ocean by the year 2000." Christian Science Monitor, June 8, 1972.
Ice coverage has fallen, though as of last month, the Arctic Ocean had 3.82 million square miles of ice cover -- an area larger than the continental United States -- according to The National Snow and Ice Data Center.

4. "Using computer models, researchers concluded that global warming would raise average annual temperatures nationwide two degrees by 2010." Associated Press, May 15, 1989.

5. "By 1985, air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half." Life magazine, January 1970.

6. "If present trends continue, the world will be ... eleven degrees colder by the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us in an ice age." Kenneth E.F. Watt, in "Earth Day," 1970.
According to NASA, global temperature has increased by about 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1970.

7. "By the year 2000 the United Kingdom will be simply a small group of impoverished islands, inhabited by some 70 million hungry people ... If I were a gambler, I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000." Ehrlich, Speech at British Institute For Biology, September 1971.

8. "In ten years all important animal life in the sea will be extinct. Large areas of coastline will have to be evacuated because of the stench of dead fish." Ehrlich, speech during Earth Day, 1970
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The Local - Sweden's News in English writes: Inland waters, including lakes, reservoirs, streams and rivers, are often substantial methane sources in the terrestrial landscape. However, they are not yet well integrated in global greenhouse gas budgets, wrote Bastviken.
Data from 474 freshwater ecosystems and the most recent global water area estimates indicate that methane emissions from freshwaters correspond to 25 percent of all carbon dioxide, the study found. http://www.thelocal.se/31296/20110107/
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The Houston Chronical reports: The federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the EPA’s plan to seize control of greenhouse gas permits from Texas.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must wait until at least Friday so the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia can make a decision on Texas’ bid to prevent the federal takeover.
The first federal rules on emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases took effect Sunday. Texas is the only state to refuse to implement the new rules — a position that prompted the EPA’s intervention.
In its petition, the state accuses the EPA of abusing its powers by taking control of the permitting program without proper notice. The agency, in response, criticized Texas officials for filing suit instead of working with it to protect public health. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7365185.html
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The UK Telegraph reports: Claims that the "Great Garbage Patch" between California and Japan is twice the size of Texas is "grossly exaggerated" said the research which reckons it is more like one per cent the size.
Further reports that the oceans are filled with more plastic than plankton, and that the patch has been growing tenfold each decade since the 1950s are equally misleading, the new research claimed.
In reality it often cannot even be seen from the deck of a passing boat, said the latest analysts from the Oregon State University professor of oceanography Angelicque White. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8241265/Great-Garbage-Patch-in-the-Pacific-Ocean-not-so-great-claim-scientists.html
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The Washington Times notes: The cost of illuminating your home is about to go up significantly. Most Americans take for granted that when they flip a switch, darkness immediately gives way to a warm, natural light. That's no longer possible in California, where a regulation that took effect Jan. 1 only allows the sale of harsh, cold compact fluorescents above a certain wattage. Unless the new Congress takes action, the same rules will apply to the rest of the country, beginning next year.
The prohibition on buying real light bulbs follows from the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, signed into law by then-President George W. Bush. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/5/light-bulb-banning-begins/
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Floyd Reports writes: In a candid moment while running for president, Barack Obama told the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle, “under my plan…electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” Last week, the Obama administration moved to make that a reality, using its rule by executive fiat to punish the coal industry. The action comes as the president is halting offshore oil drilling and threatening one state alone with millions of dollars in lost revenue. His most recent action was “unprecedented,” could kill jobs during a recession, and comes as heating oil and gasoline prices are rising.

Obama’s latest environmentalist imbroglio is his declaration of war on the coal industry. Last week, the EPA revoked the mining permit of Arch Coal’s Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, West Virginia. The EPA granted the permit in 2007. Since then, Arch Coal has complied with all of the agency’s terms and made millions of dollars of investments in the hard-hit Appalachian state.

The EPA reversed itself last week, revoking its validly granted permit and calling into question whether it would honor any of its prior obligations....  http://floydreports.com/obamas-decrees-cause-energy-prices-to-skyrocket/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=bfefa55584-EO_01_18_20111_18_2011&utm_medium=email
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Obama Graded on Egypt; ACORN Devotee Now Executive Director of the DNC; Did Bernanke Get the Best of China?; Obama Hasn't Yet Given Congress the Report on Freddie and Fannie; Birthright Citizenship Act; Dallas Rids Streets of Cars Driven by Illegals; US to "Strengthen" UN;

Mediate.com writes: Niall Ferguson, Harvard professor and Newsweek columnist, rained on the Morning Joe Show parade this morning by arguing President Obama blew it in Egypt and has now left the country in a fragile state potentially susceptible to domination by the Muslim Brotherhood. Brzezinski claimed “looking at all the different reports coming in, and the pictures, and the peacefulness on the streets of Cairo, so far so good it actually seems like it went pretty damn well.”   
Ferguson responded “I wished I shared your confidence” suggesting “anybody who counts this as a major breakthrough for United States foreign policy, hasn’t got a clue about what happens in the wake of a revolution like this.” Ferguson gave Obama horrible grades for failing to be prepared for the situation, for having a policy that seemingly changes every day, and for having “second-rate” advisors like Secretary Clinton and Secretary Gates who did not measure up to past secretaries in his opinion.
With his guns-blazing anti-Obama assessment, Ferguson concluded “the President regards making touchy-feely speeches as a substitute for having a strategy” and if he does have any strategy, it only is “I’m not George W. Bush – love me.”  http://www.mediaite.com/tv/harvard-professor-niall-ferguson-schools-morning-joe-on-obamas-failed-foreign-policy/
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Human Events reveals: President Obama has dispatched one of his top political advisers, Patrick Gaspard, to serve as the new executive director of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Obama and Gaspard’s affinity for the discredited community-organizing group ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which in recent years tried unsuccessfully to register the Walt Disney characters and National Football League to vote, has political observers on heightened alert for questionable voting practices in the next election.  The Economist wrote on Oct. 16, 2008, that ACORN signed up 1.3 million voters, but “thousands of their voter-registration applications are fakes,
“Last year, Citizens Consulting, Inc., the umbrella group controlling ACORN, was paid $832,000 by the Obama campaign for get-out-the-vote efforts in key primary states. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=41737
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The Week Magazine recently ran a column from DailyFinance.com about how our Federal Reserve Chairman just won the first round of our currency war with China. By his buying of bonds (quantitative easing) money was pumped into our banking system.  Because that made Americans afraid, we pulled money out of the US and put it into China.  That boosted China's inflation rate, which prompted China to revalue their renminbi upward to stave off social unrest.  This lowers the price of US imports to China and raises the price of Chinese goods to the US.  http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=41737
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National Review writes: The Obama administration failed to release a report on schedule on how Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could be reformed, despite being required to do so by the Dodd-Frank law passed last summer. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), who chairs the House Republican Conference, said in a statement that the White House’s failure to meet the deadline made it “crystal clear that the President is not serious about reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/258499/white-house-misses-deadline-freddie-mac-fannie-mae-report-katrina-trinko
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Numbers USA reveals: Reps. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), John Campbell (R-Calif.), and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) have cosponsored the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 introduced by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). All four Members signed onto the bill shortly after it was introduced in the 112th Congress. The bill currently has  56 cosponsors and amends current U.S. code to require at least one parent to be a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident for a new born to receive automatic citizenship. http://www.numbersusa.com/content/node/11899 
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A recent email I received has been checked, and it is true, as the Dallas City Hall website proves....  Recently, the city of Dallas, Texas passed a "No Insurance" ordinance: if you have no car insurance, your car will be towed. To retrieve your car, you must show proof of insurance, pay for the tow, a $350 fine, and $20 for each day the car is in the lot.

After the ordinance was passed, the impound lots were full after nine days. Most of those cars were driven by illegal's.  Not only are more uninsured drivers off the road, but it is taking away the illegal's vehicle who won't pay for accidents or might endanger your life.

Dallas' Solution: Get them off the road WITHOUT making them show proof of nationality.
Wonder how the ACLU or the Justice Department will get around this one. [It would be great if each of us forward this website to our Attorneys General and Secretaries of State.  It could become state law... 
http://www.dallascityhall.com/police/towing_faqs.html  
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Politico writes: Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will argue in a major address Friday evening that the nation should “strengthen” — not “starve” — the world body.
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WorldNetDaily writes: Lawmakers in the state of California are proposing a law that would require schools to portray lesbians, homosexuals, transsexuals and those who have chosen other alternative sexual lifestyles as positive role models to children in all public schools there.
"SB 48: The worst school sexual indoctrination ever" is how officials with the Campaign for Children and Families describe the proposal, SB 48, sponsored by state Sen. Mark Leno.
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Newsbusters writes: Friday’s USA Today featured an op-ed, “Centrist Obama mustn't sacrifice too much,” from Rich Benjamin, a Senior Fellow at something called “Demos,” who admitted he remains “besotted by President Obama” as he gushed:
Obama is...rebooting his operation to what he knows best: wizard of all things to all people and master of warm healing. He is acting as a multi-hued, but blank, canvas upon which a swath of Americans can project its diverse hopes and dreams. President Barack Tabla Rasa.   [Has no one noticed that he has not once to my knowledge mentioned or favored his white heritage?]
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The UK Daily Mail was the first to reveal: Concern over a secret WMD bust came after U.S. cables made public by the Wikileaks whistleblower website revealed terror groups were plotting a 'nuclear 911.'
In the interview screened by San Diego’s 10News, Al Hallor, assistant San Diego port director, said ‘weapons of mass effect’ had been found, although he did not specify exactly where or what they were.
Reporter Mitch Blacher asked Mr Hallor: ‘Do you ever find things that are dangerous like a chemical agent or a weaponised device?’
‘At the airport, seaport, at our port of entry we have not this past fiscal year, but our partner agencies have found those things,’ the customs official replied.
So, specifically, you're looking for the dirty bomb? You're looking for the nuclear device?’ asked Mr Blacher.
‘Correct. Weapons of mass effect,’ said Mr Hallor.
‘You ever found one?’ asked Mr Blacher.
‘Not at this location,’ Mr Hallor said.
‘But they have found them?’ asked Mr Blacher.
‘Yes,’ said Mr Hallor.  [This might go a long way in explaining why Republicans voted for extending part of the Patriot Act, for we may just be that close to a catastrophic attack.]
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Monday, February 14, 2011

Obamacare = Loss of 800,000 Jobs; Obama's "Full Employment for Attorneys" Program; Obama Motors vs. Toyota; Huffington Controls All News by AOL!; Scott Brown Asked to Give Back Donations; National ID Card for Internet

Rep. [John] Campbell: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, (CBO Director) we'll -- and Dr. Elmendorf -- and we'll continue this conversation right now. First on health care, before I get to broader issues, you just mentioned that you believe -- or that in your estimate, that the health care law would reduce the labor used in the economy by about 1/2 of 1 percent, given that, I believe you say, there's 160 million full-time people working in '20-'21.  That means that, in your estimation, the health care law would reduce employment by 800,000 in '20-'21. Is that correct?
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Fox Business writes: In an unprecedented and controversial move, the White House has launched a new program at the Department of Labor which will refer workers who have complaints about their bosses to a toll free number at the American Bar Association, where they can get a lawyer to work on their case on a contingency fee basis.
More than 40,000 workers annually contact the Department of Labor with complaints about their bosses. But Labor can’t get to all of them, an estimated 10%, because of budget constraints, the White House says. So the White House has instead launched a program for “unresolved complainants” with the ABA. Workers will now be provided a toll-free number that connects them with ABA lawyers nationwide who are experienced in things like alleged workplace abuses of minimum wage, overtime and family medical leave laws. [Once again playing to his base of those who got him elected, Obama has just ensured that attorneys never run out of clients.]
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Electronic devices used in Toyota gas pedals were accelerating “spontaneously,” prompting cars to lurch forward at uncontrollable speeds, causing untold hazards to millions of Americans who, in their innocence, own and drive Toyotas, [or so we were told.] 
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that “Toyotas are unsafe,” and the Democratic Congress swung into action. Multiple hearings were held in which Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) not only featured anecdotes of lethal acceleration, but accused Toyota executives of lying about the problem and deliberately concealing what they knew. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) referred to Toyotas as “killing machines.” Toyota was fined a record $48.8 million for what the Obama administration considered its inadequate response to the crisis​—​three recalls totaling some 12 million vehicles​—​and Toyota’s stock price and market share declined.
Toyota was fined a record $48.8 million for what the Obama administration considered its inadequate response to the crisis​—​three recalls totaling some 12 million vehicles​—​and Toyota’s stock price and market share declined. Well, as Emily Litella used to say on Saturday Night Live, “Nevermind.” Toyota provided lawmakers with a preliminary report on the safety of its electronic throttle controls by an outside research firm to assuage concerns. But the report was roundly criticized."  Fox News now writes:   Transportation officials and engineers with NASA say two mechanical safety defects previously identified by the government -- sticking accelerator pedals and gas pedals that can become trapped in floor mats -- are the only known causes for the reports of runaway Toyotas. Both issues were the subject of large recalls by Toyota.  There was NO electrical problem.....  [I'm wondering - when will the Obama Administration give the $48 million back to Toyota - or will Toyota counter-sue for defamation and loss of income?  After all, here was the mighty government of the United States, with absolutely no solid evidence, attempting to put their law-abiding, US job producing competitor (who does not allow Democrat-favored unions in their company) out of business. This action, if successful, would have been another key in Obama's "full employment for the attorneys who got me elected" agenda, for there would have been years of juicy lawsuits.  Pretty slick way to increase market share for Obama motors....  Who could be next?  Oh, that's right - Republicans now hold the House of Representatives!]
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Through the deal which say AOL buying Arianna Huffington, Arianna now controls all news produced by AOL! 
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The Washington Times writes: The National Republican Trust spent nearly $100,000 last year to help Scott Brown win the U.S. Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, but now the conservative political group wishes it had that money back to help kick Mr. Brown out of office.
Saying the Republican senator is no different from a Democrat, the head of the group is calling for Mr. Brown to donate to charity or disgorge campaign money equal to how much the trust spent supporting him during the 2010 campaign. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/30/seeing-red-pac-is-down-on-scott-brown/
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American Thinker writes: The White House cybersecurity adviser joined Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to announce what amounts to a national ID card for the Internet.
Their plan is straightforward. Instead of logging onto Facebook or one's bank using separate passwords established with each individual company or website, the White House will take the lead in developing what it calls an "identity ecosystem" that will centralize personal information and credentials. This government-approved system would issue a smart card or similar device that would confirm an individual's identity when making online credit-card purchases, accessing electronic health care records, posting "anonymous" blog entries or even logging onto one's own home computer, according to administration documents.
Officials insist this would be a voluntary program and deliver significant benefits to the public. [Don't volunteer.  It will be voluntary only for a while, I presume.] http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/01/the_dangerous_internet_passpor.html
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Big Government writes: Breitbart.com LLC announced today that its Chairman and CEO Andrew Breitbart and the head of Breitbart.tv, Larry O’Connor, have been sued in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by a central figure in the Pigford “back-door” reparations case. The Pigford case involves over $2.5 billion in US taxpayer money and constitutes one of the biggest cases of corruption and politically-motivated fraud in the history of the United States.  Mr. Andrew Breitbart revealed two hours of audio of Thomas Burrell, the head of the Black Farmers & Agriculturalist Association, Inc., teaching non-farmers in the South how to commit fraud in the Pigford “back-door” reparations case. This audio conclusively demonstrates how people have conspired to grow the class of Pigford claimants to 94,000, when in fact, there were only about 18,000 black farmers in the entire country during the relevant time period, and when there were never anticipated to be more than a few thousand potential claimants among those 18,000. http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/02/12/andrew-breitbart-on-pigford-lawsuit-bring-it-on/
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The Hill writes: A government spending bill authored by House Republicans that would block funding for the Environmental Protection Agency's pending climate rules is "irresponsible and reckless," a "preliminary analysis" of the legislation being circulated by the administration says. "The impacts of some language would be far wider than they intend," the analysis, obtained by The Hill from a source in the administration, says.  [That's a good one!  The power of the EPA is not far wider than intended, is it?]  http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/143705-administration-pushing-back-against-house-gop-plans-to-cut-epa-budget
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Bloomberg writes: Representative Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, chastised Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman for what he deemed a lack of oversight of the central bank’s off-balance-sheet transactions.
“Do you know who received that $1 trillion-plus that the Fed extended and put on its balance sheet since last September?” Grayson asked.
Coleman responded by saying she didn’t know. “We have not looked at that specific area,”
The Fed has refused to identify the borrowers, loan amounts or specific assets submitted as collateral under 11 of the central bank’s programs. Officials have argued that doing so might set off a run by depositors and unsettle shareholders.
What have you done to investigate the off-balance-sheet transactions conducted by the Federal Reserve which, according to Bloomberg, now total $9 trillion in the last 8 months?” Grayson asked Coleman.
Coleman, who was appointed to the position in May 2007, said in the hearing [only] that she hadn’t seen the article.
A statement e-mailed by Coleman’s office said the Fed board’s inspector general doesn’t have legal authority to investigate the transactions that have swelled the central bank’s balance sheet.  [Apparently, no one has this authority!  So they can do whatever they like.]
The video, which was linked on the Huffington Post Web site, “makes it perfectly clear that if the inspector general herself doesn’t know what’s happened to that money then we’re going to have to find out ourselves,” Grayson said in an interview yesterday.  [This only amounts to $30,000 of debt for every citizen of the US.  Why worry?  This testimony occurred in May, 2009.]  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aXk2cMkmSbQA
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In November, the Brotherhood's new supreme guide, Muhammad Badi, delivered a sermon entitled, "How Islam Confronts the Oppression and Tyranny."
   "Resistance is the only solution," stated Badi. "The United States cannot impose an agreement upon the Palestinians, despite all the power at its disposal. [Today] it is withdrawing from Iraq, defeated and wounded, and is also on the verge of withdrawing from Afghanistan because it has been defeated by Islamist warriors."
   Badi went on to declare the U.S. is easy to defeat through violence, since it is "experiencing the beginning of its end and is heading toward its demise." http://www.thejewishpress.com/pageroute.do/47084/