April 07, 2014

The amazing causation attributed to Global Warming!

What Global Warming causes:
Apologies for a temporary delay in updating the dead link list
AIDSAfghan poppies destroyedAfrican holocaustaged deathspoppies more potentAfrica devastated,  Africa in conflict, African aid threatened,  aggressive weedsAir France crashair pocketsair pressure changes,  airport farewells virtualairport malariaAgulhas currentAlaskan towns slowly destroyedAl Qaeda and Taliban Being Helpedallergy increaseallergy season longeralligators in the ThamesAlps meltingAmazon a desertAmerican dream end,  amphibians breeding earlier (or not),  anaphylactic reactions to bee stingsancient forests dramatically changedanimals head for the hills, animals shrink,  Antarctic grass flourishesAntarctic ice growsAntarctic ice shrinksAntarctic sea life at risk,   anxiety treatmentalgal bloomsarchaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs meltArctic in bloom,Arctic ice freeArctic ice melt fasterArctic lakes disappear,  Arctic tundra lost, Arctic warming (not), a rose by any other name smells of nothing, asteroid strike riskasthmaAtlantic less saltyAtlantic more salty,   atmospheric circulation modifiedattack of the killer jellyfishavalanches reducedavalanches increased,  Baghdad snowBahrain under water,  bananas growbarbarisationbats decline beer and bread prices to soarbeer better,  beer worsebeetle infestationbeef shortage,  bet for $10,000big melt faster, billion dollar research projectsbillion homelessbillions face riskbillions of deaths,  bird loss acceleratingbird populations dyingbird strikesbird visitors dropbirds confusedbirds decline (Wales)birds driven northbirds face longer migrationsbirds on long migrations threatenedbirds return earlybirds shrink(Aus)birds shrink (USA)bittern boom endsblackbirds stop singingblackbirds threatenedBlack Hawk down,  blizzardsblood contaminatedblue mussels returnborders redrawn,  bluetonguebrains shrinkbrewers droopbridge collapse (Minneapolis), Britain one big cityBritain SiberianBritain's bananasBritish monsoon,  brothels strugglebrown Irelandbubonic plague,  Buddhist temple threatened,  building collapsebuilding season extensionbushfires,   butterflies move northbutterflies reelingbutterfly savedcarbon crimescaribou declineCambodian sex trade fuelledcamel deaths,  cancercancer deaths in England, cannibalism,  cataractscats more amorouscaterpillar biomass shift, cave paintings threatened,  chagas diseasechildhood insomnia, children's mental healthchocolate shortageCholeracircumcision in declinecirrus disappearancecivil unrestcloud increase,  clownfish get lostcoast beauty spots lostcockroach migration, cod go south,  coffee threatenedcoffee berry borercoffee berry disease, cold climate creatures survive,  cold spellscold spells (Australia)colder waters  (Long Island)cold wave (India)cold weather (world)cold winterscomputer modelsconferencesconflictconflict with Russia,  consumers foot the billcoral bleaching, coral fish suffercoral reefs dyingcoral reefs grow, coral reefs shrinkcoral reefs twilight cost of trillionscougar attackscrabgrass menace cradle of civilisation threatenedcreatures move uphill, crime increasecrocodile sex, crocodiles driven from watercrops devastatedcrop failures increasecross-breeding,crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systemscryptococcal diseasecurriculum change,  cyclones (Australia),   damselflies forced back to UKdanger to kid's healthDarfurDartford Warbler plague,  daylight increase, deadly virus outbreaksdeath rate increase (US),death rate dropdeaths to reach 6 million, decades of progress at riskDengue hemorrhagic feverdepressiondesert advance,  desert retreat,  destruction of the environment,  dig sites threatened,  disastersdiseases move northdiving reefs closeddog disease,  dozen deadly diseases - or notdrought,    ducks and geese declinedust bowl in the corn beltdust doubles,  earlier pollen season,  Earth axis tiltEarth biodiversity crisisEarth crumblingEarth dyingEarth even hotterEarth light dimmingEarth lopsided, Earth meltingEarth morbid feverEarth on fast trackEarth past point of no returnEarth slowing down,  Earth spins faster, Earth to explode, earth upside down,  earthquakesearthquakes reduxEl NiƱo intensification, end of the world as we know iterosionemerging infectionsencephalitis,English villages lostequality threatenedEurope simultaneously baking and freezing,  eutrophicationeveryplace hit hardestexpansion of university climate groupsextinctions (apeshumancivilisation, koalaslizards logicInuitsmallest butterflycod,  penguinspikas,polar bears,   possums,  walrus,  tigers,  toadsturtlespandas,  penguinsplantsladybirdsrhinocerossalmontrout,  wild flowerswoodlice,  a million specieshalf of all animal and plant speciesmountain species,  not polar bearsbarrier reefleachessalamanderstropical insectsflowersexperts muzzledextreme changes to Californiafading fall foliage,  famine, farmers benefitfarmers go underfarm output boostfarming soil decline,  fashion disasterfeverfigurehead sackedfir cone bonanzafires fanned in Nepalfish biggerfish catches dropfish downsize,   fish deaf,  fish feminisedfish get lostfish head northfish lopsidedfish shrinking,  fish stocks at riskfish stocks declinefive million illnessesflesh eating diseaseflies on Everest,  flood patterns changefloods floods of beaches and citiesflood of migrants, flood preparation for crisisflora dispersedFlorida economic declineflowers in peril, flowers wiltflying squirrels move upfog increase in San Franciscofog decrease in San Franciscofood poisoningfood prices risefood prices soarfood production increasedfood safety affectedfood security threat (SA)football team migration,   forest declineforest expansionfoundations threatenedfoundations increase grantsfrog with extra headsfrostsfrostbitefrost damage increased,   fungi fruitfulfungi invasionfungi rot the world,games changeGarden of Eden wiltsgeese decline in Hampshiregenetic changesgenetic diversity decline, gene pools slashedgeysers imperiled, giant icebergs (Australia)giant icebergs (Arctic)giant oysters invade,  giant pythons invadegiant squid migrategingerbread houses collapseglacial earthquakesglacial retreat,   glacier grows (California)glaciers on Snowdenglacier wrappedglass meltsglobal cooling,  glowing clouds,  golf course to drowngolf Masters wreckedgrain output drop (China)grain output stagnating (India),grandstandinggrasslands wettergravity shift,  Great Barrier Reef 95% dead,  great tits copegreening of the North,  Grey whales lose weightGulf Stream failurehabitat losshaggis threatenedHantavirus pulmonary syndrome,    harvest increaseharvest shrinkagehay fever epidemichealth affectedhealth of children harmed, health riskshealth risks (even more)heart deaths, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes (Australia), heat waves, hedgehogs baldhibernation affected,   hibernation ends too soonhibernation ends too latehomeless 50 millionhome runshornets,  human development faces unprecedented reversalhuman fertility reducedhuman health riskhuman race oblivionhuman rights violationshurricanes,  hurricane reductionhurricanes fewerhurricanes more intensehurricanes nothydropower problemshyperthermia deathshyphthermia deathsice age, ice hockey extinctice sheet growthice sheet shrinkage, icebergsice sheet tipping point,  illegal immigrationillness and deathinclement weatherIndia drowninginfrastructure failure (Canada)indigestionindustry threatenedinfectious diseases,  inflation in China, insect explosion, insect invasioninsurance premium risesInuit displacementInuit poisonedInuit suinginvasion of alien worms, invasion of Antarctic aliens,  invasion of Asian carpinvasion of cane toadsinvasion of caterpillars,  invasion of cats,  invasion of crabgrassinvasion of heronsinvasion of jellyfishinvasion of king crabsinvasion of lampreysinvasion of midgesinvasion of pine beetlesinvasion of rats (China)invasion of slugs island disappearsislands sinkingItaly robbed of pastaitchier poison ivyJapan's cherry blossom threatened,  jellyfish explosionjets fall from sky,  Kew Gardens taxedkidney stoneskiller cornflakeskilling uskitten boomkoalas leaves inediblekoalas under threatkrill decline lake emptieslake shrinking and growinglandslideslandslides of ice at 140 mphlarge trees declinelawsuits increaselawsuit successful,  lawyers' income increased (surprise surprise!),  lawyers want morelegionnaires' surge lives lostlizards super intelligentlives savedlobsters growLoch Ness monster dead, locust plagues suppressedlow oxygen zones threaten sea lifelush growth in rain forests,  Lyme diseaseMajor vegetation shifts,  Malaria,   Malaria decline,  malnutrition, mammoth dung meltmammoth ivory bonanzamanatees battlemango harvest failsMaple production advanced, Maple syrup shortagemarmots fattermarine diseases, marine food chain decimated, Meaching (end of the world)Meat eating to stopMediterranean risesmegacryometeorsMelanomaMelanoma declinemental health decline,mental illnessmethane emissions from plantsmethane burps, methane runawaymelting permafrostMexican climate migrant floodMiddle Kingdom convulsesmigration,  migratory birds huge lossesmicrobes to decompose soil carbon more rapidlymilk production lost,minorities hit, monkeys at risk,  monkeys on the moveMont Blanc grows, monuments imperiledmoose dying, more bad air days,   more research neededmortality increased, mosquitoes adaptingmountain (Everest) shrinking,  mountaineers fears,  mountains break up,mountains green and flowering,   mountains tallermortality lowerMubarak fallmurder rate increase,  musk ox declineMyanmar cyclonenarwhals at risknarwhals suffocateNational Parks damagedNational security implicationsnative wildlife overwhelmednatural disasters  quadrupleneurological diseases,  new islandsnext ice ageNFL threatenedNile delta damagednoctilucent cloudsno effect in IndiaNorthwest Passage openednuclear plants bloomoaks dying,  oaks move north obesityoblivionocean acidificationocean acidification fasterocean dead spotsocean dead zones unleashedocean deserts expandocean salt extremesocean oxygen crisis,  ocean waves speed up,  Olympic Games to endopera house to be destroyedoutdoor hockey threatened,   owls turn brownoxygen depletion zonesoyster herpesozone repair slowed, ozone risepeat bogs problempeat bogs no problempenguin chicks frozen, penguin chicks smallerpenguins in the darkpenguin populations devastatedpenguins replaced by jellyfish, penguins sex lives affected,personal carbon rationingpest outbreakspests increasepets in dangerphenology shifts,  pines declinepirate population decreasepirates run rampantplankton blooms,   plankton plummetingplankton wiped outplants lose proteinplants march northplants move uphill polar bears aggressivepolar bears cannibalisticpolar bears deaf,  polar bears drowning,  polar bears fewer cubs,  polar tours scrapped,  pollination halvedporpoise astrayprofits collapsepsychiatric illness psychological effects,  puffin declinepushes poor women into prostitution, rabid bats,  radars taken out, rail network threatened,  railroad tracks deformedrainfall increaserainforest destruction,  rape waverefugees,  reindeer endangeredreindeer largerrelease of ancient frozen virusesresorts disappearrespiratory diseases worsen,  rice less fragrantrice production fallrice threatened, rice yields crash,  rift on Capitol Hillrioting and nuclear war,   river flow impactedriver reroutedrivers raisedroad accidentsroads wear outrobins rampant,   rocky peaks crack apartroof of the world a desert, rooftop barsRoss river disease,    Russia under pressuresalinity reductionsalinity increase,  Salmonella,  salmon stronger, sardine run unpredictablesatellites accelerate, Schmallenberg virus,  school closuressea level risesea level rise fastersea snotseals mating moreseismic activitysewer bills risesevere thunderstormssex changesexual dysfunction sexual promiscuityshark attackssharks boomingsharks hybridisesharks moving northsheep change coloursheep shrinkshop closuresshort-nosed dogs endangered,  shrimp sex problemsshrinking pondsshrinking sheep shrinking shrineSidney Opera House wiped outski resorts threatenedslaveryskinks impactedslow death smaller brains,  smogsnowfall decrease, snowfall increasesnowfall heavy snow thicker,  soaring food prices,societal collapsesoil changesoil subsidencesongbirds change eating habitssour grapessoybean crop to dropspace junk increasespace problemspectacular orchidsspider danger in UKspider bites to increasespiders getting biggerspiders invade Scotland,  squid aggressive giantssquid largersquid population explosionsquid tamedsquirrels reproduce earlierstarfish sperm eaten by parasitesstingray invasionstorm damage costs risestorms wetter,  stratospheric coolingstreet crime to increasesubsidencesuicidesunset displaced,  swordfish in the BalticTabasco tragedytaxestea flavour changetectonic plate movementteenage prostitution,   terrorists (India)thatched cottages at riskthreat to peaceticks move northward (Sweden)tides risetigers eat peopletigers drowntomatoes rottornado outbreaktourism increase, toxic bacteriatoxic seaweed,  trade barriers, trade winds weakenedtraffic jams,  transport snarltransportation threatenedtree foliage increase (UK),   tree growth slowedtree growth fastertrees grow too fasttrees in trouble,trees less colourful,  trees more colourfultrees lushtrees on Antarcticatreelines changetropics expansiontropopause raisedtruffle shortagetruffles down truffles increaseturtles crashturtle feminisedturtles lay earlierUFO sightingsUK coastal impactUK Katrina,  vampire bats,  Venice flooded,  volcanic eruptionsvolcanoes awakened in Iceland,  walnuts threatenedwalrus pups orphaned,  walrus stampede,  walruses come ashorewars over waterwars sparkedwars threaten billionswaspswater bills double,   water shortage to increase vegetarianismwave of natural disasters, waves biggerweather out of its mindweather patterns awryweather patterns last longerWestern aid cancelled out,  West Nile feverwhale beachingswhales lose weightwhales move north,  whales wiped out,wheat rust in Syria, wheat yields crushed in Australia,  wild boars thrivewildfireswind shiftwind reduced, winds strongerwinds weaker,  wine - Australian baked, , wine industry damage (California) wine industry disaster (US) wine - more Englishwine - no more French wine -  England too hotwine -German boon,  wine passĆ© (Napa)wine - Scotland best,  wine strongerwinters in Britain colderwinter in Britain deadwitchcraft executionswolverine declinewolverines vanishwolves eat more moosewolves eat less, women cheat on vacationworkers laid offWorld at warWorld War 4,  Yellow feverzebra mussel threatzoonotic diseases.

and all on 0.006 deg C per year! 

Advice of any omissions (with sources) or broken links is welcome at warmlist@numberwatch.co.uk
Note: All links were live at time of posting. Inevitably some will disappear, particularly from Yahoo News. 
Thanks to correspondents for additional entries; especially, as always, Our Man in Puerto Rico. Also, thanks to "Scraperguy" for the script to form the following:

The dead link collection
AcneAfrica hit hardest,  African summer frostagricultural land increaseAlaska reshapedanxiety,  Arctic tundra to burn,  atmospheric defiancebananas destroyedbeer shortagebird distributions changeblizzardsboredombrain eating amoebaebusiness opportunities,business risks,  British gardens changebudget increasescardiac arrest,  cataracts,  challenges and opportunities,  cloud stripping,  cremation to enddamages equivalent to $200 billion,  dermatitis,  desert life threateneddiarrhoea, disappearance of coastal citiesDolomites collapsedrought in distant regionsdrowning peopleearly marriagesearly springEarth spinning out of controlEarth wobblingevolution acceleratingextinctions (bats,    pigmy possumskoalasturtlesorang-utan,  elephantstigersgorillaswhalesfrogs,) fainting,  fish catches rise flames stokedfootpath erosionglacial growthglobal dimminggod meltsGore omnipresenceGreat Lakes drop,  harmful algaehazardous waste sites breachedhigh court debatesHIV epidemichuman health improvement, ice shelf collapsejet stream drifts northlake and stream productivity declinelightning related insurance claimslittle response in the atmosphere,  lost $350 billionLyme disease,  marine dead zoneMaple production advanced,  mental illness (Alberta)migration difficult (birds)mountains melting, mudslides,oceans noisier,  oyster diseasesozone lossPacific dead zoneplankton destabilisedplankton lossplant viruses,   polar bears starve,  psychosocial disturbances,  popcorn riserainfall reduction,   richesrivers dry uprockfalls,  ruins ruined, skin cancersmelt down,snowfall reduction, stick insectsstormwater drains stressedteenage drinkingterrorismtree beetle attacks,  trees could return to Antarctictree growth increasedtsunamistundra plant life boostuprooted - 6 millionVampire mothsviolin declinewalrus displacedwar,war between US and Canadawater scarcity (20% of increase), water stresswater supply unreliabilityweeds,   white Christmas dream endswine - harm to Australian industry,   World bankruptcyWorld-famous places threatenedWorld in crisisWorld in flames,
Suggestions for replacement links are welcome.

April 06, 2014

Obsession of web stalkers

Normally, asking someone to go away works.

Asking many times, should get them to go about their lives.

Not always the case....

Obsession is a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea.

Like the idea that a person cares about your life, your opinions, your anything really.  The pathetic nature of the stalker comes with their inability to take any of the above hints. It is an inability to let go and progress forward with their own lives.  It is a broken person who needs our help and pity.

Sadly I have a pathetic wretch with an obsession that is non to healthy.  I imagine the lonely, hate filled, cynical life that said persons has become as part of the symptoms.

Yes, I tried dialog, reasoning, ignoring, asking them to go away, asking them to go on with their lives.  Yet, after a respite, that I hoped meant they had discovered something worth living for, they are back.  I only know this due to the instant delete filter I have on my e-mail.  I just know one was sent.

I suppose it could be an apology or an announcement that the stalking is over.  I hope it is, but I know it isn't.  Some people are beyond cure, save death.  At this point news of said stalkers demise would not even prompt a shrug.  I have so many worthwhile things in my focus.

So this little blog is one last futile attempt to prompt my web stalker to get help.  After I post this, I will go back to my pleasant existence.

I hope it takes, as I was advised it might.  I know it wont though.  Not that it matters, I have many worthwhile things to work upon.

March 27, 2014

Obamacare Incompetence

This from Fox News: "Much emphasis has been placed on enrollment stats as [Obamacare]'s inaugural open enrollment period comes to an end. But there's a key function on the federal exchange that remains inactive:
"The mechanism to reconcile payments between the government and insurance companies.  This 'back-end mechanism' has been missing for the entirety of open enrollment period, which launched Oct.1, meaning insurance companies have had to manually bill the government for subsidies and cost-sharing plans, a procedure that's being dubbed an administrative nightmare."
 This is part of any website that sells anything. It would be like if you went to Amazon to buy something, and you clicked "submit" when your order was done, and you thought it went.
But that's where it stopped..
Insurance companies are threatening to pull out of Obamacare if this back end isn't fixed because they aren't being paid. 
They don't know how many people have signed up and they don't know how many have paid. They don't have any record of that at all. 
Sebelius said, Sabelius said: "We said seven million." Well, how many have signed up? "Well, the number's constantly in flux. It's impossible give you a number." 
Could this be the goal?  They want everybody getting so frustrated that, at some point, that they throw up their hands and just agree to "simplify" everything by putting everybody on Medicare, which has its own bureaucratic nightmare to deal with. 
There is a fix, if you get the right tech people involved. If you get an honest system based on a specific set of goals, you could fix this fairly quickly. 
It seems like the people of this country have the idea or the impression that government's better at running health care than doctors and hospitals and health professionals. That government's better at running the energy systems and programs of this country than the actual energy producers. Liberals have been great at convincing people that the private sector operators are a bunch of cheats and liars and fraudsters who are trying to kill their customers, and the government cares.  
But at some point everybody who interacts with government in some way has got to realize it doesn't work.

Thanks to Rush.

March 24, 2014

Snowden, no place to hide.

Interesting thing happened when Twitter was destroyed by a countries leader... It didn't take...

Link that to the hacker attempt to shut down Amazon.com a few years back... It didn't take...

Add to that the dearth of crap and misinformation that is out there for rapid consumption.

Multiply that by the week needed to sort through said garbage and begin to find truth.

X-file fan note: The truth is out there... You just need to sort through it or find a resource that can.

Venezuela is having an uprising the US Media is actively not covering. Information is out there.

While our own government overreaches our privacy rights and searches without want or warrant, a very different battle is being won by the innovators who just need a box filled with copper and silicone to push back against the powers that be.

Without control of the message our corporate structure is starting to reel as more people realize there is less and less reason to trust government...


March 15, 2014

Greener grass? Yup, it is greener.

A couple of days ago, I went over the labor statistic lies our government tells.

How our labor Force Participation rate is very low here in the states. 63.5%

If you look at Oregon you see an even worse picture.


Minimum wage Heresy.

Minimum wage is a flawed concept.  The idea is that employers underpay productive people.


We love science until we don't love science.

Q and A with a liberal.

Do you believe in Man Made Global warming?

Do you believe GMO foods are dangerous?

Do you believe Aspartame is dangerous?

Chances are very good that you will get a firm Yes on all three questions.  When you delve further into Global Warming you will hear that science supports Global Warming.

When you site that science also supports GMO and Aspartame as being safe for consumption, you will hear that the science for that is flawed.

Recently there was a meme floating around that showed a pie chart with a large number of scientific papers about global warming with one that rejected it.  This was to show the consensus of science.  Without delving into how research science works, lets just say that Global Warming Skeptics do not believe that the climate is static and unchanging.  They do not believe that the world has not been getting warmer.  They doubt mans involvement has caused the change to the degree that others have postulated.

So saying that a paper that includes man as a cause for climate change but with very little significant, is a reason to believe in Man Made Global warming is hardly factual.  

GMO foods are proven safe.  They have been tested, the data released for peer review, some research has been condemned, some has been concurred.  Re-testing has yielded the same results.  

Aspartame has been tested for safety more than any other substance on the planet.  Other then allergic reactions to a very small percentage of the population, it is perfectly safe for consumption.

In my mind you cannot embrace and discount science because it embraces or discounts your beliefs.  You have to accept the methodology will rule out bad science as long as the scientific method is followed.

If a model, actor, politician is proclaiming science is on their side.  They are selling you something and it is not the truth.

March 06, 2014

The most important Freedom, on trial.

As I write this there is a trial over freedom of speech going on in Canada.  If you believe in Freedom of Speech and Expression, if you believe that these are rights that should not be infringed, this should be of interest.  The fact you are reading a Blog by some guy someplace about this subject is an example of the Freedoms we can tend to take for granted.

Stand With Ezra Website (source): 

Here’s the statement of claim by the plaintiff, Khurrum Awan

And here’s the Statement of Defence by Ezra Levant.

Ezra is a right leaning conservative.  His views are provocative and his opinions are not shared by everyone.

If you can support his defence fund, do so.

February 27, 2014

Just Angry

My wife always said that travel lets you have perspective. That being said, until you step out of your community and talk to people of another populace you really do not understand what that means.

Sure I have travelled north of the US boarder time and time again.  Now that I live here and interact I am seeing a different side of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness previously unknowable to me.  People have a self image, that illusion of what one thinks others think of the one. This idea one has of one's abilities, appearance, and personality can be in stark contrast of reality or perception of same.

I saw a poll today that showed how disheartened people are with the ruling class of the USA. The people of the ruling class, by and large seem to think the solution to the problems of the world lay in having more say so over every aspect of the average human beings life.  I am afraid that most of the voting population agree that people need to be restricted as possible.  Of course they mean "other people" or "Not me, THEM!".  But that venn diagram is all inclusive.  In other words the USA wants less freedom for the population, at the same time they are disappointed with the mechanism set up to abscond with said freedoms.

The Federal Government really sucks at doing everything.  Truly it does. There are some things it must do.  The military is one thing and resolving disputes between states would be the other.

The State Government is really where you want your bulk of Government.  Even that should be limited down for the county level. or City level in some cases.   Some guy in rural Oklahoma is going to know more about what his community needs\wants then some guy in NYC.

I am angry that we the people have elected representatives that remove our freedom.  I am angry that we the people shrug as most of these freedoms go bye bye.  I am angry that our political system is so rife with lies, hatred, name calling, finger pointing, obfuscating puppets of whatever fiscal strings there are.

Most of all I am angry that I am relieved, not living in my own country.  What a mess it has become, and the world knows it and is grinning.

February 19, 2014

Minimum Wage is for suckers.

Lets say that Company A allocates 50% of its operating budget to labour. (I'm just picking a number.) It's not 55% one day and 44% the next day.  It's 50%.  It's budgeted. The company is locked into that percentage for viability.

Suddenly Obama comes along raising the cost of labour arbitrarily.

If a guy has 10 people making 50% of his budget, and the budget is arbitrarily raised, he's not changing income. He's not gonna raise what he's paying labour.  He can't and stay in business.

So somebody has to get fired with this arbitrary raise thrown in.  It's just the way it works, because businesses do not change their labour costs day to day, hour to hour, month to month.  They budget these things as much as they can in advance 'cause it's the highest cost of doing business, usually.

So when the CBO comes along and tells people.  Okay, minimum wage raising will cost jobs and hurt the poor, you should listen. Because, it makes sense to anyone who understands how business works.

Further when CBO Director Doug Elmendorf comes to defend the findings against politicians who are trying to lure voters in, Pay attention!

Personally I am not against a minimum wage per say, as I know there are those who prey upon the desperate. I do not think a minimum wage should be a living wage or any such nonsense.  Let the states figure out a minimum wage (being zero if they want) and then let the markets work.

January 07, 2014

Shroud of Turin

I have been following the ongoing drama around the Shroud as long as I can remember.  It is a fascinating artifact.  Even with the 1988 carbon dating tests that concluded the Shroud originated in the Middle Ages.

The scientists who performed the more recent tests which yielded the dates of origin for the Shroud that place it in the time of Christ say that the original samples were contaminated and that this is why they gave inaccurate results. They also say that the technology employed in these new tests yields more accurate results than that used in 1988.

If all this is true — and it has been published widely on various media — then it leaves us with the proposition that the Shroud is either genuine, or it is an extraordinary fake.

.

December 30, 2013

The infrastructure of manufactured intelligence has become a truly impressive thing

Original

The Left is Too Smart to Fail
The infrastructure of manufactured intelligence has become a truly impressive thing. Today as never before there is an industry dedicated, not to educating people, but to making them feel smart. From paradigm shifting TED talks to paradigm to books by thought leaders and documentaries by change agents that transform your view of the world, manufactured intelligence has become its own culture.

Manufactured intelligence is the smarmy quality that oozes out of a New York Times column by Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd, Frank Bruni and the rest of the gang who tell you nothing meaningful while dazzling you with references to international locations, political events and pop culture, tying together absurdities into one synergistic web of nonsense that feels meaningful.

There's a reason that there's a Tom Friedman article generator online. But it could just as easily be a New York Times article generator that sums up the hollowness of the buzzword-fed crowd that is always hungry to reaffirm the illusion of its own intelligence.

We all know that George W. Bush was a moron. And we all know that Obama is a genius. We have been told by Valerie Jarrett, by his media lapdogs and even by the great man himself that he is just too smart to do his job. And it's reasonable that a genius would be bored by the tedious tasks involved in running the most powerful nation on earth.

But what is "smart" anyway? What makes Obama a genius? It's not his IQ. It's probably not his grades or we would have seen them already. It's that like so many of the thought leaders and TED talkers, he makes his supporters feel smart. The perception of intelligence is really a reflection.

Smart once used to be an unreachable quality. Einstein was proclaimed a genius, because it was said that no one understood his theories. Those were undemocratic times when it was assumed that the eggheads playing with the atom had to be a lot smarter than us or we were in big trouble.

Intelligence has since been democratized. Smart has been redistributed. Anyone can get an A for effort. And the impulse of manufactured intelligence is not smart people, but people who make us feel smart. That is why Neil deGrasse Tyson, another obsessively self-promoting mediocrity like Carl Sagan, is now the new face of science. Sagan made science-illiterate liberals feel smart while pandering to their biases. Tyson does the same thing for the Twitter generation. 

 Self-esteem is the new intelligence. Obama's intelligence was manufactured by pandering to the biases and tastes of his supporters. The more he shared their biases and tastes, the smarter he seemed to be and the smarter they felt by having so much in common with such a smart man.

Obama Inc. built his image around the accessories of modern manufactured intelligence, premature biographies, global reference points and pop culture. This marriage of high and low with an exotic spice from the east embodies modern liberal intelligence. Take a dash of pop culture, mix it with an important quote, throw in some recent technological development that promises to "change how we all live", mention your time in a foreign culture and draw an insipid conclusion.

That's not just the DNA of every other New York Times column, TED talk and important book by an equally important thought leader sitting under the floodlights at your local struggling chain bookstore with its portraits of great writers on the wall and the tables groaning under unsold copies of Fifty Shades of Grey, Malcolm Gladwell, Candace Bushnell and Khaled Hosseini.

It's also the DNA of Obama Inc. It is its assumption of intelligence through compassionate self-involvement, progressive insights derived from an obsession with the self and the sanctification of Third World references, real or imaginary, invoking the spiritual power of the Other, the totem of alien magic, to transcend the rational and the pragmatic. It is upscale Oprah; egotism masquerading as enlightenment, condescension as compassion and soothing quotes as religion.


Once upon a time, bright young American men went to Europe and wrote books about the world. That was our notion of intelligence. JFK did it and was widely praised for his intelligence. Today bright young American men and women go to the Third World and write their books about the world, mining the compost of their Flickr accounts, Tumblr updates and Twitter feed for deep thoughts.

Intelligence to a modern liberal isn't depth, it's appearance. It isn't even an intellectual quality, but a spiritual quality. Compassionate people who care about others are always "smarter", no matter how stupid they might be, because they care about the world around them.

An insight into how we live matters more than useful knowledge. Skill is irrelevant unless it's a transformative progressive "changing the way we live" application.

Obama and his audience mistake their orgy of mutual flattery for intelligence and depth. Like a trendy restaurant whose patrons know that they have good taste because they patronize it, his supporters know that they are smart because they support a smart man and Obama knows he is smart because so many smart people support him.

The thought never rises within this bubble of manufactured intelligence that all of them might really be idiots who have convinced themselves that they are geniuses because they read the right books (or pretend to read them), watch the right movies and shows (or pretend to) and have the right values (or pretend to).

Smart is surplus when you have Gladwell sitting under a full DVD set of The Wire prominently displayed on your bookshelf right alongside a signed copy of The Audacity of Hope. 

Marxists thought that Marxism was smart. Progressives measure intelligence in progressivism. Its only two qualities are "world awareness" and "progressive future adaptation". 

Obama hit both these qualities perfectly with his Third Culture background and the appearance of modern technocratic polish. Not just a politician, but a thought leader, he had the pseudo-celebrity quality of their kind, able to move smoothly from a celebrity panel about Third World microfinance, to a Jay-Z concert to a fundraiser for DIY solar panels for India to a banquet for a political hack.

Everyone who encountered him thought that he was smart because he made them feel smart. And that is the supreme duty of the modern liberal intellectual, not to be smart, but to make others feel smart. Genuine intelligence is threatening. Manufactured intelligence is soothing. And those intellectually superior progressives who need to believe that Obama is smart in order to believe that they are smart cannot stop believing in his brains without confronting the illusion of their own intelligence.

Manufactured intelligence isn't smart. It's stupid. It's as stupid as building windmills for sustainable energy in places where the wind hardly blows, as stupid as calling inflated budgets "investments" and as stupid as believing that a man is smart because he can reference poverty in the Third World.

It's easy to tell apart fake intelligence from the real thing. Manufactured intelligence fakes "smart" by playing word games. It constantly invents new terms to provide the enlightened elites with a secret language of Newspeak buzzwords that mean less than the words they are replacing. The buzzwords, Thought Leader and Change Agent, quickly take on cultist overtones and become ways of describing how the group's leaders would like to use power, than anything about the world that they describe.

Manufactured intelligence is a consensus, not a debate. It's not arrived at through a process, but flopped into like a warm soothing bath of nothingness. It's correct because everyone says so. And anyone who disagrees is clearly stupid and lacks awareness of the interconnected ways that the world synergistically works. And probably doesn't know science, Sagan or Neil deGrasse Tyson either.

Real intelligence is the product of constant debate. It is forever striving to overthrow the consensus and willing to challenge anything and everything. It uses a specialized vocabulary only to describe specialized phenomena, rather than replacing existing words with new words to describing existing phenomena in order to seem as if it understands the future better by going all 1984 on it.

Finally, manufactured intelligence is self-involved. It mistakes feeling for thinking. It deals not with how things are or even how we would like them to be, but how we feel about the way things are and what our feelings about the way things are say about what kind of people we are.

Liberal intelligence is largely concerned with the latter. It is a self-esteem project for mediocre elites, the sons and daughters of the formerly accomplished who are constantly diving into the shallow pools of their own minds to explore how their privilege and entitlement makes them view the world and how they can be good people by challenging everyone's paradigms and how they can think outside the box by climbing into it and pulling the flaps shut behind them.

Perpetual self-involvement isn't intelligence regardless of how many of the linguistic tricks of memoir fiction it borrows to endow its liberal self-help section with the appearance of nobility.

Liberalism isn't really about making the world a better place. It's about reassuring the elites that they are good people for wanting to rule over it.

That is why Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize for having good intentions. His actual foreign policy mattered less than the appearance of a new transformative foreign policy based on speeches. Gore promised to be be harsher on Saddam than Bush, but no one remembers that because everyone in the bubble knows that the Iraq War was stupid... and only conservatives do stupid things.

Liberal intelligence exists on the illusion of its self-worth. The magical thinking that guides it in every other area from economics to diplomacy also convinces it that if it believes it is smart, that it will be. The impenetrable liberal consensus in every area is based on this delusion of intelligence. Every policy is right because it's smart and it's smart because it's progressive and it's progressive because smart progressives say that it is.

Progressives manufacture the consensus of their own intelligence and insist that it proves them right. 

Imagine a million people walking in a circle and shouting, "WE'RE SMART AND WE'RE RIGHT. WE'RE RIGHT BECAUSE WE'RE SMART. WE'RE SMART BECAUSE WE'RE RIGHT." Now imagine that these marching morons dominate academia, the government bureaucracy and the entertainment industry allowing them to spend billions yelling their idiot message until it outshouts everyone else while ignoring the disasters in their wake because they are too smart to fail.


That is liberalism.

December 15, 2013

Al Gore Warns Polar Ice May Be Gone in Five Years

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY—
Al Gore predicted the North Polar Ice Cap would be completely ice free in five years. Gore made the prediction to a German audience in 2008. He told them that “the entire North ‘polarized’ cap will disappear in 5 years.”

December 09, 2013

November 22, 2013

Obamacare Schadenfreudarama

Original

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at the unravelling of Obamacare.

First, the obligatory caveats. It is no laughing matter that millions of Americans’ lives have been thrown into anxious chaos as they lose their health insurance, their doctors, their money, or all three. Nor is it particularly amusing to think of the incredible waste of time and tax dollars that has gone into Obamacare’s construction. And the still-unfolding violence that this misbegotten legislation will visit on the economy and our liberties is not funny either. This very magazine has been downright funereal about the brazen and unconstitutional seizure of one-sixth of the economy, and rightly so.

But come on, people.

If you can’t take some joy, some modicum of relief and mirth, in the unprecedentedly spectacular beclowning of the president, his administration, its enablers, and, to no small degree, liberalism itself, then you need to ask yourself why you’re following politics in the first place. Because, frankly, this has been one of the most enjoyable political moments of my lifetime. I wake up in the morning and rush to find my just-delivered newspaper with a joyful expectation of worsening news so intense, I feel like Morgan Freeman should be narrating my trek to the front lawn. Indeed, not since Dan Rather handcuffed himself to a fraudulent typewriter, hurled it into the abyss, and saw his career plummet like Ted Kennedy was behind the wheel have I enjoyed a story more.

Alas, the English language is not well equipped to capture the sensation I’m describing, which is why we must all thank the Germans for giving us the term “schadenfreude” — the joy one feels at the misfortune or failure of others. The primary wellspring of schadenfreude can be attributed to Barack Obama’s hubris — another immigrant word, which means a sinful pride or arrogance that causes someone to believe he has a godlike immunity to the rules of life.

The hubris of our ocean-commanding commander-in-chief surely isn’t news to readers of this website. He’s said that he’s smarter and better than everyone who works for him. His wife informed us that he has “brought us out of the dark and into the light” and that he would fix our broken souls. The man defined sin itself as “being out of alignment with my values.” We may be the ones we’ve been waiting for, but at the same time, everyone has been waiting for him. Or as he put it in 2007, “Every place is Barack Obama country once Barack Obama’s been there.”
In every tale of hubris, the transgressor is eventually slapped across the face with the semi-frozen flounder of reality. The Greeks had a god, Nemesis, whose scythe performed the same function. It was Nemesis who lured Narcissus to the pool where he fell in love with his own reflection. Admittedly, most of Nemesis’s walk-on roles were in the Greek tragedies, but in the modern era, comeuppance-for-the-arrogant is more often found in comedies, and the “roll-out” of Healthcare.gov has been downright hilarious. (I put quotation marks around “roll-out” because the term implies actual rolling, and this thing has moved as gracefully as a grand piano in a peat bog.) But, as the president says, “it’s more than a website.” Indeed, the whole law is coming apart like a papier-mĆ¢chĆ© yacht in rough waters. The media feeding frenzy it has triggered from so many journalistic lapdogs has been both so funny and so poignant, it reminds me of nothing more than the climax of the classic film Air Bud, when the lovable basketball-playing golden retriever finally decides to maul the dog-abusing clown.

During the government shutdown, Barack Obama held fast, heroically refusing to give an inch to the hostage-taking, barbaric orcs of the Tea Party who insisted on delaying Obamacare. It was a triumph for the master strategist in the White House, who finally manoeuvred the Republicans into revealing their extremism. But we didn’t know something back then: Obama desperately needed a delay of Healthcare.gov. In his arrogance, though, he couldn’t bring himself to admit it. The other possibility is that he is such an incompetent manager, who has cultivated such a culture of yes-men, that he was completely in the dark about the problems. That’s the reigning storyline right now from the White House. Obama was betrayed. “If I had known,” he told his staff, “we could have delayed the website.”

This is how you know we’re in the political sweet spot: when the only plausible excuses for the administration are equally disastrous indictments.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it took about five minutes for liberals to cast the chaos and confusion of the disaster as a searing indictment of not just the Bush administration but of conservatism itself. Whatever the merits of that argument (and there are not many), Katrina was at least a surprise. The October 1 deadline for Obamacare was set by Obama’s own administration years ago — and it caught them completely off guard. The president may now claim that he knew nothing, but he must have wondered why Henry Chao, Healthcare.gov’s chief project manager, set the bar of success at sea level last March: “Let’s just make sure it’s not a Third World experience.” At this point, it could only be more of a Third World experience if Healthcare.gov required enrollees to pay with chickens.

October 22, 2013

The Government is the problem

Prohibition:
Prohibition was instituted with ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on January 16, 1919, which prohibited the "...manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States..." Congress passed the "Volstead Act" on October 28, 1919, to enforce the law, but most large cities simply ignored the law and bootlegged alcohol to meet demand, creating a huge black market rife with crime and corruption. Prohibition was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933, essentially acknowledging the exercise had been pointless and counter-productive.

No Child left behind:
Under George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind education plan, federal education spending doubled in eight years. Despite spending among the most per student in the world on education, the U.S. remains far behind most economically developed nations in terms of math, science and other core competencies. As Joel Klein of The Atlantic put it: "On America’s latest exams (the National Assessment of Educational Progress), one-third or fewer of eighth-grade students were proficient in math, science, or reading. Our high-school graduation rate continues to hover just shy of 70 percent, according to a 2010 report by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, and many of those students who do graduate aren't prepared for college."

Medicare:
According to the Cato Institute, "When Medicare’s Part A was launched in 1965, it was projected to cost $9 billion by 1990, but ended up costing $67 billion. When Medicare’s home-care benefit was added in 1988, it was projected to cost $4 billion in 1993, but ended up costing $10 billion." The Washington Times adds: "The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which was created in 1997 and projected to cost $5 billion per year, has had to be supplemented with hundreds of millions of dollars annually by Congress." President George W. Bush heaped another $720 billion cost on top over 2009-2018 with Medicare Part D, which subsidizes prescription drug costs for senior citizens.

Medicaid:
As Cato pointed out: "When the Medicaid program’s special hospitals subsidy was added in 1987, it was supposed to cost $100 million annually, but wound up costing $11 billion annually within five years." According to CNN Money, "Medicaid spending is set to double over the next 10 years -- from $253 billion today to $593 billion in 2022 -- and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, Medicare spending will do the same."

Immigration Reform:
Immigration reform has become a hot topic, but not everyone knows that Ronald Reagan once signed onto the initiative in 1986, an act he later regretted. Senator Marco Rubio criticized The Gipper in a 2009 speech: “In 1986 Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to 3 million people. You know what happened, in addition to becoming 11 million a decade later? There were people trying to enter the country legally, who had done the paperwork, who were here legally, who were going through the process, who claimed, all of a sudden, ‘No, no no no , I’m illegal.’ Because it was easier to do the amnesty program than it was to do the legal process.” Rubio added: “If you grant amnesty, the message that you’re sending is that if you come in this country and stay here long enough, we will let you stay. And no one will ever come through the legal process if you do that.”

War on Drugs.
The war on drugs is one of the most glaring failures of government. Since Republican President Nixon launched the anti-drug crusade in 1971, the program has cost over a trillion dollars. The result? Less personal freedom, more criminals locked up for consuming illicit substances, and a global conflict that immerses us in the business of numerous other countries. The lesson of the failed drug war is clear: criminalization leads to a black market, fueling more crime and more victims. The U.S. is currently the number one country in the world in terms of illegal drug use, according to CNN.

Farmer Subsidy:
One of the more perversely amusing failures of government has been the subsidies given to farmers NOT to grow food. The charade has been going on since the eventually constitutionally authorized Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. Because of the way prices react to supply and demand, "successful" farmers find themselves "punished" by the market with lower prices for their produce. Instead of people switching out of growing certain crops or into other productive activities, as the market signals them to do, the government underwrites excessive grain production and consumption, partly explaining America's obesity "epidemic."

Ethanol Subsidy:
According to Daily Finance (AOL), "Over the past 30 years, the federal government has given an estimated $45 billion to the corn industry to help support ethanol production. In 2011 alone, those subsidies totaled about $6 billion, or about 45 cents for every gallon of ethanol." Ethanol subsidies came to an end in 2012, but several states still mandate certain levels of ethanol be used in automobile fuels. Excessive ethanol production (as signaled by the market) has been plausibly connected to pushing prices up on numerous foodstuffs on the U.S. and global markets, leading to the spread of world hunger, and even to particular Arab Spring uprisings.

Green Jobs:
As The Examiner explains about the president missing his green jobs targets since 2009: "As part of the Obama green energy program, the goal was to train 124,893 people, and place 79,854 (64%) in new green jobs. After 17 months, the results of the green jobs program indicate that only 52,762 were trained, and only 8,035 got green jobs – each job costs tax payers about $62,000." (U.S. Dept. of Labor Inspector General, Jan. 2012) The article points out: "President Obama’s first re-election campaign ad boasts of 2.7 million green energy jobs. But, nothing in the Departments of Energy, Labor or Commerce justifies such job claims."
War on Poverty:

DDT Ban:
The ban on the malaria-fighting chemical DDT since Rachel Carson published "Silent Spring" (1962) has been connected to the horrific death of tens of millions of Africans, including millions of children. Michael Arnold Glueck and Robert J. Cihak, both M.D.s, sum up the health policy disaster such: "That DDT prevented 500 million deaths by 1970 and that the banning of its use in poor countries has resulted in millions of unnecessary deaths holds no sway with true believers in this doctrine. This current 'beggar thy neighbor' approach reflects a kind of Western imperial arrogance - and ignorance - that would rather let people suffer and die than face the fact that some secular pieties may be wrong."

War on Terror:
The ‘war on terror’ has led to over a trillion dollars expended on nation-building overseas. The cost in terms of human life, spending, and civil liberties has been extremely high. Billions are being spent on a police organ under the control of the executive branch known as “The Department of Homeland Security,” whose practices have been questioned by many civil rights groups. Not only has the TSA, a branch of the DHS, been engaged in random screening and inappropriate, documented harassment of ordinary, law-abiding citizens, it has been proven to be extremely wasteful, even going so far as to shelf over $184 million in security equipment that sits in a Texas warehouse.

Social Security:
When Social Security was passed in 1935, it was a safety net program that taxed only 1% of income. Now it is over 6.2% and growing. People understandably feel like it is an entitlement program, since they pay into it their working lives. But the program is not liquid. The Social Security program is financed like a Ponzi scheme, where younger generations pay for the retirement of older generations, who are ironically wealthier in terms of net worth. Because of baby boomers retiring and a much smaller workforce to finance the system, the program (along with us) is slated to go broke over the next 75 years, racking up an estimated $45 trillion in unfunded liabilities. (Peter G. Petersen Foundation)

Cash for Clunkers:
According to a recent TriCities op-ed from Mike Smith of Ralph Smith Motors in Virginia, CARS created a dearth of used cars, artificially driving up prices. For those who needed an affordable car, but didn’t qualify for the program, this increase in price meant affordable transportation was well out of reach. It also meant used-car dealers, most of whom are independently owned, small-business owners, had little to no stock. According to Smith, 122 Virginia dealers chose not to renew their licenses after that year.

Obamacare:
Not what it was promised, not costing what was stated. Screwed up at every possible instance.

October 18, 2013

The new top topic of every election from now on.

Americans are intent on being the stupidest nation on earth. Just look who we elect to represent ourselves...

Obamacare is the law of the land. To hope to stop this huge burden on the taxpayer is not only racist but seditious!  Look for the 2014 elections to be about the train-wreck before us.

Just in case you are missing the greatness of Obamacare here are some highlights:

Thousands of Doctors Fired. Next we will see the debut of the IPAB board — that group of individuals who will objectively, in a machine-like manner, decide the cost-benefit value of allowing surgeries, care or medicine for patients.

White House wanted half million ObamaCare signups by November.  Their target by the end of the year was 3.3 million.  The most recent estimate is that - 51,000 people had actually registered - most of them via state exchanges in California and New York.  Granted, that number was released last week so.

Now, we're learning that the problems don't end if you manage to claw your way through the healthcare.gov registration process.  In fact, a new CBS News report indicates that's just the beginning of the federal system's troubles.

"CBSNews has learned these problems are more than just people trying to sign up.  Insurance companies now are reporting problems once people manage to complete their applications.  They say the website is generating duplicate and incomplete enrollment forms, suggesting the problems are pervasive."

So, 20,000 people have managed to register via the federal exchange and the system is so badly designed that it can't keep the data straight. Just imagine if the feds actually had gotten the traffic they expected.


We paid over $500 million for the Obamacare sites and all we got was this lousy 404. "Government has a long history of spending money unnecessarily. But in an age when the U.S is home to the world’s largest, most successful Internet companies, how is it possible that we can’t even manage to build a functional website without blowing through hundreds of millions of dollars?"

Tech experts: Health exchange site needs total overhaul.  According to USA Today, the Healthcare.gov website is in far worse shape than anyone in the administration is admitting.  The level to which it's been botched is looking to be truly spectacular.  According to their sources, Healthcare.gov was built by an incompetent IT company using badly outdated ten-year-old technology.

ObamaCare Is Raising Insurance Costs. One of the most important feature of any health plan is its "network"—the group of doctors and hospitals that agree to serve the plan's enrollees. Doctors can limit the number of patients they take with exchange insurance if they can't handle any more patients. With the Narrow plans out there you are looking at shortages!

How Obamacare Dramatically Increases The Cost of Insurance for Young Workers.  President Obama, too, touted the bill’s ability to “bend the cost curve,” repeatedly promising that the law would “bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family.” But that was then. MIT economist Jonathan Gruber now says that Obamacare will increase premiums by 19-30 percent.

Consider this Liberals: “What would you say if Bush had done it?”

In the case of ObamaCare, the lesson might be the most poignant.

I found these questions on a discussion board, and decided this time, it was worth the comparison: if ObamaCare were BushCare what would the repercussions and responses be?

So ask yourself these questions, and then question if ObamaCare would be deader than disco.

Imagine…

1. If Republican George Bush made it mandatory that every American buy health insurance.

2. If Bush said if you don’t buy it, you will be fined.

3. If Bush said he would employ the IRS to collect the fine from you for non-conformance.

4. If Bush took the “public option” out of the bill, in order to please the private health insurance companies.

5. If Bush created a health care plan where the average cost was $328 dollars a month.

6. If Bush totally ignored all of the polls that said most Americans were against the health care bill.

7. If during the first 2 weeks of Bush’s health care plan rollout, the website crashed and hardly anybody could sign up.

8. If Bush gave Corporate America a one-year delay joining, but refused to do the same for poor people.

If George Bush did these things, he’d be the most unpopular president in history, especially among blacks.

October 04, 2013

Original


Even when it comes to something as basic, and apparently as simple and straightforward, as the question of who shut down the federal government, there are diametrically opposite answers, depending on whether you talk to Democrats or to Republicans.
There is really nothing complicated about the facts. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted all the money required to keep all government activities going — except for ObamaCare.
This is not a matter of opinion. You can check the congressional record.
As for the House of Representatives’ right to grant or withhold money, that is not a matter of opinion either. You can check the Constitution of the United States. All spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives, which means that congressmen there have a right to decide whether they want to spend money on a particular government activity.
Whether ObamaCare is good, bad or indifferent is a matter of opinion. But it is a matter of fact that members of the House of Representatives have a right to make spending decisions based on their opinion.
ObamaCare is indeed “the law of the land,” as its supporters keep saying, and the Supreme Court has upheld its constitutionality.
But the whole point of having a division of powers within the federal government is that each branch can decide independently what it wants to do or not do, regardless of what the other branches do, when exercising the powers specifically granted to that branch by the Constitution.
The hundreds of thousands of government workers who have been laid off are not idle because the House of Representatives did not vote enough money to pay their salaries or the other expenses of their agencies — unless they are in an agency that would administer ObamaCare.
Since we cannot read minds, we cannot say who — if anybody — “wants to shut down the government.” But we do know who had the option to keep the government running and chose not to. The money voted by the House of Representatives covered everything that the government does, except for ObamaCare.
The Senate chose not to vote to authorize that money to be spent, because it did not include money for ObamaCare. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he wants a “clean” bill from the House of Representatives, and some in the media keep repeating the word “clean” like a mantra. But what is unclean about not giving Harry Reid everything he wants?
If Senator Reid and President Obama refuse to accept the money required to run the government, because it leaves out the money they want to run ObamaCare, that is their right. But that is also their responsibility.
You cannot blame other people for not giving you everything you want. And it is a fraud to blame them when you refuse to use the money they did vote, even when it is ample to pay for everything else in the government.
When Barack Obama keeps claiming that it is some new outrage for those who control the money to try to change government policy by granting or withholding money, that is simply a bald-faced lie. You can check the history of other examples of “legislation by appropriation” as it used to be called.
Whether legislation by appropriation is a good idea or a bad idea is a matter of opinion. But whether it is both legal and not unprecedented is a matter of fact.
Perhaps the biggest of the big lies is that the government will not be able to pay what it owes on the national debt, creating a danger of default. Tax money keeps coming into the Treasury during the shutdown, and it vastly exceeds the interest that has to be paid on the national debt.
Even if the debt ceiling is not lifted, that only means that government is not allowed to run up new debt. But that does not mean that it is unable to pay the interest on existing debt.
None of this is rocket science. But unless the Republicans get their side of the story out — and articulation has never been their strong suit — the lies will win. More importantly, the whole country will lose.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.

September 23, 2013

Dictatorship

 "The Labor Department announced Wednesday that federal laws governing private employee pension and related benefit plans will be interpreted to recognize all legal marriages of same-sex couples, regardless of where the couple is living currently." 

This means that the Obama administration is now going to recognize all same-sex married couples, regardless of state law.  Welcome to  leadership by one person with total power. Voting doesn't matter; Congress doesn't matter; the states don't matter.


September 13, 2013

Sarah Palin, peoples champion

Remember when President Obama promised us, “If you like your current health care plan, you can keep your plan?” That was not true, and his deceptive claim falls in line with all the other lies about Obamacare – like there’d be no health care rationing.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense can understand that if it is cheaper for a company to cancel employees’ health benefits and pay the $2,000 Obamacare fine instead of providing, say, a $10,000 government mandated employee health care plan, then of course that company will choose to pay the much smaller fine.

And if companies don’t have to provide government mandated health care for part time employees, then of course that’s an incentive for them to cut back employees’ hours and make their workforce part time.

This isn’t rocket science. This is Economics 101. And it’s happening right now at companies all over the country.

We saw this coming, and now even President Obama’s union leader friends have finally 'fessed up to Obamacare lies. These union leaders betrayed their own membership by enthusiastically endorsing Obamacare, and now our good union brothers and sisters are at risk of losing the benefits they’ve worked for and counted on their whole lives. Union bosses, you owe your membership an apology, retraction, and resignation.

Union leaders are now scrambling and trying to get special carve-outs exclusively for union members. I sympathize with union members – especially when they’re led by thugs. I always do. But this is the wrong way to go about fixing the enormous train wreck that is Obamacare. More cronyism, select exemptions, and special subsidies make the problem worse.

We need to repeal the whole darn thing, and that starts with defunding it. 

Union brothers and sisters, don’t let your incompetent leadership hoodwink you again. Demand a full repeal, an immediate defunding, and some resignations.

- Sarah Palin


September 08, 2013

Man Made Global Warming hoax, loosing to truth...

If you ever see someone not arguing with facts be suspicious.  If you find anyone using fallacious arguments to augment their beliefs be skeptical.  If you see big money involved in science, bet that facts and truth are going to the wayside of the road.

Case in point.  There is big money in funding climate research.  More money if you can scare the population into thinking 'DOOM'  Al Gore started the trend of junk science, fake facts and poor ethics to make a hypocritical buck.


Robin McKie, science editor The Observer, Saturday 11 August 2012 21.52 BST.
Rate of Arctic summer sea ice loss is 50% higher than predicted.

"This rate of loss is 50% higher than most scenarios outlined by polar scientists and suggests that global warming, triggered by rising greenhouse gas emissions, is beginning to have a major impact on the region. In a few years the Arctic ocean could be free of ice in summer, triggering a rush to exploit its fish stocks, oil, minerals and sea routes."

Scary stuff right?  This is just over a year from the current headline.

By Hayley Dixon9:55AM BST 08 Sep 2013.
Global warming? No, actually we're cooling, claim scientists.

"Professor Anastasios Tsonis, of the University of Wisconsin, said: 'We are already in a cooling trend, which I think will continue for the next 15 years at least. There is no doubt the warming of the 1980s and 1990s has stopped.'"

So ponder what a difference a year makes, unless either the first or the second was not based upon science or facts or ethical reporting.


The Arctic this year has about 1.3m km2 more ice than last year at this time.

This doesn't mean that global warming is not real and important, but it does again emphasize that panic is not productive, nor warranted. It also means man has less to do with it then the IPCC will have you believe.

September 04, 2013

Obama is a National embarrassment.

A year ago



That looks a lot like Obama setting that red line, doesn’t it?  “That would change my calculus — that would change my equation.” 




“My credibility is not on the line — the international community’s credibility is on the line,”


Even the most staunchest Obama support has got to do a double take at this.

August 28, 2013

Do you remember the "97% consensus", which even Obama tweeted?

Do you remember the "97% consensus", which even Obama tweeted?

Turns out the authors don't want to reveal their data...

It has always been a dodgy paper (http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024024/article). Virtually everyone I know in the debate would automatically be included in the 97% (including me, but also many, much more skeptical).

The paper looks at 12,000 papers written in the last 25 years (see here, the paper doesn't actually specify the numbers, http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/watch-the-pea/). It ditches about 8,000 papers because they don't take a position.

They put people who agree into three different bins -- 1.6% that explicitly endorse global warming with numbers, 23% that explicitly endorse global warming without numbers and then 74% that "implicitly endorse" because they're looking at other issues with global warming that must mean they agree with human-caused global warming.

Voila, you got about 97% (actually here 98%, but because the authors haven't released the numbers themselves, we have to rely on other quantative assessments).

Notice, that *nobody* said anything about *dangerous* global warming; this meme simply got attached afterwards (by Obama and many others).

Now, Richard Tol has tried to replicate their study and it turns out they have done pretty much everything wrong. And they don't want to release the data so anyone else can check it. Outrageous.

Read Tol's letter to the Peter HĆøj, University of Queensland: "the main finding of the paper is incorrect, invalid and unrepresentative." (http://www.uq.edu.au/about/vice-chancellor)

It would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.

http://richardtol.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/open-letter-to-vice-chancellor-of.html

August 24, 2013

Crossing the 49th.

We crossed into Canada.  I had a detailed list of goods, that impressed the boarder staff.  We did not have to unpack anything, that was great!

According to the boarder guard my kids and wife are returning Canadians.  I now have a six month visa, which means I am a visitor and will have to leave in February.  I also, had to get travelers insurance for medical emergency.

My wife applied for her Social Insurance Number (SIN), this is like the USA's Social Security Number (SSN).  Next with the SIN we could get a bank account.  The nice surprise was I was able to be added to the account, even with my status.

We had been in contact with the Secondary school for Connor.  We arranged to meet with his teacher.  The school was very nice and the staffing was amazingly different.  The support for Connor appears to be much more then we could have hoped for.

The drivers license here was, probably, the easiest transition.  The province contracts through The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (aka: ICBC).  It was a simple matter to register as they recognize a US license is recognized as a form of ID and equal to a Canadian insofar as ability to drive.  So she turned in her Oregon for BC.

We set up a five year lease agreement, which counts as residency proof.  Also, we ordered embossed ATM cards as another form of ID.

Next up was the BC cares card for healthcare.  The Canadian system has socialized medicine.  Each province handles their own populace.  Think of this as a state run system.  This got a bit tricky.  You can fill out the paperwork and send it in.  The insurance will not cover you for three months.  Even then you need to have your entire family  under the plan.  So my status as a visitor is problematic.  However, the school required proof we filled out and mailed the form.  So we did...

The school system is oriented towards the needs of the student with an emphasis on state and fed be dammed!  As long as we have everything for immigration and healthcare in process he can be enrolled.

With our lease agreement, Tina's SIN card, license, passport and proof of mailing for BC Cares, Connor is enrolled!

That was quite the hurdle!

August 06, 2013

Phone solicitation for Murder.

So I got a polling person call me up and ask me questions to make murder of babies palatable.  It was about a Federal Law protecting Abortion rights up to the fourth trimester.

The argument was being framed as men and the government are keeping women from reproductive based healthcare.  Further that this was going against constitutional protections.

I oppose abortions.  I do not believe they should be made illegal.  In my utopia abortion is a safe legal procedure which never is performed.  I oppose abortion because it murders an innocent life.  I also know if abortion was against the law it would open up a black market that would lead to horrors I can only begin to imagine.  The stories from the first half of last century was bad enough, with the desire of stem cells... well now I am making myself sick.

I also find it odd the Planned Parenthood (Murder Inc.), apparently targets African Americans who make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America.  Isn't that genocide? or Eugenics?

Recently the Gosnell Case briefly shown a light on the horrors our society has created.  The media was not all that interested in following the case.  There are rumblings that Gosnell was far from an isolated case.  Let the horror show continue with our tax dollars...

Are we obsessed with sex?  Is the proliferation of birth-control and the hedonistic bombardment causing the decline of western civilization?

Why are the chaste ridiculed or singled out as freakish?  Way past time for this ethical pendulum to swing back to sane.