Daily Wisdom

August 25, 2009

Health Care You Can Believe In

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. --Proverbs 3:7-8

But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. --Malachi 4:2a

O LORD my God, I cried to thee for help, and thou hast healed me. --Psalms 30:2

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases. --Psalms 103:2-3

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. --Isaiah 53:4-5

And his name [Jesus Christ], faith in his name, has made this man strong whom you see and know; and the faith which is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. --Acts 3:16

And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. --Matthew 4:23

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. --Matthew 9:35

When the crowds learned it, they followed [Jesus]; and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those who had need of healing. --Luke 9:11

As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. --Matthew 14:14

And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” --Mark 5:34

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity. --Matthew 10:1

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit... --1Corinthians 12:7-9

August 22, 2009

Silent No More

Hat-tip to OnlineAnalyst...


Source: Political Abacus

August 21, 2009

Doctor Obama Will See You Now

Sorry. I just couldn't help myself. I have no particular point to make. I just thought it seemed funny...


Doctor Obama (Click to enlarge)


I created the above photo using an open-source program called GIMP (a great Photoshop alternative), from the following originals...


Sweeney Todd (Click to enlarge)


Barack Obama (Click to enlarge)


August 20, 2009

Interesting

Well, my fears of White House retaliation against my blog may have been exaggerated and unfounded. When I pressed the "review" button on my Dashboard, I got a message saying that my blog had been reported as a possible "spam blog". I did some research and found out from Wikipedia that spam blogs are...

artificially created weblog sites which the author uses to promote affiliated websites or to increase the search engine rankings of associated sites... Spam blogs are usually a type of 'scraper site', where content is often either 'inauthentic text' or merely stolen from other websites (see 'blog scraping').

Interestingly, when I Googled "200 Days - 200 Mistakes", I found a reference to my article at a blog which will remain unnamed. I won't provide a link here, because I don't want to give them the satisfaction. Nevertheless, this blog appears to be one of those 'scraper sites'. The scraper blog created a post called "View From Above: 200 Days - 200 Mistakes" and reprinted my entire article, but completely chopped it up, replacing key phrases with ones that don't make any sense. Here's an example...

Back on April 28th I wrote an article called “100 Days - 100 Mistakes”. You can rumble it at. Well, this is a bear out to that article... As of continue week, President Obama was in backup for the benefit of 200 days, and his example in the prime of entire advocate d occupy for per age has not changed.

I can only conclude that this is an example of the 'inauthentic text' to which Wikipedia refers. Assuming that this scraper blog used my work in this under-handed way to generate spam, then I can only apologize to anyone who may have been affected, and say that I am deeply irritated by the whole affair. As of this morning, my Dashboard no longer has any messages, and hopefully that is the end of the matter.

August 19, 2009

Obama & Google Strike Back

Well, it looks like Obama isn't happy with me, so I received a message at my Blog Dashboard which reads...

This blog has been locked due to possible Blogger Terms of Service violations. You may not publish new posts until your blog is reviewed and unlocked.

This blog will be deleted within 20 days unless you request a review.

Actually, I was able to publish a new post since I received the message, but it is quite possible, that this one may not be published. We'll see in a moment.

But at any rate, I may be going off-line forever. You know how it goes. Obama's minions are everywhere (including Google), and they don't like resistance. I will request the review and then we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

August 18, 2009

Drink The Kool-Aid™

Hat-tip to Heirborn Ranger...



White House Flag Lowered

As many of you know, on Sunday July 16th I sent an e-mail to the White House e-mail address: flag@whitehouse.gov. You know it because I copied you on my e-mail. I apologize for any anxiety this may have caused on your part. As Pat's Rick said, "Of course you realize that all of us are now on the 'terrorist watch list'." I'm sorry about that, but I copied you because you know who I am, and if anything unusual were to happen to me [truth can be stranger than fiction], you would all know what was behind it, and hopefully be righteously outraged. I am happy to report that only one day after I sent my e-mail (and Possumtrot did likewise), the White House gave up and pulled the plug on flag@whitehouse.gov.

Of course, Possum and I can't take all the credit. But it's nice to think that we played some small part in it's demise. With that, here is the text of the e-mail I sent...




Dear Mr. President,

I've seen something "fishy" on the Internet, so as you've directed, I'm reporting it to you. It's a blog called "View From Above" and here's the most recent article...

http://viewhigh.blogspot.com/2009/08/200-days-200-mistakes.html

Be sure to keep an eye on this guy. He calls himself "Hawkeye" and says he's a "conservative". That's the first clue that this guy is dangerous. He also seems to favor states' rights over federal mandates. He supports single-issue causes which are opposed to abortion and immigration. That makes him a "right-wing extremist" according the DHS definition. He even admits that he's a right wing extremist here...

http://viewhigh.blogspot.com/2009/04/hawkeye-right-wing-extremist.html

Hawkeye also says he is a Christian, so there's another reason to watch him. He seems to be pro-life, and says "It's OK to say Merry Christmas". I'm sure he wouldn't cover up Christian symbols, like you do. I don't think he would bow to the king of Saudi Arabia, the way you did. He keeps referring to "the 86% of Americans who identify themselves as Christian". He says America was founded "by Christians, for Christians", so he must be a bigot, right?

Hawkeye says that he and others like him are patriotic, and that you're not. He says he is proud of America and sees no need to apologize for it, like you do. He says America is the greatest "hope" of the world, and doesn't need your "hope". He says America is the greatest country on earth and doesn't need much "change". He says he can't understand why you hob-knob with petty dictators. He says he thinks you are an embarrassment to our country.

Hawkeye seems to believe in the sanctity of the United States Constitution. He says there is a method for changing the Constitution prescribed in the Constitution. He doesn't think judges should "write laws" from the bench, like you do. He doesn't like your selection criteria of "empathy" for choosing SCOTUS judges. He doesn't like your recent pick of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. He called her a "racist-feminist", so he must be a chauvinist, white bastard... right?

On top of everything else, Hawkeye doesn't think you even qualify to be President. He says you are not a "natural born citizen" because your father was a Kenyan...

http://viewhigh.blogspot.com/2008/12/natural-born-citizen-definition.html

He must be one of those "birthers" or "nirthers" or whatever you call 'em. He says he'd like to see your original, long-form birth certificate... the dope! Everybody knows the 2007 short-form copy on the Internet IS your birth certificate, right? Heck, you're the President, the most important "public" office in the United States! Why should Americans need to know anything about you? Why should they care? The fact that we have to show our birth certificates for a drivers' license is irrelevant, right?

Hawkeye says that you are a socialist, a statist, and a collectivist. He says you were mentored by, hung out with, and have appointed socialists, statists and collectivists. He says you have no regard for the rule of law, even laws you co-sponsored as a Senator. He says you seem to have a secret agenda to turn America into a socialist state. He says you are a liar, and are deliberately spreading misinformation about yourself and your legislation. He seems to disagree with everything you say, and everything you stand for. Keep an eye on him. He's dangerous.

Respectfully,
Hawkeye

P.S.-- Yeah, that's my blog, and I'm reporting myself.




Here is Possum's e-mail to the White House...




Dear Mr. President:

I have noticed an alarmingly "fishy" trend online; people are turning themselves in for re-education because they disagree with your socialist policies. "Angry, un-American, Nazi mobsters" are prepared to face the wrath of the IRS, Democrat character assassins, and whatever other federal wrath can be brought to bear, in order to dissent from the socialist spiral you have set this country upon. I am warmly acquainted with one of these "mobsters."

I feel a compelling need to report a blogger who calls himself "Uncle Possum", a.k.a. "Possumtrot". He repeatedly maligns you by calling you "Osama Bamalama" -- which he attributes to Ted Kennedy -- "The Manchurian Candidate", and "The Red Herring". He compares your governmental expansionism to Adolph Hitler's in the 1930s. Not even a year into your presidency, he says that you are the worst thing that has happened to America since Jimmy Carter.

He is a self-styled "conservative Libertarian" who advocates substance over style, and rational, independent thought. He does not belong to a political party, but his votes have admittedly run to Republican candidates when a Libertarian is unviable for the same office. He is a hypocritical pro-life Christian who does not believe in legislating morality, and a potential "hate-militia" member because he used to teach combat shooting and is a gun-owning believer in The Second Amendment.

In short, this man is a mass of contradictions that can be set straight with a little re-education from one of the many governmental agencies at your disposal. If he fails to accept the party line, he is also a cripple with a cancer history, and can easily be added to a governmental euthanasia list for a final solution.

Your myrmidons can peruse his seditious blog at http://possumnews.blogspot.com/.

Now that whoever is really reading this has had time to plant a cookie tracer and run the properties on this e-mail, the truth is known and the sarcasm obvious. I am turning myself in for re-education.

I will consider it an honor to be placed on your Nixonian enemies list.

Confederately,
Robert B. Webb
[Full Address]




Chalk up one for the good guys!

August 13, 2009

200 Days - 200 Mistakes

Back on April 28th I wrote an article called "100 Days - 100 Mistakes". You can find it at...

http://viewhigh.blogspot.com/2009/04/100-days-100-mistakes.html.

Well, this is a follow-up to that article. As of last week, President Obama was in office for 200 days, and his average of one mistake per day has not changed. Like my previous article, to keep it simple I have not provided any references, attributions or links. With that, Obama's mistakes continue, including...

101-His low-altitude Air Force One photo-op over the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan without notifying New York City officials. The stunt triggered a mass panic and the evacuation of buildings over fears of another 9/11 incident.

102-His failure to develop a plan for closing Gitmo, which resulted in a bipartisan rejection of his request for money to close the facility. Democrats as well as Republicans agreed to strip money from a spending bill that would have funded the closing of Gitmo because Obama failed to provide a plan for how to do it.

103-His failure to follow through on a promise that citizens would be able to track "every dime" of the $787 billion stimulus bill. A government website dedicated to following the spending won't have details on contracts and grants until October, and may not be complete until next spring. "Recovery.gov" now lists programs being funded by the stimulus money, but provides no details on who received the grants or contracts.

104-His less-than-inspirational observance of the 'National Day of Prayer' by nixing a formal early morning service, and by not attending a large Catholic prayer breakfast the next morning. All Obama would agree to do is sign a proclamation honoring the day, which was originated by Congress in 1952. For the past eight years, President George W. Bush invited selected religious leaders to the White House East Room, where he typically would give a short speech followed by the prayers of several participants. Apparently Obama doesn't "cling" to his religion.

105-His welcoming of Republican Senator Arlen Specter into the Democratic party, which was based on a promise to Specter that he would be allowed to keep his seniority. The welcoming event was followed soon thereafter by an announcement that Specter would become a Junior Democrat, losing all his seniority. The move painted the Democrats as untrustworthy, and they were forced to abide by their original promise.

106-His failure to follow normal bankruptcy procedures in the Chrysler and GM situations. In order to expedite the bankruptcy process and "save an industry", the rights of secured creditors were violated and the interests of the unions who supported Obama were favored. Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) told the Associated Press: "They said, 'Set aside the rule of law, let's strip secured creditors, bondholders, of their rights. Take them away outside of the bankruptcy process and give them to the political cronies and the auto workers' unions."

107-His preliminary consideration of the idea to force Israel into giving up its nuclear weapons as a leveraging option against Iran's nuclear ambitions. When this plan met resistance, he subsequently considered the idea that a nuclear Iran was inevitable, which also drew fire.

108-His proposal to impose taxes on U.S. companies that make a profit overseas. According to Obama, U.S. corporations are failing to pay "their fair share". Obama fails to recognize that some U.S. corporations have moved operations overseas because the U.S. corporate tax rate is too high. Currently, the average combined federal and state corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 39.3%, second only among OECD countries to Japan's combined rate of 39.5%. If Obama wants to create jobs in the U.S., he should reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate or provide other incentives to business. Besides that, U.S. corporations already pay taxes to the foreign countries in which they operate. Double taxation would only make U.S. companies uncompetitive there. Business and profits would be lost, which would only reduce any potential tax benefit to the U.S. government.

109-His initial threat to kill the D.C. school voucher program, followed by his later decision (in the face of strong public opposition) to keep it alive -- but only until all 1,716 current participants have graduated from high school. This was accompanied by his decision to allow no new students to be accepted into the current voucher program. Naturally, a successful program must be stopped at all costs. According to NEA (teachers' union) president Dennis Van Roekel, the D.C. voucher program is "an ongoing threat". In other words, when kids succeed in school and the NEA had nothing to do with it... the union feels threatened (as well they should be).

110-His criteria for replacing U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, saying that, "We need [judges] who've got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges." In other words, according to Obama, justice should not be "blind" but rather tilted in favor of: 1) irresponsible youths [ie, "a young teenage mom"], 2) the "poor", 3) people of color [ie, "African-American"], 4) sexual orientation [ie, "gay"], 5) the disabled, and 6) the elderly [ie, "old"].

111-His nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor who failed to meet any of his own selection criteria, being neither "a young teenage mom", nor "poor", nor "African-American", nor "gay" [as far as we know], nor "disabled", nor "old". Aside from that however, Sotomayor IS an activist judge who cares little for the Constitution and seeks to "make policy" from the bench.

112-His nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor who is a 'racist-feminist', saying that she considers herself "a wise Latina woman, [who] with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion than a white male..." At the prompting of Republicans, Judge Sonia Sotomayor was forced to resign from an elite all-women's club called 'Belizean Grove' when it was brought to her attention that federal judges are bound by a code that says they should not join any organization that discriminates on the basis of race, sex, religion or nationality. Sotomayor said she "forgot about that".

113-His nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor who has had several decisions overturned by the Supreme Court, including perhaps the most widely anticipated ruling being the Ricci case, a reverse-discrimination lawsuit. Now that she is on the Court, there is no one to correct her mistakes.

114-His failure to understand the difference between a "spending cut" and a "tax increase". His fiscal year 2010 budget contained what his administration referred to as 9 "spending cuts" that are in reality energy tax increases. These tax hikes increase revenue to the government and make the budget bigger, not smaller. By definition, "spending cuts" reduce the size of the federal budget. These are not spending cuts, and there are a dozen other examples of such "cuts" in his budget.

115-His authorization of census takers to go out before the census and "mark" every home in the United States with GPS coordinates. He did so without providing the public any warning or explanation for these activities. Many Americans, already suspicious of this administration, rightly feel that this act was frightening, unnecessary, and an invasion of privacy.

116-His failure to get economic stimulus money into the economy. Five months after he signed the economic stimulus package, only about 10% of the stimulus money has gotten into the economy. It is far from clear if that stimulus money is having an effect on the economy. This recession has already been much longer than any we have seen since the Great Depression, and the economy may be beginning to turn around on its own.

117-His claim that the economic stimulus is "working", when very little of the stimulus money has been "stimulative". The term "economic stimulus" is defined as "government fiscal policy designed to increase aggregate consumer demand and the level of economic activity." Most of the "stimulus" money has gone to the states to use for unemployment compensation, filling state budget gaps, and so on. These expenditures have not increased "aggregate consumer demand" or "the level of economic activity". If anything, they have merely been maintaining the status quo.

118-His claim that a $13 per week wage increase is "stimulus". The typical employee saw an average $13 reduction in his or her Federal income tax withholding as a result of the stimulus bill. For many people, that is only enough money to buy lunch maybe once or perhaps twice a week. It is hardly an incentive to go out on a spending spree. In addition, some people who saw their withholding decreased will have to pay it back in taxes at the end of the year.

119-His claim that the economic stimulus package he signed in February has "saved or created" 150,000 jobs. While there may be some truth to the notion that jobs have been saved or created, it is impossible to measure the number of jobs that have been "saved". How do you measure "potential" layoffs (ie, something that never happened)?

120-His expenditure of $78 billion in order to "save or create" 150,000 jobs. That's an average of $520,000 per job over 5 months. Will these jobs be permanent? Will funding of these jobs need to be maintained at these levels? No one seems to know. In any case, we have not received "the best bang for our buck". [Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Counsel of Economic Advisers, recently suggested 485,000 jobs have been "saved". Again, that can't be measured.]

121-His claim that the economic stimulus package would create 4 million "new" jobs in two years. Five months after he signed the economic stimulus package, 2.2 million jobs have been lost, which means that now Obama needs to create 6.2 million jobs in order to meet his original target. With each passing month, it seems less likely that Obama will be able to make good on his claim.

122-His claim that if the economic stimulus package was passed, the unemployment rate would not exceed 8%. In June, the unemployment rate hit 9.5%. The only reason it dropped to 9.4% in July is because the number of people who stopped looking for work in July exceeded the number of those who lost their jobs (274,000). If you add in all the workers who have become "discouraged" since the start of the recession, the unemployment rate would actually be at 16.3%!

123-His dropping poll numbers, which suggest that there is an increasing number of people (primarily independents, but also Democrats) who are losing confidence in him. His approval rating is down in various categories, including: his handling of the economy, his handling of the health care issue, and his overall approval rating. More people now "strongly disapprove" of his performance than "strongly approve", by a margin of almost 10%.

124-His restructuring plan for GM, where GM receives billions of dollars in federal bail out money, while the proportion of GM cars sold domestically but manufactured overseas will rise from 15% to 23% over the next five years. Obama is effectively outsourcing jobs to China.

125-His stimulus package that includes $2 billion in funds available to ACORN, an organization that has been under investigation in 14 states for voter fraud, and against which the IRS has filed three tax liens totaling almost $1 million, most of which concerned employee withholding issues.

126-His decision to have Wanda Sykes do a comedy routine at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, in which she made some rather nasty remarks about Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin. "Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails... I hope his kidneys fail, how about that?" said Sykes. Her jab at Sarah Palin was a lewd remark that began this way: "I know Governor Palin... She's not here tonight. She pulled out at the last minute..."

127-His unfair allocation of infrastructure stimulus money which is going to areas with low unemployment over areas with high unemployment. An Associated Press analysis of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects nationwide revealed that states are planning to spend the stimulus in communities where jobless rates are already low. Altogether, the government is planning to spend 50 percent more per person in areas where the unemployment is low, than in communities where the unemployment is high.

128-His unfair allocation of stimulus money to areas of the country that supported him in the election. According to USA Today, "Billions of dollars in federal aid... have gone overwhelmingly to places that supported President Obama in last year's presidential election... The reports show the 872 counties that supported Obama received about $69 per person, on average. The 2,234 that supported McCain received about $34 [per person]."

129-His decision to give the commencement speech at Notre Dame, which angered pro-life Catholics around the country and lost the college millions in donations. Alumni were so upset by the university's decision to honor pro-abortion President Barack Obama, that they decided to withhold their donations to the Catholic college. In total, pro-life alumni and donors withheld nearly $14 million in gifts they otherwise would have given.

130-His continued failure to abide by his campaign promise of transparency: "When there's a bill that ends up on my desk as president, you the public will have five days to look online and find out what's in it before I sign it, so that you know what your government's doing." During Obama's second 100 days, he continued to sign bills only one or two days after being posted. There are a dozen other examples of his failure to be transparent that could be cited, including his expenditures estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to prevent the release of his personal information.

131-His statement in a C-SPAN interview with Steve Scully, where he said that: "We are out of money." This admission crystallized the feelings of many that we need to stop growing the deficit. His admission effectively put in jeopardy any future legislation that contributes to the debt problem.

132-His statement that current deficit spending is 'unsustainable' warning of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries. Of course, he failed to mention that it was his own policies that have quadrupled the government deficit for fiscal year 2009. And he was only in office a mere 4 months when he made the statement. In effect, Obama indicted himself and his Democratic controlled Congress for excessive spending!

133-His ambitious legislative agenda, which has led many to question whether he is trying to accomplish too much, too soon. Economic recovery, climate-and-energy, gays in the military, national health care, and immigration reform are all on his list. Even Colin Powell who endorsed Obama said, "You can't have so many things on the table that you can't absorb it all." And, speeding legislation through Congress has raised concerns that: "Haste makes waste." Fast legislation is probably bad legislation, and many fear what may be hidden in those 1000+ page bills that no one seems to have time to read.

134-His automotive task force (manned by people who have no auto industry experience), which put pressure on Chrysler to close 25% of its dealerships. There was never any explanation given as to how those dealerships were selected, but (coincidentally?) a significant portion of the dealerships affected had donated almost exclusively to GOP candidates.

135-His Attorney General, Eric Holder (an African-American), who dismissed charges against the New Black Panther thugs who wielded batons and shouted racial slurs at the entrance to a polling station during the November presidential election. This despite the fact the voter intimidation case had already been won!

136-His Vice President Joe Biden who said he wouldn't get "into any confined spaces with anyone right now" (in regard to the swine flu scare). He urged people not to fly, take a train, or ride a bus.

137-His celebration of "Cinco de Mayo" (5th of May) on May 4th. The White House called the early celebration "Cinco de Quatro" (5th of 4th).

138-His decision to withhold billions of dollars in federal stimulus money from California if the state did not reverse a scheduled wage cut for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which lobbied the federal government to step in.

139-His decision to try some of the Gitmo detainees through U.S. military commissions, for which he had roundly criticized George W. Bush.

140-His consideration of continuing to imprison non-U.S. citizens currently detained at Gitmo indefinitely, even if they have been acquitted of terrorism charges by a U.S. military commission. This is in direct opposition to his pledge to restore habeas corpus, and for which he also criticized Bush.

141-His failure to recognize that there is growing skepticism about global warming, and that polls have been showing that addressing climate change (and the environment in general) is the last item on people's list of concerns. The 'economy' is number one, and 'jobs' is number two.

142-His push for a climate-energy bill which is nothing more than a new tax on energy. Representatives who voted for the Waxman-Markey bill in the House were "hammered" by their constituents. Senators began receiving 100 to 200 calls per day to vote against the bill, and it is not likely to make it through the Senate.

143-His failure to condemn the Iranian government when they obviously perpetrated election fraud to steal the presidential election from reformers, thereby endorsing an illegitimate government.

144-His failure to support Iranian protesters who took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands demanding free and fair elections, thereby failing to support a democracy movement.

145-His failure to condemn the Iranian government when they began a brutal and bloody crackdown against protesters, until well after all the other democracies around the world had already done so, and people were beginning to question his silence.

146-His White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, who called Iranian President Ahmadinejad "the elected leader" of Iran, but then 24 hours later corrected himself calling Ahmadinejad simply "the leader" of Iran.

147-His overexposure in the media. Obama has already had four prime time news conferences while President Bush only had four during his entire eight years as President. One lady sold both of her TVs complaining that Obama was on "every station, all the time". Pundits have suggested that the more Obama is exposed, the more his approval ratings decline.

148-His fourth prime time news conference to sell his health care reform bill, which most pundits said was a waste of time. He provided no new information and failed to convince nervous citizens that they would not see any reductions in services or benefits. While saying on one hand that 47 million new people would be provided health care, he also said the primary reason for the reform was to cut skyrocketing costs of Medicare. You can't expand a program and cut costs at the same time without sacrificing benefits or services.

149-His answer to the final question at his fourth prime time news conference in which he said that police in Cambridge, MA acted "stupidly" when they arrested his friend and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, despite having initially said that he didn't know all the facts of the case. Obama implied that racism was involved. Police in Cambridge were angered and supported their officers at the scene which included an African-American, a Hispanic, and a white officer (James Crowley) who teaches courses against racial profiling. Police officers around the country were also angered.

150-His failure to apologize for his accusatory statement when the facts of the case became clear, and it was shown that racism was never in play. Arresting officer Crowley was responding to a 911 call about a possible break-in. He was in touch with his headquarters by radio throughout the incident. Gates, who was argumentative, abusive and non-compliant, was arrested for "disorderly conduct". The Cambridge Police graciously dropped the charges against Gates without admitting to wrong-doing of any kind.

151-His statement that this whole Gates incident was "a teachable moment", suggesting that Obama would use the opportunity to teach someone (other than himself of course) about racism in America. Obama needs to learn from this incident that it was he himself who acted "stupidly" by jumping to conclusions about racism.

152-His "beer summit", in which he invited Henry Gates and arresting officer Sergeant James Crowley to have a beer at the White House. The event only served to reward Gates for his unruly behavior, who had screamed at the officer: "You don't know who you're dealing with!", implying a personal friendship with the President. Obama proved to Crowley that Gates was correct. You can act like a jerk, but if you're a friend of Obama's, you will get a pass... and maybe an invite to the White House.

153-His claim that the health care reform package would be spending neutral and would not add to the deficit. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) contradicted Obama saying that the program would would not save any money at all, would cost more than $1 trillion, and would "bend the cost curve up", not down.

154-His increasingly authoritarian style of rhetoric as can be seen in the following examples.

155-His urging to have citizens report those who dissent against his health care reform package to the White House. "If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov"

156-His suggestion for dissenters to just shut up. "I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don’t mind cleaning up after them, but don’t do a lot of talking."

157-His threat to fight against health care reform dissenters. Top White House aides gave Senate Democrats a recess period battle plan saying: "If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard."

158-His silence when members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) attacked Kenneth Gladney who sat in a wheelchair holding a flag that read: "Don’t Tread on Me" at a townhall meeting in Mehlville, Missouri.

159-His speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, Egypt, in which he once again subtly apologized for America, saying: "I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world -- one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect." This is merely code speak for: "America screwed up in the past. George W. Bush screwed up in the past. I'm different. Please show me some respect."

160-His Cairo speech, in which he said civilization owes a great debt to Islam. In the speech Obama calls himself "a student of history", but he credited Islam with various scientific advancements that are not in fact attributable to Islam.

161-His Cairo speech, in which he created a moral equivalence between the Holocaust's destruction of 6 million Jews and the 60-year Palestinian pursuit of a homeland. They are not even closely comparable. The 6 million Jews who were killed were largely innocent civilians, while the Palestinian problems were largely brought on themselves by their leaders who advocated terrorism.

162-His Cairo speech, in which he said: "I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear." That is not in the U.S. Constitution. That is not one of the responsibilities of the president.

163-His Cairo speech, in which he created a moral equivalence between the struggle for women's rights in the Muslim world with "the struggle for women's equality... in many aspects of American life". It is ludicrous to even suggest such a comparison, when women are being beheaded or stoned to death in many parts of the Muslim world.

164-His statement in a French interview, that the United States could be considered as "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world". Aside from being dismissive of America's approximately 86% of people who consider themselves to be Christian, Obama's claim is highly dubious. A reputable survey by Pew puts the number of Muslims in the U.S. at 1.8 million, which would make it the 48th biggest Muslim country.

165-His decision to bring "a top al-Qaida suspect" held at Guantanamo Bay (Ahmed Ghailani) to New York for trial, just one day after Democrats promised not to bring terrorists to "prisons in the United States."

166-His reference to "Secretary of Defense William Gates." Robert Gates is the correct name. Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft.

167-His decision to fly to New York City with wife Michelle for "date night". After criticizing auto executives for flying to Congressional hearings; and fully aware that the country is "out of money"; and knowing that millions have lost their jobs; he nevertheless felt no qualms about jumping onto Air Force One for an evening of entertainment on the tax payer's dime, with Secret Service in tow, Presidential vehicles, and the inevitable disruptions in New York City.

168-His decision to consider taxing Americans' health care benefits after criticizing John McCain for suggesting it during the election campaign.

169-His Vice President's admission that stimulus money will be mis-spent. "We know some of this money is going to be wasted... Some people are being scammed already!" said VP Joe Biden. This is interesting considering that it is Biden's responsibility to make sure the stimulus gets to where it's supposed to go, which spurred Obama's reference to Biden as "Sheriff Joe".

170-His decision to have the FBI start reading Miranda rights to terrorism suspects detained in Afghanistan. The practice could potentially prevent interrogation of the suspects which, without the presence of a lawyer, might produce evidence that would be inadmissible in a court of law. Furthermore, it places the lives of our soldiers in great danger because a suspected suicide bomber might have to be read his rights before he could be incarcerated.

171-His decision to send four ethnic Uighers (Chinese Muslims) who were formerly detained at Gitmo, to Bermuda. Unfortunately, he never notified the British government. Bermuda is a British overseas territory.

172-His decision to fire Inspector General Gerald Walpin. Walpin was investigating misuse of federal AmeriCorps grants by a nonprofit education group led by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is an Obama supporter.

173-His failure to follow the correct procedure in the firing of Inspector General Walpin which, according a law co-sponsored by Obama himself, requires a 30-day notice be given to Congress prior to any action.

174-His appointment of nearly 3 dozen "czars" to manage everything from closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to ending the genocide in Darfur. Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), wrote a letter to Obama complaining that: "The accumulation of power by White House staff can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances." These czars are accountable to no one but the President. Their work is not transparent. They don't require confirmation hearings, and are under no obligation to testify before Congress. They have staffs and budgets, thus spending taxpayer money without any accountability to the taxpayer.

175-His TARP program, which could put U.S. taxpayers on the hook for $23.7 trillion. Neil Barofsky, special Inspector General for the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), said in testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, that "TARP has evolved into a program of unprecedented scope, scale and complexity." Barofsky's estimates include $2.3 trillion in programs offered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), $7.4 trillion in TARP and other aid from the Treasury, and $7.2 trillion in federal money for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, credit unions, Veterans Affairs and other federal programs.

176-His cabinet's failure to meet a 90-day deadline for finding $100 million in spending cuts. After proposing an astounding $3.6 trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2010, President Obama promised that his cabinet would find $100 million in spending cuts. The proposed cuts were laughable, because they would amount to less than 3/1000ths of 1% of the total budget. The deadline came and went, without a report from the White House on whether or not that promise was fulfilled.

177-His decision on July 20th to extend the deadline for a recommendation on how to close Gitmo. Obama granted a 6 month extension to his task force charged with determining how terrorism suspects detained at Gitmo should be interrogated, held in custody, or handed over to other countries. The delay puts Obama's promise to close Gitmo by the end of January 2010 in jeopardy. Pushing back the deadline on how to handle more than 200 Gitmo detainees illustrates just how complicated it is to solve this problem, for which Obama severely criticized George W. Bush throughout the election campaign.

178-His decision to accept the concept of mandated enrollment in a health care plan. This is in direct opposition to his earlier position against mandates, for which he criticized Hillary Clinton during the election campaign. His decision was based on the premise that health care costs must be spread out over a larger population. In this way, young healthy people will subsidize the costs of the sick and the elderly.

179-His administration's brief consideration of a second stimulus package. With the apparent failure of the first stimulus to do any real stimulating, the Obama administration briefly considered the concept of a second stimulus package before they realized the political fallout would be a PR disaster.

180-His decision to delay the annual midsummer budget update that is sure to show higher budget deficits and slower growth than originally projected in February (and updated in May). The update, usually scheduled for mid-July, was put off until at least mid-August, fueling speculation that the White House feels the report would complicate his efforts to get his global-warming and health care initiatives through Congress.

181-His VP gaffe machine Joe Biden who said "We misread the economy", after having earlier called it the worst economic situation since the Great Depression. Perhaps he should have said it was the worst economic situation since the Bubonic Plague? Biden also said we have to spend massive amounts of stimulus money to keep from going bankrupt. "People, when I say that, look at me and say, 'What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?... The answer is yes."

182-His failure to recognize that Americans are on average satisfied with their current health care coverage. According to a Zogby poll, fully 84% of Americans are either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their health care coverage. This is one reason why Obama's proposed health care reform is facing such stiff resistance. If people like what they have, there is no incentive to change it. If Obama keeps talking about reforming health care to control costs, people can only assume that benefits and services will be cut.

183-His decision to join Hugo Chavez in a call to restore deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to power. Zelaya was trying to use mob rule to undermine Honduras's institutions in much the same way that Chavez has done in Venezuela. But as Washington lawyer Miguel Estrada pointed out in the Los Angeles Times on July 10th, Zelaya's actions were expressly forbidden by the Honduran constitution. The Honduran Congress move to defend the country's constitution by relieving Zelaya of his presidential duties was both lawful and necessary as a precaution against violence. It is not surprising that Obama would support the undermining of a country's constitution, since he is doing that very thing here in the United States.

184-His failure to provide Democrats with specific guidance on the health care reform bill. As the August recess began to approach and prospects for passage of a health care bill became bleaker, Democrats began grumbling about the lack of leadership from President Obama. One senator told CNN that Democrats were "baffled", and another said they were "frustrated" that they were not getting more specific direction from him on health care -- especially how to pay for it. It's one thing to set deadlines for Congress. It's another thing to provide leadership and guidance.

185-His attacks on Republicans calling them "obstructionist" in their opposition to health care reform, while reporters and journalists were quick to cite the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. It is not the Republicans who are to blame for holding up passage of the measure, but rather the conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats. The "Blue Dogs" heard from their constituents in no uncertain terms that they were upset about the climate bill, and they are even more upset about the proposed health care bill. The Blue Dogs, as a group, have demanded that major changes be made to the health reform bill before they can approve it.

186-His radical agenda, which has motivated 37 states to introduce sovereignty resolutions. Such resolutions claim sovereignty for their state under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over "all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States." Such resolutions, while not carrying the force of law, lay the ground work for future legislation, should it become necessary. It sends a strong signal to Washington that these states do not intend to be bullied or have their rights (guaranteed under the Constitution) usurped by the federal government.

187-His health care reform bill, which includes funding for abortions. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) admitted that there is dissension among House Democrats about whether the final bill should contain federal funding for abortion. The debate has apparently split Democrats because "there are very strong feelings on both sides of that issue."

188-His mis-handling of the U.S.-Israeli alliance. On his first visit to Washington, Benjamin Netanyahu met a chilly reception. Instead of seeking to avoid confrontation with Israel and working to advance Israeli-Palestinian cooperation, Obama chose to embark on a collision course with Israel. This strategy of confrontation was a mistake. Obama has been misled by his advisers. People like Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod had two goals in mind: to deter Israel from taking any initiative, especially against Iran, and to change Netanyahu's order of priority from Iran first, to "peace in our time" with the Palestinians.

189-His pressure on Israel to halt all construction in East Jerusalem, which triggered anti-American outrage in Israel. Obama's policies were slammed as "racist" by participants in a rally on July 27th that drew about 2,000 Israelis in front of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem. Speaking at the rally, Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, who heads the prestigious "Nir" Torah seminary in the West Bank city of Kiryat Arba, called Obama a "racist." Waldman said, "How dare he tell the Jews where they can or can't live! The era when Jews were banned from living in different places has ended."

190-His same Israeli policy which ended a friendship and created a crack in his Chicago base of support. Alan Solow, one of the president's closest Chicago friends and long-time supporters, released a highly critical statement on behalf of the 52-member group, in which he thoroughly disagrees with Obama's demand that Israel halt all construction of Jewish housing in East Jerusalem. Solow was named chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations last December. Solow said he found "disturbing the objections raised to the proposed construction of residential units on property that was legally purchased and approved by the appropriate authorities." He also said, "In addition to the Jewish housing, the project called for apartment units for Arabs as well."

191-His numerous staged events. He has planted people in the audience at press conferences, speeches, and "townhall meetings". At one event, described as a "townhall meeting" about healthcare, 70% of the attendees were selected from people who applied online at an Obama website. The other 30% of the tickets were given to local Obama supporters. The event was so one-sided, that Obama had to ask the audience if anyone was opposed to his plan. When a woman got up to ask a question, she smiled and sighed: "He winked at me!" Even White House correspondents Helen Thomas and Chip Reid complained that Obama's staging of events was unprecedented. Thomas derided White House press secretary Robert Gibbs saying: "We have never had that in the White House. I’m amazed that you people... call for openness and transparency."

192-His deliberate spreading of misleading information about health care reform, saying such things as: his goal is not a single-payer system, that you can keep your private insurance if you like it, that health care will not be rationed, that health care will be better, that AARP endorses his plan, that private insurance companies can compete with the government, and that it will not add to the deficit.

193-His health care reform bill in the House, which prevents private insurance companies from writing new policies after the year in which the legislation is signed into law, forces people into the public option if they lose their jobs, forces people into the public option if their private insurance plan changes ANY benefit whatsoever, fines people who do not have a "qualified" plan, fines employers who do not provide a "qualified" plan, fines doctors if they re-admit people into the hospital shortly after they have been released from the hospital, discourages new investment in hospitals, discourages use of specialists in favor of general practitioners, mandates end-of-life counseling that includes options for assisted suicide via starvation or dehydration, imposes a care analysis ratio that compares cost of the service to the expected length of the benefit (read: life expectancy), expands enrollment in Medicaid (ie, low-cost, low-quality treatment), creates a government position to establish standards of health care, and more.

194-His top medical adviser, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel’s brother), who has called for denying treatment to senior citizens outright. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel believes that health care should be denied to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens." His vision of health care reform empowers federal government to determine a citizen's worth to society.

195-His claim to want energy independence while doing nothing to encourage development of domestic energy supples such as coal, oil or natural gas, which we have in abundance. He has also done nothing to encourage the use of clean nuclear power. Instead, he has pushed for renewable energy sources that are low-yield, expensive, intermittent, unreliable and consume large land areas.

196-His determination to leave Iraq according to a fixed schedule, and his refusal to stay in or return to Iraq, even should the Iraqi government request it. His attitude sends a strong signal that the U.S. will not be a good ally in the future to a democratic Iraq. It appears that he intends to squander whatever relationship we have developed with Iraq, squander the money and lives we have invested there, leave Iraq to fend for itself, fail to support a fledgling democracy, and send a message to future potential allies that the United States CANNOT be trusted.

197-His "cash for clunkers" program which ran out money after only one week in operation. One dealership sold a 100 cars in that first week, which represents a federal outlay of $450,000 to that one dealership alone. If this is how Obama intends to run health care, the country is in trouble. Aside from that, the program discriminates against those people who have already purchased fuel-efficient cars. For example, a 2-year old Hummer that gets 12 mpg would qualify for the program, while my 1993 Nissan that gets 34 mpg does not qualify. This is another example of Obama's policies that reward bad behavior and penalize good behavior. In addition, the used cars which are turned in to the dealers must be destroyed, which has hurt charitable organizations that accept used cars as donations, and reduced the availability of used cars for resale. The federal government could have even sold those used cars to developing nations to help offset the cost of the program, rather than destroying them.

198-His claim that he is not a big-government guy. He said he's "amused" by charges that he wants to grow government. "I want to disabuse people of this notion that somehow we enjoy meddling in the private sector," Obama said. However, everything that Obama has done since he's been in office has tended to increase the size and scope of the government, and his policies and legislation have been increasingly intrusive into the lives of Americans.

199-His claim that he is not a socialist. When asked outright by a New York Times reporter if was a socialist, Obama dismissed the question apparently having been caught by surprise. Shortly afterward, he told reporters aboard Air Force One that: "It was hard for me to believe that you were entirely serious about that socialist question." But in fact, Obama was formerly a card-carrying member of the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) which is the largest socialist organization in the U.S., and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International. Since taking office, his policies and legislation have been viewed by many as taking America on a path towards socialism.

200-His community organizing skills, which have served only to organize his opposition as evidenced by the Tea Parties and the August recess townhall meetings. He has unified conservatives far better than he could have ever imagined, and far better than his own political base. While the Democrats appear to be in disarray, and liberals scold Obama for not being liberal enough, Congressional Republicans have come together to oppose his legislation, and average citizens who would rarely consider joining a protest movement have come out in droves.

August 07, 2009

Stimulus Spending And Job Growth: Update 2

You might remember that I wrote an article in June called "Stimulus Spending And Job Growth". In the article, I pointed out that Barack Obama said his stimulus package would create approximately 4 million new jobs over two years. As you can see from the following graph, the trend of job loss continues. I have revised June's job losses according to the latest published figures. The number of jobs lost for the month of July was 274,000 which means that Obama's goal of 4 million new jobs in 24 months keeps getting more difficult to attain...


Instead of the 166,667 jobs per month he originally needed to reach his target, he now needs to create 328,263 jobs per month -- in order to make up for the 2,237,000 jobs that have been lost since the stimulus bill was signed. Sorry Mr. Obama... I know it might be a challenge, but that's part of being President. Better get down to work if you want to achieve your goal. Maybe if you stopped running around the country campaigning for your next legislative fiasco, you could actually focus on DOING something.

August 03, 2009

Global Warming News - July 2009

Real News Stories To Share With Global-Warming Skeptics

Europe
In the UK, the Met Office was forced to revise it's summer forecast downward. In April, the Met Office predicted a "barbecue summer", but by the end of July it was saying that the cool and unsettled weather would continue well into August. The news raised questions about the Met Office's ability to make reliable seasonal forecasts.

However, the organization has defended its record, saying it stressed at the time of the forecast in April, that the odds of a scorching summer were about 65%. But it coined the phrase "barbecue summer" to help journalists' headlines, and this has come back to bite the organization because many people do not feel like they have been enjoying a "good" summer. During the last two years, the jet-stream got stuck above the UK -- and that locked in place a low-pressure system which in turn brought misery and rain. That happened again this July.

The following chart shows how various areas of the UK fared as regards to rain and sunshine in July, where 100% is average. Some areas of the UK received rain at levels 200-250% above normal. And in all but North Scotland sunshine was at below normal levels...


Sunshine & Rainfall in UK - July 2009.
(Click to enlarge).


United States
In late June, the Accuweather blog was suggesting that 2009 might be "a year without summer". They took a lot of grief over that statement, but on July 10th, the blog was reporting some similarities between July 2009 and July 1816 (the "year without summer"). In the AccuWeather Almanac, there are a handful of entries from the Summer of 1816, one of which says: "44 degrees at sunrise in Waltham, Massachusetts (west of Boston) on July 8th." On July 10th, 2009, it was 43 degrees at Taunton, MA, south of Boston.


Temp anomolies (departure from normal) - 1st week of July.

Portland Maine had its coolest July 7th ever. The temperature at the Portland jetport only reached 58 degrees. This set a record for the coldest high temperature ever recorded on July 7th. The old record was 59 degrees set in 1961. To put this in perspective, the normal low temperature for July 7th is 58 degrees. The low temperature was 55 degrees, which produced a range of only 3 degrees between the high and low temps. That was a record for the smallest daily range in temps on July 7th. The 3 degree daily temperature range also tied the record for the smallest daily temperature range for ANY day in July. The average temperature was 57 degrees, which tied 1961 as the coldest average temperature for July 7th. The high of 58 tied July 6th, 1956 as the second coldest high temp ever recorded in July at the Portland jetport.

Chicago had its coolest July 8th in 118 years. For the 12th time this summer (since June 1st), daytime highs failed to reach 70 degrees. Only one other year in the past half century has hosted so many sub-70 degree days up to this point in a summer season -- that was 1969, when 14 such days occurred. The paltry 65-degree high at O'Hare International Airport (18 degrees below normal) was the city's coolest July 8th high since a 61-degree high was set on that date in 1891!

On July 15th, Nick Dreyer who raises 145 acres of wheat on his family farm near Willow City, ND said his father (also a Willow City farmer) was complaining about the cool weather. "I think Al Gore and his group should be out here and tell us about this global warming stuff. I think he might have a change of mind. We've had a cool July," said Orlan Dreyer. July mornings aren't supposed to be 50ºF, but those were the temperatures they were seeing -- temperatures well below normal.

On July 17th, Chicago's temperature only reached 70ºF. It was the first time in 53 years that the temperature had not broken that mark on July 17th. July's average temperature of 68.7ºF for the first 17 days of the month were the coolest in 42 years, and nearly 5 degrees below the 138 year average. Only one July 17th was cooler with a reading of 64ºF 85 years ago.


Low temp records - July 15-22.
(Click to enlarge).

On the same day, with a high of 86ºF, New York City broke its record streak of 46 consecutive days without reaching 85ºF since June 1st. The last time the temperature failed to hit 85ºF in New York during June was in 1916.

On July 18th, the Park Rapids Enterprise in Minnesota was talking about how Hubbard County and the surrounding regions were gripped in an unusually cold pattern, where a strong, persistent low pressure system that parked itself over Ontario had been around since late spring. The result was that people were wearing "sweaters in summer" and "jackets in July".

Nashville Tennessee, home of Al Gore, recorded its coolest July 21st ever with 58ºF, breaking a record set in 1877 when Rutherford B. Hayes was president.

On July 23rd, Rich Apuzzo, Chief Meteorologist for Skyeye Weather said that Cincinnati Ohio would not see 90ºF once this July. Typically Cincinnati sees the temp about 8 times in July. Beyond that, the city hadn’t even reached a "normal" high during the month, and they were not expected to do so before the end of the month. Cincinnati had 5 days with October-type readings (highs in the 60s to low 70s), and there were 3 days with record cold high temps.

On July 24th, the National Weather Service in New York City described it as an "unusually cool July for Central Park". With an average daily temperature of 71.6ºF (4.7 degrees below normal), July was on track to be the second coolest on record. Below average temps occurred on 21 out of 23 days, with the other 2 days being exactly normal. No above average temps had been experienced, and it had not yet reached 90ºF so far this summer.

By July 25th, the Accuweather blog was reporting that already for July, over 3,000 low temp records had been set. There were 1,165 new record low temps, and 600 previous low temp records had been tied. There were also 1,951 new record low high temps, and 634 previous record low high temps had been tied. Thus, there were 3,116 new records, or 4,350 new and tied records.

Aside from the record lows, the average July temperature was well below normal in many parts of the country. Only Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico were reporting above average temps as of July 25th. The following image shows how temps departed from normal for this particular portion of the country. Notice that all of the readings are negative...


Departures from average July temp.
(Click to enlarge).

On July 28th, CBS2 said Chicago was experiencing its coolest July in 67 years. The National Weather Service said 2009 has seen the coldest July since the official recording station was moved away from the lakefront in 1942. Chicago's average temperature in July was a mere 68.9 degrees. Even in the years before 1942, when the National Weather Service recorded temperatures at the cooler lakefront, there were only three years that had colder Julys through the 26th. In 2009, there were 13 days where the temperature did not exceed 80 degrees. Only three Julys in the past 67 years have had more days with highs less than 80. Chicago also failed to reach 90 degrees at any time during the month.

On July 31st, the New York Times reported that this summer has been "conspicuously different" in New York City. There was not one 99-degree day in Central Park. Not one single day that the temperature "even approached 90". For just the second time in 140 years of record keeping, the temperature failed to reach 90 in either June or July. The temperature DID break 80 degrees on 16 days in New York, but that was just one more day than in Fairbanks, Alaska. Depending on July 31st's high temp, this was either the second or third coolest June and July ever recorded in New York. If August follows the same pattern -- and the latest forecast through midmonth predicts that it will -- this could be the coolest New York summer on record.


Lonely July at Orchard Beach, Bronx NY.


Canada
On July 8th, temperatures dropped to a record low in Prince Edward Island, with reports of frost throughout the province. An official record low of 3.8ºC was set early in the morning at Charlottetown airport. The previous record for that date was 5.1ºC, set in 2005. Bob Robichaud, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said that to his knowledge, frost has NEVER been reported before in July in P.E.I. [emphasis added]. "That 3.8º we got last night kind of sticks out as being lower than some of the other records for anytime in early July," Robichaud told CBC News. "So we're looking at a significant event," he said. Environment Canada issued a frost risk warning in low-lying areas of the province for the following night as well. The temperature was expected to dip to 4ºC.

On July 18th, Carol Martin in Johnson Township Ontario, said she spoke with Tammy McKellar, a conservation officer based out of Sault Ste. Marie. McKellar said she didn't believe there were more bears this year, despite an increased number of sightings. Rather, the bears were hungrier than they have been in past years. "Just last week, I had to sedate and move one and he was really skinny," said McKellar, "They're waiting for the berries." Unseasonably cold temperatures were delaying the berries and seeds that the bears would normally be feeding on.

In southwest Ontario, tourism was being affected by the low temps in Lake Huron. "There's hardly anyone here, most days," said Michael Raiger, a lifeguard at Canatara Beach. "People just aren't going in the water; and if they do, they're not in there for long." Environment Canada pegged southern Lake Huron at a cool 64 degrees. Last year, the temperature was nearly 72 degrees at the same time. "We stay out of the water, too, for the most part," said Raiger, noting that veteran lifeguards are saying they've never seen anything like it. "It's just so cold." And there's no doubt that the cold lake temperatures were impacting tourism. "It's certainly slowing things down," said John Dickson, executive director and general manager for Tourism Sarnia-Lambton. "The numbers are down about 10 per cent in most beach areas, mostly because of the climate.”


South America
On July 22nd, a "major and historic winter storm" hit Argentina according to Alexandre Aguiar of the MetSul Weather Center. Snow was falling in many parts of the country and in many areas not used to winter precipitation. Local news reports indicated snow had been observed in the provinces of Mendoza, San Luis, San Juan, Cordoba, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. In Bahia Blanca, a coastal city in the Southern part of the Buenos Aires province, the snow storm was heavy and local authorities described it as the worst snow event in 50 years. Roads were blocked by snow and ice in the region. Forecasts for some areas of the Sierra de La Ventana were for up to 3 feet of snow, unimaginable in that region.


Snow in Argentina - July 22

On July 27th, Russia's RIA Novosti was reporting that a 'Polar Frost' had resulted in the deaths of 40 Argentinians. The severe cold weather that gripped central and southern Argentina for two weeks were blamed for the deaths. A wave of cold air that swept in caused "a sensational drop in the temperature to minus 16º Celsius." The average winter temperature in Argentina is about 10º Celsius, ranging from 20ºC in the north to 1ºC in the south. Compounding the cold, several southern regions saw heavy snowfalls, including in the south of Buenos Aires province, where there was 40 centimeters of snow for the first time in 50 years. Most of the deaths were the result of hypothermia or improper use of heating devices, which either caused fires or carbon monoxide poisoning.


The Arctic
On July 2nd, Anthony Watts posted an article at his Watts Up With That? blog, saying that the temperature in the Arctic above the 80º North parallel had yet to go above the freezing mark. Interestingly enough, the temperature approached 0ºC and then flat-lined. In the following chart, you can see the daily mean temperatures for the period 1958-2002 in this region (plotted in green). This year's temps are plotted in red.


Arctic Temps - July 2.

The temperature did in fact rise above the freezing mark shortly after the article was written, but it should be noted that June 25th was the latest date in 50 years of record keeping that the temperature had failed to rise above 0ºC. You can read the whole article HERE.

On July 23rd, Tom Nelson posted an article at his blog about global warming alarmists from the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) who went to the Arctic in midsummer and were apparently surprised to find that: 1) it was "very very cold" there, and 2) the animals hadn't become extinct yet...

It is getting colder, and the long johns are on all the time. A cold northerly [wind] cuts through all our clothing. We are heading south to get away from the bad weather which is forecasted... The wind is now really strong, storm and the water temperature is now the unbelievable minus 1.4 degrees. Not my cup of tea for a swim. It is very very cold and we do not go outside voluntarily... Incredible: in only a few hours – three polar bears, the largest landliving predator, have been in sight... Walrus galore. Today we have been lucky to see some walrus ashore but also on a small ice floe. The Atlantic walrus was heavily hunted for several hundred years before it was protected. Today, they are slowly coming back in numbers, especially in Svalbard... Here on Svalbard the Arctic fox is doing fine, while in Scandinavia the population is very low -- on the brink of becoming extinct.

--Alarmists Visit The Arctic: Why Is It Still So Cold?, 23 July 2009


Scientific Opinion

U.S. Warming = Data Adjustment: In late June, Michael Hammer posted an article at the Jennifer Marohasy blog, in which he suggests that nearly all of the claimed warming in the U.S. over the last century can be attributed to manipulation of the data by NOAA...

A reader of this blog, Michael Hammer, recently studied the official data from the US official weather stations and in particular how it is adjusted after it has been collected. Mr Hammer concludes that the temperature rise profile claimed by the US government is largely if not entirely an artefact of the adjustments applied after the raw data is collected from the weather stations.

--Jennifer Marohasy, How the US Temperature Record is Adjusted, 27 June 2009

Mr. Hammer points out that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collects, analyzes and publishes temperature data for the United States. As part of the analysis process, NOAA applies several adjustments to the raw data. The following chart from NOAA shows the various adjustments that are made and how they impact the temperature record over time.


NOAA adjustments to US temp record.
(Click to enlarge)

Note that all but one of the adjustments trends upwards from nearly a zero adjustment at the beginning of the century to a rather large upward adjustment at the end of the century. The one adjustment here which reduces temperature is a factor which is supposed to account for the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Interestingly enough, Hammer says that "the latest indications are that even this minimal UHI adjustment has now been removed in the latest round of revisions to the historical record." The net result then, is that all of NOAA's adjustments are upward in nature and have a compounding effect. The following chart shows the total upward bias of their adjustments...


NOAA net temp adjustment.
(Click to enlarge)

These adjustments to the U.S. temperature record, as you might imagine, have an impact on the global temperature record. The following chart shows the global temperature anomaly (departure from normal) which bears a striking resemblance to NOAA's net adjustments to the U.S. temperature record...


Global temperature anomaly.
(Click to enlarge)

All of this begs the question of course: What does the raw data look like? Well, the following chart shows the raw temperature data versus time with 5 point smoothing to reduce "noise". The vertical axis is in degrees Fahrenheit. The red line is a linear trend line. The green line is a 2nd order (parabolic) trend line...


US temperature anomaly - raw data.
(Click to enlarge)

Clearly the shape of this graph bears no similarity at all to the [previous] graph... The graph does not even remotely correlate to the shape of the CO2 versus time graph. The warming was greatest in the 1930’s before CO2 started to rise rapidly. The rate of rise in 1920, the early 1930’s and the early 1950’s is significantly greater than anything in the last 30 years. Despite the rapid rise in CO2 since 1960, the 1970’s to early 1980’s was the time of the global cooling scare and looking at [this] graph... one can see why [there was a cooling scare] (almost 2F cooling over 50 years).

--Michael Hammer, How the US Temperature Record is Adjusted, 27 June 2009

You can read the whole article HERE.


Sea Level Rise - A Non-Existent Threat: Dr. Timothy F. Ball, a renowned environmental consultant and former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg, wrote an article for the Canada Free Press, in which he ridicules the threat of disastrous sea level rise predicted by alarmists...

Threat of rising sea level is a major weapon used to force unnecessary action for yet another non-existent problem. For years I’ve asked, "What's wrong with having global warming?" It's a question that flummoxes people swamped by nothing but disaster predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and mainstream media television... After some thought most people say their concern is sea level rise. What they don't know is that, like CO2 induced warming, it is another falsely presented threat.

--Dr. Timothy Ball, Sea Level Rise; A Major Non-existent Threat Exploited by Alarmists, 6 July 2009

Dr. Ball first points to a UK court that ruled (a week before Al Gore received the Nobel Prize) that there were nine scientific errors in Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", and that some of these were done to enhance "the context of alarmism and exaggeration". First was Al Gore's wild claim of sea level rises up to 20 feet "in the near future". A second claim was that low-lying inhabited Pacific islands were "being inundated because of anthropogenic global warming" and evacuations were occurring. The UK Court said there was no evidence of any such evacuations.

Gore exaggerates future levels well beyond his fellow Nobel Prize winners at the IPCC. And that is surprising considering few of them know what they are doing. As world sea level expert and twice an IPCC member Nils-Axel Morner noted of the 2001 report, "First of all, it had 22 authors, but none of them -- none -- were sea-level specialists"...

--Dr. Timothy Ball, Sea Level Rise; A Major Non-existent Threat Exploited by Alarmists, 6 July 2009

Actually, the IPCC is predicting sea level rises of only 2 feet, "far from Gore’s ridiculous 20 feet... also far from what other experts are saying." The article goes on to talk about how sea levels have been rising since the last Ice Age; how sea levels rose relatively quickly beginning about 15,000 years ago; and how sea level rises have actually flattened out since about 8,000 years ago...


Sea Level Rise (Click to enlarge).

Nils-Axel Morner is better qualified to speak about sea level than most, and certainly Al Gore. In an interview Morner said, "If you go around the globe, you find no rise anywhere. But they need the rise, because if there is no rise, there is no death threat..."

--Dr. Timothy Ball, Sea Level Rise; A Major Non-existent Threat Exploited by Alarmists, 6 July 2009

You can read the whole article HERE.


Sea Level Rise Slowdown: As if to underscore Dr. Ball's article, the World Climate Report blog posted an article on July 21st saying that the evidence suggests the rate of sea level rise around the world is slowing down, and "will not come anywhere close to the extreme projections (10-20 feet) hawked by [NASA's James] Hansen."

In 2007, Simon Holgate of the UK's Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory produced a history of global sea levels rise from 1904 to 2003 based upon a set of reliable, long-term observations from 9 tide gauge stations scattered around the world. The overall average rate of sea level rise in Holgate’s study period was found to be 1.74 ± 0.16 mm/yr (about 0.07 in/yr, or 7 inches per century). In addition, he made two other notable findings, 1) the rate of sea level rise was, on average, greater in the first half of his record than the second, and 2) that there is a large degree of decadal variability in the rate of sea level rise. [The following chart] illustrates the latter of these findings... Notice that the decadal rate of sea level rise fluctuates semi-regularly from rates exceeding 4 mm/yr to rates that are sometimes even less than zero (i.e. falling sea levels).


Oscillation of sea level rises.
(Click to enlarge)

You can read the whole article HERE.


Globe Cooling at 1.45ºC Per Century: Physicist and Mathematician Luboš Motl of the Czech Republic, points out at his Reference Frame blog, that for the first 8.5 years (or 102 months) of this century, linear regression shows a global temperature trend of -1.45ºC per century (i.e., global cooling).


Cooling temps: Jan 2001-June 2009.

You can read the whole article HERE.


New Study Critical of Climate Models: A new study which appeared in the journal Nature Geoscience found that current climate models cannot explain a period of rapid global warming in Earth's ancient past. The study analyzed previously published records of a climate period about 55 million years ago called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).

"In a nutshell, theoretical models cannot explain what we observe in the geological record," said oceanographer Gerald Dickens, a co-author of the study and professor of Earth science at Rice University. "There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way temperature and carbon are linked in climate models."

--Jade Boyd, Global warming: Our Best Guess Is Likely Wrong, 14 July 2009

You can read the whole article HERE.


Sahara Desert Shrinking: According to a BBC article, "recent satellite pictures of North Africa seem to show areas of the Sahara in retreat." In addition, "satellite images from the last 15 years do seem to show a recovery of vegetation in the Southern Sahara, although the Sahel Belt, the semi-arid tropical savannah to the south of the desert, remains fragile." So then, the Sahara desert is retreating in the north and in the south.

It has been assumed that global warming would cause an expansion of the world's deserts, but now some scientists are predicting a contrary scenario in which water and life slowly reclaim these arid places... It could be that an increase in rainfall has caused this effect. Farouk el-Baz, director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University, believes the Sahara is experiencing a shift from dryer to wetter conditions... The heating of the Earth would result in more evaporation of the oceans, in turn resulting in more rainfall.

--Ayisha Yahya, Are The Deserts Getting Greener?, 16 July 2009

You can read the whole article HERE.


Ocean Temps Not Rising: On July 21st, Dr. David Evans published a paper for the Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI) in which he debunks the claims of alarmists that ocean temperatures are rising. Evans is a mathematician and engineer, with six university degrees including a PhD from Stanford University in electrical engineering. He worked for the Australian Greenhouse Office (now the Department of Climate Change) from 1999 to 2005, building FullCAM, a leading carbon accounting model that estimates carbon in plants, debris, mulch, soils, and forestry and agricultural products. Dr. Evans gradually changed from alarmist to skeptic as the evidence for CO2-driven global warming diminished.

Short-term trends contradict the alarmist claims. Our best data, from satellites and Argo, shows that the air and oceans have not warmed for at least five years. The world is now cooling slightly, so there is no heat accumulating... Long-term trends contradict the alarmist claims. The world has been recovering from the Little Ice Age, warming at a steady trend rate since 1750 with alternate warming and cooling oscillations of about 30 years. The pattern suggests we have just finished the last warming, and have entered a cooling period until about 2030... The latest alarmist claims are a bluff. The alarmist claims only appear credible if trends shorter than 10 years or longer than 50 years are ignored.

--Dr. David Evans, Ocean Temperatures: The New Bluff In Climate Alarmism, 21 July 2009

You can read the whole report (PDF) HERE.


Another New Study: Another new study has just come out which challenges man-made global warming. The peer-reviewed study, prepared by climate scientist Chris de Freitas of New Zealand’s Auckland University and Australian scientists John McLean and Bob Carter. The paper was published on July 23rd, following a six-month peer review process, in the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research. According to the study, virtually all of the changes in global temperatures in the late 20th century can be attributed to nature rather than human activity. At least 80 percent of climate variability tracked over the past half a century can be attributed to internal climate-system factors including the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Pacific warming phenomenon and its cooling twin, La Nina.

You can read the whole article HERE.


Astronauts Defy Gore: NASA astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin, who was the second person to walk on the moon, rejects global warming fears and says "climate has been changing for billions of years", according to Marc Morano at Climate Depot. Dr. Aldrin -- who earned a Doctorate of Science in Astronautics at MIT -- declared he was skeptical of man-made climate fears in a July 3rd, 2009 UK Telegraph interview.

"If it's warming now, it may cool off later. I'm not in favor of just taking short-term isolated situations and depleting our resources to keep our climate just the way it is today," Aldrin explained. Aldrin has received three U.S. patents for his schematics of a modular space station, Starbooster reusable rockets, and multi-crew modules for space flight." Aldrin was also decorated with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American peacetime award and he has received numerous distinguished awards and medals from 23 other countries.

Aldrin joins astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, the 12th person to walk on the moon during the Apollo 17 mission, in declaring skepticism of man-made global warming. "The 'global warming scare' is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision making. It has no place in the Society's activities," Schmitt said in 2008. The Society to which Schmitt refers is the Planetary Society, an international non-profit organization devoted to inspiring "the people of Earth to explore other worlds, understand our own, and seek life elsewhere." Schmitt, who earned a PhD from Harvard in geology, resigned in November 2008 from the Planetary Society.

You can read the whole article HERE.


Climate Revolt At ACS: Skeptical scientists who are members of the American Chemical Society (ACS) are revolting against the editor-in-chief of the group's magazine -- with some demanding he be removed -- after an editorial appeared claiming "the science of anthropogenic climate change is becoming increasingly well established." The June 22nd, 2009 editorial in Chemical and Engineering News by editor-in-chief Rudy Baum, is facing widespread blowback and condemnation from American Chemical Society members. Baum concluded his editorial by stating that "deniers" are attempting to "derail meaningful efforts to respond to global climate change."

Dozens of letters from ACS members were published on July 27th, 2009 castigating Baum, with some scientists calling for his replacement as editor-in-chief. Virtually all of the letters published on July 27th derided Baum's climate science views. Scientists rebuked Baum's use of the word "deniers" because of the term's "association with Holocaust deniers." In addition, the scientists called Baum's editorial: "disgusting"; "a disgrace"; "filled with misinformation"; "unworthy of a scientific periodical" and "pap."

Baum wrote on July 27th, that he was "startled" and "surprised" by the "contempt" and "vehemence" of the ACS scientists to his view of the global warming "consensus". "Some of the letters I received are not fit to print. Many of the letters we have printed are, I think it is fair to say, outraged by my position on global warming," Baum wrote.

The American Chemical Society's scientific revolt is the latest in a series of recent eruptions against the so-called “consensus" on man-made global warming. On May 1st 2009, the American Physical Society (APS) Council decided to review its current climate statement via a high-level subcommittee of respected senior scientists. The decision was prompted after a group of 54 prominent physicists petitioned the APS to revise its global warming position. The 54 physicists wrote to APS governing board: "Measured or reconstructed temperature records indicate that 20th - 21st century changes are neither exceptional nor persistent, and the historical and geological records show many periods warmer than today."

You can read the whole article HERE.


ACS Member Accuses Editor Of Censorship: On July 31st, in a follow-up article to the one referred to above, Marc Morano at Climate Depot published an e-mail from longtime American Chemical Society (ACS) member and Environmental Chemist, Steven J. Welcenbach, who accused Rudy Baum -- editor-in-chief of the of the group's magazine Chemical and Engineering News (C&E News) -- of censoring articles and letters that are skeptical of man-made global warming...

Hello Marc [Morano],

Thank you for getting the word out with what is going on in [the] American Chemical Society (ACS). A vast number of members are very upset with the lack of complete and balanced coverage of the AGW issue and the continued censoring of articles and letters by Rudy Baum that do not support the theory of catastrophic global warming caused by CO2 emissions from man's use of petroleum and coal. Many of the members I have spoken with have not only expressed their disgust but either have left ACS or are contemplating leaving the group. Lots of us, however, have decided that we should take action to return the group back to the scientific method and the initial purpose for which this group was formed and why we joined.

--Steven J. Welcenbach, Scientist Accuses American Chemical Society Editor of 'Censoring', 31 July 2009

You can read the whole article HERE.


Global Warming Helped Incas: At least that's what British archaeologists reported on July 27th. In their opinion, a 400-year warm spell in South America fueled the Incas' rise, helping them build the largest empire that ever ruled the continent. A several-degree increase in temperature allowed the Incas to move higher into the Andes mountains, opening up new farmland and providing a water source through the gradual melting of glaciers at the top of those mountains, paleoecologist Alex Chepstow-Lusty of the French Institute of Andean Studies in Lima reported.

You can read the whole article HERE. Or, you can read scientific paper (PDF) HERE.


Political Opinion

Changing Lingo: First it was "Global Warming", then it was "Climate Change", then it was "Climate Crisis", and now someone is suggesting to call it "the deteriorating atmosphere". Jonathan Hiskes at the 'Grist' says that a non-profit PR firm called "ecoAmerica" finally released the findings of its public opinion research about climate change and energy in June.

The firm conducted research in February through March -- focus groups, a phone survey, an online survey -- all focused on finding better talking points for wooing folks who are undecided about the whole global warming/clean energy/green jobs issue. A summary of the report was accidentally sent to a number of media outlets after a White House briefing from ecoAmerica in April, which led to a not-very-flattering story in the New York Times. It's true that the report wholeheartedly embraces a public-relations way of looking at things...

Remember to speak in aspirational language about shared American ideals, like freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, economics or technology.

In other words, obfuscate. If you want to sell global warming, or Cap-and-Tax, or energy efficiency, then you can't talk about those things. You have to pretend they are something else: something that sounds warm and fuzzy. The following are some of the recommendations in the report...

  • Ditch "global warming." It makes people think of Al Gore more than anything else, too polarizing. "Climate change" is almost as bad. "Our deteriorating atmosphere” is the term soccer moms and other "environmental agnostics" respond to best.
  • Likewise, people don't want to hear about "cap-and-trade." Too wonky. When you're talking about cap-and-trade, call it "Clean Energy Dividend" or "Clean Energy Cash Back."
  • Even "renewable" and "alternative" energy are too vague. Instead, talk about energy sources that run out and ones that don't run out. Or energy sources you have to burn and ones you don't have to burn.
  • Talk about values, not facts. [Yeah, those facts can be pesky things.]
  • Multiple values tend to be stronger than just invoking a single value. Bring prosperity, national security, and personal health into your argument.
  • Finally, it would be a travesty to let the Right own "comprehensive energy solutions". Show why your side, not theirs, is the true “all-of-the-above” option. [Yeah, steal the opposition's ideas and call them your own.]

But as the author's article says, "the report doesn't seem to acknowledge that most people have bull**** detectors that kick in at some point."

You can read the whole article HERE.


UK Sets Up "Green" Police: According to the Times Online (UK), the UK's Environment Agency is setting up a squad of about (50) auditors and inspectors to police companies generating excessive CO2 emissions. The "Green Police" will have warrants to search company premises and will enforce the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), which comes into effect next year.

Decked out in green jackets, the enforcers will be able to demand access to company property, view power meters, call up electricity and gas bills and examine carbon-trading records for an estimated 6,000 British businesses. Ed Mitchell, head of business performance and regulation at the Environment Agency, said the squad would help to bring emissions under control. "Climate change and CO2 are the world's biggest issues right now. The Carbon Reduction Commitment is one of the ways in which Britain is responding."

--Jonathan Leake, Environment Agency Sets Up Green Police, 4 July 2009

The "Green Police" will also be able to obtain energy bills from utilities without the companies under investigation knowing about it. And they will publish an annual table ranking companies by their performance in cutting CO2 emissions. Aside from the privacy issues, the potential for corruption here is overwhelming. Consider for a moment what might happen if an inspector has an "axe to grind" against a particular company that he or she is auditing. What about the greedy inspector that looks to take a bribe, threatening to lower a company's annual ranking unless they pay up? This is a frightening example of George Orwell's 'Big Brother' come to fruition.

But Jonathan Leake, the article's author and Environment Editor for the Times, apparently seems to have no problem with this scenario. For Leake, this is a great step forward "in the battle against climate change", and supports "the need to have new categories of taxes and criminal offences for CO2 emissions"...

The formation of the green police overcomes a psychological hurdle in the battle against climate change. Ministers have long recognised the need to have new categories of taxes and criminal offences for CO2 emissions, but fear a repetition of the fuel tax protests in 2000 when lorry drivers blockaded refineries.

--Jonathan Leake, Environment Agency Sets Up Green Police, 4 July 2009

They should fear protests indeed. If this scenario plays out in Britain without any protests, I would be surprised. Brace yourselves, for this is a scenario which will likely make its way to America. This is the direction the "Green Socialists" want to take the United States. Perhaps the WWII German Schutzpolizei can provide the insignias.

You can read the whole article HERE.


G8 Pledges to Cut Global Warming: The United States and seven other of the world's top economic powers met in L'Aquila, Italy on Wednesday July 8th. The Group of Eight industrial democracies (G8) agreed to a statement setting the goal of holding global warming to an increase of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2020, as measured since the dawn of the industrial age in 1900. Unfortunately, the G8 hedged on details of a timetable and expected to fail to get developing nations such as China and India to go along.

They also reaffirmed a pledge to cut emissions of greenhouse gases -- by 50% worldwide and by 80% among industrialized nations -- by 2050. However, they didn't adopt any specific emission cuts by 2020, a top goal of environmentalists. Environmentalists called the meeting and the resulting statement a disappointment that fell short of what's needed.

Speaking frankly, it seems rather arrogant to me that (8) world leaders can meet and decide: 1) that they can control climate, 2) that they can decide what global temperatures ought to be, 3) that they can do this by cutting CO2 emissions, 4) that they can do this without China and India participating in CO2 emission cuts, 5) that they can do this without a plan, 6) that they can do this without an intermediate timetable, and 7) that doing it will not have unintended consequences. Perhaps that is why they were seen laughing at the meeting -- because it's all a big joke...


G8 leaders joke about... global warming targets?


Byrd Blasts ‘Cap and Trade’: On the same day, according to a story in the Wheeling News-Register (West Virginia), senior W.Va. Senator Robert Byrd stands firmly behind coal, and is opposing "cap and trade" legislation pushed by the Obama administration.

The 91-year-old Byrd, (D-WV), was released from an unidentified Washington, D.C. hospital in early July after a month-long stay for a staph infection. He expects to return to the chamber before the Senate begins debate on "cap and trade" - which is tentatively set for this fall, according to Byrd's office.

"I cannot support the House bill in its present form," Byrd said in a statement. "I continue to believe that clean coal can be a 'green' energy. Those of us who understand coal's great potential in our quest for energy independence must continue to work diligently in shaping a climate bill that will ensure access to affordable energy for West Virginians. I remain bullish about the future of coal, and am so very proud of the miners who labor and toil in the coalfields of West Virginia."


West Virginia protest against Cap-and-Trade.

You can read the whole article HERE.


Senators Attack Carbon Tax On Imports: Also on July 8th, the Financial Times (UK) was reporting that senior Democratic senators were vowing to change a provision in the House Cap-and-Trade bill that could "spark a global trade war". The provision in question would impose carbon taxes on imports into the US, and was "aimed at protecting American companies' competitiveness against imports from countries without equivalent carbon emission controls".

But Senator John Kerry, who is helping to write the senate's version of the bill, said in a hearing on the issue: "We have already come to the conclusion in working on the Senate bill that we're going to try and change that provision... we haven't landed yet completely on where we come out". Max Baucus, the Democrat senator who chairs the Senate finance committee, said any provisions that "provoke retaliation from our trading partners will only hurt the same industries we're trying to help", adding that he was "confident we can craft legislation that strikes the right balance".

You can read the whole article HERE.


Germany Blasts Carbon Tariffs: Apparently Germany had the same idea when it called a French idea to slap "carbon tariffs" on products from countries that are not trying to cut greenhouse gases a form of "eco-imperialism" and a direct violation of WTO rules. Matthias Machnig, Germany's State Secretary for the Environment, told a news briefing on Friday that a French push for Europe to impose carbon tariffs on imports from countries that flout rules on carbon emissions would send the wrong signal to the international community. "There are two problems -- the WTO (World Trade Organization), and the signal would be that this is a new form of eco-imperialism," Machnig said. "We are closing our markets for their products, and I don't think this is a very helpful signal for the international negotiations."

You can read the whole article HERE.


Climate Bill Will Bring Global Governance: Marc Morano at Climate Depot reported that on July 7th, former Vice President Al Gore said that the Waxman-Markey climate bill will help bring about "global governance".

"I bring you good news from the U.S.", Gore said in Oxford at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, sponsored by the Times (UK). "Just two weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey climate bill," Gore said, noting it was "very much a step in the right direction." Gore said the climate bill "will dramatically increase the prospects for success" in combating the "crisis" of man-made global warming.

"But it is the awareness itself that will drive the change, and one of the ways it will drive the change is through global governance and global agreements" [emphasis added]. You can watch a video of Gore's speech at the Times Online HERE. Gore makes the "global governance" comment at approximately 1min.-10sec. into the video.

For those of us who have been saying all along that global warming is merely a political scam by socialists to introduce global governance and redistribute wealth, none other than Al Gore himself has validated our claims. With indisputable language, Gore has betrayed the agenda of the "Green Left". It's not about saving the environment... it's about political control. That's why Al Gore is such a hypocrite when it comes to his own "carbon footprint". He knows that it makes little difference how much electricity or jet fuel he uses, because there is no real "crisis". It is all a scam, and he's looking to make a profit on it to boot.


Boxer Faces Challenge On Climate Bill: According to Rob Hotakainen at McClatchy Newspapers, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) says that if the Senate doesn't pass a bill to cut global warming, there will be dire results: droughts, floods, fires, loss of species, damage to agriculture, worsening air pollution and more. She says there is a huge upside however, if the Senate does act: millions of clean-energy jobs, reduced reliance on foreign oil and less pollution for the nation's children.

Who do these people think they're kidding? "Just do what we say and all will be right with the world". Yeah, sure.

You can read the whole article HERE.


Enviros, Progressives Worried: On July 16th, the left-wing Climate Progress web site issued a "memo" to envrionmentalists and progressives saying opponents of the climate bill "are 'full of passionate intensity' — and eating our lunch." According to the article, "many U.S. Senators are now getting 100 to 200 calls a day opposing a climate and clean energy bill — and bupkes in favor."

You can read the whole article HERE.


Global Warming Is A Superstition: On July 28th, Don Blankenship wrote an excellent article at American Thinker. He says that while some claim that global warming is a reality and others claim it is a religion, really it is neither...

But say what they will, "global warming" is neither a reality nor a religion. It is instead a "superstition." A reality is something that actually exists. Global warming has not existed for at least 7 years. Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's internal memos say it does not exist, and so do increasing numbers of noted scientists. A religion is a belief in a supernatural being, a system of faith or worship. Obviously, global warming does not fit this definition.

A "superstition" is a fear founded on irrational feelings and marked by credulity -- i.e. a willingness to believe in the improbable or the marvelous. It should be easy for even members of our Congress to understand that no projection of future world temperatures is a scientific reality. Even they can't be that credulous... or can they?

What (other than extremely credulous) could you call a member of Congress who believes that by lowering the standard of living of 5% of the world's population (that includes you, me, and everyone else living in America) that the Congress -- by passing a law -- can reduce the temperature of the earth or lower sea levels? Simple common sense, not conflicted science is required to know better.

Only superstitious, credulous, and pompous politicians would even consider voting for such a bill... sight unseen! You would have to first be irrational and have unfounded fears of something that doesn't exist; you would then have to be prone to believe in the highly improbable -- and then vain enough to believe you can change the climate system of the earth, even while most of the rest of the world is fully enjoying the benefits of carbon use.

--Don Blankenship, In the Name of Global Warming, 28 July 2009

You can read the whole article HERE.