Global Warming, Climate Change, Eco-disaster…whatever you call it, it’s a hoax. The Global Warming Alarmists have fooled the media, but they have not fooled me. I don’t believe Human Released CO2 is a major contributor to temperature change on this planet.  However, those with big egos are convinced that we evil humans, with our electricity, and horseless carriages, and domesticated cow farts, are irreversably changing our planet forever.  I don’t have a problem with this….I have MANY problems with this.

My argument against Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is filled with common sense issues that any non-scientist should be able to understand.  I understand that it’s too much for a politician to follow, but anyone else with a 5th grade education should get it.

1. The Climate has always “changed”. Never in recorded history has the climate remained constant.  30-40 years ago, some scientists were concerned about Global Cooling, the last few decades have seen that change to Global Warming…and now that it’s been cooling againg for 10 years, it’s Climate Change.  Fancy how they keep moving the target.  They’ve finally hit it on the head.  The climate will ALWAYS change, regardless if we act or not.  Again egos….how can one believe we can put a thermostat on our atmosphere when we can’t control the smallest of mother nature’s forces. Can anyone make a thunderstorm?  How about a rainstorm for droughts, or a dry spell for flooded regions.  Can anyone change direction of a tornado, or a hurricane?  Can you make it snow (And I don’t mean the resorts’ snow machines), or make it stop snowing?  Can you create Arctic Ice or stop a volcano?  Can you explain ALL facets of our environement which you so confidently think we can control?  The answer to ALL of these questions is NO! Why on earth is it possible to control temperature through CO2 control alone.  It’s a ridiculous argument.
2. I don’t believe our temperature data is complete with all of the abnormalities in collecting the data. There are 1221 USHCN climate stations in the USA.  Anthony Watts created the project http://www.surfacestations.org to compile data on each of the weather stations throughout the US.  What he huas found is startling.  A HUGE number of these temperature devices have been placed in locations that could never give an accurate picture.  In Forest Grove, OR, you can see their weather station less than 10 ft from a building (that stores heat in it’s bricks, and releases it at night), it’s next to a window air conditioner unit that blows hot air on it all sunmmer long, and nearby parking lots that also store heat in the day and release at night.  Even more amazing are the examples when we have documented construction near a station.  Anthony DIRECTLY coorelates a new parking lot with temperature increase for that station.  BUT it’s being BLAMED on CO2!  The records are unreliable, and shouldn’t be trusted.
3. CO2 is their only enemy. Wonderful carbon dioxide gets the blame for all of it.  Without it, all animal and plant life would cease.  With it, we all flourish.  History shows CO2 levels lagging behind temperature rises (by about 800 YEARS!).  But now we’re told it’s the CO2 that drive the temperature.  That’s bass ackwards.  There must be something else at work.  I believe the Marxist, anti capitalist, environmental (anti-human) movement has found their golden goose egg.  By controlling all forms of CO2, they can control ALL industry, driving, even exhaling….and hasn’t that been their goal from the beginning?
4. Ice levels are at the same level as 30 years ago. Go back one year when the alarmists were saying the Arctic would be ice free in the summer of 2008.  Well, that didn’t happen (their scenarios never do), and instead the sea ice levels ROSE to 1979 levels when we started recording them!  Remember that the year of 2008 saw the Polar Bear put on the endangered species list due to the diminishing sea ice.  It’s back, so can we take them off the list?  OR, maybe we should put seals on the list since the bears can get to them easier now.  So, how did the alarmists get it wrong?  For one, they thought “new ice” would melt faster than old ice.  BUT, they neglected to consider the effect of snow cover on the ice.  Since the temperature dropped quickly at the end of 2008, the new ice formed much MORE new ice since it wasn’t insulated with snow.  Ice grew at the fastest rate EVER recorded. I guess NBC missed the scoop on that one.
   
5. Speaking of NBC…the media is clueless. Their main goal is to get/keep viewers.  They’ve found the formula for success is to scare the pants off of everyone.  That makes people pay attention and watch the news.  To promote the iceless summer, and the impact of global warming, NBC News highlighted the penguins at the North Pole.  There’s only one ENORMOUS problem with this.  All 17 species of penguins live at the South Pole.  OOPS.  This could be brushed off as a simple error by an over zealous editor, or it represents the TOTAL lack of knowledge and responsiblity held by the media as it relates to our climate.  I believe the latter.
6. There’s not enough man-made CO2 to make a difference! Carbon dioxide emissions worldwide each year total 3.2 billion tons. That equals about 0.0168 percent of the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration of about 19 trillion tons. This results in a 0.00064 percent increase in the absorption of the sun’s radiation. This is an insignificantly small number. The yearly increase is many orders of magnitude smaller than the standard deviation errors for CO2 concentration measurement.  97% of CO2 is from natural sources. Only 3% is produced from human activity. When you take into account that all CO2 makes up only .033% of the TOTAL atmosphere, you realize that our addition is minuscule at best.
7. Computer models are not accurate. Not a single dire prediction made by James Hansen 20 years ago has come true.  The computer models have predicted it all wrong.  Remember the Hockey Stick that started it all?  It has been THOROUGHLY debunked.  We can’t predict weather more than a few days in advance, but the alarmists have some magical computer that can see 100 years into the future.  BS.
   
8. Who decides where to set the thermostat? While some in Siberia might welcome some warming, those in the Middle East might prefer some cooling.  Who gets to decide the perfect global temperature?  Al Gore?  The UN?  The Marxists?  Greenpeace?  Silly rabbit, Mother Nature does.
   

There are so many big news stories on TV and the internet; the fighting on the Gaza Strip, the upcoming inauguration, Bill Richardson stepping down as Obama’s choice for Secretary of Commerce, the mess in Illinois and if the senate will seat Burris, the sickening prospect that Al Franken just might be the next Senator from MN and I can go on and on. But I have decided to kick off the New Year with a smaller story that you probably haven’t heard about.

The Drudge Report has a link to a very politically incorrect headline which caught my attention: “Charity homes built by Jimmy Carter start to crumble”. As in everything that Carter has done, he means well but it somehow is always the wrong thing to do in the long run. (Remember that this is the same man who won a Nobel Peace Prize for the Middle East - and see how well that has turned out?!) And it now appears that his Habitat for Humanity may be heading for disaster, too.

Carter and a contingency of volunteers built an entire community of homes in northern Florida eight years ago. Today there is a lawsuit representing many of the 85 homeowners who are now claiming that their homes were built on a rubbish dump. The Timesonline article goes on to say “One man pulled up his floorboards to find rubbish 5ft deep under his kitchen. Other complaints include cracking walls and rotting door frames that let in rats and ants. Many residents have complained of mildew and mysterious skin rashes”.

It shouldn’t really be a big surprise that there are problems with these homes, considering how quickly they were built. Added to this is the, lets say, “inexperience” of the new homeowners.  So it is almost to be expected that between the hasty constructions of the homes within a few days then followed by years of less than optimum care that these homes are in disrepair. The same problems are also occurring with the homes built for that TV show, Extreme Makeover. Plus I wouldn’t be surprised if half the folks after the first year can’t even afford to pay the taxes on their expensive new homes, much less the utilities and other monthly bills.

But no one ever hears what happens to these homes and homeowners after the cameras are turned off and the celebrities leave. As I said in the beginning, criticizing Jimmy Carter or even Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover is one of the biggest politically incorrect statements you could make. The liberals love this kind of charity for it shows that they are helping the little people and it makes them feel good about themselves. They just don’t seem to understand that it would be kinder in the long run to pay for people to go to college or a trade school so that they can eventually afford to buy their own houses, or at the very least to spend time teaching them how to care for their families and new homes.

So now it seems as if some of the houses are falling down partly due to shoddy quick work combined with the fact that some of these new homeowners neglect the upkeep of their homes. Yet no one ever does a follow up to point this out. I guess that would be too much reality for the liberals in New York and LA who live in their insulated world.

Unfortunately I think we are in for a lot more of this kind of thinking. It is a lot easier to shove money at a problem then it is to figure out the cause of the problem and fix that. Democrat governors are requesting $1 trillion in bailout money to cover state shortfalls. Congress has already handed out a $700 billion bank bailout. And now Obama is pushing a massive new $700+ billion “stimulus package”.

Where is all this money going to come from? And how exactly will it be spent? Once again, nobody really knows. In a way the story of these Habitat for Humanity homes is a reflection of what is happening throughout our government. Washington and Hollywood stand hand in hand and make a lot of noise about helping the “little people”. So they will take billions of dollars of taxpayer’s money to build shaky structures, which only help a chosen few, and then eventually it all falls apart through neglect, greed and ill usage while they somehow end up making millions from it. Sound about right? And with the incoming Congress it will only get worse. But don’t get me started on that….

• With Friday’s death of 115 year-old Maria de Jesus in Portugual, researchers say the oldest person in the world is now a 114 year-old Los Angeles resident. The “Los Angeles Times” reports Gertrude Baines lives in the Western Convalescent Hospital, south of downtown L.A. Mrs. Baines was born to former slaves in Atlanta in 1894, when Grover Cleveland was president and the U.S. flag had 44 stars. She made news two months ago as the oldest African American to cast a ballot in the presidential election. Baines voted for Barack Obama.

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• A mixed-race British couple has repeatedly defied the odds - by producing two sets of twins in which one is black and the other white

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• A former Fort Lauderdale city commissioner who helped create a program to combat bicycle theft stopped to help at a traffic accident, and had his own bike stolen. No good deed goes unpunished.

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• A 23-year old New York state woman flunked her driving exam when she lost control of her car pinning a bystander against his care as he watched her careening exam unfold. The 33-year bystander was admitted to a nearby hospital will shoulder and leg pain. He wants to be notified when the woman takes a retest so he can get out of her way.

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• Shilly-shally (SHIL-ee-shal-ee) adverb: Hesitantly; irresolutely. adjective: Hesitant; vacillating. noun: Hesitation; vacillation. verb intr.: To vacillate; to dawdle. ETYMOLOGY:From reduplication of the question Shall I?

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• An 89-year-old Cincinnati-area woman was arrested for petty theft for confiscating a neighbor kid’s football after it repeatedly landed in her yard is now suing the boy’s parents. The

  

  prosecutor later dropped the case. The lawsuit against parents seeks unspecified monetary damages. More stupidity in an age heaped with it.

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• A Carlisle, Pennsylvania judge has sentenced a 53-year old retired Army colonel to a 23-month prison term for arranging for a classmate at the Army War College to take a paternity test in his place. He was trying to avoid paying child support for his 10-year old daughter. His co-conspirator was not charged.

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• The first photos of the son born to Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol have reportedly been sold to People magazine for around $300,000.

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• Call it creative drug-dealing Athens, Alabama police have a 38-year-old man in custody for allegedly accepting gift cards for payment for crack cocaine and prescription drugs. When police searches the man’s house they seized crack cocaine, Xanax pills, $899 cash and $175 in gift cards he’d accepted as payment for drugs.

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• Seriatim (seer-i-AY-tim) adverb: One after another; in a series. ETYMOLOGY: From Latin seriatim, from Latin series, from serere (to join). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ser- (to line up) that is also the source of words such as insert, assert, desert (to abandon), desert (a dry sandy region), sort, consort, and sorcerer.

This has has much to do with with Iran that before the end of his year will have a nuclear weapon.

As predicted here the Israel defense forces entered GAZA on Saturday. At least 30 Hamas gunmen were reported killed as Israeli Defense Force troops swept into the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday night, encountering fierce resistance from Hamas forces entrenched in fortifications just over the border. Dozens more Hamas fighters have been killed but no number has been released at this writing.

An IDF soldier was killed and 32 have been wounded as fighting continues in the Gaza Strip.  

According to dispatches from the Jerusalem Post soldiers from the Armored Corps - 150 tabnks are reported near Gaza City, Engineering Corps, and Paratroopers, Givati, Golani brigades were participating in the fighting, with at least four brigades’ worth of troops inside the Gaza Strip. Israeli Airforce warplance continued to strike targets in Gaza.

Before the ground incursion began, IDF artillery, for the first time in several years, began pounding open areas in northern Gaza to “soften up” the area and destroy land mines and Hamas fortifications

Engineers are likely clearing bobby traps and land mines under the protection of others brigades so armor could move in with impunity.

One of the major aims of the operation was also to deliver a serious blow to the Hamas military wing, which the IDF estimated had not been severely weakened under the air campaign and deny Hamas sites where most of the rocket launches have taken place.

The IDF will not enter Gaza City or the refugee camps, defense officials said, and it was likely that on Monday - when French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives and the international pressure is expected to escalate - Israel would begin scaling back the operations. Before that Israel will gain as much ground that it can most easily hold to deny Hamas rocket launch sites.

Israeli sources predict a “lengthy” operation, and warned that there will likely be Israeli casualties.

At least 80 rockets pounded southern Israel so far this weekend scoring direct hits on homes.

Perhaps the most bizarre weekend event happened Sunday morning  when U. S. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D) Nevada called the Israel-Hamas fighting a “civil war” during his ramblings on NBC’s MEET THE PRESS. On the same program Andrea Mitchell said the U. S. and Israel are “isolated” from other who has called for a ceasefire.

Members of the U. S. ARMY Corp of Engineers are quietly in Egypt advising it what can be done about the tunnel network that has defacto implicated it in Iran’s arming of Hamas from its territory.

It is apparent to most that the timing of Israel’s GAZA invasion involving both the unswerving support by the outgoing Bush administration and has much to do with with Iran that before the end of his year will have a nuclear weapon.

John D. Rockefeller Sr. Opened Rainbow Room To Show Optimism 74 Years Ago.

New York City’s ritzy Rainbow Room that ironically opened during the great Depression on October 3, 1934 will shutter its famed Rainbow Grill restaurant – at least temporarily — while keeping the establishment’s bar, banquet space and dinner-dancing going on the 65th floor of the RCA building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It became legendary as where the elite and influential of New York could gather to socialize over cocktails, dine on fine cuisine, and dance to the strains of legendary big bands on a revolving floor.

The Rainbow Room’s opening was testimony to a confidence that John D. Rockefeller Sr. wanted to project in the darkest hours of the Great Depression. The Rainbow Room has symbolized glamour for 74 years from its perch above the tourist-attracting Rockefeller Center skating rink.

WNBC-TV in NYC is reporting Cipriani International chief operating officer John Higgins that the decision was “due to the current economic crisis” and a lease dispute.

A spokeswoman for landlord Tishman Speyer didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking comment Saturday.

The closing due in part to landlord-tenant disputes maybe a harbinger of things to come on main street across America as property owners, used to a decade of an almost unlimited ability to raise rents clash with businesses faced with economic reality and close or move.

(O)ptimism remains in predictably short supply. So let’s face the facts and let realism be our guide.

At this time of year there is no dearth of opinions and predictions. Among the more erudite is World Tribune writer and U.N. correspondent for diplomatic and defense issues John J. Metzler whose perspectives are particularly worthwhile..

I have edited for brevity, added a few comments and summarized his view below:

He says “Given the financial meltdown and the global economic doldrums, optimism remains in predictably short supply. So let’s face the facts and let realism be our guide in viewing some key issues” including:

Global Economy: The Autumn 2008 Financial meltdown has done irreparable damage to the USA and the world in general. The individual Wall Street crooks who in many cases created this crisis should be unceremoniously indicted, prosecuted, and punished if guilty. The economy has drifted into rocky shoals not seen since the late 1970’s. This was not a failure of free market capitalism as is so glibly stated, but the long-looming outcome of casino capitalism, fueled by play money, and marinated in a cozy relationship of gazillionaries with politicians.

Now we are stuck with the results—and the bill. The new Democrat answer will be a repackaged “New Deal” which will probably, as in FDR’s case in the 1930’s, make matters worse. Massive profligate big government spending is certain to stoke inflationary embers and deepen the public debt. The good news is that petroleum prices have significantly fallen over last summer’s highs. Equally the American unemployment numbers are far below Europe’s.

East Asia: The story is China and China. The tough hurdles ahead are economic. Slowdown in the West (read where Chinese exports flood) means factory closings and massive unemployment on the Mainland.

There’s no great social net to help workers either, so there’s a large mass of unemployed and rootless labor shifting around China. Citizens who were duly impressed, and politically bought-off by the People’s Republic’s economic (or at least statistical) achievements, may now look to the political sorcerers. China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) will have to confront this dilemma and find scapegoats.

Which brings us to the other China; shall Beijing use the economic downturn to stoke nationalism and bully tactics? The Republic of China on Taiwan is being maneuvered into a situation which threatens its freedom and sovereignty in not daring to displease the dragon.

South Asia: Afghanistan and Pakistan are fertile grounds for destabilization. The recent terror attacks in India, growing violence in Afghanistan, and tensions in divided Kashmir, fought over by both nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, remains a political tinderbox and cause for Islamic jihadis with regional implications.

Middle East: Iraq, now far better off after the U.S. military surge, has room to build and improve. Yet Hamas violent incitements in Gaza will keep the pot boiling with Israel. In Lebanon Hizbullah, via Iran’s hidden hand, is poised for serious mischief. The Islamic Republic of Iran will “celebrate” the 30th anniversary of the shroud of political gloom which the mullahs pulled over once proud Persia. They will revel in their nuclear gains, and spitefully show the West that they got away with it.

Vice Preisdent-elect Biden’s warning that its time to “get used” to a nuclear armed Iran is sad and fatally dangerous.

Russia: Despite the neo-imperial impulses by Vladimir Putin, the good news is that the petrodollars flowing into Kremlin coffers are dwindling and cutting Russia’s global clout. But watch Ukraine; it can certainly be bullied by the Bear over natural gas supplies, and moreover through political subversion from Russia. While Georgia’s Summer war was a tragic surprise, the chess piece on the board Putin covets remains Ukraine.

Latin America: Despite the danger of Hugo Chavez, the good news is oil prices are down which diminishes Venezuela’s role. Cuba celebrates the 50th anniversary of Castro’s takeover; ushering in 50 years of dictatorship. Despite this, major democratic gains have been consolidated throughout most of Latin America, including Columbia.

Humanitarian: The United Nations is simply overwhelmed with disasters ranging from famines, both natural and self-inflicted as in Zimbabwe, as well as civil wars which haunt the African continent. Sudan’s ongoing Darfur tragedy, the horrors of the Congo, and the lawlessness of Somalia are but a few cases.

American Administration: All eyes are on Washington. Domestic political optimism and global giddiness remains high on the verge of the Age of Obama. While many media pundits assume the new president can walk on water; possible for Canadian politicians in winter but decidedly more difficult on the Potomac in Washington, a brewing crisis of expectations will bedevil Barack Obama. Internecine battles inside his own Democrat dominated Congress and administration will hamper him as much as gathering political gales internationally.

The Congressional election in November 2010 will be a bellwether for Obama and his political executioners will be logged in by Christmas.

In the midst of all this, Happy New Year 2009!

…drive more miles and use less gas, then they tax miles.

As fuel efficiency rises and gasoline consumption falls as people conserve, bureaucrats are grasping at anything they can to keep their entitled status afloat no matter the costs.

Oregon is among a growing number of states trying to find ways to tax drivers based on the number of miles driven instead of how much gas or diesel fuel is used, even going so far as to install GPS monitoring devices in 300 vehicles to test their scheme. The idea first emerged nearly 10 years ago as Oregon lawmakers worried that fuel-efficient cars such as gas-electric hybrids could pose a threat to their take.

The scheme is not without critics, including drivers who are concerned about privacy and others who fear the tax could eliminate the financial incentive for buying efficient vehicles. They all so point out that fuel tax revenues have consistently been raided rather than used for street, roads, highway, bridges and such as intended.

Oregon is ahead of the nation in exploring the idea, even though it will probably be years before any mileage tax is adopted. Some worry that even the federal ‘bailout’ loans could be used to force automakers to install tracking devices in cars and trucks.

Congress is talking about it, too. A congressional commission has envisioned a system similar to the prototype Oregon is testing. The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing (NCSTIF) is considering calling for higher gas taxes it says to keep highways, bridges and transit programs in good shape something we’ve been repeatedly told before.

Over the long term, commission members say, the nation should consider taxing mileage as drivers use more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles. Long haul trucks already face a version of this sort of use taxes - you often see plaques on commercial vehicles whining about how much they pay.

As cars burn less fuel, “the gas tax isn’t going to fill the bill,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He think the next Congress “could begin to set the stage, perhaps looking at some much more robust pilot programs, to begin the research, to work with manufacturers.”

The bottom line is Americans are about to be punished for buying more fuel efficient vehicles so Congress and an assortment of nincompoops in various state capitols want to punish them for doing so. So forget your scooter that gets 80 MPG or even your bicycle these nitwits want to tax you anyway. Next could be an ankle pedometer that will report your steps and will get a bill. Cute.

]]> http://hypocrisy.com/2009/01/03/fuel-efficiency-latest-excuse-for-new-tax/feed/ http://hurricane.hypocrisy.com/2009/01/02/the-atheists-christmas-rights/ http://hurricane.hypocrisy.com/2009/01/02/the-atheists-christmas-rights/#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:36:54 +0000 Hurricane PH=http://hurricane.hypocrisy.com;ID=105

Israel Goes on High Alert

According to a report by Agence France Presse. On Friday Hamas ordered a “day of wrath” against Israel over the killing of a senior commander. “Israeli Police have been placed on a heightened state of alert throughout the country, just under the maximum level that is in effect in war time,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. The police re stationed around likely terror targets across the nation.

The army also locked down the West Bank for 48 hours, with movement in and out of the territory prohibited except for emergencies and special cases.

According to AFP Hamas called a “day of wrath” after an Israeli air strike killed Nizar Rayan, a firebrand hardliner, and several of his wives and children. At least 422 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel’s seven-day-old blitz.

With Israeli tanks and troops massed for a threatened ground offensive around Gaza and no ceasefire in sight, the army allowed foreigners to leave the battered enclave. Fox News reported around noon EST that a go ahead to invade Gaza has been given but that has not been officially confirmed.

Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza for a seventh day, carrying out some 20 strikes overnight, bombing rocket launching sites and Hamas buildings, official sources said..

The Islamist movement kept firing back, sending a handful of rockets slamming into Israeli territory overnight without causing casualties.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni reiterated that Israel does not think the time is yet ripe for a truce after talks in Paris on Thursday with President Nicolas Sarkozy and other French leaders.

Otherwise peace moves are stalled at the UN Security Council even though UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the conflict had become “a dramatic crisis.” President Bush called the U. N. Secretary-General to the White House for consultations.

AFP reports, “The majority of the Israeli public is supporting the Gaza offensive, with some 95 percent of Jewish residents backing the strikes according to a survey published on Friday in the Maariv daily. Maariv (Hebrew: מַעֲרִיב‎, lit. Evening) is a popular middle-market daily newspaper published in Israel,.’