No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for the 'Envirowhackos' Category

May 21, 2009

Daughter of Waxman-Markey even worse

by @ 7:00. Filed under Envirowhackos, Politics - National.

Last Friday, I gave you the original Heritage Foundation estimates of the economic effects of the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade-Tax plan. Because it couldn’t get enough support from rank-and-file ‘Rats, it went back to the drawing board. The Heritage Foundation found that the effects are even worse the second time around:

  • The cumulative GDP reduction through 2035 increases from $7.4 trillion to $9.6 trillion
  • The average yearly job loss increases from 844,000 lost jobs per year to 1,105,000 lost jobs per year
  • The peak yearly job losses increases from 2,000,000 to 2,500,000

Nick Loris explains:

  • Our original economic analysis had the government auctioning off the allowances (rights to emit) carbon dioxide. The auction revenue, the equivalent of tax revenue, went into the hands of the government, which in turn created more government jobs. In the second version of the bill, the government distributed allowances to various businesses in an attempt to mitigate the near-term economic damage done by the bill. As a result, jobs in the private sector fell less than the original but the government jobs decreased more because the government did not receive the allowance revenue from the auction. Overall employment fell.
  • Think of the allowances given away as subsidies to businesses. When these subsidies stop and allowances begin to be auctioned off, the economy is again “shocked” with higher indirect taxes and businesses must make costly adjustments to this new economic condition.
  • Real GDP losses increase an additional $2 trillion from the bill because investment for businesses is worse under the new bill. Again, the government is not auctioning off the rights for businesses to emit carbon dioxide; they are giving them away in the near-term. These giveaways add to the national debt, crowd out private sector investment and drive up interest rates. Increased interest rates further drive up the debt. This creates a vicious cycle in which businesses significantly reduce their investment. The lack of investment (that drives the overall economy) produces higher real GDP losses and lowers the potential of the overall economy.

But wait, it gets even worse. Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) reports that the ‘Rats added, on a party line vote, mandates that all home sales include an energy-efficiency inspection and a study be made in preparation for every product sold in the United States to be labeled as to their CO2 “content” (i.e. how much CO2 is emitted in the manufacture of each product).

Somehow, I think the fine folks at Heritage understated the damage to the economy.

Revisions/extensions (7:42 am 5/21/2009) – (H/T – McQ) I’m suddenly feeling like Billy Mays here. But wait, that’s not all! As part of their Top Ten list, Heritage included this handy graphic showing just how big a bite Cap-and-Trade-Tax will take.

For those of you who missed it, it handily beats food, clothing, furniture, the current cost of household energy, and the average property tax. Of course, those of us in Wisconsin pay a lot more in property tax, but $3,900 even beats that.

May 20, 2009

Unintended consequences, envirowhacko edition

by @ 23:23. Filed under Envirowhackos, Health.

(H/T – The Lid, who is now on the roll of bloat)

Yes, I believe that this particular consequence of the envirowhackos’ agenda, unlike most of the consequences, is unintended. The National Post reports that a lot of reusable cloth bags, currently in vogue among the envirowhacko set, have bacterial, yeast, or mold contamination in tests conducted for the Environment and Plastics Industry Council in Canada. Specifically:

– 64% of the bags tested were contaminated with some level of bacteria
– 30% had bacterial levels higher than what Ontario considers safe for drinking water
– 40% had yeast or mold infection
– The most troubling – some bags had fecal bacteria on them.

Given that it takes hot water (or bleach) to disinfect the bags, and a heated clothes dryer to quickly dry the bags before contaminants that survive the laundering process can really take hold in the dampness left by the water, I’m waiting for the envirowhacko screams when they realize, like corn-a-hole, the “solution” is at least as bad as the problem.

May 19, 2009

Live-blogging the death of useful, roomy cars

by @ 11:06. Filed under Envirowhackos, Politics - National.

I’ve got Fox News on now, and in the pre-show, Major Garrett noted that additional standards will be based on specific types of cars (i.e. bigger cars won’t quite be required to get 39 mpg). Unspoken, but assumed, is that smaller cars would be required to get more than 39 mpg.

It’s been a while since I did a live-blog the old-fastioned way. I don’t feel like firing up the CiL for this. Do hit refresh for the latest, as things are expected to kick off a bit after 11:15 am Central. BTW, I’m taking bets on how late Obama and company will be. I’ve got 9:13 after the appointed time.

11:19 – The captive and greedy automotive execs and the Gorebal “Warming” crowd is waiting. Tick. Tock.

11:20 – That was not a slip of the tongue by Jon Scott – Government Motors indeed.

11:22:44 – Obama finally shows up. Time for intros.

11:23 – First one is a shout-out to Plastic Pelosi (she’s going nowhere, folks). EPA chair, a near-snub of Ahnold in the governor’s intros (Granholm first). Senators missing because they’re screwing those that pay credit card bills on time.

11:24 – First “industry” shout-out to the head of the UAW. The rest of the cabinet now. Since when is HUD part of the “Green Team”? Oh, and where’s LaHood, the RepubicRAT who’s in charge of implementing CAFE?

11:26 – Another shoutout to the UAW before a general one to the cowed and craven. We are setting a national screw-industry-and-motorists standard.

11:27 – Amazing what a little Chicago Way Muscle can do to titans of industry. Oil is Teh Eeeeevil (side note – why not drill here, drill now, drill everywhere, dumbass?)

11:28 – “We’ve known since the oil crises of the 1970s” (and your fellow ‘Rats have been blocking all of the domestic production solutions since then).

11:29 – This is a harbringer of change – “We will not longer accept that government is too small”. (Them’s fighting words)

11:30 – Because of the tyrrany of the bipartisan Party-In-Government, each seeking to implement its own policy, we’re taking the worst of all possible policies. Because we’re giving in to the envirowhackos, they’re dropping their lawsuits.

11:32 – At a time when the domestic auto industry is in painful flux, we’re going to give it the certainty that it’s getting shoved off the cliff and under my bus.

11:33 – You can’t save money if you don’t spend (er, hybrids still don’t make sense).

11:34 – We’ll save 1.8 billion barrels of oil, equivalent to taking 58 million cars off the road (money says they’ll try to take 58 million cars off the road anyway).

11:35 – Mo’ spending money. Plug-in hybrids get a shoutout, as does electrical transmission (er, what about electrical production?)

11:36 – We’re going to break in 8 years what took 80 to build. Call to the ‘Rat version of bipartisanship (bull-fucking-shit)

11:37 – A third specific shoutout to the UAW. They bought the office.

11:39 – We’re not quite out – a shout-out for the only domestic SUV to make the 30 mpg grade – the Ford Escape Hybrid.

11:40 – Major Garrett pointing out that Congress has no role. Translation – the Goron won, and he’s going to ram it straight up the backside. Oh, and whatever we do will be overwhelmed by Red Chinese and Indian pollution.

NOW we’re done.

RIP useful, roomy vehicles

by @ 6:00. Filed under Envirowhackos, Politics - National.

(H/T – Sister Toldjah)

The Detroit News reports that, under a proposal by the Obama administration to be unveiled later today, not only will the CAFE standards increase above the 2020 mandate 4 years early, but that the proposed California emission standards will become the new nationwide standards. Specifically with regard to the CAFE standards, passenger cars (which will, as of 2011, include most 2WD SUVs) will be required to get 39 mpg by 2016 (up from 27.5 mpg this year), light trucks will be required to get 30 mpg by 2016 (up from 23.1 mpg this year), and the combined fleet will be required to hit 35.5 mpg by 2016.

Before I continue, I need to explain CAFE a bit, and deliver a good news-bad news combo. First, the good news is it is not based on the EPA estimates you see on the sticker. Rather, it is a laboratory number using testing methods set in the 1970s.

In fact, there is not a “CAFE mileage” number available from either the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (the entity that lords over the CAFE numbers) or the EPA. However, based on published reports that the CAFE mileage is roughly 30% higher than the EPA numbers, the unadjusted combined mileage in the datasets from the EPA appear to be close enough to the CAFE numbers for my purposes.

The bad news is that the average uses the harmonic mean based on the CAFE mileage and the number of each type of vehicle produced. That is because what is actually being measured is the number of gallons being burned over a set distance.

So, what 2009 models would cut it in a 2016 world? That’s the ugly news. Here are the 34 passenger car models (which, effective 2011, will include most 2WD SUVs/CUVs) and 12 light-truck models that will meet the standards:

  • Toyota Prius
  • Honda Civic – hybrid, 1.8L manual, and 1.8L gas automatic only
  • Nissan Altima – hybrid only
  • Toyota Camry – hybrid only
  • Volkswagen Jetta – TDI manual and TDI 6-speed automatic only
  • Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen – TDI 6-speed manual and TDI 6-speed automatic only
  • Ford Escape – hybrid 2WD (car) and hybrid 4WD (light truck) only
  • Mazda Tribute (corporate twin to the Escape) – hybrid 2WD (car) and hybrid 4WD (light truck) only
  • Mercury Mariner (corporate twin to the Escape) – hybrid 2WD (car) and hybrid 4WD (light truck) only
  • Mini Cooper – naturally-aspirated manual only
  • Mini Cooper Clubman – naturally-aspirated manual only
  • Toyota Yaris – both manual and automatic
  • Toyota Corolla – 1.8L manual and 1.8L automatic only
  • Honda Fit – all three engine/transmission combinations
  • Kia Rio – both manual and automatic
  • Hyundai Accent – manual only
  • Chevrolet Aveo – manual only
  • Pontiac G3 (corporate twin to the Aveo) – manual only
  • Chevrolet Aveo 5 – manual only
  • Pontiac G3 5 (corporate twin to the Aveo 5) – manual only
  • Chevrolet Cobalt – XFE only
  • Pontiac G5 (corporate twin to the Cobalt) – base manual, XFE, and GT manual only
  • Scion XD – manual only
  • Toyota Highlander – Hybrid 4WD only (light truck)
  • Jeep Compass – 4WD manual only (light truck)
  • Jeep Patriot – 4WD manual only (light truck)
  • Mazda 5 – both manual (light truck) and automatic (light truck)
  • Toyota RAV4 – 2.5L 4WD only (light truck)
  • Nissan Rogue – AWD only (light truck)
  • Ford Ranger – 2.3L 2WD manual only (light truck)
  • Mazda B2300 (corporate twin to the Ranger) – 2.3L 2WD manual only (light truck)

I remember Car and Driver doing a 40-mpg CAFE special way back when. I wonder if they’re ready to revisit that.

Revisions/extensions (6:50 am 5/18/2009) – I did the post last night, so there were a few typos. Also, there’s a couple of additional thoughts.

If one takes out the different engine/transmission combinations (which I did above) and the corporate twin duplicates, there are 25 distinct models. That leaves three midsized cars (the Prius, Altima and Camry), five different compact cars (Jetta, Corolla, Aveo/G3, Rio and Accent), two small station wagons (Jetta Sportwagen and Fit, though the latter probably fits better into the subcompact category), six different subcompact cars (Civic, Yaris, Clubman, Aveo 5/G3 5, Cobalt/G5, and XD), a minicompact (Mini), five SUVs (Escape/Tribute/Mariner in both 2WD and 4WD form, Highlander 4WD, Compass 4WD, Patriot 4WD, RAV4 4WD and Rogue AWD, with all but the Highlander compactl-to-micro-sized), one micro-minivan (Mazda 5), and one compact pickup (Ranger/B2300). That also leaves only 15 automatics in the bunch.

All I can say is I’m glad I’m single and know how to drive a stick.

R&E part 2 (8:41 am 5/19/2009) – Welcome readers of The Other McCain.

R&E part 3 (11:00 am 5/19/2009) – Truesoldier asked a very good question over at Michelle Malkin’s post on this:

Ok that is on new vehicles, but what about the cost of retrofitting old vehicles to meet the “California” emission standards? I know when I used to live in California back in the 90’s if you brought a car from out of state you had to pay a fee , I believe it was around $500, if your car did not meet California’s emmision standards to get your car retrofitted. So is there going to be forced retrofit to meet the testing standards?

I believe that requirement is to retrofit out-of-state cars to the level of emissions required of that model year in California, not to retrofit older cars to current standards. Still, I wouldn’t put it past Obama’s EPA to pull that stunt to get the current crop of cars off the road.

Housekeeping item – I will be liveblogging the self-congratulatoin up above, so if you came directly to this post, please click the big “No Runny Eggs” at the top of the blog to get there.

May 8, 2009

Here comes the annual Algore/Whitman Memorial RFG Price Hike

by @ 7:28. Filed under Energy, Envirowhackos.

In case you haven’t noticed gas prices in the Milwaukee area lately, they’ve begun their annual winter-blend-to-summer-blend price spike. According to our friends at GasBuddy.com (which runs both MilwaukeeGasPrices.com and MadisonGasPrices.com), Milwaukee-area gas prices went up from an average of $2.088/gallon this time last month to $2.367/gallon as of this morning. Meanwhile, Madison-area gas prices from an average of $2.088/gallon this time last month to $2.196/gallon as of this morning.

One can’t even blame corn-a-hole this time, as to meet the federal mandates for minimum corn-a-hole content, most stations have chosen to put 10% ethanol in regular unleaded outstate. That leaves the RFG as the sole remaining difference, and I could’ve swore that, back when it was crammed down our fuel injectors, it wasn’t supposed to be more than a couple cents per gallon more expensive.

March 28, 2009

Let there be light

by @ 20:11. Filed under Envirowhackos.

In case you’re new to this place, I mock the envirowhackos on a regular basis. They have an utterly-stupid idea tonight – they want everybody to practice living like North Koreans by turning off their lights between 20:30 and 21:30 local. Naturally, I will have every last light-producing item on at the bunker during that time.

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described the following picture, which the whackos want to duplicate worldwide on a nightly basis, perfectly…


Click for the full-sized image

“If you look at a picture from the sky of the Korean Peninsula at night, South Korea is filled with lights and energy and vitality and a booming economy; North Korea is dark. It is a tragedy what’s being done in that country.”

We are not North Fucking Korea.

March 17, 2009

Ruh Ro!

by @ 5:32. Filed under Global "Warming", Politics - National.

Per President Obama:

But let’s be clear: Promoting science isn’t just about providing resources — it’s also about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about letting scientists like those who are here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient — especially when it’s inconvenient. It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda — and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology. (emphasis mine)

UW-Milwaukee Study Could Realign Climate Change Theory
Scientists Claim Earth Is Undergoing Natural Climate Shift

“The research team has found the warming trend of the past 30 years has stopped and in fact global temperatures have leveled off since 2001.”

And

8 Dems oppose quick debate on global warming bill

Again I’ll ask, whose science will we be using?

March 11, 2009

Whose Science Will It Be?

by @ 5:16. Filed under Global "Warming", Politics - National.

You may not be aware of it but there is a global warming conference going on this week.   The International Conference on Climate Change is in New York.   You probably haven’t heard about the conference because it is specifically for skeptics of global warming.   You know, the folks who also believe that the Earth is flat and at the center of the universe?

Ronald Bailey from Reason magazine is covering the conference and has a recap of the presentations here.   Included in yesterday’s presentations was the following scientific data:

  • According to Indur Goklany, assuming the worse case scenario for global warming, income in both developed and undeveloped countries would be higher, worldwide deaths would increase by less than 1/2% and the amount of land required for agriculture would drop by 1/2.
  • According to Paul Reiter, head of the insects and infectious disease unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, 150 EDEN studies have been published so far and that “none of them support the notion that disease is increasing because of climate change.”   In fact,

Reiter pointed out that many of the claims that climate change will increase disease can be attributed to an incestuous network of just nine authors who write scientific reviews and cite each other’s work. None are actual on-the-ground disease researchers and many of them write the IPCC disease analyses. “These are people who know absolutely bugger about dengue, malaria or anything else,” said Reiter.

  • Finally, Stanley Goldenberg, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Hurricane Research Division in Miami presented evidence refuting the notion that hurricanes have become more prevalent due to global warming.   Goldenberg showed evidence that hurricanes increase and decrease over decadal cycles he provided this synopsis:

Tropical North Atlantic SST [sea surface temperature] has exhibited a warming trend of [about] ) 0.3 °C over the last 100 years; whereas Atlantic hurricane activity has not exhibited trend-like variability, but rather distinct multidecadal cycles….The possibility exists that the unprecedented activity since 1995 is the result of a combination of the multidecadal-scale changes in the Atlantic SSTs (and vertical shear) along with the additional increase in SSTs resulting from the long-term warming trend. It is, however, equally possible that the current active period (1995-2000) only appears more active than the previous active period (1926-1970) due to the better observational network in place.

Goldenberg completed his remarks with:

“Not a single scientist at the hurricane center believes that global warming has had any measurable impact on hurricane numbers and strength,”

Yesterday, President Obama announced that he would be lifting the ban on Federal funding for stem cell research that had been implemented by President Bush.   In his statement describing the reason for his decision, President Obama said:

But let’s be clear: Promoting science isn’t just about providing resources — it’s also about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about letting scientists like those who are here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient — especially when it’s inconvenient. It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda — and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology.   (emphasis mine)

I have to say, this is the first statement I can completely get behind President Obama on.   We should allow science to operate “free from manipulation or coercion.”   We should follow the facts and findings and “listen to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient.”   That leaves me with just two questions for President Obama:

  1. Free from manipulation or coercion by whom?
  2. Even when it’s inconvenient for whom?

All animals created equally?

March 9, 2009

It’s all about the Green(backs, that is)

Conn Carroll of The Heritage Foundation runs the numbers on the cap-and-trade -tax scam that the Obama administration and the Spendocrats are pushing:

– $650 billion from carbon credit fees this year
– $150 billion of that going to “alternative energy production”
– $500 billion of that going to the return of welfare

Conn goes on to point out that it’s a low-ball figure. Under the less-expensive Lieberman-Warner scheme, the 8-year cost would be somewhere north of $1,622,848,000,000.

Don’t forget that both Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel have admitted that cap-and-trade -tax is meant to cripple the energy market to the tune of $700-$1,400 per family per year.

March 6, 2009

I actually feel sorry for the Gorebal “Warming” acolytes

by @ 6:51. Filed under Global "Warming", Weather.

I’m sure they’re warming up their voices to start chanting, “It’s all your fault!” right about now because we had a real nice day yesterday and will have another one today. They just can’t seem to accept that sometimes the weather gets far nicer than we deserve this time of year in the land of cheese and beer.

March 1, 2009

Continuing the crappy madness

by @ 6:24. Filed under Envirowhackos.

(H/T – Sister Toldjah)

I do believe I’ve found the Worst. Idea. EVAH! – reusale cloth toilet wipes. If you’re a normal person, all you need to do to expose the folly of that plan is look at your older underwear.

February 28, 2009

More on the crappy-crap-crap war on toilet paper

by @ 7:06. Filed under Envirowhackos, Politics - Wisconsin.

There is a reason why I call Kevin Binversie one of the great ones. He has a memory that far outstrips my own, and reminds us that it’s not just a war on comfortable toilet paper, but a war on Green Bay.

Bonus item – Kevin sees it as another step in the soon-to-be-very-hot war between envirowhackos and Big Labor. The main goal of the labor unions is mutually exclusive to the main jobs-related effects of the radical environmentalists. Neither is exactly known for accepting compromise.

February 27, 2009

An extra entrant in the Deep Tunnel Awards

by @ 9:23. Filed under Envirowhackos.

(H/T – Jon Ham)

The New York Times reports on the next target of the envirowhackos – comfortable toilet paper. The story hits all the hot-button envirowhacko issues, from how many trees are cut down to how much water is used to bleach to (yes, you guessed it) Gorebal “Warming”.

For those of you not from Milwaukee, there’s a reason why I invoked Charlie Sykes’ Deep Tunnel Awards (which are aired on 620WTMJ every Friday at about 11:35 am Central). The local sewer utility, MMSD (The Clean Crappy Water People), has a somewhat/almost/not quite deep enough tunnel, and MMSD tends to dump sewage (be it “blended” or “raw”) when the “100-year rains” hit on the average 3-4 times a year. That also sort of wipes out the landfill argument, because those dumps tend to send toilet paper into Lake Michigan.

Revisions/extensions (1:16 pm 2/27/2009) – Speaking of Charlie, he’s all over this.

February 18, 2009

Hypocrisy, DNR-style

by @ 15:24. Filed under Envirowhackos, Politics - Wisconsin.

Dr. Emil Shuffhausen found some serious hypocrisy from the Wisconsin DNR (or as Dad29 calls them, Damn Near Russia). Even as they demand that those that own rental properties rip out their current lighting and install high-efficiency lighting, they continue to light up the unoccupied interior of their building like a Christmas tree.

February 10, 2009

Odd Man Out

by @ 5:23. Filed under Energy, Global "Warming".

An article out in Germany talks about growing interest in developing nuclear power in Europe.   According to the article, Germany and even Sweden are talking about restarting nuclear power development.   Apparently previous agreements to cease and desist are now considered old fashioned:

Sweden announced last week that it was revoking a 1980 referendum decision to phase out nuclear power. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and the leaders of the three other parties in the coalition described the deal as “historic.”

The European Union gets nearly 30% of its electricity from nuclear plants.   It has 147 active nuclear power plants.   They have 2 under construction with 20 proposed plants.

Isn’t nuclear so, what’s the phrase, 1970’s?   I thought nuclear was anti green, anti new world order.   Why the sudden interest in nuclear?

With gas and oil prices rocketing and fears about global warming growing, however, nuclear power seems to be experiencing a global renaissance.

Funny thing, we’ve got all the same issues and concerns.   The one advantage we do have is that we have more coal than anywhere else in the world, but that’s bad too.

I’ve looked through the entire stimulus bill and can find no reference to nuclear energy in it.   That’s kind of odd considering that President Obama continues to tout all of the green jobs that will be created.  

Europe’s decided that being anti nuclear is “historic.”   Looks like contrary to all of Obama’s talk about leading we’re just going to be plain old history.

February 2, 2009

“End Abortion,” Cry Greens!

by @ 5:51. Filed under Envirowhackos.

I admit, I was shocked when I read this quote by Jonathon Porritt a former Green Party Chair,  from yesterday’s London Times:

"I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate," Porritt said.

It’s always puzzled me how folks like the Greens believed that humans could control the earth’s weather patterns by changing their individual activities and habits.    Yet, those same humans were incapable of controlling their sexual impulses and therefore had a right to abortion as a form of birth control.   It’s good to see that the Greens finally have aligned the logic of their arguments!

Um, I guess not:

Porritt, a former chairman of the Green party, says the government must improve family planning, even if it means shifting money from curing illness to increasing contraception and abortion.

He said: "We still have one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Europe and we still have relatively high levels of pregnancies going to birth, often among women who are not convinced they want to become mothers.

and

The Optimum Population Trust, a campaign group of which Porritt is a patron, says each baby born in Britain will, during his or her lifetime, burn carbon roughly equivalent to 2 ½ acres of old-growth oak woodland – an area the size of Trafalgar Square.

Let’s take Porritt’s logic to its extended conclusion shall we?   Pick people afflicted by your favorite physical or mentally challenged issue and let’s be done with them….we could make more room for “valuable people” to “use the earth.”   How about people who are in a persistent coma state…let’s pull the plugs there and make room!   Retired people who just prefer to sit on their porches each day and watch the world go by; they’re gone because they add no value and are taking up resources.

Porritt and his ilk use phrases like “family planning” to try and hide away from the moral consequences of abortion.   They attempt this in the same way the creators of the city in Logan’s Run used the Carousel and shouts of “Renew” to hide the fact that they too were killing those who were determined to no longer contribute more than the resources they used.

If the value of human life is determined by the impact on the earth, why stop at abortion?

January 19, 2009

It Seemed Like a Good Idea At The Time…

The Shoelets each have a T-shirt that has that saying on the front of it.   As 10 year old boys, there isn’t a caption I can think of, that is at the same time funnier  or truer.   At this age, the Shoelets are completely oblivious to the consequences of their actions.   They focus every moment of their lives in the moment that their lives happen to be in, at the moment.

The same could be said about many in the environmental community.   Too often they get focused on one specific issue or goal and don’t understand the implications or ramifications of their actions.   Case in point.   This article from the Agency who shall not be named.

The article tells about how environmentalists wanted to take the island of Macquarie back to its pristine condition.   Problem was, the island had a bunch of cats, rats, mice and rabbits that had inadvertently attained residence via boat transport over the years.   Well, “pristine” certainly couldn’t include feral cats so folks went about killing them off.   Then, a funny thing happened on the way to “pristine.”   Without the cats to keep them in check i.e. kill and eat them, the rabbits, mice and rats were now living in paradise.   While they lived in paradise, the vegetation of paradise was taking a beating.   With the vegetation taking a beating, the birds that relied on it also took a beating.

After figuring out that their first “fix” didn’t work, the environmentalists are going back for another try.   This time they will get the mice, rats and rabbits all at one time.   Of course, this is going to cost them over $16M for the 49 Sq. Mi. island not to mention that the island has been set back many years in an environmental sense.

In the same vein, here comes the world’s favorite Goreacle Acolyte, Jim Hansen.   He’s moved from being the world’s cheerleader for AGW to becoming the world’s hysteric for AGW:

President ‘has four years to save Earth’

US must take the lead to avert eco-disaster

Hansen’s big concern this time?   The ice caps are melting even faster than we thought which will make the seas rise even higher than we thought and we don’t have any more time to wait!!!!!!   Geez, does this guy ever peruse the internet?  

I find it interesting that Hansen has put a 4 year time frame on responding to his nonsense.   I’m torn on the reason.   It could be that as more and more evidence comes out refuting the link between carbon dioxide and climate change, Hansen may believe his gravy train is about to run out if he doesn’t get it codified by Congress.   On the other hand, it could be that he already believes that Obama will only be a one term President and the next one won’t be as gullible.

I also find it interesting that Hansen took his plea first to the British and US science communities in an attempt to “stir the pot:”

As a result of his fears about sea-level rise, Hansen said he had pressed both Britain’s Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences to carry out an urgent investigation of the state of the planet’s ice-caps.

The response?   Radio silence:

However, nothing had come of his proposals.

If rational thought and sound science were applied, I have no doubt that Congress would shelve Hansen, along with his increasingly questionable dataand focus on more pressing matters.   The problem is that Congress isn’t a whole lot different than 10 year olds, they focus every moment of their lives in the moment that their lives happen to be in, at the moment.

20 years from now, after spending billions of dollars, short changing the growth of the economy and showing absolutely no greater control over the earth’s temperature, someone will look back and ask why Hansen, President Obama and Congress led us down an obviously flawed path.   The only answer they will receive, the answer that Congress provides for nearly every issue that in bungles (see Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, TARP etc.) will be, “It seemed like a good idea at the time!”

January 11, 2009

Drill Here, Drill Now Tues…er, Sunday – 1/11/2009

(H/T for the new news – Amanda Carpenter, H/T for the DHDNT concept – Jessi Olson)

My gas price – $1.879 just outside the bunker

Why do I have a special Sunday edition of Drill Here, Drill Now? It’s because Senate Majority Leader Dingy Harry Reid (D-OPEC) and 65 of his fellow members of the bipartisan Party-In-Government used their first floor vote of the session to lock up the not-yet-developed energy-rich land to the tune of $10 billion. Even though that’s supposedly short of a veto (which I hope would happen if this shows up before noon Eastern 1/20), the fact that there were several ‘Rats missing in action means that my prediction in the Weekend Scramble that the pork would net a veto-proof majority came through.

There is one place left to stop this, and thanks to San Fran Nan’s (D-CA) machinations, it is likely that the House will join the Senate in not allowing any minority-written amendments.

December 16, 2008

We’re All Doomed, Doomed I Tell You!

by @ 5:04. Filed under Global "Warming".

According to the UK’s Independent, we’ve passed the point of doing anything about global warming….We’re Doomed:

Scientists have found the first unequivocal evidence that the Arctic region is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world at least a decade before it was predicted to happen.

…The phenomenon, known as Arctic amplification, was not expected to be seen for at least another 10 or 15 years and the findings will further raise concerns that the Arctic has already passed the climatic tipping-point towards ice-free summers, beyond which it may not recover. (Emphasis Mine)

An explanation of why this find is sooooooo very important, and proves global warming, once and for all, is given by Julienne Stroeve of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC):

“The observed autumn warming that we’ve seen over the Arctic Ocean, not just this year but over the past five years or so, represents Arctic amplification, the notion that rises in surface air temperatures in response to increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations will be larger in the Arctic than elsewhere over the globe.”

Um, wait, what?   NOTION?

notion"‚  

–noun 1. a general understanding; vague or imperfect conception or idea of something: a notion of how something should be done.
2. an opinion, view, or belief: That’s his notion, not mine.
3. conception or idea: his notion of democracy.
4. a fanciful or foolish idea; whim: She had a notion to swim in the winter.

Notice the definition doesn’t include “fact,” “proven” or replicated.   “Notion,” by definition, isn’t even as substantive as “theory.”

Alright, it’s easy to pick on the poor ladies words.   Perhaps she had no notion what she was really saying when she used the word “notion!”

The article goes on to lay out the “facts” used to make the determination that the world is coming to an end:

Temperature readings for this October were significantly higher than normal across the entire Arctic region – between 3C and 5C above average – but some areas were dramatically higher. In the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, for instance, near-surface air temperatures were more than 7C higher than normal for this time of year. The scientists believe the only reasonable explanation for such high autumn readings is that the ocean heat accumulated during the summer because of the loss of sea ice is being released back into the atmosphere from the sea before winter sea ice has chance to reform.

Hmmmmm, October, October.   Wasn’t there something special about global warming in October?   Oh yeah, I remember.   October was the hottest October ever on record…Oh, no, my bad.   As I noted here, it wasn’t.   In fact, part of the “error” for October created the appearance of a hotspot in the Artic:

The error was so glaring that when it was reported on the two blogs – run by the US meteorologist Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre, the Canadian computer analyst who won fame for his expert debunking of the notorious “hockey stick” graph – GISS began hastily revising its figures. This only made the confusion worse because, to compensate for the lowered temperatures in Russia, GISS claimed to have discovered a new “hotspot” in the Arctic – in a month when satellite images were showing Arctic sea-ice recovering so fast from its summer melt that three weeks ago it was 30 per cent more extensive than at the same time last year.

Is it just me or does anyone else notice that Ms. Stroeve’s “doom data” looks an awful lot like the data the number one global warming acolyte had to retract?

I’m sure Ms. Stroeve didn’t use the incorrect data to create her alarm.   It would seem like data integrity would be the first thing that any scientific claim or theory would want to insure and verify.   I’m sure the “error” of the GISS data was just that, an “error” and the global warming community  have implement rigorous standards to ensure that something like that never happened again…or maybe not!

On a related note, Minneapolis is forecasted to have the third coldest temp ever for December 16th tonight.   Maybe I should move to the Arctic!

I’m beginning to wonder who has more credibility, the global warming faithful or Britney Spears…Oops, I did it again!

December 12, 2008

Santa goes color bli…er, “green”

by @ 10:00. Filed under Global "Warming".

(H/T – Josh Schroeder)

The Portage Daily Register reports on the use of Santa Claus and his friends to indoctrinate the young skulls full of mush at Lewiston Elementary School in Portage, Wisconsin. From thin snowmen to Coppertone-spreading elves to Rudolph’s new LED nose, the “Santa Goes Green” holiday program was dripping with every cliche from the Religion of Gorebal “Warming”. At least the color-blind who don’t have green can still wear red.

December 8, 2008

…Worse Than The Disease?

by @ 5:29. Filed under Global "Warming".

According to the UK Independent, we no longer have to fear global warming….we’ve found a solution!   All we have to do is 1. Grow a bunch of trees, 2. burn them without releasing the CO2 they’ve absorbed, 3.   Burn them without using more energy than they create in the burning process and 4.   Bury the ashes in the soil.

Sounds simple; well, except that whole burning them without releasing the C02 and not using more energy than they create part!   But, hey, let’s not be negative.   After all, as Big G points out regularly to me, no one thought we could go to the moon but we did!   It does sound simple except for a minor detail.   In order to do this, we would need to grow and burn forests that are the equivalent of 2.5% of our productive land.

2.5%, doesn’t sound like much does it?

The World has approximately 33 Million sq. Mi. of productive land.   2.5 % of that would be approximately 835,600 sq. miles that would be needed for our carbon tree farm.   So far so good.

I think it’s safe to assume that planing our Carbon tree farm willy nilly around the world isn’t what these folks have in mind.   I think it would be safe to assume that they would determine that the tree farms should be where the carbon dioxide is.   After all, you’ll want to soak it up right after it gets produced so that the carbon dioxide doesn’t get a chance to further warm the world right?

According to this chart by the World Bank, the US, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Australia have the highest carbon dioxide per capita.   It would seem to make sense to plant the bulk of the trees in those countries.

The US has about 1.5 million sq. mi. of productive land, Canada has a little over 100,000 sq. mi. and Australia has about 138,000 sq. mi.   That’s a total of about 1.74 million sq. Mi. of productive land in the most offensive (carbon dioxide wise) countries.   If I take it one step further, of the US’ productive land, only 58% of it is in crop or forest land.   I suspect a similar number would be found in Canada and Australia, the balance of the land is pasture.

The reason that I raise the US, Canada and Australia is that with their productive lands account for over 70% of the world’s wheat exports, over 60% of the world’s corn exports and even 13% of the world’s rice exports.

Remember what was happening to the price of corn this past spring as energy prices were rising and the US was forcing more production into creation of ethanol?   Just to remind you, corn went from a recent average of less than $3/bushel to nearly $8 bushel.   Do your remember the stories about how the increased price of corn was increasing the cost of tortillas in Mexico?     Do you remember how the increased price of corn was being blamed for people starving in developing countries?

The additional corn production required to make our expected ethanol mandate this year amounted to less than .75% of our total productive acres.   Only .75% yet, it over doubled our price of corn.   The Carbon Tree Farms are expected to need 2.5% of all our productive acres.

Does anyone else see a problem?

November 25, 2008

A Second Bad “Get Rich Quick” Scheme

by @ 5:35. Filed under Global "Warming".

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that responding with money to email solicitations from Mr. Morgan Smith of Nigeria, was not a good investment. In fact, I heard recently that a second person responded to Mr. Smith and she was now short nearly $400,000!

Yes, you have to be careful what you invest in.   Along with land in Florida and bridges in either San Francisco or New York, comes the next perilous investment opportunity, The Northern Passage.

McClatchy is reporting the possibility of commercializing the ice free Northern Passage. I mean gee, this is actually the third time in the last 110 years that it has become passable, must be a trend!

While commercialization of the Northern Passage would be a good thing, I wouldn’t be investing with anyone who was suggesting that they didn’t have a plan to work in really challenging, thick ice conditions! McClatchy seemed to miss a couple of details from the last few weeks like:
October 2008, Fastest Ice Growth Ever and 200 Whales trapped in Canadian Artic Ice.

Still thinking you want to get in early on the “Next Great Thing?”   You may want to take a look at one of these historical views of arctic ice coverage first.

Still think the ice is going away? Well than “Spin the wheel and take your chances!”

But don’t say I didn’t warn you!

November 17, 2008

The End Justifying the Means?

by @ 5:58. Filed under Global "Warming".

5The Telegraph reports today  that what had been reported as the warmest October on record turns out to be not even in the top 50% of warmest! How would such a discrepancy occur? Can you say “data manipulation?”

Originally, Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore’s chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen reported that while many of us had experienced unusual cold in October, areas of Russia were 10 degrees above average. However, when reviewed by a couple of official “deniers,” it was determined that GISS merely copied September’s information across into October for the Russian readings!

Oops, our mistake….or maybe not!

Instead of admitting their mistake, GISS said, “Oh no, um, that wasn’t it. There was unusual warmth in the Arctic!” The problem with this is that the Arctic has been cooling so fast that the ice (remember all the screams about the melting ice this spring?) that was melting and about to flood Florida off the map, has been reforming so fast that it is now 30% larger than last year at this time.

Again, our mistake….um nope!

I’ll just cut and paste this because it is the epitome of truth being stranger than fiction:

Another of his (Dr. Hansen’s) close allies is Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, who recently startled a university audience in Australia by claiming that global temperatures have recently been rising “very much faster” than ever, in front of a graph showing them rising sharply in the past decade. In fact, as many of his audience were aware, they have not been rising in recent years and since 2007 have dropped.

Dr Pachauri, a former railway engineer with no qualifications in climate science, may believe what Dr Hansen tells him. But whether, on the basis of such evidence, it is wise for the world’s governments to embark on some of the most costly economic measures ever proposed, to remedy a problem which may actually not exist, is a question which should give us all pause for thought. (emphasis mine)

Huh, What?   A railroad engineer?   This guy is only smart enough to drive a vehicle on a track?   We’ve got a person who’s only qualified to  drive the Jungle Cruise at DisneyWorld telling us that man is ruining the earth?

I was thinking the other day, when I heard that Al Gore had turned down the offer to be “Global Warming Czar” from Barack Obama, “Why would he do that?”   Honestly, if the guy is as concerned as Gore claims to be about global warming, why not take the role that would undoubtedly set direction and precedent for at the the US and possibly the world?

Yeah, I thought about it for about 5 seconds and  the answer was  obvious.   If Al became the Czar he’d actually have to answer questions, come up with facts, be subject to scrutiny.   On top of that, he wouldn’t be able to charge ridiculous amounts of money as the “Johnny Appleseed” of global warming!   No, none of that would do.   Why would Gore want to subject himself to all of that when with the election of Barack Obama, he got another four year lease on fleecing of the gullible public.

October 30, 2008

Reminiscing

by @ 5:25. Filed under Energy, Global "Warming".

Remember back to the good ol’ days when we were debating whether we were or weren’t in a recession, we were concerned that McCain might have to face Hillary and gas was $4.00?   Well, all three of those things are now ancient history.   Or are they?

NewsMax.com published an article Wednesday that claims that the International Energy Agency will publish a report saying that existing oil field production is declining at a rate far faster than previously thought.   While they recognize that it’s natural for   fields to decline and that increased investment can flatten or reverse that decline, they don’t believe it will be enough.

It seems that there are two ways to look at the IEA’s report.

One would be to continue the “drill here drill now” mantra.   Funny how the decreasing price of gas has seen an equal reduction in the discussion of gas prices.   I know the election has people’s attention but regardless of that outcome, we need to keep our foot on the pedal, so to speak.   This economic slow down isn’t going to last forever.   The minute that the markets sense that things will improve, oil prices will start to move up and so will gas prices.   If you like gas at a level that is about to go south of $2.00 in the Twin Cities, we need to keep production up.

The second thought is, “Gee, is it just coincidence that the IEA is raising a red flag on production now or is there something else going on?”   Likely not.

The IEA was originally organized during the oil crisis of the 70’s.   Its purpose was to coordinate activities amongst its member countries (now numbering 28 that are mostly Western and Asian countries) to reduce or eliminate oil supply disruptions, a laudable goal.   However, within the last year or so the IEA has hopped on the global warming bandwagon and now also focus on “alternative energy” and “mitigating climate change.”   In fact, the IEA has been a leading advisor to the UN on topics like emission trading and member country efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.   In a phrase, I’d say the IEA has mixed loyalties!

The IEAs final report is due to come out November 12th.   If the final report is as dire in its oil production forecast as what Newsmax is reporting, you can expect the Dems to cranking the sirens on the needs for a new stimulus to generate “green jobs for renewable energy!”   Just remember, if you hear those sirens, the report that generated them was created by an agency who no longer has oil production and mitigation of supply disruption as their sole, or some would argue, even their primary purpose.

October 29, 2008

Your Morning Global Warming Update.

by @ 5:29. Filed under Global "Warming".

Near-record cold, and mountain snow

Temperatures that are more than 15 degrees below normal for this time of year, combined with strong northwest winds, are making today uncomfortably chilly in the Charlotte metro region.

And

Expert Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson says, “This is a big storm by October standards.” More a foot of snow will fall in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania and the Adirondacks in upstate New York.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled complaints about BUUUUUUUUUUUUUSH!

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