CAP AND SPEND

As the Senate opens debate on its mammoth carbon regulation program this week, the phrase of the hour is "cap and trade." This sounds innocuous enough, however, anyone who looks at the legislative details will quickly see that a better description is cap and spend. This is easily the largest income redistribution scheme since the income tax, says the Wall Street Journal. For example:

• Some $802 billion would go for "relief" for low-income taxpayers, to offset the higher cost of lighting homes or driving cars.
• There's also $190 billion to fund training for "green-collar jobs," which are supposed to replace the jobs that will be lost in carbon-emitting industries.
• Some $342 billion would be spent on international aid, $171 billion for mass transit, and untold billions for 'alternative energy'
• The revenue handouts reach an astonishing total of more than $6.7 trillion.
• Even the cap-and-trade friendly Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the bill would reduce GDP between $1 trillion and $2.8 trillion..

All of this helps explain why so many in Congress are so enamored of "doing something" about global warming. They would lay claim to a vast new chunk of the private economy and enhance their own political power, says the Journal.

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Senate Bill 2191: "America's Climate Security Act"

President Bush: president@whitehouse.gov

Barbara Boxer: http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm?CFID=9716973&CFTOKEN=89336911

Dianne Feinstein:
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe

YOUR Senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

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Iraqi Security Forces Approach Full Manning

Iraq’s security forces should be manned to near capacity by the end of the year, a senior coalition official said yesterday.
“Force generation has been the focus of our efforts and still really remains the focus of our efforts up to now,” British army Brigadier Johnny Torrens-Spence, deputy commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, said in a teleconference with online journalists and bloggers.

“We’ve been very happy with the way [the force generation] has gone in general terms,” he said.

The Iraqi army had 100,000 soldiers in January 2007, Torrens-Spence said. By the end of 2008, officials expect the Iraqi army will have grown to more than 200,000 soldiers, he said. The Iraqi army will have grown by 220 percent in two years, he added. Growth rates in the Iraqi police, navy, and air force have been equivalent to that of the army, Torrens-Spence said.

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Worthwhile advice

Fouad Ajami is always worth reading and his article in the Wall Street Journal is no exception. He reminds us why we went to war in Iraq:

"It is not easy to tell people of threats and dangers they have been spared. The war put on notice regimes and conspirators who had harbored dark thoughts about America and who, in the course of the 1990s, were led to believe that terrible deeds against America would go unpunished. A different lesson was taught in Iraq. Nowadays, the burden of the war, in blood and treasure, is easy to see, while the gains, subtle and real, are harder to demonstrate. Last month, American casualties in Iraq were at their lowest since 2003. The Sunnis also have broken with al Qaeda, and the Shiite-led government has taken the war to the Mahdi Army: Is it any wonder that the critics have returned to the origins of the war?

Five months from now, the American public will vote on this war, in the most dramatic and definitive of ways. There will be people who heed Ambassador Crocker's admonition*. And there will be others keen on retelling how we made our way to Iraq."

*"In the end, how we leave and what we leave behind will be more important than how we came."

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Time to Curb “Code Pink”

Finally, a member of Congress has announced a laudable plan to do something about the abusive behavior of demonstrators of the anti-war left. (Snip) The First Amendment protects vitriolic insults to military personnel, but anti-war anarchy goes beyond constitutional rights of free speech. In trying to muscle the Marines, the Berkeley City Council and Code Pink demonstrators went too far. Rep. Akin’s “Freedom to Serve” bill would help to protect the all-volunteer force, and his efforts deserve support. [snip]

The work of military recruiters is essential to maintain the volunteer force. To protect them, Rep. Akin has introduced The Freedom to Serve Act of 2008 (FSA). Rep. Akin’s legislation, HR 6023, would make it a federal crime to undermine or prevent military recruiting through vandalism and acts of violence or intimidation...

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" HR 6023 Freedom to Serve Act of 2008 (FSA)"
YOUR Congressman https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

You can't preach the Bible here, this is a Muslim area

[UK][HT:MS]

Two Christian preachers were stopped from handing out Bible extracts by police because they were in a Muslim area, it was claimed yesterday. They say they were told by a Muslim police community support officer that they could not preach there and that attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity was a hate crime.

The community officer is also said to have told the two men: 'You have been warned. If you come back here and get beat up, well, you have been warned.' A police constable who was present during the incident in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham is also alleged to have told the preachers not to return to the district. [snip]

'I am dumfounded that the police seem so nonchalant. They seem content not to make it clear that what we were doing was perfectly legal. This is a free country and to suggest we were guilty of a hate crime for spreading God's word is outrageous.'


According to a complaint by the men's lawyers, Mr Naguthney summoned two other officers in support, one of whom, a full constable, is said to have told the men not to return to the area. [snip]

It comes amid growing concern over the development of Islamic 'no-go areas'...

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Dots...

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Venezuela, US clash at OAS General Assembly
Medellin, Colombia - Venezuela and the United States clashed strongly Tuesday at the annual meeting of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the Colombian city of Medellin. Both countries accused each other of harbouring terrorists, and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro called US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte a 'petty official with a criminal record.' Maduro accused Negroponte of being 'responsible for disappearances, for tortures and for deaths in Central America...
[well, since these two gentlemen have equal credibility I guess we'll just call it a draw and move on {works every time}]
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[then again...]
How Hugo Chavez Courted FARC
They called him ''Angel.'' He was the highest-ranking outside contact for the Colombian guerilla organization FARC. More and more details are now emerging that demonstrate the close relationship between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the jungle terrorists. (Snip) ''Angel'' was FARC's code name for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and ''J.E.'' was Manuel Marulanda, a.k.a. ''Tirofijo'' (''Sure Shot''), the legendary leader of Latin America's oldest guerilla organization.
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Former Sandinista UN President

New York - The United States on Wednesday warned a former Sandinista foreign minister from Nicaragua, who was just elected the next UN General assembly president, to remain within his responsibility as a UN official.

Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, a Roman Catholic priest, was elected without a vote by the 192-nation assembly to preside over the body when it opens its 63rd session in September. He said in an acceptance speech that the UN should end all wars and called the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan 'acts of aggression.'

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Painting by numbers: NASA's peculiar thermometer

The story is that the world is heating up - fast. Prominent people at NASA warn us that unless we change our carbon producing ways, civilisation as we know it will come to an end. At the same time, there are new scientific studies showing that the earth is in a 20 year long cooling period. Which view is correct? Temperature data should be simple enough to record and analyze. We all know how to read a thermometer - it is not rocket science. [snip]

Previously we looked at how US temperature data sets have been adjusted - with more recent versions of historical data sets showing a steeper rise in temperature than they used to. Here, we'll be looking at current NASA data and why their temperature maps appear hot-red, even when others are cool-blue. [graph at site - it trends up {surprise}]

We observe that the data has been consistently adjusted towards a bias of greater warming. The years prior to the 1970s have again been adjusted to lower temperatures, and recent years have been adjusted towards higher temperatures.

[two temprature maps, at site, basically showing...]

Prior to any adjustments, more than half the US shows declining temperatures over the 20th century - blue and green colors - i.e. the US is cooling down. However, subsequent to the adjustments the country goes dominantly warmer (red and yellow)... [snip]

So how does NASA's data compare with other temperature sources? As we explained in our earlier article, NASA data is derived from a grid of ground-based thermometers. During the last thirty years, we also have the benefit of more sophisticated technology - satellites which can indirectly record temperatures across most of the planet. The satellite data is from Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH) [the money graph]:

The divergence is now quite striking. Looking closer at March 2008, NASA's data shows the month as the third warmest on record. In sharp contrast, UAH and RSS satellite data showed March as the second coldest on record in the southern hemisphere, and just barely above average for the whole planet. How could such a large discrepancy occur? [snip]

Dr. James Hansen at GISS is the person in charge of the NASA temperature data. He is also the world's leading advocate of the idea of catastrophic global warming, and is Al Gore's primary climate advisor. The discrepancies between NASA and other data sources can't help but make us consider Einstein's advice:

"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts."

[ much more data carefully deconstructing the assertions by demonstrating how NASA's data was the product of compiling layer upon layer of questionable science upon equally questionable asumptions - longish, but Highly Recommended for anyone not aware/disbelieving of how this game is being played > ]

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Dumb or Ill-Informed

What assumptions do congressmen make about the American people? Do they assume that we're dumb or ill-informed about the energy problems we are experiencing?

Every time there has been a huge spike in gasoline prices, Congress hauls oil company executives before their committees to accuse them of greed, obscene profits and price-fixing. One federal investigation after another of supposed oil company misconduct turns up nothing to substantiate congressional allegations. Unfortunately, the congressional hearings make front page news and lead the evening television news, but the results of federal investigations that follow are only casually mentioned deep in the body of newspapers and get little or no time on the evening television news. If news media people had an ounce of integrity, they would highlight the federal investigation findings that undermine congressional charges of oil company misconduct and they would question the congressmen who made those charges... [snip]

The true villain in our having to cough up $60, $70 or $80 to fill our gas tanks is the U.S. Congress caught in the grip of environmental extremists. But if reality is too difficult to swallow, we can continue to blame and support the congressional attack on oil executives, turn food into oil and think of other crackpot "solutions."

[this is the 8th 'investigation' of the oil companies. none have found anything]

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Proposal May Open Austin Homes to Disabled

The bathroom door may need to be a bit wider and the light switches a little lower. The Austin City Council is considering an ordinance today that incorporates those accessibility requirements and others into all new homes and duplexes. The "visitability" ordinance, sponsored by Council Member Betty Dunkerley, aims to make it easier for people with disabilities to visit private homes, which can pose challenges to people who use wheelchairs or other devices to get around. (Snip) But home builders say the ordinance would increase costs and infringe...

[now your home must be made handicap-friendly - even if you're not - in case one might visit. PC: it won't stop 'progressing' until we elect those who believe in smaller government]

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Club for Growth scores in GOP primaries
California

... In California, another club-backed candidate, state Sen. Tom McClintock, easily prevailed over former Rep. Doug Ose in the Republican primary to succeed retiring Rep. John Doolittle.

McClintock won by a comfortable 15-point margin, 54 percent to 39 percent, despite facing a $4 million barrage of attack ads from Ose.

McClintock is a well-known icon throughout the state, and while in the Legislature, he has been a vocal opponent of tax increases and wasteful government spending.

“This election has been watched across the country as a bellwether over the future direction of our party — and ultimately of our nation,” McClintock said in his victory remarks. “Let the word go forth from the 4th Congressional District of California that, tonight, voters spoke unmistakably: They want to restore our traditional principles of constitutional government.”

[good news, Tom's a good man {voted for him for governor - but 'the-governator' you know...]

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