In Barack Obama’s July 2, 2008 speech calling America to national service, Obama proposed “a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as our military.Will that be along the line of the Civilian Conservation Corps or will it be the Obamajugend?
Mission Accomplished. Bring the troops home on my timetable.I've got to hand it to Obama and his campaign. They turned his Iraq surrender strategy completely around. In fact, for those not paying attention (90% of voters) he makes it appear that it is his strategy that is being implemented and is unchanging. Pulling out our troops was his plan all along, it just is awaiting his inauguration.
- Barack W. Obama
Senator Obama has said that he would consult our commanders on the ground and Iraqi leaders, but he did no such thing before releasing his “plan for Iraq.” Perhaps that’s because he doesn’t want to hear what they have to say. During the course of eight visits to Iraq, I have heard many times from our troops what Major General Jeffrey Hammond, commander of coalition forces in Baghdad, recently said: that leaving based on a timetable would be “very dangerous.”This will get ugly sometime before November.
The danger is that extremists supported by Al Qaeda and Iran could stage a comeback, as they have in the past when we’ve had too few troops in Iraq. Senator Obama seems to have learned nothing from recent history. I find it ironic that he is emulating the worst mistake of the Bush administration by waving the “Mission Accomplished” banner prematurely.
ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: While Obama spent 91 minutes at a campaign event yesterday, the Illinois Senator spent a total of 188 minutes in the gym yesterday – making three separate stops to Chicago gyms over the course of one day.
The presumptive nominee started his Tuesday with a short morning work out at the gym of his friend and longtime aide Mike Signator’s apartment building.
After flying to Indiana for a campaign event, and doing a round of local TV interviews, the Senator returned to his home in Illinois where he spent the afternoon hitting two more local area gyms for the duration of the day. Obama first visited Signator’s gym again, returning home briefly and then going to East Bank Club, a downtown gym which Obama regularly plays basketball.
Senator Obama has been known for his strict work out regimen – rarely missing a day in the gym even with a busy campaign schedule. But for reporters following Senator Obama as he strolled in and out of gyms six times over the course of one day - his multiple visits raised a few eyebrows – with even a campaign aide cracking a smile as the third gym stop of the day was announced.
If only he had that kind of dedication to preparing and voting on legislation in the Illinois and U.S. Senate. Each of those positions is a very demanding job, far more demanding than the nonsense that I do. But even during my ongoing fitness kick I couldn't imagine finding 191 minutes in a day to go to the gym or go cycling. And that is while I am away from my family and those associated demands.
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.Not when you spend hours daily devoted to personal activities.
The above graph is the result of The Blackboard's statistical analysis
of the recent weather record versus Al Gore's global warming
computer models.
Diagnosis: Based on this analysis 2 C/century, the central tendency for the trend projected by the IPCC in the AR4, falsifies.
Some details: The distribution shown above was generated by running a simulation of a process in which the “monthly averaged weather noise” is AR(1), with a lag 1 autocorrelation of ρmonth = 0.5044 and variability σ=0.1039 C. The trend was assumed to be 2C/century– which matches the central tendency projected by the IPCC in the AR4.
If that process describes the climate, and weather noise, the observed trend of -0.4 C/century is a result that would happen in fewer than 1 out of 40 events. So, the assumption that the underlying trend is 2C/century falsifies to a confidence level of 95%.
Bottom Line: The probability of our weather since 2001 being
consistent with global warming projections is much, much less
than 2.5%.
HT - Planet GoreWe're back from Al Gore's big global warming speech, and boy did we have a great time! We had a dedicated band of taxpayer advocates out in force, pointing out the high economic cost of global warming alarmism - starting with $8 a gallon gasoline.
Of course, we saw plenty of hypocrisy -- especially the fact that Gore didn't ride his bike or take public transporation to the event. He didn't even take his Prius! Instead, he brought a fleet of two Lincoln Town Cars and a Chevy Suburban SUV! Even worse, the driver of the Town Car that eventually whisked away Gore's wife and daughter left the engine idling and the AC cranking for 20 minutes before they finally left!
And.Asked if he was concerned that Rodgers would spurn the Packers when his contract expires after this season if he were stripped of his starting job at the start of training camp, Thompson said, "We'll deal with that when it comes up."
Then he said, "Aaron Rodgers is our starting quarterback."
Thompson declined to answer which quarterback gives the Packers the best chance to go to the Super Bowl, but when asked why the ship had sailed on Favre coming back as a starter, he said too much planning had gone into the season to shift gears.
"We have to go with what's real," Thompson said. "We don't know what the options are right now. We'll talk about it internally. It's all guesswork.
"This is a very difficult spot we're in. It's a very volatile situation and we don't have all the answers yet."
While not ruling out the possibility of Favre playing, Thompson also wouldn't say if he would allow an open competition for the starting job or force Favre to be the appointed backup. The obvious solution would be for the Packers to trade Favre, but Thompson wouldn't even address that.
Asked if there was a chance Favre could be on his roster this year, Thompson said, "Sure."
As a starter?
"I don't know how to answer that," he said. "We have moved forward. So we'll see where it goes."
In response, Packers GM Ted Thompson said.“Favre on Friday formally asked by letter for his unconditional contractual release, sources close to Favre and the team said.
The letter was sent by Favre’s agent, James “Bus” Cook, via overnight mail on Thursday and arrived at the Packers facility Friday morning.
During the conference call on Tuesday, neither Thompson nor McCarthy was openly receptive or enthused about Favre’s desire to unretire, the sources said, prompting Favre to direct Cook to request his release from the team. Favre has three years remaining on his contract at a total of $39 million. He currently is on the reserve-retired list.
Favre prefers a mutual parting rather than have to force the Packers’ hand by writing a letter to request his reinstatement to the active 80-man roster. Under league policy, the team would have to comply or release him.”
Tell Brett to kiss my big, hairy ass. If he wants to play in the next 2 years, he can come begging back to me. I'll put him on the 4-deep and he can try to earn a spot on the bench.
If he doesn't like that, I've got no doubt that I can find a bottom feeder in the AFC that will deal a pair of draft picks for him. It is my choice where he ends up.
"This call for drilling in areas that are protected is a hoax, it’s an absolute hoax on the part of the Republicans and this administration” Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. “It’s a decoy to punt your attention away from the fact that their policies have produced $4-a-gallon gasoline.”Thank you Speaker Pelosi. Please explain the Obama-Reid-Pelosi plan to increase energy supplies and reduce the price of that $4 gasoline.
In this notice we are publishing an RFS 7.76% for 2008. This standard is intended to lead to the use of 9 billion gallons of renewable fuel in 2008, as required by amended section 211(o). This standard supersedes the 2008 RFS that EPA published on November 27, 2007, before enactment of the EISA.But the latest agricultural report warns.
Conclusion. The bottom line is that in 2008, U.S. ethanol production will probably not reach the 9 billion gallons called for the RFS mandate; ethanol production capacity will not increase much if at all this year; and corn usage for ethanol production will be closer to 3 billion bushels than the forecasted 4 billion bushels.
"Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels."Good job Nancy. Your policies have made $3 gasoline seem like stealing the stuff.
- Nancy Pelosi, April 24, 2006. Gasoline priced at $2.91/gallon.
It is true that ethanol production adds to the demand for corn, although livestock feed is still the largest demand factor; at least it was through 2007. The USDA is projecting that ethanol production will surpass livestock feed as the primary corn demand factor in 2008. However, the high and rising price of corn may prevent that from happening.I had another odd thought earlier today.
U.S. ethanol production capacity was expected to increase from about 8.4 billion gallons at the end of 2007 to about 11.4 billion gallons in 2008. That would have increased corn demand by one billion bushels; from 3 billion bushels in 2007 to 4 billion in 2008. Both the capacity expansion and the increase in corn usage are in jeopardy.
The bottom line is that in 2008, U.S. ethanol production will probably not reach the 9 billion gallons called for the RFS mandate; ethanol production capacity will not increase much if at all this year; and corn usage for ethanol production will be closer to 3 billion bushels than the forecasted 4 billion bushels. In the case of ethanol production, even with government intervention, the market is working to ration the available supply of corn as feedgrains are being bid away from ethanol production in favor of other uses.I am digging it, the market works. And it exacts it's revenge.
Since mid-2007, U.S. corn prices have increased as domestic feedgrain supply prospects have caught up with demand. As a result, ethanol production gross profit margins were reduced in the later part of 2007 to the degree that almost no new ethanol plants were announced or planned in the U.S.. In fact, ethanol plants on the drawing boards were canceled before construction could begin, and work was halted on a few plants that were already under construction.The issue for states where mandated ethanol is sold, is that ethanol prices will be forced to rise to make it profitable. Consider it another tax imposed by a government that sells public policy to the highest bidder, in this case to corn producers.
Now, operating ethanol plants are feeling the pain of declining profitability if not outright losses. The astronomical price of crude oil has caused gasoline and ethanol price to rise, but corn price has risen even more on a percentage basis. Some smaller plants, plus a few larger plants that were having trouble with financing arrangements, have already shut down. A recent article reported that 16 ethanol plants either were in bankruptcy or were preparing to file for bankruptcy. The same article predicted many small and medium sized plants would soon be moth-balled until profit margins improved. Anecdotal reports from ethanol producers indicate that even large scale, efficiently run plants are reducing corn grind; in other words they are producing at less that full capacity.
"You know, it's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, ..."F-word you Pierre.
"... they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say [is], "Merci beaucoup." Right?"Wrong pinko. Never a moment of embarrassment for this uni-lingual American. I say "Thank you, very much." Not that girlie language gibberish.
"I'm surprised at how finely calibrated every single word was measured. I wasn't saying anything I hadn't said before, that I didn't say a year ago or when I was a United States senator," said Obama, who is still a senator from Illinois.The past-tense is appropriate, and for McCain, too. Neither has done any senatorizing for over a year. That is not right. Both should step down from the U.S. Senate if they want to be president, or not run at all.
"The Midwest was the nation's center of interurban railway development and (...) Milwaukee had one of the finest systems in the Midwest."At a time when roads were primitive; when automobiles were unreliable, unsafe, and uncomfortable; how could this state-of-the-art interurban rail system not succeed?
The various projects started and completed between 1930 and 1932, from the downtown Rapid Transit line to the Lakeshore Belt Line, required an expenditure of millions of dollars. Rapid Transit, wrote Roy Pinkley in 1930, "represents a huge outlay of money, but it is now established and will undoubtedly be of immense importance in ten years from the present time.That thinking was wrong in 1930, and is wrong in 2008. This extensive and efficient interurban transit system quickly failed.
The TMER&L, a name once synonymous with the best in urban transit, became a corporate ghost, a failing presence that still lingers above the doors of the old red-brick power plants and substations ...I interpret "long the beleaguered members" to mean that for decades the interurban had poorer ridership than either the TMER&L streetcars or buses. We all know how popular riding the bus is in Milwaukee County today. Why should we expect the KRM to do better than that? Or this?
The interurban lines, long the beleaguered members of the transit system, were the first to go. Service between St. Martins and Burlington ended in 1938. In sharp contrast to the delegation of dignitaries that had made the first run in 1909, arriving to band music and speeches, only one paying customer rode the last car to the end of the line.
The interurban lines operated at a loss, and no paying customer ever boarded a car on the Lakeside Line.Whose brilliant idea is the KRM, and what data do they have to show that ridership will be better in 2038 than it was in 1938?
Monticello's enslaved laborers worked from dawn to dusk, six days a week. Every week adults received a peck of cornmeal, a half-pound of meat, some salted herring, and occasionally salt and milk. They received a set of clothing every summer and winter, and a blanket every three years.The wealth of Washington and Jefferson was produced on the backs of their hundreds of slaves. This wealth, in part, allowed these and other free men to dream of independence from Great Britain. On this day of our celebration of independence, give thought to the thousands of Africans who were brought to America and enslaved, and whose labor contributed so much to our freedom.
Hollowed and withering, one of Monticello’s most famous trees will be taken down.
The towering tulip poplar – revered both because of its size and the common misconception that Thomas Jefferson planted it – has been in decline for years.
Despite numerous efforts to save the poplar on the south side of Jefferson’s house, workers this evening will begin a two-day removal process.
[...]Its exact age can’t be determined because the trunk is mostly hollow, but estimates put the tree’s age at at least 150 years.
The earliest photos of Monticello, taken around 1870, show a young tree in the spot where the tulip poplar now stands. That could be the existing tree.
If Jefferson had planted the existing tree in 1807, however, it would have appeared more mature in those photos, Mogielnicki said.
President Bush will make an Independence Day address at Monticello today.
"We've for generations taken it out of the earth, taken carbon out of the earth and put it into the atmosphere ..."Where did the fossils in those fossil fuels come from Harry?
As early as 1934, TM's managers were fielding citizens' requests to replace "the present cumbersome and noisy street cars" with trackless trolleys. As the requests piled up, the electric streetcar, long described as "the sturdy backbone of the transit system," became an endangered species , a situation with disastrous financial implications. Rail & Wire published an upper-case lament:And ...
The public, after being carried back and forth by electric railway cars for half a century, is turning its back on the street railway car and is demanding rubber-tired transportation equipment. Owners of property along the street railway lines join the car riders in demanding this replacement by rubber-tired service, LONG BEFORE THE USEFUL LIFE OF RAILS, TROLLEYS AND RAIL CARS HAS BEEN USED UP.
- Path of a Pioneer by John Gurda
In 1948, when trackless trolley service came to North Third Street, Rail & Wire praised the demise of the "outmoded" streetcars that "caused passengers and motorists delays and annoyance." Roy Pinkley, head of the transit system since 1925 described the steel-wheeled car as an anachronism. "It has long been demonstrated," he wrote in 1952, "that street cars do not belong in modern traffic."Sixty years later and the light rail crowd ignores this history.
- Gurda
If the transportation nightmare caused by the flood-related closing of Interstate 94 proves anything it is that car and truck transportation is a region’s economic and social lifeline. When "you can’t get there from here" becomes reality, it not only inconveniences hundreds of thousands of people, it can disrupt businesses and put communities in chaos (how would you like to live on the Highway 83 "detour" right now?).Belling's tipsters failed him this time. He does not address one other aspect of the flood that makes train travel an even bigger loser. As demonstrated by the response to high water along I-94, car and truck travel can be inconveniently diverted to other roads so travel can be completed. Not so with rail.
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of NASA scientist James Hansen’s Congressional global warming testimony, Warren Meyer posted the above slide from Hansen. Added by Warren to the plot are the actual average global temperatures recorded since the 1988 testimony (the green data series) to show how poorly Hansen’s 1988 projections are reflected by the real temperature record.
I have also superimposed NOAA's measured atmospheric CO2 measurements from 1958 to 2007 that were posted recently by Anthony Watts (the cyan and red line).
A couple of points stand out to me.
The main point to be made here is that the expected global warming is of the same magnitude as the observed warming. Since there is only a 1 percent chance of an accidental warming of this magnitude, the agreement with the expected greenhouse effect is of considerable significance.
It should be noted that the superimposed actual CO2 plot tracks Hansen's projected 1988 to 2008 worst case plot fairly closely.
However, his projections of temperatures after 1988 show that his model broke down almost precisely when he testified. This could be due to a saturation effect for CO2 at that level or (more likely) shows Hansen got lucky (that "only a 1 percent chance of an accidental warming" did happen) with his early model applied from 1964 through 1988. There may really be nothing there, except a coincidence.
The other point was first made by Meyer.
Yes, 2008 has been far colder than 1988. We have seen no warming trend in the last 10 years, and temperatures have undershot every one of Hansen's forecasts. He thought the world would be a degree C warmer in 20 years, and it is not. Of course, today, he says the world will warm a degree in the next 20 years -- the apocalypse never goes away, it just recesses into the future.
I’ll add that there was indeed a modest amount of global warming from 1988 to 2001, with a plateau through 2006 that was about 0.2 degrees Celsius warmer than 1988. But global temperatures have since declined. Declined so much that the average global temperature is now 0.2 degrees Celsius less than 1988, not the 0.7 degrees higher that Hansen predicted. A difference of minus 9 tenths of a degree Celsius.
Hansen learned from his earlier testimony, no predictions in 2008. Just calls for prosecution of those that do not buy Dr. Hansen's groupthink."In fact, it makes about as much sense as his proposal to build 45 new nuclear reactors without a plan to store the waste some place other than right here at Yucca Mountain."Which is his way of saying "No Nukes!" By the way, it is Mr. Obama and his party who are blocking the opening of Yucca Mountain.
On the tour we were able to witness debate on the floor of the House of Representatives. As best as I can figure it, the debate had the gentleman from Georgia in favor of expanding leases for oil drilling on federal lands and the gentleman from Guam (actually a woman) in favor of some law having to do with biting monkeys. I am not smart enough to really understand any of it.
After witnessing this fiasco, I conclude that the U.S. House of Representatives is no longer a serious institution. Our founding fathers would be embarrassed to see what has become of their experiment in self governance.
There is a solution. Eliminate the element of demand related to the inefficient use of corn as a motor fuel. Prices will decline.Six weeks of rain have flooded untold acres of corn and soybean fields in the U.S. heartland, forcing farmers to abandon their crops and sending international food prices skyward. More bad weather is expected for Illinois, Indiana and Ohio on Thursday, forecasters say, meaning prices may could climb higher.
Corn for July delivery rose 5.75 cents to settle at $7.09 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, after earlier rising to a new all-time high of $7.25 a bushel. It was corn's sixth straight trading record in as many days. Prices broke past the $7 barrier for the first time Wednesday.
Prices for the corn in the ground now jumped even higher. Corn for December delivery soared to a record $7.55 a bushel on the CBOT before falling back to settle at $7.395, still up 6.75 cents.
...But corn's spike has raised questions as to how long demand will support the unprecedented price levels. Livestock owners will likely be forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs and chickens to cope with rocketing corn-based animal feed, and ethanol producers who use corn as their main feedstock will also suffer.
"This is a price level here where I don't see a sector that can afford it," Ward said. "The livestock sector cannot afford the corn at this price, the ethanol producer cannot afford it and the dairy producer cannot afford it."
When investigating America’s assortment of energy problems, a common theme starts to emerge: the more you look around, the more you’ll find government taxes, regulations, and subsidies that distort the market, raise prices, and increase our dependence on dictators thousands of miles away.Read the entire column by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison at NRO.
In May, I joined my Senate Republican colleagues to introduce legislation that would go a long way toward solving our energy problems. How? By increasing the supply through development of our own natural resources. Our bill, The American Energy Production Act of 2008, will remove unnecessary government barriers to domestic energy production.
The most obvious example of unnecessary federal interference is the ban on oil production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Despite its lofty name, ANWR is not all a pristine Eden. Rather, the area that would be drilled is a frozen tundra where temperatures can reach 70 degrees below zero in the winter. As even the Washington Post admitted, ANWR “is one of the bleakest, most remote places on this continent, and there is hardly any other where drilling would have less impact on the surrounding life.” In 1995, the Republican Congress passed legislation to open ANWR — which is estimated to contain 10.4 billion barrels of oil — for energy production. But President Clinton vetoed our bill. If he had signed it, today America would be producing almost enough oil to replace all of our daily imports from Saudi Arabia. By consistently blocking ANWR production, we are failing to help America become less dependent on foreign imports for basic economic needs.
But the problem goes beyond ANWR. Current federal law prevents oil and gas production in the deepwaters off the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. These laws, which were first passed in 1981 when the price of oil was $35 per barrel, were a luxury at the time, but today, given America’s growing energy needs, they are indefensible. The fact is, these areas, along with another energy-rich section of the Gulf of Mexico, could contain as much as 115 billion barrels of oil — which is greater than Venezuela’s current reserves — and 565 trillion cubic feet of natural gas — which is greater than the combined reserves of Iraq, China, Yemen, Oman, Nigeria, and Venezuela. Federal laws also prevent us from exploiting one trillion barrels of shale oil in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah — an amazing amount that is three times what Saudi Arabia has on reserve. Our bill, the American Energy Production Act of 2008, would allow us to tap these resources with environmental safeguards.
As conservatives, we must unite to repeal one of the most misguided policies of the last decade — government mandates to increase the production of corn-based ethanol. These policies — which give incentives to farmers to divert their plantings from other crops to corn in order to produce ethanol — have been robbing the world of one of its most important sources of food.
I was going to research the number of visitors to GCNP and ANWR, but one of Rich Lowry's readers beat me to it.
Pristine natural wonder
Pristine mosquito-infested bog
5,000,000
886
Drilling in ANWR would be like drilling in the Grand Canyon? The Grand Canyon averages five million visitors a year. The highest number of visitors to the whole of ANWR was in 1990 and it was 886! (from 2003 Report to Congress, Interior Dept). Just who's gonna be deprived of this miniscule bit of pristineness that Maverick wants to preserve?Come on McCain, give me one reason to vote for you. Other than, "I'm not Obama."
What they'll say is, "Well it costs too much money," but you know what?
It would cost, about... It -- it -- it would cost about the same as what we would spend... It... Over the course of 10 years it would cost what it would costs us... It -- it (nervous laugh)
All right. Okay. We're going to...
It... It would cost us about the same as it would cost for about -- hold on one second. I can't hear myself. But I'm glad you're fired up, though. I'm glad... (nervous laugh).
TOKYO - The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.I've got news for the Paris-based IEA: It ain't gonna happen.
The report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency envisions a "energy revolution" that would greatly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth.
1. The group should be made aware of the causes and consequences of group think.
2. The leader should be neutral when assigning a policy-making task to a group, initially withholding all preferences and expectations. This practice will be especially effective if the leaders consistently encourages an atmosphere of open inquiry.
3. The leader should give high priority to airing objections and doubts, and be accepting of criticism.
4. Groups should always consider unpopular alternatives, assigning the role of devil's advocate to several strong members of the group.
5. Sometimes it is useful to divide the group into two separate deliberative bodies as feasibilities are evaluated.
6. Spend a sizable amount of time considering all warning signals from rival group and organizations.
7. After reaching a preliminary consensus on a decision, all residual doubts should be expressed and the matter reconsidered.
8. Outside experts should be included in vital decision making.
9. Tentative decisions should be discussed with trusted colleagues not in the decision-making group.
