So Feel-Good You'll Cry

Just read the story.

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Edit (5/6/08): Here's the whole story on video.

Is This Ad Negative?

Some in the media have denounced it as negative, even racist. Judge for yourself.

Take Home Pay's Better

Lots in the news today about the tax rebates from the "economic stimulus." Politicians apparently think giving us our money back, putting it into our hands, will help the economy.

Why couldn't we just keep it in the first place; i.e., lower taxes? Take home pay's a wonderful thing. Wouldn't that help the economy all the time?

Something's inconsistent in their reasoning. Wonder if it has anything to do with it being an election year.

The Carbon Lie

All three Presidential contenders -- McCain, Clinton and Obama -- vow to "do something" about carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in an effort to prevent global warming.

The government will spend our money to enforce a cap-and-trade system, in which businesses buy and sell carbon credits. The cap-and-trade system will supposedly prevent global warming. The leading cap-and-trade bill, S. 2191 (sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman and John Warner) will increase federal revenue by $1.2 TRILLION dollars over just the first 10 years according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Al Gore and others purchase carbon offsets -- sometimes from themselves -- to justify not changing their lifestyle, aka "carbon footprint." These carbon offsets supposedly will prevent global warming.

In all these instances, Americans will pay more for food, energy and other necessities, while at the same time having less take-home pay because of higher taxes (those extra taxes, of course, used to fight global warming.)

Here's the big secret:

Higher CO2 levels do not cause higher temperatures. Higher CO2 levels follow higher temperatures.

The best argument is here.

In Al Gore's movie, he carefully avoids saying that high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere cause global warming. He describes the relationship as "complex." With this fancy verbal footwork, it's likely that Gore knows the truth. He profits, of course, from the CO2 panic.

Besides nailing every global warming alarmist you talk to -- and oh, how I wish I could have discussed the matter with the IPCC spokesperson that was in Lubbock a few months ago -- you may be wondering what you can do about this craziness.

First, we need to work hard to defeat the stupid Lieberman-Warner bill. Go here to let your Senators know that you do not want another boondoggle of a government program. Second, engage in every debate, every blog, every public forum you can. Popular sentiment must change before this is quashed completely.

Good policy based on good science is acceptable to me. Global warming regulations have neither.

Take Back the Nobel

Al Gore's Oscar-winning propagandumentary "An Inconvenient Truth" continues to fall to pieces under the light of closer inspection. Newsbusters.org reports that ABC News revealed last Friday that one of the most famous scenes in the film was fake.

The scene, purportedly showing Antarctic ice shelves "calving" (breaking apart,) was actually a CGI from the opening of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow."

Add this to the faked "stranded polar bears" photo, and you can see the pattern take shape. Not only does Gore lie, misrepresent and dissemble, he then has the gall to proclaim "The debate is over."

Not hardly.

Herewith a list of anti-global warming propaganda links:

UK High Court: "Gore's Film is Propaganda"

Nine Inaccuracies in Gore's Film Pointed Out in Court

35 Inconvenient Truths: Errors in Gore's Movie

Questions for Al Gore

Global Warming Fraud mega-link

A Feel-Good Monday Morning

Courtesy of those wacky kids at Improv Everywhere (perpetrators of "Best Game Ever,") here's a little number that could have happened at South Plains Mall.

Have a happy Monday.

Best Game Ever

To help cleanse the palate of that last video (shudder), take a look at this one. A group of practical jokers take over a normal, average Little League game and make it big league, complete with fans with body paint, the Jumbotron and the Goodyear Blimp. It's a game that these kids won't ever forget.

Raining McCain

I'm...confused. This throws the presidential election into turmoil.

The Perfect Problem

In America, trends tend to start in California. Both good and bad ideas often originate there, and the rest of the country tries to catch up.

Now Los Angeles Country transit officials, to fight global warming, want to add a new tax onto the fees and taxes that motorists already pay.

From the "Desert Dispatch" opinion piece: "Billed as a "climate change mitigation and adaptation fee," the measure would cost motorists either an additional 3 percent motor fuel tax, or up to a $90 annual flat fee, based on vehicle emissions." The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, a Los Angeles Democrat (surprise!) and author of Assembly Bill 2558.

Again, from the piece: "Los Angeles County motorists should ask Mr. Feuer what global temperature would persuade him that a new tax is unneeded. Global warming, now conveniently rechristened "climate change," is perfect for demagoguery. Those advancing the cause won't explain how they will know we have won the global warming fight, let alone what the ideal temperature is supposed to be."

Some points to take away from the story: 1) All the hubbub is over computer models. The supposed disasters have not been confirmed with real-world applications at all. I previously wrote about the failure of computer modeling here and here. Real world examples? Al Gore's photo of the "stranded" polar bears in his movie was deceptive at best, and the Arctic ice cap is pretty much normal.




2) What's the ideal temperature? At what temperature would the global warming alarmists stop their hysteria? It's the perfect Liberal problem: one without a solution.

Other People Say Smart Stuff, Too Part XI

Thomas Sowell, the smartest man in America, recently wrote a column with observations on various topics, but mostly politics. Some of his gems:

"Most of the problems of this country are not nearly as bad as the "solutions" -- especially the solutions that politicians come up with during election years. "

"What is more scary than any particular candidate or policy is the gullibility of the public and their willingness to be satisfied with talking points, rather than serious arguments."

"It is amazing to me that there are people who still take seriously claims by some candidates that they are against "special interests." All politicians are against their opponents' special interests and in favor of his own special interests. "

"The way to get people's votes is to say that all their problems are caused by other people, and that you will stop those other people from giving them trouble. But if you really want to help, then you can tell them the truth and risk losing their votes."

Global Warming: The Last Decade

A report from BBC News quotes scientists as saying, "The global temperature has not increased since 1998." Then follows the usual harumph, harumph as they explain that the temperature over the last ten years is not as important as the "long-term warming trend." The World Meteorological Organization says that the Earth's temperature has risen 0.74 degrees Celsius since the beginnng of the twentieth century.

Meanwhile, there is a disagreement as to which year was the warmest. NASA says it was 2005, while the UK's Hadley Centre says it was 1998.

A question comes to mind. If these two scientific agencies can't even agree on what the temperature was in a particular year within the last decade, how can they measure with any confidence the precise temperature of a year more than a century ago, when measuring instruments were crude and inaccurate? Especially when the declared increase is less than one degree?

Doubts, doubts. It's not unreasonable to have doubts about the claims.

BigDog

If you want to know why America is great, take a look at this new quadruped robot designed and produced by Boston Dynamics. BigDog weighs 230 lbs. and can carry a 340 lb. payload. It has articulated legs, similar to an animal's, that make it able to walk on all kinds of terrain.

Watch the video to see BigDog in action.