… subsidize it. [Read more…]
Archives for 2008
VI-Day
http://www.zombietime.com/vi_day/
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“Global warming is still largely a vessel into which it adherents’ pour their own virtue and, even more frequently, for demonizing opponents.” Christopher C. Horner, Red Hot Lies.
Dusseldorf Hafen
Love in the Time of Darwinism
A report from the chaotic postfeminist dating scene, where only the strong survive
The Manhattan Declaration
Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change
“Global warming” is not a global crisis
We, the scientists and researchers in climate and related fields, economists, policymakers, and business leaders, assembled at Times Square, New York City, participating in the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change,
Resolving that scientific questions should be evaluated solely by the scientific method;
Affirming that global climate has always changed and always will, independent of the actions of humans, and that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant but rather a necessity for all life;
Recognising that the causes and extent of recently observed climatic change are the subject of intense debates in the climate science community and that oft-repeated assertions of a supposed ‘consensus’ among climate experts are false;
Affirming that attempts by governments to legislate costly regulations on industry and individual citizens to encourage CO2 emission reduction will slow development while having no appreciable impact on the future trajectory of global climate change. Such policies will markedly diminish future prosperity and so reduce the ability of societies to adapt to inevitable climate change, thereby increasing, not decreasing, human suffering;
Noting that warmer weather is generally less harmful to life on Earth than colder:
Hereby declare:
That current plans to restrict anthropogenic CO2 emissions are a dangerous misallocation of intellectual capital and resources that should be dedicated to solving humanity’s real and serious problems.
That there is no convincing evidence that CO2 emissions from modern industrial activity has in the past, is now, or will in the future cause catastrophic climate change.
That attempts by governments to inflict taxes and costly regulations on industry and individual citizens with the aim of reducing emissions of CO2 will pointlessly curtail the prosperity of the West and progress of developing nations without affecting climate.
That adaptation as needed is massively more cost-effective than any attempted mitigation and that a focus on such mitigation will divert the attention and resources of governments away from addressing the real problems of their peoples.
That human-caused climate change is not a global crisis.
Now, therefore, we recommend —
That world leaders reject the views expressed by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as well as popular, but misguided works such as “An Inconvenient Truth.”
That all taxes, regulations, and other interventions intended to reduce emissions of CO2 be abandoned forthwith.
Agreed at New York, 4 March 2008
Global Warming Crisis: Cancelled
From: Frostdoc
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 7:51 PM
To: brooks@…
Subject: Icecap
We have not had regular emails because we update the site on a daily basis usually with multiple stories or posts. The site now has 2198 weblog entries and 85 Climate Library papers. You can search for any topic using the search on the left. You can use the author name or topic and the relevant stories will appear in reverse chronological order.
http://icecap.us is the home page if you have forgotten. 17 Stories will appear on the home page at all times, rotating back into the archives (COLD STORAGE or later FROZEN IN TIME) as new stories are added. If the story was on the home page very recently and you know what section, you may get at it quickly by clicking on COLD STORAGE. Story titles hyperlink to the source where possible (when underlined). We also provide a link to the source post or a PDF at the end of the summary for each story. Photos and graphs used usually have a choice to enlarge them enabling you to save images.
Current topics include stories on the latest GISS/NOAA data blunder, Gore’s decision not to accept a Climate Czar posiiton in the Obama administration, an Energy Strategy for America, Global Warming a Political Context, A study of long term trends from the Monthly Weather Review in 1933 that sounds eerily like the recent debate, and challenges to the claims that rising sea levels threaten coastal military facilities, and that accelerated melting of Greenland ice was taking place.
The most important reason I am writing you today is to alert you the Second Annual International Conference on Climate Change in New York City on March 8-10, 2009. The theme of the conference is “Global Warming Crisis: Cancelled. Was it ever really a crisis?” The title reflects (a) the shift in scientific understanding toward the skeptics’ perspective, (b) the defeat of the Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill in the U.S. Senate in July, (c) rising public opinion opposing global warming alarmism, and (d) rising energy and food prices around the world.
There will be over 70 speakers including Dr William Gray, Dr. Richard Lindzen, Dr. Roy Spencer, Dr. Willie Soon, Dr. Bob Carter, Dr. Fred Singer, Anthony Watts, Steve McIntyre, Dr. Ross McKitrick. Lord Christopher Monckton, Craig Idso, Dr. Benny Peiser, John Coleman, Chris Horner, Dr. Tim Patterson, Dr. Paul Reiter, and many, many more. I also will be speaking. Details and links are provided in the bottom right section on Icecap.
ICECAP is one of the co-sponsors. If we are able to gather enough in donations in the next few months, we may also a booth. We as a co-sponsor, have tickets available that will save on the registration fee which will be $720 at the door. You would have to arrange and pay for your own travel and lodging. If you make a donation to Icecap, and notify me at this email address that you plan to attend, you name will be put in a hat and I will draw a dozen winners. If you win, you can pick up your ticket at the registration desk. Please inform us if you decide you can’t make it, so we can make the ticket available to others who can.
This is a real opportunity to meet and talk to some of the giants in the field. I attended and spoke at last years’ conference which I wrote about here: http://energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=880.
Thank you for your interest in and support of Icecap over the last 1 1/2 years. We have had over 5.1 million people hits on our home page over that time. 80% since last November. We receive most all of our operating expenses from donations from people like you and we are thankful for your support. Like most of the other skeptic bloggers, we are not driven by profit but by the need to provide to you information that is not getting out through to you in the mainstream media. This has never been more important than it is today when our governments have taken or are contemplating unnecessary and unwise steps that will do further harm to an already collapsing global economy.
Happy thanksgiving.
Joseph D’Aleo
Executive Director
ICECAP
Also see: http://www.heartland.org/events/NewYork09/newyork09.html
Should I cool it or should I blow?*
“There are so many unbelievably inane thngs that go on in Elbert County. . . .out here in the boondocks where thinking is considered an unnatural act. So, selecting a single candidate from the dimmest and dumbest was a daunting task.”
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“Whatever form it takes, there is a recognition of community, like a genuine smile or a ‘howdy neighbor.’ The wave is like rural shorthand for ‘life is tough but we are all in this together – glad you’re onboard.'”
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With friends like this, who needs enemies?
————————————————————————————
“If each one of us should seize upon the property of his neighbours and take from each whatever he could appropriate to his own use, the bonds of human society must inevitably be annihilated.” Cicero, On Duties.
“Apocalyptic stories about the irreparable, catastrophic damage that humans are doing to the natural environment have been around for a long time. These hysterics often have some basis in reality, but are blown up to illogical and ridiculous proportions. Part of the reason they’re so appealing is that they have the ring of plausibility along with the intrigue of a horror flick. In many cases, the alarmists identify a legitimate issue, take the possible consequences to an extreme, and advocate action on the basis of these extreme projections.” Kaleita and Forbes, Pacific Research Institute.
Standard operating procedure for most issues at Abe21.
*The Clash
Bill Whittle
“[A]ll isolated cultures suffer from a lack of perspective, from a lack of flexibility and from a self-reinforcing groupthink that protects the status quo at the expense of the pain of innovation.”
From an article at his blog www.ejectejecteject.com
Bush Discusses Financial Markets
President Bush Discusses Financial Markets and World Economy
Federal Hall National Memorial
New York, New York [Read more…]
Abe21 in denial
After losing his election bid for commissioner of district 3 in Elbert County, Mr. Thomasson persists in the delusion that he represents the voice of the people and that the people’s voice says, “regulatory planning.” That’s not the people’s voice Mr. Thomasson, that’s a little voice that only you and a few of your special friends can hear.
Mr. Thomasson is part of a special minority of Elbert County citizens who share a phone tree. They don’t need to persuade the voting public because their specialness is so special, they only need to convince themselves! When the call goes out to the phone tree, the minions come marching in to pretend that they represent you and me. Sorry, they don’t, and neither does Mr. Thomasson.
Abe21 is again in high dudgeon, rationalizing away the majority voice of the voting public. Their ad hominem machine has gone into overdrive to cover yours truly with as much mud as they can sling just shy of outright defamation. Oh dopey me, I thought the election was actually over! I thought there was a point to this voting thing! Apparently I am marooned with this whacky notion that our votes meant something.
Well, the Voters, the real ones who Mr. Thomasson’s phone tree friends do not represent, heard him loud and clear when he promised a regulatory master plan, and their vote went overwhelmingly against him.
One can only hope that this fact will eventually break through Mr. Thomasson’s denial, and that he will finally realize that the majority of Elbert County citizens said “no thanks” to his ideas. Yes, there’s always hope.
hijacking our local republic
Democrats Sward and Thomasson were told very explicitly last week by almost 3-1 majorities that the citizens of Elbert County DO NOT WANT THEM REPRESENTING US!!!
Hey Abe21, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE.
(click to enlarge)
Who controls Abe21? The Democrats.
Who sued the BOCC over Spring Valley Vistas? John Dorman.
Who do not represent the citizens of Elbert County? The Democrats.
Who did not elect the current BOCC and in no way could be considered their “constituents?” The Democrats.
Who are not elected by the citizens of Elbert County to represent them in any matter? The Planning Commission.
Who are elected by the citizens of Elbert County to shield them from the government takings of arbitrary master planning? The BOCC.
Less than 1% of the citizens of Elbert County are behind the movement to make the Master Plan regulatory. They do not represent the “community’s voice” in this matter.
Deprogramming
Great article, great analysis, right on the money.To make a long story short, whether the context is local, statewide or national, regarding left/right issues and races, the left’s polemics have become surreal. They’ve lost track of their own hyperbole. They no longer distinguish between a hyperbolic rant and a reasonable argument incorporating factual cause and effect. They’ve been consumed by cult philosophies based in Marxism. I don’t think this is a close call. They’ve pretty much gone over the edge.
This is a deep problem manifesting itself in hundreds of ways. It developed over generations and spans many intertwined disciplines. From my observations of other cults, I don’t believe you can deprogram this degree of sophisticated brainwashing at the fully developed end of the spectrum. True indoctrinated believers have sophisticated defenses and devices to ward off challenges that could destabilize the world views they serve. For example, the fact that socialism has never worked is no reason to question its’ validity. They say it hasn’t been done right yet, many are versed in what went wrong in each case, and all are sure that next time they’ll get it right. Apparently, Robert Owens’ “united social” experiment of 1825 has proven a little more difficult to implement than originally thought.
Collectively, leftist true believers account for an incredible quantity of raw brain power and IQ. So long as they remain devoted to their cult, however, their ability to advance real human capacity and efficacy–the human condition–is handicapped. Meanwhile, the need for the balance of humanity to figure out our collective survival, prosperity and advancement, goes on.
Does this indicate a strategy? Maybe so. Maybe you have to engage the cult at a more fundamental level. In other words, don’t argue the broad thesis. Don’t argue conclusions that threaten them and raise their defenses. Argue the precepts and basics. Stay on the facts and perhaps let the conclusions take care of themselves. Let them find their own conclusions. You may as well since they won’t allow themselves to comprehend or accept any conclusions that originate outside of the cult anyway.
Rogue planning commission
Metli Stands Up for Property Rights
(click to enlarge)
MASTER PLAN ADVISORY DOCUMENT CONFIRMATION:
Planning Director Richard Miller came before the Board to confirm that the Elbert County Master Plan is an advisory document pursuant to C.R.S. 30-28-106(3)(f). Richard also stated that in April 2007, the Governor signed House Bill 07-1246 into law which modified the above statute and states in part the “Master Plan of Counties or Regions shall be an advisory document to guide land use development decisions; however, the plan or any part thereof may be made binding by inclusion in the counties subdivision, zoning, planning development or any other similar land use regulations after satisfying the notice of due process and the hearing requirements for a quasi-judicial process.” Under HB 07-1246, the Board of County Commissioners may decide to make a portion of the Master Plan or all of it, binding by inclusion into the zoning and subdivision regulations. Any amendments to the regulations must be accomplished by the public hearing process before the Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners.
Since the Community & Development Services Office, Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners have viewed the Master Plan as an advisory document, Richard recommended that the Community & Development Services Office should move forward with the public hearing process to remove any reference to the Master Plan in the County’s regulations.
The Board approved the recommendation and move forward with a public hearing.
Constitution – use it or lose it
The party of unity who will now govern is the party that responded to the Civil Rights Act with affirmative action as they compartmentalized us into hyphenated Americans for distinctively unequal protection under the law. Frankly, after the election kumbayas die down, this party has about as much chance of inducing unity in America as a leopard has at changing its’ spots.
Now that the national media has officially forsworn objectivity and gone into the tank for the Democrats, non-partisan Americans will have to work harder than ever to keep up with the myriads of attacks on our various freedoms. Keep one hand on your wallet, another on your gun, stay in shape and don’t get sick, keep speaking clearly, keep publishing, keep producing, and keep defending our Constitution from further erosion.
The rule of law is a two-edged sword. It created a fertile environment from which our country grew into greatness. And it’s also been manipulated by virtually every public and private group in America, some more successfully than others, to serve their own special interests.
The charismatic Great Man the country elected last night is, if not a blank canvas, at least an opaque one. He can carry, without conflict, each individual intention from each supporter. These supporters are going to want their changes made and they’re about to discover that they don’t all agree on what those changes look like. Generally though, the history of changes out of the leftist camps have tended to favor freedoms for certain classes and reduce the scope of general freedom for all.
Even though the election is over, the national media will keep hammering Bush. They’ve already elevated any positive observation about the Bush administration to the level of a thought crime. The leftist one-party rule for at least the next two years will need an enemy to motivate their changes and Bush is already packaged and available.
Notwithstanding their rhetoric, unity between the left and the right will not come from this new leadership. It can only come from people who work hard to see the American in each other, people who see beyond all of the hyped-up divisions and social structures that the left imposes upon America.
Voter’s Remorse
This Wednesday November 5th, the Elbert County Mental Health Union will offer free group grief counseling sessions for victim’s of voter’s remorse. The American Psychiatrics Guild raised the alarm over a month ago that Voter’s Remorse would become a serious public health concern as early voters began to discover their mistake of choosing candidates too soon. Grief counselors will be standing by to discuss any concerns victim’s might have and to provide education materials to promote future responsible voting. Free electroshock therapy will be available for manic partisans who bring their own extension cords.
Imagine the reaction…
“Imagine the reaction of the New York Times or the Washington Post had John McCain renounced his promise to participate in public campaign financing, proceeded instead to amass $600 million and outraise the publicly financed Barack Obama four-to-one, and begun airing special 30-minute unanswered infomercials during the last week of the campaign.”
“Imagine the reaction of Newsweek or Time had moose-hunting mom Sarah Palin claimed FDR went on television to address the nation as President in 1929, or warned America that our enemies abroad would test John McCain and that his response would result in a radical loss of his popularity at home.”
“Imagine the reaction of CNN or NBC had John McCain’s pastor and spiritual advisor of 20 years been revealed as a white supremacist who damned a multiracial United States, or had he been a close acquaintance until 2005 of an unrepentant terrorist bomber of abortion clinics, or had McCain himself sued to eliminate congressional opponents by challenging the validity of African-American voters who signed petitions, or had both his primary and general election senatorial rivals imploded once their sealed divorce records were mysteriously leaked.”
“Imagine the reaction of NPR and PBS had John McCain advocated something like abolishing all capital gains taxes, or repealing income taxes in favor of a national retail sales tax.”
Victor Davis Hanson, The End of Journalism
Same Quality at 1/10th Cost
Oct 31, 2008
Sundays at the Goodman household tend to include the New York Times crossword puzzle, the Dallas Cowboys football game….and (not to be missed)….an e-mail press release from Health Affairs, describing their latest, most interesting and most newsworthy offerings.
Yet by far the most interesting, informative and valuable article I’ve ever read in Health Affairs didn’t make it into any press release. Nor did it get covered in any of the mainstream health policy media outlets. It was an article about a country with institutions that produce health care quality as good or better than what we have, at a fraction of the cost! It describes how and why this happens and what institutions keep similar innovations from occurring in the United States.
So why the news blackout? Hard to say. As in art, food and sex, perhaps in health policy there’s no way to explain the diversity of human interests.The country is India, where fewer than one in seven people purchase health insurance. Yet two-thirds of Indian households rely on private medical care — a preference that cuts across classes and even extends to rural and paramedic care. Not to put too fine a point on it, but India appears to have the largest free market for medical care found anywhere in the world.
[Read more…]
The Sum of Good Government
“Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter—with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.”
From:
Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address
In the Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, March 4, 1801
Elbert County needs JOBS
Open Letter to the BOCC,
Here are the web links for advertising in the WSJ. Please, take out an ad. Invite businesses to set up shop in commissioner district 3 in Elbert County, Colorado. Tell them we don’t need their tax revenue. Tell them we won’t impose onerous regulations on them. Tell them we have a labor force in the western portion of the county that is ready to work for them. Tell them Elbert County wants to work hard for them.
We have land and water in the central portion of the county. We can support industry here.
Please commissioners, a new retail outlet here and there won’t fix our local economy. Americans know how to produce things. Take the shackles off of us and let us have a chance to compete in the global economy.
Lead, or get out of the way.
Wall Street Journal Advertising
Election items
Rhode Island, example of Obama’s tax-business policy: Higher taxes = Fewer jobs
Colorado Springs Gazette Opinion 10/26/08 – The Death of Objectivity
Also, Michael Yon endorses McCain
Greetings,The outcome of the upcoming U.S. elections will have a profound impact on the war. Meanwhile, the day to day fighting continues. If Senator Obama is elected, I expect to spend a great deal of time covering the fighting. Judging by his words, Senator Obama must be watched closely or we might see some terrible decisions. I expect 2009 to be the worst year so far in the Af-Pak war, which has serious potential to eventually become far worse than Iraq ever was. If Senator McCain is elected, I’ll breathe easier in regard to the war.
For a short dispatch, please click, “Are you Connected.”
Very Respectfully,
Michael Yon
