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Sorry Global Warming Alarmists, the Earth is Now Cooling

June 5, 2012/21 Comments/in Updates /by Peter Ferrara

Climate change itself is already in the process of definitively rebutting climate alarmists who think human use of fossil fuels is causing ultimately catastrophic global warming. That is because natural climate cycles have already turned from warming to cooling, global temperatures have already been declining for more than 10 years, and global temperatures will continue to decline for another two decades or more.

That is one of the most interesting conclusions to come out of the seventh International Climate Change Conference sponsored by the Heartland Institute, held last week in Chicago. I attended, and served as one of the speakers, talking about The Economic Implications of High Cost Energy.

The conference featured serious natural science, contrary to the self-interested political science you hear from government financed global warming alarmists seeking to justify widely expanded regulatory and taxation powers for government bodies, or government body wannabees, such as the United Nations. See for yourself, as the conference speeches are online.

What you will see are calm, dispassionate presentations by serious, pedigreed scientists discussing and explaining reams of data. In sharp contrast to these climate realists, the climate alarmists have long admitted that they cannot defend their theory that humans are causing catastrophic global warming in public debate. With the conference presentations online, let’s see if the alarmists really do have any response.

The Heartland Institute has effectively become the international headquarters of the climate realists, an analog to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It has achieved that status through these international climate conferences, and the publication of its Climate Change Reconsidered volumes, produced in conjunction with the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC).

Are We A Nation of Men, Or A Nation of Laws?

June 5, 2012/1 Comment/in Updates /by newseditor

The USA was founded to be a nation of laws, not a nation of men. Our Founding Fathers knew all too well the European style of governance where the will of the King was the law of the land, and those laws were subject to the caprices of often mercurial monarchs. They did not want that here in their newly minted republic. They also wrote restrictions into the Constitution against bills or laws of attainder – laws that do not apply EQUALLY to everyone but target specific persons or groups in their enforcement. The Founders understood that in the hands of a corrupt official, such laws could be used as a weapon that would give an incumbent politician a major advantage over anyone else, and they knew that men COULD be corrupted. To balance HUMAN nature, they made us a nation of LAWS that would apply equally to all. To ensure the uniform enforcement of Federal laws, we have a Department of Justice, headed by the Attorney General of the United States and a similar legal hierarchy in each of America’s FIFTY states. The Attorney General, though a political appointee, in many cases holds a unique position. He or she may owe his or her position to a politician, but should that politician run afoul of the LAW, he or she is expected to investigate and prosecute that politician without passion or prejudice or appoint a special prosecutor in the event he or she is unable to do so without the appearance of conflict. In short, NO one is above the law – in THEORY anyway.

In REALITY, we have a “Justice” Department and Attorney General at the Federal Level who seems to be more about being a political ATTACK dog for his MASTER and his political PARTY than a WATCHDOG for the uniform and blind enforcement of Federal laws. Today we have more of an INJUSTICE Department, or Department of Obstruction of Justice, and Eric Holder is like a Mafia Enforcer carrying out attacks and lawsuits against anyone designated by his CAPO or DON as not towing the politically correct, ethnically pandering, party line. We’ve seen COUNTLESS examples of how the Attorney General and Department of Justice have attacked states attempting to legislate and enforce their own laws within their own borders, some of which have NOTHING to do with Federal authority, especially laws that are designed to minimize Voter Fraud. Why would the Attorney General of the United States NOT want honest elections? Could it be that it’s because HIS party generally BENEFITS the most from such FRAUDS?

Photo Credit: mira (on the wall) Creative Commons

May is Deadliest 2012 Month For U.S. Forces in Afghanistan War

June 3, 2012/1 Comment/in Updates /by Edwin Mora

There were 36 U.S. military casualties in Afghanistan reported for the month of May, marking the deadliest month for American forces so far in 2012.

The American soldiers’ death toll in May brought the total U.S. fatalities since the war started in October 2001 to 1,881, including 124 this year alone. Last month was also the deadliest May of the conflict, meaning the highest number casualties during May since the war began (see below).

When compared to the same period in 2011, the military deaths during the first five months of this year have decreased by about 20 percent, from 152 to 124.

For the 1,881 deaths that have occurred so far during the course of the decade-old war, 1,312, or an estimated 70 percent, have taken place since Barack Obama was inaugurated in January 2009.

That means that about 7 out of every 10 U.S. military deaths in the Afghanistan conflict have taken place under President Obama’s watch.

GOP-Controlled House Increases Debt more in 15 Months than 1st 97 Congresses Combined

June 2, 2012/28 Comments/in Updates /by Terence P. Jeffrey

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which took office in January 2011, has enacted federal spending bills under which the national debt has increased more in less than one term of Congress than in the first 97 Congresses combined.

In the fifteen months that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives–led by Speaker John Boehner–has effectively enjoyed a constitutional veto over federal spending, the federal government’s debt has increased by about $1.59 trillion.

Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution says: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” A law appropriating money cannot be enacted unless it is approved by the House.

The approximately $1.59 trillion in new debt accumulated since the Republican-controlled House gained a veto over federal spending legislation is more than the total increase in the federal debt between 1789, when the first Congress convened, and October 1984, when the 98th Congress was nearing the end of its second session.

Rep. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania served as speaker in the first Congress. Rep. Tip O’Neill of Massachusetts served his third term as speaker in the 98th Congress.

Heritage: unemployment up again, US economy captive to debt & fiscal uncertainty

June 2, 2012/0 Comments/in Updates /by Mike Brownfield

For those hoping for good economic news out of Washington today, they’re in for a terrible disappointment. According to the latest jobs report from the Department of Labor, the economy created only 69,000 jobs in May — well below expectations — while the unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent, and job numbers from March and April were revised significantly downward. Meanwhile, Taxmageddon is threatening the U.S. economy and holding back growth, but strangely, President Barack Obama isn’t doing anything about it.

Heritage’s J.D. Foster explains that while a second recession isn’t necessarily on the horizon, the news is nothing for the Obama Administration to brag about:

These jobs figures are consistent with other fairly bleak news. For example, first quarter economic growth was revised down to 1.9 percent, while an important measure of performance in the heartland, the Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index, fell to its lowest level since September 2009 which was near the bottom of the recent recession. None of this necessarily points to a second recession, more like continued muddling and hardly in a position to withstand an economic shock such as, for example, the developing deep recession in Europe.

Europe’s unfolding recession is entirely of its own making, the product of their own housing bubbles, badly managed public finances, and an experiment in monetary union that went terribly wrong. Unemployment across the eurozone hit 11 percent in April – the highest level since the euro was created 13 years ago.

Much like Europe, the United States economy is being dragged down by crippling debt and future fiscal uncertainty. As former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan noted, businesses are holding back on investing for the future because, “In short, there is a fear of the future.”

Will America Really Say Yes to a Second Date with this Guy?

June 2, 2012/2 Comments/in Updates /by Randy DeSoto and Hadley Heath

If the past four years were a first date with Obama, would you agree to a second date?

To hear him lately, he sounds like a guy standing on a woman’s steps at the end of what has been a disastrous night. Because the would-be Casanova didn’t take the time to do a little research, he chose an overpriced restaurant with poor service and bad food. During the dinner he picked out an expensive, but crappy wine that is sure to leave his date with a hangover. His best accomplishment, a complex bouquet, turned out to conflict with her allergies, and she had to toss them out. When the waiter shows up asking if they’d like coffee or dessert, she intervenes, knowing far too much money has already been spent on the interminable date. She could brew herself a cup of tea at home.

Eventually, the bill shows up and he reaches into his wallet pulling out some bills, but doesn’t have enough money to pay for the meal. So he asks her to pay for nearly half of the bill, which she does on her already stretched-thin credit card. They arrive at her steps and he’s talking about himself (again) and the good time he showed her: the leisurely service gave them time to chat, and her paying for almost half the meal on credit was an investment in their future.

Still, no apology or plan about how things will be better the next time out.

The once-again wooing President Obama is nearing the end of his first date with America, and he’s now making the hard sell for the second. Just a few days ago, he told the leaders at the G8 Summit how wonderful his time in office has been for America. We “worked to get our own fiscal house in order in a responsible way. And through it all, even as we worked to stabilize the financial sector and bring down our deficits and debt over the longer term, we stayed focused on growing the economy and creating jobs in the immediate term.”

Video: US Continues to Spend Billions on UN Idiocy

June 2, 2012/4 Comments/in Updates /by UN Me Movie

The US continues to spend billions of dollars every year on an inept, corrupt, and pathetically anti-American institution. This short but powerful video highlights what’s wrong with the United Nations.

Target “Attacking Traditional Marriage,” Selling Shirts to Defeat Gay Marriage Ban

June 2, 2012/0 Comments/in Updates /by Associated Press

Two years after Target Corp. angered gay marriage supporters with a political donation that benefited a gay-marriage opponent seeking the governor’s office, the retailer is now upsetting same-sex marriage opponents by selling T-shirts to raise money for a group working to defeat a gay marriage ban in Minnesota.

The Minneapolis-based retailer is taking heat in its home state, where voters will decide this November whether to put a gay marriage ban into the state constitution. One organizer of gay marriage opponents warned that their displeasure could spread to 32 other states where voters have banned gay marriage.

“Target is attacking traditional marriage, which is an incredibly misguided thing for them to have done,” said Chuck Darrell, spokesman for Minnesota for Marriage, a group campaigning to pass the constitutional marriage amendment. “It’s an insult to the overwhelming majority of their customers.”

Target’s move comes two years after it endured a backlash from gay rights supporters for giving $150,000 to a campaign group backing the conservative Republican candidate for Minnesota governor, Tom Emmer, who narrowly lost to Democrat Mark Dayton in a race that went to an automatic recount. The donation set off protests and calls for a boycott from a constituency that had seen Target as an ally.

Supporters of gay marriage see Minnesota as having the potential to halt their long losing streak in statewide votes.

Cops Gun Down West Pointer for Legally Carrying Firearm

June 1, 2012/40 Comments/in Updates /by Jeff Knox

Erik Scott was a West Point graduate who went on to serve honorably in the Army, get his MBA from Duke and establish a lucrative career in real estate and as a sales rep for a medical device company. He was 38 years old when he was gunned down in portico of a Las Vegas area Costco store by officers from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. While it was 7 bullets from the only people we’re supposed to trust with guns that snuffed out Erik Scott’s life, what really killed him was an irrational fear of firearms – hoplophobia.

Scott and his girlfriend had been shopping in the Costco, but had been asked to leave when an employee spotted Scott’s lawfully carried handgun. Scott had inadvertently exposed the gun when he squatted down to inspect some merchandise. He informed the employee that he was legally carrying the gun and was in possession of a valid Nevada concealed weapons permit, but was informed that Costco has a policy against carrying firearms in their stores.

A brief argument ensued, some raised voices and obvious frustration on Scott’s part, but witnesses said it didn’t seem like a big deal. They saw nothing particularly threatening about the incident or the clean-cut, good looking young man. The store manager who had spoken with Scott seemed satisfied by Scott’s reassurance that he was a legal firearm carrier and would be finished with his shopping in a few minutes. But a store Loss Prevention Officer called the police and reported that an armed man was behaving erratically in the store.

That report, based on irrational fear, and perhaps some personal envy, triggered events which quickly spiraled out of control. It seems that the fear factor was taken up a notch with each description of the story to the point that responding officers believed they were going into a violent hostage situation with a heavily armed and dangerous Green Beret.

Las Vegas MPD responded with a city-wide alert, street closures, helicopter support and deployment of a Mobile Command Center. The first officers on the scene arrived as Costco employees were following telephone instructions from the police to calmly evacuate the store.

Bad News for Obama: 80% Say US economy in the tank, 50% say US will go bankrupt

May 22, 2012/4 Comments/in Updates /by Jim Meyers

Two new polls show Americans remain pessimistic about the economy — by far the key issue heading into the November presidential election.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that more than 80 percent of respondents still rate the national economy negatively.

The survey also found that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has now tied President Obama on who is most capable of fixing the economy. The two are even at 47 percent — and 55 percent disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy.

More bad news for Obama: 30 percent of voters polled say they are worse off now than when Obama took office in January 2009, and just 16 percent say they are better off.

Another 53 percent say they are about the same, so the overwhelming majority, 83 percent, believe they are no better off now than they were at the beginning of the Obama administration.