Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Global Cooling?

If the data in this article is indicative of a larger trend, global warming could soon be revealed as the hoax it is:
The total amount of global cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.
The Democrats should come into power just in time to mandate spending billions to reduce carbon emissions and give the economy a nice big sucker punch on top of all its other problems. All for a political fad that will be rendered obsolete in a few years.

The next few years are going to be a long winter...

This is absolutely brilliant.

I stumbled across a hilarious blog yesterday: Garfield Minus Garfield. from the blogger's own description:
Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?




Check out the rest!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

BOOM!

Hear that? It's the sound of the space weapons industry kicking into high gear.

The U.S. Navy today successfully intercepted its derelict spy satellite with a modified three-stage missile launch from a Pacific-based Aegis cruiser, handling a closing speed of over 22,000 mph! The old analogy of a bullet hitting a bullet doesn't do this accomplishment justice. Simply incredible.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Detroit Michigan, Land of Firsts

Yesterday it was first in the misery index. Today it's first in foreclosures. Isn't that great?
Some 4.9 percent of the households in the Detroit metro area were in some stage of foreclosure in 2007 -- 4.8 times the national average, according to the study being released Wednesday by mortgage research company RealtyTrac Inc.

Michigan has been in a protracted economic downturn and has led the nation in unemployment, a combination that has caused many homeowners to fall behind on mortgage payments.
We're also a serious contender for winner on the crime front (New Orleans just doesn't have the staying power). Thank goodness we have a liberal governor to make things better for us.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

I Should Be a Reuters Editor

So much of the global warming craze is taken at face value, it calls into question the journalistic integrity of almost all of the mainstream media. Reuters is no exception, so I've taken it upon my self to edit the following article:
LONDON (Reuters) - There is a 25 percent chance that a severe heat wave will strike England and kill more than 6,000 people before 2017 if no action is taken to deal with the health effects of climate change, a report said on Tuesday.

The report for Britain's Department of Health estimated more than 3,000 people could die in an intense summer hot spell in southeast England, with just as many more dying from heat-related deaths over the summer.

Until 2012, when London stages the summer Olympic Games, the odds of thousands dying in summer heat each year will be 1 in 40, the report said, and thousands more could die each year as a result of other effects of global warming and air pollution.

"In terms of conventional thinking about risks to health, a risk of 1 in 40 is high," the report said.

Here's a more accurate version:

LONDON (Reuters) - There is a 25 percent chance that a severe heat propaganda wave will strike England and kill dupe more than 6,000 people before 2017 if no action is taken to deal with the health dubious effects of climate changejunk science, a report said on Tuesday.

The report for Britain's Department of Health Alarmism estimated more than 3,000 people could die react ignorantly in an intense summer hot spell campaign of misinformation in southeast England, with just as many more dying from reacting to heat-related deaths alarmist junk science over the summer.

Until 2012, when London stages the summer Olympic Games, the odds of thousands dying blindly accepting in summer heat self-destructive hogwash each year will be 1 in 40, the report said, and thousands more could die convert each year as a result of other effects initiatives of global warming conquest and air pollutionintimidation.

"In terms of conventional thinking about risks to healthfreedom, a risk of 1 in 40 is high," the report said.




Hey, that was fun. I could do this for a living.

Welcome to Detroit - America's Most Miserable City

Forbes has released its list of most miserable of the nation's largest 150 metropolitan areas, and guess what – Detroit is number one. But then, why wouldn't it be?
Motown is the worst in the country when it comes to violent crime, with an annual rate of 1,251 crimes for every 100,000 residents. Unemployment in the area is below the double-digit rates it hit in the early 1990s, but at 8.5% over the past three years, it is still the second-highest in the country among the 150 largest metro areas.
While Detroit doesn't provoke the sunniest outlooks among its residents, those hundreds of thousands uneducated workers who are still sitting pretty on cushy union jobs have little to gripe about. Even if they get laid-off, it will be in the form of a buyout worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. If worse comes to worse they can depart at will to their lake cabins up north and wait for brighter economic times.

No, I don't have a chip on my shoulder.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Here Comes Global Cooling?

Companies today are spending billions in the name of being "green" to slow down global warming. So I'm sure they'll be laughing in a few years as the planet drops into another "little ice age." "Well, we laid off 2,500 employees, and lost 25% of our market share, but at least we're green. Now turn up that thermostat!"

The dramatic cooling I'm talking about is linked to solar activity, and many scientists believe we are on the brink of a period of solar hibernation that threatens to cool the planet significantly the next few years, and which will last for a hundred years or more.

From the article,
Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."

"Solar activity has overpowered any effect that CO2 has had before, and it most likely will again," Patterson says. "If we were to have even a medium-sized solar minimum, we could be looking at a lot more bad effects than 'global warming' would have had."

Friends, the time for debate is long gone. It's time for us to act--right now--to save our children and grandchildren from a dismally cold future that threatens the very survival of mankind.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Romney Bows Out

For the good of the party - and the nation as a whole - Mitt Romney is bowing out.

This is according to his pre-released speech he's slated to give at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) today. From the speech:
I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror. If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.
I suppose it's time to take the Mitt Romney sign down from my yard. It was a good run, especially for a virtual no-name pseudo-politician from the Northeast. It's also time to start saving up for the long, cold economic winter straight ahead, and today's politics will do little more than make it worse.

At least now I can get back to writing about more interesting things that cross my mind rather than Mitt Romney, all day, every day. As much as I like the guy, it will be nice to focus on something a little more trite.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Romney Presses Onward

Despite disheartening showings at yesterday's Super Tuesday primaries (and collusion between his opponents), Mitt Romney vowed to fight to the finish.

"This isn't just about the heart and soul of our party, it isn't just about which party's going to win in November. This is about the future course of our country," he said to about 500 supporters, many of whom wore stunned looks on their faces as the returns came in.

"I'm convinced that if Washington continues on its same course, America will emerge not as the great nation of the 21st Century by the end, but as a second-tier power. It will be passed by someone else; I can't tell you who it will be, but it will be passed by someone else."

Romney added: "That will not happen. We'll keep America strong."

Does Mitt have even the smallest chance of winning the White House? That depends on whether all those conservative pundits who flocked to him this past week remain faithful, or if they abandon their principles in favor of the more dominant candidate. If conservative talk radio is loud and consistent in its support of Romney over the next couple months, a turnaround is possible. But that's a big IF.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

McCain/Huckabee Backroom Deal!

It's too odd to be a coincidence. In West Virginia, Mike Huckabee somehow surged from a distant second behind Mitt Romney to win the primary, along with the state's delegates. How did this happen?

It all has to do with W. Virginia's primary process. After the first round of balloting, the weakest performers drop out (in this case, John McCain and Ron Paul). Their supporters then vote again among the remaining contestants (Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney).

If you look at the numbers in the article, virtually 100% of McCain's supporters backed Huckabee in the end. Far to many for it to be a coincidence.

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic reported Tuesday that, after the first ballot, McCain’s campaign called his supporters there and urged them to vote in favor of Huckabee.

“Unfortunately, this is what Senator McCain’s inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney’s campaign of conservative change,” Beth Myers, Romney’s campaign manager, said in a statement.

If antics like this are what cause McCain to win the primaries, then the Republican Party truly will have destroyed itself.

Rush Officially Endorses Romney

It was only a matter of time--and hopefully not too much time. Rush has come out and officially thrown his support behind Mitt Romney. I suppose he regrets his earlier commitment to refrain from endorsing anyone, but I suppose the stakes now are too high.

Hopefully Rush can help push Mitt over the top in enough states. Crossing fingers...

Thomas Sowell on Hillary, McCain

Thomas Sowell has long been my favorite columnist (see his link to the right.) Today's piece assesses the level of "experience" being touted by both Hillary Clinton and John McCain. What is most interesting is that these obvious observations are so easily overlooked by the media and the voting public.

Sowell on Hillary:
For those people whose memories are short, go on the Internet and look up Whitewater, the confidential raw FBI files on hundreds of Republican politicians that somehow -- nobody apparently knows how -- ended up in the Clinton White House illegally.

Look up the sale of technology to China that can enable them to more accurately hit American cities with nuclear missiles. Then look up the money that found its way to the Clintons through devious channels.

Look up Bill Clinton's firing of every single U.S. Attorney in the country, which of course included those who were investigating him for corruption as governor of Arkansas.
Sowell on McCain:

While you are on the Internet looking up the record of the Clintons, look up John McCain's record, including the Keating Five, the McCain-Feingold bill, and the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill.

Senator McCain's trump card is his military experience. Some say his military experience is especially valuable when we are under threat from terrorists. But is it?

John McCain's military service was both honorable and heroic. But let's not confuse that with experience relevant to being President of the United States.

The most charitable interpretation of Senator McCain's constant touting of his military service is that he is simply milking it for political advantage.

It would be truly dangerous if McCain really considers himself a military expert, who can therefore ignore the advice of real military experts as President of the United States.

A man like McCain, with a history of being headstrong and shooting from the hip, is the last thing we need as President, in an age of complex global threats, including terrorists who may get nuclear weapons within the next few years.

I don't think Thomas Sowell has come out and endorsed anyone, but from articles like these, I think it's safe to say he's voting for Mitt Romney.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Thomas S. Monson - 16th LDS Church President

Two days after the funeral of Gordon B. Hinckley, the Mormon church has announced its new presidency, headed by Thomas S. Monson.


On a related note, I had the opportunity to shake Monson's hand back in 1989 at the Boy Scout National Jamboree.

Romney's Super-Tuesday Surge

It looks like Mitt Romney is finding some traction leading up to all-important Super Tuesday tomorrow. In the last week in many areas of the country he has eliminated most or all of John McCain's lead in the polls; especially significant is delegate-rich California, where Romney leads by eight points. This is complemented by his non-binding landslide win in Maine. I'm sure this is due in no small part to the support of the conservative ideologues in the media - the Rush Limbaughs, Sean Hannitys, Laura Ingrahams, et. al. He may have been helped by comments from Mike Huckabee, who is believed to be siphoning votes from Romney in the South. Huckabee has turned negative toward the talking heads who oppose him, even going so far as to say that Sean Hannity was speaking from his pocketbook because he was on the Bain Capital payroll.

Romney is known to be the most hated candidate among his competition thanks to his Washington outsider status, his money and his evolution on key issues. If he can pull this off, it will be quite the upset. At the very least, I believe Mitt will win enough delegates on Tuesday to continue his run.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Rick Santorum Gets Behind Romney

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum joined Laura Ingraham on her radio show to voice his support of Mitt Romney. From the interview:
If you're a conservative, there really is only one place to go right now. I would even argue farther than that. If you're a Republican, if you're a Republican in the broadest sense, there is only one place to go right now and that's Mitt Romney.
Listen to the interview.

Hugh Hewitt on the State of the Race

Hugh Hewitt insightfully comments on the state of the Romney vs. McCain race.

John McCain saved Romney the trouble of going negative in the debate by putting on open display the temperament that has earned John McCain a measure of infamy in the Senate and beyond, and McCain's refusal to back away from the obvious-to-all low-blow distortion of Romney's Iraq positions left a queasy feeling among even McCain supporters. This was not a display of anything like the skills that would be necessary to defeat Senator Obama in the fall. In fact, just the opposite.

Many heads in the spin room at the debate from which I was broadcasting were shaking after the Giuliani press conference as McCain looked bleached and worn out. They were still shaking after McCain’s shaky debate. On many Republican lips was a familiar name: Bob Dole.

Bob Dole, without the conservative principles, perhaps, or the energy.

Hewitt also reinforces the notion that conservatives media figures are coalescing behind Romney as they realize that a vote for McCain is not a vote for conservatism. In fact, Ann Coulter goes so far as to say that Hillary is right on more issues!