Thursday, November 01, 2012

This Is The Biggest Storm Since...

I pray for all those who have experienced loss during Hurricane Sandy and hope every family can recover quickly. Its never pleasant when a natural disaster occurs. I'm sure the people in New York and New Jersey see about as many hurricanes as I see major ice storms in Dallas, Texas. And its certainly not easy to prepare for something that occurs so infrequently.

Even before landfall, the warmanistas were already staking their claims to Hurricane Sandy as proof that global warming exists - and we must take immediate action to stop it. Sadly, their plans often include laundering taxpayer money through bankrupt "green" companies, which hardly seems like a prudent strategy to combat global warming, or to help a struggling economy.

In times like these, we need a little perspective. Accurate records for Atlantic hurricanes only go back so far for the United States. But there are reports of storms hitting the East Coast all the way back to the 12th Century. There were 3 storms in 1888 that hit New England, and 2 in 1869, 1893, 1954, 1972, and 1985. The further back in time, the less accurate the records. There is no way of knowing how many storms made landfall that went unnoticed, or were not recorded for posterity.

It wasn't that long ago that a certain well known climate charlatan was making movies, receiving a Nobel Prize, and telling the UN that hurricanes were getting more frequent and more dangerous. He was back on camera this week, using his best scary voice to tell us that Hurricane Sandy was, “a disturbing sign of things to come.”

In a very disturbing speech to the UN in 2005, and a noteworthy performance that should have won an Academy Award, Al Gore breathlessly blamed George Bush for everything from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina, in the latter case, apparently the local government in Democrat-controlled New Orleans gets a pass for their ineptness. The global warming pope himself made the following outrageous predictions.

Now, the scientific community is warning us that the average hurricane will continue to get stronger because of global warming. A scientist at MIT has published a study well before this tragedy showing that since the 1970s, hurricanes in both the Atlantic and the Pacific have increased in duration, and in intensity, by about 50%. The newscasters told us after Hurricane Katrina went over the southern tip of Florida that there was a particular danger for the Gulf Coast of the hurricanes becoming much stronger because it was passing over unusually warm waters in the gulf.

Poppycock. Its almost as if nature likes mocking Al Gore. Every wacky prediction he makes falls short. Since his proclamation of doom, the US has gone 7 years without a major hurricane (Cat 3+) making landfall - blowing past the previous record set between 1900 and 1906. That does not mean that hurricanes cannot, or will not be dangerous. But the assertion that global warming is making them more frequent and/or more dangerous is obviously flawed.

Technology, such as satellites, computers, and aircraft, has made it much easier to spot and track hurricanes and tropical storms in the modern era. Media proliferation has made it much more accessible for everyone to be aware of hurricanes globally. That would help explain any perceived increase in storms in the last 40 years. 2005 was a deadly year for major hurricanes with 7 in the Atlantic. But even without the advantages of modern technology, that number was matched in 1961, and surpassed in 1950 (8). In the preceding centuries, that number may have been eclipsed several times, but we simply have no accurate records to prove this.

Hurricane Sandy, as destructive as it may have been, was just barely a Category 1 storm when it hit the coast. I'm sure architects and engineers never considered the once a decade possibility of a direct hit from a hurricane as they were building New Jersey and New York. Just like New Orleans would probably not be placed below sea level in prime hurricane country if it were being founded today. Hopefully, in both cases, rebuilding will take into consideration future storms.

Hurricanes come, natural disasters occur, and as Solomon says, there is nothing new under the Sun. Speaking of Scripture, in that same speech to the UN, Al Gore invoked God's Word. He quotes Proverbs 29:18 - where there is no vision, the people perish. He cuts the verse short and uses the King James Version. When you look at this same complete verse in other translations, the meaning becomes much more dynamic.

When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful. Proverbs 29:18 NLT

Stay with me while I tie this together. God's Law is simply summed up as - Love your Heavenly Father with all your heart, and love others as yourself. If you love God and others, you do not lie. Nor do you sow fear and deception. Its one thing to promote a belief that mankind is destroying the planet, however wrong and misguided that may be. It takes on a much more sinister nature when you knowingly deceive folks, and then try to profit from it. 

There are many reasons why Americans have rejected the global warming hysteria. Chief among these is that many Americans are Christians who know to reject fear, and those that use it for political purposes. I will never be motivated by fear or deception - both weapons of the enemy.

Quite a few Americans, like myself, have also been on this planet long enough to recognize that not every single weather event is the biggest, worst, coldest, warmest, or longest that has ever been. When we hear claims like these, we recognize them as laughable exaggerations. And when these weather events are politicized to push a "green" agenda, we rightly recognize them as propaganda.

Climate change has happened in the past, and will continue to occur in the future, with or without man. And there are far too many factors beyond man's control that influence the global climate, chief among these is the Sun. It is irresponsible to utilize a weather event, such as Hurricane Sandy, and the suffering of those that endure it, to score cheap political points for a highly controversial belief system. But then again idolatry, placing creation and even man above its Creator, has been around since the beginning of time. Solomon had it right, there is nothing new under the Sun.


Related:
Roger Pielke: Hurricanes and Human Choice 

Hurricane Sandy’s ‘Unprecedented’ Storm Surge






Thursday, August 30, 2012

Have The Warmanistas Cried Wolf Too Many Times?

Far too many folks have used fear or a crisis to promote their agenda. If you are led to believe that driving your SUV is killing polar bears, well naturally, you would be inclined to not drive your SUV. And if the "experts" claimed that by implementing some cap & tax scheme, you could thwart the apocalypse, naturally you would be willing to comply, no matter what the cost to the economy or your family.

But what if all those predictions were not just wrong, but downright deceitful? That has been my concern from day one. The outlandish claims of an Arctic without ice, or Florida under water, or Polar Bears disappearing, should have been dismissed immediately by the general public as gross distortions. The idea that creating a trading scheme, taxing energy of all things, would somehow change the GLOBAL climate and grow the economy should be laughable to anyone with a basic understanding of economics. And yet there are still people pushing these same lies and schemes. Makes you wonder why?

With Hollywood, the media and far too many politicians going all-in for the global warming agenda, its nice to see more scientists pushing back. The latest effort is a full length documentary called The Boy Who Cried Warming. You can watch the film in its entirety at the link. It is free and I would recommend turning off the HD option unless you have a super fast connection.

The film is a good exploration of the global warming claims, and the agenda behind some of the lies. It is certainly not a purely scientific presentation. Neither is it agitprop like that laughable Al Gore "Truth" film educators sometimes force students to watch. Even a climate novice or student will get some value from this film.

Some of the issues addressed include:
- What science really is
- The Polar Bear myth
- Historical temperature record and its distortion by global warming believers
- C02's importance to life
- Larger forces (beyond man's control) that influence climate - Sun, Earth's movement, water vapor
- Politicization of science and government bodies like the IPCC
- Devastating consequences of Cap & Trade and other government solutions

Here is a preview. I encourage everyone to watch the entire film and share the link with your friends. You must inoculate yourself against this policy by panic. If you don't, politicians will force solutions on you that steal your freedom, and fix nothing.


Friday, August 17, 2012

Policy By Panic - Global Warming

Did you catch this random act of journalism in Slate discussing global warming's outlandish predictions?

I'm shocked to see the author, Bjørn Lomborg, stray slightly from global warming orthodoxy. Look for Bjørn to be shunned at the next earth worship service.

And while its nice to have some fun with this piece, the author makes a good point about policy by panic. Fear mongering is not an acceptable path to change hearts or minds. Because of all the wild claims made by the left over the years (hole in ozone, DDT, Alar, new ice age, mortgage crisis etc), many like myself are automatically suspicious of any prediction that comes from the Progressive-Democrat-Media complex. When you have folks eager to "never let a crisis go to waste," it is highly probable that they would create one, real or imagined, to implement their agenda.

The man-made global warming crisis gave me great pause when I first heard about it. I remember the outlandish claims in the 70s - that we would have to move to Mexico to avoid freezing to death in the coming ice age. Thankfully, that idiocy died rather quickly. But the myth of man-caused global warming will not end so gracefully. There is just too much money at stake, too many UN agendas to implement, too many 3rd world countries to plunder, and too many reputations at risk for this nonsense to finally die.

Commonsense should tell you that the sheer size of the Earth, a planet that is over 70% water, and with only a small percentage of land inhabited by humans in any appreciable density, would limit mankind from having much, if any influence on the GLOBAL climate. Even a limited scientific knowledge should cause you to consider the Sun, which is beyond man's control, as the most significant driver of any climate change. And even if you focused exclusively on greenhouse gasses, why would you not focus on water vapor, which is by far the largest greenhouse gas, instead of CO2? And of course there is the Earth's historical record, which includes long periods that were both much colder and much warmer than now, and sometimes much higher concentrations of CO2, should make any wild claims of man's influence on global temperatures suspect.

But this blog is not to dispute the why or why not of global warming. Climate change has happened in the past, and will happen again, with or without man's help. This is about the propaganda war waged by the left.

When Al Gore and other warmanistas claimed after Hurricane Katrina that global warming would cause ever increasing numbers of storms like Katrina, with ever increasing destructive power, it was laughable. We are now almost 2500 days (2488) removed from the last Cat 3 or above storm making US landfall. This far surpasses the last record (1900-1906 - 2231 days). But do you hear any "believer" apologizing for their obvious fear mongering? No. They are still pushing this nonsense with ever increasing fervor and even more ridiculous claims.

This is where Bjørn hits the nail on the head. Every incident, climate related or not, seems to get blamed on global warming. BTW - I know the warmanistas have been running away from the global warming term, but as far as I am concerned, they invented and own it, and I will use it as long as free speech is still allowed. The warmanistas use every drought, rain shower, snowstorm, tornado, heat wave, cold snap as absolute proof of global warming, in spite of sometimes overwhelming evidence against such claims. They make ridiculous predictions about more frequent hurricanes or the Arctic sans ice, and are never called out when these predictions are epic failures. If they want anyone to take this issue seriously, the propaganda needs to end.

IF the climate is changing, let REAL scientists do their job figuring it out apart from the politics and agitprop. Let them examine all factors before automatically blaming man. You may just find that the climate is getting warmer no matter what man does. If that is the case, it hardly seems prudent to tax the world into the stone age, leaving the common folks, those not enjoying the Carbon Tax/Cap & Trade windfall, incapable of adapting to their changing environment.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Obamacare - An Unconstitutional Attack On Freedom

As American Patriots wait to hear from the Supreme Court, the propaganda campaign has begun. When the SCOTUS throws out Obamacare, and rightly so, they will be attacked by the media and those on the left. They will be accused of killing children and leaving people to die in the streets. Its ironic that the party responsible for the billion dollar abortion business, and the murder of almost 55 million children to date, is now so concerned about "free" health care.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL - at variance with or not permitted by a constitution

Lost in all the left's weeping and gnashing of teeth is the realization that Obamacare is unconstitutional - it is simply against the law. But that does not matter. The left simply wants more control and more power over the population. With Obamacare firmly place, along with Roe v Wade, the left could decide whether you enter the world, and when and how you depart. Note the precedent set by many past and present socialist countries of using abortion, euthanasia, and eugenics to control population and remove undesirables. But that would never happen here, right?

It does not matter if Americans in every poll taken by legitimate polling organizations have continually come out against Obamacare. It does not matter that even with a Democrat Congress, it took legislative tricks and bribery on a massive scale to even pass this travesty - that they did not even bother to read. The left is determined to nationalize American medicine, bringing mediocre, and rationed health care to all.

Right now, even with the "evil" system currently in place, health care is available and often freely provided. The private sector already subsidizes the health care for millions (including many illegally here) who never pay. They do this because most people want the very best care, and many are willing to pay a premium for it. Once the government gets involved, it simply gives everyone substandard, and most often, rationed care. And even worse, compels people to pay into a corrupt system to support those who are often unwilling to help themselves. Do you think folks getting "free" health care will settle for the most basic care possible? Think again.

Freedom is precious. But freedom also requires responsibility. You do not steal from your fellow citizens to pay for your health care. You do not force medical professionals, who have worked hard and invested time and money on education, to provide health care below market rates. 

Imagine if star athletes, entertainers, journalists, or even, gasp, politicians were told that even after all their hard work, the maximum they would ever earn would be $25,000 a year. How many of these folks would be willing to do what it takes to be the best in their respective field? How entertaining would movies or ball games be if those professionals gave only 10% of their effort? Do you think health care professionals would be any different? Its simply human nature. If there is no reward, why work harder? 

BTW - I'm all for reducing Congressional pay to the minimum wage, although that might still be too much for a few of them. And if by some demonic trick Obamacare stays around, forcing politicians to be covered by the same substandard care the rest of us will suffer under seems appropriate.

The freedom guaranteed by the Constitution allows you to succeed, or even fail. Often through failure come the greatest life lessons, leading to tremendous victories and personal achievement through hard work. All effort should be free from the shackles of government dependence or excessive regulation. 

There are generations who have been stuck in government housing, and receive everything from food to mobile phones on the backs of taxpayers. I can't imagine anything worse to a person's self worth than to be totally dependent on anyone except God. And yet sadly, there are those on the left who may even mean well, but want to act like they are a god. They would gladly condemn millions more to the government plantation and a lifetime of dependence. Whether its ignorance, or demonic influence, it is still very wrong.

SCOTUS will slap Obamacare down, preventing the enslavement of even more folks. Maybe then, we can turn our attention to getting more people off the government plantation, and allow them to truly enjoy the freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Believer Or Denier

As published at Nature.com.

"A sizeable (and growing) proportion of the public in Western democracies deny the existence of anthropogenic climate change. It is commonly assumed that convincing deniers that climate change is real is necessary for them to act pro-environmentally. However, the likelihood of ‘conversion’ using scientific evidence is limited because these attitudes increasingly reflect ideological positions." -- Promoting pro-environmental action in climate change deniers



Note the psychological projection in this opening paragraph. You don't think the global warming folks are driven by ideological zeal!? Or in the case of Al Gore, a windfall in taxpayer dollars in his pocket?

Also note the use of the highly offensive DENIER label, while the "researchers" label themselves as BELIEVERS, appropriately equating their junk science fantasies to a religion. And remember, this is a "scientific" paper.

And finally note that the strongest opposition comes from FREE societies, where opposition is permitted and people are allowed to examine evidence and come to their own conclusions, in spite of billions of dollars in propaganda forced on them, and especially on their children.

Most of my "resistance" is based on scientific evidence and observation, and is corroborated by all the falsified/corrupted data and models being used to push this fraud. This does not mean that I want dirty water, acid rain, or even to destroy the environment. It simply means I have looked at the evidence, coupled with several decades of personal observation, and my own commonsense, and realized that it would be quite difficult for man to alter the GLOBAL CLIMATE. And destroying the economy for perhaps a 1/2 degree change in temperature seems like a plan only a Progressive intent on fundamentally transforming the nation could devise.

By their own admission, the professors claim that the "deniers" are growing. Maybe they should explore this fact. And just maybe, there IS a competing financial interest when the study is funded by Big Government (taxpayer) $$$$.

You can review some of my older blogs for more details on my resistance to the global warming hoax.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Taxes Gone Wild!

If you happen to turn on a TV or surf the interweb this month, you will notice a plethora of advertising for tax preparation. In just over an hour of viewing last night, I saw no less than 6 spots.

Of course there is nothing illegal about a business advertising their services. I just find it amazing that we have reached a point in this great country that you have to pay someone to help you understand and file your taxes correctly. Does anyone else see a problem here?

I am not some radical that thinks we should pay no taxes. There are some basic Constitutional things like national defense that are worth paying the Federal government a portion of my income. And although I would argue that most of what is spent at the Federal level is completely wasted and unconstitutional, I will save that for a later blog.

What triggered this blog is the ridiculous notion that Americans will WASTE over 6 billion hours preparing their Federal taxes. A whole lot of time, money and effort will be spent attempting to avoid taxes, possibly in illegal ways. And it would be virtually impossible to know if you are breaking the law since there are now almost 4 million words of tax law that no human could ever fully consume. If you did break the law, how would you even know? Often, not even the IRS can tell you.

The tax code changes almost as often as the Texas weather, about every 15 minutes. There have been over 4,000 changes just in the last decade. In 2010 alone, there were over 500 changes! How could ANY citizen keep up with all of that.

Let's talk about economic drain. On top of the 6 billion man hours wasted, over $160 billion is wasted by people and businesses simply attempting to comply with this ever changing nonsense known as the IRS and tax law. Imagine $160 billion in economic stimulus. That might create a few jobs or even some new industries.

Its way past time to simplify the tax code. A very low, flat tax with virtually no freebies, deductions, or special favors for big donors and special interests would be ideal. Whether you earn $100 or $100,000,000, you pay the same percentage. The "rich" pay their fair share and so do the poor. Everyone has a stake in how their money is spent/wasted in DC. Businesses don't do silly things in an attempt to cook the books to avoid taxes. Its low enough and compliance is so easy, there is no need to spend money on hundreds of CPAs and attorneys. Businesses and individuals alike can focus on what really is important, the pursuit of happiness.

I suspect the net result would be an economic expansion as never before seen in our lifetimes and far less need for massive government handouts. As job growth and demand drives up wages, people may decide employment is in fact more beneficial than the scraps they get on the government plantation. And if Federal spending was drastically cut, you might witness a debt free America in your lifetime. That would be a hoot.

The data was borrowed from this article in 2010. I'm sure the numbers have only gotten worse.
Tax Waste: 6.1 Billion Hours Spent Complying With Federal Tax Code