Something Is Rotten In Denmark

CO2 Science: "Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Interglacial Warmth"

COTD: Drill Baby, Drill

Nature Spills More Oil Than Man — By Far — rayharvey.org: "It should also be noted that a population of sea otters have recently, last several years, tried to reestablish itself off Coal Oil Point, where there are very dense kelp beds. The otters were eradicated some time ago to protect the sea urchin and abalone fishery. Point being, that in an area with massive amounts of oil seeping into the water daily, the otters still chose to live here rather than any other place on the coast. And on top of that, commercial fisherman place their lobster traps off Coal Oil Point every October when the season begins. Oil can kill, yes, but it is not as toxic as the agro-environmentalists would have you think. Funnily enough, there was a study done that showed that increased pumping at Platform Holly, which is just offshore from Coal Oil Point, actually reduced the amount of natural seepage. In others words, more drilling actually lessened the amount of oil in the water."

Even The NYeT Has Noticed

Power Line - Two Americas: The Reality: "Earlier tonight I noted with some derision the 'two Americas' of John Edwards' myth. However, as we have noted before, there are indeed two Americas: the fault line just doesn't lie where Edwards and other liberals place it. Rather, the key dividing line in American politics is between a strapped private sector and a flush, overflowing-with-cash public sector. Intuitively, it is odd: one might have assumed that those who pay the bills would look out for their own needs over the interests of those whom they employ. But this hasn't happened. A large majority of voters have been asleep at the switch, and public employees have been awarding themselves constantly-increasing salaries and pension benefits. Those benefits have now swelled to the point where there is no possibility that taxpayers can fund them.

The situation has gotten so dire that even the New York Times has noticed."

And note the focus on Kolorado (which is rapidly becoming Kaaleeforneeuh).

Ignorance

Krugman’s Ignorance - The Corner - National Review Online: "�Megan McArdle:

Last night, a few of us were discussing Paul Krugman’s apparent erroneous belief that Paul Ryan should have gotten the CBO to score the revenue side of his plan, but didn’t because he was attempting to put one over on the American people.� As far as I know, scoring tax bills is still the job of the Joint Committee on Taxation, not the CBO–but no one bothered to blog it because, as far as I can tell, we all assumed that we must be misreading Paul Krugman.

But no, I didn’t misread; Krugman has two follow-up posts on the topic.� It seems as if he’s really not aware that the JCT, not the CBO, typically handles the official scoring of tax legislation; “CBO” is not, in any of the policy circles I’ve run in, some sort of shorthand for the JCT (especially since there’s–ahem!–some rivalry there)."

Misconceptions

What Beer Deregulation Can Teach Us - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine: "One of the common misconceptions about libertarian enthusiasm for deregulation is that it's some kind of (presumably paid-for) philosophical cover for wanting the very richest Corporates to be even richester. Speaking as a libertarded conspiracy of one, my favorite bedtime deregulation stories are about stuff like beer, air travel, and talking about politics on radio and TV, where after you lifted restrictions that in retrospect sound like they came from another planet, people do what the normally do when left alone—create all kinds of interesting new artifacts, businesses, and even ways of life. Regulations so often piss me off because they so often fall disproportionately on the backs of the little guy, while the big guy—even/especially the one whose misconduct precipitated the regulation in the first place—walks off with a well-lobbied exemption. Generally speaking, the fewer activities are illegal, the freer us opposable-thumbs types are."

Panic

Kudlow: A Democratic Panic Attack? — CNBC Stock Market and Economy News - CNBC: "The bottom line? Panic over this stalled economy may be setting in.

The unemployment rate is hanging stubbornly at 9.5 percent and economic growth looks to be slipping to only 2 to 3 percent. In order to get unemployment down significantly, the economy has to grow by at least 4 percent.

Inside July’s jobs report, small-business household employment dropped by 159,000 jobs — a very bad sign. In the three months to April, this survey produced 417,000 new jobs. In the three months to July, it fell by 151,000.

At the same time, private payrolls in the corporate survey rose by only 71,000 in July, compared with an expected gain of 100,000. In the three months to April, payrolls gained by 154,000. Over the past three months, payrolls have increased only 51,000. They need to grow at a better-than 200,000 monthly pace in order to reduce joblessness."

What Problem?

Chart of the Day, and a scary one too | Questions and Observations: "Just in case you were wondering."

O Nuts And Negotiations

Power Line - Mahmoud the Nut: "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discoursed on history at a conference in Tehran:

Ahmadinejad said the September 11 attacks with hijacked airliners on New York and Washington D.C. had been trumped up as an excuse for the United States to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.

Maybe he's been reading Democratic Underground.

Speaking at a Tehran conference, Ahmadinejad said there was no evidence that the death toll at New York's World Trade Center, destroyed in the attacks, was as high as reported and said 'Zionists' had been tipped off in advance.

'What was the story of September 11? During five to six days, and with the aid of the media, they created and prepared public opinion so that everyone considered an attack on Afghanistan and Iraq as (their) right,' he said in a televised speech.

No 'Zionists' were killed in the World Trade Center, according to Ahmadinejad, because 'one day earlier they were told not go to their workplace.'"

Sounds like a perfectly sane chap to me. Let's negotiate! Negotiate? Where have I heard that before? Oh, yes:

The Democrats are saying 1) The war is lost; 2) Let's negotiate; 3) The Constitution is trashed; 4) They steal elections; 5) We support the troops.

You've got to hand it to these Dems. They're certainly consistent. They revere their history, except for the corrupt, neo-con deviations between 1941 and 1963. I wonder if Nancy Pelosi's great, great, great grandfather was there in 1864, inking the quill.

One Arrest

iowahawk: Undocumented Imam's Refusal to Perform Interracial Gay Handicapped Wedding Leads to Charges of Racism: "NEW YORK - Charges of racism, sexism, and religious discrimination filled the air this afternoon outside the just-completed Cordoba House, the gleaming new $100 million 15 story mosque and Islamic cultural center near the ruins of New York's World Trade Center, following a tense 5-hour standoff prompted by the mosque's refusal to host a wedding between a lesbian African-American woman and her blind white transgendered partner.

Over 200 NYPD officers and multicultural crisis counselors were bused to the site to quell the simmering 17-way tensions between Muslim, Black, LGBT, immigrant, disabled, and lawsuit community activists. The scene was punctuated by outbursts of pushing and shoving, including a brief confused intramural scuffle among members of Reverend Louis Farrakan's Nation of Islam, but the only serious injuries reported was a hernia suffered by a legal aide distributing plaintiff's briefs. The incident resulted in one arrest, a 7-year old girl who was seen operating a lemonade stand without a permit."

Ripped from the day after tomorrow's headlines in our looming cesspool of competing interest group politics. RTWT. When iowahawk is on a roll, he's unstoppable...

COTD: Kadaver

Hot Air � Video: 7-year governor laments gov’t impact on business: "This is the tip of the iceberg. One experience with the Coastal Commission or the Air Quality Management Districts or the Regional Water Quality Control Boards or any any of the other State, county, city or other local government agencies is enough to send any potential employer looking to set up in another state. And the attitude of these government employees is that we’re here to serve them. California’s dead. The maggots and vultures are just picking over the cadaver."

Here comes another wave of refugees east to "help" make us "Kolorado". Sigh.

COTD: Corruption Watch

� Federal Judge Colluded with Prosecutors and Law Enforcement, then Presided over Trial - Big Government: "I don't know why this is news. Federal judicial corruption has been running rampant for a long time. First clue is, most, if not all federal judge-ships are bought and paid for through campaign M.O.N.E.Y donations. How in the world can a president that was elected from one part of the country, be able to appoint hundreds of district court judges that he knows little about, that are located in another part of the country? Yes, some come through recommendations, but most are appointed from a M.O.N.E.Y donors list.

I agree with a above poster that stated if a few dozen of these corrupt rascals were impeached, then maybe the rest would get the message. It ain't gonna happen. Why? Because the federal courts have congress cowarding under their desks under the courts self manufactured term of 'judicial independence.'"

In case you were wondering what sustains this particular pool of corruption...

Corruption Watch

Instapundit: "FEDERAL JUDGE COLLUDES? If this report is accurate, impeachment is warranted."

Illegals and the slave traders who whip them need to be deported and jailed as appropriate.

But judges who corruptly attempt to do so need to be impeached also. No "buts".

American Soil

Belmont Club � The Foundations of Our World: "As the New York Times remembers Hiroshima, try this quiz. Name the two greatest losses of civilian life in the Pacific war. Hint. In both cases the civilian casualties were greater than Hiroshima’s. In one case the event took place on American soil.

Casualties
Hiroshima 70,000–80,000
Battle of Manila 100,000
Nanjing 300,000

The Local NYeT

Faster, Please! � Iran and the Plot to Blow Up JFK Airport: "You may recall that back in 2007, some arrests were made in New York City in connection with a terrorist plan to blow up fuel tanks at Kennedy Airport. Now, three years later, the trial is on, and you can read about it – indeed you must read about it — in the — get this! — local news section of the New York Times. It is indeed quite a story, and it is written by one A.G. Sulzberger, a surname that undoubtedly gets due respect at the Times.� But it’s tucked away under local news instead of appearing on the front page, for reasons best left to the editors (although I have a pretty good guess about the main reason).

According to the story, one of the accused, a former official in Guyana by the name of Abdul Kadir, was wired to the government of Iran.� After first denying that he had been in touch with Iranian officials in Venezuela, Kadir admitted the contacts. Indeed, he was arrested in Trinidad three years ago while en route to Iran via Caracas."

A Toast To HugO

clipped from www.slate.com Chávez, in other words, is very close to the climactic moment when he will announce that he is a poached egg and that he requires a very large piece of buttered toast so that he can lie down and take a soothing nap. Even his macabre foraging in the coffin of Simón Bolívar was initially prompted by his theory that an autopsy would prove that The Liberator had been poisoned—most probably by dastardly Colombians. This would perhaps provide a posthumous license for Venezuela's continuing hospitality to the narco-criminal gang FARC, a cross-border activity that does little to foster regional brotherhood. Many people laughed when Chávez appeared at the podium of the United Nations in September 2006 and declared that he smelled sulfur from the devil himself because of the presence of George W. Bush. But the evidence is that he does have an idiotic weakness for spells and incantations, as well as many of the symptoms of paranoia and megalomania.

What Kind Of Dumb Ass

clipped from www.moonbattery.com

No Understanding

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com During the summer of 1940, after losing thousands of men and virtually all of its ground armor and weapons following their evacuation from Dunkirk, many felt that -- barring a miracle -- there was no rational reason for Britain to stay in the fight. Joseph Kennedy, America's ambassador to Great Britain and father of the future president, told Americans that "democracy was finished" in England, as he sought a meeting with Hitler "to bring about a better understanding between the United States and Germany." Britain's new prime minister, Winston Churchill, saw things quite differently and used the soaring power of oratory to restore, rally and mobilize his citizens. There was never going to be "an understanding" between democracy and the Third Reich.

His Last

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com But if there is a victory (or even just an absence of civil war) it will be down to the Iraq surge that President Bush instituted and Senator Obama vehemently opposed. For that matter, as Politico acknowledges, it was Bush who, for better or for worse, instituted the troop withdrawal policy for which Obama today took credit. It is far from clear that Bush's Baghdad "Dream Team" (Boot's phrase) can repeat its past success in the context of an ever-diminishing U.S. military presence. If it cannot, Obama's "first step" in his "victory lap" might be his last. In any case, it's telling that Obama is relying just about entirely on Bush era policies and personnel as he tries to find something in the world to brag about.

Going Through Hell With A Gasoline Can

clipped from hotair.com Granted, the competition’s stiff, but the other contenders are jokey. Not this one. West is already enough of a rock star among grassroots conservatives that I assume you don’t need much background, but for the few who don’t know what the ad is about, this will set you right. All the core military virtues are here: Tough on the enemy, protective of his men, honest about his actions. As character references for job applications go, you can scarcely do better.

"Fairness"

clipped from pajamasmedia.com ROGER KIMBALL: Laffer vs. Zakaria — Who’s Right? “I do not expect that argument to make much of an impression on Fareed Zakaria or anyone else carrying water for the Democratic establishment. Why not? Because the economic effect of reducing taxes is for them a secondary consideration. What matters most to them is the political effect of raising taxes. . . . I believe the primary motivation was touched upon by Alexis de Tocqueville when he observed that the passion for equality was such in America that many people would ‘rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.’ And here we touch upon the toxic core of Obama’s economic policy: the admixture of economics, which is a pragmatic art or science, with the idea of ‘fairness,’ which is a moral or (more accurately) a moralistic issue.” Personally, I believe that “fairness” consists in the fruits of my labor not being taken by corrupt hacks to redistribute to their cronies in exchange for votes. Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 10:33 pm

It's The Data

clipped from chiefio.wordpress.com GHCN V2 All Data Anomalies 1800 to Date Segmented at 1990 Well, first off, notice that a trend line fit to the annual data is just about dead flat right up until about 1990. (That is the very thin blue line at near the zero line) The change of “duplicate numbers” or “modification history flag” on thermometers starts to hit in about 1986-1987 but those records have a matching entry from the prior “duplicate number” until about 1990 when “the reveal” is done and the older series of “duplicate numbers” are dropped. You could put the segment break at 1987 and get similar results, but I chose 1990 as that is when the data series are left to stand on their own. At that point we see a dramatic increase in the slope of the trend line as “AGW suddenly begins”. But, IMHO, it’s not the world that’s warming, it’s the data…

An American Guesser

clipped from www.gadsden.info In December 1775, "An American Guesser" anonymously wrote to the Pennsylvania Journal: "I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines now raising, there was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, 'Don't tread on me.' As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this may have been intended for the arms of America." First, it occurred to him that "the Rattle-Snake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America." The rattlesnake also has sharp eyes, and "may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance." Furthermore, "She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. ... she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her." Many scholars now agree that this "American Guesser" was Benjamin Franklin.

Don't tread on me.

Morally Superior

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com Yesterday, I claimed that, while liberatarian candidates like Rand Paul are uncomfortable with "fudging" their views, liberal candidates seem quite willing to fudge their beliefs in order to gain office. An email from one of my favorite Power Line correspondents, Scott Smith, prompts me to suggest the following explanation for the difference: liberals think their ideology makes them, above all, morally superior; libertarians think their ideology makes them, above all, intellectually superior. Moral superiority, for many who feel it, is not compromised by deceptive statements made in the name of gaining the power to "do good." But intellectual superiority is compromised by any statement that is incorrect or intellectually lazy.