Hippie Song Of The Day!

Wait For It!!!!…. Wait For It!!!!

Meme Watch – News Bias

This is a small thing, but I have to point it out. A headline on the MSNBC new service opened thus:

White House and Democrats continue to cave in on the spending fight, while House Republicans haven’t budged an inch…

I know this is an overused and stale  meme but, frankly, it is applicable here. How do you think this headline would have been framed if it were Republicans bending to the will of the Democrats. My guess is that the word “compromise would be in there somewhere.

Jerry Brown Breaks Out.

Yesterday, I stated my reservations concerning a “green power” energy bill requiring the state of California to generate 33% of its energy output by 2020, a bill  that Jerry Brown is expected to sign. Now comes word that the Governor has abandoned budget talks with the recalcitrant Republicans, and is going to get things done his way…..

GOOD!

I’m not for higher taxes, and I’m skittish about the energy proposal.

BUT…

Jerry Brown and the Democrats won the last election fair and square. They have the overwhelming majority and should be able implement the policies they envision as best for California. As Republicans so often remind us, states are the laboratories of the country. It’s there that we learn which policies work and which ones don’t. I may personally disagree with much that will come out of Sacramento in the next few years, but… so be it.

The Democrats have won the overwhelming majority, Republicans slid further into the minority. They’ve earned their shot at running the experiment their way, and that’s the way it is.

That said,  I wonder….  How many Republicans who were so willing to cheer on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his majority Republican legislature for asserting their majority power, are going to be the loudest voices whining that the California Democrats are acting like bullies or short-circuiting the democratic process?

The bitching begins in 3…  2…  1….

The Sad State Of California – California Doubles Down On Green Energy.

They are mandating that renewable energy be 33% of all energy generated in CA by 2020. That is only a nine year window. Well, I wish I were wrong, but this type of strategy has not worked for any country that has tried it. No state or country has ever been able to install alternative energy without massive subsidies and great cost – something California can neither provide or afford. Say good-bye to any hope of substantial economic growth in California for the next nine years!

The good news is that state Democrats are all but guaranteeing a Republican resurgence by 2020… Oh, these are California republicans… Never Mind.

PS.  I hope I’m wrong, I really do. But alt energy requires huge amounts of subsidies and has never been shown to be a huge jobs provider. Plus, because energy form solar and wind is sporadic, you always need traditional sources to fall back on, something CA has long neglected to invest in. We could build a few more nuke plants, but after Japan, and the way people were freaking out about it here…..  Nope. I expect more rolling black-out are in our future.

Sound The Alarm!!!…… Revisited.

I came across this climate story searching for something else, but I find it interesting enough to comment on.  Here is the title.

World’s leading scientists in desperate plea to politicians to act on climate change

The world’s leading scientists yesterday issued a desperate plea to politicians to act on climate change, amid warnings that without action the world faces decades of social unrest and war.

Does this mean we’re going to have even MORE war than we have now???? Have they seen the Middle East lately? Oh, this was written in 2009, just before the disastrous Dopenhagen Climate Conference? OK then.

But Look! They were right. We DO have more war now than even two years ago. Thanks Global Warming!!!!

But seriously. Raise your hands if you think people start wars because of Global Warming…. Thought so.

In what was described as a watershed moment, more than 2,500 leading environmental experts agreed a statement that called on governments to act before the planet becomes an unrecognisable – and, in places, impossible – place to live.

Watershed??? Really??? In 1982? We’ve been hearing this for the last 25ish years. Why is this kind of statement new, or “watershed”? Oh, and on the last bit…. do you ever wonder why the term “alarmist” always seems to surface when talking about climate science? “…before the planet becomes an unrecognisable – and, in places, impossible – place to live.“… Really???

At an emergency climate summit in Copenhagen, scientists agreed that “worst case” scenarios were already becoming reality and that, unless drastic action was taken soon, “dangerous climate change” was imminent.

…”worst case” scenarios were already becoming reality‘… Which ones? The Maldives? Well, they’re not underwater yet. And a peer reviewed paper just released shows that sea level rise may be… wait for it… decelerating! Not my words folk, it’s in the conclusion of the paper.

It is essential that investigations continue to address why this worldwide-temperature increase has not produced acceleration of global sea level over the past 100 years, and indeed why global sea level has possibly decelerated for at least the last 80 years.

Back to the article at hand.

In a strongly worded message that, unusually for academics, appealed directly to politicians, they said there was “no excuse for inaction” and that “weak and “ineffective” governments must stand up to big business and “vested interests”.

How was this “unusual”. They’ve been doing this for the last 25 years! How do you think the U.N. International Panel on Climate Change came to be, by scientists sitting on their hands?

The plea came as Lord Stern, the former chief economist of the World Bank whose report two years ago drew attention to the possible results of global warming, told the conference that unless politicians grasped the gravity of the situation it would be “devastating”.

Increases in average temperatures of six degrees by the end of the century were an increasing possibility and would produce conditions not seen on Earth for more than 30?million years, he said.
That could mean massive rises in sea level,

Or not. See above.

whole areas devastated by hurricanes

Sorry, but the link to hurricanes and Global Warming has not been shown to be valid, and hurricanes devastated wide areas long before global warming was a glimmer in a computer modelers eye.

and others turned into uninhabitable desert, he claimed, forcing billions of people to leave their homelands.

Which habitable parts?

He told the summit that politicians continued to underestimate the impact of climate change and that scientists needed to redouble their efforts to get them to understand. “Much of southern Europe would look like the Sahara. Many of the major rivers of the world, serving billions of people, would dry up in the dry seasons or re-route.

Spain is turning into a desert! As is Italy! And the rest of Southern Europe! Mommy, why is that desert sand so white and cold?

“What would be the implication? Hundreds of millions of people would have to move, probably billions. What would be the implication of that? Extended conflict, social disruption, war essentially, over much of the world for many decades.”

Which peer reviewed paper predicted this… Oh, it wasn’t based on a peer reviewed article? That prediction was based on this one CNA Report that, according to the Washington Post, drawn up by retired military generals. If you’re going to be alarmist, can you at least try to stick to peer reviewed science.

OK. You get the picture. Here is one last quote from the article.

Prof Kevin Anderson, the research director at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Manchester, said: “Scientists have lost patience with carefully constructed messages being lost in the political noise. We are now prepared to stand up and say enough is enough.”

How has all this increased presence in the spotlight been going for you. How has the strategy of abandoning the “carefully constructed messages” been going>>> Oh. Not too great. Wonder if it’s time to fall back on the “carefully constructed messages”.

And In The “Good Luck With That” File

EU to ban cars in major Euro cities by 2050!

Seriously????   I would LOVE to see you try and implement this!

PS.  You chicken sh*t politicians!!!!

Why not implement this now instead of putting it off for thirty-nine years, when you’ll be long gone from the political scene and will not have to bare any responsibility for the consequences of your actions. I HATE IT when politicians do this “This is a GREAT PLAN… but… ehm… we won’t be starting the program [policy, whatever] until we’re out of office”.

And besides, if you wait till 2050, won’t that be too late?????

So anyway, I guess I’ll have to add European Politicians to my list of people who Should NEVER Be Trusted With The Fate Of The World.

Misc. Stuff… Meet The New(est) Lois Lane.

Amy Adams.

She almost seems….  Too Pretty. I just don’t understand why they can’t wait a few more years before the re-re-re-boot the Superman franchise.  And, when I read this kind of quote from a producer or director adapting a film from an old book or comic, my first reaction… Uh Oh!:

What’s important to us is making [Superman] relevant and real and making him empathetic to today’s audience so that we understand the decisions he makes.

Uh Oh!

Geraldine Ferraro, RIP

The first woman nominated to the Vice President spot has passed away. She was 75.

She was not appealing to me on a political sense. But then, at the time, I didn’t pay that much attention to politics. It didn’t excite me as it does now. Still, her nomination was one more step toward dispelling the notion that a woman could not be President. And, she was certainly more qualified for that position than many of the recent candidates for higher office to take up room on the stage.

Yes, you can fill in your own blanks.

Music Video Friday!

More Split Enzzzzaniness! Strange, yet captivating and wacky fun! Take note of the keys…. Eddie Rayner… Brilliant! Fantastic!

Note: At 1:05… The rats REALLY ARE crawling up his back!!!

Driving A Metaphor Into A Ditch.

The other day, I noted this:

And wasn’t there some campaign speech given by Obama about not putting the car in “R” after driving into a ditch??? OK, logically, if you’ve driven into a ditch, and you’re being pulled out, wouldn’t putting the car in “D” be the move that puts you right back into said ditch???? The rhetoric never really made sense… but that’s politics I suppose.

A commenter at Althouse’s blog took me to task for getting the metaphor wrong, and President Obama and crew were pushing the car out of the ditch, not pulling it!

Obama never said that about the car–you’ve got it completely wrong. His analogy was actually quite brilliant, even if mistaken.

Disregarding the last bit of the comment (“His analogy was actually quite brilliant, even if mistaken“… What does that mean, exactly?)  I recalled him saying he pulled the car out, but I may be remembering incorrectly, and crossing my wires with other politicians who said they pulled the car out of the ditch….

Uhm, no.  He DID say it! From Politico:

The first time President Barack Obama used the metaphor at a Democratic fundraiser in April, he spent exactly four sentences on it: “And yet, after driving our economy into the ditch, they decided to stand on the side of the road and watch us while we pulled it out of the ditch,” Obama said at the Los Angeles event for Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. “They asked, ‘Why haven’t you pulled it out fast enough?’ ‘I noticed there’s, like, a little scratch there in the fender. Why didn’t you do something about that?’”

There it is…  pulled… twice.

The metaphor  evolved as the campaign twisted on its merry way; and what started with pulling the car out of the ditch then became something about handing over the keys, and eventually the story evolved to include the “D” and “R” bits. When he got to that point, he DID say push instead of pull. So in regard to that specific telling of the metaphor, at that specific time, when he mentioned the “D” and “R” thing, I was indeed incorrect.

Now that that is out of the way, lets examine the analogy.  Obama would sometimes say push, other times it would be pull. I think we can agree that the economic crash of 2008 was no little pot hole; this was a ditch… a BIG ditch! But this is where real world experience comes in.  In the real world you almost never “push” a car out of a ditch, you pull.

Why?

Two reasons.

(1)   If you drive a car into a ditch at any speed, it goes in nose first. Because the front end is where the engine is at in most cars, that weight causes the front end to wedge into the ditch. This makes pushing it out impossible.

(2)   If the car was driven off the road into the ditch, and you push the car out of the ditch… Oh, you’re on the wrong side of the ditch! The road is on the other side!!!!

If that’s the case, no wonder the economic recovery is going so crappy. We’re not on the road to recovery. Obama and company pushed the car to the the wrong side of the ditch and now we’re stuck in the field of economic stagnation!

Good going Democrats!!! 🙂

PS. I live in an area where agriculture is king, and there are lots of ditches around here. Myself? I’ve never driven into one. Got stuck on an island once cutting a turn too tight. But people plow their cars into ditches. It happens quite a bit. They NEVER EVER push a car out of the ditch. It is always pulled out, with a tow truck.

And, seeing that he spent so much time on his ranch, where there are a lot of ditches, I’m better Ronald Reagan would have never had this kind of   “push” / “pull” confusion.