Yeah, I think it is time to move this site to another server.

(HuffPost Politics) A shifting global climate pattern could portend a flu pandemic, and possibly an opportunity to stop the virus early, a study suggests.

The link, according to researchers, is weather’s influence on the migratory patterns of wild birds, the primary pool for human flu.

And we all know who’s screwing the climate and weather, right? Mankind. We can see the alarmism right there, and through many followup paragraphs. But, eventually, deep on the story, after most people have moved on and are now all concerned that they will die of the flu because someone else didn’t change their behavior, we find out

In the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Shaman and his colleague, Marc Lipsitch of the Harvard School of Public Health, found that the last four major flu pandemics –in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009 –all followed a climate pattern called La Nina, which brings colder-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean and generally results in cooler global temperatures. One of these episodes, which occur every two to seven years, is currently underway.

Ah. So natural. Got ya. Until the Warmists figure out how to blame La Nina on Mankind.

(Washington Post) The NFL Players Association is opposing Indiana Republicans’ efforts to pass a divisive labor bill before the nation turns its attention to the state for the Super Bowl.

The players association said Friday that Indiana Republicans are trying to “ram through” the legislation before Indianapolis hosts the Super Bowl on Feb. 5.

Can anyone explain how a right to work bill can be “divisive”? Making it so people are not forced to join a union, giving people a choice? Furthermore, most RTW states make non-compete clauses invalid. Sounds like a good deal for the little guy over big unions and big business, eh?

(XBIZ) British feminists protesting vaginal cosmetic surgery took to the streets on Saturday with the porn industry square in its sights.

The first-ever “Muff March” protest, organized by UK Feminista, was created as a backlash against “designer vaginas” that the organizers claim are a result in part of an intrusive “pornified culture” that measures everyday women against porn stars.

They’re just mad because….well, they don’t really know, they just need to be mad.

(MSNBC) Zombies may be the walking undead, but their contribution to Main Street’s economy is very much alive. In modern times, the zombie genre has evolved from a cult following to a highly popular theme. 24/7 Wall St. estimates that the today’s zombie genre economy is worth billions of dollars.

Think way beyond zombie movie ticket sales. Think about DVD sales, video games, comic books, novels, Halloween costumes, zombie walks, merchandise, conventions and even zombie art. Add to that all of the websites, homemade movies, Facebook sites, YouTube sites and other forms of “digital” zombies, not to mention music. And if you think the financial tab has been high so far, by the end of 2012 the tab is going to be far larger.

Oh, they’re talking about zombie zombies, not the Occupiers. Still, that’s a pretty good chunk of change for zombies. And, I’ll admit, I love zombie movies and read a ton of zombie books on my kindle. Never got into The Walking Dead, though. What’s great about most of them is that the focus on the humans, and how they survive.

Of course, figuring out the exact dollar figure around the “value of zombies,” despite hours of research and interviews with “zombie insiders,” is difficult. Many companies and top industry leaders do not share any sales data and they do not want to divulge how much they make off this craze. On a global scale, the market is even larger. Could this craze be tied to the hard economic times?

Hmm, maybe the Occupiers are linked. Like zombies, the occupiers do tend to be brainless.

With each passing Hurricane Center forecast, it seems more apparent

Not sure how big the graphic will be, doing this with my Droid.

President Obama’s effort to roll back costly regulations that are not needed could save more than $10 billion over five years, but critics say that’s a drop in the bucket.

Pretty much. But, it’s a start, like dropping a skier into an avalanche zone

Obama announced the look-back on regulations in January. The result: more than 800 pages with more than 500 proposed changes. The savings: more than $4 billion in the bank or in process, with an additional $6 billion planned.

The changes “are going to make a real difference to the American people,” Sunstein said.

Let’s look at some of them as cited by the article

• Allowing doctors to practice “tele-medicine” in rural areas.
• Escalating Pentagon contract payments to up to 60,000 small businesses.
• Changing export rules and visa practices at the State Department.

If those are the best that the USA Today can cite, well, I’m underwhelmed. Politico offers a few more

Among them: The Department of Health and Human Services will propose ending “unnecessary regulatory and reporting requirements now imposed on hospitals and other health care providers,” a measure that could save $4 billion over the next five years. The Labor Department is announcing rules to simplify and improve hazard warnings for workers, which will save an estimated $2.5 billion over the next five years.

The Transportation Department, meanwhile, is set to announce rules expected to save $340 million or more by cutting out unnecessary regulation of the railroad industry. And, by the end of this year, the Internal Revenue Service is set to cut 55 million hours in paperwork burdens by consolidating reporting requirements and streamlining tax forms, Sunstein says.

Well, it’s a start. Though, anyone have the feeling that the tax form reform will somehow lead to companies and people paying more in taxes?

Then there’s that train thing: perhaps helps in pushing high speed (fail) trains?

How about simply repealing Obamacare? That would help. And doing away with many of the absurd EPA regulations? Not all of them, we do want to protect the environment, after all.

Bill Teach: “Please look at this picture and tell me what you see.”

I think I could actually do a good job, because I would keep pecking away till I got an answer. Think of the way Laura Ingraham keeps going after someone, especially when she sits in for Bill O’Reilly.

Steven Goddard makes an interesting point

It has been more than 35 months since a hurricane struck the US, the longest period since before the Civil War. Rest assured, when one does hit, Romm will tell us that it is proof of global warming.

First the warmists told us AGW would make hurricanes more prevalent. Then the hurricane numbers started dropping after the 2005 season. So they said that hurricanes would be not as numerous but would be stronger. That hasn’t worked out, either. So, will the alarmists now blame the lack of hurricanes on …..globull warming?

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in remote northern Alaska is home to a surprisingly diverse array of wildlife: polar bears, caribou, wolverines, lemmings, and others all call the frigid, windswept place home. But one infamous strip of coastline in the massive refuge is also home to nearly 2 billion barrels of recoverable oil (enough, the feds estimate, to supply America for nine months), which has placed it squarely in the center of a decades-long controversy over whether to open the ecologically sensitive region for oil and gas development, or keep it locked up as wilderness.

On Monday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) took the first step in granting increased federal protection to a relatively small, oil-rich region within ANWR known as the “1002 area” by nominating it for wilderness designation in a lengthy report [PDF] on conservation plans for ANWR. Only Congress can declare wilderness areas, and the “preliminary recommendation” made in the report is only the beginning of a long (and possibly dead-end) road to approval. But it is the first time such a recommendation has been made since the area was set aside for study in a 1980 federal law (from which the area takes its name). Environmental activists and the FWS agree that it marks a major turning point in an ongoing struggle in Alaska between conservationists and oil and gas developers.

There are billions of barrels of oil in the 1002 area. Looks like the Obama admin. is more intent on letting Brazil get their own oil using American tax dollars than letting America become energy independent with its own oil.