If All You See…

By William Teach September 13, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a wonderful greenspace which would be perfect for solar panels (as long as it is far from your home), you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Fire Andrea Mitchell, with a post on diseased illegals in NY.

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Pause Excuse #52: Natural Variability Stronger Than AGW

By William Teach September 13, 2014 – 11:33 am

Seriously, it’s hard to keep up with all the excuses. Here comes another, via Watts Up With That?

Earlier we added this to the list, now here is the description of the excuse. Basically what they are saying is that natural climate variability has overtaken the posited powerful effects of CO2 on climate.

From the EU’s JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE Last decade’s slow-down in global warming enhanced by an unusual climate anomaly:

A hiatus in global warming ongoing since 2001 is due to a combination of a natural cooling phase, known as multidecadal variability (MDV) and a downturn of the secular warming trend. The exact causes of the latter, unique in the entire observational record going back to 1850, are still to be identified, according to a JRC article which analysed the phenomena.

The earth hasn’t warmed at the same pace during the 20th century. The noticeable temperature increases during some periods interspersed with fairly stable or decreasing levels during others have been explained as a combination of secular global warming (likely manmade) and natural climate variability. We are currently, in the early 21st century, experiencing a hiatus period, during which surface temperatures have not risen at the same rate as higher atmospheric radiative forcing.

Excuses are like, we’ll, you know, everyone has them. Of course, Warmist excuses are designed to get nations to spend gobbs of money and Institute all sorts of controls on people and private entities, as well as their economies.

The Hockey Schtick has more.

Pause Excuses For Dummies photo Warming-Excuses_zps5e7282c5.jpg

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Pelosi: Civilization Is In Jeopardy If GOP Takes Back Senate

By William Teach September 13, 2014 – 6:59 am

Fortunately, she’s not a fear monger (video at link)

(Daily Caller) On the one hand, California U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi claims that Democrats are not “fear-mongers;” on the other hand, she believes civilization is doomed if Republicans take control of the Senate from Democrats in November.

The former speaker of the House made those dramatic, incongruous statements on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” which aired live from Washington, D.C. Friday.

Maher asked Pelosi about recent polling which shows that the GOP is likely to take over the upper chamber and asked, given gridlock in Washingon, why it matters that Democrats keep control.

“It would be very important for the Democrats to retain control of the Senate,” Pelosi told Maher. “Civilization as we know it today would be in jeopardy if the Republicans win the Senate.”

Of course, that kind of language is really for the Democrats insane political base, particularly since a majority of those watching Bill Maher’s show will be leftists.

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Is The U.S. At War With ISIS Or Just Counterterrorism Operations?

By William Teach September 13, 2014 – 6:50 am

The administration that can’t shoot straight now says it’s a war

(Fox News) The White House and Pentagon acknowledged Friday that the U.S. “is at war” with the Islamic State — contradicting Secretary of State John Kerry and others who a day earlier refused to use that term, prompting criticism from lawmakers that the administration was downplaying the conflict.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest and Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby used almost identical language when pressed by reporters Friday whether or not the expanded military operation against the terrorist group is in fact a war.

“In the same way that the United States is at war with Al Qaeda and its affiliates … the United States is at war with ISIL,” Earnest said.

Kirby said “this is not the Iraq War” from a decade ago, “but make no mistake — we know we are at war with ISIL in the same way we are at war and continue to be at war with Al Qaeda and its affiliates.”

The comments are a sharp turnaround from how Kerry described the military operation on Thursday. In interviews with CNN and CBS News, Kerry described it as a “very significant” and “major counterterrorism operation.” He told CBS News that “war is the wrong terminology.”

His spokeswoman, Marie Harf, also said she would not “refer to our efforts” as part of the “war on terrorism.”

Earnest said Thursday that it wasn’t a war, contradicting himself Friday. Susan Rice, US National Security Advisor, says it’s not a war, but long term counterterrorism operations. Obama never said we were at war during his prime time campaign ISIS speech. Which is it, war or counterterrorism? Good questions. Another one is why is an administration that was truly amazing during the last two presidential campaigns so horrible at messaging while in office? Noah Rothman might have the answer

If you thought the threat posed by the Islamic State was a national security matter, as most of the nation does, you would be incorrect. It is, in fact, a domestic political matter. That is clearly how the White House views it. There is no other way to explain their inane vacillation and incomprehensibly fluid position on what the response to the threat posed by ISIS should be.

At the end of the day, the best thing for the administration will be too competently go after ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups. Let the military and paramilitary forces loose. Don’t micromanage. Americans are concerned about the threat. Lead. Won’t happen.

What time do we get the Tweet about Obama being on the golf course?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Surprise: Conservatives Happier Than Liberals According To Study

By William Teach September 12, 2014 – 4:49 pm

This comes to us via one of my favorite liberals, Alan Colmes

A study by the American Psychological Association shows that conservatives are happier individuals than liberals, but liberal countries have more satisfied citizens.

“Liberal governments tend to do more to shield citizens against certain hardships, such as unemployment and poverty, which can make people feel happier overall,” Dr. Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, a psychologist at Rutgers University and the study’s lead author, said in a written statement. “On the other hand, conservatives rate their well-being higher than liberals because conservatives more readily support and rationalize the status quo, thus, believing that socioeconomic hardships are a result of individual shortcomings.

Of course, one problem with the study is that these are European liberals and conservatives, and, particularly for EU conservatives, there is a vast difference between them and US conservatives.

Regardless, our takeaway is that liberals are only satisfied when Big Daddy Government is there to take care of them.

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If All You See…

By William Teach September 12, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a world flooded because Someone Else refused to give up their fossil fueled travel, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Blazing Cat Fur, with a quicky post on a British police investigation in the ice bucket challenge.

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What Is Burger King’s All Black Cheeseburger Trying To Tell Us?

By William Teach September 12, 2014 – 11:18 am

That’s the big question Salon’s Lindsay Abram delves into

Burger King’s black cheeseburger may be trying to tell us something
A bizarre fast food item with a message, maybe

Burger King Japan is (re)introducing its pitch-black cheeseburger, which is like a regular cheeseburger, if you were to dip the bun and cheese into tar. To be technically accurate, it’s not tar but squid ink and bamboo charcoal that give the menu item its signature look.

I don’t want to read too much into it, but doesn’t it sort of remind you of this?:

Since this is Salon, you’re probably saying “raaaaacism”. Alas, nope.

That’s graphics legend Milton Glaser’s new logo for our (not technically) dying planet, which is supposed to symbolize Earth as it’s overtaken by a haze of black — pollution, perhaps, or oil, or maybe just death. Again, not to give too much credit to Burger King, but given what we know about the link between the consumption of red meat and climate change, it’s not a bad attempt at sending a similar message. Also, meat is murder and fast food will kill you.

It’s so simple! The burger is all about Hotcoldwetdry! And meat is murder!

The cheeseburger, called the Kuro Burger in Japan, the only place it is sold, is actually infused with squid ink and blackened with bamboo charcoal. Something for Japanese pallets.

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Employer Health Plan Deductibles Jumped Almost 50% Since 2009

By William Teach September 12, 2014 – 7:15 am

Remember, Obamacare was supposed to bend the curve down and save everyone money

(USA Today) A report out today puts numbers behind what hit many workers when they signed up for health insurance during open enrollment last year: deductible shock.

Premiums for employer-paid insurance are up 3% this year, but deductibles are up nearly 50% since 2009, the report by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows.

The average deductible this year is $1,217, up from $826 five years ago. Nearly 20% of workers overall have to pay at least $2,000 before their insurance kicks in, while workers at firms with 199 or fewer employees are feeling the pain of out-of-pocket costs even more: A third of these employees at small companies pay at least $2,000 deductibles. (snip)

Deductibles will keep going up as companies try to keep their own health care costs down by raising the amount of cost-sharing workers have to bear, says Gary Claxton, a Kaiser Family Foundation vice president who co-authored the annual study.

And, one of the things causing costs to go up is the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act, commonly known as Obamacare. And as people actually use the insurance willy nilly, it will drive up costs, which will drive up premiums and deductibles.

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Senate Democrats Still Whining About Having To Debate Bills They Authored

By William Teach September 12, 2014 – 7:04 am

Their entire agenda is about forcing votes to look good for the mid-terms, rather than dealing with legislation which actually helps Americans. And most media outlets covering the story go with a headline blaming the GOP for blocking the constitutional amendment

(Politico) Senate Republicans unanimously rejected a constitutional amendment sought by Democrats that would allow Congress to regulate campaign finance reform.

The measure failed to clear a 60-vote threshold on Thursday afternoon, 54-42.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) quickly moved to hammer Republicans and tie them to Charles and David Koch, billionaire brothers who back national conservative political operations.

This is what Reid and the Democrats wanted for the first vote, as in, they wanted it to fail in order to whine at Republicans. Being forced to actually debate the legislation was not what they wanted.

Grassley and two dozen other Senate Republicans voted to advance the bill to blunt Democrats’ plans to hold a second round of campaign-flavored Democratic votes on proposals aimed at raising the minimum wage, overturning the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision, chipping away at gender pay disparities and reforming the student loan system.

The Senate has only a few more days in session — and Democratic aides said it will be difficult for the chamber to get to all the Fair Shot Agenda votes they hoped to hold this month, given Republican votes to advance the constitutional amendment Monday and the pay-equity bill on Wednesday, both of which consumed days of debate time. The next Senate vote is on Monday to end debate on the pay-equity bill — which will likely fail.

Perhaps the Democrat controlled Senate should take up pressing legislation first, instead of playing political games. They could certainly take up the hundreds of economic bills sent over from the House. But, they’ve decided on a course of forcing votes on hyper-partisan legislation which they know will never pass simply for campaign optics.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Democrats’ top message man, said voters will not forget Republicans’ rejection of an amendment that Democrats argue would get “dark money” out of politics and broadly drives GOP policies.

Sure they will. Most have no idea what it is. Most voters are disengaged and certainly know more about the celebrity hacking case than what’s going on in Washington.

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/510381046010245120

According to Open Secrets, 73% of his individual contributions have come from Large Individual Contributions for 2009-2014. He’s received almost $4 million from PACs. And $708k from lobbyists. Plus all the money from lawyers/law firms, securities and investments. Tweet him and let him know that he should not take money from all these folks.

Democrat whining about tax inversions is a big fail, too.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Guess Who’s Listed As Partners For Upcoming Climate Change Rally In NYC?

By William Teach September 11, 2014 – 6:20 pm

I know you’ll be really, really, really surprised (via Climate Depot)

Official ‘Partners of People’s Climate March in NYC:

Then, of course, there are lots of SEIU and 350.batsh*t insane chapters, Code Pink, the far far left Common Dreams, two chapters of Muslim Brotherhood linked CAIR, the insane World Can’t Wait, Teamsters, Women In Islam, MoveOn.org, and a whole raft of far left groups. Good thing all these fossil fuel hating groups are taking fossil fueled trips to NYC, eh?

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