The Nation: Hey, Why Not Take Fossil Fuels Companies To Court To Stop “Climate Change”

By William Teach April 24, 2014 – 10:15 am

Well, you know what my recommendation is: Warmists should give up their own fossil fuels usage if they’re so upset. Of course, that would interfere with their lifestyles, and do things like driving and flying to “climate change” protests, like all the ones they held Tuesday, which was Earth Day. Typical climahypocrisy. Anyhow

Want to Stop Climate Change? Take the Fossil Fuel Industry to Court

Big Carbon is where Big Tobacco was, before it started losing.

Funny thing is, Warmists would be some of the first to complain when the price of everything, not just fuel, spikes.

In November 2013, American climate scientist Richard Heede, of the Colorado-based Climate Accountability Institute, published a paper with a revolutionary thesis. After nine years of researching the energy industry in dozens of countries, he concluded that nearly two-thirds of the world’s carbon dioxide and methane emissions dating back to the dawn of the industrial era were the responsibility of just ninety companies. Heede called them the “carbon majors.” (snip)

One well-established environmental lawyer is in the preliminary stages of putting together a lawsuit employing Heede’s statistics. Other attorneys were quick to praise the study, but cautioned that no one has yet hit upon a legal theory that can use Heede’s work to force the carbon majors to cough up some of the astronomical sums that experts believe must be spent worldwide to adapt to rising seas, heat waves, droughts and other extreme-weather events caused by climate change—not to mention help pay for the damage already caused.

In other words, they really, really want to sue, but have no legal basis other than climahysteria. In reality, the majority of lawsuits involving “climate change” have lost in court. The climaplaintiffs always prefer that these get settled before going to trial, because the actual facts needed in a court of law are not available.

“The anti-tobacco guys lost and lost and lost in court for decades—until they won,” says Kert Davies, who worked on the breakthrough case on behalf of Oakland, Boulder and other cities while a researcher at Greenpeace. “That’s point number one. Plus, advocates like me can say that we don’t care if we win as long as we make a point.

“We want to influence the court of public opinion,” Davies continues. “We have to educate people about the truth after all this industry disinformation. So let the lawsuits produce documents and testimony and all sorts of information for the public. That’s one of their functions. That’s where the tobacco wars were won. Even [Representative Henry] Waxman’s famous tobacco hearings in Congress—the tobacco execs never admitted anything. You didn’t need to get to that. By the time they left the hearing room, they were already pariahs. We’d seen through them.”

The flip side is that Warmists have to produce their own documents and testimony, and Warmists tend to get beaten like Walter Mondale in 1984 when they have to argue their facts and positions (hence the reason most do not like to debate). It’s not enough to prove warming: most of us will stipulate 1.4F increase since 1850. Having to prove that it is mostly/solely mankind’s fault is the rub. Which Warmists can only do with skewed and falsified data, failed computer models, reading crystal balls, and hysteria.

Read: The Nation: Hey, Why Not Take Fossil Fuels Companies To Court To Stop “Climate Change” »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Surprise: FDA To Propose New Regs On E-cigs, Require ID For Purchase

By William Teach April 24, 2014 – 7:55 am

Whoa, whoa, whoa, isn’t that racist?

(NY Times) The Food and Drug Administration will propose sweeping new rules on Thursday that for the first time would extend its regulatory authority from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes, popular nicotine delivery devices that have grown into a multibillion-dollar business with virtually no federal oversight or protections for American consumers.

The regulatory blueprint, with broad implications for public health, the tobacco industry and the nation’s 42 million smokers, would also cover pipe tobacco and cigars, tobacco products that have long slid under the regulatory radar and whose use has risen sharply in recent years. The new regulations would ban the sale of e-cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco to Americans under 18, and would require that people buying them show photo identification to prove their age, measures already mandated in a number of states.

I proclaim the FDA to be a racist organization for requiring ID!

Once finalized, the regulations will establish oversight of what has been a market free-for-all of products, including vials of liquid nicotine of varying quality and unknown provenance. It has taken the agency four years since Congress passed a major tobacco-control law in 2009 to get to this stage, and federal officials and advocates say it will take at least another year for the rules to take effect — and possibly significantly longer if affected companies sue to block them.

Manufacturers will have to get FDA approval for all e-liquids and e-cigs. The latter is silly: there is really very little to an e-cig. I can almost see making sure that e-liquid has some oversight to make sure it doesn’t contain dangerous material. Basic standards.

Perhaps the biggest proposed change would require producers of cigars and e-cigarettes to register with the F.D.A., provide the agency with a detailed accounting of their products’ ingredients and disclose their manufacturing processes and scientific data. Producers would also be subject to F.D.A. inspections.

I don’t have a problem with that. That is a proper role of Government.

But the new blueprint was also notable for what it did not contain: any proposal to ban flavors in e-cigarettes and cigars, like bubble gum and grape, that public health experts say lure children to use the products, or any move to restrict the marketing of e-cigarettes, as is done for traditional cigarettes, which are banned from television, for example.

But

F.D.A. officials said the new regulations were the first major step toward asserting the agency’s authority and eventually being able to regulate flavors and marketing. But doing so will require further federal rulemaking, they said.

The question is, how far does the FDA go? If they use a light touch, like a safecracker or a pickpocket, everything is good. That’s what they should do, especially in the absence of scientific data. If they take a heavy approach, which will stifle innovation and destroy small businesses, while favoring deep pocketed big companies, there’ll be a problem..

Read: Surprise: FDA To Propose New Regs On E-cigs, Require ID For Purchase »

Posted in Economy, Government | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Rolling Stone Reports Obama Plans To Kill Keystone XL

By William Teach April 24, 2014 – 7:35 am

This comes via Yid With Lid, who notes that the only question left is the timing of the announcement

(Rolling Stone) At the same time, the president is likely to announce his decision on the northern leg of the Keystone XL, the hugely controversial 1,179-mile-long pipeline that would bring tar-sands oil down from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries. Although no final decision has been made, two high-level sources in the Obama administration told me recently that the president has all but decided to deny the permit for the pipeline – a dramatic move that would light up Democratic voters and donors while further provoking the wrath of Big Oil.

I’m always leery of anonymous sources, so we’ll have to see how this shakes out. Yid goes on to note that White House spokesman Matt Lehrich took to Twitter to say that no one knows what the president is thinking, but didn’t fully rebut the story.

Of course, this would all be about “climate change” and looking good to the unhinged Progressive base, regardless as to what it does to the economy. Keystone XL has become a silly rallying cry for the Warmists, despite there being many other pipeline projects, some bigger than KXL, being built.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post editorial board wrote that the continued delay is absurd.

IF FOOT-DRAGGING were a competitive sport, President Obama and his administration would be world champions for their performance in delaying the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. (snip to the end)

The administration’s latest decision is not responsible; it is embarrassing. The United States continues to insult its Canadian allies by holding up what should have been a routine permitting decision amid a funhouse-mirror environmental debate that got way out of hand. The president should end this national psychodrama now, bow to reason, approve the pipeline and go do something more productive for the climate.

In between the two paragraphs the WP notes that the reviews have been done, KXL will have a negligible impact on both the environment and “climate change”, and that it should be built.

Rasmussen has a new poll that shows 61% of likely voters favor building the pipeline, up 4 points since the last poll in January. 62% think it will be good for the economy.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Rolling Stone Reports Obama Plans To Kill Keystone XL »

Posted in Barry Obama, Energy | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Nice Sale On Kanger EVOD E-Cig Starter Kit

By William Teach April 23, 2014 – 8:05 pm

I mentioned before that I obtained my Joyetech 510-T e-cig starter kit from myfreedomsmokes.com. I’ve truly enjoyed the 510-T, has worked really well, excellent flavor, though have to avoid some of the heavier e-liquids. Which is fine, because I’ve settled on 3 that I really like. One is a mocha-coffee flavor, my main. A strawberry-chocolate, which is a nice evening flavor. And USA Mix by Dekang.

Anyhow, I was at the website with the intention of ordering a few new atomizers. You have to do that every month or two, they’re $7-9 bucks ($6.95 at myfreedomsmokes). I ran across an “Easter special” tab (kinda strange type of sale, wouldn’t you say?), and they have the Kanger EVOD starter kit on sale for $28.95, normally $59.95. That was a sale I couldn’t ignore.

I just received it in the mail today. I got the blue color. It comes with 2 batteries, 2 clearomizers, a wall charger with a cable that can also be plugged into a USB port (which is nice for trips), and they seem to work on my Joyetech charger, as well. And

It’s also rebuildable.  When it burns out, instead of tossing it in the garbage you can use the EVOD replacement heads to bring it back to life as if it were brand new again.

Each EVOD will come loaded with a 2.5ohm Standard Resistance head and there is an additional 5pk of 2.5ohm Standard Resistance heads included with the kit for a total of 7 head and wick assemblies

One of the downsides to the Joyetech was the mess. Having to take the little cap off of the tank meant getting some e-juice on your fingers. It was also necessary to clean them a couple times a week. Still, an excellent product, and easy to carry around.

But, again, couldn’t resist the value of the Kanger. It comes in 7 colors. I like that the button is recessed. It can make finding it a wee bit harder, but it makes it harder to inadvertently press in your pocket. I’ve only been using it for about an hour, but so far so good. Taste is excellent using the mocha coffee. Haven’t tried others yet. Throat hit is good, but not too much.

It has gotten excellent reviews, and it is still showing up as available, so if you are looking for a good kit, give it a shot.

There are also a couple nice, inexpensive blister pack kits under medium sized kits, too.

Read: Nice Sale On Kanger EVOD E-Cig Starter Kit »

Posted in Web/Tech | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Paper: Medeival Warm Period Global, And Most Likely Warmer Than Today

By William Teach April 23, 2014 – 3:13 pm

Waiting on Warmists to say this is funded by Big Oil in a disinformation campaign in 3..2..1…

(The Hockey Schtick) A new paper from SPPI and CO2 Science reviews the scientific literature on the Medieval Warm Period in Upper North America, and concludes, “these published results now join the many other similar results, from all around the world, where it can be seen that the Medieval Warm Period was not only a global phenomenon, but that its peak warmth was very likely significantly greater than that of the Current Warm Period.”

Some excerpts from the paper

Climate alarmists claim that rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations due to the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, gas and oil, have raised global air temperatures to their highest level in the past one to two millennia. And, therefore, investigating the possibility of a period of equal global warmth within the past one to two thousand years has become a high-priority enterprise; for if such a period could be shown to have existed, when the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration was far less than it is today, there would be no compelling reason to attribute the warmth of our day to the CO2 released to the air by mankind since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Thus, in this review of the pertinent scientific literature, results of the search for such knowledge are presented for studies conducted within the borders of Canada and other regions north of the lower 48 states of the United States of America.

There is nothing unusual or unnatural about climate change. It happens on decadal scales, centennial scales and millennial scales. And over the past century or two, the earth has experienced a natural and not-unexpected millennial-scale climatic shift that may or may not have yet run its course.

What caused the warmth of the MWP? Not rising CO2. It would be the typical stuff, like the Sun, solar wind, natural earth processes, all the things Warmists deny.

The same story is also told by tree ring-width anomalies from the adjacent Wrangell Mountains of Alaska. Hence, it can be concluded from two different data bases that the region’s current temperature is, in fact, lower than it was during the warmest part of the Medieval Warm Period, adding more weight to the growing mountain of evidence that indicates there is nothing unusual about the planet’s current level of warmth.

These results now join the many other similar results, from all around the world, which have been archived in the databases of co2science.org’s Medieval Warm Period Project29, where it can be seen that the Medieval Warm Period was not only a global phenomenon, but that its peak warmth was very likely significantly greater than that of the Current Warm Period.

Even the United Nations IPCC acknowledged that the MWP was warmer than today, before that became inconvenient for the cult. And Warmists worked hard to spin it away. This paper syncs in nicely with the multitude of papers which have stated the same thing: the MWP was global, and warmer than the current warm period.

Over to you now, Warmists, to attempt to tell us, in a scientific manner, using the scientific method, using real data, why this warm period is completely different from all the previous ones during the Holocene.

Read: Paper: Medeival Warm Period Global, And Most Likely Warmer Than Today »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 23, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a sea that will rise up and cause islands to tip over, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Watts Up With That, with a post on how well the much hyped Warmist program “Years of Living Dangerously” did.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Politifact Finds Kay Hagan’s Tom Tillis Ad “Mostly False”

By William Teach April 23, 2014 – 12:01 pm

North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan has found herself in deep trouble for her re-election chances, primarily due to her continued support of, and vote for, Obamacare, ie the “Affordable” Care Act. Tom Tillis is, with all due respect to the other Republicans fighting for the GOP nomination, the strongest in the field. So, what else is there to do by attack Tom? Well, some truth might help

(Politifact) In her quest to win a second term, Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., has been hit hard by attacks over her vote for Obamacare. In a recent radio ad, she fights back, charging that her potential Republican opponent, state House Speaker Thom Tillis, actually said he liked the health care law.

Here’s a portion of the narration in Hagan’s ad:

“Politicians. These days, you’ve got to watch them close. Real close. Here’s Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis describing Obamacare: (Audio clip of Tillis) ’It’s a great idea.’ That’s right. Thom Tillis called Obamacare ‘a great idea.’ That was on the Bill LuMaye Show just this February. You can look it up.”

The clip is played quite a bit on the local talk radio stations, mostly in an attempt to turn Conservatives away from Tillis.

Is the ad correct that Tillis is a closet fan of Obamacare, even though his own campaign website calls for a “full repeal” of the law and labels it “a cancer on our national economy and it threatens the quality of every American’s health care”?

As it turns out, Hagan’s ad uses just half of the quote. Let’s go to the audiotape.

Tillis made his comment on the Raleigh, N.C.-based talk show hosted by Bill LuMaye on Feb. 6, 2014. Here’s some of the conversation that preceded and followed the snippet used in Hagan’s ad. (snip to the relevant quote)

Tillis concluded, “I think there’s a lot of things we can do if we focus on a systematic approach to eliminating the bad — and the majority of the stuff that is in Obamacare is bad, because it’s not fiscally sustainable. It’s a great idea that can’t be paid for — let’s focus on the net problem versus a policy that’s creating as many problems as it fixes in terms of health care, and then it’s also creating the most devastating problem of a deficit and debt that we can’t afford.”

So what Tillis actually did in the interview was to call Obamacare “a great idea that can’t be paid for.” And most of his comments before that discussed ways to repeal the bill, not support for it.

Health insurance reform is a great idea. However, it was done in a really bad way that cannot be paid for, is creating winners and losers (lots of losers), increasing costs, putting government in bed with our health care decisions, and, really, do you really have insurance if you can’t afford the deductible? Or are you simply paying for a few benefits and the knowledge that the IRS cannot tax/fine you?

Hagan’s ad says Tillis “called Obamacare ‘a great idea.’ ” That’s a severely edited quote. What Tillis actually said was that Obamacare is “a great idea that can’t be paid for.” Pulling out that tiny sound bite gives a highly misleading view of what Tillis said in the interview.

They find the ad to be “mostly false”.

Read: Politifact Finds Kay Hagan’s Tom Tillis Ad “Mostly False” »

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It’s Come To This: An App That Lets People Narc On “Energy Wasters”

By William Teach April 23, 2014 – 9:35 am

Grist writer Holly Richmond is really pumped up about this

There’s no reason for offices to be lit up all night if no one’s around. If seeing a bright skyline pisses you off as much as it inspires awe, LightsOut will help you channel your annoyance.

The app LightsOut was just born at Boston’s Cleanweb Hackathon earlier this month, where it won the grand prize, so you can’t blame creator Spencer Lawrence for not having a slick, fully functional app yet. (It should be more user-ready in seven months, after help from an accelerator program.) Lawrence, a former energy auditor, and his friend John Massie got plenty of inspiration for LightsOut just by walking around during the hackathon:

It’s not fully developed quite yet, doesn’t seem to be working well on the web, but it is coming (from the link in the second paragraph excerpt)

The idea of LightsOut–a new, and as yet not fully developed app–is to give people that power. It’s a way for people who care about inefficiency and unsustainable behavior to report on it. Think of it like a crowdsourced energy audit.

Seems as if this is a great harassment tool. Back to Grist

So rather than spewing a frustrated sigh at energy waste, you can take action by snapping a photo, uploading it to LightsOut, and briefly describing the issue. (Well, you might wanna wait til the app’s fully functional.) It’s not just for electricity waste, either — leaky faucets and the like are fair game, too. Maybe as with street harassment reporting app Hollaback, LightsOut will bring attention and change behavior.

I reckon that Holly missed the point of Hollaback, bless her heart. Hollaback looks to stop sexual harassment (mostly along typical left wing lines, but, standard harassment, such as posting nude photos for purpose of blackmail). LightsOut could be deemed a form of harassment.

Maybe we need to create an app to upload photos of Warmists being hypocrites?

Read: It’s Come To This: An App That Lets People Narc On “Energy Wasters” »

Posted in Enviroweenies | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Good News: IRS Paid Bonuses To Employees Who Were Delinquent On Taxes

By William Teach April 23, 2014 – 8:18 am

Do as I say, not as I do

(AP) The Internal Revenue Service has paid more than $2.8 million in bonuses to employees with recent disciplinary problems, including $1 million to workers who owed back taxes, a government investigator said Tuesday.

More than 2,800 workers got bonuses despite facing a disciplinary action in the previous year, including 1,150 who owed back taxes, said a report by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The bonuses were awarded from October 2010 through December 2012.

Out here in the real world, the IRS would slap a garnishment on our wages, and possibly initiate criminal proceedings. In Government Land, they’re given bonuses.

Surprisingly, there are no actual policies, rules, regulations, or laws that deal with providing bonuses and paid days off (which were also provided to the IRS employees) to those with disciplinary problems and tax delinquencies, excluding senior and executive level employees. The IRS supposedly considers issues for permanent raises, but not for bonuses.

Other examples of misconduct by workers getting bonuses included misusing government credit cards for travel, drug use, violent threats and fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits.

Out here in the real world, the employee would be fired. In Government Land, they’re given bonuses.

Read: Good News: IRS Paid Bonuses To Employees Who Were Delinquent On Taxes »

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GOP Decides On A #FireReid Strategy For Midterms

By William Teach April 23, 2014 – 7:40 am

This was a strategy used effectively during the 2010 mid-terms against Nancy Pelosi. Will it work against Reid?

(Boston Herald) To hear party operatives describe the fight for the Senate, it’s the boogeyman billionaires against the shifty septuagenarian.

For months, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been pushing an unrelenting string of criticism against Charles and David Koch, the wealthy industrialists who have backed some of the nation’s most effective conservative groups. Now, Republican candidates are adjusting their plans and linking Democratic Senate candidates to Reid, painting the 74-year-old leader and his allies as unscrupulous politicians.

“There’s little doubt that Harry Reid is abusing his power as majority leader and resorting to desperate and deceitful measures to hold on to his position. And in so doing, he’s showing that he’s not fit to hold the position,” Republican National Committee press secretary Kirsten Kukowski wrote Wednesday in a memo to candidates and allies.

The GOP, Senate candidates, and private groups have been linking Democrat Senators to Reid for a month or so now, especially the truly vulnerable ones, like Kay Hagan here in North Carolina

Take the Republicans. In Colorado, Senate hopeful Cory Gardner pledged to “make Harry Reid a footnote in history.” In Florida, a tea party leader pledged to “rip the gavel out of Harry Reid’s hand.” And in an ad in North Carolina, leading GOP Senate hopeful Thom Tillis gives Reid credit for an ad he is not directly behind: “Know who’s paying for the sleazy ads? It’s Harry Reid.”

The Democrats are doing the same, casting GOP Senate hopefuls as beholden to the Koch brothers and their agenda.

Of course, the problem for Dems in bringing up the Koch brothers is two fold: first, most do not even know who they are. Second, it can be very dangerous for elected officials and those looking to be elected to demonize and denigrate private citizens, especially when citizens learn the truth about the generosity of the Koch brothers.

And the RNC adds that several Democrats, including Reid, have accepted donations from Koch Industries’ political committees or aides.

“For a senator who tells outright lies and funnels campaign money to his family, hypocrisy probably seems like no big deal,” Kukowski wrote in her memo.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus was planning to announce the anti-Reid strategy described in the memo, titled “Nothing’s Too Unethical for Harry Reid.” (snip)

The move is similar to what Republicans did in 2010 with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The California Democrat was central to Republicans’ messaging and helped the GOP win majority status during that election. (snip)

The RNC now hopes to replicate that in 2014. The RNC’s digital team planned to flood Twitter starting Wednesday with messages with the hastag #firereid.

If Democrats want to play the game of insulting private citizens for daring to engage in their First Amendment Rights, the GOP should go after Harry Reid, and hard. Do not hold back. Do not play nice. Politics is a dirty, nasty game. When the mostly liberal media starts with their “the GOP are big meanies” yammer, fight back. The question is, will the GOP stay strong?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: GOP Decides On A #FireReid Strategy For Midterms »

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