Rep. Marsha Blackburn Smacks Around Bill Nye On Meet The Press

By William Teach February 16, 2014 – 2:54 pm

Having gotten tired of being beaten up by Marc Morano multiple times in TV debates, Bill Nye decided he would give it a go against Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn), and really fared no better (video of the whole exchange here). Host David Gregory even interrupted Blackburn multiple times and tried to help out Nye and the Warmists, to no avail. Blackburn was calm, rational, adult, and had facts on her side, rather then hyperbole, “consensus” (which isn’t science), scaremongering, and creating links out of thing air.

Perhaps we should note that television production uses lots and lots of energy, which Warmists say causes “climate change”. Weird, eh?

Anyhow, Warmists were really not happy that NBC would even allow a debate, being the big time fascists that they are. Here’s National Journal

Senate Democrats recently joined a longstanding liberal coalition of media critics to demand that major news networks up their coverage of climate change.

This is not what they had in mind.

Sunday’s episode of NBC’s “Meet the Press” will feature a “climate change debate” between celebrity science educator Bill Nye (“the science guy”) and Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn.

For the political coalition—and, indeed, for the overwhelming majority of climate scientists— the connection between human greenhouse gas emissions and climate change is settled science, and they were hoping the networks would cover the impacts of that change. But Blackburn has disputed the scientific consensus on human-induced global warming, and the segment’s critics fear the episode will feature a he-said-she-said vibe that’s at odds with the science.

No, what they’re really worried about is that a Warmists would get beaten yet again. And they’re correct to be worried. Salon was concerned. So was Talking Points Memo. Here’s the Huffington Post

First, some context: TV news shows almost never cover climate change, which ought to be one of the most aggressively-reported issues around, given that, y’know, it’s a dire threat to the planet and everyone on it. A recent study from Media Matters found that the Sunday shows on NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox spent a combined 27 minutes on the topic in the whole of 2013. Meet the Press was singled out as “failing to offer a single substantial mention of climate change” for the entire year.

So, when “MTP” does finally decide that the issue merits its consideration, what does it do? It sets up a “debate” about the issue between Bill Nye—who, despite the great things he has done to popularize science, is not a climate scientist—and Blackburn, who has previously tweeted about how proud she is to deny that global warming exists.

The existence of climate change is no longer an issue up for discussion, and hasn’t been for decades. The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said there was a 95 percent chance that humans are responsible for global warming.

Interestingly, these are the same people who take long fossil fueled flights from all over the world to attend a nice working vacation, often on the taxpayer dime, in great spots. What the Warmists do not like is that anyone is allowed to debate the issue in the public eye. They want the opposition silenced.

Oh, and let’s not forget that 95% of the Warmists models have failed. If you want to talk consensus, that is it.

So, Nye was given the opportunity to go up against a politician in a supposedly scientific debate, and lost yet again.

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If All You See…

By William Teach February 16, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a warming world where warmth created snow melts to flood the lands, probably because of Fox News, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Nice Deb, with a post on Judge Pirro and Obama’s lawlessness.

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach February 16, 2014 – 10:04 am

Patriotic Pinup

Happy Sunday! Another fine day in the Once and Future Nation of America. The sun is shining, Team USA is beating the snot out of Slovenia in hockey (they won 5-1. Takes awhile to write these posts). No idea who did this pinup, but I gave it a little help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Raised On Hoecakes discusses the union vote loss in Tennessee
  2. The Lonely Conservative notes that Bill DeBlasio comrades are staying away from him
  3. The Other McCain discusses Ellen Page coming out as a lesbian
  4. The People’s Cube notes 50 ways to discuss your gender
  5. This ain’t Hell… offers up more Obamacare issues
  6. Victory Girls Blog takes up 5 ways to become an Obassador (yeah, I just made that word up)
  7. The Gateway Pundit reports on a gun maker blowing off NY
  8. The Daley Gator wonders how Jay Carney looks himself in the mirror
  9. Powerline considers whether Obamacare is adorable
  10. The Political Commentator wonders what would happen if the story was about Muslims rather than Jews
  11. Maggie’s Notebook discusses license plate scanning in England
  12. Jammie Wearing Fools notes that it’s good to be the Queen
  13. Fire Andrea Mitchell covers Obamacare denying medicine
  14. Fausta covers the problems in Venezuela
  15. And last, but not least, Director Blue has the Wiktionary definition of fascism.

s always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

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As Obama Whined About Drought In California, The Real Story Comes Out

By William Teach February 16, 2014 – 8:30 am

I mentioned Saturday that Obama took a long fossil fueled plane trip all the way to Fresno, California to complain about “climate change” and announce a $1 billion “climate change” slush fund. Part of the trip was to whine about the drought in California. His “science” adviser, John Holdren ( a believer in Malthusian prophesy), even went so far as to say that it wasn’t about reservoirs (which some were calling to be built), but about the lack of water to fill the reservoirs. Actually, he’s half right, and there’s a reason for that

(IBD) President Obama visited California’s drought-hit Central Valley Friday, offering handouts and blaming global warming. But the state’s water shortage is due to the left’s refusal to deal with the state’s water needs.

The one thing that will mitigate droughts in California — a permanent feature of the state — is to restore the water flow from California’s water-heavy north to farmers in the central and south. That’s just what House Bill 3964, which passed by a 229-191 vote last week, does.

But Obama’s plan is not to get that worthy bill through the Senate (where Democrats are holding it up) but to shovel pork to environmental activists and their victims, insultingly offering out-of-work farmers a “summer meal plan” in his package.

What happened?

Environmental special interests managed to dismantle the system by diverting water meant for farms to pet projects, such as saving delta smelt, a baitfish. That move forced the flushing of 3 million acre-feet of water originally slated for the Central Valley into the ocean over the past five years.

California Democrats refused to allow reservoirs and water containment facilities to be built. Droughts are nothing new to California. Some droughts were shown to last 200 years. Much of this can be explained by the geography of California. The hills, mountains, ocean temperatures, winds, and weather patterns all contribute. Much of the Los Angeles are would be extremely dry without the water that is brought in.

Climate weenies blame are blaming the drought on climate change, rather than a typical natural occurring pattern shown to have happened before. Yet, their own policies have made it worse, much like their policies make wild fires worse. Perhaps if all the “climate change” believers would give up their own fossil fueled vehicles the drought would end. California should pass a law to ban all fossil fueled vehicles. We have to Do Something. Hey, why, California’s “climate change” legislation has worked wonders, right?

Meanwhile, after taking the long fossil fueled flight for a brief speech in Fresno, he hopped back on the plane to head to …. Palm Springs, where he’s playing golf. And met with King Abdullah II of Jordan, who he could have met with in Washington earlier in the week, instead of making him take a long fossil fueled trip to California.

And then there’s John Kerry

Secretary of State John Kerry will begin a series of speeches on Sunday that will call on the world to tackle climate change.

The blitz will begin in Jakarta, Indonesia, where Kerry will give the “first in a series of speeches on climate change this year,” according to a State Department official.

Kerry will lay out the “compelling and undeniable scientific case” of the growing climate change challenge that is “pushing the planet towards a tipping point of no return,” the official said.

Great. Says the man who took a long fossil fueled trip. Perhaps Kerry should be more concerned with the rise of hardcore Islamism in Indonesia rather than an imaginary boogeyman political issue.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Hooray! Obama Takes Long Fossil Fueled Flight To Announce $1 Billion Climate Slush Fund

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 4:34 pm

Yes, the man with the Largest Carbon Footprint In The World (41K metric tons) did actually do this

(Washington Post) FRESNO, Calif. — President Obama said here Friday that he will propose a $1 billion fund in his fiscal 2015 budget to help communities prepare for the effects of climate change and to fund research and technology to protect against its impact.

The president announced the “climate resilience fund” during a meeting with farmers and ranchers in Fresno, Calif., who have been severely affected by a drought in the state’s San Joaquin Valley.

Obama is expected to release his proposed 2015 budget in early March. The prospects for the climate fund are uncertain in a Republican-controlled House. But Obama, who made preparation for climate change one of the major themes of the climate action plan he released in June, will continue to press for the need to adapt, according to the White House.

Let’s take a step back from the argument regarding the causes of the changes in climate, namely, is it mostly or solely caused by Mankind, particularly fossil fuels usage, or is it mostly solely natural? The very fact is that changes in climate can cause real world issues within the environment and mankind. Of course, throughout time people and life have either adapted or died out. One of Darwin’s fundamental points. When the dust bowl occurred in the American mid-west, many people picked up and moved, particularly to California. There will always be changes. So, having plans in place to deal with these changes is not a bad idea.

Of course, how will this all work out, considering that hardcore Leftists are the ones pushing it?

(Reuters) Funds would be used to research how to better prepare for climate change-related effects like rising sea levels and extreme temperatures and encourage local initiatives. Other investments would include “breakthrough technologies and resilient infrastructure” such as building sea walls and more resilient electricity delivery systems to protect vulnerable cities and towns.

So they won’t actually be really doing much more than spreading money around to Warmist/Progressive friendly groups to do research, along with probably sending money to companies that will fail, much like with his “green energy” idiocy via The Stimulus.

The concept of the fund is based on a recommendation made in December 2012 by the think tank Center for American Progress.

Let’s not forget that the founder of CAP is John Podesta, now a senior adviser to Obama. CAP is an extremely left wing group, and you can bet the money would go to left leaning groups and companies, especially donors.

The problem is not so much any changes in weather, because weather always has, and always will, happen. The problem is more people living more modern lifestyles and dependent on infrastructure. The last thing we need is a guy who has a massive carbon footprint yammering on about the need to spend Other People’s Money on “climate change”, though.

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If All You See…

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is warm snow because Someone Else forgot to unplug all their appliances, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post on exactly who has paid for Obamacare.

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CBS News: Hey, This Snow Thing Is Global Warming, Ya Know!

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 11:40 am

No one should be surprised that CBS News and the people they invite to participate are fully invested in anti-science

(Newsbusters) As a snow storm beared down on the east coast on Thursday, CBS This Morning sought to lay blame on global warming, with the headline on screen fretting: “Extreme Weather; Are These Kinds of Storms, Droughts Unprecedented?” Co-host Charlie Rose turned New York City College physics professor Michio Kaku and wondered: “What’s causing all this?”

Kaku proclaimed: “Well, the wacky weather could get even wackier. What we’re seeing is that the jet stream and the polar vortex are becoming unstable. Instability of historic proportions. We think it’s because of the gradual heating up of the North Pole. The North Pole is melting.” Rose interjected: “Global warming.”

Kaku continued: “That excess heat generated by all this warm water is destabilizing this gigantic bucket of cold air….So that’s the irony, that heating could cause gigantic storms of historic proportions.”

On CBS This Morning Thursday, co-host Gayle King theorized: “Does this explain why Niagra Falls is frozen and why it’s warm in Sochi? It’s all connected to the same thing, correct?” Kaku replied: “It’s connected. If you take a look at the jet stream, you see that England is flooding right now, Latin America is warm, while California has a drought. We’re talking about instabilities caused by the eratic nature of the jet stream.”

Except, the melting in the Arctic was much less this year. Many Warmists had predicted the Arctic would be ice free. Heck, many proclaimed that snowfall would be a thing of the past. Now these crazy anti-science people think massive, and in some cases, record, snowfall is caused by heating.

As far as Sochi goes

(Daily Caller) Marc Morano pointed out that Sochi’s position in Russia — thousands of miles south of Moscow and not far from the Turkish maritime border — lends the resort town an almost tropical feel that doesn’t produce much snow. Meanwhile, vast swathes of the Northern Hemisphere, including the storm-socked East Coast, remain buried under snow and ice.

“They’re waking up and seeing palm trees outside,” he said. “It’s the southernmost city in Russia. And had they held these Olympics in Michigan — upper Michigan was the coldest place on the entire planet in January — they should have held them in Michigan if they were looking for snow.”

“They should’ve held them in Iran,” Morano continued, “which and the most snow in 50 years, where 50 houses were crushed. They should’ve held them in Italy, where they’re having record snow. They should’ve held them anywhere in the United States, where we’ve broken over 4,000 snow records this past month.”

“The idea that they’d pick the most southern city with palm trees, and then use it as a springboard to call for a U.N. global warming treaty,” he said, “something’s just not adding up.”

He also points out that Sochi is considered the warmest city in Russia. Travel sites, like this one, consider it to be the warmest city in Russia. The Atlantic wondered last June whose bright idea it was to hold the Winter Olympics in the warmest part of Russia. The Washington Post notes “The Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, is the warmest city ever to host the Winter Olympic Games…”. Obviously, many of the games are held in the mountains, an hour away from Sochi. But, it made no sense to pick the city.

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Team Obama Decides To Ignore Banking Laws Regarding Marijuana

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 8:30 am

Another day, another lawless pronouncement from the Obama administration

(AP) The Obama administration on Friday gave banks a road map for conducting transactions with legal marijuana sellers so these new businesses can stash away savings, make payroll and pay taxes like any other enterprise. It’s not clear banks will get on board.

Guidance issued by the Justice and Treasury departments is the latest step by the federal government toward enabling a legalized marijuana industry to operate in states that approve it. The intent is to make banks feel more comfortable working with marijuana businesses that are licensed and regulated.

Let’s be clear: it is against federal law to sell marijuana, which is a schedule 1 drug. There are numerous criminal and regulatory roadblocks to financial institutions doing business with drug dealers. A drug dealer is considered a criminal under federal law, and cannot open a bank account, cash checks, nor accept credit cards. And we were told, at least when it came to illegal immigration, that federal law trumps state law. Working with the marijuana sellers would open the banks to racketeering charges. Yet, here is the Justice Department (sic) relaxing the rules, and simply requiring banks to file reports that “satisfy regulatory obligations in this area”.

Once again, the Obama administration is simply doing whatever they want, federal law be damned.

Unsurprisingly, despite their violations of the law, Team Obama’s plan isn’t a particularly good one

But a leading financial services trade group immediately expressed misgivings and others, too, said the guidelines don’t go far enough in protecting banks.

“After a series of red lights, we expected this guidance to be a yellow one,” said Don Childears, president and CEO of the Colorado Bankers Association. “This isn’t close to that. At best, this amounts to ‘serve these customers at your own risk’ and it emphasizes all of the risks. This light is red.”

There are also huge regulatory and monitoring burdens place on the financial institutions. More red tape. Which means more work and costs.

But in response, the American Bankers Association said “guidance or regulation doesn’t alter the underlying challenge for banks. As it stands, possession or distribution of marijuana violates federal law, and banks that provide support for those activities face the risk of prosecution and assorted sanctions.”

The group says banks will only be comfortable serving marijuana businesses if federal prohibitions on the drug are changed in law.

Oh, come on, guys, Team Obama is a law unto themselves!

In fact, several Congress Critters have submitted legislation, led by Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) and Denny Heck (WA – 10), designed to deal with the marijuana banking issue. Of course, marijuana would still be illegal under federal law, and would create a situation where there would be unequal treatment under the law.

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NC DOT: Look In Your Own Mirror For Black Ice Accident Responsibility

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 8:06 am

This story tickles me. It is rare that any Government agency opens up and directly blames a segment of the public. Usually, we’ll get all sorts of PoliticalSpeak, platitudes, calls to do better in the future, and patronization. But not this time.

There were lots and lots of wrecks and accidents and people just sliding off the roads in the Raleigh, NC area Friday morning. So much of the snow and ice and slush had melted through the day Thursday, but froze overnight going into Friday. The temps were still below freezing during the morning time. There were even crews called in from other areas which weren’t affected by the storm to help with salting and sanding. At one point, the crews were reduced from 50 to 5, because they needed rest. They’d been going non-stop since before the storm. Then we get to the meat

(WRAL) McCurry said officials felt they were prepared to handle black ice on area roads Friday morning, adding that drivers were warned of the dangers.

“They were advised by the governor as well as DOT to maintain their speed, watching where they’re going and what they’re doing, and from what I understand, several of them didn’t,” he said. “I think we did everything we could.”

Exactly. Stay off the roads. Ice is not your friend while driving. If you have to drive, be careful.

Transportation Secretary Tony Tata agreed, saying there’s only so much road crews can do to treat black ice.

“We warned about black ice, and we worked through the night in Wake County. Was there more we could do? Sure, you can always do more,” Tata said. “But when you have 100 counties stymied by an event like this, I’m proud of the teams that moved over to help out.”

He went on to point out that there is no possible way to get all the black ice spots. The DOT used 45,000 tons of salt and sand. And they warned people time and time again to stay off the road. It’s not that difficult a concept. If you drive, your are the responsible party. If you aren’t aware of what could happen when you have cold roads, freezing temperatures, and lots of melting snow and slush, well, then, you should probably turn in your driver’s license, because you are a danger to other people, much less yourself.

Again, no apologies, no squishy political speak, not patronizing, just an acknowledgement that people were responsible for their own actions. Good for the NC DOT. We may make fun of them when we see 10 guys standing around while 1 fills in a pothole, but when the winter weather hits the fan, they work extremely hard to make the roads usable, all while dealing with the danger themselves. They rarely get to enjoy the winter weather themselves. So give them a break.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Poll: Most Non-Liberal Americans Against Unilateral Presidential Decrees

By William Teach February 14, 2014 – 3:00 pm

Unsurprisingly, Democrats/Liberals/Progressives really love how Obama simply makes the law as he sees fit

(Fox News) According to a just-released Fox News national poll, most voters don’t think the country’s system of government was designed for the president to act unilaterally, and a majority disapproves of Obama bypassing Congress. (poll results here)

The new poll finds that 74 percent think the president using executive orders to get around Congress is not how things are supposed to work in our country.  That includes 54 percent of Democrats.

Large majorities of independents (80 percent) and Republicans (93 percent) believe it goes against our system for the president to act independently to advance his policies.

The writing is kind of unclear. The question was “Barack Obama said he will take action to advance his policy goals with or without Congress, and that he’ll use executive orders to get around Congress. Do you think this is the way our government is supposed to work, or not?” It is a yes or no answer. 40% of Dems think this is the way government is supposed to work

Even when asked to set aside their views on how the government is supposed to work, by a wide 60-37 percent margin voters still disapprove of Obama going around Congress.

Almost all Republicans disapprove of Obama acting without lawmakers (90 percent), as do two-thirds of independents (66 percent).

Democrats approve by a 66-31 percent margin.

So, when we set aside that Constitution thingy, 66% of Dems approve. They should remember that they will not always control the Executive Branch.

BTW, other findings include 58% thinking the worst is still to come regarding the economy. 60% think Los Federales policies have increased income inequality. 65% of Independents disapprove of Obama’s job performance.

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