Rachel Maddow: Christie Issue Means We Need More Dogged Local Journalists

By William Teach January 16, 2014 – 8:15 am

Investigating Republicans, of course. How cute. A nominal Republican is having a bit of an issue, so now she’s all for hardcore investigative journalism. Locally. Democracy demands it

Democracy needs dogged local journalism

(Multiple paragraphs regarding “lane closures” to start)

It’s one thing for public officials to subject one another to that kind of low-level, neener-neener harassment, but in New Jersey, reporters have been targeted too. Wildstein snatched up and redirected ShawnBoburg.com after Boburg wrote a (not terribly unflattering) profile of the intensely private Wildstein last year and an article on Christie’s patronage hiring.

Interesting. Remember how Team Obama went overboard investigating James Rosen and his family through the Justice Dept? And the Associated Press? Seems they were targeted for reprisal. How about the IRS scandal, which is also part of Obama’s 1st Amendment violation pattern?

If it weren’t for the dogged local press corps, Christie would still be ridiculing this story, attacking the legislators investigating it and persuading most of the national press to dismiss it.

Where’s that dogged local, state, and national press corps when it comes to the actions of Team Obama? Where’s Rachel and her crew, along with the employees of MSNBC, in investigating Team Obama?

She also mentions John Rowland, gov of Connecticut, and Mark Sanford, and how “local” reporters drove them out. Also, the EVIL Exxon and some old pipes or something. Weird that there’s no mention of Democrats like Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer, and Fithly Bob Filner.

Most of the time, national news happens out loud: at news conferences, on the floor of Congress, in splashy indictments or court rulings. But sometimes, the most important news starts somewhere more interesting, and it has to be dug up. Our democracy depends on local journalism, whether it’s a beat reporter slogging through yet another underattended local commission meeting, or a state political reporter with enough of an ear to the ground to know where the governor might be when he isn’t where he says he is, or a traffic columnist who’s nobody’s fool.

Where are the reporters digging up the dirt on Team Obama? I’m glad that she demands hardcore journalism: when will she practice it?

It’s annoying to pay for information — I know. But if you don’t subscribe to your local paper or pony up to get behind its online paywall, who’s going to pay reporters to cover the news where you live? A free press isn’t that kind of “free.” An accountable democracy doesn’t work without real information, gathered from the ground up, about people in power, everywhere. Be inspired by the beleaguered but unintimidated reporters of Chris Christie’s New Jersey: Whatever your partisan affiliation, or lack thereof, subscribe to your local paper today. It’s an act of civic virtue.

And there you have it: one of the leading “Progressive” voices on TV, who virtually determines how most of MSNBC runs, is telling you that the media should get their behinds out there and investigate, investigate, investigate. So, according to Rachel Maddow, reporters should be working hard to uncover what happened with Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS, Pigford, Eric Holder’s perjury, influence peddling, and so much more, and if they don’t, they aren’t doing their jobs. I doubt that’s what she mean when she wrote the opinion piece, it was most likely intended just to keep the Christie “lane closures” issue going, but her unintentional points are valid, and I look forward to all the investigative journalism regarding Team Obama that should be coming from MSNBC starting now.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Man’s Pet Parrot Rats Him Out At Alcohol Checkpoint

By William Teach January 15, 2014 – 3:20 pm

Sounds like someone is having poultry for dinner

(News Republic) Police in Mexico City made a drunk driving arrest after a man’s pet parrot betrayed him by squawking, “he’s drunk!”

Guillermo Reyes, 49, was driving his blue Chevy by an alcohol checkpoint in Mexico City. As he stopped at the checkpoint, a voice from the car said, “he’s drunk. He’s drunk!” according to Mexican newspaper El Universal.

Traitor.

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If All You See…

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

…is horrible horrible snow that was a thing of the past till heat started making more, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Public Secrets, with a post on what raising the minimum wage will do.

Read: If All You See… »

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UN Climate Chief Bummed About This Whole Democracy Thing

By William Teach January 15, 2014 – 10:53 am

Should anyone be surprised that a Warmist, and one working for the United Nations, no less, is less than enthused about democracy?

(Bloomberg) China, the top emitter of greenhouse gases, is also the country that’s “doing it right” when it comes to addressing global warming, the United Nations’ chief climate official said.

The nation has some of the toughest energy-efficiency standards for buildings and transportation and its support for photovoltaic technology helped reduce solar-panel costs by 80 percent since 2008, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said yesterday in an interview at Bloomberg News headquarters in New York. (snip)

China is also able to implement policies because its political system avoids some of the legislative hurdles seen in countries including the U.S., Figueres said.

Key policies, reforms and appointments are decided at plenums, or meeting of the governing Communist Party’s more than 200-strong Central Committee. The National People’s Congress, China’s unicameral legislature, largely enforces decisions made by the party and other executive organs.

The political divide in the U.S. Congress has slowed efforts to pass climate legislation and is “very detrimental” to the fight against global warming, she said.

Here’s what former Harvard Physicist Dr. Lubos Motl had to say about Figueres (via Climate Depot)

I hope that this story will open the eyes of many people who will be lucky to learn about it and who will realize that the actual goal of the climatism is to liquidate democracy, freedom, and prosperity in the world.

It’s the very ability of the one-party system to neutralize the opposition of any kind that is so intriguing for Ms Figueres and thousands of champions of the climate alarmism. It’s what their talk about the “consensus” and the dissatisfaction with the “contrarians” is all about.

The goal of these people is to stop democracy, freedom, and prosperity regardless of the fate of Nature, the temperatures, or the CO2 concentrations.

Warmists will tell you that that is all poppy-cock, that they love democracy, yet, they do everything in their power to shut down Skeptics, to stop free speech, freedom of the press, scientific inquiry, all opposition. Progressives want one party rule. Period.

Read: UN Climate Chief Bummed About This Whole Democracy Thing »

Posted in Global Warming, Liberal World | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Obama Once Again Proposes Caps On Charitable Giving

By William Teach January 15, 2014 – 7:06 am

Which has caused the United Way and other groups to hit Washington

(Daily Caller) Leaders of the charitable coalition the United Way swarmed Capitol Hill Tuesday to lobby against the Obama administration’s proposed cap on the charitable deduction in the federal tax code. Lowering the charitable deduction has long been an Obama policy objective.

United Way US CEO Stacey Stewart and 45 local United Way CEOs hit the Hill to urge “Support for the charitable deduction and expanding incentives for charitable giving in the U.S. tax code,” according to a press release issued on United Way’s behalf. The CEOs were also pushing to strengthen the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit.

Obama proposed a cap on charitable deductions in his 2014 budget proposal in April, and it is currently being debated in Congress. The proposal would cap charitable deductions with a 28 percent limit, down from its current 39.6 percent limit on high earners. Obama has tried every year since taking office to set a 28 percent cap.

“The President’s proposal, as you know, includes the provision that would cap deductions for wealthier Americans at 28 percent—a very common-sense proposition,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said of the administration’s proposal, which directly affects those in the top tax bracket but could indirectly affect those in the bottom.

Obama’s not the only Democrat to propose reducing charitable deductions; this has gone on for quite some time, mostly because Democrats are upset that “rich” people give money to organizations instead of Government, which, in Liberal minds, should be the entity providing charity. And liberals tend to be less charitable than Conservatives when it comes to “giving back”. As one of the comments at the story notes “Charitable giving is about people deciding for themselves how their tax money is going to be spent.” Liberals do not like that. They do not like charities in direct competition with Government. They do not like that people can choose which charities they give to. Hey, there are two charities, one mentioned in the story, I refuse to give to, because they use too much for overhead and non-helping activities. I’ll give elsewhere. My choice.

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Posted in Barry Obama, Taxation | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

White House Delays Yet Another Deadline Of “It’s The Law”

By William Teach January 15, 2014 – 6:50 am

It’s good to be the king

(The Hill) The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it was again extending the ObamaCare enrollment deadline for people with pre-existing conditions.

The administration said it will extend the Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Plan (PCIP), slated to end January 31, until March 15.

“As part of our continuing effort to help smooth consumers’ transition into Marketplace coverage, we are allowing those covered by PCIP additional time to shop for new coverage while they receive the ongoing care and treatment they need,” Health and Human Services spokeswoman Joanne Peters said in a  statement.

The deadline was originally at the end of December, but last month the administration pushed it back through January because of the problem-plagued HealthCare.gov website.

The PCIP covers around 30,000 Americans, who don’t seem too enthused to jump from PCIP to full Obamacare insurance, and are taking their sweet, sweet time in signing up through the now somewhat functional Marketplace websites. Jammie Wearing Fools notes that HHS head Kathleen Sebelius stated on December 31 that there would be no more delays. Viking Pundit decides to go with a Princess Bride reference.

On another note, one estimate has 25 million Americans losing their health insurance in 2014

(NY Post) It now looks like ObamaCare will hurt twice as many people as it helps — because the law isn’t nearly done with canceling people’s insurance.

The 5 million-plus Americans who’ve seen their health plans canceled thanks to ObamaCare will be joined by millions more this year — because the Affordable Care Act makes their employer-provided policies illegal, as well.

This goes to those in small group plans which were renewed prior to getting hit with the requirements of free contraception and stuff. The cost of these “one size fits all” plans will increase costs by $1.79 per hour per full time employee, which not offering insurance will cost companies $.98 an hour

So a conservative estimate is that 25 million people, out of the 60 million in small group plans, get dropped in 2014. Add that to the 5 million or so whose individual-market already canceled on Jan. 1, and you have a lot of losers.

Let’s not forget all those who see their plans replaced with much more expensive ones come signup time in 2014 and 2015, along with all those who will simply lose their health insurance offerings from large (50+ employees) employers. Will Obama delay the employer mandate again?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Weather Channel: Warming Pause Isn’t Really What You Think

By William Teach January 14, 2014 – 3:01 pm

How can you tell a movement is a cult? When no matter what happens, they have a ready excuse to protect their dogma

Global Warming ‘Pause’ Isn’t What Climate Change Skeptics Say It Is

Scientists who study climate change and skeptics of human-caused global warming can agree on at least this: Global temperatures haven’t risen nearly as much this century as model projections say they should have.

At least, that’s the way it looks today. But according to a recently published study in the scientific journal Earth’s Future, the greenhouse gas-fueled heating of the planet hasn’t stopped at all during the global warming pause or “hiatus” widely touted in recent years.

“Global warming is continuing, it just gets manifested in different ways,” says Dr. Kevin Trenberth, a scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research who co-authored the study with NCAR’s Dr. John Fasullo.

“Different ways”. Essentially, it’s hiding or something. TWC provides 4 different reasons

  1. Global averages hide a LOT of variation. (this is how they blame cold and snow on you driving a fossil fueled vehicle)
  2. Human-produced greenhouse gases and natural variability work together. (this one is cute, as it highlights the effects of El Nino/La Nina, but that humans make it worse)
  3. The 1997-98 El Niño may have triggered the current warming pause. (again, a cute one, where nature is Blamed for the pause, creating a longer PDO, which masks the anthropogenic warming. Like I said, cult)
  4. The pause ‘can’t keep going on forever’ – and perhaps not much longer. (why not? It may. It may not. Warmists are simply guessing in order to protect the cult. They even note that rising sea levels in the Pacific as caused by the PDO, then turn around and Blame Man).

Then they wrap it up with

This year or later, it’s possible that El Niño will occur again in the Pacific. Will that trigger another change in the PDO, that in turn could trigger a resurgence in global surface temperature warming? Only time will tell, Trenberth explained.

Um, whoops? Because that would mean the warming is related to natural processes, not anthropogenic. So, us Skeptics would be, you know, correct.

Read: Weather Channel: Warming Pause Isn’t Really What You Think »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Collapsing Science, Global Warming, New Climate Deniers | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach January 14, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…are exploited sexy women sweating in heat induced snow, and you’re offended by sexy women in bikini tops, you might just be a Warmist (named Jeffrey)

The blog of the day is Flopping Aces, with a post on the real war on women.

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Surprise: California Democrat Pushes For Obamacare to Cover Illegal Aliens

By William Teach January 14, 2014 – 11:13 am

Well, hey, why should the illegals be spared the pain of O-care?

(Fox Latino) A California state lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to have access to government health insurance plans.

The lawmaker, state Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Democrat, said if the current focus of healthcare reform is make sure everyone has access to coverage programs, the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States cannot be omitted.

“We’ve made enormous strides to reduce California’s uninsured population with the implementation of the [federal] Affordable Care Act, but we won’t have a truly healthy state until everyone has access to quality, affordable coverage,” said Lara, head of the state Latino legislative caucus, in a press release. “Immigration status shouldn’t bar individuals from health coverage, especially since their taxes contribute to the growth of our economy.”

Federal law doesn’t allow this. But, then, when have Democrats cared about the actual text of the law?

I’m all for this, as long as they are a) healthy, which increases the percentage of healthies to sicks, and b) they are not eligible for any subsidies. And c) this will provide more information on who they are, so we can deport them.

How soon till a nationally elected Democrat pushes this same notion?

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Interesting: New Paper Blames 17 Year Pause On Low Solar Activity

By William Teach January 14, 2014 – 7:10 am

Surprisingly, this is one of the few papers that actually makes sense, to a degree (via Watts Up With That?)

Reduced Solar Activity Disguises Global Temperature Rise
DOI: 10.4236/acs.2014.41008  Author: Peter Stauning

ABSTRACT

The question whether human activities seriously affect climate is asked with increasing voice these days. Quite understandable since the climate appears to be out of control with the significant global temperature increases already seen during the last three decades and with still heavier temperature increases to come in the future according to prognoses, among others, in the recent comprehensive IPCC reports [1].

However, the most recent climate data [2], show global temperature development levelling off or even turning negative since 2001 in contrast to the anticipated course related to the steady increases in the concentration in the atmosphere of green-house gasses, primarily carbon dioxide and methane [1]. The purpose of this communication is to demonstrate that the reduced rate in the global temperature rise complies with expectations related to the decaying level of solar activity according to the relation published in an earlier analysis [3]. Without the reduction in the solar activity-related contributions the global temperatures would have increased steadily from 1980 to present.

Interestingly, the paper seems to blame the warming on anthropogenic causation, but the pause, and flat and even declining 21st Century temps on natural causes. As Marc Morano notes, this is the 5th Warmist explanation for the pause, which includes

  • Chinese coal use
  • The Montreal Protocol
  • Readjusting past temperatures artificially to claim no pause has occurred
  • And my favorite, the heat is doing a Where’s Waldo? in the deep oceans.

Or, it could be El Ninja, as Anthony Watts points out

I’m also more than a little bit puzzled how the journal editor and the peer reviewers let this sentence pass, everybody makes typos, but this one takes the cake. I kid you not:

But secondly, there must be a fair global coverage such that localized climate variations like the North-Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), or the El Ninjo/La Ninja in the Pacific would not affect the result too much.

Yes, I really want to see what the La Ninja effect looks like.

Me too. Anyhow, here’s the paper conclusion

The decaying solar activity makes the recently recorded global temperatures flatten out and thus disguises the real climate development. With a steady level of cycle-average solar activity the global temperatures would have shown a steady rise from 1980 to present (2013) in agreement with the increasing atmospheric concentrations of green-house gasses, primarily carbon dioxide and methane [16], and not the levelling-off actually observed since 2001.

The solar activity is now at the lowest level seen in the past 100 years and could not go much lower. Thus, the observed global temperatures may soon resume the steady rise observed from around 1980 to 2001. If solar activity starts increasing then the global temperatures may rise even steeper than that seen over the past three decades.

I see what you did there. Blame nature for the pause, saying it is masking the real warming, caused by Mankind. Why couldn’t the warming be due to mostly natural activity, including the Sun? Because it’s a cult. Even though the Sun explains 95% of the climate change over the past 400 years (really, much longer).

Read: Interesting: New Paper Blames 17 Year Pause On Low Solar Activity »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 24 Comments | Trackback URL
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