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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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).

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

Obama Was Told Benghazi Was A Terrorist Attack

By William Teach January 14, 2014 – 6:52 am

You don’t say

(Fox News) Minutes after the American consulate in Benghazi came under assault on Sept. 11, 2012, the nation’s top civilian and uniformed defense officials — headed for a previously scheduled Oval Office session with President Obama — were informed that the event was a “terrorist attack,” declassified documents show. The new evidence raises the question of why the top military men, one of whom was a member of the president’s Cabinet, allowed him and other senior Obama administration officials to press a false narrative of the Benghazi attacks for two weeks afterward.

I’d recommend reading James Rosen’s long article, which includes the transcripts, and boils down to the fact that all the Defense folks knew this was a terrorist attack just before SecDef Leon Panetta’s regularly scheduled 5pm briefing with Mr. Obama. Panetta himself stated that he told Mr. Obama that the it was a terrorist attack.

Furthermore, the State Department knew it was a terrorist attack. So how, exactly, did Team Obama come up with the ludicrous “spontaneous demonstration over a video no one had ever heard of turned violent” talking point? And continue pushing it for two weeks during campaign season, even pushing it at the United Nations? The only person punished was the film maker (who did violate his parole, let’s be honest), but none of the terrorists, who seem to be able to be found easily by news outlets.

Fortunately, other than Fox News, no one else in the media seems interested. There’s nothing on the front page of the Washington Post, NY Times, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, LA Times, MSNBC, or CNN, among others. However, they all have at least one article on Chris Christine and “lane closures”. Most have at least two or more. There are opinion pieces. All despite there being little public interest in the story, and people’s opinions of Christie having mostly changed not a whit. But the media is going to beat that drum to death, because 1) Christie’s a Republican and 2) he’s the only one beating Hillary Clinton in a head to head presidential matchup at this time. This same media seems to have little interest where the video talking point came from and where Obama was after that meeting with Panetta on 9/11/12. Nor any of the other issues of the story, except in terms of protecting Obama and Hillary.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Oops: Young Folks Not Signing Up For OfailCare

By William Teach January 13, 2014 – 7:00 pm

One step closer to the “death spiral”

Young adults make up almost one-quarter of ACA signups

Young adults account for slightly less than one-fourth of the Americans who signed up for health plans during the initial three months of federal and state insurance marketplaces — a smaller share than government and industry officials have said will be pivotal to making the economics of the health-care law work.

The figures, part of a monthly progress report issued Monday on enrollment in the new marketplaces, offer the first glimpse into whether the health plans available under the Affordable Care Act are becoming provinces of the sick and old — or are managing to attract young, healthy people who previously did not consider insurance worthwhile.

According to the report, released by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, 23 percent of nearly 1.2 million people who enrolled through the federal insurance marketplace by the end of December are between the ages of 18 and 34. In 14 states and the District, which are running their own new marketplaces, 25 percent of the nearly 900,000 people who enrolled fall within that age group.

The figures mean that the proportion of young adults who have signed up is smaller than estimates by the government and outside health policy analysts have suggested is necessary to make the exchanges work well. It is estimated that roughly two Americans in five in the new health plans should be young adults to prevent the plans’ premiums from rising and some insurers from potentially dropping out.

Well, that’s strange, because Obama won this age group both times. These are his base, yet these same folks don’t seem too enthused to sign up for the same piece of sh*t they wanted for everyone else.

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Are You Ready For Polar Votex Two?

By William Teach January 13, 2014 – 2:57 pm

More importantly, are you read for the anti-science climahysterics to blame cold weather on too much heat?

(Daily Mail) If you live in the American Midwest or East Coast, you may want to hold off on putting away your winter gear.

Just as temperatures are beginning to warm in much of the U.S, another arctic blast in the form of a polar vortex appears to be on the horizon.

The upcoming front of icy temperatures is expected to bring arctic air to southern Canada and then move into the northern plains of the U.S. before moving to the Midwest and East Coast – each of which is still recovering from last week’s frigid temperatures. (snip)

‘Following the retreat of arctic air this weekend, waves of progressively colder will move southward over Canada next week,’ AccuWeather.com Lead Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok told AOL.com.

Forecasters expect the first stage of the new arctic blast to hit the northern plains by Monday, the lower Mississippi Valley and Midwest Tuesday and Wednesday then the East from Thursday.

Like the last bout of icy air, this one is the result of a portion of the polar vortex breaking away from the Arctic Circle.

‘We will likely see a piece of the polar vortex break off and set up just north of the Great Lakes spanning Jan. 16 to 20,’ Mr Pastelok said.

This one will not be as bad as the previous one, particularly for Southern states, which will only see a slight dip in normal temps. Here in Raleigh, we’re looking at a projection of 44F for Thursday. We can expect the typical caterwauling about cold being caused by warming temps, though. Easy prediction.

Read: Are You Ready For Polar Votex Two? »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL
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