Warmists: Global Warming Is Just Around The Corner, We Promise

By William Teach July 25, 2013 – 8:08 am

Over at Ace of Spades, Ace mentions a study that links sunspots to the high level of warming that occurred from the late 19070’s to around 1990, and how that lack of sunspots is predicting a cooling period. That reminded me of this article from Monday that I stuck in Instapaper (via Tom Nelson)

Global warming ‘on pause’ but set to resume

Global warming has been on “pause” for 15 years but will speed up again and is still a real threat, Met Office scientists have warned.

Surface temperatures around the world have not increased on average since the late 1990s, causing some sceptics to suggest that climate change is not happening as quickly as experts predict.

But in a set of three new reports, the Met Office claims that global warming has been disguised in recent years by the oceans, which have absorbed greater amounts of heat and prevented us from noticing the difference at surface level.

This process, caused by the natural cycle of the oceans, could delay earlier predictions of global warming by five to ten years but will not last forever, researchers explained.

Hooray, they got their “the warming is hiding” talking points down, to go with the newer “it’s not the land temperature, but the sea temperature that matters” TP. The article also notes that natural things, like volcanoes, are masking the warming…um, so why can’t the initial warming be mostly or solely natural?

The Met Office has predicted it could be another five years before surface temperatures begin to rise again, but said the current “pause” would not affect long-term global warming forecasts.

“Trust us, it’s coming” (unless we pass laws that enact wealth transfers, er, carbon taxes, control the behavior of individuals and business, and take over economies). Mark your calendars to see if their predictions come true, because they made the same type previously. Yeah, how’s that working out?

The world faces record-breaking temperatures as the sun’s activity increases, leading the planet to heat up significantly faster than scientists had predicted for the next five years, according to a study.

That was 2009. But, what we’ve seen is no resumption of warming. Europe and much of the world has seen the past 4 out of 5 winters being harsh. Spring 2013 was barely a glimmer, and in many places never really made an appearance. Much of the Southern Hemisphere is experiencing a harsh winter now. As I’ve mention numerous times, since 1990 the global temperature, per Met Office data, has increase just 0.28F, and a statistically insignificant 0.14F since 1997, most of that from the 1998 El Nino.

So, what’s going to happen? Damned if I know. Damned if the Warmists know. The studies suggesting a coming cool period, either a short term one similar to the 1940’s to late 1970’s, or even a deep period like the Little Ice Age, could be right. Or not. Warming could restart next year, or 5-10 years out. Or not. Right now the world is in an elevated warm period following the 1998 El Nino. Some data shows that the global temps are actually going down a little bit. The climate will do what the climate will do. We are mostly along for the ride. One thing we can count on is that no matter what happens, Warmists will Blame Mankind. If we flip into a cool period of any length, expect the talking points to blame Mankind in some form or fashion for the “climate change” while simultaneously stating that nature and the actions of Mankind are masking the effects of anthropogenic global warming.

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Slate Wonders What Went Wrong With North Carolina

By William Teach July 25, 2013 – 7:18 am

Well, we decided we didn’t want to be Detroit

(Slate) North Carolina is proving itself to be the poster child for all that is wrong with modern American democracy and—with thanks to Moral Mondays—also highlighting all that may someday save it.

Ironically, as I’ve mentioned, Moral Monday has added abortion on demand to their list of grievances whines, demanding zero regulations on the procedure. They do not even like the notion that abortions should be performed in clean, medical clinic type offices. And there are supposed men of the cloth involved with pushing abortion. Hey, they’re even upset about people being allowed under law to not perform one due to their consciences without reprisal. So, yeah, there’s your MM crowd, lots of whom are bused in from out of state.

Once a temperate and tolerant beacon of the South, the state is poised to enact a rash of inexpressibly awful legislation, rushed through a Republican legislature. Because the GOP has veto-proof super-majorities in the state House and Senate and a Republican governor—for the first time since Reconstruction—the party has been on a spree. Republican-controlled redistricting was fantastically effective. So much so that in the 2012 elections, nearly 51 percent of North Carolina voters picked a Democrat for the U.S. House, yet Republicans won nine of the state’s 13 House seats, as Chris Kromm and Sue Sturgis recently pointed out.

Elections have consequences, as we were told while Obama and the Dem Congress were passing a wasteful $838 billion Stimulus that failed, Obamacare which is highly unpopular and people want repealed, and a whole raft of other bills, all while the economy stagnates. Nothing went wrong, except in Liberal World, where the old school Blue Dog Democrats turned hardcore Progressives were replaced because the voters of the state were tired of the graft, wasteful spending, poor economic policies, and so many others. For the first time we have a GOP governor and General Assembly at the same time. Dem governors in the past have been pretty good (at least post-Civil Rights era): then we got a miserable excuse for a Chief Executive, Beverly Perdue, who followed the Obama model of incompetence.

Some of the gems advanced recently in the legislature include an abortion bill tacked first onto an anti-Sharia law and then snuck in through a motorcycle safety law (new TRAP regulations may shutter all but one clinic in the state). Another bill forces all educators to teach seventh graders that abortion causes preterm birth (it doesn’t). Lawmakers also enacted legislation (described here and elsewhere as “the harshest unemployment insurance program cuts in our nation’s history”) that resulted in 70,000 North Carolina citizens losing their unemployment benefits. The state is one of the 15 to have refused Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. A proposed education bill would slash teacher compensation, (already ranked among the lowest in the nation), eliminate tenure, and use vouchers to reallocate $90 million of public-school funding to private schools (The school superintendent issued a statement this week saying that in light of the proposed deep cuts to the education budget “For the first time in my career of more than 30 years in public education, I am truly worried about students in our care.”) Don’t forget the embarrassing proposed resolution allowing counties and cities to enshrine a state religion. Or the proposed ban on nipples.

Gee, remember the bribes in Obamacare? Remember how we were told we’d have 3 days to review laws out of the Democrat federal Congress? I don’t remember liberals whining about the GOP adding a minimum wage hike into a Defense bill. Notice that the first thing the Slate write worries about is abortion on demand. That highlights were the first concern of Democrats is. As for the unemployment insurance, the money had to be paid back. NC made a few slight changes to the unemployment system, which was hemorrhaging cash, so the Feds called in the loan. They could have provided a waiver, as they did for other states. They refused to provide the waiver. Perhaps if the Democrats at the federal level weren’t incompetent, and the previous NC Dem governor Perdue wasn’t an incompetent hack, people would be able to find jobs. Good paying ones.

Of course we refused the medicaid expansion. We. Don’t. Want. Obamacare. Period. For the schools, liberals are pissed off about the voucher program. God help them and the power of the teacher’s unions, there for themselves not the kids, if the kids have a choice to go to schools to get educated, instead of indoctrinated and worthless. We could be like Chicago, where 50% do not graduate, and a portion of those who do have a substandard education. The “nipples” thing? Yeah, liberals have a problem with laws that make it a “Class H felony to purposefully expose “private parts” for the “purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire.”” Perhaps a Class H might be too much (more than a year in jail, same class domestic abuse (based on repeat status)), but we here in NC would prefer that citizens not expose themselves in front of anyone, including children, to satisfy their sexual desire.

Slate also whines about the new voter ID law. Well, good news! The Slate writer doesn’t live here. And, really, if Dahlia Lithwick can’t afford $5 for a picture ID, then she should work on her jobs skills. People have ID for everything else….well, you know how this goes. Dahlia did get the talking points memo, apparently, as she mentions “voter suppression”.

But, other than a some of the big city Progressives, the vast majority of North Carolinians like what the General Assembly is passing. They like the new firearms bill. They aren’t complaining. It’s a small portion of people who would prefer the same types of measures that ruined California and Detroit, and you add a bunch of folks from other states, who can mind their own business, Bless Their Heart’s.

Finally, Dahlia is worried about this spreading. Well, there’s a reason so many States have elected Republican governors and General Assemblies: California, Detroit, and Obama.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

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Seattle Mayor Attempts To Block Whole Foods Over Supposed Low Wages

By William Teach July 24, 2013 – 3:08 pm

This is not quite as bad as the Washington, D.C. council voting to enact a “living wage” requirement for certain companies who want to expand into D.C., which was targeted at Wal-Mart specifically, a clear violation of the law requiring equal treatment under the law, which also meant that Wal-Mart will not build multiple stores which would have provided lots and lots of jobs for D.C. residents. Now we go to Seattle (via Grist)

(Seattle Times) Mayor Mike McGinn is going where no mayor has gone before, saying he won’t support a Whole Foods development in West Seattle unless the company raises the wages of its workers. (snip)

But the reason McGinn gave for coming out against the mixed-use development was unprecedented. It was that the anchor tenant for the complex, Whole Foods, doesn’t pay its workers enough.

“I’m setting a new standard here, that we are going to look at the wages they pay, and benefits, when a company wants to develop with land that involves public property,” McGinn told me in an interview. (snip)

McGinn contended in a letter that the nonunion Whole Foods pays “significantly lower” wages and benefits than other grocery stores, including some already in West Seattle. So the idea of allowing Whole Foods to go in there violates the city’s social and economic justice goals.

Ah, there we go, it’s non-union, and McGinn has a burr up his bumm, wanting to flex his supposed power ahead of the elections. But, why would the mayor have anything to say as to whether a company opens a store in their city, especially in terms of “social and economic justice” goals? Is this not America? Is there no longer freedom? Are elected government officials now dictators who attempt to force their will? Whole Foods states that they pay their non-management employees an average of $16 an hour. Whole Foods is one of Fortune’s Top 100 places to work. Oh, and they already have 6 stores in the Seattle area.

Do they have to run their payrolls past the mayor?

Why … yes. At least Whole Foods ought to, McGinn said.

“If Whole Foods wants to open up their books and prove to us that they provide equal pay and benefits to the other grocery stores, then that’s something we would definitely consider,” McGinn said.

Otherwise, he won’t give his backing unless…why does Whole Foods need his backing? They should say “screw you” and go ahead and build the store. McGinn has no right to look at their books. I think we can all infer that this fight is because Whole Foods is not unionized, and remember that CEO John Mackay has condemned ObamaCare multiple times, including calling it fascistic, going all the way back to 2009. He’s also no fan of Big Government, ie, the type of Progressive government in Seattle. And, he seems to be doing something right considering the growth of Whole Foods and its ranking as a great place to work.

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If All You See…

By William Teach July 24, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil CO2 infused bottle of beer, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Just One Minute, with a post on analogy fail and racial heuristics.

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NC General Assembly Passes Smart, Real World Gun Legislation

By William Teach July 24, 2013 – 10:55 am

This is not “common sense” reform, ie, massive restrictions on the 2nd Amendment Rights of law abiding citizens, but real world reforms that make sense. And will surely piss off Liberals who hate the notion of Other People owning guns

(WRAL) The state House and Senate have approved a sweeping package of gun lawsthat tighten penalties for those who violate firearm laws and expand where those with concealed handgun permits can carry their weapons.

The bill now goes to Gov. Pat McCrory for his signature or veto. (snip)

The compromise passed by by both chambers Tuesday keeps the current handgun permit system in place but give local sheriffs less latitude in issuing the permits. Sheriffs will no longer be able restrict the number of handgun permits an individual can obtain in a year, something that some sheriffs do now. Also, sheriffs will have to keep a record and show cause when they reject a handgun permit application.(snip)

Other parts of the bill will allow concealed handgun permit holders to bring their weapons to bars and restaurants that serve alcohol – although they are not supposed to consume alcohol – carry them in funeral processions and allow them to keep firearms locked in their car when parked on college or public school campuses.

The bill also removes information regarding those who hold concealed handgun permits from public view.

The bill also strengthens penalties for those who violate firearms laws and will increase the amount of information, such as mental health problems, in the state’s background check system.

There are many other provisions in the bill expanding the Rights of The People to legally carry guns, particularly handguns, while cracking down on those who are Bad People. Private businesses will still be allowed to ban concealed carry if they choose.

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Newest Obama Admin Scandal: His DHS Nominee Under Investigation For Visa Fraud

By William Teach July 24, 2013 – 8:20 am

Who’s up for yet another scandal? And we aren’t talking about credit card fraud, but using the resources of the US government fraudulently

(Fox News) Authorities are investigating the man President Obama tapped to take over the second highest spot at the Department of Homeland Security for allegedly using his position and power to unfairly obtain U.S. visas for foreign investors in a company run by Hillary Clinton’s brother, FoxNews.com has confirmed.

Alejandro Mayorkas, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, was named by Homeland Security’s Inspector General’s Office as a target in an investigation involving the foreign investor program run by USCIS, according to an email sent to lawmakers late Monday.

The investigation was opened in September 2012 following a referral from an FBI counterintelligence analyst. The probe was first reported by The Associated Press.

The investigation into Mayorkas is based on allegations he helped secure U.S. visas for Chinese businessmen after they had been denied by his own agency’s officials. The visas had been sought by Gulf Coast Funds Management, a financing company headed by then-Secretary of State Clinton’s brother Anthony Rodham, according to an aide to GOP Sen. Charles Grassley, who had received internal USCIS emails about the matter from a department whistle blower.

So far they haven’t found any signs of criminal wrongdoing, but the investigation is still open and on-going. Also, the complaint notes that others in the USCIS Office of General Counsel obstructed an investigation by the SEC of the Visa program.

White House press secretary Jay Carney referred questions to the inspector general’s office, which said that the probe is in its preliminary stage and that it doesn’t comment on the specifics of investigations.

No, Obama only chimes in on open investigations into George Zimmerman.

If Mayorkas is confirmed, he will be in charge of DHS till Obama has a replacement, which could be a long time coming, since he will surely nominate someone who is so far outside the mainstream that they’ll be blocked in the Senate.

But, let’s be clear: this is not something to be blamed on Obama directly, but more in terms of one of the vast problems with Big Government, in which employees use their power and influence for political and personal benefit. But, Obama did pick Mayorkas to be the second ranking officer in DHS.

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What To Watch For In Today’s “Economic” Speech By Obama

By William Teach July 24, 2013 – 8:00 am

Today begins yet another pivot to the economy by Community Organizer in Chief Obama, whose previous pivots have worked so well. Does anyone remember the one back in May? Where’d that go? Anyhow, consider this comment by Victor Davis Hanson, made it terms of Obama’s race comment

The president, I think, spoke out for three reasons: 1) He is an unbound,  lame-duck president, with a ruined agenda, facing mounting ethical scandals; from now on, he will say things more consonant with being a community organizer than with being a nation’s president; 2) he knows the federal civil-rights case has little merit and cannot be pursued, and thus wanted to shore up his bona fides with an aggrieved black community; and 3) as with the ginned-up “assault-weapons ban” and the claim that Republicans are waging a “war on women,” Obama knows, as a community activist, that tension can mask culpability — in his case, the utter failure to address soaring unemployment in the inner city, epidemic black murder rates, the bankruptcy of Detroit, and the ways his failed economic policies disproportionately affect inner-city youth.

Expect today’s speech, and any followups (I suspect this economic push will, at best, survive till his August vacation, but probably only till the end of July) to be heavy on community organizing, blamestorming, pushing his bona fides with Progressives, and ginning up division. Heck, even Ben White at the Politico notices much of this in his 5 things to watch article

How hard will he go after Republicans on the debt ceiling and government funding?

One argument for why Obama is doing this speech now: He’s laying down an early marker as the sane voice ahead of potentially bruising fights over bills to fund the government after Oct. 1 and to raise the debt ceiling sometime in November or later.

So, blamestorming and ginning up division yet again, provided he does this. The Vegas odds are 1-1 based on 5 years of being (NM) president, which, as Ben White notes, creates even more antipathy amongst Republicans, guaranteeing they do not want to work with Obama.

How bullish will he be on the economy?

Any speech the president gives about this frustrating economy runs the risk of sounding like cheerleading a recovery that most average Americans are barely feeling.

Remember all the times he’s declared victory on the economy? Recovery Summer, anyone? Remember all the pivots? Remember $838 billion wasted on his failed Stimulus? And all the other stimulus plans? How about all those who have given up on the jobs market in despair? Add your own “how about”, because we’ve seen the creeping malaise of the Obama economy for 5 years. Unlike Mr. White, I don’t expect Obama to note the stagnant wages and poor jobs market, except possible in terms of Blaming Others, especially Republicans.

How will he make the case for his economic legacy?

Another rationale behind the speech is to lay down a stronger narrative arc for the president’s stewardship of the economy, an area in which voters have often questioned his abilities.

Will he do this? It certainly wouldn’t be out of character to make this All About Obama. He spent his first term Blaming Bush, but he got his second term, and this is all on Obama. This is his economy. He can’t rationally sit there and Blame Bush and Republicans while taking credit for the few good things that happen.

Will he offer specific new proposals?

Messages out of the White House on this have been mixed.

In reality, most are expecting very little from this speech in terms of actual policy, particularly new policy. It will surely be a re-hash of all the things that have so far not worked. We’ll probably hear something about growing the economy from the dying middle class out, not top down, because we all know that it’s the middle class with all the money. Of course, even now the middle class is seeing more and more people on food stamps and other government assistance thanks to the Malaise Economy Of Obama.

What role will immigration and health care play in the speech?

One big question about the current jobs and economy tour is why Obama is doing it rather than continuing to push hard on the top current agenda items: implementing health care reform and getting a comprehensive immigration reform bill through the House.

Now that is a damned good question. Will PBO make this economic speech about the two issues? Will they be the real reason behind this push? Or is Obama simply trying to give yet another speech in an attempt to switch the focus from all his scandals and incompetence? Really, unless he has some new ideas on the economy, there is little point to Mr. Lame Duck giving a “major policy speech”. Yet, he will. But, then, Obama has always thought that all that needs to be done is to give a speech and the world changes.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

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Liberals Shriek Over NC Commonsense Voter Regulations

By William Teach July 23, 2013 – 2:22 pm

The NC Senate has proposed a few simple voting changes

Senate Republican leaders are planning to take a voter ID bill and add provisions that cut early voting by a week, repeal same-day registration, allow counties to limit Sunday voting, end pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds and end straight-ticket voting.

Other provisions increase the maximum donation to political candidates from $4,000 to $5,000, with future increases indexed to inflation, and limit disclosure of money spent by outside political groups that air political TV ads and send mass mailings.

It differs a big from what the House is thinking, such restricting the use of college IDs to vote (Senate against, House for). These are simply a few common sense regulations to avoid voter fraud, so, of course the liberal harpies are shrieking, and they all have the same talking point: voter suppression. 4 of those 5 links say it in their headlines.

This is all interesting, because these same loons want massive restrictions on our 2nd Amendment rights, to the point of banning private ownership of guns. Buy any basic checks on voting? Moonbat Level 11.

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If All You See…

By William Teach July 23, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil cat sucking up Earth’s resources causing heat induced snow storms, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Maggie’s Notebook, with a post on some wonderful illegal aliens.

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Warmists Now Pinpoint Ice Free Arctic 40 Years From Now

By William Teach July 23, 2013 – 11:41 am

How many times have Warmists prognosticated that the Arctic would be ice free? We’ve seen “by the end of the century”, by 2008, by 2040, 2012, 2010-2015. And, remember, we have all the folks predicting that 2013 would be ice free. Not working out too well. Especially for the Sierra Club, which predicted the sea ice would be gone this year just a few months ago. And now we get

People have been warning about an ice-free Arctic oceanfor years. But Jiping Liu, an atmospheric scientist at the State University of New York in Albany in the US and colleagues have gone one better.

They predict that the Arctic Ocean will be effectively free of ice for the first time in the month of September between 2054 and 2058.

Once again, the prediction depends on climate models, and inevitably on the decisions governments take to control greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade. But the fact that a team of scientists can spread their bets over a span of four specific years is an indicator of how fast and how inexorable the Arctic melting has become.

In other words, a (supposedly) scary prediction predicated on Someone Else Doing Something to stop it.

And if they’re depending on “climate models” done on computers, well, they’re bound to fail.

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