So, Do Americans Really Give A Damn About “Climate Change”?

By William Teach April 4, 2013 – 11:57 am

Here’s the Washington Post

The global warming conundrum has been on full display over the past 24 hours. Even as one of the nation’s most prominent climate scientists has decided to retire in order to become a full-time activist, a new Pew Research poll suggests public interest and intensity with the issue is waning.

Only 42% say it’s because Someone Else refuses to go carbon neutral (ie, Mankind’s fault). This is up a bit from a few years ago, because people become believers when it gets hot. Europeans aren’t buying it that much after yet another freaking cold winter and no signs of spring.

According to the advocates at Yale, people are concerned

Researchers divided the U.S. population into six categories — alarmed, concerned, cautious, disengaged, doubtful and dismissive — based on their attitudes toward climate change. As of September 2012, the largest audience segment is the concerned group, the 29 percent of Americans who are “moderately certain” climate change is occurring and is human-caused. The smallest audience segment is the dismissive group, the 8 percent of Americans who are certain global warming is not occurring. Between 2010 and 2012, the number of Americans alarmed about global warming increased by 6 percentage points while the number of dismissive Americans decreased by 8 percentage points.

Here’s what Yale sees as global warming

See? Because you drove an SUV you made it hot and cold! Well, mostly hot, to the tune of a whopping .28 degree F rise from 1990-2012. And no global temp change in over 15 years. Dooooom!!!!!!yawn!!!!!!!

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Obama: “The Politics Of Hotcoldwetdry Are Tough!!!!!”

By William Teach April 4, 2013 – 9:24 am

Well, yes, they are, because most people, even those who are Warmists, aren’t interested in burdensome restrictions on their lives that also dramatically increase costs. Most, when polled, want government to “Do Something”, just not when it effects their pocketbook and own freedom. Surprisingly, there are no polls asking “what have you done in your own life? Have you given up fossil fueled travel? Take 2 minute showers? Only buy local? Unplug appliances when not in use?” And the always fun one “why are you taking constant fossil fueled flights across the country, followed by driving in a gas hog in a big convoy of gas hogs, to give 30 minute speechs?”

(The Hill) President Obama told Democratic donors late Wednesday that he must sharpen his argument for action on climate change and green energy at a time when many families are still struggling financially.

He said, “The politics of this are tough.”

“[T]he thing that I’m going to have to try to work to persuade the American people a little more convincingly on is this notion that there’s a contradiction between our economy and our environment is just a false choice,” Obama said at a San Francisco fundraiser.

Hmm, so he took a fossil fueled flight across the country (with a brief stop over in Denver to whine about gun control, which meant he was able to write most of the trip off as presidential business) to attend a fundraiser where he whined about hotcoldwetdry. And, let’s not forget all the fossil fueled vehicles required to get him to and from the airport.

“If we’re going to deal with climate change in a serious way, then we’ve got to have folks in Congress – even when it’s not politically convenient – to talk about it and advocate for it,” Obama said at the second event.

And more fossil fueled travel in a big convoy of low MPG vehicles to the second event.

This is one of the reasons I went from a Believer to a Climate Realist: the people who advocate for it the most and are in positions to affect regulatory and/or legislative changes are the biggest hypocrites. “Climate change” isn’t about saving the planet from a fever, it’s about more far left government, growing the size of government, and increasing governmental control over people and businesses.

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Surprise: Left Wing Ant-Gun Groups Say Gun Crime Worse In States With Least Regulations

By William Teach April 4, 2013 – 8:51 am

While (NMP) Obama is running around the country giving campaign speech after speech, instead of providing leadership and honest discussion, far left Soros funded monkeys make an interesting discovery, which the NY Times was thrilled to repeat

Many states with the weakest gun laws have the worst rates of gun violence, ranking high on numerous indicators, like gun homicides and suicides, firearm deaths of children, and killings of law enforcement officers, according to a report to be issued Wednesday by the liberal Center for American Progress.

Alaska ranked first in overall gun deaths, the report found, with 20.28 deaths per 100,000 people in 2010 — more than twice the national average — followed by Louisiana and Montana, all states that prior analyses have judged to have weak gun laws. Eight of the states with the highest levels of gun violence were among the 25 with the weakest gun laws, the report found.

If you take a look at the map of the states at Think Progress, you’ll be shocked, shocked, I tell you, that quite a few “Blue” states with some of the most draconian gun laws are deemed “the best.” You know, the states that tend to feature the most gang activity, drive by’s, and mass shootings. And what of Chicago, which has extremely strict laws aimed at law abiding citizens? What of people using guns to protect themselves?

(American Power) But I clicked through anyway, and my first objection is that CAP doesn’t define “gun violence.” What kind of gun violence are we talking about? Is gun violence being committed by people who bought firearms legally? Or what? The piece doesn’t say. But it does spout a bunch of scholarly jargon about “regression,” “empirical evidence,” and so forth, so it sounds really awesome!

Good points

(Just One Minute) It will be interesting to peruse the study when it hits the intertubes. The lead tells us that low control states score high on “numerous” indicators, such as “gun homicides and suicides, firearm deaths of children, and killings of law enforcement officers”. Yet I think we will find states like Montana ranking high on just one factor. The suspense mounts!

Tom Maguire dug deep into the study and found some interesting things. Like, that Montana, despite being prominently featured in the Times’ article, isn’t even in the top 10. And notes that suicide by gun is heavily weighted, as are some other factors. Should suicide be included? No.

(NY Times link) Dr. Azrael, of Harvard, noted that the factors that were driving gun violence differed from state to state — in states like Montana and Idaho, for example, the rate of gun suicides greatly outstrips the rate of homicides committed with firearms.

What we do see from the study is that states with the strictest gun laws tend to have lots and lots of gun violence against others. I’d suggest that it’s not just the harsh laws against personal gun ownership, but also that these liberal states also are soft on criminals.

(Think Progress) The CAP report’s finding is yet another contribution to a growing body of empirical evidence that strong gun laws work.

And that is the point of the study, to take cherry picked and massaged data to increase restrictions on legal gun owners. Interestingly, these liberals never seem to call for stronger penalties on the actual criminals.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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Obamacare Incompetence

By William Teach April 3, 2013 – 6:54 pm

—>shocked face<—

(Time) Let me try to understand this: The key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care super-stores—called exchanges. The Administration has had 3 years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.

This is a really bad sign. There will be those who argue that it’s not the Administration’s fault. It’s the fault of the 33 states that have refused to set up their own exchanges. Nonsense. Where was the contingency planning? There certainly are models, after all—the federal government’s own health benefits plan (FEHBP) operates markets that exist in all 50 states. So does Medicare Advantage. But now, the Obama Administration has announced that it won’t have the exchanges ready in time, that small businesses will be offered one choice for the time being—for a year, at least. No doubt, small business owners will be skeptical of the Obama Administration’s belief in the efficacy of the market system to produce lower prices through competition. That was supposed to be the point of this plan.

Certainly, the Republicans who have stood in the way of these exchanges—their own idea, by the way, born in the conservative Heritage Foundation—deserve a great deal of the “credit” for the debacle. But we are now seeing weekly examples of this Administration’s inability to govern.

Tell us something we don’t know. Obama has failed to govern during his 4+ years in office.  He really hasn’t bothered. It’s been one long neverending campaign. We have a 2000+ page piece of legislation that was still extremely open ended, resulting (so far) in over 20,000 pages of regulations. When writing Obamacare no one sat back and said “so, um, how will this be implemented? Can it be?” Nor did anyone ask “can the Obama administration actually get it done with Obama at the helm? The guy has little clue as to getting anything other than campaigning done. Look at the economy, for one.”

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Ladies, Your Hairspry Is Causing Hotcoldwetdry

By William Teach April 3, 2013 – 2:30 pm

As Steven Milloy points out, there will be a whole lot of angry women out there if government Does Something

(Deseret News) There are dozens upon dozens of household products that Utah air quality regulators may decide to impose new restrictions on as part of the effort to clean up the air.

It will include that oven cleaner stored under the kitchen sink, the car wax out in the garage and the bug killer spray out in the shed.

Of the 88 everyday products under consideration for new limits on what is called volatile organic compounds, there is only one product that has residents upbraiding the state Division of Air Quality with their hair-raising concerns: hair spray.

Certainly, some of these products are not necessarily the best for air quality, as in, real environmental issues, but, of course, Utah Division of Air Quality’s Joel Karmazyn is focused more on “emissions output”, ie, CO2. Most of the products named have taken into account air, water, and land environmental issues for decades, particularly sprays. Now I supposed we can add hair spray and the others to the list of Things That Are Bad For Climate Change, which will give me more material for my If All You See… posts.

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If All You See…

By William Teach April 3, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is the sign for an evil Big Oil company, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Haunting the Library, with a post on CDC calling earthquakes “weather”

Read: If All You See… »

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Bummer: Lambs Frozen In 20 Foot Deep Snowdrifts Means Climate Change Bigger Threat Than WWII

By William Teach April 3, 2013 – 11:30 am

Sigh

(Guardian) How should we – not just the farmers but all of us, in Britain and worldwide – respond to the report from Wales that sheep are dying by the hundreds in snowdrifts up to 20 feet deep?

So if we were serious – if we really thought about the present with compassion, and considered the future at all – we would acknowledge that neoliberal market economics just won’t do….

Secondly, we should at last acknowledge that climate change is real, and prepare for it as urgently as our grandparents prepared for the second world war (except that the present threat is bigger)…

Surprise, surprise, a Warmist who thinks greenhouse gases cause massive cold and snow, and also dislikes capitalism.

Read: Bummer: Lambs Frozen In 20 Foot Deep Snowdrifts Means Climate Change Bigger Threat Than WWII »

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Ben Carson: White Liberals Are Pretty Darned Racist

By William Teach April 3, 2013 – 9:39 am

Color me shocked! White liberals being racist?

(Mediaite) On his radio show last night, Mark Levin had on newfound conservative “hero” Dr. Ben Carson to discuss all the lashings he’s received from the “left-wing media” over his views on gay marriage and religion. While discussing his being a black conservative, Carson told Levin that, in his experience, white liberals are the “most racist people there are.”

“They need to shut me up, they need to delegitimize me,” Carson told the radio host while explaining why he believes the media has scorned him for lumping homosexuality in with unsavory sexual acts like bestiality and pedophilia.

Levin added that the doctor has been attacked by “white liberals” because he is a black conservative, to which Carson replied: “They are the most racist people there are. Because they put you in a little category, a little box. You have to think this way. How could you dare come off the plantation?”

He’s entirely correct. Though, it’s not just white liberals, but all liberals, but mostly the white’s, who tend to be in positions of power in the Democrat party and the legacy media. They’ll attack any minority and/or female conservative in a heartbeat and excuse any attack on said conservative in heartbeat. Notice that no one in the media or on the left attacked Justice Sotomayor for essentially saying the same thing as Ben Carson on gay marriage and in the same way. But, Carson is black and espouses a right side view, so they have attacked him since the national prayer breakfast.

Audio at the link.

Read: Ben Carson: White Liberals Are Pretty Darned Racist »

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Post Election, Obama Admin. Signs On To UN Arms Treaty

By William Teach April 3, 2013 – 9:25 am

Surprise!

(The Hill) The Obama administration defied a majority of the Senate on Tuesday by voting to approve a United Nations treaty on the trade of small arms and other conventional weapons.

The treaty, overwhelmingly approved by the U.N., requires countries to create internal mechanisms to ensure that their arms exports aren’t likely to be used to harm civilians or violate human rights laws.

The treaty stalled last summer after the Obama administration withheld its support ahead of the November elections. Since then, the administration has sought additional language protecting hunting and self-defense rights to help placate gun-rights advocates while pushing hard for the treaty to take effect.

Is anyone particularly surprised that Obama did one thing pre-election and takes a contradictory stance post-election?

Anyway, the treaty would require a 2/3rds vote to pass the Senate, and there is now possible way that 66 Senators will vote for it. Senator James Inhofe has already said it’s a non-starter. I can’t imagine Harry Reid even bothering to bring it to the Senate floor, instead simply allowing it to languish in committee.

Now, is the treaty really that bad? Not in its draft form, as I previously discussed. Yet, there are still issues that interfere with existing US law and 2nd Amendment Rights, not to mention sovereignty. Furthermore, quite a few of the nations who voted for the treaty will be the first to break it, caring little for international law. We do have to consider that the treaty is, like so many others, yet another way to shift more power into the hands of the United Nations (an organization full of graft, misconduct, wastefulness, dictators, murderers, and various other bad people).

Administration officials hailed passage of the treaty, which Secretary of State John Kerry said would strengthen global security while protecting the rights of countries to conduct “legitimate” arms trade.

When Liberals start yammering on about protecting rights, it’s time to, as we say in the South, cover your butt, because they’re looking to screw you.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

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Scientist Predicts Earth Heading Towards New Ice Age

By William Teach April 2, 2013 – 7:33 pm

Again, I’ll believe it when I see it, but, sooner or later the Earth will enter into a cool period or glacial age

(UK Express) As if the outlook wasn’t bleak enough already, meteorologists believe the shivering start to 2013 has been the coldest in more than 200 years.

More worryingly, the combination of sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow experienced across much of the country recently could be the prelude to a new Ice Age that will begin next year and last for 200 years.

Russian scientist Dr Habibullo Abdussamatov, of the St Petersburg Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory, painted the Doomsday scenario saying the recent inclement weather simply proved we were heading towards a frozen planet.

Dr Abdussamatov believes Earth was on an “unavoidable advance towards a deep temperature drop”. The last big freeze, known as the Little Ice Age, was between 1650 and 1850.

Today he said: “The last global decrease of temperature (the most cold phase of the Little Ice Age) was observed in Europe, North America and Greenland.

I’m really not buying it, and I doubt if his prediction, well, really, he hedged his bet, will come true in 2013. Yet, if it does happen Warmists will blame it on you refusing to give up your fossil fueled vehicle.

Read: Scientist Predicts Earth Heading Towards New Ice Age »

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