Oops: Enviro Groups Sue Over Solar Plants, Saying They Are Bad For The Environment

By William Teach February 17, 2013 – 3:48 pm

How many times have I and others written about the enviroweenie/climate astrologer groups saying they believe in “green” energy but then protest and sue to stop actual construction? Here’s another (via A View From The Beach)

(Power Mag) A legal battle is brewing between the Department of the Interior (DOI) and three public-interest environmental groups that claim the government failed to consider degraded lands for the siting of “destructive” utility-scale solar plants, and that it focused instead on millions of acres of public land when it established solar energy zones in six southwestern states.

A complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Tuesday by the Western Lands Project, Desert Protective Council, and Western Watersheds Project says the government’s analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) “ignored alternative approaches that would be less damaging to the environment, more efficient, and less costly to taxpayers and ratepayers.”

Wait, I thought solar farms would be super mega awesome for the environment? Are these groups saying that they are actually bad for the environment?

“Massive solar power plants will have irreversible, essentially permanent, impacts. The [Bureau of Land Management (BLM)] admits that ecological recovery after solar plants are decommissioned, if even possible, could take 3,000 years,” the groups said.

“The Administration is opting to needlessly turn multiple-use public lands into permanent industrial zones.” said Janine Blaeloch of the Seattle-based Western Lands Project. “Solar development belongs on rooftops, parking lots, already-developed areas, and on degraded sites, not our public lands.”

Why, yes, yes they are saying that solar farms are bad for the environment. Hmph.

Of course, if they were built in those “other zones” the same groups, or some other enviroweenie group, would complain and sue.

Read: Oops: Enviro Groups Sue Over Solar Plants, Saying They Are Bad For The Environment »

Posted in Energy, Enviroweenies | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach February 17, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil fossil fueled truck, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Fire Andrea Mitchell, with a post on liberal logic.

It’s big truck week! Think about what you want next week’s theme to be.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach February 17, 2013 – 9:44 am

Happy Sunday! Yet another gorgeous, if not broker than broke, day in America. This pinup is by Sean Early, with no help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Ann Althouse doesn’t think much of the NY Times’ attacks on Ted Cruz
  2. American Power discusses the rise of female gun ownership
  3. Atlas Shrugs points towards more awesomeness peace from the Religion of Peace
  4. Cold Fury discusses the “national conversation”
  5. Doug Ross highlights Chicago priorities on guns
  6. Fausta highlights the $9/hr unemployment act
  7. House of Eratosthenes doesn’t think much of the “science” of climate change
  8. Jammie Wearing Fools features liberals calling raaaaacism over Sports Illustrated swim suits
  9. Political Realities opines on the dangers of 2014
  10. protein wisdom says it’s full of fecal matter
  11. Public Secrets isn’t too impressed by Obama’s Benghazi interest
  12. Eeew! Right Truth has a woman who tatted herself up with Twilight
  13. Say Anything has a silly AP headline
  14. Scared Monkeys sees a business get the Obama kiss of death
  15. And last, but not least, The Hayride features goats….that scream like Democrats

As 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 outwhat I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts

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.

The posts do take a long time, so, if you want to send me your links for Rule 5 babeage or links, use ye olde email in the header bar (remove the NOSPAM part). Preferably, create the html link so I can copy and paste how you want it to read.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Posted in Patriotic Pinup | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Obama Drafts Path To Citizenship Bill

By William Teach February 17, 2013 – 8:08 am

Well, someone in the White House drafted it while PBO runs around the country giving campaign speeches and playing golf. While the procedures and requirements are not bad (if we’re ignoring the basic fact that illegal immigrants broke US law by coming to this country either by crossing the border illegally or overstaying their visas and are breaking the law every day), the border control portion tends to be rather weak

(USA Today) A draft of a White House immigration proposal obtained by USA TODAY would allow illegal immigrants to become legal permanent residents within eight years.

The plan also would provide for more security funding and require business owners to check the immigration status of new hires within four years. In addition, the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants could apply for a newly created “Lawful Prospective Immigrant” visa, under the draft bill being written by the White House.

Isn’t it a legal requirement to check the immigrations status now?

If approved, they could then apply for the same provisional legal status for their spouse or children living outside the country, according to the draft.

Great, we’d add millions more wards of the State with few skills who do not speak English.

According to the White House draft, people would need to pass a criminal background check, submit biometric information and pay fees to qualify for the new visa. If approved, they would be allowed to legally reside in the U.S. for four years, work and leave the country for short periods of time. After the four years, they could then reapply for an extension.

Illegal immigrants would be disqualified from the program if they were convicted of a crime that led to a prison term of at least one year, three or more different crimes that resulted in a total of 90 days in jail, or if they committed any offense abroad that “if committed in the United States would render the alien inadmissible or removable from the United States.”

They commit a crime every day by being in the country illegally. Anyhow, all documents must be submitted in English

The immigrants could then apply for legal permanent residence, commonly known as a green card, within eight years if they learn English and “the history and government of the United States” and pay back taxes. That would then clear the path for them to apply for U.S. citizenship.

It all seems so reasonable. Why am I thinking that it will be necessary to dig deep into the bill to find what it really requires, where are the loopholes. Also, that the Executive agencies under Obama would ignore any provisions and simply start giving out legal status?

A major requirement for many Republicans is enhanced border security. The bill calls for an unspecified increase in the Border Patrol, allows the Department of Homeland Security to expand technological improvements along the border and adds 140 new immigration judges to process the heavy flow of people who violate immigration laws.

Marco Rubio said that this does not provide for any meaningful border security. We do not need judges, we need fences and people stopping the illegals. Catch an illegal and send them back where they came from. Period. And this doesn’t cover those who overstayed their visas, nor does it deal with restructuring the legal immigration system.

Interestingly, this plan, at least as written up by USA Today, seems to ignore what Obama was calling for on the White House website (which looks more like Obama’s campaign website). There is no “streamlining of legal immigration” nor cracking down on those who employee illegals.

BTW, I supposed we can consider Obama’s latest pivot to the economy to be over.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Obama Drafts Path To Citizenship Bill »

Posted in Barry Obama, Illegal Immigration | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Obama’s Bummed That He’s Not The Emperor

By William Teach February 16, 2013 – 8:24 pm

Via The Weekly Standard comes this video of Obama during his Google+ Hangout (people actually use that?)

“This is something I’ve struggled with throughout my presidency,” said Obama. “The problem is that I’m the president of the United States, I’m not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed.”

I really don’t think I need to put into words what I’m thinking about this quote, do I?

Read: Obama’s Bummed That He’s Not The Emperor »

Posted in Barry Obama | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach February 16, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is a boiling world requiring the services of a fan, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Classic Liberal, with a post on embracing the Fuhrerprinzip.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Whatcha Reading?

By William Teach February 16, 2013 – 11:55 am

Just finished 900 Miles, which was a really good zombie book about a man trying to get from NYC to Atlanta. He took a business trip which his 9 month pregnant wife did not want him to take. The focus was more about the quick breakdown in society, and morality, in just a few days.

Worth the read right up to the last 2 pages. Did not care for the ending.

Now on to Necropolis Now. Yeah, more zombies.

Read: Whatcha Reading? »

Posted in Books | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

Nevada Looks To Protect You From The Evils Of Walking And Texting

By William Teach February 16, 2013 – 7:31 am

Just another law to protect you from you

(KTVN) Using your cell phone without a hands free device while driving has been illegal in Nevada for more than a year.

Assembly Bill 123 could take the law one step further.

If passed, the bill would make it illegal for pedestrians to read, browse the Internet, or text on wireless devices, if they’re crossing any state road, even in residential areas.

If approved, violators would get a warning for their first offense. A second offense comes with a $100 fine, and a third would be $250.

Hey, if we can save just one life, we should pass the law protecting people from being complete and utter dimwits and putting themselves in harms way. Some interviewed are against this law, some who love the notion of Big Government controlling ever manner of their lives love the law.

A couple points: 1st, I’m usually against the notion of “spreading awareness” campaigns, but it would make a whole lot more sense to use resources to show, and tell, people what fools they are when they text without situational awareness, including video of people getting hit by cars in crosswalks, rather than waste law enforcement time giving warnings for being stupid. There are some videos out there.

Second, this is criminalizing stupidity and controlling people’s lives. When you hear Conservatives discuss attempting to reduce Big Government, this is one of the things we’re talking about, in that Government insinuates itself in every aspect of our lives.

Third, of you’re going to do this, slap a real fine for the first offense. Because, on the flip side of controlling people’s lives, if someone gets hit in a crosswalk wall texting they will cause damage to someone’s motor vehicle, affecting someone else. But let’s not forget that the texter is being a dumbass when crossing with traffic coming in the first place.

It’s still the Big Hand Of Government at work, though.

Just for reference, there are apps for iPhone and Android that allow the devices to use the camera so that people can text while walking. Some even allow people to Tweet and post to Facebook. Alas, I’ve also seen asshats use these apps while driving.

Ft. Lee, NJ, has enacted similar legislation. No mention as to whether or not it’s actually working.

Read: Nevada Looks To Protect You From The Evils Of Walking And Texting »

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Obama Tells Law Abiding Chicagoans They Should Be Further Disarmed Since He Knows What It’s Like To Grow Up On The Mean Streets

By William Teach February 16, 2013 – 6:35 am

No, really

(Politico) President Barack Obama offered a personal reflection on gun violence here Friday, tackling the issue not as a policymaker or parent, but as a black man himself who knew how close he’d come to a very different fate.

Obama’s talked frequently about gun violence since the Newtown massacre, but never in these terms. Straying from a speech meant to discuss initiatives from his State of the Union address aimed at supporting poor communities, the president reflected instead on the group of at-risk male teens he’d met with just before he took the stage.

“I had more of a safety net, but these guys are no different than me,” Obama said at Hyde Park Academy, where the teenagers are in school. “I had issues too when I was their age. I just had an environment that was a little more forgiving.”

Speaking of the economic struggles and broken homes that he identified as the root causes, Obama talked about his own experiences as a young African-American man, causing trouble and, later, trying to affect change on the streets here.

“Don’t get me wrong, as the son of a single mom … I turned out OK … but at the same time I wish I had a father who was involved, around,” Obama said.

There’s quite a bit of difference between growing up on the streets of Portland, Jakarta, and Honolulu, before heading to Los Angeles and NYC for college, and finally ending up in Chicago as a grown adult to community agitate.

“Last year, there were 443 murders with a firearm in this city, and 65 of them were 18 and under. That’s the equivalent of a Newtown every four months,” he said. “That’s precisely why the overwhelming majority of Americans are asking for some common sense proposals to make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun.”

Yet, none of his proposals will keep guns out of the hands of criminals: they’ll just turn the rest of the country into mostly into a camp of disarmed law abiding citizens left to the mercy of criminals.

“No law or set of laws can prevent every senseless act of violence in this country,” Obama said. “When a child opens fire on another child, there’s a hole in that child’s heart that government can’t fill, only community and parents and teachers and clergy can fill that hole. and “when a child opens fire on another child, there’s a hole in that child’s heart that government can’t fill,” he added, drawing on language he used during a 2007 speech in Anacostia, a poor and violent area of Washington.

Well, Chicago’s gun laws sure aren’t preventing anything, particularly in the case of criminals getting and using all manners of guns. But, hey, let’s slap the same restrictions on the rest of the country. And, after he gave his speech about know the mean streets, Obama’s off on a ritzy vacation, with Michelle going her own way, which includes $1,000 an hour golf lessons.

Meanwhile, in companion Politico article, Illinois Rep. Danny Davis tells us exactly where Obama and the Dems really want to go with gun control

“One of the best things we can do is reduce the number of guns on the streets, in our possessions, and to make sure that nobody except military personnel and some law enforcement people have access to these weapons of mass destruction that people are walking up and down the streets with,” Davis said.

There you go: no private ownership of weapons. On The Government would posses them. Except, of course, criminals who do not follow the law. So that the country looks much like Chicago.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Obama Tells Law Abiding Chicagoans They Should Be Further Disarmed Since He Knows What It’s Like To Grow Up On The Mean Streets »

Posted in 2nd Amendment, Barry Obama, Beyond Moonbat | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Warmists Really Excited About Sharing Children, ie, Little Carbon Footprints

By William Teach February 15, 2013 – 3:57 pm

It’s been awhile since we visited with Grist’s resident GINK (green inclinations, no kids), and she’s really, really, really excited about the new notion of sharing one’s children

And now the latest addition to the list of shareable items: kids. Yes, people are using websites and Facebook pages to find like-minded people with whom to share children. From The New York Times:

[A] new breed of online daters [is] looking not for love but rather a partner with whom to build a decidedly non-nuclear family. And several social networks, including PollenTree.com, Coparents.com, Co-ParentMatch.com, and MyAlternativeFamily.com, as well as Modamily, have sprung up over the past few years to help them.

And why are they looking for this “child sharing”? Did you say “love”? Silly you. No, it’s due to all those inconvenient pressures of being a single parent, often by choice, things like those darn kids getting in the way of having fun, using up the money that might have otherwise gone towards having fun, and realizing that perhaps they got in over their heads. Which interferes with having fun.

Having a kid is by far the most carbon-intensive activity a normal person is ever likely to engage in. Think of the climate benefits if more broody singletons shared those munchkins instead of each having their own. And why just singles? Couples could get in on the fun too. And parents who already have kids and want to dump them at someone else’s house for a few days generously share them with other nurturing adults.

I’d be great if all Warmists would take themselves out of the gene pool.

Read: Warmists Really Excited About Sharing Children, ie, Little Carbon Footprints »

Posted in Global Warming, Unhinged Tools | 3 Comments | Trackback URL
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