NC Media Watch

Enjoy your 4th of July (upated with parade photos)

Russ Steele

Ellen and I are marching in the 4th of July Parade with the Friends of the Nevada County Military. Friends will be near the front of the Parade, with the Tea Party Patriots near the tail end. Logistically it does not look like we can march in both groups, though we would like to support both. I heard yesterday that the Tea Party group had grown so large they would be taking out a second parade application. We will try to take some pictures and post them later today. 

Update #1:  Ellen and I matched with the Friends, but there were not that many of us. A number of Friend's members came by the launching point in their red Tea Party Patriot T-shirts, explaining it was impossible to be in two places at once. I would say most of us in the Friends groups would have like to have been in two places at once, joining the Tea Party.  



We have been told by the local Democrat Bloggers that they will soon be the majority party in Nevada County. They managed to round up about 15 for the parade.



The Republics had a few more, about 24, including Tom McClintock the US 4th District Representative.




The Tea Party Patriots were the largest group in the parade, I counted over a 100 marchers. 

There were over 100 angry Republicans, Democrats and Independents marching as Tea Party Patriots. Patriots who are sick and tired of paying taxes so that Congress can spend it on vacations, pet projects, bank bailouts, auto companies and the greening of America.  I hope the Republicans and Democats that preceeded the Tea Party in the parade heard the sound marching feet and are scared, real scared. There is a revolution coming and the Tea Parties are just the opening skirmishes.

Update#2:  One picture I did not get was George Rebane's fly over with Jim Booth at the controls of MYAT-6.  My camera does not have a view finder and with polarized sun glass on the screen is blank. Cannot see thing. Fred Buhler, snapped a picture as the formation flew over the Parade Route the second time. He will send if turns out OK.  George has fly over details at Rebanes Ruminations, and the problems of cameras without view finders.

June Temperature Anomaly - ZERO!

Russ Steele

Here is one of those observation the "warmers" like to avoid. The global temperature anomaly, as measured by satellites that sweeps over 90% of the globe observing land and sea, and are not influenced by urban heat islands, or poorly place surface stations sensor placement, was virtually Zero.

  Click for a larger image. 

H/T to Watts Up With That.

Roy Spencer's green economy reality check

Russ Steele

I have always admired Dr. Roy Spencer level headed views of global warming issues. Here is the latest from his blog Global Warming.

Cap and Trade and the Illusion of the New Green Economy

I don’t think Al Gore in his wildest dreams could have imagined how successful the “climate crisis” movement would become. It is probably safe to assume that this success is not so much the result of Gore’s charisma as it is humanity’s spiritual need to be involved in something transcendent – like saving the Earth.

After all, who wouldn’t want to Save the Earth? I certainly would. If I really believed that manmade global warming was a serious threat to life on Earth, I would be actively campaigning to ‘fix’ the problem.

But there are two practical problems with the theory of anthropogenic global warming: (1) global warming is (or at least was) likely to be a mostly natural process; and (2) even if global warming is manmade, it will be immensely difficult to avoid further warming without new energy technologies that do not currently exist.

On the first point, since the scientific evidence against global warming being anthropogenic is what most of the rest of this website is about, I won’t repeat it here. But on the second point…what if the alarmists are correct? What if humanity’s burning of fossil fuels really is causing global warming? What is the best path to follow to fix the problem?

What, New Scientist writing more science crap?(edited)

Russ Steele

Really! This from the New Scientist web site on 1 July 2009.  Sea level rise: It's worse than we thought, writes  Anil Ananthaswamy.

The oceans are already rising. Global average sea level rose about 17 centimetres in the 20th century, and the rate of rise is increasing. The biggest uncertainty for those trying to predict future changes is how humanity will behave. Will we start to curb our emissions of greenhouse gases sometime soon, or will we continue to pump ever more into the atmosphere?

Really! "rate of rise is increasing" Take a look at this graphic and tell me if you see the rate of sea level rise is increasing.

Sea level rise has been flat since 2006. Has Anil Ananthaswamy and his/her editor been living under a rock since 2006. And, 17 centimeters is about 6.7 inches,  Over a 100 years that is about 0.0669 inches a year. Mostly from expansion and the oceans warming after the Little Ice Age, not from melting ice.

H/T to George at Rebane's Ruminations for pointing me to the article. To WUWT for the graphic. Sean Wise for editing assistance.

Looking through a crooked glass

Russ Steele

According to a former Union Editor, Nevada County Voices is the go to starting place for the News in Nevada County. He claims that people are starting their day at Nevada County Voices.  I have always admired Anna Haynes initiative in creating the Nevada County Voices. It was something that I always thought The Union might do. But, alas it was Anna that took up the challenge.

However, the news and views presented at Nevada County Voices are not with out some distortion. Most of the blogs are listed with out editorial baggage, however those blogs that do not conform to Anna's view of the world are subject to her editorial views. "Read with caution/Climate action delayers"  Where? You did not see it?  On the far right of the page.

Anna is currently pushing Paul Krugman op-ed in Monday's New York Times in which he called anyone who's skeptical of man-made global warming a “traitor to the Earth.” Here is an alternative view by James Anderson, who writes:

The key to good science -- not good politics -- is understanding the scientific method. Richard Feynmann, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, put it this way: “It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is; it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong.”

Here is some of the latest data from Mother Earth:

However, if you accept the above as fact, the earth is cooling, you are a "traitor to the earth."  Try looking at this graphic through a crooked glass, and you might see what Krugman and Anna sees. Global Warming!   

The Feds at our doorstep?

Russ Steele

Could the Federal Government take over and operate the Empire Mine State Park?  Maybe.

The federal government is threatening to take possession of several of California's most prominent state parks — including Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, the top of Mt. Diablo and four miles of beaches at Fort Ord Dunes near Monterey — if Sacramento lawmakers close them to balance the budget. The warnings came in a letter from John Jarvis, the Pacific regional director of the National Park Service to Schwarzenegger on 8 June 2009. Details here.

George Rebane has been warning us about the Federalization of California. Was this one of the first steppes toward the federal government taking over the state? Details here and here.

Your thoughts?  Are we about to lose our State Park to the Feds?

Consensus, What Consensus?

Russ Steele

OPEN LETTER TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: YOU ARE BEING DECEIVED ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

You have recently received an Open Letter from the Woods Hole Research Center, exhorting you to act quickly to avoid global disaster. The letter purports to be from independent scientists, but that Center is the former den of the President’s science advisor, John Holdren, and is far from independent. This is the same science advisor who has given us predictions of “almost certain” thermonuclear war or eco-catastrophe by the year 2000, and many other forecasts of doom that somehow never seem to arrive on time.

The facts are:

The sky is not falling; the Earth has been cooling for ten years, without help. The present cooling was NOT predicted by the alarmists’ computer models, and has come as an embarrassment to them.

The finest meteorologists in the world cannot predict the weather two weeks in advance, let alone the climate for the rest of the century. Can Al Gore? Can John Holdren? We are flooded with claims that the evidence is clear, that the debate is closed, that we must act immediately, etc, but in fact

THERE IS NO SUCH EVIDENCE; IT DOESN’T EXIST.

The proposed legislation would cripple the US economy, putting us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors. For such drastic action, it is only prudent to demand genuine proof that it is needed, not guesswork, and not false claims about the state of the science.

DEMAND PROOF, NOT CONSENSUS

Finally, climate alarmism pays well. Many alarmists are profiting from their activism. There are billions of dollars floating around for the taking, and being taken.

Robert H. Austin
Professor of Physics
Princeton University
Fellow APS, AAAS
American Association of Arts and Science Member National Academy of Sciences

William Happer
Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics
Princeton University
Fellow APS, AAAS
Member National Academy of Sciences

S. Fred Singer
Professor of Environmental Sciences Emeritus, University of Virginia
First Director of the National Weather Satellite Service
Fellow APS, AAAS, AGU

Roger W. Cohen
Manager, Strategic Planning and Programs, ExxonMobil Corporation (retired)
Fellow APS

Harold W. Lewis
Professor of Physics Emeritus
University of California at Santa Barbara
Fellow APS, AAAS; Chairman, APS Reactor Safety Study

Laurence I. Gould
Professor of Physics
University of Hartford
Chairman (2004), New England Section of APS

Richard Lindzen
Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fellow American Academy of Arts and Sciences, AGU, AAAS, and AMS
Member Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
Member National Academy of Sciences

Is California following Spain into the green swamp

Russ Steele

Since the Governor signed AB-32, Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 on September 27, 2006, the California Air Resource Board has been implementing regulations to control CO2 in California. AB-32 was designed to bring California into near compliance with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol as possible. In signing the bill, Schwarzenegger declared, "We simply must do everything we can in power to slow down global warming before it is too late... The global warming debate is over."

Spain adopted a similar initiative to bring the county into compliance with the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. A 2005 study projected Spain participation in the Kyoto Protocol would force Spanish companies to pay more than 42% more for natural gas and 24% more for electricity than under the baseline projection. Spain now has the highest unemployment in the eurozone, with 17.4 % in the first quarter of 2009. In the last quarter of 2008 it was 13.9%. The Spanish government expects it to peak at 15.9%, but the European Union says it could go as high as 19%.

Half of the cities in the United States with 15 percent-plus jobless rates last month are in California. El Centro was at the top of the list with a 26.8 percent unemployment rate. Yuba City had the second-highest jobless rate at 17.7 percent, while Merced, Modesto, Fresno, Redding and Stockton also endured 15 percent-plus jobless rates, according to a recent federal report. On the other hand the capital region is faring better than many other metropolitan areas with only a 11.1 unemployment rate. Government hiring?

President Obama held Spain up as an example of how the United States should go green. California is the greenest state in the nation, becoming the model for other states to follow.  The question is, will California unemployment rate follow Spain into the green swamp?  Stay Tuned.

And you thought our economy could not get any worse -- Oops

Russ Steele

The EPA announced today it will be granting California’s waiver, enabling the state to enforce its own version of greenhouse gas emissions standards for new motor vehicles beginning with the current model year. The EPA declared has it had taken this action to tackle air pollution and protect human health. Detail here.

“This decision puts the law and science first. After review of the scientific findings, and another comprehensive round of public engagement, I have decided this is the appropriate course under the law,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “This waiver is consistent with the Clean Air Act as it’s been used for the last 40 years and supports the prerogatives of the 13 states and the District of Columbia who have opted to follow California’s lead. More importantly, this decision reinforces the historic agreement on nationwide emissions standards developed by a broad coalition of industry, government and environmental stakeholders earlier this year.”

The Clean Air Act gives EPA the authority to allow California to adopt its own emission standards for new motor vehicles due to the seriousness of the state’s air pollution challenges.

Let see, unemployment is soaring and California is about to pay it's bills with IOUs. California is out of jobs, and out of money. Now California has been given the authority to make it worse.  Oops!

Lunch with Tom Under the Trees

Russ Steele

 The setting was a beautiful yard on Cement Hill under the shade trees. Somehow a beautiful yard on a cement hill is hard to fathom, that is until you visit Jo Ann Rebane’s beautiful yard.  What a lovely place to discuss the politics of the day.

 

The House and Yard

When we arrived there was a large table of sandwiches, fruit  and scrumptious brownies, with bottles of chilled water and green iced tea waiting for us.  Soon neighbors, friends and recognized tea party supporters started arriving, all of us looking forward to hearing our 4th District Representative, Tom McClintock, give us a first hand report from the circus in Washington.

The Food

While selecting our food, and enjoying the light lunch, we had an opportunity to ask Tom  questions and participate in one-on-one discussion of issues important to us all. He was most gracious, listening and then giving direct answers.  No “daisy talk” as George calls useless chatter devoid of content. This was an opportunity for access to first hand knowledge of the political process, and nobody wasted this opportunity on “daisy talk.”   More on Daisy Talk at Ruminations

The Conservation

On the top of the discussion was the  Cap and Trade Bill that just made it’s way through the House of Representatives. According to Tom, we are deciding our survival as a nation. Tom has an excellent grasp of history, and explained the impact that Smoot-Hawley had on delaying the recovery following the 1929 market crash. Smoot-Hawley levied import tariffs on 20,000 products coming from foreign countries, to make US make products more competitive in the US. Tom explained that Cap and Trade is really just a tax on all US products. A tax that makes them less competitive on global markets. All these new taxes in the middle of a recession, could cause the nation to sink into a depression.  Smoot-Hawley caused a depression, do we have another one just over the horizon?

The Details

Tom’s next subject was Healthcare. Unfortunately, my interest in the discussion caused a lapse in my note taking.  He thinks that we should give the same tax credits to employees that we are giving to those who employ workers, so they can buy an insurance plan that will meet their family needs. Interesting, no mention of how us retired folks will fair.

Tom noted that Europe is abandoning socialism, while the US, Iran and  Venezuela are moving toward adopting  socialism. This is leadership driven effort, as conservatism is growing in the nation. Time for the citizens to let their leaders know change is afoot.  American’s are sensing the growing danger and are becoming restless. Calls requesting a vote no on Cap and Trade crashed the House Switch Board.

 

George and Jo Ann in a Final Word With Tom

Tom pointed out that the nation should be learning from the “greening of California” . Once AB-32 was passed, companies started moving to Nevada, Arizona and Texas where they did not have to deal with the excessive carbon taxes and regulations. Since 2007, implementation of AB-32, California unemployment  has been growing faster than the national average, when in the past, California’s unemployment was lower than the national average. The rush of green jobs promised by California politicians never appeared, leaving thousands of Californians unemployed.

There were questions about healthcare, funding of czars,  why Mary Bono, a Republican voted for Cap and Trade ?  His assessment of Nancy Pelosi, and why we are allowing the darter fish to turn the Central Valley into a desert ? Do we really have to fill out all the private data on the Census forms ? Where do we stand on national defense with the new challenges from North Korea and Iran ?

I did not capture all the answers, except for the last one.  In Tom’s view, the Obama apology tour has given rogue nations the high sign, they have nothing to fear from the US.  Being a student of history, Tom recalled the events that set the stage for WWII, when Europe told Hitler he had nothing to fear from nations of friendly people. Tom’s fear is that Obama is sending the same message to Iran and North Korea, we are not going to be a obstacle to your ambitions.   

George, has more on the meeting with Tom and forty friends and neighbors on Rebane’s Ruminations.