NC Media Watch

Are you an “Extremist?”

Russ Steele

The Heritage Foundation Morning Bell asks who is the President calling "extremist?"

Following last Tuesday’s election, the last thing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wanted to do was allow Members of Congress to go home and talk to their constituents about the $2.6 trillion health care bill she was marshaling through Congress. The centerpiece of Pelosi’s trap and pressure campaign was a Saturday address by President Barack Obama in the Cannon Office Building, where Obama warned Democrats:

“Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit [Democratic voters] and it will encourage the extremists.”

The President of the Unites States describes Americans who do not want to see the federal government have control over half of all health care extremists. Are you one of those extremist? Welcome to the club! 

Thirteen people die of political correctness.

Russ Steele

Mark Steyn nails the problem in Degrees of Separation at NRO.
 

Step One:

Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11 terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. His mother's funeral was held there in May that year.

The preacher at the time was Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Yemeni scholar who was banned from addressing a meeting in London by video link in August because he is accused of supporting attacks on British troops and backing terrorist organisations.

Hasan's eyes "lit up" when he mentioned his deep respect for al-Awlaki's teachings, according to a fellow Muslim officer at the Fort Hood base in Texas...

Step Two:

Danquah assumed the military’s chain of command knew about Hasan’s doubts, which had been known for more than a year to classmates in a graduate military medical program. His fellow students complained to the faculty about Hasan’s "anti-American propaganda," but said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim student kept officers from filing a formal written complaint.

Step Three:

Thinking Anew—Security Priorities for the Next Administration

A coherent strategy to address 21st century threats to the United States, one that treats national and homeland security as a seamless whole, has yet to emerge... To help fuel this process, in April 2008 The George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) established the Presidential Transition Task Force, comprised of national and homeland security experts, policymakers and practitioners... The goal was to determine the top strategic priorities to advance the nation’s security in the coming decade...
Event Participants:

...Amanda Halpern
U.S. House of Representatives

Beth Hampton
Homeland Security Institute

Nidal Hasan
Uniformed Services University School of Medicine

Donald Hawkins
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Eric Heighberger
Homeland Security Council...

That's quite the company for a deranged misfit loner whacko of no broader significance.

I believe it was Derb a few months after 9/11 who said that for this new struggle our watchword was "Better screwed than rude." Major Hasan represents the institutionalization of that attitude. Thirteen people are dead, dozens more will live with their injuries for the rest of their days, and a lot of families have had a great big gaping hole blown out of their lives because of it.
Anwar al-Awlaki and his chums have bet that such a society is too sick to survive.

Watch the nothing-to-see-here media driveling on about pre-post-traumatic stress disorder like gibbering lunatics in a padded cell , and then think whether you'd really want to take that bet.

Death by political correctness. Had the Major been  your typical white college graduate, he would have been thrown out of the Army for promoting any extremist views with his patient. Period.

Ticking time bomb the Democratic legislature cannot solve

Russ Steele

My friend George Rebane is discussing the Unfunded Liabilities time bomb that is ticking away for the California taxpayers in a Union Editorial this morning.  George writes:

Some local bloggers and folks in the Rood Center seem to think that the entire problem is really not ours, and can be laid at Sacramento's feet. This longstanding ignorance is unfortunate. When the SESF report was presented to the BoS and the local media, it was essentially ignored. In the interval some of us, who have continued to point out the coming train wreck, have been accused of “demagoguery” for bringing the problem to public attention. A day late and a dollar short, the country's UL have become national news with daily articles outlining the fiscal calamity facing communities across the land and especially in California.

Bill Lockyer, California's Treasure has a message for the California State Legislature telling them that two-thirds of what they produce is “just junk”? Insisting that more taxes won’t solve their problems, and that they have to start looking for ways to save money instead? But the best part is when he tells them:

"It’s impossible for this legislature to reform the pension system, and if we don’t, we bankrupt the state. And I don’t think anybody can do it here, because of who elected you. … You’re just captive of the current environment — I don’t see any way out!"

Here is the video clip:

Let me translate what Lockyer said: The Democrats are too deep the pockets of the unions to effectively govern California.  Their marriage to the unions keeps the Democrats from making the budgetary decisions necessary to rescue California from ruin. The only solution for reform is to remove the in the pocket Democrats in Sacramento and replace them with conservative who can return the state to fiscal sanity. (No I did not say Republican, I said conservative regardless of party)  Until we get that done our local political leaders need to do what they can to reduce the damage. George has some suggestions in his Union Editorial at at Ruminations.

What is the job stimulus money doing in your neighborhood? Really, that bad?

Russ Steele

After seven months of stimulus 49 of 50 States have lost jobs according to a Republican Ways and Means news release. America is Now Over 6 Million Jobs Shy of Administration's Projections.

The White House's February 2009 projection of the number of California jobs that would be created by the 2009 stimulus law through the end of 2010 was 396,000. The actual change in state payroll employment through September 2009 was a negative 336,400.  The difference between the promised 396,000 new jobs and the actual loss of 336,400 jobs has created a deficit of 732,400 jobs since the stimulus was enacted.

Now economist and administration policy makers are suggesting that the current joblessness is the new normal. According to an AP story, Even with an economic revival, many U.S. jobs lost during the recession may be gone forever and a weak employment market could linger for years. So, in reality we have just been stuffing government money down a rat hole, that has destroyed rather than created jobs. 

Let's be real clear, taking money from some tax payers and giving it to other tax payers does not produce wealth, or create new jobs, it only puts us all at risk of having to accept the "new normal" of widespread job loss and growing poverty.   

Check out how many jobs were lost in favorite state here.

Is Obama a climate change puppet?

Russ Steele

Tim Ball writing in the Canada Free Press: President Obama Keeps Repeating Climate Falsehoods

Amid the rhetoric of President Obama’s speech to the United Nations September 22 conference on climate change in New York he repeated the same few points. They’re identical to those in Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth.” Trouble is they are wrong. So, what is the President’s culpability? If he doesn’t know they’re wrong he and his advisors are incompetent. If they know, they’re deceiving.

You can read the full analysis here . My question is does Obama know he is wrong, or he is just uninformed on climate change issues?  Really?

Screwed by the power company!

Russ Steele

I learned a long time ago that Utility Companies are more inclined to screw their customers, rather than protect them. In the mid 1970s we built a house in Nebraska. It was in a development that was promoting all electric homes. We bought the Gold Medallion Kool-Aid supplied by the local power company who was building nuclear power plants and to promised almost to give us the electricity to heat our house, it was going to be so cheap. However, once all the homes in the development were sold the price of electrical power kept going up and up and up again. We organized a public meeting to discuss the deceit with power company officials. At the meeting they basically told us they held all the cards and we were screwed.

When we built the house we opted to put in a Franklin Stove rather than a draft creating fire place. After our meeting with power company, I installed a wood stove in the basement and turned down the electric furnace as low as it would go.  We heated the house with wood. Screw the power company!  The wood was provide free by the City of Omaha, but we had to buck and split the dead ash trees ourselves.

When we build out house in California, we were fully aware that we did not want to be captured by the power company. We build a passive solar house with wood stoves for the backup heat, just using PG&E for light and the appliances. However over the years, after the children left home, we were lulled into converting our wood stoves to natural gas. Bad decision, PG&E keeps cranking up the price of gas and electricity and we are now more vulnerable to carbon taxes.

Once again we are about to be screwed by the power company. Consider this from Kimberley Stassel. at the Wall Street Journal in Rent-Seekers Inc. "Climate-change legislation helps a few big utility companies, but costs most Americans."

It isn't often an energy company (of all things) gets to present itself as an environmental crusader, cozy up to Washington rulemakers, buy political protection, and pad its bottom line—all in one neat little announcement. So give Pacific Gas & Electric, PNM and Exelon credit for going for the gold.

The three utility giants have made news recently by quitting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Their finer sensibilities, they explained, would no longer allow them to associate with an organization lacking in environmental fervor. How dare the Chamber demand the Environmental Protection Agency be transparent about the science it is relying on to regulate all carbon energy use. Heresy! "As a company with a clear and strong position on the importance of addressing climate change," we must go our own way, lamented PG&E's CEO Peter Darbee.

Fortunately for Mr. Darbee, that way leads to the bank. As much as supporters of cap and tax would like to spin this as a new corporate ethic, the reality is less edifying. The lesson here is that big business political rent-seeking is alive and thriving.

Let me ask you, when PG&E is paying homage to Cap and Trade (Tax), who do you think will be paying the bill. You are right -- you are!  In the process PG&E will be skimming money off the top for the privilege of collecting these carbon taxes from every customer. PG&E is going to profit from Cap and Trade, and you are going to get screwed. ( My apology for the strong language, but lets not dance around the issue here, everyone understands "screwed") 

We built our south facing garage with the idea we may someday have to install solar panels. Maybe it is time to screw the power company once again. We left the stove pipes in place and may once again return to heating the house with wood. Stay tuned!

Cap-and-Switch: Grab your wallet

Russ Steele

Our mentally challenged Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) along with Senator John "I served in Vietnam" Kerry (D-MA) introduced their climate change bill in the Senate today as an alternative to the horrid “Cap-and-Trade” bill authored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA). The purpose of the Senate bill:

To create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution, and transition to a clean energy economy.

Lets see if these desired outcomes of the bill hold up, starting with “Reduce global warming pollution”, since this is the core of two other issues of "clean energy jobs", and "transition to a clean energy economy." 

First of all, there is NO global warming. Why would Congress pass a law intended to deal with something that is a complete hoax?

Now why is it that Senator Boxer and Senator Kerry cannot understand these charts?  Are they more mentally challenged than average citizens who passed basic math? If they cannot see there is no global warming, and the potential for global warming declines every day the sun does not have sun spots.  See Dalton Minimum Returns for more details on how the climate has cooled in the past when as the sunspots decline. What is it that Senator's Boxer and Kerry do not understand about this climate history. Really? Are they both math illiterates, incapable of understanding basic science? Really? If this is true, then is must be time for a change. Let's elect a political leader who is literate in math and science.  

Governor attempting to shore up his faltering legacy

Russ Steele

With his legacy being defined by the states budget problems and California's failing economy, the  Governor is attempting to shore up his environmental legacy. Schwarzenegger launched his environmentalist legacy by signing AB32 California's Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006.  AB32 commits California to reduce greenhouse gases  25 percent by 2020.  As multiple studies have shown, part of California economic decline can be traced to AB32.

To prop up his legacy, Schwarzenegger is hosting his second annual international climate summit this week in LA. Leaders from more than 70 states, provinces and countries are expected to attend, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and six other U.S. governors. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is scheduled to speak at the opening ceremony today. The organizers, California State Protocol Foundation, have billed this four day conference as a precursor to United Nations talks in December to establish new worldwide emissions targets.

It looks like the UN Conference in Copenhagen will not meet it's global objectives of replacing the Kyoto Protocol and the Governor is seeking alternatives. Schwarzenegger believes that "subnational" governments such as states and provinces can play a substantial role in reducing global warming. This conference is an attempt to develop an alternative should  Copenhagen fail as predicted.

The result will continuing economic decline in California and the States that sign up to this global warming hoax on tax payers.  It will be interesting if the Governors attending are those from states that refused to sign up to the Western Climate Initiative. Stay tuned.

CA regulations are killing 3.8 million jobs, one tenth of population

Russ Steele

I wrote about the State's Business Tax Climate Index here.  A regular reader of this blog, alerted me to an article in the SF Chronicle on a report the Governor has been sitting on for a year. A report that demonstrates why the California is near the bottom of the Business Tax Climate Index. Also, a comment by Martin resulted in email request for the report to Dan Logue's office.

From the Chronicle:

The office of the Small Business Advocate, a department of the state Office of Planning and Research, had commissioned the report, initially called for in 2006 legislation by then-Democratic, now independent Assemblyman Juan Arambula of Fresno. In April, Arambula reportedly asked the governor's office to release the report, a version of which had been submitted in October. However, the report required careful investigation, according to a governor's spokesman.

The delay should not be surprising given the controversial numbers contained in the report. But there may have been another reason. The report's authors, led by Sanjay Varshney, dean of the College of Business Administration at Cal State Sacramento, had produced a separate study, commissioned by the Small Business Roundtable, on AB32, Schwarzenegger's climate change-fighting pride and joy. That report, released in July, concluded that the legislation will turn out be a job loser, a hit to the pocketbook and will cost California's small businesses $50,000 apiece to fully implement.

The here are the findings in the new report the Governor did not want you to see:

I am working

Russ Steele

I am working on a green job sustainability project . Here is the only real green job that I know of today.