Friends,
There is a bill before the Colorado Senate, currently in the Education Committee, that will extend instate tuition to anyone who has graduated from or attended at least three years in a Colorado high school, irrespective of immigration status. This bill, Senate Bill 09-170, Nondiscrimination in Higher Education, spells out in the first paragraph that a person’s immigration status is immaterial to extending these benefits.
Once again I must be missing something here. This is the United States of America, a nation of laws. Among the body of laws are those detailing requirements for entry into this country. That should be the end of the conversation.
Now there is a group of legislators who want to sweep aside any concern for the laws of our country for the express purpose of extending rights reserved to legal residents and citizens to those who have already proven that they do not respect our laws. When these illegal students and their parents came into this country illegally they declared their disdain for our country and its laws.
Why would these legislators go through this effort to extend these benefits? This could be an interesting question to pose to Senator Romer, the bill’s sponsor. Let me lay out a simple scenario. With the liberal Congress and President, amnesty with a path to citizenship is a definite possibility. If you were one of these students who received this benefit, who are you going to thank when you are able to go to the polls? Of course you will thank these same liberals who enabled you to be forgiven of your crimes. What an ingenious way to keep your power over the long-term.
I am going to take a seemingly right turn. Let’s take a look at a couple of groups of bad guys. Of course there is our ever favorite, Al Qaida. What is their favorite tactic when dealing with non-believers? The perfect example is 9-11. Al Qaida took years to plan and prepare for the attack, and they were completely successful except for one plane-load of loyal Americans who fought back. There is some question as to Al Qaida involvement in the Mumbai massacre but they have studied it and there are indications that they are planning the same kind of attack on the US.
Another group we need to be concerned about is Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS 13. This is a street gang that started in Los Angeles among illegal El Salvadorians and has spread to and throughout Central America. It is currently in the major metropolitan areas in the United States. They have evolved from a street gang into, what I call, “bad guys for hire.” Their primary customers are the Mexican drug cartels and they use intimidation and brutal assassination as their modus operandi. However, like any good entrepreneur they will work for whoever has the money and the requisite brutality requirement.
Why have I taken this turn? Imagine the opportunity afforded to the illegal with this education bill. Illegals are not just poor Mexicans looking to benefit from our bounty. Illegals come in all races, religions, occupations, and motivations. Looking back at the time it took for Al Qaida to plan and execute 9-11, an education benefit such as SB 09-170 would fit nicely into their planning phase. Likewise, MS 13 goes back and forth across the US border with near impunity. Having gang members permanently stationed in Colorado will provide a suitable base of operations for their criminal enterprises.
The liberals in the Colorado State Legislature, along with Governor Ritter, are enabling our enemies and making it easier for them to increase their already considerable inroads into our society. This trend of giving illegals a pass must stop.
As always, comments and discussions are always welcome.
Dan
Dan Lanotte
- The Carpenter's Mate
- Falcon, Colorado
- I am a 31 year Navy veteran, 15 years as a SONAR Technician and 16 years as an Intelligence Officer. I am a Goldwater-Reagan Conservative with a deep love for this wonderful country of opportunity and am concerned about the continued abrogation of our freedoms. In addition to putting my thoughts and political philosophy in these pages I enjoy teaching firearms and personal protection in keeping with the spirit of the Second Amendment. My courses are listed at www.carpmateconsulting.com.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Costs Demand Debate on Climate
Friends,
The following article is by our favorite guest columnist, Andy Pico. It was first published in the Colorado Springs Gazette on Monday, 09 Mar.
As always, comments and discussion are welcome.
Enjoy,
Dan
Costs Demand Debate on Climate
ANDRES PICO, GUEST COLUMNIST
March 6, 2009 - 8:48PM
In previous columns I have made the point that climate changes predicted by the Global Warming Hysterics have failed to occur. Some have pointed out that the current cooling trend is not long enough to reflect a trend. I agree and actually made the same point in an earlier letter. But in so doing I have pointed out that long-term trends clearly show cyclical climate fluctuations.
The current warming trend is merely part of that cycle. The current warming trend started before the start of the industrial revolution and any discussion of long-term climate trends have to go much further back.
The ice core data going back hundreds of thousands of years shows a very clear climate change history which is not in debate. That history shows cyclical climate changes.
Although obvious, there are those who claim there are no cycles in climate because if there are, then it is clear there are natural forces that drive climate change which is a threat to the political fraud being pushed.
The climate history shows within the Holocene period of the past 14,000 years there has been tremendous climate variability for the entire period. After the Younger Dryas event, the climate was relatively stable at a much warmer level than present for over 5,000 years. Within that period and since there is a measured climate cycle of about 1,500 years that goes from warm to cool to warm and so on.
The Medieval Warm Period was followed by the Little Ice Age followed by the current Modern Warming. This cycle is regular and extraordinarily well documented in an overwhelming amount of scientific literature. The temperatures are reconstructed from a wide variety of proxies and it has been determined that the average temperatures of the Holocene have been at least 3-4 degrees warmer than today with the average for the last 5,000 years at least 2-3 degrees warmer than today. Direct gas measurements of atmospheric CO2 taken during the later part of the Medieval Warm Period were measured in the range of 430 ppm (Beck) which, despite Al Gore's and James Hansen's hysterical predictions of catastrophe with the end of civilization and the boiling away of the oceans if we go over 400 ppm, was followed by the Little Ice Age.
The current warming started at the end of the Little Ice Age in about 1850. Those who show graphs of warming very conveniently chop off the earlier part of the warming trend to artificially manufacture a trend correlated with CO2. They suppress the actual linkage where warming temperatures cause the rise in CO2 as the oceans "breathe out" in a warming trend and "breathe in" during a cooling trend.
What does correlate with the start of the Modern Warm Period, the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period is solar activity, amplified by oceanic and atmospheric circulation cycles specifically the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation multi-decadal shifts. The solar correlation is extraordinarily strong when temperature trends and solar cycle lengths are smoothed to match the 22-year solar cycle.
All of this information is available in a vast quantity of scientific journals, textbooks, papers, studies, etc., all written by legions of scientists with solid scientific credentials and working with "carbon-free funding" despite propaganda to the contrary.
The Modern Warming has trended up for 150 years with periods of cooling. We are now at the start of a multi-decadal cooling period which began in 1998. The cooling is pretty clear on the monthly data from every reporting agency. If El Niño peaks and La Niña dips are smoothed, then 1998 is very clearly and undeniably the peak of the warming in the shorter term. The decade since is a gradual decline until 2007 at which point a sharp decline started. This was predicted by those paying attention to solar and oceanic cycles.
The climate models and the Global Warming Hysterics all predicted catastrophic warming and temperatures a full two degrees warmer than now.
The economic and governmental impacts of the measures being proposed to "fight global warming" are already having disastrous effects across the world, particularly on the poor and disadvantaged. The effects of the measures being proposed will be economically devastating across the entire country. Did you like paying $4 per gallon for gas? Stand by for $10 (Salazar). Do you like your current utility bill? Stand by to quadruple that bill (Obama). These are the policies they intend to mandate in a regime of central economic planning dictated by the government in a suppression of a free market.
These issues deserve an open, independent and honest scientific, economic and political debate.
-
Pico, of Colorado Springs, is a retired navy commander, naval flight officer and economist. He is a signatory of the Manhattan Declaration.
The following article is by our favorite guest columnist, Andy Pico. It was first published in the Colorado Springs Gazette on Monday, 09 Mar.
As always, comments and discussion are welcome.
Enjoy,
Dan
Costs Demand Debate on Climate
ANDRES PICO, GUEST COLUMNIST
March 6, 2009 - 8:48PM
In previous columns I have made the point that climate changes predicted by the Global Warming Hysterics have failed to occur. Some have pointed out that the current cooling trend is not long enough to reflect a trend. I agree and actually made the same point in an earlier letter. But in so doing I have pointed out that long-term trends clearly show cyclical climate fluctuations.
The current warming trend is merely part of that cycle. The current warming trend started before the start of the industrial revolution and any discussion of long-term climate trends have to go much further back.
The ice core data going back hundreds of thousands of years shows a very clear climate change history which is not in debate. That history shows cyclical climate changes.
Although obvious, there are those who claim there are no cycles in climate because if there are, then it is clear there are natural forces that drive climate change which is a threat to the political fraud being pushed.
The climate history shows within the Holocene period of the past 14,000 years there has been tremendous climate variability for the entire period. After the Younger Dryas event, the climate was relatively stable at a much warmer level than present for over 5,000 years. Within that period and since there is a measured climate cycle of about 1,500 years that goes from warm to cool to warm and so on.
The Medieval Warm Period was followed by the Little Ice Age followed by the current Modern Warming. This cycle is regular and extraordinarily well documented in an overwhelming amount of scientific literature. The temperatures are reconstructed from a wide variety of proxies and it has been determined that the average temperatures of the Holocene have been at least 3-4 degrees warmer than today with the average for the last 5,000 years at least 2-3 degrees warmer than today. Direct gas measurements of atmospheric CO2 taken during the later part of the Medieval Warm Period were measured in the range of 430 ppm (Beck) which, despite Al Gore's and James Hansen's hysterical predictions of catastrophe with the end of civilization and the boiling away of the oceans if we go over 400 ppm, was followed by the Little Ice Age.
The current warming started at the end of the Little Ice Age in about 1850. Those who show graphs of warming very conveniently chop off the earlier part of the warming trend to artificially manufacture a trend correlated with CO2. They suppress the actual linkage where warming temperatures cause the rise in CO2 as the oceans "breathe out" in a warming trend and "breathe in" during a cooling trend.
What does correlate with the start of the Modern Warm Period, the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period is solar activity, amplified by oceanic and atmospheric circulation cycles specifically the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation multi-decadal shifts. The solar correlation is extraordinarily strong when temperature trends and solar cycle lengths are smoothed to match the 22-year solar cycle.
All of this information is available in a vast quantity of scientific journals, textbooks, papers, studies, etc., all written by legions of scientists with solid scientific credentials and working with "carbon-free funding" despite propaganda to the contrary.
The Modern Warming has trended up for 150 years with periods of cooling. We are now at the start of a multi-decadal cooling period which began in 1998. The cooling is pretty clear on the monthly data from every reporting agency. If El Niño peaks and La Niña dips are smoothed, then 1998 is very clearly and undeniably the peak of the warming in the shorter term. The decade since is a gradual decline until 2007 at which point a sharp decline started. This was predicted by those paying attention to solar and oceanic cycles.
The climate models and the Global Warming Hysterics all predicted catastrophic warming and temperatures a full two degrees warmer than now.
The economic and governmental impacts of the measures being proposed to "fight global warming" are already having disastrous effects across the world, particularly on the poor and disadvantaged. The effects of the measures being proposed will be economically devastating across the entire country. Did you like paying $4 per gallon for gas? Stand by for $10 (Salazar). Do you like your current utility bill? Stand by to quadruple that bill (Obama). These are the policies they intend to mandate in a regime of central economic planning dictated by the government in a suppression of a free market.
These issues deserve an open, independent and honest scientific, economic and political debate.
-
Pico, of Colorado Springs, is a retired navy commander, naval flight officer and economist. He is a signatory of the Manhattan Declaration.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Stimulus Pork
Friends,
I just received an update on the “stimulus package.” I feel ill. Please go to Stimulus Watch and browse the site. You can click on your state and see what your city/state is slated for in thus “Porkulus” package. Just remember who has to pay for all of this pork; WE DO. Why is the federal government getting involved in local issues such as widening a street or a state highway? As I have said in past postings, I have found NO place in the constitution that authorizes the federal government to spend money on any of these types of projects.
This is just the spending side of the bill. It does not include the intrusion on your lives such as tracking all of your medical records on one national database. Part of this program is to weigh your age and the treatment you need to determine whether you will live long enough and be productive enough to warrant the treatment.
All of those Senators and Congressmen who voted for this legislation should, at the very least, be voted out of office and preferably forced to resign!
Your comments and discussions are welcome, as always.
Dan
I just received an update on the “stimulus package.” I feel ill. Please go to Stimulus Watch and browse the site. You can click on your state and see what your city/state is slated for in thus “Porkulus” package. Just remember who has to pay for all of this pork; WE DO. Why is the federal government getting involved in local issues such as widening a street or a state highway? As I have said in past postings, I have found NO place in the constitution that authorizes the federal government to spend money on any of these types of projects.
This is just the spending side of the bill. It does not include the intrusion on your lives such as tracking all of your medical records on one national database. Part of this program is to weigh your age and the treatment you need to determine whether you will live long enough and be productive enough to warrant the treatment.
All of those Senators and Congressmen who voted for this legislation should, at the very least, be voted out of office and preferably forced to resign!
Your comments and discussions are welcome, as always.
Dan
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The "Stimulus" Package
Friends,
The Congress has just passed the largest spending bill in our history. Let’s see what we get for our money, yes our money. However, I must digress to make sure we must understand how this system works. The basic premise is that if you borrow money, you have to pay it back. If you do not pay it back, someone who holds your collateral will call the debt. If you can’t pay it back the collateral is sized. OK, now that we have established the ground rules, we need to examine who is the borrower; who is the lender; who are the guarantors; how is this loan going to be repaid.
Who is the borrower? This one is fairly simple; it is the United States Congress and the President of the United States. Just as an aside, what are they borrowing money for? The stated purpose of the loan is to revitalize the United States economy and get people working again. Therefore, we need to examine the loan document to see where the money is going to be spent. Since the loan papers exceed 800 pages, I am not going to try to enumerate the whole package but rather give some representative examples.
$88 million to move the Public Health Service into a new building (what happened to Two Men and A Truck?)
$34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
$1 BILLION (yes with a B) for the Census Bureau (which is now going to fall directly under the president’s chief-of-staff)
$89 BILLION for Medicaid
$2.4 BILLION for “neighborhood stabilization” activities (read ACORN bailout/beef-up)
1.2 BILLION for a summer youth program
36 BILLION to expand unemployment (don’t we already have enough people out of work?)
Ok, you should get the picture by now. This short list of just over $130 BILLION shows me no examples of getting our economy out of the doldrums and putting people back to work. Instead, it shows me a gross expansion of our government “nanny state” mentality, Keynesian economics at its absolute worse (but I think that is redundant).
Who is the lender? That is fairly easy when you examine who is buying all of our paper. It is mostly being bought by foreign entities that do not necessarily have the United States’ best interest at heart; in other words, potential enemies such as the Peoples’ Republic of China, and Saudi Arabia. These are not benevolent regimes. At some point they are going to call the note and force the United States to “pony-up the cash.” What has President Obama promised these folks? What sweet deals has he promised for these loans? Or is he so inept and naïve as to think these lenders are just out for our benefit?
Who are the guarantors of this loan and how is it going to be repaid? That one is easy too. The guarantors are you, me, our children, our grandchildren, and their grandchildren. The obligations that this congress and administration have made exceed the GDP of the United States for decades to come. All of this money can be paid back in 10 or 20 years if the federal government stops spending at the end of 2009 and only pays back the loan (yup, that is going to happen). Our federal government is worse than a herd of pigs that have just come off a 10 mile hike and discovered a new slop trough. They have the arrogance to believe that we are stupid and will never understand that this program is part of the president’s plan for redistribution of wealth. It is his plan to punish individualism, entrepreneurship, and initiative.
My question is “Where is the outrage, where is the righteous indignation from those rugged American individualists?” We hear from bloggers and Conservative commentators about how bad this “Stimulus Package” is for America but where is the indignation coming from our congressmen and senators? We see unanimous negative votes from Republican congressmen, and that is laudable, but where is the screaming and shouting from the highest buildings across this land calling for a popular campaign against this federal government gorging?
The only way we are going to take back our country is for grassroots organizations such as the Coalition for a Conservative Majority to grow and work from the bottom up to change the mindset that has become prevalent in Washington. If the average citizen does not stand up for our rights then we will get what we deserve.
I urge everyone reading this to pass it along and go to www.ccmajority.org to see what you can do.
As always I welcome your comments and discussion.
Dan
The Congress has just passed the largest spending bill in our history. Let’s see what we get for our money, yes our money. However, I must digress to make sure we must understand how this system works. The basic premise is that if you borrow money, you have to pay it back. If you do not pay it back, someone who holds your collateral will call the debt. If you can’t pay it back the collateral is sized. OK, now that we have established the ground rules, we need to examine who is the borrower; who is the lender; who are the guarantors; how is this loan going to be repaid.
Who is the borrower? This one is fairly simple; it is the United States Congress and the President of the United States. Just as an aside, what are they borrowing money for? The stated purpose of the loan is to revitalize the United States economy and get people working again. Therefore, we need to examine the loan document to see where the money is going to be spent. Since the loan papers exceed 800 pages, I am not going to try to enumerate the whole package but rather give some representative examples.
$88 million to move the Public Health Service into a new building (what happened to Two Men and A Truck?)
$34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
$1 BILLION (yes with a B) for the Census Bureau (which is now going to fall directly under the president’s chief-of-staff)
$89 BILLION for Medicaid
$2.4 BILLION for “neighborhood stabilization” activities (read ACORN bailout/beef-up)
1.2 BILLION for a summer youth program
36 BILLION to expand unemployment (don’t we already have enough people out of work?)
Ok, you should get the picture by now. This short list of just over $130 BILLION shows me no examples of getting our economy out of the doldrums and putting people back to work. Instead, it shows me a gross expansion of our government “nanny state” mentality, Keynesian economics at its absolute worse (but I think that is redundant).
Who is the lender? That is fairly easy when you examine who is buying all of our paper. It is mostly being bought by foreign entities that do not necessarily have the United States’ best interest at heart; in other words, potential enemies such as the Peoples’ Republic of China, and Saudi Arabia. These are not benevolent regimes. At some point they are going to call the note and force the United States to “pony-up the cash.” What has President Obama promised these folks? What sweet deals has he promised for these loans? Or is he so inept and naïve as to think these lenders are just out for our benefit?
Who are the guarantors of this loan and how is it going to be repaid? That one is easy too. The guarantors are you, me, our children, our grandchildren, and their grandchildren. The obligations that this congress and administration have made exceed the GDP of the United States for decades to come. All of this money can be paid back in 10 or 20 years if the federal government stops spending at the end of 2009 and only pays back the loan (yup, that is going to happen). Our federal government is worse than a herd of pigs that have just come off a 10 mile hike and discovered a new slop trough. They have the arrogance to believe that we are stupid and will never understand that this program is part of the president’s plan for redistribution of wealth. It is his plan to punish individualism, entrepreneurship, and initiative.
My question is “Where is the outrage, where is the righteous indignation from those rugged American individualists?” We hear from bloggers and Conservative commentators about how bad this “Stimulus Package” is for America but where is the indignation coming from our congressmen and senators? We see unanimous negative votes from Republican congressmen, and that is laudable, but where is the screaming and shouting from the highest buildings across this land calling for a popular campaign against this federal government gorging?
The only way we are going to take back our country is for grassroots organizations such as the Coalition for a Conservative Majority to grow and work from the bottom up to change the mindset that has become prevalent in Washington. If the average citizen does not stand up for our rights then we will get what we deserve.
I urge everyone reading this to pass it along and go to www.ccmajority.org to see what you can do.
As always I welcome your comments and discussion.
Dan
Data Doesn't Back Obama on Warming
Friends,
The article below was originally published in the Colorado Springs Gazette. The guest columnist is Andres Pico whose work you have seen numerous times on these pages.
As always, you comments and discussions are welcome.
Enjoy,
Dan
Data Doesn’t Back Obama on Warming
ANDRES PICO, GUEST COLUMNIST
Our new president starts his historic administration with a stated climate change policy to obstruct domestic energy production of coal and oil and an assembled team of socialist and anti-energy zealots to implement this policy. Despite growing evidence the climate change hysteria is based on manipulated science without a solid basis or consensus, despite a constant propaganda campaign that claims both, the stated policies of the new administration and its team is dedicated to fighting climate change.
Fighting climate change is a chimera designed to hide a false political agenda intended to implement centralized economic planning in the socialist/collectivist model. The actual science and documented annual reporting of climate results for the year just concluded do not, however, support the premise which calls into question the wisdom and rationality of such a drastic remaking of our economy. To embark on such a course with severe economic costs and penalties during a time of economic stress would be particularly ill advised.
And yet, President Barack Obama says, "Few challenges facing America - and the world - are more urgent than combating climate change. The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear." In fact, the global and regional temperatures have declined sharply since the spring of 2007. This past year was the coldest since 2000 with eight of the past 10 years warmer and less than a half of a degree above the long term average according to NASA Goddard Institute for Space Science (GISS) (http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.A2.txt) which reports the warmest temperatures of all of the reporting agencies based largely on station data. The GISS reported sea surface temperatures show no warming trend over the decade and a clear downward trend (data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2008/Fig2b.gif). Satellite measurements from RSS and UAH of the lower troposphere, which according to the green house gas theory of global warming should be warmer, are even lower at less than 2 tenths of a degree above the long term average and the lowest of this century. (vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/data/msu/t2lt/uahncdc.lt)
The president continues; "Sea levels are rising." In fact, sea levels stopped rising several years ago and have leveled off. (sealevel.colorado.edu/current/sl_noib_ns_global.pdf)
The president digs deeper; "We've seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season." Hurricanes are in fact dropping in numbers and the intensity is no higher than the long term norms according to the NOAA hurricane experts. Famines are spreading less because of any climate change but more because of the large subsidized push for bio-fuels as a substitute for domestic drilling of oil which has caused the brutal starvation of tens of millions of the poor and disadvantaged across the world, this policy having been advocated by the party that alleges to stand for the little guy.
The supposedly shrinking ice caps are not. The fevered cries about an ice-free Arctic in 2008 fell short since the ice extant at the ice minimum was substantially above that of 2007. Actual ice coverage in the Arctic is only slightly below normal overall, but in the 14 regions measured (arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/), only five are actually below normal with the other nine at or above normal levels. While oil exploration in the Arctic Chukchi Sea is being blocked by environmentalists to save ice habitat for the polar bear, that region and the Bering Sea are well above the ice levels over the period of satellite measurements.
The Antarctic is above normal levels and has shown a long term trend of above average ice coverage.
Climate change hysteria is hijacked science being used to promote a false political agenda of greater government control over industry and central economic planning. This model of government intervention has failed everywhere it's been tried.
Our new president proclaims that we need "a new declaration of independence," evidently a new independence from facts, real science, truth, economic prosperity and freedom.
Dr. James Hansen, who directs the NASA GISS and has personally accepted close to $1 million in outside "contributions" to corrupt official government climate data in support of this scientific fraud, recently declared that Obama has only four years to solve the climate crisis.
But that deadline is actually because the evidence of continued declines in global temperatures in line with the predictions by those of us who point out the solar connection to terrestrial climate, will become so obvious that no one, not even an incompetent and complicit press, will be able to continue the scam, and the swindlers will be explaining what the funds spent for carbon credits actually bought.
-
Pico, of Colorado Springs, is a retired Navy commander, naval flight officer and economist.
The article below was originally published in the Colorado Springs Gazette. The guest columnist is Andres Pico whose work you have seen numerous times on these pages.
As always, you comments and discussions are welcome.
Enjoy,
Dan
Data Doesn’t Back Obama on Warming
ANDRES PICO, GUEST COLUMNIST
Our new president starts his historic administration with a stated climate change policy to obstruct domestic energy production of coal and oil and an assembled team of socialist and anti-energy zealots to implement this policy. Despite growing evidence the climate change hysteria is based on manipulated science without a solid basis or consensus, despite a constant propaganda campaign that claims both, the stated policies of the new administration and its team is dedicated to fighting climate change.
Fighting climate change is a chimera designed to hide a false political agenda intended to implement centralized economic planning in the socialist/collectivist model. The actual science and documented annual reporting of climate results for the year just concluded do not, however, support the premise which calls into question the wisdom and rationality of such a drastic remaking of our economy. To embark on such a course with severe economic costs and penalties during a time of economic stress would be particularly ill advised.
And yet, President Barack Obama says, "Few challenges facing America - and the world - are more urgent than combating climate change. The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear." In fact, the global and regional temperatures have declined sharply since the spring of 2007. This past year was the coldest since 2000 with eight of the past 10 years warmer and less than a half of a degree above the long term average according to NASA Goddard Institute for Space Science (GISS) (http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.A2.txt) which reports the warmest temperatures of all of the reporting agencies based largely on station data. The GISS reported sea surface temperatures show no warming trend over the decade and a clear downward trend (data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2008/Fig2b.gif). Satellite measurements from RSS and UAH of the lower troposphere, which according to the green house gas theory of global warming should be warmer, are even lower at less than 2 tenths of a degree above the long term average and the lowest of this century. (vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/data/msu/t2lt/uahncdc.lt)
The president continues; "Sea levels are rising." In fact, sea levels stopped rising several years ago and have leveled off. (sealevel.colorado.edu/current/sl_noib_ns_global.pdf)
The president digs deeper; "We've seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season." Hurricanes are in fact dropping in numbers and the intensity is no higher than the long term norms according to the NOAA hurricane experts. Famines are spreading less because of any climate change but more because of the large subsidized push for bio-fuels as a substitute for domestic drilling of oil which has caused the brutal starvation of tens of millions of the poor and disadvantaged across the world, this policy having been advocated by the party that alleges to stand for the little guy.
The supposedly shrinking ice caps are not. The fevered cries about an ice-free Arctic in 2008 fell short since the ice extant at the ice minimum was substantially above that of 2007. Actual ice coverage in the Arctic is only slightly below normal overall, but in the 14 regions measured (arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/), only five are actually below normal with the other nine at or above normal levels. While oil exploration in the Arctic Chukchi Sea is being blocked by environmentalists to save ice habitat for the polar bear, that region and the Bering Sea are well above the ice levels over the period of satellite measurements.
The Antarctic is above normal levels and has shown a long term trend of above average ice coverage.
Climate change hysteria is hijacked science being used to promote a false political agenda of greater government control over industry and central economic planning. This model of government intervention has failed everywhere it's been tried.
Our new president proclaims that we need "a new declaration of independence," evidently a new independence from facts, real science, truth, economic prosperity and freedom.
Dr. James Hansen, who directs the NASA GISS and has personally accepted close to $1 million in outside "contributions" to corrupt official government climate data in support of this scientific fraud, recently declared that Obama has only four years to solve the climate crisis.
But that deadline is actually because the evidence of continued declines in global temperatures in line with the predictions by those of us who point out the solar connection to terrestrial climate, will become so obvious that no one, not even an incompetent and complicit press, will be able to continue the scam, and the swindlers will be explaining what the funds spent for carbon credits actually bought.
-
Pico, of Colorado Springs, is a retired Navy commander, naval flight officer and economist.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The States Say "Enough"
Friends,
It seems that there are some states that are saying “enough is enough” to the federal government. In a resolution introduced last week, the New Hampshire legislature has taken the nearly unprecedented step to remind the federal government
That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever; . . . . . therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force….
What crimes may we be talking about? Anything that does not fall under those listed above such as drug laws, gun control laws, and kidnapping laws to name a few. Many of the crimes Congress has identified are, indeed, crimes that need to be punished. However, I have been able to find no place in the Constitution where Congress and the president are given authorization to make such declarations. Under the 10th Amendment, these determinations are left up to the states and therefore their citizens.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Looking at Article I. §8, there are numerous areas of control given to Congress such as; borrowing money; regulating commerce between the US and foreign nations, and the states; establishing citizenship requirements, etc., but none of the specific crimes that have been set down by Congress and signed by the presidents appear. My Constitutional Guru, Mr. Ric Morgan, Esq. has informed me that most of these laws are justified under the Commerce Clause, Art I §8(3) which states that the Congress shall have the power “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes….” I have to tell you that I have twisted my head every which way and the connection with many of the laws passed still seems pretty thin. Quoting Mr. Morgan:
Under the Commerce Clause, since the mid-1930's, federal power has incrementally extended to reach a myriad of far-flung issues that are only vaguely connected to interstate commerce by the most tendentious logic. Prior to the 1930's, all of those issues had been firmly within the States' control under Constitutional interpretations of the previous hundred and forty years.
These current standards defining the federal reach under the Commerce Clause are set forth in the 1995 Supreme Court case of Lopez v US, which was the first case in over sixty years to set any limits on the exercise of federal authority under the Commerce Clause.
In Lopez, an eighteen year-old miscreant and high school senior was caught carrying a .38 cal handgun on school grounds in San Antonio, Texas. He was tried and convicted under the federal "Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990", which banned guns within 1000 feet of a school.
Lopez challenged the federal law on constitutional grounds, claiming that there is no federal authority to reach so far into the realm properly belonging to the States. The federal government defended on Commerce Clause grounds, claiming that carrying of firearms in a school zone would 1) lead to crime, which 2) frighten citizens, which would 3) inhibit travel, which 4) would lead to a weaker economy, and 5) was therefore related to interstate commerce and subject to the Commerce Clause. In the 1995 Lopez decision delivered by Chief Justice Rehnquist, the court held that government's logic was too strained, the association to interstate commerce was unsupported by any facts, and "there must always be an outer limit to federal power".
But the government lost in Lopez based on the same tenuous logic that serves to justify thousands of other federal laws.
Since I started working on this Discourse an article in World Net Daily has been brought to my attention. It can be seen here. In the article they point to eight states, including New Hampshire, that have introduced similar resolutions and the potential for 20 more states to follow suit. Many of these states are pointing to the “stimulus” package and are putting their collective feet down on unfunded government mandates.
As many of you know, I have a deep concern for any abuse or subversion of the 2nd Amendment but there is an ever growing body of evidence of the systematic subversion of all of our rights by the federal government. Over the years, there have been steady steps, some large and some small, by various factions at the federal level to take our freedoms. However, the recent election cycle has emboldened numerous disparate groups to work together and put together what is being touted as a “stimulus” package. For many states, this is the last straw. We may be seeing the start of a significant push-back to this ever increasing trend of the federal government.
As always, I welcome your comments and discussion.
Dan
PS: Happy Birthday, Nick
It seems that there are some states that are saying “enough is enough” to the federal government. In a resolution introduced last week, the New Hampshire legislature has taken the nearly unprecedented step to remind the federal government
That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever; . . . . . therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force….
What crimes may we be talking about? Anything that does not fall under those listed above such as drug laws, gun control laws, and kidnapping laws to name a few. Many of the crimes Congress has identified are, indeed, crimes that need to be punished. However, I have been able to find no place in the Constitution where Congress and the president are given authorization to make such declarations. Under the 10th Amendment, these determinations are left up to the states and therefore their citizens.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Looking at Article I. §8, there are numerous areas of control given to Congress such as; borrowing money; regulating commerce between the US and foreign nations, and the states; establishing citizenship requirements, etc., but none of the specific crimes that have been set down by Congress and signed by the presidents appear. My Constitutional Guru, Mr. Ric Morgan, Esq. has informed me that most of these laws are justified under the Commerce Clause, Art I §8(3) which states that the Congress shall have the power “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes….” I have to tell you that I have twisted my head every which way and the connection with many of the laws passed still seems pretty thin. Quoting Mr. Morgan:
Under the Commerce Clause, since the mid-1930's, federal power has incrementally extended to reach a myriad of far-flung issues that are only vaguely connected to interstate commerce by the most tendentious logic. Prior to the 1930's, all of those issues had been firmly within the States' control under Constitutional interpretations of the previous hundred and forty years.
These current standards defining the federal reach under the Commerce Clause are set forth in the 1995 Supreme Court case of Lopez v US, which was the first case in over sixty years to set any limits on the exercise of federal authority under the Commerce Clause.
In Lopez, an eighteen year-old miscreant and high school senior was caught carrying a .38 cal handgun on school grounds in San Antonio, Texas. He was tried and convicted under the federal "Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990", which banned guns within 1000 feet of a school.
Lopez challenged the federal law on constitutional grounds, claiming that there is no federal authority to reach so far into the realm properly belonging to the States. The federal government defended on Commerce Clause grounds, claiming that carrying of firearms in a school zone would 1) lead to crime, which 2) frighten citizens, which would 3) inhibit travel, which 4) would lead to a weaker economy, and 5) was therefore related to interstate commerce and subject to the Commerce Clause. In the 1995 Lopez decision delivered by Chief Justice Rehnquist, the court held that government's logic was too strained, the association to interstate commerce was unsupported by any facts, and "there must always be an outer limit to federal power".
But the government lost in Lopez based on the same tenuous logic that serves to justify thousands of other federal laws.
Since I started working on this Discourse an article in World Net Daily has been brought to my attention. It can be seen here. In the article they point to eight states, including New Hampshire, that have introduced similar resolutions and the potential for 20 more states to follow suit. Many of these states are pointing to the “stimulus” package and are putting their collective feet down on unfunded government mandates.
As many of you know, I have a deep concern for any abuse or subversion of the 2nd Amendment but there is an ever growing body of evidence of the systematic subversion of all of our rights by the federal government. Over the years, there have been steady steps, some large and some small, by various factions at the federal level to take our freedoms. However, the recent election cycle has emboldened numerous disparate groups to work together and put together what is being touted as a “stimulus” package. For many states, this is the last straw. We may be seeing the start of a significant push-back to this ever increasing trend of the federal government.
As always, I welcome your comments and discussion.
Dan
PS: Happy Birthday, Nick
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Special Prayer for the Inauguration
Friends,
Below is a prayer offered by our pastor, Lance Gentry, on the Sunday after President Obama was inaugurated. I feel that this powerful prayer needs to be shared and prayed often. It needs no further comment.
Dan
Father God,
We come before you this morning with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for the country we live in and for the freedoms we possess. We thank you that we are free this morning to assemble and worship in accord with your Word and in harmony with our consciences without the threat of great persecution. We pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in countries where they do not have this great freedom and where they live in constant threat because of their faith in Jesus Christ. So we pray for our fellow Christians in countries like China, N. Korea, Vietnam, Sudan, and Morocco. Strengthen, encourage, and protect our brothers and sisters in Christ we pray.
We thank you too for the peaceful transition of power that we all witnessed this past week. That no blood was shed as our country installed and recognized its new leader and commander-in-chief. We know that you are Sovereign and that no leader ever gains a position of authority without your putting them there. We thank you that whatever our circumstance and whoever may be in authority over us, our trust and confidence can always be in You.
With that in mind Lord, we pray for our new President, Barak Obama and ask that you would grant Him great wisdom as he leads our nation through difficult days. We thank you that in his election we witnessed such a significant milestone along the road to racial equality in our culture, a culture where racial equality has not always been valued. We pray for his safety and that you would protect the Obama family from harm.
Lord we also know that the king’s heart is like channels of water in your hand, and so we pray that you would change President Obama’s heart on the issue of abortion. We pray that he would see the sanctity of all human life and that he would not seek to expand abortion policies that will result in more and more killing of innocent human beings. If his heart does not change, then we pray that you will obstruct his plans and cause his proposed policies to go down in defeat. We pray for the end of abortion. We ask this for the sake of the voiceless, the helpless, and the weak.
Lord grant us as the people of God a gracious spirit; a spirit that seeks to honor our President and speak of him with respect, even while we may disagree with his policies. Remind us that he is our President by your divine design, and that to disrespect him, is to disrespect You. May we be a people who are known for supporting our leaders in prayer and submitting to them in the fear of the Lord.
Thank you Lord that our hope is in you. That you are on the throne. That your ways are perfect. May we rejoice in the true knowledge of our glorious Lord and Sovereign King, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Below is a prayer offered by our pastor, Lance Gentry, on the Sunday after President Obama was inaugurated. I feel that this powerful prayer needs to be shared and prayed often. It needs no further comment.
Dan
Father God,
We come before you this morning with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for the country we live in and for the freedoms we possess. We thank you that we are free this morning to assemble and worship in accord with your Word and in harmony with our consciences without the threat of great persecution. We pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in countries where they do not have this great freedom and where they live in constant threat because of their faith in Jesus Christ. So we pray for our fellow Christians in countries like China, N. Korea, Vietnam, Sudan, and Morocco. Strengthen, encourage, and protect our brothers and sisters in Christ we pray.
We thank you too for the peaceful transition of power that we all witnessed this past week. That no blood was shed as our country installed and recognized its new leader and commander-in-chief. We know that you are Sovereign and that no leader ever gains a position of authority without your putting them there. We thank you that whatever our circumstance and whoever may be in authority over us, our trust and confidence can always be in You.
With that in mind Lord, we pray for our new President, Barak Obama and ask that you would grant Him great wisdom as he leads our nation through difficult days. We thank you that in his election we witnessed such a significant milestone along the road to racial equality in our culture, a culture where racial equality has not always been valued. We pray for his safety and that you would protect the Obama family from harm.
Lord we also know that the king’s heart is like channels of water in your hand, and so we pray that you would change President Obama’s heart on the issue of abortion. We pray that he would see the sanctity of all human life and that he would not seek to expand abortion policies that will result in more and more killing of innocent human beings. If his heart does not change, then we pray that you will obstruct his plans and cause his proposed policies to go down in defeat. We pray for the end of abortion. We ask this for the sake of the voiceless, the helpless, and the weak.
Lord grant us as the people of God a gracious spirit; a spirit that seeks to honor our President and speak of him with respect, even while we may disagree with his policies. Remind us that he is our President by your divine design, and that to disrespect him, is to disrespect You. May we be a people who are known for supporting our leaders in prayer and submitting to them in the fear of the Lord.
Thank you Lord that our hope is in you. That you are on the throne. That your ways are perfect. May we rejoice in the true knowledge of our glorious Lord and Sovereign King, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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