Even the Press is Getting Irritated . . .

. . . At the Obama administration’s efforts to tightly manage the news about The One. Here is an exchange between Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, and two journalists, Chip Reid and Helen Thomas, over the obviously phony “town hall” meetings that feature staged questions designed to make Mr. O look good.

Oh, No! Michael Jackson is Dead!

Michael who??

As I got into the car yesterday leaving work, the AM station I listen to was breaking into normal broadcasting with a news bulletin:  “This is an ABC Special Report” the announcer declared solemly, with that gripping intro music playing. Uh, oh, I thought. What’s happened? Has the President been shot? Did North Korea just fire a nuke into Hawaii? Has the government of Iran collapsed?

None of the above. Michael Jackson has been rushed to the hospital.

For the next thirty minutes the broadcast was taken over by several news correspondants covering every angle of the story: Michael’s career, Michael’s music, Michael’s health, Michael’s legal problems, ad nauseum.

Gimme a break. If media big shots really want to figure out why our culture is so debased, they can start by examining their own reporting. When this weirdo gets more coverage than the far more important issues facing this country, the media have lost their bearings.

Climate Change: Change is in the Air

Even as the U. S. Congress is on the threshold of enacting a cap and trade bill, which some fear will turn into the largest tax in U. S. history, other governments around the world are finally waking up to the hucksterism behind the science, and are pulling back from the brink.

It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as “deniers.” The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S.

More and more scientists are speaking out against the media-driven alarmism that has fueled this “crisis.” In Australia, Dr. Ian Plimer has published a book, Heaven and Earth, that has taken the mask off the charade. Even some believers among the media are beginning to question the “consensus” view. Australian columnist Paul Sheehan acknowledges that the book is

an evidence-based attack on conformity and orthodoxy, including my own, and a reminder to respect informed dissent and beware of ideology subverting evidence.

True science has never been the enemy of truth in the climate debate. The culprit, as always, has been political ideology cloaked in scientific jargon.

New Disaster Flick

From Roland Emmerich (director of “Independence Day” and “Day After Tomorrow”) comes another epic disaster flick: “2012″. From the trailer it looks like this will be a great movie — as long as you don’t take the science too seriously, says Phil Plait.

Death Will Not Be Cheated

Johanna Ganthaler and her husband, Kirk, were scheduled to fly Air France Flight 447 back to Europe after their vacation in Brazil. In one of those odd twists of fate, they were late to the airport and missed the flight — and certain death.

After returning to Germany on a later flight, they rented a car and headed for home in Italy. Driving through Austria, they were involved in a head-on collision. Johanna was killed.

While the deaths of so many on a downed airplane is a tragedy, the truth is that all of us will die some day. It’s just a question of when and how.

A Fresh Angle on “Tank Man”

Twenty years ago, the image of a single protester defiantly blocking a column of tanks near Bejing’s Tiananmen Square became the icon of the failed movement to secure individual freedom in China. It has been called one of the most significant photos of the twentieth century.

Tank Man is to the left, off in the distance, framed by two trees. The tanks are emerging from the right.

Photographer Terril Jones recently released a photo that he took of that same event, but from a different angle. You have to look carefully to see the drama that was unfolding between the man and the tanks, but the surrounding details capture the sense of confusion and fear that make the man’s courage all the more remarkable.

We do not know what happened to Tank Man. According to the article on him on Wikipedia, the most likely scenario is that he was executed by the Chinese government. Whatever his fate, his solitary act of defiance that day will forever stand as a symbol of the human desire for freedom.

“Spending Like Drunken Sailors”

How many times have we used that expression to describe how Congress uses our tax dollars? Actually, as Glenn Reynolds notes, we should be so lucky.

I think that expression is actually unfair to drunken sailors. Drunken sailors generally spend cash that they’ve already earned themselves, rather than running up debt to be paid by others. If our politicians started spending like drunken sailors, it would in fact represent a dramatic improvement.

Amen, bro.

Latest Rob Martino

Chapman Stick artist Rob Martino recently posted this performance. Great, as usual.

Another Oil Crisis Coming?

Despite a recent rise in oil prices, they are still quite low compared to last year’s painful run-up. Our politicians, therefore, in their usual short-sighted wisdom, have decided that there is no urgency to pursue new oil. This will likely set us up for another price spike.

While low prices and excess capacity sound good, they could vanish like the morning dew. The long lead times, up to a decade for a new field, needed to expand capacity and replenish supplies should compel us to drill like there’s no tomorrow — for there might not be.

Oil will continue to be a big player in our energy mix no matter how many windmills we tilt at or how many clown cars we place in front of 18-wheelers on our interstates.

California, Meet Minnesota

Gov. Schwarzenegger of California could learn a thing or two from Gov. Pawlenty of Minnesota. Both are Republicans, but only Pawlenty knows how to stand up to a spendthrift Democratic legislature and force the state to live within its means.

More importantly, the voters of Minnesota have noticed.

Mr. Pawlenty’s hardball has earned him glowing praise from the state’s job creators, in particular small businesses, who are relieved to be spared additional tax burdens in today’s economy. The governor’s message — that it is simply “inappropriate” for state legislators to keep spending like lunatics and raise taxes in a recession — has resonated with cash-strapped voters.

The California Election and Obamanomics

An editorial in the Washington Examiner looks at the implications of Tuesday’s election in California, in which voters overwhelmingly rejected tax hikes to deal with the state’s budget mess.

California’s rapid decline was self-inflicted with unsustainable government spending, capitulation to union demands, the third worst business climate in the U.S., years of excessive income taxes, and job-killing environmental regulations. This is the same toxic brew now fueling Obama’s national agenda. There are abundant signs that the voter rebellion seen Tuesday is already spreading beyond California.

Carbophobia in the Age of Science

Robert Brinsmead has written an excellent paper that explains the role of carbon in the maintenance of life on Planet Earth — and the irrationality of all the hysteria about carbon among the AGW crowd. As Brinsmead explains, life as we know it would not exist without carbon.

The entire lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere is therefore saturated and permeated with carbon. Carbon is among the most ubiquitous substances on this planet. It is irrational nonsense to claim that something as ubiquitous as carbon has become a threat to either life or the environment. For every living thing, whether plant or animal, can only exist by absorbing carbon from the environment and by emitting carbon into the environment. Neither life nor the ordered existence of this planet as we know it could continue to exist without this continuing vital exchange and circulation of carbon and carbon dioxide between lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.

So what explains the irrational fear of carbon (”carbophobia”)  among radical environmentalists? Brinsmead sees a non-environmental mindset at work here.

They are biased against economic growth, industrial activity and human technology. They hate the affluence and creativity of a free economic system. They long for the day when they can dance on the grave of capitalism. Most of all, they are biased against people being free to be productive and prosperous in a free enterprise way of life. They believe that humans are the cancerous pathogens of the earth whose freedom and prosperity has to be drastically curtailed. The only future these eco-activists see for mankind is to worship at the neo-pagan shrine of Mother Nature in some sort of return to a primitive, ecotopian past.

If you want to understand the entire scope of the  carbon debate, read this paper.

Response to “The Science is Settled”

Warren Meyer (a.k.a. The Climate Skeptic) summarizes his standard response to the alarmists’ boast that “the science is settled,” thereby silencing the opposition. He acknowledges that skeptics sometimes make some untenable arguments. But the alarmists make their own share of unsubstantiated scientific claims, particularly with regard to the feedback mechanisms that supposedly multiply the effect of CO2.

Catastrophists posit enormous temperature increases, deflecting criticism by saying that CO2 as a greenhouse gas is settled. Though half right, they gloss over the fact that 2/3 or more of their projected temperature increase is based on a theory of Earth’s climate being dominated by strong positive feedbacks, a theory that is most certainly not settled, and in fact is probably wrong. Temperature increases over the last 100 years are consistent with neutral to negative, not positive feedback, and the long-term history of temperatures and CO2 are utterly inconsistent with the proposition there is positive feedback or a tipping point hidden around 350ppm CO2.

Of course, this is just another lonely voice crying in the wilderness, since climate alarmists like Al Gore absolutely refuse to debate the science with qualified critics in a public forum. It’s much easier to just push the PC agenda through a willing and gullible media, and let fickle public opinion do the rest.

Global Warming is a Religion

As I have noted before, the blind fervor of global warming alarmists has all the characteristics of a religion. Now that observation has official government sanction in the UK.

A fired British executive is suing his former employer on the grounds that he was unfairly dismissed due to religious views – his belief in global warming.

As Marc Sheppard comments,

Greenies scoffed when Michael Crichton first called environmentalism “one of the most powerful religions in the Western World” over five years ago, insisting that “settled science” was on their side. Since then it’s become increasingly evident that alarmists’ warming beliefs are based not on reason or evidence, but a trusting acceptance in the absence of either.  They outright refuse to discuss it, debate it, or abide those daring to question it.

Fighting Climate Change is Easy – Trust Me!

Economist Robert Samuelson examines the models that underlie the claim that we can overcome the effects of  global warming at virtually no cost. (For example, he quotes the Environmental Defense Fund: “For about a dime a day (per person), we can solve climate change, invest in a clean energy future and save billions in imported oil.”). Such claims, Samuelson argues, are wildly — even dangerously — unrealistic.

The selling of the green economy involves much economic make-believe. Environmentalists not only maximize the dangers of global warming — from rising sea levels to advancing tropical diseases. They also minimize the costs of dealing with it.

Actually, no one involved in this debate really knows what the consequences or costs might be. All are inferred from models of uncertain reliability. Great schemes of economic and social engineering are proposed on shaky foundations of knowledge. Candor and common sense are in scarce supply.

Bell Labs Holmdel Facility

Last year I wrote about the sad fate of the former Bell Labs facility at Holmdel, and my personal experience with it. At that time, a developer had bought the property with the intention of converting it to a large residential, commercial, and retail complex.

I recently ran across this article in Preservation Magazine describing the battle that is currently being waged to save the site. The developer, Somerset Development, still wants to follow through on their original plan. However, the local civic leadership, fearful of the impact of such a mini-city on their quality of life, wants the entire structure to be razed.

The article includes a fascinating history of the building and the architect who designed it, Eero Saarinen.The article also recounts the memories of several former Bell Labs employees who once worked at the site, and still live in the area.

Ralph Zucker, the president of Somerset Development, says concerning the building,

We know this is too significant for Holmdel, for New Jersey—it’s a worldwide resource—it’s too important to get bogged down by political passions. When you come up here that’s when you know that you can’t let this thing be knocked down. It’s simply overpowering.

Wichita Tea Party

Below are a few of the pictures I took at the Tea Party in Wichita yesterday afternoon. Officials estimate about 1,000 people showed up, but I’m not sure how they could count them. There was a steady stream of people coming and going the whole time I was there.

The event was supposed to last from4:15 to 8:00 p.m. But by 6:00 most of the interesting speakers had finished, and the crowd was beginning to break up. That’s when I left, too.

It was encouraging to see that many people exercising their right to protest their government. Even so, I fear that unless the Tea Party movement can coalesce around a clearly articulated set of core beliefs — a platform, if you will — it will sputter and fade away. What I heard yesterday was just a bunch of anti-government whining. We need not merely to  complain, but to offer an alternative.

This shot gives a fair indication of the size of the crowd.

This gal was riding around the perimeter of the crowd shouting, "The taxes are coming! The taxes are coming!" Interesting, but I suspect she would have drawn more attention by doing a Lady Godiva re-enactment.

This sign captures the mood perfectly.

Notice the sign the dog is wearing. Maybe he should run for Congress -- he's certainly qualified.

This senior citizen had an eloquent way of expressing his frustration. Notice what he's wearing around his neck.

Senior citizens weren't the only ones complaining. This sign was a perfect melding of hip and history. But you have to think about it to get it.

Tea Time!

I hope to be at the Wichita Tea Party this afternoon. Organizers expect about 800 people to show up. I’ll bring a camera and post some photos.

Don’t Mess With Texas!

Gov. Rick Perry has come out in support of a House resolution affirming states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Says the guv:

I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state. That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.

If the Feds don’t heed the message, maybe Texas should become an independent republic again.

To the Rich: Leave While You Can

In view of the increasingly punitive tax policies of the new administration, Bill Whittle has advice for the rich in America: Leave the country.

Leave. Just go away. Retire to the Cayman Islands or Bermuda or wherever, but do it now, please, while you still have some love for this country. Close your companies, fire your employees, shutter your factories and offices, sell your property, and take all of that somewhere else… better yet: somewhere scenic but poverty-stricken. Somewhere that could use some wealth creation. Somewhere that people simply are grateful to have a job in the first place. Somewhere where you will be appreciated.

You are not welcome in America any more. Take your wealth and prosperity and inventiveness and hard work and vision and insight and bold risk-taking and joy in seeing growth and wealth creation and just go away – right now, before it’s too late.

The goose that lays the golden eggs is slowly being strangled. We will all pay a price for that stupidity some day.

Springtime in Kansas

Yesterday it was almost 80 degress with a hot south wind. This morning it was in the 30s and snowing.

More evidence of global warming cooling whatever.

An Astronomical Linguistics Lesson

Randy Alfred relates the fascinating history of Halley’s Comet, including why Edmond Halley’s name came to be attached to it.

But the best part of the story is how to pronounce the guy’s name. It’s not Hailey, nor does it rhyme with valley. Rather, it’s pronounced Hawley, which rhymes with folly.

Now you know!

Consumer-Based Religion

Andrew Santella describes the growth of consumer-based religion, as more people “shop around” for churches that suit their tastes, and churches respond by adapting to market demands. The result is often religion that is watered down and commercialized.

However, the results are not entirely negative:

Knowing that churchgoers have so many options should keep pastors and preachers on their toes. In that sense, church shopping transfers a bit of power from the pulpit to the pews. And keeping a check on the power of church leaders is never a bad idea.

He Owns It Now

From the Politico:

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.

As Obama continues to wriggle his way into the operations of American private enterprise, he is increasingly setting himself up for responsibility for the outcome.

Americans will rue the day they elected this man as President.

UPDATE: Mickey Kaus calls Wagoner Obama’s Ngo Dinh Diem. For the uninformed, Diem was the corrupt President of South Vietnam, who was assassinated in 1963, alledgedly with tacit CIA help. Diem’s removal marked a turning point in the war, with the U. S. increasingly responsible for the conduct — and eventual outcome — of the war.

Springtime in Kansas

South-central Kansas is getting pounded by an early spring blizzard. We had over two inches of sleet fall between Friday afternoon and dawn Saturday. Now it is snowing furiously. And it is cooooold.  Check out a photo gallery here.

Without doubt, this is solid evidence that global warming is a myth. (Hey, if the GW alarmists can play that game, so can I.)

The Myth of Consensus

Proponents of programs to fight anthropogenic global warming wrap themselves in the mantle of “scientific consensus” to advance their agenda.

But as Cal Thomas points out, this “consensus” is achieved only by cherry-picking the scientists. There are plenty of fully qualified climatologists and other experts who strongly question the prevailing theory, but their voices are being deliberately ignored in order to promote a pre-determined outcome. This is not how true science works.

Some religious fundamentalists impose various codes of behavior and dress on their adherents and threaten expulsion (if not death) for those who fail to acquiesce to their dictates. Is it not fundamentalist science to ignore any evidence that casts doubt on global warming?

The current approach to the global warming issue will someday be taught in universities as a good example of how not to do science.

Fight Global Warming Madness

Earth Hour 2009 is a global campaign to “do something” about the dangers of global warming. The campaign asks everyone to turn off all their lights for one hour on Saturday, March 28, beginning at 8:30 p.m. (local time). It’s another exercise in liberal tokenism — it won’t do a thing for global warming, but everyone will feel so much better.

James Taranto is organizing a counter-protest. He is asking everyone with a brain to turn on their lights at 8:30, and leave them on until bedtime.

If no one will listen to the silent majority, let’s at least make sure they see us.

I feel better already.

(Note: Taranto’s column mentions Sunday as the protest day. I think he meant Saturday.)

UPDATE: Viv Forbes of the Carbon Sense Coalition has an even better idea: Rename it “Blackout Night” and conduct it all night, outdoors, on the coldest night of winter.

Spending just one night in the cold and the dark, with no hot coffee or beef on the barbecue, using no light, heat or vehicle energy from coal, gas, petrol or diesel, and without protection from metal or concrete structures, would be good practice for the blackouts and shortages to come if world rationing of carbon products and carbon energy is achieved.

Why the Media’s Liberal Bias?

Because that’s how a loyal media serves its Party masters. The objective is not truth, but advancement of the Party agenda.

There are rules about how a Leninist press works – its operational code. When reading People’s Daily and Pravda with these rules in mind, the controlled press made perfect sense. What’s the point here? Troublingly, these same rules fit today’s American mainstream media – and the media’s relationship to the Democratic Party – nearly to a T.

Apply Fairness to NPR

Brent Bozell argues that if the the Fairness Doctrine is applied to conservative talk radio, it ought to apply equally to NPR.

Liberals would like to “crush Rush” and his conservative compatriots by demanding each station balance its lineup ideologically. But since when has NPR ever felt any pressure to be balanced, even when a majority of taxpayers being forced to subsidize it are center-right?

Why no Fairness Doctrine attention to NPR? It is because those preaching “fairness” on the radio are hypocrites.

D. C. Dictators

An IBD editorial excoriates Rep. Barney Frank and his fellow politicians, who are agitating for more control over the engines of capital in a bid to “save” them.

Frank, one of the chief architects of the housing mess that’s brought us so low, isn’t satisfied merely with pretending he and his Democratic pals aren’t to blame for all this. No, exploiting voter anger over the now-infamous AIG bonuses, he also wants to dictate to American capitalism what it can earn and what it can’t.

This is the kind of thing that normally happens in Third World countries ruled by tinhorn dictators, or in fascist states, where the democratic rule of law has collapsed. Not the U.S.

Yet, that’s where we find ourselves today, isn’t it? Democrats in Congress, who steadfastly rejected virtually all efforts to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they went on the wildest, most irresponsible lending binge in the history of finance, now pose themselves as the saviors of fallen capitalism.

The hypocrisy is nothing short of stunning.