Observations From the Back Row: 8-10-11

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“De Omnibus Dubitandum”

Everything we are told should bear some resemblance to what we see going on in reality!
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Never Mind: Obama Decides No Public Announcement on New Regulations

President Obama was supposed to travel to a trucking company in Springfield, Virginia Tuesday to announce new fuel-efficiency standards for heavy trucks, buses, and other heavy-to-midsize vehicles, but the public event was scrapped without explanation two hours before it was supposed to begin. "The President will no longer travel to Interstate Moving Services today," said the White House press office in an e-mail. Instead, the president was meeting with industry officials at the White House -- no press coverage allowed.....

The White House says the fuel efficiency standards the president was planning to announce on Tuesday will save business billions of dollars in fuel costs, help reduce oil consumption, and cut air pollution.

But the standards will add hundreds if not thousands of dollars to the cost of the affected trucks. The standards apply to vehicle model years 2014-2018 and affect three categories of vehicles. Big rigs or semis will have to slash fuel consumption and production of heat-trapping gases by up to 23 percent. Gasoline-powered heavy-duty pickups and vans will have to cut consumption by 10 percent, or by 15 percent if the vehicles run on diesel fuel........

“While we were working to improve the efficiency of cars and light-duty trucks, something interesting happened,” the press release quoted Obama as saying: “We started getting letters asking that we do the same for medium and heavy-duty trucks. They were from the people who build, buy, and drive these trucks. And today, I’m proud to have the support of these companies as we announce the first-ever national policy to increase fuel efficiency and decrease greenhouse gas pollution from medium-and heavy-duty trucks.”

My Take - What idiots in the trucking industry ever said that? That couldn’t be a lie....could it? Ok...so here is the question. All of this is to fix ….what problem?

Not enough energy? Well that is a problem that government can actually fix because it is a problem the federal government created. Just drill…see problem gone.

Too much CO2? Well, isn’t really a problem because the amount of CO2 mankind puts in the atmosphere is meaningless compared to the ambient and natural levels of CO2 that is created by nature. Oh, and by the way....CO2 isn’t a pollutant.

Global Warming? Well, we now know that was all fraud based junk science that was bought and paid for by socialist environmental activists who happen to be federal government bureaucrats.

Perhaps we could ask Car Czar Ron Bloom, an anti-business and anti-nuclear activist who has worked hard to put U.S. auto makers out of business. Or perhaps Carol Browner the Energy and Environment Czar who is a radical socialist; environmental activist; former head of the EPA under Clinton and responsible for the Food Quality Protection Act, which had nothing to do with food, quality or protection. It did however create the legal framework that eliminated all the products that killed bedbugs. Or perhaps we could ask Todd Stern the International Climate Czar who loves the junk science that inspired Kyoto Accord and Cap and Trade. He also claims the U.S. is responsible for Global Warming. Then of course there is Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein, who is a liberal activist who believes free speech needs to be limited for the "common good"; or Science Czar John Holdren, who is a fierce ideological Sierra Club environmentalist and anti-business activist. He also claims U.S. business has caused world poverty and wants the human population to be seriously reduced. What do you think? Could we get a sensible or believable answer from them?

Invasive bugs making a bigger stink
There are many kinds of insects that are very specialized, feeding on only one or two other insects,” said Kim A. Hoelmer, a research entomologist who is leading the study. “Many times . . . an invasive insect or plant comes into North America . . . without its natural enemy. In Asia, [the stink bug] feeds on the same plants as here, but it never has a population explosion because of its predators.” The United States has native parasitic wasps and native stink bugs, such as the spined soldier bug and the two-spotted stink bug , all beneficial species. But native wasps target a variety of insects, going after only 2 percent of brown marmorated stink bug eggs......Trade between the United States and Asia has increased nearly 80 percent over the past 10 years, causing more harmful species to slip into the country...... In an experiment, we trapped 15 gallons of stink bugs in three months last year: August, September and October.”

The curse of the moth---They're back!.
One of Britain's grubbier little secrets is out of the closet. Clothes moths appear to be making an annoyingly widespread return – their numbers swollen by the insects' love for our bulging, and not always impeccably laundered, wardrobes.

Reports of infestations have risen sharply in the past six months. Some have attributed this to the demise of the traditional mothball, others to global warming. But, it seems, the real problem is us and our over-heated bedrooms full of more clothes than ever before, not all of which are as clean as they could be.

The larvae of the common clothes moth, or Tineola bisselliella, can live for up to two years among our clothes – and these days they have an awful lot more to lunch on. Consumer expert Lucy Siegle said research by Cambridge University indicates that the average British woman buys about 62lb (28kg) of clothes each year and has four times as many clothes in her wardrobe as she did in 1980. An added inducement for the moths is our failure to wash our woollens and other natural fabrics regularly. Traces of sweat and the occasional food stain make the garment more delicious to hungry moth larvae…….Retailers including John Lewis and Robert Dyas report a "massive growth" in moth treatment products. The traditional mothball was removed from sale in the UK after the active ingredient, naphthalene, was found to be highly toxic and banned by the EU in 2008. Since then, new products from cedarwood balls to pheromone adhesive strips have entered the market.

My Take - It’s always the consumers fault! Why? Because as in all central planning schemes by socialists “The Plan” can’t be wrong; because then the planners would be wrong; and in centrally planned societies…..that is unacceptable. Just ask Joe Stalin and his Soviet planners who instituted five year agricultural plans (over and over again) why millions starved to death. Of course……it was the fault of those in charge of ‘The Plan” and failure of the workers in implementation of “The Plan”. But “The Plan” was pure and perfect in every way….except for all of those dead people.

The EPA demands that everyone adopt Integrated Pest Management, or Green Pest Control; that is “The Plan” among these central planning bureaucrats and environmental activists. The result? Bed bugs are a plague on society. Their continued action? Work to eliminate more pesticides, or at the very least make it more difficult to use them legally.

That is…”The Plan!”

The activist (inside and out of government) have Plans for all sorts of things using the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, etc.; which if implemented will destroy the nation’s economic and industrial base. So if they do that, where will the money come from for all these different schemes and "Plans" they are attempting to force on to a resistant public? Easy!  One “Plan” is to implement a 1% tax (Oops....my bad.....I meant to say a fee since there are no new taxes on those making under $250,000) on all bank transactions. Is that all? Just one percent!

One percent of all deposits and one percent on all withdrawals…..that of course ends up being two percent. You will pay income tax on the money you earn and then another one percent on the right to save it and another one percent on the right to spend it. Even if it is direct deposit or just to cash it…at least you will save 1% if you carry all your money with you…or hide it under the bed….but you will still have to pay 1% to cash it.

In other words that $1500.00 Social Security check the government deposits sends to you will be light $15.00. And then another $15.00 hit as it comes out. That is a $30.00 hit every month just for the privilege of handling your own money. That includes any refund money from the IRS also. For those 51% who pay no federal income tax….that will now be fixed.

Now…remember….all taxes are paid by those who can’t pass them along to others. Taxes are a cost of doing business, so that two percent will be passed on to the consumer….and those least able to afford it will pay higher prices for everything, including food. When you hear that corporations don’t pay any income tax and aren't paying their fair share…..that is demagoguery! Corporations only write the checks, their customers pay the taxes through price increases. And as for price controls…..the Soviet Union tried that also.

That’s “The Plan”!

Mr. Green Jobs Boondoggle Rides Again
Van Jones, President Obama's disgraced green jobs czar, is back with a radical progressive plan to rescue America ... from his old boss. The problem, posits Jones, is that his fellow community organizer in the White House hasn't spent enough, regulated enough or taxed enough to achieve their perverse version of the "American Dream." What the country needs to "get the economy back on track," according to Jones and his league of leftists, is more government-created make-work. Oh, and a hefty side of Big Labor pork.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:

Of shoes, and ships, and sealing wax -

Of cabbages and kings,

And why the sea is boiling hot,

And whether pigs have wings."


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