American Council on Science and Health

Armed or Amused: Linking Driving to Skin Cancer?
British scientists have found an interesting way of determining a person's risk of developing skin cancer — it involves moles, driving and where you do it. So if you're often behind the wheel, take a look at your right arm if you live in the United Kingdom — or your left if you're in the United States. Read more.

While Slowing, Good News in Declining Death Rates

Continuing declines in overall U.S. death rates between 1969 and 2013 represent major public health gains, including in most specific illnesses. COPD death rate is higher than it was initially, but is also now declining along with smoking rates. Read more.

Diet Duel: Low-Fat, Low-Carb Square Off Again
In this space we've covered numerous research articles about dieting and weight loss — especially those that evaluate the effects of low fat or low carbohydrate diets (most recently here and here). Although it might seem that the topic has been thoroughly covered, there are apparently still unanswered questions. Read more.

Homeo-irony

In a move straight out of "Dumb and Dumber," CVS was caught selling a homeopathic (read: useless) cure for constipation that was water (the usual ingredient for all things homeopathic) plus alcohol! How much? As much as a shot of bourbon. If this doesn't highlight the absurdity of this issue, then all is lost. Read more.

Studies: Statins May Mess With Flu Shot Efficacy
About 32 million Americans are currently taking statins many who are 65 years of age or older. This segment of the population is also the most vulnerable to influenza virus infections and subsequent hospitalizations. Two new studies indicate that statins can potentially interfere with the efficacy of flu vaccines. Read more.

With Calorie Postings, You Can Lead a Horse to Water...

One policy that has elicited much sturm und drang is the requirement that chain restaurants post calorie content of their foods on their menus. Some cities have had to comply with the law since 2009. So how effective has it been in stemming obesity? Not very, according to some new research. Read more

Hair-Loss Solution May be Found in Arthritis Drug

A cure for baldness is desperately craved, and has long been chased by researchers. Current treatment options run from pseudo-science to imperfect science. But a drug that's already approved for rheumatoid arthritis is showing great promise for treating the Battle of the Bald. Read more

A Daily Aspirin Can Keep Cancer Away

The world’s largest clinical trial on aspirin was recently held in the United Kingdom, looking to determine whether taking daily aspirin will stop cancer, or delay its recurrence. Evidence suggests a reduction in colorectal polyps and cancer with aspirin use, depending on the dose and duration of therapy. Read more

Setting a Course to Marathon Recovery

The marathon, a true test of endurance 26.2-miles long, can truly wreak havoc on even the most experienced runner. The human body undergoes three major changes, all of which require smart steps and remedies to speed recovery. Read more

Green Appears A Good Addition to Public Housing

Researchers say that public housing is not all that great for your health, but a study of newly-renovated, environmentally friendly buildings indicates they are beneficial to human health. However, the findings aren't fully conclusive. Read more

Cassava Crop Poised to Be Next GM Success

Golden Rice has paved the way for more nutrient deficiencies to be addressed with other genetically engineered crops. The latest innovation by scientists is the GM cassava plant, which produces increased levels of vitamin B6. Read more

Discuss: Should We Raise The Minimum Age On Smoking?

The American Academy of Pediatrics is advocating an increase in the minimum age nationwide to 21 for all tobacco products. Is this warranted? Will it have a lasting public health benefit? What do you think? Read more

Sweet Drink/Heart Failure Study Has No Pulse

A new study from a respected Swedish institute tries to implicate sweetened drinks as a cause for heart failure. But even a cursory review shows that the conclusion is utter nonsense. As it turns out, what these researchers really provided was an opportunity for us all to see what a very flawed study looks like. Read more

Media Hype: Not Every New Cancer Drug Is Awesome
A review of 100 media articles on new cancer drugs found that about one-half described the subject drug in a superlative tone that was generally uncalled for, and likely to generate false hope. Read more

Early Sex Talk, Especially with Mom, Helps Teens Thrive

Early conversations about sex gives teenagers a better chance of making smart choices about intimacy and relationships throughout their lives. And according to a recent article in JAMA Pediatrics, teens talking about sex with their mothers is particularly effective in encouraging safer sexual behavior. Read more

'Good' Cholesterol May Turn 'Bad' During Menopause

The cardio-protective effects of HDL, or "good" cholesterol, may become diminished as women transition through menopause. There is a possibility that it's proatherogenic, meaning it has a tendency to form plaques. Read more

Better GM Potato Ready, But Spud Police Dawdle

JR Simplot has introduced a GM potato that resists bruising and helps limit acrylamide when cooked at high temperature. Now the company has produced another landmark spud -- which is even better. But over-regulation will be keeping it from getting to your table anytime soon. Read more

7 Easy Steps to Loving Your Colonoscopy

The colonoscopy. If you really think about it, it should be a horrible experience, and if you were awake during the procedure it probably would be. But it's not. Not even close. Meanwhile, colon cancer is terrible to get, but terribly easy to prevent. Read more

Spending More Shields Docs from Lawsuits, Study Suggests
A new study's data seems to support the concept of "defensive medicine," where if doctors spend more by ordering more lab tests and imaging studies they'll reduce their risk of subsequent malpractice suits. Read more

Seeking Answers to Many ‘Kinds of Different Autisms’

Some researchers studying autism spectrum disorder seek to understand the relationship between perception and behavior in the brain. This is partly the impetus behind a recent study, which sought to learn how the world is interpreted by an ASD sufferer. Read more

Ask for my loyalty, I’ll give you my honesty. Ask for my honesty, you’ll have my loyalty.

By Rich Kozlovich

James Arlandson posted an article today titled, "Did Paul Ryan say a shutdown is on the table?"  In the article he goes one to explain how bad a plan this is, stating:

 

"Reportedly, Ryan drops Boehner's pledge not to shut down the government. Flexing his legislative muscle: "This is the legislative branch, and the power of the purse rests within the legislative branch. And we fully expect that we are going to exercise that power," Ryan said when pressed over whether he planned to attach so-called "policy riders" to a must-pass spending bill that Congress needs to approve before December 11. Uh-oh. If those words can rightly be interpreted as a shutdown, then it's a bad strategy.  I wish conservatives could understand these things about the American electorate today:.....it's a political loser for the GOP".

I wish those who profess to be "conservatives" understood this has gone on for 80 years because "conservatives" didn't bite the bullet years ago. At some point someone has to stand up to the negative press and tell the truth and then stand firm. Leadership isn't about being popular - it's about leading - and the willingness to be un-liked for long periods of time for standing up for one's principles is essential for real leaders.   Stop worrying about who's blamed - time and history is the left's greatest enemy - but it takes guts to tell that story - and to keep telling that story.

 

As for the "conservatives" in Congress need to be loved in order to be re-elected over and over again while failing their oath of office, and the people whose interests they're supposed to be representing, being liked isn't your job!  If playing it safe is the strategy- I have to ask -what exactly do these people think their job is?  If one has to lose an election let it be for standing up to those things that are right and true.  To quote Col. John Boyd:

 

"One day you will come to a fork in the road. And you're going to have to make a decision about what direction you want to go."..... "If you go that way you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and you will get good assignments."...... 

 

"Or you can go that way and you can do something— something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won't have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference." He paused and stared. "To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you will have to make a decision. To be or to do? Which way will you go?"

Boyd’s dictum  "Ask for my loyalty, I’ll give you my honesty. Ask for my honesty, you’ll have my loyalty." To be or to do? Which way will you go? "

Researcher targeted by hate campaign, death threats for finding near zero risk in North America from Fukushima

By Thomas Lifson

The doomsday cult known as environmentalism may have already surpassed the Judeo-Christian tradition as the most powerful religion in the advanced countries of the West. Almost certainly, its followers are the most politically powerful – witness the trillions of dollars devoted to the “paused” global warming Armageddon supposedly soon to threaten human survival. And these followers are also the most fanatical, reaching Islamic levels of fury when their orthodoxy is challenged.

Dr. Jay Cullen might as well have caricatured Mohammed, for all the organized religious hate he is receiving You see, Cullen is a Canadian researcher who set about the measure the impact of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown on the Northwest coast of North America. Mark Hume reports in the Globe and Mail:

Dr. Cullen started a radionuclide-monitoring program in 2014. The Integrated Fukushima Ocean Radionuclide Monitoring project (or InFORM, as he optimistically called it) worked with a broad network of scientists to gather the latest research and distribute it to the public. “The goal and motivation … was that people were asking me, family and friends and the public at large, what the impact of the disaster was on B.C. on the North Pacific and on Canada,” he said. “I started looking for quality monitoring information so I could answer those questions as honestly and accurately as I could.”  Dr. Cullen thought the public would appreciate knowing what the scientists knew.

Boy, was he wrong! His prediction was as faulty as the warmists’ contention that snow and the polar ice caps would disappear by now. Doomsday cultists, whether warmists or anti-nukists, have a theological commitment to the imminence of our tragic fate – unless we heed their call to don the green equivalent of sackcloth and ashes. Thus, poor Dr. Cullen’s scientific data brought him these consequences…… More

“Coywolves” & Centaurs

By Jim Beers

"Coywolves” a “new species”, my patoot! Relying on National Park Service bureaucrats and the academicians that rely on them for grants and fame for such absurdities is like relying on Al Sharpton and Elijah Muhammed for advice on race relations.

An animal “SPECIES” has, for centuries, been defined as a group of animals that interbreed freely and produce viable (i.e. able to reproduce) offspring. The offspring share the characteristics of each parent that they duly pass along to the succeeding generation.

Wolves freely interbreed with dogs. Dogs freely interbreed with wolves. Wolves and dogs freely interbreed with coyotes. Coyotes freely interbreed with wolves and dogs. I could add in dingoes and jackals here but let’s minimize confusion and focus on North America. It is merely a matter of preference to call them one species, subspecies of a larger group, or 3 separate species.

The definition of “species” has been politicized and parsed as a bureaucratic tool to utilize it in endangered species and native ecosystem laws and regulations designed to grow the federal government; expand federal bureaucratic power; stop all rural development and resource uses; and to gradually reduce and eliminate rural American’s rights, communities and US State authority. Thus the myths of “red” wolves; “Mexican” wolves; “timber” wolves; etc., that are in reality no more different species or subspecies than Dobermans, Wiemaraners and German Shepherds. The myths of species and subspecies have been further extended with the bureaucratic invention of quasi-legal entities below subspecies such as the silly “Population” further divided into the “Distinct Population” that is further divided (get out your microscope) into the “Distinct Population Segment” meaning (I kid you not) “Population Segments” on opposite sides of a legal boundary such as a County Line! The factual absurdity of this bureaucratic science is given a false patina of truth by a federal NPS employee in the state of Massachusetts as well as USFWS and NFS bureaucrats and the “scientists” they support on behalf of radical environmental and animal rights agendas.

Yes wolves always have interbred with dogs and coyotes. As government spreads and protects wolves everywhere, big surprise – “coywolves” increase. As government prohibits coyote and wolf control, and as they reduce the ability of private citizens to kill wolves and coyotes, big surprise – coyotes, wolves and “coywolves” infest human habitations and learn to live, eat and make puppies in every stray woodlot, “natural” jogging trail, dumpster, alley and “natural” park in urban America.

And our dogs today are poorly cared for (despite all the gushy TV ads about their needing a “family”) and often break loose as inadequate urban animal control and increasingly restrictive rural (gun use) controls impede citizen “controls” provide a steady influx of dogs to the nightly wolf/coyote bacchanalias. So the dogs mix with and are either eaten by or bred by wolves and coyotes and big surprise - dog genes contribute to the “coywolf” phenomenon. The only real differences being the dogs are usually vaccinated and healthy and the wolves and coyotes are carrying 30 or more infectious and deadly diseases, viruses, prions, and bacteria from Mad Cow and Foot-and Mouth to Chronic Wasting Disease, Anthrax, Plague, Brucellosis and Tapeworms; all of great danger to people, and wild and domestic animals.

As far as human danger goes, any of the 3; including any dog that has been “wild” for an extended period; is capable of attacking a person, especially children and old ladies. As far as behavioral modifications, the disgraceful government/radical protection given these animals plus the current densities of their populations and extent of the US they have been allowed to inhabit has far more to do with their “learning” and “adaption” than the fact that their aunt was a coyote and their father was a greyhound.

In sum “coywolves” are the animal equivalent of a New Orleans mulatto or a Chinese/Russian citizen of Formosa. If you believe that such distinctions justify race policies or expectations of ignorance or backwardness you probably swallow all this “coywolf” nonsense, believe in Centaurs and I feel sorry for you. If you want to defend these bureaucratic hammers intended to take our freedoms, I will oppose you with every fiber of my old body.

If you found this worthwhile, please share it with others. Thanks. 

Jim Beers is a retired US Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife of many decades.  Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting. You can receive future articles by sending a request with your e-mail address to: jimbeers7@comcast.net

 

Atlas Shrugs

Editor's Note: I have been posting Pam Geller's articles for some time now and it's impossible to read what's going on without coming to what I believe is an incontrovertible conclusion. Civil war is brewing in Europe....every country in Europe, and the Muslims will trigger that war with their violent barbaric behavior and unending demands. When it starts - European governments are going to fall like dominos. It's a Machiavellian principle. When society no longer feels safe governments fall.  Within five years Europe will no longer exist as we know it and the EU will no longer be in existence.  Their economy will have collapsed, civil discord will be the rule rather than the exception and they will never recover.  Europe has been spiraling downward since the end of WWI.  WWII truly bankrupted them and if it wasn’t for U.S. economic and military policy via Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 and the Marshall Plan authorized and implemented by Congress during the Truman administration in 1948 large numbers of Europeans would have starved to death and their economy would have never recovered.  There will be no bailout now!   Europe – as we know it – is doomed!

Citizens attempt block the arrival of “migrant” trains and bus transfers

Citizens attempt block the arrival of “refugee” trains and subsequent transfer to buses at the train station in Meerane. Police must use force to break up the peaceful yet determined effort of the citizens.  This took place on Sunday, November 1, 2015. Despite lack of arrests, there was definitely physical force used to remove citizens. Europeans are under siege by their own governments while invaders are being put up on five star hotels.

Watch VIDEO: Muslim makes throat-cutting gesture on Swedish news segment

This is the yet another video I have posted with Muslims making beheading warning gestures to the TV audience.  What else do you need to know about the invasion?  So let’s see what the ignorant socialist left-wing nutters are up to in Sweden, the country of rape and stealth jihad, abetted by the Swedish government: The Swedish state TV was in Berlin to report on the “tragedy” of the burning shelters of the Muslim “refugees” – which they burn down themselves – when a nasty looking Islamic supremacist appears on the screen.

Halloween Horror: Muslim Converts Unsuspecting Trick or Treating Children to Islam

This is evil, pure evil. And it best illustrates the true nature and absolute relentless supremacist nature of Islam.  The children are trick or treating for Halloween. Why is this Muslim forcing them to recite the shahada? To convert them to Islam? That’s all it takes to convert — say the shahada (“there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.”) It’s the same message on the black flag of Islam.  Who does things like this? Muslim supremacists.  This will make your skin crawl.

Muslim Migrants Now Being Housed in FIVE-STAR Spree Hotel in Germany

This is obscene.  The owner of the Spree Hotel has angered many in the small community of Bauzen, as he now receives state monies to house refugees. His hotel had once been a premier location some 20 years ago, and recently he spent 300,000€ to renovate. Now he has a one-year contract with the government to house refugees from all over the world.  In addition to security fence and surveillance cameras, the hotel now requires 24-hour police protection.  We see this in America as well — religious groups whose business is “refugee resettlement.” Citizens of the town are upset. There was already a high percentage of unemployed in the mostly industrial region…and the vacation camping park next door is worried....

Muslim Migrants with Multiple Wives Will Get MULTIPLE BENEFIT$ in Germany

It is pretty elemental that if you pay for more wives, you are going to get more wives, more polygamy, more sharia, more gender apartheid, more Islam. Hurtling towards the stone age. Countries with increasing Muslim populations are already experiencing spikes in polygamous marriages. Based on a ruling in 2004, refugees with two wives can receive monetary support for both in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

Devout Muslim prisoners extort jizya payments from non-Muslim prisoners in Britain’s toughest prisons

Why do British authorities let this go on? Why have they opted for a nationwide policy of capitulation and spinelessness? What will happen to Britain when thee imprisoned jihadis are freed? Chaos and civil war. And British officials will have brought it on themselves.  Non-Muslim inmates in several of Britain’s category A prisons are being forced to pay a ‘protection tax’ to radical Muslim prisoners out of fear of facing violence.  The ‘tax’, known as ‘jizya’, was found to be enforced by some Islamist extremist...

Australia: Muslims complain that singing national anthem is “forced assimilation”

It is for this very reason that the sharia is incompatible with the US Constitution. Muslims are instructed that the law of Allah supersedes all manmade law. For Western leaders to acquiesce to such fanatical folly can only lead to the death of the West. Requiring schoolchildren to sing the national anthem, and the citizenship pledge supporting democratic values, are part of an oppressive campaign by Australian authorities of “forced assimilation” of the Muslim community, a conference heard this morning.

750 ‘Refugees’ Dumped on Bucolic German Town of 102

Do people understand what is happening? Town by town, village by village, Europe is being swallowed whole. Many of these people know what is actually happening to them, their cities, their countries. Their only option will come down to civil war. I wrote about this town weeks ago. It’s interesting (but not surprising) to see how the media is reporting this story. Meanwhile, the enemedia is working hard to make sure no one resists: “The Times’ write-up, by reporter Andrew Higgins, suggests the biggest problem for Sumte isn’t crime or other issues that could potentially arrive with the refugees, but rather the possibility that their arrival could make locals question the wisdom of nearly limitless...

The March to Paris Has Begun

Posted by Marita Noon @ OILPRO

Less than one month from now the nations of the world will meet in Paris for the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21). During the November 30 to December 11 meeting, organizers hope to reach a new international agreement on the climate—something that has been unachievable at the recent annual events.

President Obama is “cautiously optimistic” that a global climate agreement will finally be reached as a result of his “leadership.” As stated during the October 11 edition of 60 Minutes, he sees his role in Paris as more important than fighting ISIS: “My definition of leadership would be leading on climate change, an international accord that potentially we’ll get in Paris.”

This “accord” will not be an enforceable “treaty” as was The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change negotiated in 1997 and signed by President Clinton but never ratified by the U.S. Congress. The Kyoto Protocol expired at the end of 2012. Supporters have since been scrambling to reach a new deal. Once again, however, Congress will not ratify any such agreement—leaving the President to “lead by example” through executive and regulatory actions that have little chance of success.

The Clean Power Plan (CPP) is, as stated by NPR: “the centerpiece of President Obama’s broader climate agenda.” NPR continues: “he’s urging other big countries to take similarly aggressive action in advance of an international climate summit in Paris later this year.” The Washington Examiner called CPP: “the linchpin in securing a global deal on emission reductions” in Paris.

Addressing the important role of CPP, the director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, Mary Ann Hitt, declared that it “signals to the rest of the world that the U.S. is serious about combating the climate crisis ahead of international negotiations in Paris.”

CPP—in case you haven’t been following the multi-year regulatory process that introduced draft rules in 2014, with finalized rules released in August and, finally, after more than three times the usual lag time, the 2000-page regulation was published in the Federal Register on October 23—“orders states to reorganize their energy systems from power plants to electric outlets,” says the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). It requires a cut in power-plant carbon emissions of 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and has been called “one of the most far-reaching energy regulations in this nation’s history.”

CPP is loathed by most Republicans, some Democrats, industry associations and business groups, utilities, coal companies, and mining interests. Therefore, less than 12 hours after publication in the Federal Register, it became “the most heavily litigated environmental regulation ever”—with more than 15 separate cases from 26 states and countless industry groups filed against it in just two days. All the lawsuits have been consolidated into one case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. It is widely expected to, ultimately, be heard before the Supreme Court—which may not hear the case until 2018. By the time a final ruling is made, the Obama administration believes that, as was the case with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, industry will have already done so much to comply with the rule, that the high court’s decision will be almost irrelevant. WSJ states: “Even if CPP is … junked by the courts, they’re hoping to intimidate the states and dictate the U.S. energy mix for a generation.”

It is the lengthy timeline that prompted lawsuits to not only overturn CPP, but to also ask for a stay of the rule while the court decides on the case—as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit granted last month regarding the Obama administration’s Waters of the U.S. rule.

Days after the lawsuits were filed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offered its recommendations for scheduling legal arguments—which the federal appeals court signed off on. Effectively kicking the can down the road, the deadline for any new lawsuits is November 5. The last day for briefing arguments will be December 23. So, no decision on whether to block implementation of the standards while the litigation plays out will be made until early 2016 at the soonest. This means, as Reuters explains: “the Obama administration, which has said the United States will play a leadership role at the Paris climate negotiations, will not risk the possibility of having its signature climate policy blocked at the U.N. summit.”

While the EPA’s timeline protects the administration from potential international embarrassment, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman, James Inhofe (R-OK) sees that it is an indication CPP is on shaky legal ground. He said: “The EPA has been slow walking the publication of the Clean Power Plan in an attempt to delay the inevitable, and now is asking the federal court to delay next steps on the rule’s legal challenges until after the international climate talks in Paris.”

The court’s decision won’t be made before COP21, but Congress’ will be.

Both chambers of Congress are working on joint resolutions of disapproval aimed at blocking the rule. Though seldom used, the Congressional Review Act (CRA), according to WSJ, “allows Congress to nullify regulations within 60 days of their publication into the Federal Register with a simple majority of members.” The CRA resolutions of disapproval are not subject to a filibuster in the Senate—though they are subject to presidential veto. While the expected passage of the resolutions of disapproval will not ultimately block CPP, it will send a signal to international negotiators that whatever agreement is reached in Paris will not receive Congressional support.

One last thought. President Obama claims to be “cautiously optimistic” that a deal will be reached in Paris. However, last week, the New York Times quoted Stanislav Belkovsky, a political analyst and critic of Putin, as saying President Putin believes that “there is no global warming, that this is a fraud to restrain the industrial development of several countries including Russia.” The story concludes: “Russia’s attitude will most likely be something like this: Guys, you put economic pressure on us, introduced sanctions. Do you expect us to be holier than the Pope about the issue you’re pushing through and take a load of responsibilities?”

Add to that the fact that Poland, Europe’s largest producer of coal, has signaled that it may opt out of the EU climate deal, and that India was never on board, and the Paris conference is going to be interesting indeed.

The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc. and the companion educational organization, the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). She hosts a weekly radio program: America’s Voice for Energy—which expands on the content of her weekly column. Follow her @EnergyRabbit.

Oh-oh! NASA study finds Antarctic ice cap growing - Oops!

By Thomas Lifson

Florida is supposed to be underwater soon, thanks to CO2. That’s one of the scary things that warmists firmly predict as “settled science,” in order to get billions of dollars a year in government research support and all those crony capitalist subsidies for their friends. You see, the polar ice caps are supposed to be melting thanks to the rise in temperatures (that haven’t risen for 18 years now – until you “adjust” the data, that is).  The word didn’t get out fast enough to some scientists that their data needed “adjustment,” and somehow the following made it past the peer reviewers. From the Christian Science Monitor:…..To Read More

Two Reasons to Reject Barack Obama's 'Clean Power Plan' for Climate Change

Katie Tubb

It is difficult to see how a U.S. envoy to Paris for the climate deal will convince the United Nations that Americans support President Obama’s promise to cut carbon dioxide emissions.   The cornerstone of Obama’s promise to the U.N. is called the “Clean Power Plan.” Developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the plan is a set of regulations on new and existing power plants that, realistically, would eliminate the use of coal-powered electricity and force states to meet targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions set by the agency.  A bipartisan group of lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives took leadership on the issue and put forth resolutions of disapproval of the Clean Power Plan.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee is set to vote this week on that chamber’s measures. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., chairman of the energy and power subcommittee, said:………To Read More

Ted Cruz says “Climate Change is Not Science, it’s Religion”

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Onan Coca — 36 Comments  

GOP candidate for President and Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz (R-TX) was a guest on Glenn Beck’s internet TV show recently, discussing a host of issues surrounding his run for the White House. When the conversation turned to Climate Change, Cruz made some very interesting observations about the liberal climate change movement. Particularly, Cruz noted that climate change alarmism has nothing to do with science but is actually the new and fashionable liberal “religion.” 

 

Just a couple of weeks ago in the Senate, I chaired a hearing where the president of the Sierra Club testified, and we had an exchange, where I simply asked him about the data, and he could answer the most basic questions, starting with the most basic facts.  For the last 18 years the satellite data has shown no significant warming whatsoever, he had no idea, he turned to his aides every minute or two.  You know part of the reason he didn’t know the facts? Because climate change is not science, it is a religion, look at the language, where they call you a denier.

“Denier” is not the language of science. Look, I am the child of two scientists, my parents are both mathematicians and computer programmers, my father is self taught a geophysicist……To Read More……

Ted Cruz: It's In His Heart

Lloyd Marcus

A frustrated hopeless patriot wrote:  “Unfortunately Mr. Marcus, it's not only the left but also the right that is out to destroy America. Wicked people in high places, the elite if you will, control both parties. That is why no matter who is elected that nothing changes.”  This patriot brother's discouragement explains why I want Ted Cruz in the driver's seat as president. On numerous occasions, Ted Cruz has proven that he has no problem being odd-man-out with regard to Washington politics. I have made the following point numerous times. Politicians promise the moon on the campaign trail. The 64,000-dollar question is who will have the cojones and core conservative instincts to follow through if elected? Atop my list is Ted Cruz……To Read More

What Makes This Houston Ballot Measure So Threatening

Ryan T. Anderson /@ryantand/October 30, 2015/179 comments

On Tuesday, citizens of Houston, Texas, will go to the polls to vote on a controversial “sexual orientation and gender identity” (dubbed SOGI) measure.  Rather than protecting equality before the law, the SOGI ordinance, euphemistically named the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), creates special legal protections based on “sexual orientation and gender identity.”  HERO, like all sexual orientation and gender identity laws, is bad public policy.   HERO does not clearly define what actions count as “discrimination” on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Indeed, HERO leaves entirely unclear what actions could be accused of being discriminatory……To Read More

 

Cronyism is Alive and Well as Congress Revives the Ex-Im Bank

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Onan Coca — 4 Comments

A few months back Congress seemed to be moving in the positive direction of destroying the Export-Import Bank, which would have severely hampered the efforts of crony capitalists and lobbyists to steal our hard-earned money in order to buy political favors. Sadly, last week the lobbyists and their corrupt partners in Congress voted to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank, easing the way for continued corruption in our political process. Peter Lund, the Michigan state director of Americans for Prosperity, wrote a letter to the Detroit News explaining why this reauthorization was such a bad idea.  Peter Lund, Michigan state director of Americans for Prosperity writes:

The Causes of Income Inequality

Catherine Sellers

Income inequality has risen during the last several decades to heights last seen in the 1920s. Most of the income growth has gone to a small fraction of the population, the ultra-rich elites, while real wages for the bottom 90 percent has been stagnant since the 1980s. The U.S. now ranks at, or near, the top of developed countries for income inequality. Job creation has lagged far behind population growth. Automation has erased some jobs, but corrupt, inept government leadership is responsible for the deplorable job- deficit-low wage situation.  

Trade agreements are one cause of job and wage reduction. Over the last twenty years, we’ve amassed $10 trillion in trade deficits and exported 12 million manufacturing jobs, forcing workers to move into lower-wage service jobs. Government brags about the free trade agreements, CAFTA, NAFTA, KORUS, and TPP. But the “free” applies only to the foreign trading partners, which manipulate their currencies, pay sweatshop workers low wages, manufacture under environmentally-toxic conditions, and restrict U.S. imports. We hand over our technology, good-paying jobs, product labeling, and safety guarantees -- all to enrich multinational corporations and foreign industry. Industrial research and development have been decimated as companies move overseas or outsource jobs, leaving the nation a future of little technological innovation. The U.S. is left with hollowed-out industries and service jobs.……. To Read More

Office of Civil Rights says disguised boy has right to shower with girls

By Ed Straker

The Department of Education's office of civil rights says that a disguised boy has been discriminated against because he is not allowed to shower naked with girls……Now Hillary Clinton has become a born-again transvestite supporter. Would it really be hard for a Republican in a debate to turn to her and say, "Mrs. Clinton, do you really want girls to be forced to expose themselves to boys in locker rooms?"  It's indefensible. It sounds like a small issue compared to illegal immigration and the debt, but I think a candidate who focuses on this could destroy Clinton's credibility. Unfortunately, while this topic has been much in the news, most of the Republican candidates have been quiet about it. I wonder why……To Read More

U.S. EPA Proposes to Revoke Food Residue Tolerances for Chlorpyrifos

Posted By: Jackie Pucci | November 2, 2015

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to revoke all food residue tolerances for the insecticide chlorpyrifos. At this time, EPA said it is unable to make a safety finding as required under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).  Based on EPA’s current analysis, there do not appear to be risks from exposure to chlorpyrifos from food, but, when that exposure is combined with estimated exposure from drinking water in certain watersheds, EPA cannot conclude that the risk from the potential aggregate exposure meets the FFDCA safety standard……To Read More….

My Take – Is there any doubt this is another case of collusion between EPA, the activists and an out of control leftist federal judiciary.  Nah…..that would make it a conspiracy.....and after all…..we all know there’s no such thing as a conspiracy!  Right? 

How to Love Dystopia – or – The Spirit of Trofim Denisovich Lysenko is Large and in Charge!

Back To The Dark Ages

Top French Weatherman Fired Over Climate Change Book

 

Editor's Note: Let Me Tell You about Trofim Denisovich Lysenko for those who may not be familiar with he and his works. As you read the article you will notice how Lysenko was directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of untold thousands at the hands of Stalinist sycophants. His area was biology, not climatology, but when people suffer and die at epidemic proportions due to government policy based on politicized science - does the scientific discipline matter?

 

 

Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. --Harry S. Truman, Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, 8 August 1950
 

 

 

The free communication of thoughts and of opinions is one of the most precious rights of man: any citizen thus may speak, write, print freely, except to respond to the abuse of this liberty, in the cases determined by the law. --Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), Article XI  A popular weatherman announced Saturday evening that he has been sacked by leading French news channel France Télévisions for publishing a book which accused top climate change experts of misleading the world about the threat of global warming. The announcement comes four days after France Télévisions chief Delphine Ernotte told French MPs that Verdier had been summoned to a formal interview that could lead to his dismissal. --France 24, 1 November 2015

 

Over the weekend, news emerged that the decision by French weatherman Philippe Verdier to come out as a sceptic has resulted in swift retribution. “The Head of Weather France 2, away from the antenna to its challenges to the consequences of global warming, aired Saturday night, a video claiming he was fired by the public channel.” Last year, Roy Spencer was widely criticised for referring to global warming Nazis. But as the list of those who have lost their jobs for questioning the orthodoxy grows, you have to ask yourself, was Spencer wrong? --Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, 2 November 2015

 

Greenland is blowing away all records for ice gain this year. They have gained almost 200 billion tons of snow and ice over the past two months, which is more than 50% above normal. The surface of the ice gained more than 200 billion tons during the previous 12 months. Meanwhile, the New York Times is running a huge spread claiming that Greenland is melting down. --Real Science, 30 October 2015

 

A new NASA study says that an increase in Antarctic snow accumulation that began 10,000 years ago is currently adding enough ice to the continent to outweigh the increased losses from its thinning glaciers. The research challenges the conclusions of other studies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2013 report, which says that Antarctica is overall losing land ice. --NASA News, 31 October 2015

 

At the end of this month 40,000 politicians, officials, green activists, lobbyists and journalists from 195 nations will converge outside Paris – at Europe’s largest airport reserved only for private jets – for a conference that they hope will change the world. The chief obstacle to a binding climate agreement is exactly the same as it was at Kyoto in 1997 and at that last mammoth conference which so signally failed to get Kyoto renewed at Copenhagen in 2009. The only real question that will remain after the failure of this bid for a binding treaty in Paris is how much longer it can be before the most expensive and foolish scare story in history finally falls apart. --Christopher Booker, The Sunday Telegraph, 1 November 2015
 

Brought to you by Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Foundation

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Heartland Institute: Climate Change Weekly

Klein’s Climate-Driven Anti-Capitalism is Light on Facts, Disaster on Policy
Observers of the climate change debate are increasingly souring on Naomi Klein’s green-cloaked dated Marxist indictment of capitalism. Most recently, Jonathan Chait, a writer for New York Magazine, dissects Klein’s polemical, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, and finds its arguments woefully inadequate and contradictory.   According to Chait, Klein runs afoul of the “purist fallacy:: the argument that one’s vision for the world is failing only because leaders are pushing a compromised version of that vision and watering-down the vision’s policy proposals.   Chait notes Klein insists liberal remedies that leave in place the underlying structure of the market economy cannot work to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. When evidence belies her claims, she ignores it and sticks to her purist vision. In this sense sh’s like climate modelers and their proponents at the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: When facts run contrary to model predictions and the theory of human-caused global warming, they cling to theory and model projections and adjust the data, the real evidence, until it is twisted to match the model output……. SOURCE: New York Magazine

Poll: Warming happening, cause?

A recent poll highlighted by The Brookings Institution confirms what previous polls have discovered: While Americans generally agree Earth is warming, they are split concerning the cause of the warming. The 2015 National Survey on Energy and the Environment (NSEE) from the University of Michigan and Muhlenberg College finds just over half (53%) of Americans surveyed think global warming is happening and humans are at least somewhat responsible. The remaining 47 percent reject or are unsure about the evidence of global warming, or attribute temperature increases to natural causes.
SOURCE: The Brookings Institution

French mathematics society declares climate crusade “absurd”  

The Paris-based French Mathematical Calculation Society, SA, in a white paper examining the evidence for catastrophic human-caused climate change, has determined:   There is not a single fact, figure or observation that leads us to conclude that the world’s climate is in any way “disturbed”. It is variable, as it has always been, but rather less so now than during certain periods or geological eras. Modern methods are far from being able to accurately measure the planet’s global temperature even today, so measurements made 50 or 100 years ago are even less reliable.  Concentrations of CO2 vary, as they always have done; the figures that are being released are biased and dishonest. Rising sea levels are a normal phenomenon linked to up thrust buoyancy; they are nothing to do with so-called global warming. As for extreme weather events “they are no more frequent now than they have been in the past. We ourselves have processed the raw data on hurricanes.   The study concludes human efforts to prevent climate change are pointless, stating, “we are fighting for a cause (reducing CO2 emissions) that serves absolutely no purpose”. “You would probably have to go quite a long way back in human history to find such a mad obsession.”
SOURCE: Société de Calcul Mathématique SA

Bioenergy is not green

Princeton Research Scholar Tim Searchinger explores reasons biofuels fail to live up to their environmentally beneficial billing in an interview with the Breakthrough Institute. Searchinger notes it is common for wood power plants to end up using material as fuel that would have gone into pulp wood, meaning trees are cut down elsewhere for pulp wood. In addition, the claim marginal land can be used to grow biofuel is an instance of double-counting, since so-called “marginal lands,” such as grazing lands, wetlands, and scrub and woodland savannas, are home to enormous biodiversity and store large volumes of carbon. In one form or another, they are already providing substantial environmental benefits. Searchinger notes very little energy is actually produced from biomass for the huge amounts of water, land, human effort, etc, used to produce it. Biomass energy is produced via photosynthesis, which is inefficient, requiring land, plenty of rain, and warm temperatures.   By contrast, his team calculated if the world were foolish enough to use the world’s most productive agricultural land in Brazil for solar photovoltaics (PV) “even as inefficient as solar panels are at converting sunlight into usable energy” that would produce 30 times as much energy as you would get from using the land to produce sugarcane for biofuel.
SOURCE: The Breakthrough Institute

Science Committee to investigate research claiming no warming pause

Another battle is brewing in the ongoing war between the House Science Committee, with oversight over science and environmental agencies, and the Obama administration over its continued use of secret science to justify agency rules and claims concerning global warming.   On October 24, the federal government’s chief climate research agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), informed Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), chair of the House Science Committee, it will not provide documents he requested in furtherance of the committee’s investigation into the science behind NOAA’s June study claiming there has been no 18-year pause in rising global temperatures. In refusing to turn over the subpoenaed documents, NOAA claimed much of the material requested, despite being paid for by taxpayers, is confidential.....This scandal-ridden administration’s lack of openness is the real problem. Congress cannot do its job when agencies openly defy Congress and refuse to turn over information. When an agency decides to alter the way it has analyzed historical temperature data for the past few decades, it’s crucial to understand on what basis those decisions were made. ... It was inconvenient for this administration that climate data has clearly showed no warming for the past two decades. The American people have every right to be suspicious when NOAA alters data to get the politically correct results they want and then refuses to reveal how those decisions were made.
SOURCES: Washington Post and The Hill

The Watchdog is at the Door!

So-called ‘dumb’ oil deal ready to flow through Washington, D.C.
As Raye Miller plainly sees it, a move by the federal government to sell 8 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to raise $3 billion to $5 billion is “a dumb idea.”  Miller is president of Regeneration Energy Corp. in Artesia, New Mexico and a veteran oil man, whose business has a “whopping number of four employees.” Miller has seen his share of twists and turns in the Permian Basin, as well as the ups and the downs that characterize this tumultuous industry.  “If they were going to take it out, they should have at least considered doing it at high prices instead of selling it out at $40 a barrel,” Miller told Watchdog.org.  One provision in a proposed deal reached by the White House and congressional leaders Monday night includes tapping the strategic reserve to help shore up the budget.

3 reasons why North Dakota filed its own lawsuit against Obama’s Clean Power Plan

Almost immediately after the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan was posted on the federal register, dozens of states filed a lawsuit challenging the regulations.  But North Dakota didn’t join those other states as co-plaintiffs. Instead Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, a Republican who is expected to run for governor in 2016, filed a separate suit against the federal government.  The Clean Power Plan requires a 32 percent nationwide decline in carbon emissions from power production by 2030. Stenehjem says there are aspects of the situation that are unique to North Dakota warranting a separate lawsuit.  “We can and often do join other states in these type lawsuits and there are benefits to that,” Stenehjem told Watchdog, “but in this case there were reasons to file separately.”  Final rule ‘quadrupled’ emissions goal…

HUD backs $9.5 million loan on property valued at $3.8 million

The Department of Housing and Urban Development provided a $9.4 million loan guarantee to renovate an apartment complex here eight months after the owner convinced the county to value the complex at just $3.8 million, a Watchdog.org investigation found. The loan for Apollo Village Apartments defaulted and the property was foreclosed on in 2012 with HUD losing as much as $4.5 million on the deal, public trustee records show. Pete Sepp, president of the National Union of Taxpayers, said these government programs put a substantial amount of taxpayer money at risk and should be eliminated.   “Unfortunately, many government loan programs to individual business people aren’t necessarily dictated by the best interests of taxpayers or the laws of the marketplace,” he said after reviewing information Watchdog.org provided him on the loan. “It’s a classic dilemma we see with the federal subsidies programs.”....