Halloween scare: Al Gore gets on his climate warming podium

Just in time for Halloween comes this, from the premier global warming alarmist himself, Al Gore:

Hurricane Sandy is "a disturbing sign of things to come," he said, on his blog. "We must heed this warning and act quickly to solve the climate crisis. Dirty energy makes dirty weather."

Oooh, scarrrryy.

Is there really any man more desperate to prove his relevancy than Gore? He lost the battle of the hanging chad. He lost the moral ground of "family first" with a rumored affair that led to divorce. He lost a large portion of the global warming believing public, as report after report has emerged in recent months highlighting the fallacies of climate change science and findings.

It's to that last, however -- to the global warming argument -- that Gore steadfastly clings.

Why, Al Gore, why?

If it's a hurricane justification that's needed, here's one that beats Gore's.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/us-election-diary-tv-preacher-blames-sandy-on-gay-rights-8262261.html

A biblically based argument that God punishes disobedient nations, versus another Al Gore rant about the need to regulate energy production. Not saying the preacher is right.

But Al Gore's argument is tired. And perhaps other lines of thought could at least be considered.

TSA yanking naked body scanners -- well, some of them

Finally, the Transportation Security Administration is ratcheting back on its controversial naked body scanner program, and pulling the devices from airports nationwide.

From CNBC, Oct. 23:
"The Transportation Security Administration is removing full-body, X-ray scanners from major U.S. airports, and shipping them to less busy locations. TSA introduced the so-called Backscatter scanners, sometimes referred to as the "naked" X-ray machines, at U.S. airports in 2009. Many travelers were not happy that naked images of themselves were displayed to TSA officers in a nearby room. In addition to privacy concerns, travelers were concerned about radiation exposure."

But the catch is in the first sentence. The TSA is not completely stopping the program. Rather, the technology will now be in place at less busy airports.

This whole program has always struck me as a case-in-point of government elitism and hypocrisy. Can you imagine how long these scanners would be in place if Michelle Obama were forced to undergo the scrutiny? Or Obama daughter Malia and Sasha?

Read the full story here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49517858.

But the take-away is this: Government should not be allowed to exempt itself from the very laws and policies that are inflicted upon the American people.

YouTube's 'Ten Curious Micronations'

Can't decide whether this is in the spirit of the Founding Fathers or not ...

But the music sure is catchy!

'Toxic Twenty' list ignores 19 percent drop in toxins

The Natural Resources Defense Council is targeting key electoral swing states in its newly released “Toxic Twenty” list of states it says are most in need of expensive emissions restrictions.

According to NRDC, Kentucky is most in need of costly new emissions restrictions, followed by Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas.

The next 10 states on NRDC’s list are Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Delaware. The list includes almost every swing state in this year’s presidential election, as well as many key U.S. Senate contests.

Attacking Affordable CoalNRDC chose the states primarily on the basis of their use of coal-powered electricity, the most affordable large-scale source of electricity.

Although NRDC releases its “Toxic Twenty” list in an effort to build support for more restrictive emissions standards, the advocacy group admitted toxins emitted from all power plants across the nation fell by 19 percent between 2009 and 2010. NRDC attributed most of the emissions reductions to EPA regulations and recent electricity market share gains by natural gas at the expense of coal.

Abigail F. MacIver, director of policy and external affairs for the Florida office of Americans for Prosperity, says the ongoing emissions reductions are attributable more to market forces than EPA regulations.
 
“The NRDC ignores a number of significant factors including that the level of toxins being omitted by power plants decreased … not because of EPA regulations but because of market forces,” MacIver said. “NRDC also fails to mention that Florida was the third highest consumer of energy in 2010 but 30th in per capita power usage, showing that despite being one of the most populous states, we are using less energy per person than 29 other states.”

MacIver said the NRDC is simply trying to push federal regulation of coal to the point where the industry is driven out of business. Such a tactic is economically destructive and environmentally unnecessary, MacIver said, given already substantial long-term declines in emissions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports emissions of the six principle pollutants have declined by 67 percent since 1980, even while the U.S. population grew by 36 percent.

“What’s interesting is every year, our air and water gets cleaner,” said Mike Thompson, president of Americans for Prosperity for Florida.

Full story here: http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2012/10/04/nrdc-toxic-twenty-list-disregards-air-pollution-improvements

Watchdog group: The 7.8 percent just doesn't add up

Americans for Limited Government issued this statement, on the heels of Friday's September shocker of 7.8 percent unemployment:

"Today’s unemployment report met the political threshold set by Obama of being below 8 percent. To reach this threshold, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics found that an astounding 873,000 people found full-time jobs last month. This finding contradicts virtually every other economic indicator including those used by the Federal Reserve to take the immediate and unprecedented step to embark on the Quantitative Easing 3, which entails pumping $40 billion of new dollars into the economy every month for the foreseeable future.

"Additional evidence that the data used to determine the unemployment rate is not valid can be found in the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on the number of actual jobs created. This report shows only 114,000 jobs created including an increase of 10,000 government workers.

"Either the Federal Reserve, which has its fingers on the pulse of every element of the economy, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics manufacturing survey report are grievously wrong or the number used to calculate the unemployment rate are wrong, or worse manipulated. Given that these numbers conveniently meet Obama’s campaign promises one month before the election, the conclusions are obvious."

And ALG's comment on these skewed numbers?

“It appears that Obama has hired infamous Iraqi Information Minister Baghdad Bob to calculate the unemployment rate.  Anyone who takes this unemployment report serious is either naïve or a paid Obama campaign adviser,” says Americans for Limited Government Communications Director Rick Manning, also former Public Affairs Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Labor.

It's the first time the rate has fallen below 8 percent since February of 2009. And certainly, it was a shocker. Most lead-up reports to the BLS release of numbers estimated the rate would actually edge up, from 8.1 percent to 8.2 percent. At best, it would stay the same, analysts predicted. Moreover, smart money's already on the revised numbers hitting around the 8.2 percent mark.

In other words, suspicions of politics at play are definitely warranted.

See the full release here: http://getliberty.org/unemployment-rate-contradicted-by-job-growth-report/









 

Social Security and the Baby Boomer effect: It's kicking in now

The federal government hit a new high in Social Security old age and disability benefit payments a full month before the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

By the end of August – and with a month to go in the fiscal year – the government had paid out just under $595 billion in benefits from the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund. In all of fiscal 2011, by comparison, OASITF payments stood at about $591 billion.

Payments for federal disability insurance benefits also set an annual record in the first 11 months of fiscal 2012.

Through the end of August, the federal government had paid $129.126 billion in benefits from the federal disability insurance trust fund. Through all of fiscal 2011, the government paid $128.094 in disability benefits.

In fiscal 2010, the government spent $123.038 on disability benefits; in fiscal 2009, it was $115.086 billion; in fiscal 2008, it was $104.328 billion; and in fiscal 2007, $97.061.

The data are taken from the Monthly Treasury Statement for September 2012.

As dramatic as the numbers seem, however, at least one expert advises calm. Lawrence Hunter, president of the Social Security Institute, a non-profit group dedicated to reforming the system, says 2012 is a difficult year to compare with past years of benefit payouts. That’s due to expected bounces from the Baby Boomer effect, he said.

“First, 2012 is an ‘odd’ year in that there is an unusual bulge in the growth in Social Security recipients, and hence benefits paid this year, 2012,” Hunter said. “This was not a surprise, and it is a result of the beginning retirement of the ‘pig in the python,’ that is, the Baby Boomers. In other words, this increase is not due to something wacky or unexpected or unusual going on.”

At the same time, he added, the numbers do continue to point out the crucial need to overhaul Social Security.

“This is not to say the program is not out of actuarial balance over the long run,” he said. “Congress’s appalling handling of Social Security makes Hoffa’s misuse of Teamster pension fund monies pale by comparison. Just because it’s Congress, however, doesn’t make it any less criminal than what Hoffa and company did.”

Jason Fichtner also wasn’t surprised at the growing Social Security payout but warned, “But what might be surprising to people is to know that it’s just going to continue to get worse.”

Fichtner is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and formerly held several positions at the Social Security Administration including acting deputy commissioner, chief economist, and associate commissioner for retirement policy.

“For the past two years, the amount of money Social Security has been collecting based on payroll tax contributions alone has not been enough to pay the outgoing benefit payments,” Fichtner said. “In other words, Social Security is now ‘cash-flow negative’ and is projected to stay in a cash-flow deficit until the trust funds are exhausted in 2033.”

Read full story here: http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2012/10/02/social-security-old-age-disability-benefits-hit-record-high