Antarctic Cold, Arctic Warm But Not Record

Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis | Sea ice data updated daily with one-day lag:



It looks like the Warmists might do a report or two on ice melt in the Arctic, but if you look at the graphs, it is well less than 2012 and staying in the "standard deviation range".



The Antarctic would be another story though if these records were on the opposite side of what they are -- sea ice is possibly going to break an "all-time" high extent record (satellite observation, those are strongly weighted to the recent part of the last 100K years). This will not be due any coverage.

 "On July 1, Antarctic sea ice extent was at 16.16 million square kilometers (6.24 million square miles), or 1.37 million square kilometers (529,000 square miles) above the 1981 to 2010 average. More notably, sea ice extent on that date was 760,000 square kilometers (293,000 square miles) higher than the 2013 extent for the same day, and thus is on pace to possibly surpass the record high extent over the period of satellite observations that was recorded last September. 

For June, sea ice concentration and extent were higher than average for the Amundsen, Southern Indian Ocean, and far southern Atlantic (Weddell and eastward) sectors. (See Antarctic reference map.) The regions on either side of the Antarctic Peninsula were among the few sections with lower-than-average concentration and lower sea ice extent. 

Cooler-than-average ocean conditions are present near the ice edge along the Wilkes Land, Amundsen Sea, and Weddell Sea ice edge, which will favor continued expansion of sea ice in these areas.

Weather patterns over Antarctica during June were characterized by a strong low-pressure pattern over the Amundsen Sea, and lower-than-average air temperatures (1 to 6 degrees Celsius, or 2 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit below average) in the same region. Cool conditions (2 to 3 degrees Celsius or 4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit below average) surrounded most of the coastal areas of the Antarctic, with the exception of the Peninsula region where, as has also been seen in the first two weeks of July, northerly winds brought warmer-than-average conditions and reduced sea ice extent.

"

'via Blog this'

Pelosi Gone Wild, Turnabout?

House Minority Leader Pelosi Confronts Rep. Marino Over Comments | Fox News Insider:

The MSM has given this very little coverage for obvious reasons. We have seen examples in the past of less egregious breaks of decorum with massive outcry from the MSM calling for "apology", "resignation", "censure", etc. when a Republican is the instigator. I believe a Congressman that not all that loudly mentioned the obvious -- that BO was lying, obvious because he was moving his lips, was rather thoroughly tried in the media.

Let's see, when BO said "If you like your healthcare you can keep it", what is it that he was doing?

We no doubt see such outcry again, it just has to be a Republican that gets angry or speaks "truth to power". Now there was a common phrase of the W years that somehow seems strangely missing these days!

'via Blog this'

History Started in 1960

George Packer on Rick Perlstein’s “The Invisible Bridge”:

An interesting little column to understand the liberal view of the world. Things were OK through the '60s, then there was "the rise of the right" and everything has been sketchy ever since.

One could take an alternate view that America was generally dealing with history and it's own problems in an imperfect but "American" way until say the Wilsonian version of "progressivism".  It lurched hard left in the '30s, partially corrected itself in the '50s, then lurched hard left again in the '60s ... the '70s were indeed a time of "what do we do now, who are we"? Reagan gave us a brief reprieve that mostly lasted up to '06 and since then we have lurched hard left again -- back to at least the '70s, and really worse.

But that isn't how the left sees it ... there is some sort of "cosmic progress" ordered in the same way as the inevitability of communism as per Marx that inherently moves nations to more and more centralized statist control -- and that is good (from their POV). Both inevitable and good -- except for evil. Conservatives -- the past is inherently bad, the future is inevitably good -- with the exception of those horrid "divisive" conservative voices. Eventually, they always have to be silenced.

In other ways, though, the conservative agenda of Goldwater, Nixon, and Reagan never took. If we see the seventies not as an apocalyptic war between two Americas but as a time of profound uncertainty, in which conflict and contradiction were found just as often within as between Americans, it’s possible to imagine the country, at the end of the decade, turning for inspiration to a vision quite different from Reagan’s brand of denial. His vision was the one on offer—but a majority of the country didn’t vote for the destruction of blue-collar America in 1980, or the creation of a new plutocracy, or the rigging of legislation in favor of organized money. Most Americans still want their social programs kept intact, dislike being told how to conduct their private lives, and don’t want their country to go looking for foreign dragons to slay. What Perlstein calls the “cult of official optimism,” founded by Reagan, requires our leaders, including Barack Obama, to genuflect ritually before America the innocent. That rhetoric has grown extremely thin, however—not many Americans these days are optimistic. Reagan won, but the seventies never ended. 

Somehow they seem to have figured out that we have returned to the 1970's -- but their view is that it is this "divide" that is the issue. Politics is the ultimate force in the "progressive" brain -- only possibly inferior to the mysterious universal force driving all nations inevitably to centralized ultimate control of which the left is certain is completely benign -- pay no attention to the 100's of millions murdered by Fascism and Communism in the 20th century. The mysterious force will get it right this time ... if only the voices of conservatives can be silenced.

'via Blog this'

Biting The Hand That Feeds

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/01/opinion/kohn-market-basket-protests/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

First of all, I know NOTHING about Market Basket -- history, current situation and business model, etc.

I do know what organized crime and government has known forever -- you can pay people off to do what you want! Calling it "The Chicago Way" is as good as any ... it has been true from Al Capone to Rahm Emanuel, and it will be true forever.

Our founders knew it to be true, which is why they wanted to make sure that government was heavily hobbled in it's ability to reward it's "friends" and punish it's "enemies".

Certainly Market Basket may be 100% in the wrong ... in which case employees and customers have every right to abandon them. That is how the market works.

It could be that Market Basket was more generous with employees than made sense and now some of them feel "entitled". They are not. It could be that $40K for a  cashier is over the top and $30K would serve as well ... or maybe not. That is up to them to discover.

I'm willing to bet that the author of the column knows no more than I, but they seem very certain that they do.

Roses Are Red, Prosperity Comes From Innovation and Investment

EDITORIAL: Another economic bubble about to burst? - Washington Times:



We are at one of those many points in history where people are willing to believe anything rather than plain old facts.



Predicted warming of a couple degrees in 100 years? Total belief, let's go nuts!



Fancy new health care plan with thousands of pages of law, endless executive extra-constitutional tweaking and special favors? Everybody must love it ... or be racists.

True prosperity comes from innovation and investment. When labor is more productive, it’s worth it for employers to boost paychecks.

Nah, that sounds like a wild one! Must have been created by Fox News or the nasty R's in congress!



Generally a good article about the fact that productivity is actually falling while the government is artificially increasing the cost of workers as well as having created a new FHA bubble -- they backed 6% of loans in '06, 44% now, and BO is pushing them to do more.



Ah, the sound of "dissonance" -- much like that air of tension before the old rubber balloon goes boom and everyone is ? suprised??

The increasing dissonance between the stagnation in productivity and the bullish stock market suggests that an asset bubble is in the making, inflated by the Fed’s running the printing presses and the Federal Housing Administration’s goosing of the housing sector. The tax man’s greed and the bureaucrat’s hostile rules are likely to prick that bubble.

'via Blog this'

BO Declares Homes Under Water a Good Thing

Obama’s Weekly Address Suggests He Has No Idea What’s Happened During His Presidency:

At about 25 sec into this mess BO declares that "your homes are underwater" as part of the rest of the "good lies". Oh, I'm sure it is just a gaffe -- if W made such a gaffe THE STORY would be "just how stupid is he really?"

We all know why unemployment is low -- nobody is even trying to work. Job participation is down over 3 full percentage points, which means that would have to be ADDED to the unemployment rate in an honest world.

Sure, the stock market and thus 401Ks are up on the printing of $85B a month for years now + essentially no interest on savings. The Feds have cooked the inflation books by using the reality of "Your Homes are Underwater" as the anti-inflation cheat. You know your grocery bills, fuel bills, electric bills, what a hotel room costs if you can afford to travel at all -- inflation is happening.

"let's embrace an economic patriotism that says that rise or fall together" -- We already KNOW that answer and it is FALL ... FALLING, FALLEN ... we have FALLEN already and we are falling fast! Look at the income chart in the article and it would be WORSE if the top wasn't doing as good as it is!

This guy is destroying our nation right before our eyes and the vast majority of people are just too blind to even see the plain truth in front of their noses!



'via Blog this'

A Third of Americans Delinquent on Debt

A third of Americans delinquent on debt:

Now this is news that is not really news! Naturally like all statistics, some of these folks have some bills that "got lost" and went into collections and may be able to pay. It however doesn't include such things as the infamous "payroll loans", so it may be even worse, who knows?

I also ran into this little gem of job switch from '90 to '13 . Essentially, most of the people still working are working in healthcare. Not a lot of news there either from a town where in '90 something like 7K were working at IBM and maybe 10K at Mayo. Today less than 2K are at IBM and slipping fast, while Mayo is 35K and rising.

We are a nation something like 17T in debt with something like 60T in unfunded liabilities for FICA, Medicare and now BOcare coming due over the next 20-30 years.

On top of that, our people are largely operating on debt because they have an extreme belief that they are entitled -- not surprisingly since that is what our schools teach and is pounded into their heads every day by the MSM and The Party (Democrat). Something less than 25% of age 50 people even have a positive net worth, let alone being on any path to anything but being a ward of the state when they can't work.

The "whys" here are pretty obvious, but we will cover them again:

EVERYaction that government takes as MANY at least supposedly unintended (or at least hidden) effects.

• FICA leads people to believe that they need to do less for their retirement -- so they work less,  save less, etc. 
• Medicare put a huge amount of guaranteed money into healthcare for the elderly -- so the medical industry is incented to come up with ways to get that money. The results are similar to throwing an ever increasing amount of gasoline on a fire. 
• BOcare will do the same thing as medicare for the general population as it gets moving. 
• BOcare will also do what the combination of welfare and high tax rates do. It is mostly a transfer of wealth from those that make more than the subsidy values to those that make less ... so people will increasingly target making less money in order to get the subsidy. (and the government will borrow an increasing amount to pay the subsidy) 

This is of course only the very tip of the iceberg, and ONLY the extremely limited effects that can be discerned by destruction of the natural desire of people to compete, succeed, be responsible, etc.

The US has the highest corporate taxes in the world, PLUS, we are the ONLY nation that taxes profits made in other nations! Other than our historical stability relative to social unrest and out and out nationalization of business, we have become the worst place to do business on the planet!

Unsurprisingly, we have a LOT less business -- but we DO have a TON of "healthcare" ... funded largely by government debt.

Environmentalists have been telling us about all sorts of things being "unsustainable" since Malthus -- we have been "out of trees", "out of oil", "out of water", "out of cropland", etc, etc for 100's of years according to their calculations -- who knows, they may eventually be right.  Currently the big deal is "Global Warming" (or climate change, or climate disruption -- depending on how cold it is).

They say that "in a hundred years", the temp will be "something between a few tenths of a degree to maybe as much as a couple degrees" warmer ... and that is a catastrophe. Maybe so.

My prediction is that in 5, 10, or maybe if you are a REAL optimist, 20 years, the "Government bubble" will burst, because fewer and fewer people working at all, those that are working being mostly in healthcare, and paying for those few working with ever larger piles of debt is not "sustainable".

I'm just a curmudgeon I guess.

'via Blog this'

Rich People Vote Their Self Interest, The Making of a Dependent

I was poor, but a GOP die-hard: How I finally left the politics of shame - Salon.com:

This column does a good job of covering many of the official mottos of "progressivism"

1. You have a RIGHT to free stuff -- income, education, healthcare, home, food, recreation, cell phone, you name it! 
2. Nothing bad that happens is your fault, nor the fault of "The Party" (Democrat) ... all bad stuff is due to "rich people", "Republicans", "Big Business", etc ... there is no such thing as "responsibility" for TP or TP members in good standing! 
3. Your "responsibility" begins and ends with voting TP! It shows you are "good, smart, correct, popular, etc" ... all the good stuff. All you need to know is VOTE TP! 

 They crash companies, loot pensions and destroy banks, and when they hit a snag, they scream to be rescued by government largess.  By contrast, I continued to pay my oversize mortgage for years, even as my home lost more than half its value.  I viewed my bad investment as yet another moral failure.  When it comes to voting and investing, rich people make calculated decisions, while regular people make “emotional” and “moral” ones.  Despite growing self-awareness, I pushed away reality for another election cycle.

One of the tough parts of the world is "de-referencing" the "they" ... in programming or internet activities, you need to do something like take "www.cnn.com" and convert it to something like 157.166.226.25 (DNS does this) ... in programming it is usually converting some "name" or "object" into an actual 32 or 64-bit memory location. 

So who are "they"? The writer wants to convince you that "they" are "Republicans" or "big business", but the whole "TARP" was engineered by a total control Democrat ( THE Party ) congress and BO! W was the lamest of lame ducks at that point -- so in fact, THE PARTY was the central power in buying out all the bad paper that the financial organizations had. 

Basically, "rich people" ARE "The Party" -- the smoke screen is that they are willing to give those willing to kiss the ring of lefty power a "basic living" ... maybe say 1K sq ft of living space, a smart phone, internet and a flat screen of say "50 inches" plus US Postal Health Care + mass quantities of mac and cheese to munch on and stay "comfortable".

Just how much is "guilt" worth? What is being given up is the idea that you are an independent and capable person that refuses to live in the "liberal" box.  But the author of the article finds the guilt of having to take responsibility for your actions to ultimately be too much, and is willing to become a docile and guiltless ward of "The Party". 

I'm sure they will treat him "fairly". 
'via Blog this'

Is Pot Legal Nationally, Is Colorado Stupid, Or Is Joni Earnst?

Exclusive: GOP Senate Candidate Caught Saying States Can Nullify Laws - The Daily Beast:

We could have a good long discussion of the 10th amendment, States Rights and the Constitution in general ... or we could just look at the case of Pot.

Is Pot still illegal Federally? I think the answer to that is pretty simple.

So what did Colorado and now Washington do? They effectively nullified a Federal law in their state.

The writers of this column are just fine with that I'm sure -- let Feds like BO look the other way as Federal Laws that they they are sworn to protect but happen to not like much are nullified. They get to pick and choose -- which is completely unconstitutional, but they get to pick that too!

Joni Earnst is "stupid" because she doesn't understand that following the Constitution is completely optional for the left, but completely NOT optional for the right!

There we have it ... completely simple!







'via Blog this'

We Demand A Single Choiceless World Government!

Inversion Therapy for Liberals | Power Line:

Good column, the punchline is very old though. The USSR understood that as long as there were alternatives to their system in the world, their system was in grave danger. Eventually you have to build walls to keep your people IN!

"Liberals" abhor actual choice -- because if people are allowed to choose, those that are productive and make money will avoid the system that the "liberals" think is "just". Their idea of "justice" can only ultimately be enforced by a gun -- so they want to make certain that they have them and nobody else does. People that actually practice and are able to operate independently are a very nasty obstacle to the "liberal" agenda that demands that the sheep bleat approvingly at any nostrum that the leftist shepherds trumpet.

"We need the revenue" indeed!

'via Blog this'

Gun Control In Action, The Chicago Way

How Gun Control Works In Chicago – 22 Shot In 12 Hours:



22 shot in 12 hours, 60 shot over the 4th weekend. Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in the nation -- and it works exactly like one would expect! The criminals have a lot of guns and use them with impunity and those that follow the law and do not have guns bleed and die.



'via Blog this'

45 Years Ago, The Pinnacle and The Premonition

Forty five years ago I was a 12 year old with only one thing on my mind. THE MOON! America was the nation that took on the USSR, and even though no US politician had really had the guts to say it yet, we knew in our hearts it was indeed an "Evil Empire" and eventually it would be "them or us".

Politics were FAR from my mind while in giddy excitement and a good deal of anxiety I listened to the crackly voices from Eagle as it descended to the lunar surface. We were still a Christian Nation -- there were a lot of prayers going up from the USA for a successful mission that evening. I'd felt and heard nothing but joy the previous Christmas while Jim Lovell and the crew of Apollo 8 had read from Genesis 1 while circling the moon. We knew our place in the universe -- America was great, but God was greater.

At age 12, Chappaquiddick didn't register ... (nor does it STILL register on Google spellcheck!) America was at it's pinnacle, but just like I'm sure Egypt never recognized it when they built the pyramids, Greece when they built the Parthenon, nor Rome when Hadrian reconstructed the Pantheon in like 125 BC, the seeds of our destruction were well planted.

Our nation was at once so just, so capable, so dedicated and so focused that we could go to the moon and back multiple times in that era. We were also so corrupt, venal and disgusting that we could allow a sitting US Senator to effectively murder a young woman on his staff and not report it until the next morning, YET, still continue in what was once  "The Greatest Deliberative Body" for nearly 40 years beyond his crime!

"Justice is mine saith the Lord". People ask "Why are we so divided today"? Look at the Moon and remember what we once were. In those couple days, July 18-20 1969 we see the greatness of America and it's demise, clearly and plainly laid out for any that want to see.

But mostly, we as a nation do NOT want to see, so we are "divided". Unless a people is willing to accept a higher power than themselves and their nation -- even a nation that builds the Pyramids, the Parthenon, the Pantheon, or yes, goes to the Moon, it is doomed.

History shows that nations can be great without Christ being in that position (USSR, China). Although Western civilization and especially the USA did reach the absolute pinnacle of what was possible for human kind -- in technology, power both economic and military, and more importantly vastly superior opportunity, justice and living standards for even the poorest citizens.

Nations require some version of "we hold these truths to be SELF EVIDENT". Human leaders are mortal and often corrupt. Even the good ones die, and the bad ones MUST be replaced and identified as FAILED quickly and surely, or the rot expands and destroys all that was once great.

I'm so thankful to have been alive to experience the landing in '69, and to have been too young to even care about the premonition. To have been alive to see and feel what was and is possible for a great nation with purpose, meaning and FAITH! How sad to see how far we have fallen. The moon? We can't even put a man in orbit 45 years later.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" -- and losing that fear is the end.

Pond Elation

19 days since "Pond Depression". The rain generally shut off, the weather improved and the Water Feature is at like "85%" ... needs to be integrated better with the yard, path around the house needs to be finished off ... oh, it will be endless.

BUT, it sounds really nice, the water has cleared up, lots of plants have gone in around it (Thanks Marla!) and a few in it. There are low voltage lights around it (and in it).

Probably take the day off tomorrow and get the boat out on the river. As they used to say on the old "A-Team" show, "I love it when a plan comes together"!

Lots of sweat, lots of head scratching, a bit of cursing -- but IT IS ALIVE!

The Bear, The Cub and The Weasel

Funny-Because-It’s-True: Dan Bongino Zings Obama’s Absurd Nickname ‘The Bear’ with the Perfect Tweet:

BO thinks he needs a signature animal to go with his signature namesake stench. He has personally chosen "The Bear". Say what?

Some folks like to hang the "Bear" moniker on me -- school mascot Bear and large, but I'm not nearly aggressive or fearsome enough. Thus "Moose" ... need to shop at special "Moose Store" not for puny humans. Large "antlers" (ears stick out) ... generally docile, unobtrusive, dull witted, exceptionally good looking -- certainly "Moose" is the obvious choice!

"Bear" for BO??? Well, maybe "Cub", but even that seems really wrong. Cubs are nice, cuddly, cute and have the potential to grow into something fearsome -- BO has none of that. BO has a gigantic ego completely outsized for his "accomplishments" (TWO Bios before age 50?) Certifiable narcissism. He is a super sneak and a liar and has that long "whiny slinky look". A weasel is always going to blame someone else and never stand up and be counted. I rest my case!

No doubt in my mind "Weasel" is DEFINITELY the right animal for BO!

It is hard to even imagine how much derision any R president today would get if they tried to identify themselves with an animal!

Not to say it isn't fun sometimes  TR "Teddy" Roosevelt -- the R in name only that was the first major "progressive" was famously the foundation for the "Teddy Bear".

'via Blog this'

United 232, Back When We Were the Home of the Brave

United 232 and the Miracle in a Cornfield | RealClearPolitics:



 Nowadays, commercial airliners crash on clear days with everything operating flawlessly because the pilots are unable to execute a straight in approach without instruments.



We have come a long way baby ... well worth the read.



'via Blog this'