Politics

Global Warming: Still More Scam Than Science

More news from the front… GLOBAL WARMING IS OVER, SAYS EXPERT

Before I get into this article… I want to rebut something else that’s been part of this story. It’s being reported that Dr Richard Muller is a long time AGW (anthropomorphic global warming) skeptic and so the fact that he appears to have done a 180 adds to the drama of the story. In fact this is not true at all.. he never was a skeptic.

In an interview about his book back in 08 he was asked what the next president needed to know about GW and he said:

Surely it's Time for Something Better: Ron Paul

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A few quotes come to mind when I think about what Ron Paul and the Tea Party ideals represent.  Churchill said: “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”  It seems the media is once again attempting to pick the Republican candidate much as they did last time around with McCain. The media is trying to focus attention exclusively on Perry and Romney… which reminds me a lot of the bit from Futurama where the two clones John Jackson and Jack Johnson were vying for the presidency. Both of these guys represent the old guard of the republican party.. much as McCain did in 08.  This is not 08 though.. this time the stakes are much, much higher and I for one think it’s time to stop settling for the lesser two evils.. it’s time for something better.

E85 (Ethanol) Sucks!

Two and half years ago I registered the e85sucks.com domain because it was clear to me at that point that the big push for more domestic ethanol production and use was a scam. Now finally the very same people who were pushing it back then have finally come clean that it was a bad idea.  Now there have been plenty of people saying this stuff for years.. but it’s nice to know eventually the truth can be recognized.

Detroit Blows it Again

![](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/5064872555_73a004b445.jpg =320x) How GM “Lied” About The Electric Car Wow… what were they thinking. In summary… it seems the claims that GM has been making for years about the design and performance of the Volt were just out and out lies. They claimed it was a serial hybrid.. meaning the gas engine was just acting as an electrical generator and that the electric motors drove the wheels. That’s a lie. They claimed it would get 230 mpg in city driving and have an initial electric range of 40 miles to cover the average commute.

Spend Spend Spend Spend Spend

![](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4564270555_aa6e489033.jpg =320x) For every 1 billion the federal government spends we (90 million who actually pay federal taxes) will get a bill for $11.11. That’s pretty easy math.. so for instance the additional 57 billion of new ‘stimulus’ last week cost us about $633 each. How much did you earn last week? If they were honest about what they were doing they would send out invoices to all taxpayers every month to cover the new ‘stimulus’.

A Streetcar Named Bankruptcy

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So our illustrious Charlotte city council last night voted to take 25 million of federal money to start a new uptown street car boondoggle.. er I mean transit system.  To avoid confusion with the multitude of pet rail projects around here they decided to end service on the uptown trolley that has been in operation for the last two years.. and which we spent a whopping 40-60 million to create and operate.  The real numbers there are a little hard to come by but we know it was at least 40.. and 60 is more likely.  This “free” federal money for the new street car will be paired with at least 12 million of local money that is going to come not from the 1/2 cent transit sales tax.. but from the general fund.. aka property tax which they promised never to do by the way.

Charlotte Bin Watch – Day 62

![](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1174/4733638662_a5f9961290.jpg =320x) It was 62 days ago that I ask the city of Charlotte to take back their RFID tagged recycling bin. I’m not going to play their game… which if you didn’t know involves tracking your participation in their money losing recycling program… and eventually fines.. and re-education about how to be eco friendly. No thanks little brother. Back when I first posted about this on May 6th (and scooped Taras army of research interns) I also filled out the form on the city web site to take the bin back.

It's a Gusher!

![](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4627621919_088809c7e3.jpg =320x) It strikes me that this oil spill makes a pretty good metaphor for many things wrong right now. Lets see.. we have the treasury gushing new paper money… congress gushing deficit spending… Fannie May and Freddie Mac continuing to gush bad mortgages.. the border gushing with illegal aliens and wanted terrorists.. Europe is gushing bad sovereign debt and socialist anger.. and of course the literal gusher of the oil which the regime administration has done very little to mitigate.

Charlotte Giving Raises While Rome Burns

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Ok.. so maybe Charlotte isn’t Rome.. and while it’s not exactly burning it’s certainly not good out there.  Locally we still have a 12% unemployment rate and according to Civitas NC state government has grown over 12% while private employment has contracted by 1.6% between 01 and 09. Ouch. Tara talked about this during drive time today.. and there was a lot of anger coming her way by people who work for the city. It seems some city employees think they are entitled to yearly raises regardless of what’s going on in the real world and how dare we lowly citizens question that.