from The Washington Post
The ‘Cap And Tax’ Dead End
By Sarah Palin
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
There is no shortage of threats to our economy. America’s unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing. Worries are widespread that even when the economy finally rebounds, the recovery won’t bring jobs. Our nation’s debt is unsustainable, and the federal government’s reach into the private sector is unprecedented.
Unfortunately, many in the national media would rather focus on the personality-driven political gossip of the day than on the gravity of these challenges. So, at risk of disappointing the chattering class, let me make clear what is foremost on my mind and where my focus will be:
I am deeply concerned about President Obama’s cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy. It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage.
American prosperity has always been driven by the steady supply of abundant, affordable energy. Particularly in Alaska, we understand the inherent link between energy and prosperity, energy and opportunity, and energy and security. Consequently, many of us in this huge, energy-rich state recognize that the president’s cap-and-trade energy tax would adversely affect every aspect of the U.S. economy.
There is no denying that as the world becomes more industrialized, we need to reform our energy policy and become less dependent on foreign energy sources. But the answer doesn’t lie in making energy scarcer and more expensive! Those who understand the issue know we can meet our energy needs and environmental challenges without destroying America’s economy.
Job losses are so certain under this new cap-and-tax plan that it includes a provision accommodating newly unemployed workers from the resulting dried-up energy sector, to the tune of $4.2 billion over eight years. So much for creating jobs.
In addition to immediately increasing unemployment in the energy sector, even more American jobs will be threatened by the rising cost of doing business under the cap-and-tax plan. For example, the cost of farming will certainly increase, driving down farm incomes while driving up grocery prices. The costs of manufacturing, warehousing and transportation will also increase.
The ironic beauty in this plan? Soon, even the most ardent liberal will understand supply-side economics.
The Americans hit hardest will be those already struggling to make ends meet. As the president eloquently puts it, their electricity bills will “necessarily skyrocket.” So much for not raising taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year.
Even Warren Buffett, an ardent Obama supporter, admitted that under the cap-and-tax scheme, “poor people are going to pay a lot more for electricity.”
We must move in a new direction. We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil. Just as important, we have more desire and ability to protect the environment than any foreign nation from which we purchase energy today.
In Alaska, we are progressing on the largest private-sector energy project in history. Our 3,000-mile natural gas pipeline will transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of our clean natural gas to hungry markets across America. We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if ever given the go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats.
Of course, Alaska is not the sole source of American energy. Many states have abundant coal, whose technology is continuously making it into a cleaner energy source. Westerners literally sit on mountains of oil and gas, and every state can consider the possibility of nuclear energy.
We have an important choice to make. Do we want to control our energy supply and its environmental impact? Or, do we want to outsource it to China, Russia and Saudi Arabia? Make no mistake: President Obama’s plan will result in the latter.
For so many reasons, we can’t afford to kill responsible domestic energy production or clobber every American consumer with higher prices.
Can America produce more of its own energy through strategic investments that protect the environment, revive our economy and secure our nation?
Yes, we can. Just not with Barack Obama’s energy cap-and-tax plan.
The writer, a Republican, is governor of Alaska.
Maybe I could vote for her after all.
The left hates her … the Republican establishment hates her, the press hates her … good enough for me!
Wow, too bad she couldn’t have gotten this speech out about a year ago.
I see the Obama empire lasting one term, then even the Dems will vote Republican to toss them out. Obama is like a super-novae, seen today, gone tomorrow.
crosspatch (21:41:55) :
I can count on your vote then.None of those people like me either.
🙂 She can come and hang out with us teabagging rednecks anytime. Sarah is Sarah.. many of us respect her as a real human being, a refreshing change from all the corrupt posers in Washington today. Haters of her will trash her family , her looks, just about anything they can to avoid talking about her beliefs or political ideals. Anthony you are very brave for posting that here. The mere mention of her name envokes the nuttys comming out of the woodwork.
All I can say.. I agree entirely.
Agreed crosspatch – less government can also mean that your just not like every other politician and have a completely different perspective on what government can be, should be, etc.
I think she is on a different path… So far, she has my vote !
I’d vote for Sarah Palin, and I’m not an American (or Alaskan)
On Election Day 2008 Sarah Palin had more executive experience than the sum of McCain+Biden+Obambi, and yet the state-run media kept telling us how inexperienced she was.
Can we get a do-over?
Palin 2012!
We have seen Palin go from a AGW denier to an (modest and reserved but still…) AGW believer within a fortnight when she joined McCain in his hopeless campaign for the White House.
Despite her call “drill baby drill”, the big question is “can we trust her”?
As the UN has already surprised us with the AGW scam and a constant drive for Global governance and control, former US Presidents have been extremely reluctant in signing UN treaties.
They new any UN Treaty would undermine the US power base and feed a corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy.
According to the following publication, Palin has supported Obama’s ambitious UN Treaty Agenda. http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/12742
When the current Canadian Prime Minister Harper was in the heat of his election campaign, he stated that he would role back all climate legislation introduced by the former Government.
Now, comfortably in power, he not only supports the G8 Climate Agenda but also makes a push for Global Governance by the UN.
So, I repeat my question. Can she be trusted?
I think this is a legitimate question we should ask any person aiming at the White House before any vote is cast.
Many of the people who voted for Obama are already fed up with the “change” and out of a job.
I don’t think she should ever run for public office again. Why offer up herself and her family to the proponents of socialism and world government? She should stay in the role she is now in and skewer all the goof balls in government, media, and Hollywood. Sort of like that “whack-a-mole” game. Some of the rest of her time should be used to give speeches for a large fee to the same people. In her spare time she can hunt, fish, enjoy life and family. I think she can do more good in such a role than if she tries to lead. Look at the circus they have in Alaska and what a distraction it is. I think she has chosen an excellent path and can enjoy it. I’ll enjoy watching.
Ms. Palin is correct on this issue, but as an Alaskan I am not impressed with her leadership and political decision making. When it comes to demonstrating scientific literacy, I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created in seven days.
Note that unlike the GOP, she refuses to even use phrases like ‘carbon emissions’ and ‘climate change’. How refreshing!
Well-stated essay by Palin.
However, the knee-jerk reaction to her has gone so far into the depths of unpleasantness; so much that she could tell people their house was on fire and they would only say something bad about her rather than even notice the smoke.
It’s “shoot the messenger” x1000.
“We have seen Palin go from a AGW denier to an (modest and reserved but still…) AGW believer within a fortnight…”
She is a GW believer but an AGW skeptic, as we all are.
crosspatch (21:41:55) :
The left hates her … the Republican establishment hates her, the press hates her.
That could be why she’s allowed to state the obvious.
A lot of folks thought she was unprepared to lead the nation this election (be as it may she would have been VP).
Couple of years can make a big difference.
I have to agree with her summary.
Cap & Trade will be an astronomical mistake, and a deep self-inflicted wound for which there is no good reason.
You betcha.
“I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created in seven days.”
[snip] she doesn’t believe that.
Hmmm… she could just well be shooting herself in the foot with this one.
“the big question is ‘can we trust her’?”
Why hold her to a higher standard than any other politician?
I like Sarah Palin, but I’m not convinced the “dependence on foreign energy” bugaboo is the right policy button to push. There is no reason to cease buying foreign energy products if their market value is far cheaper than similar domestic products would be. If the West stopped buying energy from the Middle East, the place would turn into a huge killing ground very quickly. We have an important national security interest in maintaining some kind of stability in the Middle East. Oil revenues support political stability and promote economic growth in that region. We don’t want those positive outcomes to be extinguished.
Furthermore, the US buys much of its oil from Mexico and Canada so the claim that we are financing terrorists by buying huge amounts of oil from nations that tolerate, foster or finance terrorism is clearly exaggerated.
Our nation’s domestic oil reserves are best left undeveloped to be relied upon in the case of a catastrophic world crisis, the probability of which is much greater now than it was two years ago.
“, but as an Alaskan I am not impressed with her leadership and political decision making”
It is somewhat amusing that she enjoyed something like an 80% approval rating until she accepted the nomination for vice president.
Ron de Haan (22:01:27) :
Given how bad Cap & Trade will damage the US, the GOP is listening to sound reasoning. They are the political opposition to this, and the best hope there is to avoid ensuing calamity.
Can we trust her?
2011 is a long way off.
For now, it’s a fight in the trenches, and we need all the help we can get.
I can’t think of anything better for Sarah Palin to do than lead, and champion, a Republican rejection of AGW and the destructive left wing movement driving cap and trade policies.
How could the Al Gore Team refuse to debate the Palin Team? After all Palin is supposed to be an ignorant fool?
The left would come unhinged attacking Palin as their centerpiece Global Warming collapses.
There is no human caused global warming and the movement will eventually collapse.
Molon Labe (22:09:05) :
“I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created in seven days.”
I looked in to that issue for myself when it first surfaced.
I found it is a straw man.
Was this her first stump speech for 2012 ?
I remember that Barak Obama was concerned about her before the 08 election. She got in his head.
“the big question is ‘can we trust her’?”
Why hold her to a higher standard than any other politician?
LOL !
nvw (22:04:08) wrote:
Ms. Palin is correct on this issue, but as an Alaskan I am not impressed with her leadership and political decision making. When it comes to demonstrating scientific literacy, I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created in seven days.
——————————————————————
That’s an attack on her religion, and not really relevant to what she has written here. I think her scientific and economic literacy are evident in the content of her op-ed. Why don’t you respond to what she’s written and not to what’s been written about her?
nvw
Not a strawman, not an attack on religion, but in fact simply a fabrication, an untruth, a non-fact, a distortion, in essence, a lie.
Wow! I wish we had someone like her in the UK.
O/T quote:
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” — Goethe
Ron de Haan
Harper has a minority government that can be toppled on ANY pretense. Shutting down the discussion would be political suicide… and not at the “next election”, immediately. There are no defined terms in Canada.
Harper is doing the right thing. Keeping the entire topic on the back burner, and not making outrageous claims or attempting to impose draconian laws. Canadians were brainwashed very effectively by previous governments, and actually seem to believe the leftist spew.
Elizabeth (22:10:05) :
Hmmm… she could just well be shooting herself in the foot with this one.
Or she could finally be saying what most are wishing a politician should have been saying.
Why don’t you respond to what she’s written and not to what’s been written about her?
Nice way to put it.
“Not a strawman, not an attack on religion, but in fact simply a fabrication, an untruth, a non-fact, a distortion, in essence, a lie.”
And that is what Palin has had to put up with this whole time. It started with an email that was basically idle gossip that the major news organizations spread as fact until it turned out that none of the tidbits were true. Time after time the items reported as “facts” in the news have been shown to be false. This was right up to when she resigned and it was reported that she was under some sort of investigation by the FBI. These allegations were reported by major news outlets without any checking whatsoever. The FBI came out the next day and said the accusations were false. That was not as widely reported as the original accusations were.
The American left has a penchant for what is called “shut up” politics. If they do not like your message, they attack you personally in order to shut you up and in order to discourage others from speaking out. The messages is “if you speak out, we will do this to you, too”. Politicians on the left do not have to worry about a critical press. Nobody will investigate them. Their misdeeds, even if caught, will be suppressed and only the bare minimum possible reported … usually omitting the political party. How many have heard anything in the major media recently about the Jefferson trial? He was caught red handed with $90,000 in bribe money in 2005. He was allowed to keep his seat in Congress until the voters in his district threw him out last year. You think the press would be so silent of Palin were caught with $90,000 in bribe money in her freezer?
The message is they will twist, distort, lie, repeat gossip, not check stories, not report corrections, never apologize and aim to destroy any individual who attempts to speak a message counter to theirs. The left in this country is despicable, in my personal opinion, in how they go about furthering their cause.
Palin is very courageous not to back down and to hold their feet to the fire for their deeds. She will probably be one of the few voices we can count on in the upcoming mid-term elections to “speak truth to power”.
Palin 2012!! For real?
Probably. The question is, who will she be running against? Now that’s the truly interesting question in light of today’s court ruling against Obama.
In another eligibility case in which the judge ordered hearings to procede, the procedural methods that have worked in the past to shut down other cases have been thrown out and the case will be heard (for the first time) on its merits. But then, you don’t hear of such things from the major media. Let’s see them ignore it when it gets to the discovery phase and documents (real, original long-form birth certificate, passport info, college info, etc.) are ordered released. The rest of this year should be very interesting. And we thought Washington was in an uproar just before Nixon resigned!
As for Palin in 2012 – let’s hope she has a laid back administration with its main focus on cutting spending and jobs – bureaucratic spending & jobs.
As a Brit, I too wish for some ‘naive’ politicians. Politicians that say the obvious and weather the storm of vested interests and leftish hate have a way of showing how far separated governments are from the people or Common Sense.
I’m delighted the Feminists hate her, since they recognize that she doesn’t see men as meal-tickets and she is quite likely to shove their own hypocrisies back in their face. She and her husband would be a breath of fresh air inside the beltway.
You betcha’ indeed.
Why don’t you respond to what she’s written and not to what’s been written about her?
I’m one of those rare Democrats who doesn’t buy the AGW mantra in any way shape or form, and the cap and trade tax may end my 30+yr voting for Dems into actively supporting Republicans. I feel that strongly. For the time being, however, I’m still quite partisan and freely admit my bias against Ms. Palin. To that end, I’ll choose to believe she’s only parroting back what material she’s been given. I would shudder to think about her being interviewed on the topic rather than reading from what seems to be a prepared statement.
We are going to see an enormous voter backlash against AGW and Cap and Trade.
To date, voters haven’t any real choice because all major parties in all western countries had supported AGW and C&T. Now we are seeing cracks in this uniformity and voters will flock to parties that espouse scepticism.
BTW, I am reassured that many here see the UN for what it is – probably the most corrupt organization on the planet. It bothers me that people who view their own politicians as venal and corrupt, see the UN as an organization above reproach.
I hope the upshot is governments asking why we let the UN con us like this.
I read the poison and scorn poured on Palin by our own MSM all the while it was fawning and salivating over Obama. Comparing Palin with Obama today she’s standing out like a bright beacon of common sense while Obama cringes in the shadows. No wonder they hate her.
Gene – I agree, she started out saying stuff like this and then apparently the Mc Cain group wanted to try and out Dem the Dem’s and that ain’t happening. [
I like her, straight forward and no crap – if it smells like a rotten fish – it probably is
“We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge”
And of course, any major oil spill will mind it’s business and stay on it’s 2000acre reservation.
Perhaps a middle way with a state run enterprise using private sector knowhow and a substantial reinvestment of profit in stringent procedures and preventative measures might work. But accidents still happen.
Does anyone know the size of the offshore Alaskan reserve? UK North sea oil is just about done.
My bumper sticker suggestion:
“Sarah Save US 2012”
Now she’s my kind of lady.
Palin already made her position clear on this issue. I don’t trust anything she says…
MODERATOR: “…do you support capping carbon emissions?”
PALIN: “I do. I do.” (Transcript)
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/debate.transcript/?iref=mpstoryview
Walt Stone
Give her credit for recognising what good science and policy is. This is something that Obama seems unable to do.
1. Obama doesn’t know what a good budget is.
2. Doesn’t know what a good stimulus package is.
3. Cannot recognise good science
4. Thinks apologising to the world is good foreign policy.
But he does seem to like policy that blatantly intrudes on private lives, rewards like-thinkers and punishes dissidents.
Palin is the last person we want talking about this…
STATE OF ALASKA OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR: ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 238
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/admin-orders/238.html
“I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the State of Alaska, under the authority of art. III, secs. 1 and 24 of the Alaska Constitution establish the Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet to advise the Office of the Governor on the preparation and implementation of an Alaska climate change strategy.
10. the opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Alaska sources.
12. the opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the operations of Alaska state government;
13. the opportunities for Alaska to participate in carbon-trading markets, including the offering of carbon sequestration.”
Her solutions are more of the same state intervention in energy markets. The free market doesn’t need government to do anything but get out of the way.
Her useless pipeline is just something she continue to bring up to try and make herself look good, what it is, is nothing more than government intervention gone wrong.
Alaska lawmakers question gas line’s economics (USA Today)
“The Canadian company won an exclusive state license to build the pipeline under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, and with it up to $500 million in state incentives. Another company, formed by ConocoPhillips and BP PLC, is proposing its own pipeline without the incentives.
The global recession, combined with the new sources of natural gas, are creating surpluses in the Lower 48 that could depress prices for years to come, and possibly stall the Alaska project. Natural gas was trading around $7 per 1,000 cubic feet when the Legislature passed the inducement act in 2007 and briefly soared to more than $10 in 2008, making the project more enticing. But on Wednesday, prices settled at $3.68 per 1,000 cubic feet, and that’s not the only thing dropping. The state budget is facing $1.3 billion shortfalls this year and next.
Still, the gas pipeline will not be in service until 2019 at best and state officials say lawmakers need to focus on a long-term prize that could be the state’s next economic lifeline.
Natural gas is plentiful in the Lower 48 and becoming ever more so thanks to new sources like shale to bolster dwindling supplies of conventional gas. In just the last 10 years, more than 20,000 miles of new natural gas pipeline have been built and brought online and another 10,100 miles are planned by 2010, according to the Energy Information Administration. If completed, the nation’s natural gas capacity would jump by more than 38 percent, the EIA said.
Still, no matter how rosy a picture the energy analysts and state officials paint, it’s the big oil companies that hold the leases to Alaska’s gas. And while the two pipeline competitors said they are moving toward a 2010 open season — where it’s hoped that producers will bid on space in the line to ship the gas — it’s not at all certain that will happen. The oil and gas companies have complained that the state’s tax structure and fiscal terms are too uncertain for them to make that 25- to 30-year bet.” – USA Today
This is interesting:
(h/t HotAir)
http://people-press.org/report/528/
What will happen if Obama’s birth certificate proves he’s not born in the US? Will this see him thrown out of office for breaching the rules?
Molon Labe (22:09:05) :
“I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created in seven days.”
Instead, the fact of actual relevence is that despite all lack of science, proof, and valid adverse evidence, Obama and His fellow Cultist AGWer’s still zealously believe that GW resulting from fossil fuel CO2 is certainly going to destroy the Earth – and very soon if not already. Repent, Ye sinners!
h/t Dennis Miller?
Tallbloke: What you have just described is a fascist system, private ownership but with government control. Do you want to live under faschism?
The oil companies know – they aren’t allowed to say what they know, but EVERY single time the media and the guvmint have guessed, they got it waaaaaaaaaay wrong and waaaaaaaay low… So the math I’m doing is multiply what I’ve read by 10 or 20 times. It helps that I majored in Geology for a bit – one of the fundamentals I learned is that locations of mineral and oil deposits is tremendously murky and impossible to truly predict and/or understand. Because what we know is dwarfed by what we don’t. You can’t know much ’til you drill. And then, you only know what you found, and you have to drill some more.
To quote the musical group Chicago, but don’t quote me on this, I don’t have the lyrics in front of me:
America need you
Harry Truman
Harry, you’d know what to do.
The world is spinning ’round
and losing lots of ground
So, Harry,
can you tell us what to do to save the land we love?
Harry!
Harry, can you tell us what to do to save the land we love?
Seems to me that the closest politician in the USA to Harry Truman is
Sarah Palin.
Palin rumor debunking with links:
http://explorations.chasrmartin.com/2008/09/06/palin-rumors/
“And of course, any major oil spill will mind it’s business and stay on it’s 2000acre reservation.”
30 years of North Sea operations haven’t produced an oil spill?
But anyway, what have facts got to do with it?
The term ‘Cap and trade’ is a serious misnomer.
.
Rather, it should more properly be referred to as ‘Rape and denigrate.’
.
It’s rape because that’s truly the essence of what will happen to the lot of us.
.
It’s denigration because we will be reduced to paupers in short order.
.
WHO will be able to continue to pay their bills, much less their mortgages?
.
The number of homeless people will veritably skyrocket in less than a decade.
.
And as far as Palin goes? What does she have to worry about?
.
She couldn’t hold a candle to Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.
.
The ONLY candidate worth voting for the next time around is RON PAUL.
A well written piece.
Like the bit about not outsourcing energy supply to our competitors.
Shame Europe doesn’t wake up to that too. At least they’re finally waking up to not being reliant on one supplier………
Keep God out of your arguments Mrs Palin in the public domain. What you choose to do in your family is entirely your own affair and I for one will not attempt to challenge you on that……….
The middle way is fascism.
I don’t get Sara Palin. To others she may be folksy, foxy, gun-tottin, plain-talking country gal come mother and family person, but she ain’t no’ politician.
PS Michael Palin is a lot funnier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Parrot
I would not have voted for Sarah Palin – I think she’s too lightweight a politician, and I disagree with a lot of her social policies.
But as far as this particular article is concerned, I think that it demonstrates that there is a principled opposition to cap-and-trade which is non-partisan, pragmatic and realistic.
I think cap-and-trade would be a disaster for the world if the Senate were pass it, and the damage would last a generation before it is repealed.
I find myself thinking back to the Prohibition drive of the early 20th Century leading to the 18th Amendment – anyone who disagreed with that one was in the secret pay of Big Alcohol and wanted children to be damaged by alcoholism, ans societal decline – who would stand in the way of that sort of rhetoric? Not many, it turned out.
Yes here we are one hundred years later, being presented with emotionally charged statements from authorities that ask us to choose between good and evil, a bright future versus no future, repentence or damnation.
Its irrestistable to conclude that the Cap-and-Trade system would engender massive cheating and fraud on the public purse, and massive social unrest as city after city, state after state goes bust.
I’m amazed that its even being considered as reasonable in the early 21st Century to attempt to control climate by trying to control a single lever so central to the success of the world’s economy. Perhaps in a hundred years’ time, people will wonder about what happened in the Western World to allow such mass hysteria to happen, just as we shake our heads about Prohibition.
“nvw (22:04:08) :
Ms. Palin is correct on this issue, but as an Alaskan I am not impressed with her leadership and political decision making. When it comes to demonstrating scientific literacy, I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created in seven days.”
This is a very slippery slope. Ask any politician/neighbor/etc. if they believe in God, and if they believe in the Bible, and you can say that a whole bunch of people fall into that same category. The reason is the lack of critical thinking applied to the problem, or the lack of resolve to admit it. Either way…stating that someone’s belief in God is a reason NOT to support them would rule out about %95 of the population.
Btw…I’m in the remaining %5.
Jimb
Theduke:
“Our nation’s domestic oil reserves are best left undeveloped to be relied upon in the case of a catastrophic world crisis, the probability of which is much greater now than it was two years ago.”
I couldn’t disagree more, especially with your last point. If there IS a catastrophic world crisis, it will be far too late for untapped energy sources to be brought online and do any good for a very long time.
And foreign oil producers have plenty of customers in India and China to pick up the slack from our lack of purchasing.
JimB
Don’t know about ANWR reserve size, but under the Arctic Sea there is oil galore. Putin’s up there planting flags with submarrines while we twiddle with Economic Waterloo.
Yes, this is the 1st item she has commented on since announcing resignation.
She picked the biggest threat to the survival of the US and the West.
You betcha, Sarah.
China has even offered to put Peanut Butter on the Mousetrap, just to reassure the gullible.
there are plenty of resons to reject C&T.
By posting partisan lunacy, you lose YOUR credibility.
Cap and Trade is not designed to improve the environment. It’s a tax plan that gives absolute control to government on everything since energy is required for everything. I’m surprised at the ignorance of the public at large and the so called smart thinking scientists willingness to ignore facts for political beliefs. This Palin Post has flushed out some pretty stupid comments on both sides. CO2 is a trace gas byproduct of combustion that is essential to life and now liberty if C&Tax gets through.
“Leon Brozyna (23:13:58) :
Palin 2012!! For real?
Probably. The question is, who will she be running against? Now that’s the truly interesting question in light of today’s court ruling against Obama.”
Leon, I can’t find any reference to what you refer to. Could you provide more detail, or a link?
JimB
JeffT (21:57:45) :
“I’d vote for Sarah Palin, and I’m not an American (or Alaskan)”
You’d be allowed to vote in Chicago, JeffT. Fact of the matter is you’re overqualified to vote in Chicago: you’re not a citizen and you’re still alive.
I sent this on to Drudge, lets see if he picks it up.Remember, with 20 Million plus hits a day, he has a lot of clout.
There is relatively little oil under ANWR. Most of the North Slope oil and gas is in Canadian waters. Thats according to the USGS. Which is not a reason not to drill for what oil there is.
And on energy independence. Converting motor vehicles to run on natural gas is by far the easiest and cheapest thing to reduce foreign oil dependence.
Here in Perth Western Australia, most vehicle miles are in NG powered vehicles. Almost every vehicle that is on the road most of the day is NG fueled as it is a much cheaper fuel. It is cleaner and has no real disadvantages. Every service station sells NG and filling up your car takes the same amount of time.
As others have pointed out, there is abundant natural gas in N America, as there is here in W Australia.
And to tallbloke. Significant spillage from producing oil wells is extraordinarily rare – barring war and terrorism. Almost all oil spillage occurs during transportation.
Wow ! This can’t be the same Sarah Palin that campaigned as potential vice president??!! I’m afraid the UK media had her mapped out as a brainless bimbo, but after reading this article, brainless and bimbo she ain’t !! Good one Sarah, let’s hope it gets the coverage it deserves.
I think Sarah Palin is the most normal national politician we have seen in years, or are likely to see again.
I like her, and I am dumfounded by the hatred of Palin espoused by women who either slept their way, married their way, or inherited their way to the top. She truly is the American ideal of someone who makes something of themselves through hard work.
It is good that she is willing to call a spade a spade. She was an AGW skeptic even when toeing the McCain line – she said clearly that she and McCain disagree on the AGW.
crosspatch
“The American left has a penchant for what is called “shut up” politics. If they do not like your message, they attack you personally in order to shut you up and in order to discourage others from speaking out. The messages is “if you speak out, we will do this to you, too”.”
Not just the American left. We have it worse in the UK being a smaller country to control. When the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, wrote a rather mild book questioning AGW and associated policies, he could not find a UK publisher who dared to touch it. He had to go to the US. (Lawson was on the House of Lords Select Committee on the Economics of Climate Change in 2005, and heard both sides of the argument.)
When the Irish people voted to reject the EU Constitution (aka. Lisbon Treaty), they were told they had got it wrong. A new referundum has been ordered.
What we have now from our European politicians are the methods of organized crime. And the Opposition are useless.
Oh boy, never expected to see that windbag Palin in this weblog. I mean, there are tons of other more credible people on this planet to support the climate skepticsim?
Here is a nice overview of the Waxman-Markey bill. From the wackos at Grist.org.
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-03-waxman-markey-bill-breakdown/
Molon Labe (22:08:17) :
“We have seen Palin go from a AGW denier to an (modest and reserved but still…) AGW believer within a fortnight…”
She is a GW believer but an AGW skeptic, as we all are.
Malon Labe,
Unfortunately this is not the case.
I have watched a long interview with Sarah Palin where she described who she came to the insights that “although some of the warming was from natural processes, she had become convinced a big chunk was produced by humans burning coal and oil”.
Listen, it’s not a matter catching flies but more a criticle view how to judge a politician.
One of the reason I ask serious questions is because I really think she has a chance when people wake up from the “Obama spell”.
I think she is a tough lady and a fast learner.
But if she switches fundamental political positions like at the flick of a switch?
The US now needs a strong candidate who takes a healthy distance from the AGW/Climate Change Doctrine and the United Nations.
I was thinking about a person like Vaclac Claus, who has a sixth sense for BS.
I would swear on a stack of bibles that in her debate w/Biden she said she supported a Cap n Trade plan. I am virtually 100% certain of this.
She may be new to politics, but she flip-flops like a veteran…
DonK31 (00:48:07) :
Tallbloke: What you have just described is a fascist system, private ownership but with government control. Do you want to live under faschism?
I didn’t say anything about private ownership, read what I wrote again.
It’s a question of who you think Alaska’s mineral wealth belongs to: The Alaskans or a few already rich people who can afford to purchase ‘mineral rights’ in order to make themselves a lot richer.
The current economic downturn is going to require a lot of investment to straighten it out. After all the scams, the population’s interest in their own country has been raped, robbed and left bleeding in the gutter.
The Alaskan people could do with that mineral wealth looking after their future. It’s cold up there in winter, and heating fuel is getting expensive.
I know this is heresy to ‘free market’ thinking Americans, but look where the free for all, moral-value free market has landed us all. How free was it for those that weren’t loaded in the first place?
I say give every Alaskan a non-transferable piece of paper with ‘mineral rights – 1/population’ printed on it, and take it from there.
and… you want this as the next POTUS???
Sandy (01:11:26) :
“And of course, any major oil spill will mind it’s business and stay on it’s 2000acre reservation.”
30 years of North Sea operations haven’t produced an oil spill?
But anyway, what have facts got to do with it?
I’ll probably get flak for saying it, but the UK’s safety and accident prevention record is a lot better than the U.S.
Why is that?
It’s not because Brit’s are cleverer or more careful than Yanks at the individual level.
>>>We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence
>>>if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right
>>>underfoot on American soil.
Oh, the Dark Age mentality of American politics rears its head once again. When, oh when, will America learn to live with the First Amendment and drop this god business from political speeches?
If this god theory is correct, Ms Palin, then god must be a Muslim, otherwise all that oil would not be sitting under Saudi Arabia (Muslim), Iraq (Muslim), Iran (Muslim), UAE (Muslim) etc: etc:
I do hope you are genuflecting before Allah, my dear Palin….
.
CodeTech (22:33:53) :
Ron de Haan
Harper has a minority government that can be toppled on ANY pretense. Shutting down the discussion would be political suicide… and not at the “next election”, immediately. There are no defined terms in Canada.
Harper is doing the right thing. Keeping the entire topic on the back burner, and not making outrageous claims or attempting to impose draconian laws. Canadians were brainwashed very effectively by previous governments, and actually seem to believe the leftist spew.
CodeTech,
Thanks for this insight.
I know he is doing a balancing act.
I thought there was a lot of opposition against C&T in Canada and a majority in favor of oil sand exploitation?
Beware of Palin. Under that folksy, butter wouldn’t melt in the mouth exterior is the heart of a snake.
It always amazes me how the people in any democracy are so easily manipulated by the media so that the ruling elite get the candidate they want to deliver their rule.
If you are having second thoughts about Obummer, please look elsewhere to find an honest politician – that’s if one actually still exists. Your not alone with this problem, and over this side of the pond, David Cameron is being spun by the media into the next PM. He will be worse than his predecessor, I think.
Non Partisan Scientist (02:01:34) :
there are plenty of resons to reject C&T.
By posting partisan lunacy, you lose YOUR credibility.
How fascinating? You judge yourself to be non-partisan, but this essay to be partisan. You call yourself a ‘scientist’ but present no logic, nor facts and just emote.
And of course you leave no name.
Explain why anyone should value YOUR judgement on this site when you seem to be a credibility-free zone?
rbateman (22:16:27) :
Ron de Haan (22:01:27) :
Given how bad Cap & Trade will damage the US, the GOP is listening to sound reasoning. They are the political opposition to this, and the best hope there is to avoid ensuing calamity.
Can we trust her?
2011 is a long way off.
For now, it’s a fight in the trenches, and we need all the help we can get.
rbateman,
I can only agree with that. we certainly need all sails set.
>>>“I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created
>>>in seven days.”
>>>I found it is a straw man.
You are wrong on this. Palin advocated teaching of Creationism in US schools, and this is the back-door policy of Intelligent Design proponents to get religion back into US schools – which goes directly against the sensible secularism of the First Amendment.
Palin said “teach the kids both sides of the argument, and let them decide”.
Sound reasonable? Well, as this article points out, would we teach children that the Earth may either be flat or spherical, and let them decide? Not even an idiot would propose that one…
http://www.livescience.com/culture/080901-sb-palin-creationist.html
Needless to say, a prime plank of Creationism is that the world was created in seven days, which is why this label has been attached to Palin.
Dark Age US politics again….
.
This (in quotes) posted here:
http://www.news.com.au/comments/0,23600,25780407-2,00.html
Basically all quite similar…
“so what if al gore is wrong…..at the end of the day, if we all believe in global warming/climate change and we make rapid changes that are environmentally friendly….what harm can we be doing? All that will come of it is good for our planet…..so stop worrying if they are wrong about climate change….let’s all try and help out our planet a bit.”
So now it doesn’t matter anyway, all you have to do is believe in it LOL… I think these people are destrying their own movement… forecast AGW will fade away to about 0 interest in the next 2 years. I now actually doubt that any anti-C02 legislation will be passed anywhere.. mainstream media has copped on.
Palin is a lot like America; she can’t help it if she is beautiful and loaded with energy. How can you not love this woman? I felt as though I had written this piece myself. Her voice is the American voice of pure reason unfettered with political correctness and scaredy-cat tippy toeing around the core energy issues. Maybe she is the way she because Alaska is so close to Canada where people still has the gonads to speak their minds when so many others have lost theirs.
No wonder so many uber-liberal women hate her. She’s got it all but she does not flaunt it nor does she need to. When you’ve got it, you’ve got it and people either love you or hate you for it. It speaks volumes about your personality if her feminine strength, intelligence and beauty make you despise her. Not for this Texan, I like everything I see and hear. Todd is one lucky SOB and so is America. You go girl.
I wish she had mentioned nuclear. We need it not for “clean” air, but for the next leg in the energy race.
My estimation of Palin has just gone up a notch. To be fair, as McCain’s running mate she couldn’t go against his views on climate change and Cap and Trade. She pretty much had to tow the line on that. The Republicans have a huge opportunity here, especially if they can manage to block ACES in the Senate. This is their way back into power. I hope they don’t blow it, and I say that as a still-registered Democrat (but not for long).
This is a very will written article.
She can serve this country well over the next few years just by addressing this issue in such a common sense and logical fashion.
I would much rather vote for someone who does not publicly argue with the myth in Genesis than someone who believes in the religion of AGW and uses their religion to destroy the economy and gain political power.
I will be voting for Sarah Palin for president even if it has to be a write in vote.
“I would shudder to think about her being interviewed on the topic rather than reading from what seems to be a prepared statement.”
Funny how so many Obama supporters jump on this as a criticism, when Obama himself instantly lapses into complete incoherence without a teleprompter in front of him.
I have a standing rule. Never, under any circumstances, trust any politician. That does not mean that I won’t support one over his/her opponent. But trust? Not in a million years.
According to PEW, only 6% of scientists are Republicans.
Here’s another slogan for 2012:
“Sarah PLC 2012”
(Sarah Palin – Liz Cheney 2012)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/14/cheneys-daughter-considers-campaign-for-political-/?feat=home_headlines
Finally, the republicans are finding people with real balls.
PS: There is also an interesting piece in the WSJ by Zuckerman, about the current state of the economy/employment picture going forward. Very scary, btw, and would be enormously aggravated by any climate bill or other tax hit on business such as the health plan. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124753066246235811.html
What her speech says to me is that she has realized the political opportunity afforded by taking this stand. As the truth becomes more and more clear, she will start to look like a visionary to those who didn’t see this coming.
Mcain was/is an AGW believer. It was his campaign she joined, so she was stuck with his positions. Now she isn’t.
I thought she was a detriment to Mcain’s ticket, just from the experience standpoint.
This speech and more like it could make her a much more legitimate contender.
Jim, She DID mention nuclear. Read near the end.
America needs this man as president
http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/30/north-dakota-hoeven-business-energy-economy.html
So WHAT if Palin has said that some GW is anthropic from burning CO2 emitting hydrocarbons? I’m an AGW skeptic who yet believes that there is a contribution to warming that is human induced. Where I part company with the AGW orthodoxy is that I also believe that other factors drive the climate, Mann’s ‘Hockey Stick’ is an artifact, and most AGW proponents engage in unwarranted hysteria. I mostly agree with the late Michael Crichton’s temperature forecasts.
This is a science blog. If new data showed that AGW really was driving the climate in a major way and driving it to extreme temperatures (as claimed by the Gore-Hanson faction) I’d expect that to be reported here. Unlike Real Climate, opposing data and views should be aired as long as they’re backed with evidence and reason.
In my view, Palin’s remarks show her as inexpert yet open to considering different views based on the evidence.
Who will Palin run against? Re: Obama’s citizenship: It should be glaringly obvious to everyone that something is amiss with his citizenship, simply because legal challenges to the question have been squelched with technicalities. Had his legal team simply produced valid documentation, the issue would be dead. The fact they have not done so speaks volumes. It will probably come down to his mother having been too young to convey citizenship to him when he was born overseas. But I doubt this will force him out of office. Too much to hope for.
“This is a very will written article.”
Looking at her past performances, I highyl doubt she wrote it herself…
“(Sarah Palin – Liz Cheney 2012)” Finally, the republicans are finding people with real balls.
Shirly you’re joking, right?
Many states have abundant coal, whose technology is continuously making it into a cleaner energy source.
You don’t even need the technology in some cases. The Kaiparowitz plateau has some of the cleanest burning coal on the planet, but was inexplicably declared a national monument back in the mid-90’s while Clinton was on a campaign stop in an adjacent state. Go figure. It didn’t make sense then, and it doesn’t now.
From : Paul (01:27:24) :
“The middle way is fascism.”
Actually, if you were to draw a political line, on the far left would be absolute government control of everything, communism. On the far right would be absolute lack of government control, anarchy or tribalism. And right in the middle would be conservatism, where people have individual freedoms guaranteed and provided by a government that creates a safe environment. A great balance between the government’s reach and individual rights.
Oil spills are rare and in the overall scheme of things trivial. Vastly more oil is poured out into the oceans of the world from undersea vents (I have seen guesstimates; perhaps one of the geologists here can provide some numbers).
Gov. Palin’s op-ed piece is right on the money (figuratively and literally), but I wish she had addressed the core issue, the official rationale for the whole farrago of ‘cap-and-trade’, namely the hypothesis that CO2 will cause catastrophic ‘climate change’. So long as the statists in the Obambi administration and in Congress have that myth to fall back on, it is going to be very difficult to stop this ill-considered and egregious legislation from becoming law.
Yes, as others have pointed out, at best she waffled—and at worse endorsed—the AGW hypothesis during the campaign. It didn’t help that she was John McCain’s running mate, and he was the co-sponsor of cap-and-trade bill himself.
She can always say she has changed her mind.
/Mr Lynn
Erratum: “and at worse endorsed” should be “and at worst endorsed.” Sure would be nice to have Preview and Edit functions (and Quote, too). . . /Mr L
If the US energy policy was a cartoon it would never end. Nothing has ever been this ridiculous on purpose.
She is free to speak her mind now. I think she will make it very clear she does not subscribe to AGW just as she has just made it abundantly made clear she does not subscribe to Cap and Trade (both McCain positions that she essentially had to accept as his vice presidential candidate).
As to her lack of scientific understanding, name an American politician that has any . . . there probably are some, but none come to mind. That she isn’t a politician, what a relief. Can she communicate without a teleprompter, we’ll find out . . . but that doesn’t seem to be a roadblock to the presidency.
“Now that’s the truly interesting question in light of today’s court ruling against Obama.”
Details?
” Poptech (00:22:39) :
Palin already made her position clear on this issue. I don’t trust anything she says…
MODERATOR: “…do you support capping carbon emissions?”
PALIN: “I do. I do.” (Transcript)
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/debate.transcript/?iref=mpstoryview
”
Will poptech. Here’s the transcript quotes from your link.
IFILL: Let me clear something up, Sen. McCain has said he supports caps on carbon emissions. Sen. Obama has said he supports clean coal technology, which I don’t believe you’ve always supported.
BIDEN: I have always supported it. That’s a fact.
IFILL: Well, clear it up for us, both of you, and start with Gov. Palin.
PALIN: Yes, Sen. McCain does support this. The chant is “drill, baby, drill.” And that’s what we hear all across this country in our rallies because people are so hungry for those domestic sources of energy to be tapped into.
They know that even in my own energy-producing state we have billions of barrels of oil and hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of clean, green natural gas. And we’re building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline which is North America’s largest and most you expensive infrastructure project ever to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets.
Barack Obama and Sen. Biden, you’ve said no to everything in trying to find a domestic solution to the energy crisis that we’re in. You even called drilling — safe, environmentally-friendly drilling offshore as raping the outer continental shelf.
There — with new technology, with tiny footprints even on land, it is safe to drill and we need to do more of that. But also in that “all of the above” approach that Sen. McCain supports, the alternative fuels will be tapped into: the nuclear, the clean coal.
I was surprised to hear you mention that because you had said that there isn’t anything — such a thing as clean coal. And I think you said it in a rope line, too, at one of your rallies.
IFILL: We do need to keep within our two minutes. But I just wanted to ask you, do you support capping carbon emissions?
PALIN: I do. I do.
IFILL: OK. And on the clean coal issue?
BIDEN: Absolutely. Absolutely we do. We call for setting hard targets, number one…
Seems a clarification is in order. Problem is, in the pre-election stuff, you don’t neccesarly know which are her views and which are McCains.
Palin’s article is good, but the comments on it by WaPo readers are more revealing as to the “climate” of opinion we find ourselves in. It appears that half or more of the respondents don’t believe Ms. Palin actually wrote the piece. They think she is illiterate and incapable of such a feat.
Brace yourselves for this, gentle WUWT readers and AGW skeptics: most alarmists assume the very same thing about YOU. Little wonder that they are incapable of listening to anything you say.
JimB (02:22:09) – Since you ask, here is the briefest explanation.
In re court ruling against Obama (US District Court, Central District of CA)
There are several court cases still pending that have not been summarily dismissed (as has happened for many others). This is one that slipped under the radar; at the last minute several US Attys submitted a Statement of Interest in which they once again tried to use the ‘lack of standing’ argument to have the case dismissed. They were shot down. The briefest explanation for what happened can be found here:
http://vrwcgrapevine.blogspot.com/2009/07/obama-eligibility-case-will-be-heard-on.html
The attorney in this case has herself several pending cases, in addition to the one that she got a favorable ruling on yesterday. From the attorney’s site (warning – she’s an attorney, not a blogger; sometimes her postings are a bit messy):
http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/blog1/
I learned late last night that she announced that she has filed a motion for a default judgment against Obama. From there it moves to the discovery phase, where the judge can order release of documents (real, original long-form birth certificate, passport info, college info, etc.). Other court cases and appeals are sure to follow. This could end up getting appealed to the 9th Circ Ct of Appeals and then on to Supreme Ct.
She also has another case in Georgia on Thursday, June 16, for a temporary restraining order against his chain of command (up to Def Secy Gates) for a military officer refusing to ship to Afghanistan until questions of legitimacy are resolved.
There are several sites covering this slowly (that’s the way the court system works) unfolding story. Mostly I find myself separating the wheat from the chaff. The short, short version is that, when these cases move to the discovery phase and based on case law (where ‘natural born’ has been defined) this has the potential to have a greater impact than Watergate. The rest of this year should be very interesting, especially when the major media finally take notice of this – it could get very vitriolic and messy.
Enough of this politics mess. Now let’s turn back to simpler things like science and the climate.
nvw, I am always amazed at the misinterpretation of Genesis, chapter 1. As a fundamentalist Jew, I can sympathize with the fundamentalist Christians who are always being told by others what they believe. Certainly, if you wish to believe that Genesis says that the earth was created in seven days, I cannot prevent you. However, the time period that is expressed does not actually translate to a day. In point of fact, we don’t know what it translates to. It is one of those words in Hebrew that we have lost the translation for. It could stand for an indeterminate amount of time, or it could stand for a billion years.
In addition, that particular part of Genesis is written in a poetic style, which means that the words were meant to be interpreted on many different levels, and thus to look at it as having some absolute meaning is also wrong. If I were to say, in a poem, that “the sun painted the sky with streaks of red and orange”, I could not be accused of actually believing that the sun was using a paintbrush and paint on the surface of the sky. I am using poetry to illuminate the feeling that I had when looking at the morning sky as the sun rose.
Being married to a bible scholar, I have absorbed a bit of knowledge about the subject.
The arguement over cap-and-trade does not need input Sarah Palin, her past comments make her look like a flip-flopper on such issues.
Some here seem to think that VP candidates speak for themselves during a presidential campaign. I read one of you opining on Palin’s social political views.
I for one haven’t heard much of her own views, but lots of those that were prepared for her by McCain’s people during the 2008 campaign.
This is pretty much the first thing I have heard directly from her on Cap and Trade. I look forward to hearing more of her views in the coming months and years as she prepares for the inevitable run in 2012.
So far I haven’t made any decisions regarding the 2012 election, and am only beginning to think about 2010 mid-terms.
Lots of time, speeches and op-eds to go.
That’s all we need. Her opinion on this matter. It’s tough enough to get people to listen to other facts on this issue but now that she has gone public on this, less will listen to it because she is a big name.
If Palin does not run as a Right-of-Center candidate, not simply a Republican, then she has no chance. Her most significant claim to fame is as someone who has the courage to take on the corrupt politicians in her own party — and then go on to win. No small feat.
Even though she waffled big time on AGW and cap-and-trade — I saw it and heard it — she remains one of the strongest candidates because of her record — including as a campaigner.
Remember, Obama is in office, not because he won the most votes, but because of fraud in the Democratic National Party during the campaign, fraud in voter registrations — especially all those “young people” — and fraud(?) in the mainstream media, including Fox, that refused, refused, refused to investigate/vet him. Most importantly he and his supporters have been spending $100,000 per week to stifle every bit of information about him since, well, 2007. He is not qualified to be President because, at the very least, he is only a “native born citizen” not a “natural born citizen”. Lobbyists, lawyers, corporate types, financiers all supported Obama from very early on. Finally, Obama is in office because so-called Republican Conservatives stayed home from polls because they could not stomach McCain, a true American even if one violently disagreed with him. They bear a large responsibity for the present mess.
This true Liberal — life-long, but never again a Democrat — finds Sarah Palin’s actual record to be one of the strongest of all potential candidates for the presidency –limited, relevant government, strong national defense, responsible energy development, actual science of “global warming”, and development of the most important strengths of this country. I do worry about her support of the UN Law of the Sea Treaty.
If Centrists could develop our own media outlets, we could begin to ignore the lies that have bun spun for far too long, rather than responding to them and giving them longer life (assertive rather than defensive). Thanks to Anthony and WUWT, “we” have an important home here.
Ralph Ellis
“Needless to say, a prime plank of Creationism is that the world was created in seven days”
Well, not really, Ralph. Significant counterexamples at http://www.reasons.org/
The media are perpetually in a posture of “Let’s you and him fight” (while they cover the story). They use broad labels to project polarized positions while frequently ignoring a whole spectrum of intervening views. This is true for religion, economics, history, politics, you name it. Beware of reasoning from the label to specific views.
But we’re really too far OT here.
I was familiar with Gov Palin long before the media was from the lesser 48. I actually saw an oil spill in Alaska next to the railroad and compared with I saw with what the Anchorage Mcclatchy paper reported. Gov Palin has more energy industry insight that McCain, Biden, Oblahma and Oblahmas relevant EPA/energy or related czars.
I know why people hate her. She stands for things that expose the values and character flaws in a lot of people. Alaska has huge coal and metal ore reserves. Alaska also has a lot of natural gas. Most of you all do not know how strongly natural gas producers lobby against coal generating plants. Until 20 years ago, a lot of the oil companies had a lot of coal reserves and were active in production. I can name several companies in business converting autos to natural gas. Oh it is clean. If you don’t change oil, your oil will still look clean after years for example burning propane.
I made money when oil was first discovered in Alaska. I also followed the discovery of the Bakken field and the Williston basin. Yes we have oil. Gov Palin is a real thorn in the side of the lawyers and their lies in Washington regarding minerals. Liars hate being exposed.
Folks read what she says. Her terms, goals and viewpoint regarding CO2 production is not the same.
Hoi Polloi (03:30:48) :,
And can you show us the parts of the Palin interview that didn’t wind up on the cutting room floor?
Pofarmer (06:33:53) :
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=103918
BTW nice to see you around here.
I need to revise one of my previous remarks:
Hoi Polloi (03:30:48) :,
And can you show us the parts of the Palin interview that wound up on the cutting room floor?
layne Blanchard (06:06:36) :
Re the Obama’s citizenship: “It will probably come down to his mother having been too young to convey citizenship to him when he was born overseas.”
No. His father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., was a citizen of the UK, then Kenya after its independence (and one of the most radical marxist-muslims of the new Kenya). Since one parent is not an American citizen, Obama is not a Natural Born Citizen. His mother’s age is not the issue.
I hope you notice that the phrase “cap-and-trade” is only used twice and both times it was linked with negative economic consequences. Every other time it is mentioned she uses its correct name, “cap-and-tax”. Very on point.
Ok – whether you’re a Palin supporter or not, has it occurred to anyone to wonder why she is basing her opposition to cap and trade on foreign energy dependency?
The point of cap and trade is to reduce pollution. But she doesn’t mention that even once, not even in passing.
I can only surmise she doesn’t understand this issue, or she would have based her opposition on why cap and trade won’t reduce pollution, or why she doesn’t believe industrial pollution is a threat or exists in meaningful enough amounts to combat it with cap and trade.
For that matter, she doesn’t even talk about why she has changed her mind on cap and trade, a policy she clearly supported during her VP campaign.
All that’s missing is her coming ojut and saying flatly that AGW is bunk. Many members of Congress and Senate oppose cap-and-trade, but few are ready to publicly say that the AGW theory doesn’t hold water.
As long as most politicians continue to be too afraid to denounce the science behind the supposed IPCC\Al Gore “consensus”, they will only seem shallow when they oppose ways to fight global warming.
The insanity will persist until AGW is publicly and widely discredited.
Most folks I know are just trying to meet the challenges of maintaining a family and making ends meet. They are certainly not following current energy policy
The average Joe doesn’t think about this at all or he thinks this will affect someone else – not him.
I am confident that when Main Street USA begins to see what C&T will do to their personal energy cost, they will vote the current fools out and this nonsense will come to a screeching halt.
John G writes: “She is free to speak her mind now. I think she will make it very clear she does not subscribe to AGW just as she has just made it abundantly made clear she does not subscribe to Cap and Trade (both McCain positions that she essentially had to accept as his vice presidential candidate).”
There was never a better opportunity to “speak her mind” about AGW than in her WaPo column, since cap and trade is meant to address AGW. She didn’t even go there, but rather, argued it won’t reduce our dependency on foreign oil.
She’s either ignorant of the issue or politically afraid to make a real argument against AGW when given the perfect opportunity to do so.
I would shudder to think about her being interviewed on the topic rather than reading from what seems to be a prepared statement.
Ok. So you hate her. I get it.
“The point of cap and trade is to reduce pollution”
What pollution? CO2?
What a perfect demonstartion of ignorance and the lousy media we have.
Colorado Citizen, by saying “she doesn’t understand this issue,” you are holding Gov. Palin to a much higher standard than Obama, McCain, Waxman, Boxer and just about every other Democrat and Republican in DC. Why is that?
Palin was lionized by Democrats when she went after Republican corruption. Then she accepted the V.P. candidacy — and she became instantly hated and feared, especially by the Democrat establishment.
My friend’s wife, who is totally non-political, began reeling off Palin’s ‘faults’ within 48 hours of being named McCain’s VP candidate. They were the same canned talking points that still crop up in this thread [and everywhere else in the media]. They don’t address anything of substance — only ad homs about Palin, or her husband and kids.
That tells me a lot of folks are scared of her, and not because she’s incompetent. On the contrary; I think their marching orders and talking points come from officials who get very puckered up at the thought of someone coming into town with a clean broom.
Molon Labe (22:09:05) :
“I prefer my politicians to not believe the Earth was created in seven days.”
[snip] she doesn’t believe that.
Define 7 days for us. Maybe it’s not the 7 earth days your thinking of. Define time for us as well, is it one revolution of the earth or one trip around the sun? Or is it something you cannot understand?
REPLY: OK lets stop right there. This is not a religious studies forum. Further posts on the subject will be snipped – Anthony
Ultimatley cap and trade will also raise the cost of government at all levels with the cost of energy and all it produces soaring.
And where’s the money to pay for this rise in the cost of government?
Well, we’ll need big carbon taxes to pay for it which will raise the cost of everything even more.
All the while there will be no corresponding benefit to be found.
I can’t imagine a more insane circle of insanity. And to think it is being advanced with science?
Bless you Al Gore and James Hansen.
The point of cap and trade is NOT to reduce pollution. It is to reduce the size of the money left in your wallet each payday. At this rate it won’t be long before your entire paycheck goes directly to the government. Then you will have to file forms (in triplicate!) every week asking for a bit of it back to feed your starving family. But at least the planet will be saved!
North Korea, here we come! Personally, I love tree bark soup…
During the presidential campaign, Sarah had to toe the line with McCain’s policies. As his Veep, she didn’t have a lot of wriggle room to put forth her own views.
Now, as her own independent agent, she can put forward her views unencumbered by the political views of others. I think she speaks out of honesty, not political expediency or the issue du jour.
Oh, and Obama doesn’t like her because she is prettier than he is.
Re the ‘Palin is a Creationist’ red herring, I had this discussion with my daughter (an evolutionary biologist) back during the campaign. Here’s what I wrote then, citing the infamous interview with Katie Couric:
/Mr Lynn
“her past comments make her look like a flip-flopper on such issues.”
Again, why hold her to a standard higher than other politicians? We elected probably the biggest waffler in history this last election. Apparently, saying one thing and doing the opposite is not an impediment to election to high office in this country.
I think I read what describes it best someplace yesterday … “She’s not a woman, she’s a Republican”. In other words, none of the standard rules will apply to her. Her family will be fair game for attack while the families of other politicians are “off limits”. Every little nuance of what she says will be picked apart. And part of the reason is to keep OTHER women from speaking up because her political opposition likes to cast itself as the party for women so any woman with an R after her name must be made to pay dearly.
One very interesting thing. Palin’s PAC (SarahPAC) raised nearly a million dollars so far this year. Almost 800K before she resigned and 200K since. The majority of the donations were from small amounts of under $200. In other words, average people. In contrast, Obama raised a smaller percentage from small donations in 2008 than either Bush or Kerry did in 2004 and less than Palin is raising now. Obama’s donations came from the “whales”. Also, voter turnout in 2008 was about the same in 2004. Obama won the 2008 election by about the same margin that Bush won in 2004. Palin could energize the population and get them to the voting booth. Mid-term elections generally have low turnout compared to years with Presidential elections. Maybe she will change that by getting people fired up and getting them to the voting booth. The Democrats are afraid of that possibility, too.
(hey, this is a “politics” thread, right?)
Colorado Citizen: “She didn’t even go there, but rather, argued it won’t reduce our dependency on foreign oil.”
Recently, I wrote to Congressman Jay Inslee (D) regarding my objections to cap and trade. He responded with this: “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that the average cost of getting off of foreign oil and protecting ourselves from climate change by enacting this bill will be 44 cents per day per household.”
It seems to me that foreign oil dependency is a (D) talking point. For Palin to address THEIR claim seems appropriate. Perhaps you can explain why ( D’s) make such a dubious claim.
Well, I hope you’ll let mine (with the Couric interview quote) pass, as I posted it before seeing your obiter dictum. Besides, it’s relevant to scientists.
/Mr Lynn
Steven Hill,
I haven’t made up my mind about Gov Palin even now, but the criticism of her is way out of proportion to any substance. Lots of politicians would have caved under less pressure.
Look at Newt Gingrich, for example, who accepted a perfectly legal book advance, and then resigned when he was criticized for it by Democrats — who promptly saw financial opportunity themselves, and began accepting their own book advances.
And the Earth being created in “7 days” is clearly allegorical. How could there be a day, when there was no Earth? Before the Earth existed, a “day” might have been one revolution of the Milky Way.
The 1st Amendment says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”. Even politicians are covered by this, whether the opposition likes it or not. And they still have the right to free speech. Some folks don’t like that, either. Seems to be a little hypocrisy in the air, no?
Walt Stone (23:16:53) :
You need to ask not only if she wrote the piece herself, but if she just repeated what her teleprompter told her to write. Yes, we understand that everyone other elected official performs everything 100% autonomously. Only Sarah requires assistance.
Others,
Please please stop listening to the Lame-Stream Media. And please realize that a belief in God does NOT mean that you take every word of the bible verbatim. When the hypothesis of the ‘origin of the universe’ and the ‘origin of species’ were shown to follow available data they were promoted to Theories. There are still gaps in each. They have not yet been promoted to Laws. Please do not treat them as such.
“Brace yourselves for this, gentle WUWT readers and AGW skeptics: most alarmists assume the very same thing about YOU. Little wonder that they are incapable of listening to anything you say.”
Yup that’s how you can tell they are pig-ignorant and sub-rational. Actually it’s rather fun watching the Climate pile ridicule upon ridicule on the alarmists. It will, however, be important to harness the guilty backlash when eventually the hysteria breaks to try and approach the cooling period with some practical sensible plans.
Anyone interested in a “When they Wake Up” blog/thread to discuss practical measures to handle short growing seasons etc.
Nice to see the trolls have show up to talk about Palin’s “issues” rather than address the argument that the good governor is making. Governor Palin has always been a champion for producing more energy domestically, so her piece in the WaPo breaks no new ground. She recognizes the need for the nation to aggressively exploit its own energy resources.
The fact remains that the United States and its two neighbors sit atop the world’s largest known hydrocarbon deposits/reserves in the world (oil, coal, tar sands, oil shale, natural gas and methane hydrates). The USGS estimates that Alaska alone may be sitting on coal reserves in the neighborhood of 3 TRILLION metric tons (almost all light coal, but usable as feeder stock for carbon-based fuels). However, because ‘everyone’ is focused on the CO2 emission bogeyman tapping into those resources are taboo.
But consider if what many of us here at Watts site believe is happening happens (the global is entering a prolonged cooling phase). The CO2 bogeyman will be shown for what is it: a strawman. And all the arguments against using Fischer-Tropsch processes to convert coal into fuel (ie Alaskan light coal), of channeling the nation’s focus into ‘clean’ oil shale and tar sand extraction processes rather than “they-will-never-produce-enough-energy-and-they-can-only-be-viable-thru-subsidies” alternative energy sources (ergo wind, solar and biomass), and all the rest become moot.
Why wouldn’t we develop our 400 year proven reserves of coals if we weren’t worried about CO2 emissions? Or our trillions upon trillions cubic feet of methane gas locked up in methane hydrates off our coasts. Or the 1.5 trillion barrels of oil estimated in the oil shale deposits in the Rockies. Not to mention the oil deposits on the North Slope and off our coasts. We wouldn’t.
Hydrocarbon energy will remain the most economically viable and technology feasible energy source for the foreseeable future (30-50 years). And Mrs. P has positioned herself to look America in the eye, wink and says “You betcha!” when the day comes when it becomes apparent to all that the behavior of the sun is what drives Earth’s climate, not what us puny humans do.
Ms Palin’s every utterance is on the “Instant Immolation Required” checklist for every MSM goofball. The response to the WaPo article was obviously pre-canned, well coordinated and extremely widely dispersed in the media. This woman really puts the wind up the liberals, for reasons that I cannot fathom.
Another woman Republican (Meg Whitman) is stepping into the political arena, too. It will be interesting to see if she gets the “Palin treatment”. Whitman is former CEO of eBay and is running for California governor.
A few points: If Palin supported cap and trade during the campaign it was because the party’s candidate supported it. You notice that when asked the question, she didn’t elaborate. She was doing her job and supporting the candidate.
Secondly, Palin was immediately attacked by the left because she gave the best and most lovable speech of the campaign at the Republican convention and immediately became the hero of many women in the country because of her story. Most women are apolitical, but they know an authentic, honest women when they see one. Working-class women flocked to her in huge numbers. Democrats had to get her negatives up and the fact that they are still lucubrating at this task 9 months after the election is a reflection of their level of fear over her widespread popularity.
It’s a sordid business, but when faced with unpalatable programs and a failing economy, it’s all they’ve got.
Steven Hill (07:53:57) :
Molon Labe (22:09:05) :
Anthony,
As uncomfortable as it may seem, there is always a point where the lines between religion and science get awfully blurry, It is at times impossible to keep religion and science separated.
Often times science does indeed begin with religion – a nice symbolic story to explain something we don’t yet understand. Example, if you substitute “7 days” with “7 stages”, then the Bible actually offers a fairly accurate account of how the earth and life were formed.
So, I don’t really always agree with booting religion out of a scientific discussion. Religion often serves to formulate the first crude hypotheses, thus providing a base on which science can build.
REPLY: You can certainly disagree. But I make the decision. Please no more on religion here. – Anthony
Science can no better explain the origins of the universe than religion. Big Bang is probably a term us entertainment junkies relate better to nowadays then say a term like “God”. The bottom line is that they are probably the same.
If you want my opinion, I bet a religious leader could far better explain climate than, let’s say, Gavin Schmidt or the other muppets at RC.
One side says nature (Mother Nature, or the G-word) drives climate, and the other side says man drives it!
She’s making the news on this. Getting it national attention.
I can see her stump speech in 2011:
” I was against Cap & Trade when everyone around me was following blindly. Personally, I found it to be an idea dumber than dirt.”
As I have said here before, a President is no better than his closest advisors.
The info being fed to the top on this is as bad as it gets.
Leon Brozyna (07:01:38)
whoops – couple small details to correct in my earlier post –
She also has another case in Georgia this Thursday, July 16, for a temporary restraining order against his chain of command (up to Def Secy Gates & (alleged) President/CinC Obama) for a military officer refusing to ship to Afghanistan until questions of legitimacy are resolved.
Also –
pyromancer76 (07:26:49)
Your last para is spot on. Also applies to the rising GOP star, Bobby Jindal, whose parents were still immigrants & not naturalized when he was born in the US. So he’s US citizen by birth, but not natural born.
One thing the pundits are certainly wrong about, in addition to AGW, is their ridiculous claim that Sarah Palin is washed
up – no longer a player on the political front.
One opinion in the WaPO, and the climate and energy websites are abuzz. Keep ’em coming Sarah!
Hoi Polloi (06:13:12) :
No jokin.
The old men in the GOP lost theirs years ago. In fact they ought to join Bob Dole in promoting Viagra. Better yet, they ought to start taking the stuff themselves.
Don S. (08:30:28) :
“……….. This woman really puts the wind up the liberals, for reasons that I cannot fathom.”
I am a Republican Party activist in what most would call a conservative county in the Great State of Texas. Days prior to Sarah P coming on board, the usual comment was “I guess I have to take one of those (self-snipped) McCain yard signs”.
The day her candidacy was announced, people came into the office and demanded “I want a Palin yard sign!” Some went so far as to cut what’s his name (you know, the wrinkley old guy that was only a Democrat in drag) off of their sign. The effect was electric.
(I confronted a McCain campaign person at the Texas State Republican Convention about McCain’s stance on AGW. He defended the position as reaching out to moderates. I wondered at the time if we were going to read of McCain tapping his foot in the men’s room to reach out to the GLBT minority. How low was he willing to stoop to in order to “reach out”?)
Sarah P did make some mistakes. In particular, she let the fools in McCain’s campaign coach her. They didn’t like her because she wasn’t from the elite like they are, she went to the wrong school, and she talked funny. And one of the things she was told to say was about cap and trade.
As for the MSM. First, they are frightened to death of her because she is the only politician that connects to the majority of us “great unwashed”. And second, she has the temetry to challenge their elite leaders and their own elite status.
They have to destroy her: She is their worst nightmare.
Regards,
Steamboat Jack
I met Sarah Palin in ’07 at a non-political function. She had no telepromter, spoke off the cuff and came across as a real person. Not a good politician. So it is understandable that the empty suits would hate her. Not sure I want her as president, she does bring some fresh air to the debate.
Many of the bad things said about her originate with Tina Fay’s portrayal on SNL, like “seeing Russia”. The media did a good job of spreading that.
As for BO’s mother: Her age did matter. If someone is born to a U.S. citizen while outside the U.S. AND that citizen had lived in the U.S. for 5 consecutive years after age 16 (prior to giving birth) then the child is a citizen. This was the case with McCain, he was born in Panama. In Obama’s case, it does not apply, as his mother was 18 at the time of his birth.
Smokey:
That tells me a lot of folks are scared of her, and not because she’s incompetent. On the contrary; I think their marching orders and talking points come from officials who get very puckered up at the thought of someone coming into town with a clean broom.
Yes!!!
By the way, Alaska has fire damage as we speak over 150,000 acres. Talk about smoke and particulate.
Once when I was in Alaska, they hadn’t seen the mountain for weeks because of smoke.
Back to her claims. A couple of people actually think if we drill ANWR, the rigs can’t drill within the boundaries. Where do you come up with that? They also insist there will be spills. How many spills are there when rigs are totally abandoned during hurricanes? Fear mongering sure mixes well with false claims.
rbateman writes: “I can see her stump speech in 2011:
” I was against Cap & Trade when everyone around me was following blindly. Personally, I found it to be an idea dumber than dirt.”
And I can see this claim getting torn to shreds in the Republican primaries when her opponents remind the audience that she supported capping emissions in the 2008 VP debate.
Retired Engineer (09:18:31) : “I met Sarah Palen in ‘07 at a non-political function. She had no telepromter, spoke off the cuff and came across as a real person. Not a good politician.”
I bet you believe she wasn’t using a teleprompter in her quit speech, either.
“Colorado Citizen – I can only surmise she doesn’t understand this issue, or she would have based her opposition on why cap and trade won’t reduce pollution, or why she doesn’t believe industrial pollution is a threat or exists in meaningful enough amounts to combat it with cap and trade. ”
She doesn’t understand any issue! She just repeats talking point she gets from people in the Republican party. The whole get off foreign oil dependency is made by those who have no remote idea where our energy comes from nor how it is used…
– Only 16% of U.S. oil imports come from the Middle East (EIA)
– The largest supplier of oil to the U.S. is Canada (EIA)
– The second largest supplier of oil to the U.S. is Mexico (EIA)
– Only 0.005% of U.S. domestic oil production is exported (EIA)
– Only 1.5% of the United States electrical generation comes from oil (EIA) (48% Coal, 20% Natural Gas, 19% Nuclear)
We do not have the oil reserves to get off foreign oil, not unless you want to pay $10 a gallon. Energy independence is a myth repeated by those who do not understand economics.
5 Myths About Breaking Our Foreign Oil Habit (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/10/AR2008011002452_pf.html
Energy Independence Equals Economic Incompetence (Energy Tribune)
http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=1028
Remember the Synthetic Fuels Corporation? (The Heritage Foundation)
http://www.heritage.org/press/dailybriefing/policyweblog.cfm?blogid=05E49511-A0C9-D18A-0F7298B25EB50C89
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Mahatma Gandhi
I agree that eliminating foreign oil dependence is probably not possible.
But wouldn’t it be better if extraction royalties went to our government and not Mexico’s – as much as possible?
Poptech (10:12:11) :
She doesn’t understand any issue! She just repeats talking point she gets from people in the Republican party.
He doesn’t understand any issue! He just reads talking points from a teleprompter what is written by people in the Democratic party.
Fixed.
Someone may have written that on Sarah Palin’s behalf, but Sarah Palin did not write that herself.
“”” pkatt (21:56:38) :
🙂 She can come and hang out with us teabagging rednecks anytime. Sarah is Sarah.. many of us respect her as a real human being, a refreshing change from all the corrupt posers in Washington today. Haters of her will trash her family , her looks, just about anything they can to avoid talking about her beliefs or political ideals. Anthony you are very brave for posting that here. The mere mention of her name envokes the nuttys comming out of the woodwork.
All I can say.. I agree entirely. “””
Excuse me; but are you talking about Governor Palin; the Governor of the largest State in the Union; larger even than whatever are the next three largest States ?
She worked long and hard to earn that title; we should give her the courtesy of using it, while she holds that Office. Even the President; the saddest excuse for a man to ever occupy the Nation’s highest Office; is deserving of being addressed by his title; so long as he constinues to go through the motions of that Office.
Colorado Citizen (07:35:26) :
Ok – whether you’re a Palin supporter or not, has it occurred to anyone to wonder why she is basing her opposition to cap and trade on foreign energy dependency?
The point of cap and trade is to reduce pollution. But she doesn’t mention that even once, not even in passing.
I can only surmise she doesn’t understand this issue, or she would have based her opposition on why cap and trade won’t reduce pollution, or why she doesn’t believe industrial pollution is a threat or exists in meaningful enough amounts to combat it with cap and trade.
For that matter, she doesn’t even talk about why she has changed her mind on cap and trade, a policy she clearly supported during her VP campaign.
The logical place to go is where it hits people in the pocket book. In addition, Barack Hussein has been hammering in soundbites that cap and tax is about “Energy Independence,” although Nancy Pelosi says it is about “jobs”. Therefore,the economic front seems the logical area to attack from. Also, she’s writing an editorial, not an opus. You don’t normally mention something in passing in an short editorial unless it supports the theme of the piece. Why would you put in “Oh, and cap and tax doesn’t reduce pollution either.” It doesn’t support the work. I think your criticism says more about you than Gov. Palin. What she wrote is what she wrote. Maybe you should write her and tell her to throw the whole kitchen sink at it next time?
“”” Poptech (10:12:11) :
“Colorado Citizen – I can only surmise she doesn’t understand this issue, or she would have based her opposition on why cap and trade won’t reduce pollution, or why she doesn’t believe industrial pollution is a threat or exists in meaningful enough amounts to combat it with cap and trade. ”
She doesn’t understand any issue! She just repeats talking point she gets from people in the Republican party. The whole get off foreign oil dependency is made by those who have no remote idea where our energy comes from nor how it is used…
We do not have the oil reserves to get off foreign oil, not unless you want to pay $10 a gallon. Energy independence is a myth repeated by those who do not understand economics. “””
Evidently all of those criticisms you just offered, could equally be said of the present occupier of the White House; who isn’t even able to tell when reading a teleprompter, that he is reading a speach concocted for somebody besides him to read.
And I would check the Domestic oil reserves again if I was you; don’t forget to include all of those that have been found domestically, and then promptely declared off limits by politicians who aren’t the least bit interested in solving energy supply problems.
Cap and tax, has nothing to do with pollution; it is about taxation increase to fund out of control social engineering spending. The bill was passed in the house without one single Congressman having read it; nobody even knows who wrote it; it certainly wasn’t anybody elected by any US voters.
I’m not sure that Palin has much of a future in national politics , at least not on the presidential level . She could probably do well in the senate , if she could get elected . I have always maintained that the vicious assault on her – and Joe the Plumber – that arose in the media stemmed from the fact that they represent the true middle class : right of center , church going folks mired with everyday problems and concerns . The type of Americans the liberal media prefers to pretend don’t exist outside of sitcoms . The middle class is largely theoretical to the elitists and they can’t stand it when middle class types actually stand up and speak for themselves .
Oh lord.
I have seen this blog on the top of WordPress every day. I thought you guys were scientists. Now you are embracing the most unintelligent politician of our lifetime?
Color me disappointed.
“”” Colorado Citizen (09:34:13) :
Retired Engineer (09:18:31) : “I met Sarah Palen in ‘07 at a non-political function. She had no telepromter, spoke off the cuff and came across as a real person. Not a good politician.”
I bet you believe she wasn’t using a teleprompter in her quit speech, either. “””
Not only was she not reading any Teleprompter; but she also had no other notes of any kind. She was outside in the open, remote from such unnecessary things.
I haven’t had so much fun in a long time, as it is watching the leftist socialists squirming at the thought of an ordinary home maker, putting the rout to the charlatans who want to run our lives. The NOW hags can’t even live with themselves so long as Governor Palin is showing the pretenders some real moxy.
No matter what her plans are; she is certainly going to provide much entrtainment to replace the sorry lot that we have serving us in Washington.
Those of you that want to denigrate Sarah Palen might consider the only success of Obama was being elected. After his election he has claimed to have ‘solved’ the financial crisis, claimed to have ‘solved’ the recession, claims to be solving the health care crisis, claims to be solving the imaginary global warming crisis while balancing the budget. The U.S. is currently sliding into a deep recession with unemployment approaching 10%. The U.S. is going into debt in trillion dollar chunks. The cap and tax proposal will kill jobs and business in the U.S. while promoting jobs outside the U.S. . Sara Palen on her worst day would do less damage than Obama does daily. Obama and his advisers do not even have the science correct without a thought about what to do other than to increase taxes regressively. One exception to above was to paint your roof white, to solve in techno speak warming ( Nobel laureate for I don’t understand ).
The level of drooling hate and misogyny in the WaPo comment section has to be seen to be believed.
From the Los Angeles Times (April 15, 2009):
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin acknowledged Tuesday that global warming was harming her state…
Speaking at a hearing before Interior Secretary Ken Salazar…
Palin said that relatively clean-burning natural gas could supplant dirtier fuels and slow the discharge of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
“We Alaskans are living with the changes that you are observing in Washington,” she said. “The dramatic decreases in the extent of summer sea ice, increased coastal erosion, melting of permafrost, decrease in alpine glaciers and overall ecosystem changes are very real to us.”
” Colorado Citizen (07:35:26) :
The point of cap and trade is to reduce pollution.”
No it’s not, it’s an exercise by the reactionary left fascists in trying to control the amount of energy available to the American economy.
No energy, no economy.
Or at least no wealth producing capitalist economy.
Mr Lynn (06:18:55) :
tallbloke (00:03:50) :
“We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge”
And of course, any major oil spill will mind it’s business and stay on it’s 2000acre reservation. . .
Oil spills are rare and in the overall scheme of things trivial. Vastly more oil is poured out into the oceans of the world from undersea vents
I learn something new every day. Thanks.
Not so sure about your figures. This NASA page seems to offer a reasonably unemotive survey.
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/peril_oil_pollution.html
It seems to me that Sarah Palin is exciting exactly the same sort of polarity that Margaret Thatcher achieved in the UK a generation ago, and still does today.
Whatever you think of her, Margaret Thatcher is still considered by very many people to have been the best UK leader since Churchill.
I will be keeping an eye on Sarah Palin over the next few years. These are interesting times!
I’m surprised Sarah Palin finished writing this column.
I assumed she would just quit half way through.
What is wisdom?
“Sarah Palin can do what you did. You cannot do what she did.”
—————————————————————
Victor Davis Hanson Asks Sarah Palin Critics, “Why the Hatred?”
http://www.pjtv.com/video/Pajamas_TV/Victor_Davis_Hanson_Asks_Sarah_Palin_Critics%2C_%22Why_the_Hatred%3F%22/2133/
George E. Smith, I like your moxie!
[snip – ad hom attack]
I’d be haoppy to see her run as any (GOP) candidate.
Palin is the best thing that ever happened to socialists. Even though I might agree with her, she needs to go away.
Some issues are just too basic. Why CO2 as pollutant, fryer of Earth? Why global governance? Why cap CO2 (and make bazillions of dollars if you can corner the trading market)? Because you abhor US power, US support of democracy in addition to the reality that the US made the world safe for democracy in the 20th Century, and the US ‘s amazing natural resources.
Tarnsman (8:20) writes: “the U.S. and its two neighbors sit atop the world’s largest known hydrocarbon deposits/reserves in the world (oil, coal, tar sands, oil shale, natural gas methane hydrates). The USGS estimates that Alaska alone may be sitting on coal reserves in the neighborhood of 3 TRILLION metric tons.”
Why wants to CAP THIS KIND OF WEALTH AND POWER? I could go on a long time, but summarizing, just try marxist, islamic, and the corrupt wealthy powers on every continent — Obama and the marxists (formerly called Liberals by Conservatives) and their corporate lackeys in Congress and elsewhere, Saudia Arabia, (Iran), Russia, China, Venezuela, the globalists in the EU, and every two-bit dictator.
For my money, Sarah Palin is one of the few who understands the odds and who has actually reformed the corruption that infects and infuses her own party. “We must move in a new direction. We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil. Just as important, we have more desire and ability to protect the environment than any foreign nation from which we purchase energy today.”
Now she can go national. Find her some worthy partners in “little d” democratic politics.
I prefer my politicians to believe in god and not believe they are a god.
I think it’s completely possible to get off of foreign oil and it’s not even that hard. I’ve read that once a barrel of oil goes above $40 dollars, it’s possible to convert coal to gas/diesel economically. And there’s cleaner ways like using compressed natural gas and of course we could build more nuclear power plants.
And it doesn’t matter if we don’t actually get most of our oil from the middle east because fluctuations in the market that are caused by their problems affect everyone’s price.
“”” fullbodytransplant (11:42:37) :
Oh lord.
I have seen this blog on the top of WordPress every day. I thought you guys were scientists. Now you are embracing the most unintelligent politician of our lifetime?
Color me disappointed. “””
Don’t forget a brain with that transplant. I noticed with all YOUR superior intelligence; you cited not one example to support your declarative assertion.
Why not list just 10 examples for us, and in each case; illustrate by giving President Obama’s, and Vice President Biden’s superior action.
How amusing; my leftist socialist Latina wife just returned from a vacation cruise to Alaska. She never reads any news paper or journal, never listens to any radio news; never watches any TV news (we can’t pick up any); but the is CTA propagandized, and she actually went ashore at Ketchikan (proPalin) and Juneau (anti-Palin); and met some local Alaskans.
When she returned home, she was drooling the anti-Palin vitriol, about as much a torrent, as big Mama Alien was as it Stalked Sigourney Weaver.
A perfectly rational individual reduced to near lunacy, by simply having cruised into Alaskan waters for a couple of days; with not a shred of concrete evidence to support a near maniacal hatred of someone she never has met, or even listened to speak.
By the way; it was a cruise for my MIL’s 90th birthday (I didn’t go); and if I was to call my MIL a “Latina”, she would slap my face for using the Mexican version of the N-word, and rightfully so.
The only thing that racist sexist Sotomayor didn’t say in her whining speech was to call the white man a Gringo; but she meant it.
Now my MIL; there’s one very smart lady.
She has run the ball around end. She has proposed a consistent, possible and sensible energy policy completely without delving into the issue of anthropogenic cause or guilt about climate.
==================================
Craig Moore (08:06:47) :
“Recently, I wrote to Congressman Jay Inslee (D) regarding my objections to cap and trade. He responded with this: “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that the average cost of getting off of foreign oil and protecting ourselves from climate change by enacting this bill will be 44 cents per day per household.”
Someone may have covered this. It’s important to understand that the estimates thrown about that cap-and-trade will cost less than $0.50 a day are misleading. This cost estimated by the CBO ignores the amount taken in by the government. If electricity rates rise by 40% and gas goes up $0.75/gallon, that is not counted because the money is eventually taken in by the government and you will receive a service for the money you pay in. So even though you pay you will be receiving $3.5 billion for battery research in Ohio, or fuel-efficient car research in Michigan. This is like saying that your income taxes or property taxes don’t count against the amount of money you have. It’s a big assumption and should be pointed out whenever the “….for less than the cost of a postage stamp…” argument is used.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/energyandenvironment/wm2503.cfm
From the Heritage website. “CBO mistakenly assumes that the government spending and distribution of allowance revenue is the dollar-for-dollar equivalent to a direct cash rebate to energy consumers–that is, that the carbon tax is not a tax if the government spends the money, which is simply preposterous.”
Any congressman making such a silly argument should be questioned further.
“Whatever you think of her, Margaret Thatcher is still considered by very many people to have been the best UK leader since Churchill.”
This is a laughable claim by any standard A Lovell. Come to the UK, and the mere mention of “Thatcher” or “the Poll Tax” in any social situation, regardless of political leanings, will exact cries of derision. History has been justifiably unkind to Baroness Thatcher, she is considered by many people to have been one of our very worst leaders.
.
Sorry about all the religious posts on this link, but surely this is central to this discussion. Like religion, AGW is a faith-based, rather than a rational science-based proposal. Thus someone who can be so easily persuaded by Creationism is more likely to argue on the basis of faith and emotion, rather than science and rationalism. (ie, did Palin really write this piece?)
AGW has thrived on the fact that most politicians know NO science whatsoever, and are therefore easy prey for corrupt or ideological ’scientists’. We don’t need more politicians of that ilk in the most powerful post in the world – using wigi boards or the advice of ‘gods’ to decide important policy.
.
I don’t agree that religion is central to this discussion. Through undergrad and then grad school I had some devout professors that were excellent teachers of chemistry, biochemistry, and biology. Someone’s faith is their business and they can reconcile it with science any way they choose. I think here we should stick to the science.
from across the pond:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/i/the-magazine/features/3755623/meet-the-man-who-has-exposed-the-great-climate-change-con-trick.thtml
Sarah Palin is just finishing up all her last minute concerns before leaving her office.
Interesting, Sarah decides to write about America’s unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing.
Sarah could of taken an opportunity to create jobs for Alaskans by participating to receive Obama’s Stimulus Relief to create JOBS. Yet, her main concern is how much money her SarahPAC has received for HER intentions, or the amount of money people would contribute to her defense trust fund to cover the $600,000 legal expenses during a recession.
I just want Sarah to leave her office, so that those people who really do care about Alaskans~Americans can get some work done.
Steelbound ,
If memory serves , several years ago the price was about eighty dollars a barrel to make coal conversion economically feasible . OPEC has tried to keep oil under that price .
ralph ellis (15:00:06) :
“AGW has thrived on the fact that most politicians know NO science whatsoever, and are therefore easy prey for corrupt or ideological ’scientists’”
One does not need to be a scientist to ‘know’ about science. Palin has stated she grew up in a home with a science teacher for a father.
Growing up in any home children learn, by ‘osmosis’, whatever it is their parents have as their specialty or interest.
I grew up with an electrician father. I can make/repair electrical extension cords, tv cables, and a variety of other electrical items, as can my siblings.
My parents were gardeners, I know gardening. I don’t like it but I know it.
My children know the law because they have grown up with my knowledge of the law. When it comes to the law they are the go-to people amongst their friends. We talk about it at home and they have learned but not studied the law around the kitchen table.
Now they are the go-to people on the science of climate change because of my interest.
My point is everyone has knowledge gained around the breakfast table. Just because Palin does not have a science degree it does not follow she nor anyone like her has no science knowledge.
I do not imagine everyone that comments on this site has a science degree but some times I wonder, given the level of scientific knowledge that is obvious at WUWT even from those that have stated their lack of science degrees.
My final point is that ‘AGW has not thrived on the fact that most politicians know no science’. It has thrived because the media is behind it 110%, the media is behind the ‘looney left’ Social Democrat agenda 110% and pushes their agenda no matter its consequences. The public are as informed as the leftist media allows them to be.
Senator Fielding admitted to as much in Australia when he said
“Until recently I, like most Australians, simply accepted without question the notion that global warming was a result of increased carbon emissions…”
People have accepted AGW without question because the media have reported it to be fact and not the fiction is proving to be.
The problem the AGW hoaxists face in the very near future is that people will look out their windows and see that the earth has not warmed, the climate is cooling and there will be nothing alarmists can do to change the facts.
It will not be necessary to know science when this happens.
Imran Husain (14:57:02) :
You obviously circulate only in socialist circles.
She may have believed that AGW was real,but is now a sceptic.A lot of people still do not believe it is false,it has not proven to be false yet,I imagine she has to be careful,the world could start warming again at any time,then how would she look?The woman is Governor,she can’t be that dumb.She has said herself that she has picked a good team,she acknowledges that she is nothing without the right people,true for a president too.I don’t believe that Obama will ever be able to say he picked the right people,but I could be wrong.I often wonder what it is about her that brings out such vitriol,she is not a nasty person,and does not deserve to be treated as she is by the media.The phrase clean coal is the only way a politician dared to advocate the use of it in such a vicious political campaign for AGW.Sometimes I think the politicians are too afraid of the press.They have given them the power by kowtowing to them.You only have to look at what is going on with Italy’s leader to see what happens to a politician who does not pander to them.
Mark_0454, I agree. My point was to highlight how the D’s are playing the foreign source “reduction” card with their moonbeams and butterfly wings solutions, as Gov. Dixie Lee Ray use to say. Although a D herself, she had absolutely no tolerance for BS that conflicted with real science.
From Ian Plimer, author of Heaven and Earth:
‘When I try explaining “global warming” to people in Iran or Turkey they have no idea what I’m talking about. Their life is about getting through to the next day, finding their next meal. Eco-guilt is a first-world luxury. It’s the new religion for urban populations which have lost their faith in Christianity. The IPCC report is their Bible. Al Gore and Lord Stern are their prophets.’
For ralph ellis:
AGW and extreme environmentalism is a religion without any hope. I prefer a religion like Christianity that offers hope.-and I consider myself a thinker, able to argue quite well using both logic and reason. Just because a person is a Christian, doesn’t mean they are opposed to science- ever hear of Pascal or Newton?
I just want Sarah to leave her office, so that those people who really do care about Alaskans~Americans can get some work done.
Does “get some work done” mean “take federal handouts”?
ralph ellis: “Sound reasonable? Well, as this article points out, would we teach children that the Earth may either be flat or spherical, and let them decide? Not even an idiot would propose that one…”
If you wanted to teach children to think critically, it would probably be a good idea to tell them that at various times in history people have believed in both a flat and spherical world. Then encourage them to study the evidence for themselves, debate their findings with each other, and see what conclusion they would reach. When my children are a little older I will probably do this exercise with them. I would far rather that they understand and internalize the evidence and reach a reasoned conclusion than that they mindlessly regurgitate that which others have concluded, even when those conclusions are true. (FWIW, I have utmost confidence that my children will not by this means become flat earth believers. I do not share your fear for the true conclusion to be reached by careful examination of the evidence; and I believe they would benefit by the performing the scientific demonstration involved.)
In fact, the biggest problem in the AGW debate is that far too many people accept the “consensus science” (an nonsequiter if ever there was one) because someone supposedly better informed than they have concluded it is true. No amount of evidence which undercuts the AGW premise will be admitted by the AGW true believers, ergo they are not engaged in science, or in examining science, but instead are repeating fairy tales told to them by people seeking political power.
That’s pretty funny coming from a guy whose party elected a man who uses a teleprompter in press conferences.
Gotta Love her!
First time I can ever remember a politician clearly stating how energy economics really work and with a clear grasp of economic consequences of energy supply and costs.
If she can just get the “handlers” to leave her alone to be herself… The wooden stereotype that showed up in interviews after being given over to the “handlers” is a pale shell of what she is when telling ’em to go stuff it.
Saw film of her today on Fox, hauling in a fishing net. First time I ever saw a Governor that I’d like to go fishing with and buy ’em a beer…
What I’d give to see Pelosi, Boxer, Waxman, any of them up to their knees in mud and hip waders pulling on a net full of flopping fish 😎 Or trying to gut and fillet one!
I have no idea if I agree with most of her positions, or not, but I’m certain we need more folks who are “grounded” like she is, and less folks with law degrees and no idea where sushi comes from or what makes a car go…
P Walker (16:25:13) :
Steelbound ,
If memory serves , several years ago the price was about eighty dollars a barrel to make coal conversion economically feasible . OPEC has tried to keep oil under that price .
It’s down to about $50 to $60 / bbl now. OPEC is not going to be able to keep prices low enough to stop it. China just bought about a $Billion worth of coal to fuel plants from a couple of suppliers. SYMX Synthesis Energy is one of them, I think SSL Sasol may be involved with the other one.
In my more paranoid moments, I think maybe the “CO2 is evil you can’t use coal” (and by extension, coal conversion) movement might be funded by OPEC members. If fits the “simplest while explaining all the facts” test, but fails the “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity” test. There is so much stupidity that it’s a very high hurdle 😉
I’m Australian….. I wish Sarah Palin was a player in our Political system. The moment I first heard her speak…. She made sense.
You Americans are lucky to have a political entity that still thinks you are worth the effort.
Yowsah! Yowsah! Yowsah!
I suppor her. Totally. I don’t believe in Democrat/Republican. They are the same animal. Sarah is someting else.
I agree completely. That woman is brilliant!
Common sense is so lacking in the Democratic party, that I left it years ago. I want common sense government.
Sarah would get my vote.
theduke (22:14:40) : There is no reason to cease buying foreign energy products if their market value is far cheaper than similar domestic products would be.
Guess you never lived though the Arab Oil Embargo of the ’70s. Economy brought to it’s knees, gas lines, you could by 10 gallons of gas on the odd or even day depending on your plate. Cold buildings. Unable to fuel a full on military action.
There is absolutely every reason to cease buying foreign energy products. Stability of supply is far more important than cheapness of supply. Ability to field an army AT ANY TIME is far more important than being able to do it cheaply when you don’t need to. Keeping a few $Trillion in our own economy rather than sending it to folks the hate us. The list goes on…
If the West stopped buying energy from the Middle East, the place would turn into a huge killing ground very quickly. We have an important national security interest in maintaining some kind of stability in the Middle East.
Not my problem. I don’t see any reason to care if the place is stable, or not, after we have fuel independence. Were I in charge, we’d have a 5 year plan to run the whole country on synthetic GTL and CTL fuels. At the end of that time, I’d tell OPEC that we didn’t care what they did and I’d tell the entire middle east that our “financial aid” bribe payments were shut off now. Then I’d bring home every soldier and every bit of military gear from the entire Eurpean / Asian / African theatre and tell them to have a nice day.
Oil revenues support political stability and promote economic growth in that region. We don’t want those positive outcomes to be extinguished.
Political Stability like in Iraq under Sadam? Iran? The Saudi method? Chavez in Venezuela? And just WHY do I care about economic growth in Iran, Iraq, or wherever? I care a great deal more about jobs in the USA leaving for China.
Furthermore, the US buys much of its oil from Mexico and Canada so the claim that we are financing terrorists by buying huge amounts of oil from nations that tolerate, foster or finance terrorism is clearly exaggerated.
You forgot all the oil we get from Venzuela, Iraq, Iran? And our support for “stability in the region” that lets the European and Asian money flow in to them too…
Our nation’s domestic oil reserves are best left undeveloped to be relied upon in the case of a catastrophic world crisis, the probability of which is much greater now than it was two years ago.
Since it takes 5 to 10 years to develop a field, and “world crisis” will be long over before any oil in the ground makes a darned bit of difference.
Now, what would make a great deal of sense, would be to build all the coal to oil plants needed to run the country, stockpile a years worth of coal at each site, all the time burning someone else’s oil, THEN tell them what the oil price will be this month – Or Else. Then we could “cut over” to domestic fuels whenever desired and for whatever reason and duration.
Further, there is absolutely no reason to “save the oil”. It does not get better with age and there is no shortage of energy:
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/there-is-no-energy-shortage/
South Africa and Brazil both told OPEC to go stuff it, so we have two existence proofs that it can be done. SSL does a great job of turning coal to “oil products” in South Africa and running a relatively modern economy on it. Brazil, well, it being one of the current Wunderkind Economies kind of speaks for itself… CZZ Cosan makes the ethanol component of the mix. PBR does the oil and delivery / distribution. Three companies in the USA do it on a small demonstration scale: SYMX Synthesis Energy, SYNM Syntroleum, RTK Rentech and several of the oil majors do it too: BP, CVX Chevron / Texeco, and RDS Royal Dutch Shell at a minimum.
All it takes is political will.
tallbloke (00:03:50) : And of course, any major oil spill will mind it’s business and stay on it’s 2000acre reservation.
Well, yes. It’s so darned cold up there that the heavy crude they pump has to be heated up a lot to move. On the surface, it would be like tarmac in the Arctic.
Per quantity: There is a great deal in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve to the West of ANWR. Nobody knows about to the east… that’s what exploration is about. Out to sea is thought to be a large quantity, but again, exploration is sparse. The surrounding geology and present oil fields do speak to an expectation of a few decades worth, though.
http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/energy/oil_gas/npra.html
UK Sceptic (00:34:52) : What will happen if Obama’s birth certificate proves he’s not born in the US? Will this see him thrown out of office for breaching the rules?
As I understand it, he has to be a “natural born citizen” i.e. not naturalized.
Since his mom is a US citizen, I don’t think it matters what dirt was under the hospital where he was born. He’s a US citizen unless she denounced hers.
Janice (07:09:24) :
nvw, I am always amazed at the misinterpretation of Genesis, chapter 1. As a fundamentalist Jew, I can sympathize with the fundamentalist Christians who are always being told by others what they believe. Certainly, if you wish to believe that Genesis says that the earth was created in seven days, I cannot prevent you. However, the time period that is expressed does not actually translate to a day. In point of fact, we don’t know what it translates to. It is one of those words in Hebrew that we have lost the translation for. It could stand for an indeterminate amount of time, or it could stand for a billion years.
There is a fascinating book, who’s title escapes me at the moment, something like “The Science of God” or creation… The author makes the rather interesting observation that when relativity is taken into account, time passed much differently at the start of the “bang”.
If you calibrate your clock to the beginning, each “day” matches the biblical record. As time dilates, we start to get millions and then billions of years passing in each ‘day’. The startling thing is the near exact match of the biblical list of events vs the scientific.
Perhaps the “7 days” really is just an instrument calibration issue 😎
Ah, a bit of creative googling has found it:
http://books.google.com/books?id=OqRxtkaFjVwC&dq=science+god+creation+relativity+time&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=G0RdSsuyJYfiswPb-IGpCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=12
The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom
by Gerald Schroeder
A fascinating read… and I’m from the more or less agnostic camp; as likely to believe that “Space Aliens were on a Peace Corp mission” as that “God did it”…
Gee, Sarah Palin and General Relativity in the same discussion 😉
I’m always entertained by Sarah Palin posts, on any blog or forum.
I wonder how many people realize that they have been programmed to hate this woman? Programmed like automatons. It’s really quite amusing to watch from the outside.
Myself, I have a LOT of respect for her. She’s out there, she knows full well what kind of sh**storm has been aimed in her direction, and she’s having fun with it. It’s especially fun watching people who fundamentally agree with her but hate her.
Hoi Polloi
No, I would not want the SNL crew to be the next POTUS. It is bad enough we have one as a Senator.
“I have no idea if I agree with most of her positions, or not, but I’m certain we need more folks who are “grounded” like she is, and less folks with law degrees and no idea where sushi comes from or what makes a car go…”
Amen to that, if that’s not too religious.
Colorado Citizen (07:35:26) : The point of cap and trade is to reduce pollution.
Only if you accept the logical fallacy that CO2 is “pollution”. It isn’t.
The rest of your argument falls apart since it depends on the proposition that CO2 is “pollution”.
Hmmm Mufft…
Maybe I was wrong…
(US Constitution “legal reference” in 1770’s) Vattel – Law Of Nations – Book 1, Section 212 – “natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.” “…in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen.”
Since Obama’s Dad was Kenyan and it looks like he was born not on U.S. soil…
At the least, the case is plausible and needs a hearing.
I happen to like Sara Palin and find the negative comments here typical of the shallow talking points from the MSM. I agree with the points in her article and thought the article was focused, well written, and clearly made two major points; mostly that the cap and trade bill will severely hurt the economy and that we have major oil/gas/and other resources that we should utilize instead of depending so much on imports. I find it interesting that some of the criticism herein was that the article did not elaborate on other points such as the purpose of the cap and trade bill, etc. The focus of the article was important given the venue. The fact that CO2 is not a pollutant and the objective of the Pelosi bill is power, control and tax is better covered in a later article.
Some thoughts on the negative comments:
“She doesn’t understand any issue! She just repeats talking point she gets from people in the Republican party. The whole get off foreign oil dependency is made by those who have no remote idea where our energy comes from nor how it is used…”
Typical shallow criticism of Palin. I suspect she knows more about this subject than the person who made these statements. Of course it is very unlikely that we will totally get off foreign oil, but if we developed our vast resources we could easily rid ourselves of the 16% we import from the middle east and possibly also eliminate our dependence on oil from Chavez. Just think of all the positive benefits if we imported a lot less oil by developing our own resources. These would include reduced flow of US dollars overseas, decreased dependence on oil from less friendly countries , high paying jobs in the US, royality payments to our governments, reduced need for a strategic reserve, and probably a more stable crude oil price, not controlled by OPEC.
It boggles my mind that we are the only country that strangles our energy production. On the other hand the President’s claim that renewables will get us off foreign oil is either a carefully crafted fib or based on total ignorance of thermodynamics and economics. Renewables will not provide 16% of our liquid fuels anytime soon and maybe never. Meanwhile he does everything possible to impede US exploration and production of gas and oil which will ultimately increase our dependence on foreign oil when these scams fail.
“We do not have the oil reserves to get off foreign oil, not unless you want to pay $10 a gallon. Energy independence is a myth repeated by those who do not understand economics. ”
reply: I would tend to agree that near term we will not be totally off foreign oil, but wonder what you meant by “reserves” According to wiki:
“Reserves are those quantities of petroleum claimed to be commercially recoverable by application of development projects to known accumulations under defined conditions.[6] Reserves must satisfy four criteria: They must be:
discovered through one or more exploratory wells[6]
recoverable using existing technology[6]
commercially viable[6]
remaining in the ground[6]”
There is a lot of oil and gas potential in the US that is not counted as “reserves” by that definition. Brazil recently discovered huge oil reservoirs off shore that are now added to their reserves. I betcha Sara understands the difference between proven reserves and potential reserves and the vast possibilities if we unleash our companies that have a proven ability to find and deliver energy.
And of course if we really wanted to get off foreign oil, we could always convert our huge coal deposits to liquid fuels since we developed and demonstrated that technology in the 70/80’s. I worked on these projects and they were killed when OPEC decided to end their embargo and lower the price realizing we could get along without them. At that time the cost was about $40/bbl so $10/gallon ($420/bbl) sounds way too high even given inflation.
E.M.Smith (18:54:58) : “Guess you never lived though the Arab Oil Embargo of the ’70s. Economy brought to it’s knees, gas lines, you could by 10 gallons of gas on the odd or even day depending on your plate. Cold buildings. Unable to fuel a full on military action.”
Can’t be said much more clearly than this, Mr. Smith. How close are we now? And the Chinese are looking for a different currency — one that is solvent. Won’t that be a can of worms.
.
>>>Someone’s faith is their business and they can
>>>reconcile it with science any way they choose. I
>>>think here we should stick to the science.
Precisely, which is why it should be kept out of political speeches.
If a UK prime minister invoked god in a speech, as a medium for policy change, they would be laughed out of office and into the funny-farm.
Remember that this ‘under god’ business was only added to the US oath in 1954. It was not their previously because the founding fathers understood that religion was divisive, and it was religious infighting that led many people to escape to the US in the first place. Thus the state was declared to be secular, so that it would not favour any particular private religion.
The USA is going backwards, not forwards.
>>>Come to the UK, and the mere mention of “Thatcher” or >
>>>“the Poll Tax” in any social situation, regardless of political
>>>leanings, will exact cries of derision.
Not so, Hussain. Like Palin, Thatcher became the darling of true Brit blue collar worker, most especially those who were self employed. They saw the value of rolling back socialism and did well out of it.
The people who rebelled against the poll tax were invariably left-wing students and civil servants, who hated the thought of actually making a living for themselves independent of the government teat (coal workers included).
On the poll-tax issue the socialist workers party won that particular battle, but that does not mean that Mrs T was not hugely respected by many. My only bitch against her is that she let too much of the UK’s industry go to the wall – a legacy that we are still having to deal with.
Yes, Wilson, an interesting new book ‘Heaven and Earth’ (anti-AGW). Many familiar phrases that appear on this site, I think.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/3755623/meet-the-man-who-has-exposed-the-great-climate-change-con-trick.thtml
I have placed the text on the WUWT notes and tips, as it is a bit long for here.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/tips-notes-to-wuwt/#comment-159481
(bottom of page)
“E.M.Smith (21:00:08) :
Hmmm Mufft…
Maybe I was wrong…
(US Constitution ‘legal reference’ in 1770’s) Vattel – Law Of Nations – Book 1, Section 212 – ‘natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.’ ‘…in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen.’
Since Obama’s Dad was Kenyan and it looks like he was born not on U.S. soil…
At the least, the case is plausible and needs a hearing.”
++++++
Spot on in your analysis. Just a couple points to add. I’ve considered Vattel’s work to have been the Constitution framers’ handbook. I’ve also seen protestations by some that this work had not been translated into English when the Constitution was written (The Law of Nations was written in French). Such protests overlook the point that French was also spoken by the colonists – it was a different world then, English was not the dominant language in the world as it is today.
Accepting that Obama was born in Hawaii, he still has the problem that’s always been the key argument in most of the court cases – one parent (his father) was not a US citizen and so natural born status could not be conferred upon him. At best, he’s a US citizen by birth only.
And now it is up to the courts. And with their slow deliberative process it will still be several months before there’s a definitive ruling and that will probably come out of the Supreme Court. When that happens, here’s some additional irony – if confirmed by the Senate as an Associate Justice of the Supreme, Sonia Sotomayor would have to recuse herself from making a ruling, leaving the the decision in the hands of the remaining eight justices. This has all the makings of a major Constitutional crisis. If the court decides against Obama, then everything he’s done is null and void. Think about that for a minute. All laws & executive orders signed, all cabinet appointments, etc. What about his choice for vice president? If that’s the case, would that then make Nancy Pelosi the new President?
Will the election in 2012 be between Palin & Pelosi?
>>>One does not need to be a scientist to ‘know’ about
>>>science. I grew up with an electrician father. I can make/repair
>>>electrical extension cords, tv cables, and a variety of other
>>>electrical items, as can my siblings.
Precisely – you are NORMAL. Politicians are not NORMAL. In the UK they tend to be lawyers, who are sons of lawyers and know absolutely nothing about hard graft or the real world.
Ditto, the political sons and daughters of union officials; politicians; local government officers; civil servants; company managers etc: etc:
The number of politicians in the UK who are the children of real people with real-world experience is near to zero.
In part, that is why Mrs T became so popular. While she was not truly a real-worlder (she did get a BSc in chemistry, hooray), she made great play on her grocer shopkeeper father and her running a domestic household. Running a country’s finances, she told us, was like holding the household purse-strings – you must live within your means. (Obama and Brown please take note – running to the bank for a loan every month is not a long term option.) This message struck a resonance with many people.
>>>If you wanted to teach children to think critically, it would
>>>probably be a good idea to tell them that at various times
>>>in history people have believed in both a flat and spherical
>>>world.
Agreed.
“”Yes, some people did actually, once-upon-a-time in a fairy-tale, believe in Creationism! Can you believe it, kids!! (wipes tear from eye) ho, ho, ho, ho….””
Yes, I think that’s a good idea.
>>>In fact, the biggest problem in the AGW debate is that far too
>>>many people accept the “consensus science” (an non-sequitur
>>>if ever there was one) because someone supposedly better
>>>informed than they have concluded it is true.
Precisely – AGW has become a faith rather than a science. Science should always be self-critical, to cross check itself, and not get bogged down in ‘consensus’.
But science is run by people, and people do strange things. As was pointed out elsewhere, the consensus said that stomach ulcers were caused by stomach acid, and the two people who said otherwise were castigated as raving idiots. They now have Nobel prizes.
>>>if you wish to believe that Genesis says that the earth was
>>>created in seven days, I cannot prevent you.
>>Perhaps the “7 days” really is just an instrument calibration issue.
Don’t you love these literalists! Halleluja!!
But there is a much simpler answer to Genesis – it is simply a well-thumbed copy of the Hymn to the Aten, written circa 1340BC by Pharaoh Akhenaton, the monotheist heretic pharaoh of Egypt.
The only difference is that the Hymn to the Aten was not a creation epic, it was a celebration of the dawn of a new day – a part of the morning liturgy for his brave, new (monotheistic) religion.
As it happens, Pharaoh Akenaton’s brother was a high priest called called Moses…
Shock horror – that’s far to logical – where is my faith??
George E. Smith : You call her what you want. I will call her Sarah if I want. That’s the beauty of free speech. Geeze you sound like Boxer. I’ve never used her full title either:P
I wonder if any of you watched the house telecast when they were passing the energy bill through the house. They call it the Energy Independence and Security Act. and the three things they (house dems supporting bill) consistently quoted its purpose was 1. Energy Independence, 2. Green Job creation, 3. Co2 reduction to get Global Warming under control. No they didn’t get the climate change vs. global warming memo. Seems to me Sarah got the talking points right here and knows as much or more of the actual science than the writers of said bill.
Secondly, I remember initially she said she did not believe in AGW and would take McCain to Alaska to change his mind. After a while though she had to adopt her party line like a good vice presidential candidate. If we want to talk political flip flop I could mention Obama on coal in SF and Obama on clean coal on the campaign trail in a coal state.. enough said.
and Finally, I am sick and tired of religion and politics. I have yet to see Sarah Palin force her religion on anyone. I would appreciate it if people who lack religion would quit forcing their beliefs on everyone else. Maybe I should protest that there isn’t an s on the end of god??? I doubt you would like that much either. I wont force my religion or lack there of on you, if you will agree to do the same.
As much as I like what I hear in what her statement has, It still rings of the same partyline that she was spewing in with McCain’s “Trust me, I know what to do” rhetoric.
She’s a professional politician and is not very trust-worthy. However, she would still probably be better than Obummer I think. Then again, a used car salesman would be better than Obummer. My dog would be better than Obummer.
Imran Husain 14.57:02
I happen to live in the UK and have done for nearly 60 years. We obviously move in very different ‘social situations’. I stand by my observations and my long experience of British politics.
Thanks to Robert Wood and Ralph Ellis.
Anthony, this is indeed your blog, and I would not presume to tell you how to run it. However, in the mode of a friend, I would like to point out something, and you can do what you like with it. In this particular thread, the subject of religion was brought up several times with a rather derogatory tone before anyone posted any type of rebuttal. You did not make any comments about limiting religious comments until the rebuttals started showing up. In the interests of consistency, you might consider editing any and all posts that relate to religion or religious belief, no matter what the topic or context might be. It would then make it harder for us to hijack a thread in order to start a really good fight about theology (which was, probably, inappropriate to the spirit of your original posting).
Colorado Citizen (09:34:13) :
“I bet you believe she wasn’t using a teleprompter in her quit speech, either.”
Wasn’t at her quit speech. I was 8 feet in front of her in ’07. No lectern, no props. Just Sarah. She’s not a professional politician.
E.M.Smith: dirt under mama’s feet did matter. She was too young (18) to convey citizenship to Barak. If he arrived in HI, he’s OK. Prior to that, life could get interesting. But probably won’t.
I worry more about what he does now than what happened back then.
“And can you show us the parts of the Palin interview that didn’t wind up on the cutting room floor?” Not sure if that’s relevant. The performance we saw was devestating enough already.
Personally I don’t believe Mrs.Palin’s contribution is doing the skeptics a lot of good. She’s a politician in every sense of the word, “like when do you know when a politician is lying? When he moves his lips”.
As was just as much less impressed when Lubos Motl (http://motls.blogspot.com/) showed his admiration for that clown Berlusconi.
A Lovell (12:30:31) :
It seems to me that Sarah Palin is exciting exactly the same sort of polarity that Margaret Thatcher achieved in the UK a generation ago, and still does today.
Whatever you think of her, Margaret Thatcher is still considered by very many people to have been the best UK leader since Churchill.
The woman who tried to ruin a country with corner shop economics.
The woman who started the AGW scare as a tactic to wreck the coal industry because it’s workers were unionised. (And had the best safety record in UK industry)
The woman who made three million unemployed, and then slapped a uniform universal tax on suffrage.
Doesn’t say much for the quality of our leaders does it?
pyromancer76 (21:55:11) :
E.M.Smith (18:54:58) : “Guess you never lived though the Arab Oil Embargo of the ’70s. Economy brought to it’s knees, gas lines, you could buy 10 gallons of gas on the odd or even day depending on your plate. Cold buildings. Unable to fuel a full on military action.”
Can’t be said much more clearly than this, Mr. Smith. How close are we now? And the Chinese are looking for a different currency — one that is solvent. Won’t that be a can of worms.
Thanks!
I did live through it (that is why I’ve had a 30+ year long fixation with “alternative” energy and fuels technologies and keep on top of it). That was when I ran my VW on “funny fuels” mixes and put alcohol in a lawn mower engine for the first time. Oh, and discovered the history of Diesels running on darned near anything if you do it right 😉
How close are we now? I’m not sure “to what” you mean…
1) Converting to a non-oil energy source: I’d put it at about 10 years. I’d give it 5 to get bad enough under Cap’nTax that there’s an economic revolt, then about 5 more after that to build some coal to liquid plants on an emergency crash basis. I don’t expect this to happen, though. A slower more painful path is more likely.
or
2) OPEC energy embargo: Entirely dependent on when / if Arabs get cranky at us for some policy they don’t like. They learned last time that the embargo caused their investments in the US and Europe to tank and hurt their income for the next decade or so due to economic depression. They are already winning the economic war with gigantic transfer of wealth to them, so why rock the boat when you can just wait? Especially with our present insanity of “CO2 is Evil” putting coal and tar sands off limits, the only thing left to run the world’s economy for the next decade is their oil. Nothing else of significance can be built in less than a decade without a “Manhattan Project” style approach. I’d expect them to be happy as can be with how things are going and only cut off oil if another Arab / Israeli war broke out with the US on the Israeli side. Not likely with B.H.Obama in charge.
There is a potential:
3) General Energy Crisis (not embargo driven, legal and economy driven): I’d give that about 3 to 4 years. Once Cap’nTax has hit the economy it will cause a modest collapse of several energy dependent industries (imagine what it will do to trucking to have fuel double in cost…). Similarly, anything that needs coal will tank (as in, “why would I ever invest in that with any potential profit sucked off in a punitive tax?”) The dollar will tank too, and that makes oil incredibly expensive in real terms. All energy dependent production will flee to China and India. At that point, we have a productivity and cost crisis that causes the present downturn to look like “good times”. Similar to the 1929 / 1932 “double dip” that lead to the Great Depression.
The “4” of “we all live happily ever after in an e-world with clean e-cars running on solar and wind with no coal” is a fantasy. The timing doesn’t work. It takes 15 years or more to convert enough of the vehicle fleet to make a difference and by then “it’s over” economically. It takes about 20 to 50 years to turn over the electric generation plant. It’s “coal or nothing” during that time, and “nothing” is not going to be pretty…
That is why I like the Sarah Plan so much. “Do them all” is what we need to do to get out of this energy trap. Gas to Liquids and Coal to Liquids are the fastest and “bestest” solutions (no fleet change, fast to build, enough scale to make a difference) but doing everything else helps too (drill drill drill, biofuels, hybrid cars, high efficiency Diesels (80 mpg in a full size sedan!)
Per the currency and China: It’s already a “can of worms”. China and Brazil have reached an agreement to “settle their trade without dollars”. That is only the first of more to come. China is more happy to hold Brazilian Reals for trade than Dollars. Brazil is more happy to hold Yuan. Repeat for Rupees and pounds and rubles and…
Basically the US Dollar was used as a standard value ruler to dampen the foreign exchange risks in global trade. With us printing dollars like crazy right now, it’s become a “rubber ruler”. Nobody needs a rubber ruler… so they are looking for alternatives. The US government thinks they won’t find one. With all of Gold, Silver, Reals, Euros, Yen, and a host of others having performed better in the last 6 months, I think they can find plenty. (Most likely will be a “basket of currencies” as used by the IMF and as proposed by Russia – basically make your standard the “mean value” of the best dozen currencies. A mathematically sound approach with only the USA losing.)
Now there are $trillions of dollars floating around the world (countries like Liberia and Ecuador use it as their currency…) so it will take a while to drain that swamp, but think what happens to our economy as a few $Trillion more come home to roost. Lots of inflation or else the Fed must sell one heck of a lot of bonds and suck up the dollars that way. That many bonds drive up interest rates and cause interest rate sensitive industries to tank (think home mortgages at 12% … )
Yeah, “can of worms” is about right…
And THAT is why I’d like to see:
1) A crash program for GTL and CTL.
2) A crash program for natural gas powered vehicle conversions.
3) A tariff on non-NAFTA oil (Canada and Mexico inside and exempt) such that oil must cost a $80/bbl minimum (that assures the alternatives makers a successful market with no ability of OPEC to crash the price).
4) A Sarah style “Drill Drill Drill” program.
5) A halt to the $trillions of spending on social “programs” in DC (i.e. the nationalization of finance and autos, the takeover of the 17% of our economy that is health care, “stimulus” pork, mortgage socialization, etc.) and a firm “sound dollar” program.
6) In my wildest dreams: A firm cap on Federal Spending at no more than 15% of GDP and state spending at no more than 10%. But I know that will never happen… There is an interesting factoid: Countries collapse when total government spending exceeds 50% of the economy. It can take a few years, though. We are going to be at 55% in several states under the proposed new taxes and we’re at about 45% in the others… I’d rather have a 25% limit ( a 1/2 margin of error for all the accounting games that will be played…)
Tallbloke 09:15:19
As I said……… still exciting the same polarity!
For my take on the above post by E.M. Smith, see
“THE GRAND GAME:
The grand game that is being played out around the world involves oil, natural gas, and renewable energy, also automotive technologies, and now climate change legislation. The stakes are high, the players are world-wide, and opportunities for making and losing vast fortunes exist.”
see http://energyguysmusings.blogspot.com/2009/07/peak-oil-and-unicorns-both-mythical.html
A most significant (and recent) move was ExxonMobil’s investment of $600 million into oil-from-algae. This is a VERY significant event in the Grand Game.
ralph ellis (03:14:30) : But there is a much simpler answer to Genesis – it is simply a well-thumbed copy of the Hymn to the Aten, written circa 1340BC by Pharaoh Akhenaton, the monotheist heretic pharaoh of Egypt.
Fascinating. But it doesn’t change the basic question of “calibration”, it just moves the issue back one step in history. There was an interval of Egyptian history when they had “foreign pharos”, the Hixos or Hyksos.
See: http://www.touregypt.net/kings.htm
Down about the Second Intermediate Period
Though “The Naked Archeologist” had an interesting episode on the question that showed a slightly different chronology that makes the match to the evidence on the ground even more exact and matches the Hebrew history too. There is a very real probability that the Egyptian pharaohs from the monotheistic period WERE Hebrews, thus making that story the same as the Jewish one…
While there is fair evidence that these might have been Hebrews, unfortunately, the story stops there with that speculation. We just don’t know.
Factoid: The hieroglyph for “teacher” is a set of two glyphs – one for “star” the other a “gate” … (begin spooky music…)
So my favorite fantasy is that a “teacher from the stars” came down and gave us a bunch of knowledge (such as the Maya calendar and the Genesis story of creation that is a mangled version of relativity and the big bang); then the grant ran out and they had their Peace Corp / Ph.D. Thesis field trip end and went home… Hey, it’s a FUN fantasy 😎
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to have been any interest shown in us since then, so we’re on our own to solve our problems.
And that leads us back to Sarah…
I don’t care if she believes in Genesis or not. It could be a true, though mangled, history or it could be a religious fantasy. Makes little difference. The social guidance in the Torah and Bible are generally sound advice and I don’t care if the person buys the rest of the story or not. It gives them a good and functional set of standards to guide them. Basically, it filters out a lot of the junk that would otherwise clutter up their thinking. (Like “Do I take the bribe?” “Is it wrong to lie to the people?” “Do I compromise my fundamental beliefs to get this law passed?” “Is bankrupting GM and stealing the Shareholders wealth OK as long as the Unions benefit?” …)
So, basically, I’ll take a religious nut over a socialist nut any day. One works well, the other leads to catastrophe.
Or: we all have our fantasies, I’d rather have the ones that function well be in charge.
A Lovell (10:34:02) :
Tallbloke 09:15:19
As I said……… still exciting the same polarity!
Whatever you think of her, Margaret Thatcher is still considered by very many people to have been the best UK leader since Churchill.
I suspect that when I join the queue to relieve myself on her grave, I will witness ‘very many people’ ahead of me, and ‘very many more’ coming up behind. Miners drink a lot of beer. I’ll take my wellies.
tallbloke 13:46:58
And STILL exciting the same polarity! Ha ha! 🙂
Ok tallbloke, we’ll agree to differ. Goodnight now!
E.M.Smith (11:33:43) :
“Do I compromise my fundamental beliefs to get this law passed?”
How about “Do I support cap and trade to get the Vice Presidency”
Maybe a bit below the belt. Perhaps she thought she’d be able to subvert from within.
“Miners drink a lot of beer. I’ll take my wellies.”
What is so funny about this politically correct hatred of Thatcher, is that so much of it comes from the very coal miners that the left are trying to completely devastate with things like Cap and Trade. I saw Billy Elliot in Soho last winter, and the hatred for her expressed in that play approaches the hatred of Bush, and almost the hatred of Sarah Palin here. All the time, the irony of the absolute political incorrectness of the miner’s cause, and the apparent doublethink by the mostly British was quite a source of amusement. That and the dream number the gay kid character did, which was worth the price of the show.
“The woman who tried to ruin a country with corner shop economics”
I would be interested to see your version of UK economic growth and unemployment trends for the decade before and the decades after Thatcher.
“”” Juliana Smith (16:16:56) :
Sarah Palin is just finishing up all her last minute concerns before leaving her office.
Interesting, Sarah decides to write about America’s unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing.
Sarah could of taken an opportunity to create jobs for Alaskans by participating to receive Obama’s Stimulus Relief to create JOBS. “””
Well aren’t you the generous one Juliana. How much money did you personally contribute to “Obama’s Stimulus Relief to create JOBS.” ?
How much did Obama himself contribute? As for the money; it has all gone; but less than 10% of it has been spent; the rest went into peole’s pockets, or is promised to future socialist programs; which will create zero jobs, and very little of the money that has been spent has created ANY jobs; we are still losing jobs at around a half million a month; so no jobs have been created by “Obama’s Stimulus Relief”.
As for Alaskans; they would have plenty of jobs if the federal government just got out of the way, and let Alaskans run their own Sovereign Republic State.
I’m sure Governor Palin would win a lot of friends by robbing people in other States to hand out money to unemployed Alaskans who are unemployed largely because of federal government interference in State affairs
E.M. Smith, I’d like you to run as Sarah Palin’s VP. I can think of numerous others at WUWT who would make fine Cabinet Secretaries and Assistants. We could have a magnificent U.S. of A. that way — in my opinion.
ralph ellis: In your “response” to my post, you clearly demonstrated that it is easier to snip someone’s point and respond to a caricature of what they said than it is to actually engage their argument. Not all that unusual…the blokes over at RealClimate do the same thing all the time.
“But there is a much simpler answer to Genesis – it is simply a well-thumbed copy of the Hymn to the Aten, written circa 1340BC by Pharaoh Akhenaton, the monotheist heretic pharaoh of Egypt…As it happens, Pharaoh Akenaton’s brother was a high priest called called Moses…”
That is quite a claim you make. Of course there is not a shread of evidence for any of it, but it’s something you accept by faith, so you need no evidence to support your claim.
Janice (07:30:27) : Spot on!
ralph ellis: Not to put too fine a point on this, but since I have a few pearls left I may as well cast them out before you. When you say:
“”Yes, some people did actually, once-upon-a-time in a fairy-tale, believe in Creationism! Can you believe it, kids!! (wipes tear from eye) ho, ho, ho, ho….””
You make my point exactly. You are so afraid that an honest investigation of the data will result in some people accepting a creationist framework that you must put your thumb on the scale and subject anything contrary to your beliefs with scorn and ridicule, rather than facts and logic. This is of a piece with the AGW crowd, who will not engage in honest debate for fear that some people will disagree with them and shatter their “consensus science.”
To reiterate my original point, I believe that an honest, open examination of the data without recourse to ridicule, ad hominen, poisoning the well, flooding the stage, appeals to authority, or straw man arguments is never a thing to be feared, whether the topic is the shape of the earth, its origins, the mechanisms driving its climate, the nature of tectonic mechanics, or the cause or causes of ulcers. Your attacks on people’s religious beliefs in a forum devoted to climate science and whatever else interests Anthony (and I have seen no posts in this fine blog addressing religion in any way) are obnoxious and unwelcome.
E.M.Smith (19:56:32) :
The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom
by Gerald Schroeder
E.M., I am familiar with this book, since we do have a copy of it. My husband has corresponded with the author, and sent him one of the chapters of his own book. It is almost frightening when physicists become theologians, and start using mathematical formulas to describe the amount of energy which God used to create the universe, and what percent of God’s total energy that was. It involves starting with Einstein’s equations for energy.
I’m still coming to grips with 2 + 2 = 5, for very large values of 2, so I don’t pretend to actually understand it.
I fully support Sara Palin in her position about cap and trade. It will destroy the US economy. In fact the earth has been cooling for the past 8 years!. CO2 levels are still rising thus proving that human carbon emissions are not the cause of climate change. It is a natural phenomena that has been with us for hundreds of years with alterate warm cool warm cool periods.
From Bart Nielsen:
“Your attacks on people’s religious beliefs in a forum devoted to climate science and whatever else interests Anthony (and I have seen no posts in this fine blog addressing religion in any way) are obnoxious and unwelcome.”
Very well put Mr. Neilsen, thank you!
That’s quite a flip flop there Sarah from your earlier “reduce carbon emissions and clean up the planet” cap and trade policy while on the campaign trail. Just goes to show that when in Washington, if you want to play, you have to use “their” playing pieces and talking points. But now that you are not in the game you come out against it? Hmmm. You chicken? Your position would have been the stronger now if you had come out against John’s policy back then and gotten fired for it. Trust me, I have learned a lesson about voting for someone who talks the talk of whoever is in power of purse or politics and agrees to play by the rules, be they liberal OR conservative, in order to get elected. You are coming off as someone like that.
An idea by Youtube account anoniab:
An idea by Youtube account anoniab:
youtube.com/watch?v=Vq5y-IURiBc
Agreed, some of Palin’s campaign statements expressing some support for AGW hypothesis and a form of cap/tax are contradicted by her latest positions therefore making it very hard to have much faith in her “actual” positions, if any. It appears, however, that her actions may provide for greater confidence that Palin really is more supportive of climatological reality than the political opposition’s “religious” beliefs supporting AGW hysteria.
I would prefer a pragmatic climate/energy realist, as Palin appears to be (pin her down until she can’t wiggle out of a position), to the climate/energy AGW ideologues who afford us no escape from suicide except after life threatening masochism.
Some people are teachable, some not. Perfect politicians – perhaps in another solar system.
China has just passed us in CO2 emissions, and since they are building coal fired plants as fast as they can using low grade high sulphuric content coal, and expect to grow about 10% / year, why are they exempt from all controls? I thought the object was to save the planet, not just destroy America. As for Sarah being for cap and trade during the campaign – she still supported both ANWAR and offshore drilling, as well as solar, wind, nuclear and even wave-power. It seemed to me a balanced approach then, and it still does.