Who needs a constitution or congress when you alone know what’s good for the American people?![jasonseiler1[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/jasonseiler11.jpg?w=228)
New EPA boss promises dictatorial action on global warming
While speaking at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Gina McCarthy, the new head of the EPA, said Wednesday the administration is finished waiting on Congress and is set to take unilateral action on measures aimed at global warming, the Washington Times reported.
In June, Obama gave “what I really think is a most remarkable speech by a president of the United States,” she said.
“Essentially, he said that it is time to act,” she said. “And he said he wasn’t going to wait for Congress, but that he had administrative authorities and that it was time to start utilizing those more effectively and in a more concerted way.”
McCarthy insisted the administration could reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions without harming economic growth, and could do it without any congressional approval.
http://www.examiner.com/article/new-epa-boss-promises-dictatorial-action-on-global-warming
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Controlled Tornadoes Create Renewable Energy
Waste heat from power plants could be twisted into a nonpolluting source of energy.
http://discovermagazine.com/2013/september/08-tornado-tech
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Replication may be possible some day in the distant future. Of course if Cook acted like a scientist rather than a propagandist with Nazi fantasies, Tol could have all the data and do it now.
As predicted, John Cook releases a bit more data, but not all data, making sure that data quality and results cannot be checked.
— Richard Tol (@RichardTol) August 16, 2013
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The chill goes deep:
Atlanta breaks a century-old temperature record – CBS Atlanta 46 http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/23151205/atlanta-breaks-a-century-old-temperature-record
Record low set in Wilmington | StarNewsOnline.com
Thursday’s 71-degree high temperature was the area’s lowest for an Aug. 15 and the seventh-coldest in August since records began to be kept in 1874, according to the National Weather Service.
Chilly temperatures set new record lows | Ohio – wkyc.com
The temperature at Mansfield’s Lahm Airport fell to 46 degrees at 7:00 a.m. and tied a record low set in 1979.
Snow already falling in China – in August!
“Rare summer snowfall in Xinjiang,” reads the headline.
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Windows XP, the next climate forcing?
Stacey writes in tips and notes:
Next Year Microsoft is ending support for Windows XP. Many companies will need to purchase new computers to run Windows 8. This will result in millions of perfectly working older machines being trashed.
Part of Microsoft’s statement on Climate Change follows, the irony is obvious:-
Climate change is a serious challenge that requires a comprehensive and global response from all sectors of society. To address it, Microsoft is committed to measuring, transparently reporting, and reducing the carbon footprint of our own operations. We are also pursuing opportunities with our partners to increase the energy efficiency of computing.
While energy efficiency is important, long-term solutions to climate change will require dramatic innovations to transition the world to a sustainable low-carbon economy while expanding substantially the number of people who have access to electricity. Software will play a key role in enabling this transformation. Microsoft is working to apply information technology innovation to help people and businesses around the world address climate change. We are also supporting research efforts on this topic being conducted by leading environmental groups, scientists, and governments around the world.
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Mike Jowsey says in Tips and Notes
Quote of The Week contender:
In its article, Spiegel calls the growing disagreement between model results and measured observations “the wound of climate science“.
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Gee, apparently farming practices, demand, availability, and selective breeding to make better crops had nothing to do with our crops of today, it was all the unseen guiding hand of climate change wot did it:
Ancient climate change picked the crops we eat today – environment – 15 August 2013 – New Scientist
Thank climate change for our daily bread. High levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere after the last ice age drove us to cultivate wheat.
…
All the plants grew larger under high levels of CO2, but the relatives of wheat and barley grew twice as large and produced double the seeds. This suggests the species are especially sensitive to high levels of CO2, Frenck says, making them the best choice for cultivation after the last ice age.
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Busted! Green Hypocrisy Marks a New Low | Power Line
The four-minute video below shows brave anti-coal folks protesting . . . with gourmet food on a luxury yacht.
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Letter to the Editor – Watts Up With That? 16th August 2013
Green Energy is Part of the Past, not Fuel for the Future
The growing failure of green energy in Europe should warn Australia to abandon its bi-partisan policies dictating targets, mandates and subsidies for “green” energy.
I grew up at the end of the last green energy era – solar energy powered our growing crops and dried the washing, but it was weak in winter and ceased under clouds and at night; wind energy pumped water, but only when the wind blew; draft horses powered farm machinery, but they had to be fed whether they were working or not; wood gave us home heating and cooking, but it consumed energy to collect and chop it up; kids walked to school or rode bikes or ponies and ladies took the horse and sulky.
Our only help from carbon energy was kerosene for the kitchen lamp and coke used in smelters and forges to produce our metal tools and machinery.
We also practiced “sustainability” – we purchased little, and most of the farm produce was consumed on the farm by family, farm labourers and draft horses.
We were rescued from this life of hard labour by carbon energy – a kerosene-powered tractor, a petrol-powered truck, and coal-powered electricity for lighting, heating, cooking, refrigeration, milking machines and pumps. The horses and farm labour were no longer needed and, at last, the farms produced a decent surplus of food for the growing cities.
Wind, solar, wood and muscle power are tools of the past and they work no better now than they did then. Forcing people to use these ancient technologies will just return us to laborious poverty on the farms and hunger in the cities.
Green energy should not be forced on consumers – those who want it should pay for it.
Green energy will eventually be abandoned, but the cost rises for each day’s delay
Viv Forbes, Rosewood Qld Australia
OldWeirdHarold says:
August 16, 2013 at 10:58 am
We’ve been using co-generation here in the Northwest for decades, from saw & pulp mills, power & waste water treatment plants, etc.
Leif Svalgaard says:
August 16, 2013 at 10:57 am
Unfortunately, you are correct.
Leif, you are correct. We also own the constitution as currently amended, and either let it sit and decay or force our government, owned and elected by and for the people, to adhere to it.
“… he said … he had administrative authorities … .” [Gina McCarthy]
LOL, D’oh!bama the U. S. Constitution ignoramus probably DID say he had “administrative authorities.” Anyone who PASSED their law school coursework would say they had “administrative authority.” And he or she would know that that authority is solely derived from Congress.
Congress IS. Congress, even now, is a powerful antidote to a rabid, snarling, power-mad executive. They could amend the EPA’s enabling legislation such as the Clean Air Act or take away the EPA’s funding tomorrow.
Defeatism and its “Woe is me, all is lost” language with its appearance of wisdom is powerful and it will not help us to win any battles. Stop it — and don’t believe it! America is.
All is NOT lost.
NEVER — GIVE — UP!
A little allegory to encourage you…
Laugh now, Envirohyenas**…. your days are numbered.
**(Gina’s the one with the long bangs —- slobbering scum, they even harm BIRDS (and a British friend!))
“”””””…….1 Faith Morgan says:
August 16, 2013 at 9:47 am
Green energy is the only way forward, it conserves the earths resources, cuts don on pollution and if its in the past why has Spain implemented the very firs Solar energy plant? Congress are frighteningly naive when they see capital disappearing. You would think it was their own money the way the lie, cheat and distract people to keep it :(………””””””””””””
I’ll eschew the obvious inference, that your assertion is something you simply accept on “faith”. (whatever that is).
But proving your assertion , is a trivia pursuit. You simply put a fence around your “Green energy” plant, which permits nothing else in to your plant; except of course the raw materials of the universe; well a slight gaff there; you’ll have to find the raw materials yourself, where they are at, and access them and bring them into your plant yourself. Of course you use your green energy, made available by your plant, to do ALL of these things, employing NOTHING that is not produced or provided for, by your green energy plant.
Then, 1 Faith Morgan, you are free to seek your fame and fortune, supplying your remaining green energy to those who can use it, at whatever price you can get for it.
So have at it; I’ll watch from the sidelines.
PS Don’t forget to clean up what muck you make (if any), using of course your own green energy plant resources !
Congress should allocate $1 to the 2014 budget for the EPA. It would send the right message to the bureaucrats and rule-by-decree presidency about who wears the pants when it come to spending tax dolalrs.
One wonders if you are familiar with the facts surrounding the passage of a particular piece of legislation titled the Affordable Care Act …
– – – – – – – – – – – –
On Dec. 24, 2009 the Senate approved similar health care reform legislation called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (HR 3590), in a 60-39 party-line vote. HR 3590 began as the Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009, a bill passed by the House on Oct. 8 that modified the homebuyers credit for members of the Armed Forces and certain other Federal employees. In a procedural move, the Senate co-opted HR 3590, removed all existing language, and replaced it with the language of their health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. No Republican Senator voted for the bill. …
Negotiations to reconcile the House and Senate bills stalled in Congress after Scott Brown (R-MA) won late Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) vacant Senate seat in Jan. 2010, causing Senate Democrats to lose their Republican filibuster-proof majority of 60 seats. On Feb. 22, 2010 President Obama unveiled his own proposal bridging the Senate and House health care bills, placing pressure on the House to pass health care reform legislation. House Democrats advanced the their amendments to HR 3590 as a new budget reconciliation bill, which is a form of legislation that requires only a simple majority and not a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate to be approved.
On Mar. 21, 2010 the House approved the Senate’s bill (HR 3590) in a 219-212 vote and passed the House’s amendments to HR 3590 as the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HR 4872) in a 220-211 vote. The Reconciliation Act made financing and revenue changes to HR 3590, while modifying higher education assistance financing. No Republican in the House voted for either HR 3590 or the reconciliation bill.
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Great points about Constitutional law above, many others. Yes, indeed, the executive gets authority from Congress which gets its authority from
the governed
who got their authority from
God (i.e., Natural Law, partly codified in the U. S. Constitution).
We, the People, ARE!
MILLIONS of us did NOT vote for the Dope.
@jim,
Scotus ruled the Unaffordable Care Act was a tax.
Per the Constitution, all taxation bills must originate in the house.
The version of the UACA that passed was the one born in the Senate.
Already the law is illegitimate.
@ur momisugly Janice Moore;
Votes? How terribly quaint. We use a more ‘nuanced’ method now. 21st century and all that.
_Jim says:
August 16, 2013 at 11:20 am
Yet the Administration & running lapdog media are trying to blame the GOP for failure of Obamacare, an obviously catastrophic monstrosity from its misbegotten beginnings, designed to increase health care costs while cutting quality but increasing federal control, with ultimate aim of destroying private insurance.
Which version do you own (there are *six* different editions)? SOME versions are intentionally handicapped as to features as a condition of market and sales price …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions
Windows 7 Professional (and above?) offers Win Xp mode:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_Mode#Windows_XP_Mode
.
Yes Congress allows for these methods because the other party will use them one day. The stripping of the original language should have been filibustered. This was not the bill that originated in the house, or anything like it. The law is sufficiently complex and our time to sift through the complexity is insufficient. They win.
“””””””……..
Outrageous Ampersand says:
August 16, 2013 at 10:52 am
@milodonharlani
I’ve long been in favor of a North American union, including Mexico, but drawn up more as a tarriff free, border free econonomic zone and not like the zombie that’s the EU. I’m not really sure the details of how to draw it up though.
I’m a registered Republican and vote as one, but am more libertarian in my outlook. I’d vote for a Democrat if any in my state were worth voting for.
I’m a registered Republican and vote as one, but am more libertarian in my outlook. I’d vote for a Democrat if any in my state were worth voting for. ……””””””
Well on the Rand McNalley Maps, there currently are two borders; well the US / Canada border is multifaceted.
So in your borderless Utopia, I guess Canadians can come down and live in the Florida Keys if they want, and I could retire to Baja and go fishing.
Who would be charged with prying those Mexican land barons off their vast holdings, so that all could share them ?
Now who all else from the rest of the world, would we allow to come and join us ?
Ooops ! just forget it. I guess I didn’t read this part:- “””””….. I’m not really sure the details of how to draw it up though. ………”””””
milodonharlani says:
“Most four-star generals & admirals today are toadies, totally politicized sycophantic moral cowards, many of whom lack any combat experience despite having been in uniform during frequent wars & lesser military actions.”
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The Petraeus affair proved that: Gen. Petraeus was made an example for only one reason: to cow the generals and admirals.
It worked.
Now the military is no longer a guarantor of the Constitution, or our freedoms.
The final step was the corrupting of the Chief Justice. John Roberts was the one vote that everyone on both sides thought was safe. He gave no indication whatever of ruling any other way except to declare Obamacare unconstitutional, which of course it is. All of his oral questioning pointed toward total skepticism regarding Obamacare. All the speculation on how the court would vote was over justices like Kennedy.
Then they got to Roberts. On the last day, he caved. He flipped, and provided the deciding vote to uphold Obamacare.
Obviously, someone got to Roberts. Is there any doubt? They either found a skeleton in his closet like with Petraeus, or they found something Roberts wanted badly enough to sell out. Probably the former.
Now the military general staff is demoralized, worrying about their reputations over the good of the country, and even whether they will be allowed to retire [and it does not take scaring all of them. Some of them are enough; those will be promoted, and the patriotic ones will be bypassed.]
And now the courts are lost: the highest justice in the highest court in the land voted like no one had expected. He did Obama’s bidding.
Is there much hope for the future?
“””””””…….Tom in Florida says:
August 16, 2013 at 10:34 am
My suggestion is to read up on Article V of the U. S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers, knowing full well that there could come a day when a bloated federal government would not change their ways, provided the States with a method of amending the Constitution WITHOUT any action by Congress or the President. Two thirds of the State Legislatures can force Congress to call a Convention for proposing Amendments (not a constitutional convention) and those amendments shall become valid when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the States.
We don’t need no stinkin’ congressional or presidental approval……..”””””””
Well that is simply wunnerful Tom. But it ain’t ever going to happen.
Two thirds of the State Legislatures don’t come anywhere close to agreeing with the will of the people of the USA. That’s why we have the current Senate, that we do have.
Two thirds of the State Legislatures would vote to keep digging this hole those States have gotten us into. Too much gravy in it for them. Right now we have the very best government that money can buy.
I would start with a rule, that any and every law or regulation must be absolutely binding on each and every government employee, from top to bottom; no exceptions. (yes that does mean all elected government officials, and their hired staffs.) All public employee pension programs, would simply be the “Social Security” “”trust fund”” plan. Better yet, I would require that only elected members of the Congress, could offer ANYTHING to be voted on for passage into law. NO law written by unelected beaurocrats.
Yes I know, Utopias come in many forms. I would like to be able to vote for (or against) each and every person, who had the authority to lay and collect ANY tax from me. Preferrably that would be the several members of the local County Council. They can haggle with the State Government, who in turn can deal with the Federal Government. No need whatsoever for me and the Federal Government to have any dealings with each other.
I remember seeing an article in a US technology mag decades ago describing an energy generator called a ‘Hurricanado’. This was a gigantic cooling-tower shaped device some 5000 feet high(!) either concrete, GRP or an inflatable structure, working on this principle, but no power station exhaust was required as it was to be sited over shallow, warm brackish water. One drawback was quoted was the strong possibility of destructive lightning inside. A bonus was the provision of large quantities of clean rainwater.
I agree with Alex Wade.
I would have agreed earlier but this laptop has Windows 8 and so it doesn’t work so well.
Terrible design.
Terrible product.
Terrible contempt for the user – Do they really think I meant to buy a tablet instead of a laptop?
No?
Then why did they build an operating system for a tablet?
Terrible product.
Secede; just don’t fire any muzzle loaded, rifled muskets at, near or in the direction of Ft Sumter this time …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter
/only mild sarc
richardscourtney says:
August 16, 2013 at 10:42 am
“Friends:
I am surprised that so far in this thread nobody has commented on the item
Controlled Tornadoes Create Renewable Energy
Waste heat from power plants could be twisted into a nonpolluting source of energy.”
“Nonpolluting” only if one doesn’t count the pollution created when building whatever contraption is required to get energy out of that controlled tornado. Like with windmills, that probably means more expensive than plain old power generation, and hence also more polluting ( taking money expended as measure for polluting potential).
In general, every uneconomic green contraption leads to MORE industrial activity necessary to gain 1 kWh of energy; compared to an economic way of gaining the energy. Efficiency == economics == protection of the environment, as a first approach. Highly subsidized == very inefficient == very polluting.
BTW it sounds pretty similar to a solar updraft tower , which has been shown to produce only 1/10 of the energy you get when you cover the same area with solar panels.
So, probably a great new way to siphon off a few billion in taxpayer money.
Since we are addressing some politics here, I just want to say that some time ago I heard (and agree with) that saying the “United States of America is a Country” is incorrect. The proper wording is “the United States of America ARE a Country.” Think about the difference.
In the present day the individuality of each State as it’s own entity, as the Framers designed it, has been lost. The U.S Constitution does not give we, the people any rights. It is we, the people, who have all the rights and that we, the people grant limited power to a central government as expressed through the Constitution. The fact is that the power of the federal government has expanded unchecked for generations under the mistaken ideal that it is the government that has rights in itself and only through its own benevolence, does it allow we, the people to have some rights, but only those rights that the government sees fit to allow.
The intentional disregard for what the Constitution stands for only happens because it is much easier for people to not worry their pretty little skulls of mush so much about such things but rather concentrate on getting as much from the government as possible. Politicians know this and exploit it. Only an armed revolution, fully supported by those in the military who have sworn an oath the protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, can hope to restore our Country. Alas, it will not happen and therefore all is certainly lost.
george e. smith says:
August 16, 2013 at 11:52 am
“Well that is simply wunnerful Tom. But it ain’t ever going to happen.”
I am fully aware that it isn’t ever going to happen. See my comments above. As you say, we have the best government that money can buy. Truly sad.
New record low max temperature in Atlanta
Yup, and we’ll break another all time low max temp. record for today. The rate at which new low max records are being set is unprecedented, and accelerating.
Geof Maskens:
At August 16, 2013 at 12:02 pm
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/16/the-wuwt-hot-sheet-for-august-16th-2013/#comment-1392440
You write
The above article refers to a possible device to harness waste heat from a power station as a method to generate additional electricity from the power station. At present waste heat is usually dumped and where it is used it is only used for cogeneration (i.e. combined heat & power, CHP, where the waste heat is used to provide central heating for buildings).
I suspect you are referring to Carson Towers.
In 1975 Philip Carson in the US suggested giant towers to make cheap electricity from falling air. He suggested that a hollow tube at least 1 kilometre long should be stood on its end to form a tower. Then, tonnes of sea water should be pumped up it and sprayed into its top. The water would evaporate and thus cool the air. Cold air falls, and the cooled air would fall down the tube at 60 kilometres per hour. Wind turbines mounted at the bottom of the tube could then produce a large, controllable amount of constant electricity. Some of the obtained energy would be used to pump water up to be evaporated at the top of the tower. This is not ‘perpetual motion’: the obtained energy is solar power provided by the different air temperatures at the top and bottom of the tube.
In theory, Carson Towers (sometimes called “energy towers”) could supply all the world’s electricity needs several times over. And the electricity would be very cheap, costing about a third of the cost of coal-fired electricity, for example. Laboratory studies show that they should work.
The Technion Institute in Haifa produced detailed designs for construction of a 50 MW prototype Carson Tower which would only be 200 meters tall. But this would only demonstrate the principles. Proving the economics of the process would require construction of a Carson Tower which is at least 900 meters tall, and that would cost at least US$650 million. Nobody has yet been willing to make that gamble.
Richard
DirkH:
re your post addressed to me at August 16, 2013 at 12:19 pm
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/16/the-wuwt-hot-sheet-for-august-16th-2013/#comment-1392456
The device proposed in the above article is not some green dream like windfarms. It is a proposal for increasing the output of thermal power stations by utilising their low grade heat instead of dumping that heat from cooling towers.
At this stage it cannot be known if the proposal is technically, financially and economically feasible. But, at present, power stations dump more energy as low grade heat than the energy they provide as electricity. The proposal certainly seems worthy of investigation.
Richard