George Soros gave Ivanka's husband's business a $250 million credit line in 2015 per WSJ. Soros is also an investor in Jared's business.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

GM recalls 41,000 cars over potential fuel leaks that could cause fire



9/30/12, "GM Recalling 40,859 Cars for Potential Fuel Leaks," AP via Breitbart

"General Motors Co. is recalling more than 40,000 cars sold in warm-weather states because a plastic part might crack and cause a fuel leak.

The company is recalling Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 sedans from the 2007 through 2009 model years and Chevrolet Equinox and Pontiac Torrent SUVs and Saturn Ion sedans from the 2007 model year.

The recall affects vehicles sold or currently registered in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada or Texas. Owners in Arkansas and Oklahoma also are included in the recall of the 2009 Cobalt and G5.

The vehicles have plastic parts connected to the fuel pump which could crack. If the crack gets large enough, fuel could leak out of the vehicle and cause a fire.

GM says there have been no reports of fires or injuries related to the defect. The company began investigating the issue in 2011 after a dealer reported fuel leaking from some vehicles.

GM says its warranty data indicates that the problem is far more common in warm-weather states. It will repair the vehicles for free in those states. Owners will be notified of the recall by mail."...



.



Saturday, September 29, 2012

Dallas Morning News Endorses Mitt Romney for President

9/28/12, "We recommend Mitt Romney for president," Dallas Morning News Editorial


.

US, EU, Asia investors including pension funds enable illegal deforestation in poor countries where government and crime are inseparable, 'climate' related murders are commonplace-2012 UNEP-Interpol Report

"Illegal logging is being used
in some instances to cover for other types of crime including money laundering from drugs (Austrac 2010)." (p. 64). "Much of the laundering of illegal timber is only possible due to large flows of funding from investors based in Asia, the EU and the US, including investments through pension funds." p. 7


2012 UNEP and Interpol Report, "Green Carbon, Black Trade"

p. 6, "Deforestation
accounts for an estimated 17 per cent of global
carbon emissions: about 1.5 times greater than emissions from all the world’s air, road, rail and shipping traffic combined....The economic value of global illegal logging, including processing, is estimated to be worth between US$ 30 and US$ 100 billion, or 10–30 per cent of global wood trade....In the last five years, illegal logging has moved from direct illegal logging to more advanced methods of concealment and timber laundering. In this report more than 30 ways of conducting illegal logging, laundering, selling and trading illegal logs are described."
----------------------------------------------

p. 7, "Much of the laundering of illegal timber is only possible due to large flows of funding from investors based in Asia, the EU and the US, including investments through pension funds.
As funds are made available to establish plantations operations
to launder illegal timber and obtain permits illegally or
pass bribes, investments, collusive corruption and tax fraud
combined with
low risk and high demand, make it a highly
profitable
illegal business, with revenues up to 5–10 fold
higher than legal practices for all parties involved. This also
undermines subsidized alternative livelihood incentives available
in several countries."


-----------------------------------------------

Ed. note: Crime and government are inseparable in third world countries. Illegal loggers proceed with armed guards, those who don't leave the premises willingly are killed (p. 29). 200 rangers have been killed in the last decade trying to protect land in Africa (p. 29). Outspoken leaders are assassinated (p. 29). US tax dollars allow this savagery to continue:

-------------------------------------------

page 14: "The criminal groups involved in illegal logging also damage local communities through loss of income and livelihood, life threatening environmental damage, corruption of officials,
fraud, money laundering, extortion, threats of violence, and
even murder
(INTERPOL 2009; Hiemstra van der Horst 2011).
It is clear that, in spite of certification and management efforts,
illegal logging has not stopped. Indeed it has remained
high in many regions including the Amazon, Central Africa
and Southeast Asia. In some areas, it has actually increased
in recent years.

 

With the billion dollar investments in REDD+ and a developing
carbon trade market designed to facilitate further investments
in reducing emissions, illegal international cartels and
networks pose a major risk to emission reductions and climate
change mitigation through corruption and fraud, while
also jeopardizing development goals and poverty alleviation in
many countries.
...

Another critical issue is that most illegal logging takes place
in regions characterized by conflict or widespread corruption.

There are advanced corruption schemes in many tropical forest
regions, including the Amazon Basin, the Congo Basin,
Southeast Asia and Indonesia. Enforcement efforts during the 

(pg. 15) mid-2000s simply triggered a series of more advanced means to launder illegally logged timber or to conduct illegal logging under the cover of plantation development, palm oil establishment, road construction, redefinition of forest classifications, exceeding legal permit limits or obtaining illicit logging permits through bribes (Amacher, et al. 2012).

-------------------------------------------------------------------

page 19: "Illegal logging takes place in many forms, from illegal logging in protected areas or large-scale illegal logging without permits in remote areas, conflict zones and border areas, to advanced laundering operations mixing legal with illegal logs through bribery, re-definition of forest classification, forged permits, exceeding legal concessions and clearing or laundering through plantations, biofuel production and ranching establishments. In this chapter, an overview of the most common methods of illegal logging is provided. Methods used to launder the illegal cuts and funding the operations are explained in the following chapters."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

pg. 23, "Like any other crime, organized illegal logging cannot be
combated merely through voluntary trade schemes
or alternative income generation nor be prevented by short-lived
police crack-downs."


--------------------------------------------------

Scores of assassinations, killings:

pg. 29, "A 2007 UNEP-UNESCO report documented illegal logging in 37 of 41 protected areas in Indonesia, including large-scale deforestation of a UNESCO World Heritage site and an endangered orangutan habitat (UNEP-UNESCO 2007). Loggers, with armed guards, moved into parks and cut down the forests with unarmed rangers facing lethal risk, bribes or simply lack of resources to enforce the park boundaries (UNEP-UNESCO 2007).
 

Other examples include cutting wood for charcoal in endangered
mountain gorilla habitat
in Eastern Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC), where militias drive villagers into refugee camps,
then profit from cutting and producing charcoal in the Virungas
national parks and selling the high-demand charcoal to the
camps (UNEP-INTERPOL 2010). Rangers in Virungas have been
effective in protecting the gorilla population and saving it from
extinction, and in implementing vehicle checkpoints and destroying
kilns for charcoal production, but at a great costs and high
risks. More than 200 rangers have been killed in the last decade
defending the park boundaries
against a charcoal trade estimated
at over US$28 million annually, and another US$4 million on
road taxes on charcoal alone (UNEP-INTERPOL 2010).
Other examples include driving out and killing indigenous peoples in reserves in the Amazon, Greater Congo Basin and Southeast Asia, where outspoken leaders have been assassinated."

------------------------------------------

p. 31, "Illegal logging in conflict zones"

"Illegal logging directly fuels many conflicts as timber is a resource available for conflict profiteers or to finance arms sales. This practice is carried out on the Laos-Cambodian border. Awareness campaigns by Global Witness helped close down border points in the DRC, Southern Sudan, Colombia, and Aceh, Indonesia, where the military was also involved in many illegal logging operations.
 

Without public order, militant, guerillas or military units
impose taxes on logging companies or charcoal producers, issue
false export permits and control border points. They frequently
demand removal of all vehicle check points
and public patrolling
of resource-rich areas as part of peace conditions following new
land claims and offensives. On occasion, conflicting groups agree
on non-combat zones to ensure mutual profit from extraction of
natural resources,
such as happened on the Laos-Vietnam-Cambodian border in recent decades, and in North and South Kivu, DRC."


---------------------------------------------

p. 33,  "Controlling bribery is difficult and is compounded by the fact that permit or concession areas are not always accurately delineated and detailed maps are not available. With several hundred logging companies active in one area, independent control is very difficult without standardized central filing systems."
-------------------------------------------

Indonesia plantation permits are cover for illegal logging:

p. 34, "In many places, plantation permits are issued
for operations but production is never started. The plantation is
a cover for the actual purpose which is logging
."


---------------------------------------

"Public-private sector partnerships:"

"Illegal logging and political economic networks"

p. 39, "Political economic networks often provide forceful drivers for small-scale illegal logging and timber trade. Many
of these networks bring together not only powerful actors
from the private sector but also government officials
, including
the very officials holding the responsibility to enforce
logging bans,
harvest regulations, and restrictions
on timber trade. The operations of these networks are
described in recent research on small-scale illegal logging
in Albania, Romania and Vietnam. The research
demonstrates how artisanal loggers, small traders, wood
processors and government officials find ways to circumvent
national laws and forest regulations
. It also reveals
that the villagers living near affected forests, the media
and wider society often react by calling for the application
of national law and demand strict law enforcement.
Nevertheless, research shows that a narrow law enforcement
approach may easily generate counter-productive
results
in the case of small-scale logging. Logging bans
and tighter law enforcement may actually play into the
hands of the actors driving illegal logging
. The reason is
that a narrow enforcement approach may strengthen the
position of corrupt local officials by expanding their powers

instead of reining in their practices. A mayor in Romania,
for example, wielded his legal and extra-legal powers
to circumvent a ban on logging in an adjacent national
park in favour of his wife’s company (Dorondel 2009). A
district forest service in Albania looked away from illegal

logging in return for bribes, even though it had stopped
issuing logging quotas entirely (Stahl 2010). And forest
rangers in Vietnam
abused their enforcement powers to
facilitate illegal timber trade, deriving personal profits
from it (Sikor and To 2011). None of these local actors
would terminate their illegal practices unless national
law-makers find ways to strengthen their accountability
to their constituents, as well as to national authorities."


----------------------------------------------

p. 45, "The US, the EU, China and Japan...together receive over 80 per cent of the world’s illegally logged wood."

----------------------------------------

p. 64, "There are many laundering opportunities for criminals,
who may even get additional benefits through tax fraud and
misuse of government subsidies.
With the scale of the existing
illegal logging business, it is clear that there may be an increase
in international criminal cartels
if these activities are not counteracted in the near future. This is of further importance as many of the resource regions also have substantial illegal trade and extraction of other resources such as minerals and earth metals. With advanced laundering schemes, illegal logging is being linked more closely to meat, soy, and palm oil plantation production, as well as trade in minerals and money laundering. Already, illegal logging is being used in some instances to cover for other types of crime including money laundering from drugs (Austrac 2010)."


---------------------------------------------


9/27/12, "Central Africa: Organized Crime Trade Worth Over U.S. $30 Billion, Responsible for Up to 90 Percent of Tropical Deforestation," AllAfrica.com, press release

Rome, "Between 50 to 90 per cent of logging in key tropical countries
of the Amazon basin, Central Africa and South East Asia is being carried out by organized crime threatening efforts to combat climate change, deforestation, conserve wildlife and eradicate poverty.
Globally, illegal logging now accounts for between 15 and 30 per cent of the overall trade, according to a new report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and INTERPOL."...



.



Friday, September 28, 2012

Black teen girls attack lone mentally challenged woman sitting on her step, girls still laugh, are remorseless-ABC News, Philadelphia

Police on video says such gang attacks are frequent
, 'a sign of our times,' but usually they don't have video as they do in this case (which was taken by the girl gang and posted on Facebook).

9/28/12, "Teen Girls in Videotaped Beating of Woman Are Remorseless, Cop Says," ABC News, Christina Ng

"Four teenage girls caught on videotape laughingly beating
a defenseless woman are remorseless and defiant even as they are about to be arraigned on criminal charges in a Philadelphia court, police said today.
The girls videotaped the beating and posted it on Facebook. Someone who saw the video called the cops.

Four of the six teens involved have been arrested and they are aged 16 and 17, according to the Chester Police Department. Authorities are searching for the other two girls.

The cell phone video shows five girls standing on the street Tuesday night, playing around for the camera before the assault began.

"It's a group of girls on a corner chatting, rapping, goofing around," Chester Police Det. James Nolan told ABCNews.com.. "Then they decide, from the audio, you hear them say they're going to 'f**k this b***h up.' They plot the thing as they walk up." 

The teens approach a woman sitting on her doorstep and a girl takes the first punch. They chase her into the house where the woman screams as the girls laugh and beat her with their hands, fists, feet and a chair. The video shows the girls pushing each other out of the way and then delivering a flurry of punches to the defenseless woman.

"It's 90 seconds or so that they beat on her and then they run out," Nolan said, calling the beating "senseless." 

Surveillance footage from outside shows the six girls run out of the house and down the street. The victim did not call the police. Police said it "seems to be the case" that the woman suffers from "some diminished capacity," but they do not know the details of her mental capacity.

After the video was reported to police, the 48-year-old victim was interviewed by police and treated for injuries. She sustained treatment for her injuries.

The girls have been charged with simple assault, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, burglary, harassment, and criminal trespass, Nolan said. The district attorney's office has decided that the girls will be tried as adults and they could face up to 20 years in prison, if convicted....

Nolan said that the girls are not showing any remorse.

"It was a big party and they're still defiant," Nolan said. "There's no discernible reason for what happened other than fun, sport."

Nolan said that for the community and even for veteran law enforcement officials, the assault has hit a nerve.

"You can see it. Things like this happen, but we usually get the end result," he said. "To actually see it go on, that's what's got everyone's attention. To actually see the crime happen, it's almost like we're all witnesses, which is something we don't often have."

"It's people's greatest fear to be attacked unwarranted,
" Nolan said. "It's the one fear people have, to be attacked."" via Free Republic

==================================




 -----------------------------------------------------------

9/28/12, "Philadelphia Girls Charged in Videotaped Beating," You Tube video, ABC News



=================================

Ed. note: Congratulations to the parents of these animals. Great job.




.




Gallup Poll right after Democrat convention shows independents deeply opposed to growth of big government, exact opposite of democrats


9/28/12, "The Liberal Media Is Ignoring Romney's Strength With Independents," US News & World Report, Mary Kate Cary


"If you believe, as I do, that the central question in this election is whether to grow the government going forward or reform the government we have, then here's the most telling number of all: In Gallup's polling right after the Democratic convention, nearly two-thirds of independents said that government "is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses." 

That's almost exactly the opposite of what two-thirds of Democrats said that government should do more. 

That's a huge disconnect between the president and independent voters, and there's not a peep about it in the media. I don't think that's by accident."

--------------------------------------------------------

9/17/12, "Majority in U.S. Still Say Government Doing Too Much
," Gallup Poll, Frank Newport

"More than six in 10 independents agree that the government is doing too much."
 Trend: Some people think the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses. Others think that government should do more to solve our country's problems. Which comes closer to your own view? By party ID
 


.
.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Fact checking Nature Magazine Editorial finds it denies climate science, is shockingly ignorant about US action against CO2 endangerment or global warming, and is unaware of US dramatic, long term drop in CO2 emissions without using cap and trade or carbon taxes

For Nature's information, Obama is aware that US CO2 has dropped steadily for the past 20 years. He mentioned it in a speech on 8/28/12. Similar reports say it's headed even lower. And that other countries' CO2 either hasn't dropped or has increased despite billions spent on cap and trade and extra taxes. 

Excerpt from Nature's current editorial:

9/26/12, "A second wind for the president," Nature Magazine Editorial
If Barack Obama earns a second term as US president, will he have the energy to tackle climate?

"Barack Obama entered the White House on a wave of hope that was every bit as real for scientists as for voters. ...

Given the toxic political atmosphere surrounding the November elections, it is perhaps understandable that the administration, Democrats and even some environmentalists are saying little about global warming.

But by failing to speak out, they have often ceded the airwaves to deniers. Although polling shows that almost two-thirds of US citizens support some kind of action on global warming, law-makers in Washington DC are back to debating the validity of climate science. The United States needs leadership that is willing and able to uphold and act on the science....Or could a carbon tax make a comeback as a way to increase revenues and lower income taxes?"..." via Tom Nelson

------------------------------------------------------------------

Nature Magazine is based in London, England, and owned by Macmillan Publishing Co

--------------------------------------------

The UK monarchy's
financial survival reportedly depends on the world believing in man-caused CO2 terror. That is your problem, not ours. We in the US aren't interested in being ruled by a monarchy, or even an EU, a point we attempted to make in 1776.
--------------------------------------------------------------- 

For Nature and others unaware of the good news, US CO2 emissions have dropped steadily since at least 2006 and are going lower. This has even been acknowledged in the NY Times. Whatever weather the US is having, it can't possibly be the result of excess CO2.

Other countries' CO2 hasn't dropped
despite hundreds of billions spent on cap and trade and extra taxes. This isn't to say the US hasn't become partners with the 'climate' industry. Trillions have been taken from US taxpayers for climate expenses via outright agency budget allocations, tax subsidies, diversion of US military to climate or green projects, countless federal regulations, vast sums shipped out in foreign aid for 'climate' endeavors, etc. Devoting 13 federal agencies to 'climate' matters is hardly 'lagging' in action.

Global Warming 'action' was institutionalized in US government in 1990 by George Bush the 1st in the "U.S. Global Change Research Act of 1990." (He mentions CO2 near the end). The US even exports
fuel now.
------------------------------------------

At least some of this news about the US atmosphere has reached Pres. Obama because he referenced it in a speech on Aug. 28 though didn't discuss its stunning ramifications. In the speech he only used the term 'greenhouse gases' though the recent AP report
 about the 20 year drop specifically cited CO2:
 
AP: "In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years."...

From Pres. Obama's speech:

8/28/12, at Iowa State: "We’re on track to emit fewer greenhouse gases this year than we have in nearly 20 years. You can keep those trends going."

The NY Times noted Obama avoided connecting the meaning of these scientific findings to ordinary Americans on whose backs they were obtained.

The NY Times says:

8/28, "He did not note the role of the recession, with its attendant drop in manufacturing and car and truck trips."

-------------------------------------------

Those invested in CO2 endangerment have been caught by surprise. No one expected the US to turn around it's CO2 emissions as fast and as continuously as it has (whether they needed to be turned around or not). 

Trillions have been gambled in the CO2 terror industry against the likelihood of results like this in the US. Fortunes have been made. Now technically other fortunes have been lost. With the help of the media the news is being ignored or glossed over
as it was with Mr. Obama. The media faces a professional loss and possibly a financial one. But it's still over:

---------------------------------------

6/4/12, "Climate change stunner: USA leads world in CO2 cuts since 2006," Vancouver Observer, Saxifrage



"Not only that, but as my top chart shows, US CO2 emissions are falling even faster than what President Obama pledged in the global Copenhagen Accord."...

-----------------------------------------------

 1/15/11, "Recession Special: Cleaner Air," NY Times, Matthew Wald

"What the government has not mandated, the economy is doing on its own: emissions of global warming gases in the United States are down.



According to the Energy Department, carbon dioxide emissions peaked in this country in 2005 and will not reach that level again until the early 2020s."...

-----------------------------------------------------------

NRDC notes US CO2 drop and the fact that there has been minimal press coverage of it:


6/26/12, "The Incredible Shrinking Carbon Pollution Forecast - Part 2," switchboard.nrdc.org, Dan Lashof


"While there has been some press coverage of these facts (see here and here) I continue to find that most people are surprised to learn about this progress."...

------------------------------------------------


If US temperatures go up for a day, a month or 6 months, US human-caused CO2 is not, can't possibly be the reason.

 6/29/12, "US Carbon Output Forecasts Shrink Again," American Interest, Walter Russell Mead

--------------------------------------------------------

6/22/12, "U.S. cuts greenhouse gases despite do-nothing Congress," CNN, Steve Hargreaves

"Even factoring in a stronger economy, forecasters see greenhouse gas emissions continuing to fall....Others take the U.S. success in reducing its energy sector emissions as a sign that its fragmented, state-based, regulatory approach has worked better than Europe's market-based cap-and-trade approach."

--------------------------------------------------------

4/21/12, "Why [CO2] Emissions Are Declining in the U.S. But Not in Europe," by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, newgeography.com

"As we note below in a new article for Yale360, a funny thing happened: U.S. emissions started going down in 2005 and are expected to decline further over the next decade."


=============================

A 2011 report noted EIA results through 2009, US CO2 emissions dropped steadily since 1999:
 

4/14/11, "Biggest Drop in U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions," World Climate Report

"In 2009, greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. experienced their biggest drop since the U.S. Energy Information Administration began tracking them during the 1990-2009 timeframe."


-------------------------------------------------

Congratulations to the greens on their victory over CO2 in the US. CO2 alarmist 'glory days' are now over in the US:
"But there is one group (other than the Russians and the Gulf Arabs and the Iranians) that isn’t sharing in the general joy: the greens. For them, the spectacle of a looming world energy crisis was good news. It justified huge subsidies for solar and wind power (and thereby guaranteed huge fortunes for clever green-oriented investors). ...But those glory days are over now, and the smarter environmentalists are bowing to the inevitable."...

-------------------------------------------------------


1/25/2009, "Global warming industry becomes too big to fail," Timothy Carney, Washington Examiner

---------------------------------------------------------

4/20/10, "Buying Carbon offsets may ease eco-guilt but not global warming," by Doug Struck, CS Monitor

-------------------------------------------------

11/23/11, "Europe's $287 billion carbon 'waste': UBS report," The Australian, by Sid Maher

"SWISS banking giant UBS says the European Union's emissions trading scheme has cost the continent's consumers $287 billion for "almost zero impact" on cutting carbon emissions."...EU CO2 trading provided "windfall profits" to participants paid for by "electricity customers.""

--------------------------------------------------------

A few examples of climate cash sought in 2011:

1/11/11, "Big Money in Climate Change: Who Gives, Who Gets," Al Fin 



-------------------------------------------------

2/1/2011, "Austria Asks Sweden to Return Carbon Permits Worth $3.9 Million," Bloomberg,

"Organized crime may be responsible for theft of European Union emission allowances this month, and national authorities are working with Europol...a top EU climate official said." Sweden admits it has Austria's stolen 'carbon credits' but says it might just be 'a coincidence.'





1/21/11, "Analysis: U.S. government a tenuous beachhead for biofuel firms," Reuters

"The U.S. military has emerged as a key ally for fledgling producers of non-food-based biofuels."...

----------------------------------------------------

3/26/12, "Obama Requests $770 Million to Fight Global Warming Overseas," CNS News, Matt Cover

"The Obama administration has requested $770 million in federal funds to combat the effects of global warming in developing countries, a new congressional report details, continuing its policy of using foreign aid to combat the effects of global warming in the developing world.


The figure, from a recent report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), shows that despite another year of $1 trillion deficits, the Obama administration continues to pursue its policy of using foreign aid funds for anti-global warming measures – known as the Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI).

According to CRS, the government has spent a total of $2.5 billion on GCCI since 2010 on overseas anti-global warming efforts in Latin America, Asia, and Africa."...

------------------------------------------------------

"Only 12% (of net US petroleum imports) came from Saudi Arabia last year, down from nearly 19% in 1993."...
==========================

11/30/11, "U.S. Nears Milestone: Net Fuel Exporter," Wall St. Journal, by L. Pleven, R. Gold
A combination of booming demand from emerging markets and faltering domestic activity means the U.S. is exporting more fuel than it imports,
  • upending the historical norm.
According to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday, the U.S. sent abroad 753.4 million barrels of everything from gasoline to jet fuel in the first nine months of this year, while it imported 689.4 million barrels."...

--------------------------------------------------

7/28/10, "The secrets 10 states and Wall Street don't want you to know," by Mark Lagerkvist, NJ Watchdog

"Secrecy and greed are polluting the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the nation’s first

  • mandatory cap-and-trade system.
Under the RGGI scheme, the smell of profiteering is powerful. New Jersey and nine other Northeast states have sold
The bidders at RGGI auctions include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase and other Wall Street heavyweights."...

-------------------------------  

1/30/2012, "Americans on pace to have driven 40 billion fewer miles in 2011 vs. 2010," GasBuddy (Fed. Hwy. Admin. data)

===========================

7/5/2008, "30 billion fewer miles driven, and counting," McClatchy via Seattle Times

---------------------------------------------------


7/02/09, "The Great American Bubble Machine: How Goldman Sachs has Engineered Every Major Market Manipulation Since the Great Depression," Rolling Stone, by Matt Taibbi

"A groundbreaking new commodities bubble,

  • called cap-and-trade.
The new carbon-credit market is a virtual repeat of the commodities-market casino that's been kind to Goldman,
If the plan goes forward as expected, the rise in prices
  • will be government-mandated.
  • Goldman won't even have to rig the game.
It will be rigged in advance."...


========================== 

9/3/12, "California Ramps up Policy That's Taboo on Campaign Trail," Bloomberg, Eric Roston

==========================
 


2/15/2011, "Trillions of dollars at stake from climate change over next 20 years ," mercer.com

==========================
 


8/28/12, "Remarks by President Obama at Campaign Event -- Ames, Iowa," enewspf.com (Iowa State)

=====================================

8/28/12, "On Our Radar: Green Tuesday at the White House," NY Times Green blog

-----------------------------------------------------------

8/16/12, "AP IMPACT: CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low," AP, Kevin Begos

"In a surprising turnaround, the amount of >carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal."...

-------------------------------------------------------

"U.S. drivers are paying $149 million more each day for gas than in early July (2012)." 

8/20/12, "Summertime blues for drivers: Gas at August record," AP via Bloomberg

 ------------------------------------------------------

5/27/11, "Gas tanks are draining family budgets," AP, J. Fahey

(parag. 13): "Every 50-cent jump in the cost of gasoline takes $70 billion out of the U.S. economy over the course of a year, Hamilton* says. That's about one half of one percent of gross domestic product....

*"James Hamilton, an economics professor at the University of California, San Diego, who studies gas prices."...

------------------------------------------------------

7/23/11, "Could U.S. Gas Prices Rise Above $5 Per Gallon?" IBTimes (International Business Times)

"No one knows precisely at what point oil begins to substantially hinder consumer spending and slow commercial activity - but this much is known: every $1 per barrel rise in oil decreases U.S. GDP by about $100 billion per year and
  • every 1 cent increase in gasoline
  • by about $600 million per year."...
-------------------------------------------------

2/23/11, "What Do Rising Oil Prices Mean for U.S. Economic Growth?" DailyFinance.com, Peter Cohan

"According to the International Monetary Fund, a $10-a-barrel increase in the price of oil
-----------------------------------------------

As of third week of August 2012, data from St. Louis Fed, via notJimCramer:



via Zero Hedge, 8/24/12, "On This Week In History, Gas Prices Have Never Been Higher."

-----------------------------------------------------------

8/23/11, "The Alarming Cost Of Climate Change Hysteria," Forbes, Larry Bell

"The Small Business Administration estimates that compliance with such regulations costs the U.S. economy more than $1.75 trillion per year — about 12%-14% of GDP, and half of the $3.456 trillion Washington is currently spending. The Competitive Enterprise Institute believes the annual cost is closer to $1.8 trillion when an estimated
  • $55.4 billion regulatory administration and policing budget
is included. CEI further observes that those regulation costs exceed 2008 corporate pretax profits of $1.436 trillion; tower over estimated individual income taxes of $936 billion by 87%; and reveal
  • a federal government whose share of the entire economy
  • reaches 35.5%
when combined with federal 2010 spending outlays.

A U.S. Energy Information Administration economic forecasting model indicates that a proposed 70% cut in CO2 emissions will cause gasoline prices to rise 77% over baseline projections, kill more than 3 million jobs, and
  • reduce average household income
  • by more than $4,000 each year."...
 ------------------------------------------------------

Gas price was $1.79 when Obama was inaugurated, January 20, 2009. (Rated true by Politifact.) It's $3.80 on 9/27/12.

The average price for a gallon of gas in 2005 was $2.30 and Bush was blamed. Why isn't Obama?:


4/27/2005, "Bush fails to persuade Saudis to cut oil price," by Michael Gawenda, Sydney Morning Herald Correspondent in Washington

 
"With US petrol prices up almost 25 per cent in six months and with polls showing that Americans blame the Bush Administration for these price increases, Mr Bush said oil was top of the agenda at his meeting with Prince Abdullah."...

Reuters reports gas prices don't matter under Obama and won't matter to voters. To make sure you get their message, Reuters has a big picture of a voter going into a polling place to vote for Obama in 2008:

8/22/12, "Rising gas prices not a big concern for voters,"
Reuters, John Whitesides



Reuters caption, "A voter arrives at a polling location to vote
in Portland, Maine , Nov. 4, 2008" (When Obama was elected
over fake candidate McCain).
 
--------------------------------------------------

The financial survival of the UK monarchy is dependent on the world believing in catastrophic man made global warming. Much of the monarchy's income will derive from lease payments for offshore wind turbines:
---------------------------------------

10/24/10, "'It is wholly inappropriate that the Palace should have such a direct interest in a subject like windfarms, given Prince Charles's obsession with renewable energy. It raises the question as to whether he is seeking to increase his own
each time he makes a favourable reference to wind power.'"






 .

In 2010 Prince Charles urged the world to follow Islamic principles about the environment

6/9/2010, "'Follow the Islamic way to save the world,' Prince Charles urges environmentalists," UK Daily Mail

"Prince Charles yesterday urged the world to follow Islamic 'spiritual principles' in order to protect the environment.

In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man's destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions - but particularly those of Islam.

He said the current 'division' between man and nature had been caused not just by industrialisation, but also by our attitude to the environment - which goes against the grain of 'sacred traditions'.

Charles, who is a practising Christian and will become the head of the Church of England when he succeeds to the throne, spoke in depth about his own study of the Koran which, he said, tells its followers that there is 'no separation between man and nature' and says we must always live within our environment's limits.

The prince was speaking to an audience of scholars at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies - which attempts to encourage a better understanding of the culture and civilisation of the religion.
His speech, merging religion with his other favourite subject, the environment, marked the 25th anniversary of the organisation, of which he is patron.

He added: 'The inconvenient truth is that we share this planet with the rest of creation for a very good reason - and that is, we cannot exist on our own without the intricately balanced web of life around us.

'Islam has always taught this and to ignore that lesson is to default on our contract with creation.'" via Steven Goddard, via Climate Depot







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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Former Navy Seal says murder of our Ambassador and other Americans in Libya is a global catastrophe for Americans who are now seen as weak and vulnerable

Current "American weakness" was even mentioned on a recent Al Qaeda tape:

 9/26/12, "O’s missing word: ‘terror’," NY Post, Goodwin

"The head of al Qaeda released a videotape urging that murder and others during what he called a time of “American weakness.”"

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9/25/12, "Former Navy SEALs to Obama: 'We Are Not Bumps in the Road'," Breitbart, Joel B. Pollak

"Former SEAL and current Montana State Senator Ryan Zinke issued the following statement:

The President refuses to admit that his policy of appeasement and apology has failed.  The murder of our Ambassador and two former Navy SEALs is more than a "bump in the road," it is a global catastrophe where America is seen as being weak and vulnerable by our enemies. This President has failed to establish a red line for Iran's nuclear ambitions and has failed to recognize the scale and implications of the attacks against us. Reagan had it right: don't negotiate with terrorists and recognize the clear and present danger of not being willing to act or lead from the front.

Zinke has been a frequent critic of President Obama's foreign policy, and started a super PAC, Special Operations for America, that has released ads to that effect, including an ad highlighting Obama's bows to foreign monarchs.

Beyond the political debate, however, Navy SEALs are also a close-knit brotherhood, and do not take kindly to disrespect when lives are lost. President Obama's "bumps in the road" comment is particularly chafing because of the credit he has taken for the success of the SEALs in the raid against Osama bin Laden. 

They are heroes when they return, and heroes when they fall--not just when it is politically convenient for those in power."





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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Fact Check on Obama 60 Minutes Free Campaign Ad with Steve Kroft, 7 Footnotes or 'fact checks,' Wall St. Journal Editorial. If 90% of what's wrong wasn't fixable by Obama, why do we need him for 4 more years or even 4 more hours?

9/24/12, "The 10% President," Wall St. Journal Editorial, "The annotated Obama: How 90% of the deficit becomes somebody else's fault."

"A question raised by President Obama's immortal line on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday—"I think that, you know, as President, I bear responsibility for everything, to some degree"—is what that degree really is. Maybe 70% or 80% of the buck stops with him? Or is it halfsies? Nope.

Now we know: It turns out the figure is 10%
. The other 90% is somebody else's fault.

This revelation came when Steve Croft mentioned
that the national debt has climbed 60% on the President's watch. 

"Well, first of all, Steve, I think it's important to understand the context here," Mr. Obama replied. 

Fair enough, so here's his context in full, with our own annotation and translation below:

"When I came into office, I inherited the biggest deficit
in our history. 1

And over the last four years, the deficit has gone up, but 90%
of that is as a consequence of two wars that weren't paid for, 2

as a consequence of tax cuts that weren't paid for, 3 

a prescription drug plan that was not paid for, 4 

and then the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 5

"Now we took some emergency actions, but that accounts for about 10% of this increase in the deficit, 6 

and we have actually seen the federal government grow at a slower pace than at any time since Dwight Eisenhower,
in fact, substantially lower than the federal government grew under either Ronald Reagan or George Bush. 7"

******

 Footnote No. 1
: Either Mr. Obama inherited the largest deficit in American history or he won the 1944 election, but both can't be true. The biggest annual deficit the modern government has ever run was in 1943, equal to 30.3% of the economy, to mobilize for World War II. The next biggest years were the following two, at 22.7% and 21.5%, to win it.
The deficit in fiscal 2008 was a mere 3.2% of GDP. The deficit in fiscal 2009, which began on October 1, 2008 and ran through September 2009, soared to 10.1%, the highest since 1945.
Mr. Obama wants to blame all of that on his predecessor, and no doubt the recession that began in December 2007 reduced revenues and increased automatic spending "stabilizers" like jobless insurance. But Mr. Obama conveniently forgets a little event in February 2009 known as the "stimulus" that increased spending by a mere $830 billion above the normal baseline.

The recession ended in June 2009, but spending has still kept rising. The President has presided over four years in a row of deficits in excess of $1 trillion, and the spending baseline going forward into his second term is nearly $1.1 trillion more than in fiscal 2007.

Federal spending as a share of GDP will average 24.1% over his first term including 2013. Even if you throw out fiscal 2009 and blame that entirely on Mr. Bush, the Obama spending average will be 23.8% of GDP. That compares to a post-WWII average of a little under 20%. Spending under Mr. Bush averaged 20.1% including 2009, and 19.6% if that year is left out.
 
Footnotes No. 2 through 4
: Liberals continue to claim that the main causes of the current fiscal mess are tax rates established in, er, 2001 and 2003 and the post-9/11 wars on terror. But by 2006 and 2007, those tax rates were producing revenue of 18.2% and 18.5% of GDP, near historic norms.
Another quandary for Mr. Obama's apologists is that he has endorsed nearly all of these policies. The 2003 Medicare drug benefit wasn't offset by tax hikes or spending cuts, but Democrats expanded the program as part of ObamaCare.

The President also extended all the Bush tax rates in 2010 for two more years in the name of helping the economy, and he now wants to continue them for people earning under $200,000, which is where 71% of their "cost" resides. The Iraq campaign was won and beginning to be wound down when he took office, and he himself surged more troops in Afghanistan.

Footnote No. 5
: Mr. Obama keeps dining out on the excuse of the recession, but that ended halfway through his first year. The main deficit problems since 2009 are a permanently higher spending base (see Footnote No. 1) and the slowest economic recovery in modern history. Revenues have remained below 16% of the economy, compared to 18% to 19% in a normal expansion. The 2008 crisis is long over. The crisis now is Mr. Obama's non-recovery.

Footnote No. 6
: Even at face value, Mr. Obama's suggestion that he is "only" responsible for 10% of what the government does is ludicrous. Note that in addition to his stimulus, what he calls "emergency actions" include his new health-care entitlement that will cost taxpayers $200 billion per year when fully implemented and grow annually at 8%, even using low-ball assumptions.
But the larger point concerns executive leadership. Every President "inherits" a government that was built over generations, which he chooses to change, or not to change, to suit his priorities. Mr. Obama chose to see the government he inherited and grow it faster than any President since LBJ.

The pre-eminent political question now is whether to reform the government we have
to make it affordable going forward, or to keep growing the government and raise taxes to finance it,
  • if that is even possible.
Mr. Obama favors the second option, though he pretends he can merely tax the rich to do it. Nobody who has looked honestly at the numbers believes that—not his own Simpson-Bowles commission and not the Congressional "super committee" he sanctioned but then worked to undermine.

At every turn he has demagogued the Romney-Ryan proposals to modernize the entitlement state so it is affordable, and he personally blew up the "grand bargain" House Speaker John Boehner was willing to strike last summer.
 
Footnote No. 7: Mr. Obama's posture as the tightest skinflint since Eisenhower is a tutorial in how to dissemble with statistics. The growth rate seems low because he's measuring from the end of fiscal 2009, after a one-year spending increase of $535 billion.
That is the year of his stimulus and thus spending is growing off a much higher base. The real annual pace of government growth is closer to 5%
and that doesn't count ObamaCare.

******

In another news-making bit with "60 Minutes," which the program decided not to air, Mr. Obama conceded that "Do we see sometimes us going overboard in our campaign, mistakes that are made, areas where there's no doubt that somebody could dispute how we are presenting things, that happens in politics."

Note the passive voice, as if the President's re-election campaign is disembodied from the President. If Mr. Obama's campaign seems dishonest enough that even Mr. Obama is forced to admit it, this is because it's coming from the top." via Instapundit



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