A Dog Named Kyoto

Kelly: The weaker candidate in 2012 won't be the Republican nominee.

2011-05-29T22:27:00.001-04:00

Via Real Clear Politics:

Netanyahu can't run for president of the United States. But he showed those who are running how to get the better of Mr. Obama: Talk straight. Talk substance. Go directly at him.

McKitrick: Ontario's Green Energy Act a failure

2011-05-17T17:25:00.001-04:00

via the Financial Post:

The pledge by Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak to roll back key provisions of the Ontario Green Energy Act is a courageous move and deserves to be applauded. It will likely spark intense debates as we head into the upcoming election. It is hard to say whether public opinion will be on his side, but the facts certainly are.

The Green Energy Act (GEA) was proposed as both an environmental policy and a job-creation policy. It is misguided on both scores.

With regards to job creation, there is nothing special about subsidizing electricity generation. It’s just as harmful as subsidizing anything else. We have long and lamentable experience in Canada with failed job creation schemes based on subsidies to money-losing industries. From Sprung cucumbers to Bricklin sports cars, governments have regularly learned and relearned, at taxpayer expense, the immutable rule that if a business plan depends on subsidies, the jobs it creates are not sustainable, and if the business is profitable on its own, it doesn’t need subsidies.

more.

Hot Air: Former “alarmist” scientist says Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) based in false science

2011-05-15T23:40:00.002-04:00

Via Bruce McQuain:

David Evans is a scientist. He has also worked in the heart of the AGW machine. He consulted full-time for the Australian Greenhouse Office (now the Department of Climate Change) from 1999 to 2005, and part-time 2008 to 2010, modeling Australia’s carbon in plants, debris, mulch, soils, and forestry and agricultural products. He has six university degrees, including a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. The other day he said:

The debate about global warming has reached ridiculous proportions and is full of micro-thin half-truths and misunderstandings. I am a scientist who was on the carbon gravy train, understands the evidence, was once an alarmist, but am now a skeptic.

And with that he begins a demolition of the theories, premises and methods by which the AGW scare has been foisted on the public.

Fusion energy

2011-05-11T10:03:00.003-04:00

An update on an important possible new energy source:

A Navy-funded effort to harness nuclear fusion power reports that its unconventional plasma device is operating as designed and generating "positive results" more than halfway through the project.
The latest quarterly update from EMC2 Fusion Development Corp. comes amid other signs that seemingly oddball approaches to fusion research may not be all that oddball after all. Just last week, General Fusion announced that Amazon.com's billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, was part of a $19.5 million investment round to further the company's plan to take advantage of a technology called magnetized target fusion. Another billionaire, Paul Allen, is an investor in Tri Alpha Energy, which is working on its own hush-hush fusion project (and occasionally publishing its research).

EMC2 Fusion doesn't have tens of millions of venture capital to play with — but it does have a $7.9 million Navy contract to test a plasma technology known as inertial electrostatic confinement fusion, also known as Polywell fusion. The idea is to accelerate positively charged ions in an electrical cage to such an extent that they occasionally spark a fusion reaction, releasing energy and neutrons. The concept was pioneered by the late physicist Robert Bussard, and carried forward by the EMC2 Fusion team in Santa Fe, N.M.

h/t

screw Bell TV

2011-05-10T08:58:00.001-04:00

I'm watching Sun News Network streaming live.

Sun News will be live-streaming from 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 10 until 9 a.m. ET on Friday, May 13. Tune in at http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/watch-live.html

Dissing Osama

2011-05-07T22:18:00.014-04:00

Obama gets Osama. Yet the Obama administration seems intent on not "offending" supporters of the murderous evil Osama bin Laden. Well, we share no such sensitivities here and at the ~~risk~~ joy of offending Al Quaeda supporters, we offer the following for your enjoyment.

A guy walks into a bar and says, "Give me a bin Laden."
The bartender looks up and says "What? A bin Laden?!"
The guy says, "Yeah, a bin Laden. You know... Two shots and a splash of water."

OSAMA HEADSTONE

Osama from Hell: "I blame that damn courier and his flashy tennis shoes".

We all owe a debt to the US Navy Seals, the CIA and the Bush administration who made possible the gathering of the intel via "enhanced interrogation techniques" that eventually led to this historic event. And to President Obama for using that intel (even though he opposed the gathering of it at the time) and making the right call.

The coalition was on...

2011-05-07T11:14:00.003-04:00

...right up until election night, the LIB-NDP-BLOC coalition was still on.

Linda Diebel does a post-mortem on the Liberal election campaign and reports on what senior advisors to Liberal leader Count Michael Ignatieff had to say:

The senior adviser says Ignatieff meant he would stay. That coincides with scuttlebutt among Liberals that Ignatieff was still reasonably upbeat because he’d been told they’d win 65 seats and still believed a minority Conservative government and a coalition with the NDP were possible when he hit the stage on election night.

Stephen Harper was right all along. Canadians have been spared a coalition government of opportunists, socialists and separatists.

Ezra interviews Gary McHale re Caledonia

2011-05-06T23:39:00.004-04:00

Sun News Network continues to go where other news networks won't. In this clip, Ezra Levant interviews activist Gary McHale who gives you a flavour of what has been happening in Caledonia, Ontario and the utter failure of the Ontario Provincial Police to enforce the law.

Thanks to sdaMatt2 for the video. If you don't get Sun News Network, ask you cable or satellite provider. It's available just about everywhere except on Bell TV.

Update: For more info on the situtaion in Caledonia see CaledoniaWakeUpCall and VoiceofCanada.ca

Murphy: Harper's Majority is Preston Manning’s great achievement

2011-05-06T19:44:00.002-04:00

Rex Murphy reflects on the Canadian election, Stephen Harper's majority win and the foresight of Preston Manning who "had the courage and foresight to start a political movement that in 20 years (with some changes) has displaced the natural governing party, and forged new realities for Canadian politics".

Full story at the National Post.

Sun News launches fairness fight vs. Bell

2011-05-06T16:50:00.002-04:00

Straight from the horse's mouth:

OTTAWA - The operators of Sun News Network filed a complaint Friday with Canada's broadcast regulator against Bell Canada.

The complaint alleges Bell gave the all-news networks it owns - CTV News Channel, CP24, and Business News Network - "undue preference" and put the fledgling SUN News Network at "undue disadvantage" in their carriage fee disagreement.

Luc Lavoie, head of development for Sun News, says Bell has refused to treat SUN News Network the same way it and other television distributors treat all news channels.

"Could it be because we're competition?" asked Lavoie.

"Are they afraid of us? And is it acceptable in Canada that they give themselves preferential treatment? It goes against all the concepts of regulatory affairs in Canada."

The complaint filed with the CRTC says even though Sun News asked to be paid a carriage fee that is less than what Bell's all-news outlets charge, Bell still considered the fee excessive.

"I don't know how one can come up and say that what we're asking for is excessive if it is below, for instance, CP24," says Lavoie. "I am not criticizing the work that CP24 is doing, but it doesn't have a fraction of the infrastructure that we have in place. It's not at all the same level of services that are offered."

Satellite TV operator Shaw accepted the same fee agreement Bell found excessive.

Earlier this week, Quebecor, which owns SUN News Network, asked Bell to stop broadcasting SUN News because there was no carriage fee agreement in place.

Since then, Quebecor has been asking SUN News fans to call Bell at 1-888-759-3474 or e-mail the company at executive.office@bell.ca to demand a deal be signed with SUN News.

It seems like Bell will only be happy if they can get Sun News for free. A strategy designed to either rob the network of revenues or shut them out of the market.

The fact the Bell TV owns competing news channels like CTV Newsnet, CP-24 and BNN is a clear conflict of interest. If Bell cannot deal fairly with a competitor, then it should not be allowed to have a broadcast carrier's license. Or it should not be allowed to own competing channels. Period.

Dissatisfied with Bell?

2011-05-06T00:28:00.005-04:00

Many of us are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with Bell TV over the Sun News controversy and with Bell services in general. I for one, got rid of most of my services from Bell years ago. Cell phone service - gone! Internet service - gone! I still have telephone and satellite TV with Bell, but that may not be for much longer. I'm looking into service from Shaw and if everything works out, I will be a former Bell TV customer very soon.

I found this Bell horror story over at Kathy Shaidle's blog. Not surprisingly, the author - an AFGHANISTAN veteran- calls it, "Screw You Bell"

Back in December, the Mother in Law gives the wife a cell phone. It’s pink and doesn’t have a plan, ‘cause it’s bought free and clear.

So the wife gets home, and since our internet is with Bell, she goes ahead and gets a minimal plan with them. ‘So many minutes/month, and what you don’t use carries over.’ No texting or any other bells and whistles. The cost as promised, $35.

And since the land line phone was originally in my name, and I’m in Afghanistan at the time, they make an exception, not to worry, it’ll be added to the bell bill “…so you know what to pay.”

First bill gets in, its $180, give or take.

WTF!

It gets worse. Please read it all and be sure to share your Bell horror stories in the comments.

Bell TV vs Sun News: the petition

2011-05-05T23:14:00.001-04:00

Want Sun News Network back on Bell TV? Sign the on-line petition here.

Goldstein: Stephen Harper treats us like children

2011-05-05T20:13:00.002-04:00

Via Lorrie Goldstein:

Now that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has his coveted majority government, it’s time he stopped treating Canadians like children on climate change.

Is it time for some honesty amongst politicians regarding climate change? Somehow, I doubt it.

UN Report blames the UN for cholera outbreak in Haiti

2011-05-05T20:08:00.003-04:00

The United Nations in action:

A United Nations-sponsored report into the causes of a deadly cholera outbreak that ravaged Haiti in the wake of its disastrous 2010 earthquake has discovered a culprit -- the U.N. itself.

The UN's ineptitude would be comical if it wasn't so tragic...

The cholera epidemic, which is still ongoing, has killed some 4,500 Haitians through severe diarrhea and dehydration since its outbreak in October 2010. There had been no previous cholera outbreak in Haiti for nearly a century. The report confirms that the specific cholera bacteria involved in the Haitian epidemic are a variant first detected in Bangladesh in 2002, which is even more toxic than other cholera strains found in South Asia.

As the report also notes, military contingents from Bangladesh and Nepal were among members of the United Nations Stabilization Force in Haiti (known by its French-language acronym of MINUSTAH) stationed at U.N. peacekeeping camp Mirebalais, close to the initial outbreak.

Bell's Blatant Bias

2011-05-04T23:45:00.004-04:00

against Sun News Network, explained by Ezra Levant.
with a few good suggestions on how to voice your displeasure with Bell's actions. Can you say "Shaw"?

Sun News Network update

2011-05-03T15:23:00.004-04:00

The Globe and Mail has posted this re the Bell TV - Sun News Network battle:

Quebecor Inc., (QBR.B-T32.70-0.69-2.07%) which owns the channel, sent a letter to BCE Inc. (BCE-T35.57-0.18-0.50%) roughly two weeks ago demanding that the channel be removed from Bell’s satellite TV service if an agreement was not reached by May 3. Like most specialty networks, Sun News must negotiate with cable and satellite providers to determine the subscriber fee they will pay in order to carry the channel.

Those negotiations have so far been successful with western cable giant Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR.B-T19.98-0.20-0.99%) and, of course, with the cable service Quebecor owns, Vidéotron Ltée. But Bell has so far not paid the subscriber fee Sun News was requesting, said Luc Lavoie, senior adviser to Quebecor chief executive officer Pierre-Karl Péladeau.

“They’re saying that the conditions we’re asking for are not fair and not reasonable,” Mr. Lavoie said in an interview. “We’re not asking [as much as] CTV News Channel is getting, we’re not asking what Business News Network is getting. We’re not asking what CP24 is getting. And oh, what a coincidence, those three are owned by Bell.”

There's more at the link.

Keep the pressure on Bell to negotiate a fair deal with Sun News Network. You can contact Bell at 310-BELL (2355) or visit www.bell.ca

Bell TV removes Sun News Network

2011-05-03T10:53:00.007-04:00

Bell TV has removed Sun News Network, channel 213, this morning and is airing the following message

Sun News was removed from your satellite service on May 3 at the request of the owners of Sun News.

I contacted Bell and had an on-line chat with a customer service person:

Me: I have lost channel 213 message says the channel has been removed. Why?

BELL: I apologize for that inconvenience. Effective April 18, 2011, Sun TV SD and Sun TV HD are no longer available because the content provider has stopped broadcasting this channel. Bell Satellite TV will broadcast Sun News Network SD and Sun News Network HD in its place until May 3, 2011. After May 3, 2011 Sun News will be removed at the broadcasters request.

Me: Are there any plans to bring the channel back?

BELL: At the moment we haven't received any feedback from the broadcaster if the channel will still be aired. However we assure you that bell TV's programming management is doing everything in their power to provide the content of this channel.

Me: Thank you.

Update: This post has been generating some traffic here. Please let Bell know that you want your Sun News Channel back. You can contact them at http://support.bell.ca/ or by calling 310-BELL (2355)

Update 2: Sun News has posted the following on their Facebook page:

Sun News Network's Facebook notes

URGENT MESSAGE FOR BELL TV CUSTOMERS
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 1:45 PM

Since launching on April 18, Quebecor Media Inc. has concluded agreements with a number of cable and satellite providers to offer Sun News to millions of Canadians. We have tried, unsuccessfully, to reach an agreement with Bell TV -- the owners and operators of CTV News Channel, the Business News Network and CP24.

As it would be unfair to our paying customers for Bell to continue to offer the station without a fair agreement between our two companies, we have asked them to suspend broadcasting the signal. It should be noted that Sun News is seeking lower subscription fees than CTV News Channel, the Business News Network and CP24. As Bell owns these channels, it obviously gives themselves an undue advantage.

If you want Sun News, and we hope that you do, please contact Bell immediately to demand they offer the station. Bell TV customers can contact Bell at 310-BELL (2355) or visit www.bell.ca

We are hopeful that if enough Canadians speak out, Bell will again bring Canada's new home for Hard News and Straight Talk to your living rooms.

As a free and democratic country we are strengthened by more news media voices, not less.

Bell isn't the only game in town. You can get Sun News from the following:

Shaw Digital - Channel 177
Shaw Direct - Channels 149 and 517
Rogers in Toronto - Channel 15
Rogers in Ottawa - Channels 66 or 142
Shaw Cable Hamilton - Channel 21
Cogeco Cable Hamilton - Channel 16
Videotron - Channels 79 and 679

UBL

2011-05-02T09:34:00.002-04:00

So Usama bin Laden is confirmed dead after a US raid into Pakistan. Good riddance. But one has to question how UBL managed to avoid justice for the past 10 years.

Via Mark Stein:

The most significant fact to emerge from bin Laden’s death so far is that he was not living in a smelly cave in the tribal badlands but in a mansion in the heart of the Pakistani establishment round the corner from the Military Academy on the Kakul Road.

Layton’s hidden agenda

2011-04-30T23:23:00.001-04:00

Terence Corcoran: Jack Layton’s hidden agenda

NDP’s hidden constitution opposes profits, backs ‘social ownership’

Be careful who you vote for.

The Globe’s election endorsement

2011-04-28T08:48:00.001-04:00

This comes as a bit of a surprise:

Only Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party have shown the leadership, the bullheadedness (let's call it what it is) and the discipline this country needs. He has built the Conservatives into arguably the only truly national party, and during his five years in office has demonstrated strength of character, resolve and a desire to reform. Canadians take Mr. Harper's successful stewardship of the economy for granted, which is high praise. He has not been the scary character portrayed by the opposition; with some exceptions, his government has been moderate and pragmatic.

For hapless Libs, this election may be already over.

2011-04-24T08:24:00.004-04:00

By most accounts, Count Iggy's Liberals are tanking just as the election enters its final week and the advance polls are taking place.

The Twitterverse is reporting that Ignatieff received a resounding boo from 4,000 in attendance at a junior hockey game in Mississauga last night.

Coalition conspiracy continues to dog Iggy as Burpn Run reports: The Real Co-Conspirators Behind The 2011 Coup

The common cry from vested interests in this 2011 election is that "It's all about Democracy!". That may be true, but what they aren't telling you is that it isn't about YOUR democracy, or MY democracy. Rather, it's all about THEIR democracy. Specifically, the entitlement of the unions, special interest groups, and piglet-interests at the public teat. Protecting that teat for themselves. At all costs. Including subverting real democracy.

The NDP has made much-touted gains recently, particularly in Quebec, but seem to have levelled off or even slipped a little. The Liberals continue their slide.

Stephen Harper and the Conservatives retain a solid lead. The question is, will it be enough to form a majority government?

Redistribution

2011-04-23T09:56:00.002-04:00

A friend sent me this.

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very Liberal, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favour of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words, redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harboured an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends, because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked , ‘How is your friend Audrey doing?’ She replied, ‘ Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She Is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.’

Her wise father asked his daughter, ‘Why don’t you go to the Dean’s office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA, and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.’ The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, ‘That’s a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I’ve worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!’

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, ‘Welcome to The conservative party.’

Here's a video that puts the question to some students, who don't like the idea of redistributing their GPA's

Who is the real Iggy?

2011-04-20T09:11:00.003-04:00

How well do Canadians really know Count Michael Ignatieff, the man who would like to be our next Prime Minister? Is he the Mao quoting politician who pushes progressive programs like publicly funded day-care for all and a "cap and trade" carbon tax? Or is he something else?

As a politician in Canada, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has said that he was on the sidelines of the Iraq war, but new information reveals he was on the front lines of pre-invasion planning when he worked in the U.S.

Ignatieff - long known to be a supporter of the decision to invade - was part of an academic advisory team that helped U.S. state department and American military officials conduct strategy sessions.

Who are you Iggy? Canadians need to know.

Coalition

2011-04-20T00:03:00.004-04:00

I've said it before here. I will say it again. The coalition is on.

FREE KITTENS

2011-04-19T18:54:00.002-04:00

A pretty little girl named Suzy was standing on the sidewalk in front of her home. Next to her was a basket containing a number of tiny creatures; in her hand was a sign announcing FREE KITTENS.

Suddenly a line of big black cars pulled up beside her. Out of the lead car stepped a tall, grinning man.

"Hi there little girl, I'm Mr. Ignatieff. What do you have in the basket?" he asked.

"Kittens," little Suzy said.

"How old are they?" asked Ignatieff
Suzy replied, "They're so young, their eyes aren't even open yet."

"And what kind of kittens are they?"

"Liberals," answered Suzy with a smile.

Ignatieff was delighted. As soon as he returned to his car, he called his PR chief and told him about the little girl and the kittens.

Recognizing the perfect photo op, the two men agreed that Mr Ignatieff should return the next day; and in front of the assembled media, have the girl talk about her discerning kittens.

So the next day, Suzy was again standing on the sidewalk with her basket of "FREE KITTENS," when another motorcade pulled up, this time followed by vans from CBC, CTV, and CNN.

Cameras and audio equipment were quickly set up, then Ignatieff got out of his limo and walked over to little Suzy.

"Hello, again," he said, "I'd love it if you would tell all my friends out there what kind of kittens you're giving away."

"Yes sir," Suzy said. "They're CONSERVATIVES."

Taken by surprise, Mr. Ignatieff stammered, "But... but... yesterday, you told me they were LIBERALS."

Little Suzy smiled and said, "I know. But today, they have their eyes open".

Who is John Galt? part 1

2011-04-18T03:26:00.001-04:00

coming soon to a theater near you...

Goldstein:Ignatieff’s dangerous emissions

2011-04-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

Lorrie Goldstein: Do the Liberals know what they’re promising on climate change? Do they care they’re being reckless?

Murphy: paganism in the age of bluetooth and Twitter

2011-04-17T11:20:00.000-04:00

Rex Murphy: Excuse me sir, that cockroach has rights

Is Iggy anti-Israel?

2011-04-16T22:19:00.003-04:00

You have to wonder after a close examination of statements that Count Iggy made during the English language debates. An analysis by David Frum:

Past Liberal governments have played a double game in the Middle East. Prime ministers and foreign ministers have declared friendship to Israel. Yet those same prime ministers and foreign ministers allowed their bureaucracies to pursue very different policies. And they funded NGOs that veered in even more strongly anti-Israel directions.

The Harper government ended these practices. There is not a big difference between what the Harper government and the previous Martin and Chrétien governments said about the Middle East. But there is a big difference between what those governments have done. The Harper government’s actions have been consistent with its words. The Chrétien and Martin governments’ actions were not.

Ignatieff took time in the leaders’ debate to signal that if he should become prime minister, the old ways on the Middle East would return.

Stand with Israel

2011-04-16T10:59:00.002-04:00

Glenn Beck's show from Friday in it's entirety, courtesy of YouTube and The Daily Beck.

Since it's inception Israel, the only true democracy in the middle east, has always been in a precarious position, literally surrounded by enemies.

In the video, Beck and his guests Pastor John Hagee, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik and former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Dore Gold discuss the changing situation and the implications that it will have on not only Israel but the rest of the world.

UN's bogus climate refugee claims

2011-04-16T10:39:00.004-04:00

UN: 50 million "climate refugees" by ~~2010~~... oops, better make that 2020.

Just another example of what the warmists will do when the facts don't fit the theory: just change the theory and hope nobody notices. And surprisingly, it's not so hard to do with a media that's lazy, compliant, in on the deception or all of the above.

See The UN “disappears” 50 million climate refugees, then botches the disappearing attempt at WUWT.

The cost of green

2011-04-13T23:18:00.003-04:00

From Australia:

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell is demanding the Gillard government compensate families for the cost of its renewable energy schemes.

Mr O'Farrell's call came as the state's Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended increases in electricity bills for some NSW families of up to 18 per cent from July, with a proportion of the rises blamed on the federal government's renewable energy target.

And that's just the beginning. Wait until they pile on the costs of the proposed carbon tax.

The federal government had announced it would compensate families for its carbon tax, Mr O'Farrell said.

“I think NSW families should be compensated for the cost of a federal green renewable scheme that's pushing up power prices by another 50 per cent in NSW.”

The government drives up energy costs. The government compensates citizens for the increases. The government taxes the citizens to pay for the subsidies. Or they borrow the money from their grandchildren. Just great.

The Ministry of Mother Earth

2011-04-12T09:51:00.003-04:00

This is what happens when enviro-Marxists have power:

UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.

The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to “dominate and exploit” — to the point that the “wellbeing and existence of many beings” is now threatened.

Implementation of a policy like this could set human progress back centuries. All in the name of socialism.

Bolivia is a country with a large indigenous population, whose traditional belief systems took on greater resonance following the election of Mr. Morales, Latin America’s first indigenous president.

In a 2008 pamphlet his entourage distributed at the UN as he attended a summit there, ten “commandments” are set out as Bolivia’s plan to “save the planet” — beginning with the need “to end with capitalism.”

And there is the bottom line. It's not about the environment at all.

The Coalition is not dead

2011-04-11T13:03:00.003-04:00

Steve Janke offers this:

Alfred Apps, president of the Liberal Party has let slip a critical Liberal Party secret.

That "secret" is that "the Liberal Party of Canada is postponing the 2011 Biennial Convention, which had been scheduled for June 17-18 in Ottawa".

The Liberal Party constitution requires a leadership review following a loss in a general election. It's pretty clear that Count Iggy won't win the election and a leadership review will be mandatory come June.

But what if Harper's Conservatives fail to win a majority and form another minority government? What if the government introduces a new budget and the opposition parties combine forces to defeat it? Then the Coalition Accord - which is legally binding until June 30, 2011 - comes into play.

Count Iggy must ensure that he is not ousted by a pesky mandatory leadership review before the budget can be defeated and he has the opportunity to put the coalition into effect. So the convention must be delayed. Mid-June is just way too close for comfort.

Wind Power: sky-high costs and no reduction in emissions

2011-04-11T00:19:00.001-04:00

Denmark has seen Ontario's future: Lorrie Goldstein

If you want to see the future of Premier Dalton McGuinty’s push for wind power in Ontario, look at Denmark today.

It has more than doubled its wind power production over the past decade or so and today produces almost 20% of its electricity from wind.

Silencing the skeptics - an update

2011-04-10T09:45:00.005-04:00

I reported last month that renowned Canadian climatologist Dr. Tim Ball was facing a lawsuit from Prof. Michael Mann, Director of Earth System Science Center at Penn State. Mann is the author of the now discredited "hockey stick" graph that the UN relied upon to promote the global warming / climate change hysteria.

Mann has enlisted a Canadian legal firm and there are indications that the David Suzuki Foundation may be of funding the legal action.

Dr. Ball is appealing for help. Here's an update from John O. Sullivan.

Esteemed climate scientist, Tim Ball faces two costly courtroom libel battles. Here he reveals his concerns and appeals for help with his legal fees.

Dr. Tim Ball is widely recognized as one of Canada’s first qualified climate scientists and has long taken a brave stand in speaking out on corruption and unethical practices. Two global warming doomsayers Ball has targeted, professors Michael Mann and Andrew Weaver are now suing Tim for libel with the backing of Big Green donors.

Many suspect the deep-pocketed David Suzuki Foundation is bankrolling Weaver and Mann. Suzuki is reported as wanting skeptics like Ball “put in prison.” Vancouver libel lawyer, Roger D. McConchie is the well-paid legal attack dog.

Critics suspect that the Suzuki Foundation is throwing money at the case in the hope that his target, who has no big corporate backers, will quit as his legal fees spiral. But Ball is determined he won’t be bounced out of this contest.

Below is this author’s (JOS) forthright interview with Dr. Ball (TB).

You should go to Sullivan's website and read the full interview. Then go to drtimball.com and make a donation to support Dr. Ball. I already did.

And do not support the David Suzuki Foundation.

h/t: WUWT

Solomon: Climategate U loses bid to stifle critic

2011-04-10T09:30:00.004-04:00

James Delingpole has won a battle with the University of East Anglia, home of the Climate Research Unit that was the center of the "Climategate" controversy. The U of EA had filed a complaint against Delingpole with the Press Complaints Commission in the UK.

The University of East Anglia of Climategate fame – scene of the embarrassing emails that disgraced the global warming cause – has once again been embarrassed, this time through a failed attempt to silence one of the UK’s most brilliant – and biting – global warming sceptics.

Read the full article by Lawrence Solomon here.

Ending America As We Know It

2011-04-09T21:59:00.002-04:00

Mark Steyn:

America, 2011: A man gets driven in a motorcade to sneer at a man who has to drive himself to work.

FOX News and Glenn Beck announce new agreement

2011-04-06T13:44:00.002-04:00

Is Glenn Beck leaving Fox News? Well, sort of. This via GlennBeck.com:

NEW YORK— FOX News and Mercury Radio Arts, Glenn Beck’s production company, are proud to announce that they will work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the FOX News Channel (FNC) as well as content for other platforms including FOX News’ digital properties. Glenn intends to transition off of his daily program, the third highest rated in all of cable news, later this year.

There's more at the link.

Why Obama is awesome to liberals

2011-04-06T00:18:00.001-04:00

Election Sign

2011-04-04T12:55:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Kate at sda. You can make your own sign here.

Sun News news

2011-04-04T12:05:00.002-04:00

Another new promo video from Sun News channel. They are set to launch April 18th. Canada really needs a news network that reports the news without bias.

If you currently receive Sun TV, you’ll be able to watch Sun News Network on that channel until August 31. For example, Channel 213 on Bell TV or Channel 15 if you’re on Rogers in Toronto. You can go to sunnewsnetwork.ca and follow the link to request Sun News on your satellite or cable carrier.

Sun News Network

2011-03-31T09:19:00.002-04:00

Things are looking good for the new Sun News channel.

Is a Lib-NDP-Bloc coalition out of the question?

2011-03-29T16:18:00.004-04:00

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff would have us believe so. Charles Adler disagrees: Coalition of the losers:

The Tories fail to get a majority in May and when Parliament reconvenes they fail to win a vote of confidence following another attempt at a budget.

Michael Ignatieff reaches for his posterior and pulls out a piece of paper with a lot of signatures on it. They all have one thing in common. None of them are members of the Conservative party. All of them are members of parties that lost.

Some could call it a coalition of losers. But it would be a coalition that could easily win the day with the Governor General.

At smalldeadanimals, Kate illustrates why Ignatieff can claim that he won't form a coalition: he already has one!

"This Accord will expire on June 30, 2011 unless renewed."

Yes, it's true. Thanks to some diligent work by Stephen Taylor, we know that the coalition agreement (Accord) signed by the Libs, NDP and Bloc on December 1, 2008 is still in effect!

Kate has acquired some legal insight on the Lib-NDP-Bloc "Accord":

1. It is a "Live " document and is binding on the parties.
2. Termination - No termination by any party-- Termination only occurs on June 30th 2011
3. Document BINDS the NDP and Liberals ( the Liberals cannot unilaterally back out of deal)-- the NDP can force compliance.
4. Given that Michael Ignatieff signed the document-- he can not argue bad faith, or had no knowledge and as such is bound to the Agreement

Watch the Libs and the NDP bring forward the argument that coalition governments are not unusual, even common in Europe. That may be true, but the makeup of such coalitions usually centers on the party that won the election, not those that lost.

Michael Ignatieff has the coalition Accord in his back pocket and he will not hesitate to use it should the Conservatives win anything short of a majority on May 2nd.

Be sure to listen to the audio at the top link to Charles Adler.

Earth Hour: Let there be Light!

2011-03-26T08:51:00.001-04:00

I almost missed it but tonight is Earth Hour. The usual media hype doesn't seem to be there like it has been in previous years. Is Earth Hour losing it's trendiness? Anyway across the land tonight, many well meaning but misinformed individuals will be taking symbolic action in order to fight what they refer to as "climate change":

"When I get up in the morning, I'll turn off the furnace unless there's danger the pipes will freeze," Rezansoff says. "I'll turn off all appliances except the fridge, and we'll eat fruit, vegetables and sandwiches. In the evening, we'll play board games by candlelight."

While these folks will be briefly experiencing what life would be like without all the modern conveniences that that science, technology and free enterprise have brought us I will be celebrating the Earth and the many wonderful resources she provides us with by TURNING ON every (incandescent) light in my house. I will be watching FOX News Channel on my big screen TV and cranking up the furnace to make sure I'm nice and comfy while I eat my roast beef.

Earth Hour: Let there be light!

It's on!

2011-03-25T13:12:00.007-04:00

The conservative government of Stephen Harper has been defeated on a confidence vote 156-145. PM Harper is expected to visit the Governor-general tomorrow and ask him to dissolve Parliament. Then we will be off to the polls, likely on May 2nd.

The opposition parties have been beating the drum for some time now concerning ethics violations and "contempt of Parliament" by the government. They may, however, be the victims of their own rhetoric as the voters just don't seem to care or simply aren't listening. Stephen Harper's Conservatives are at an all time high in the polls and if they stay there, we could see a Conservative majority government come May 2nd.

The question is: can the Liberals under Michael Ignatieff convince Canadians that the government is indeed behaving unethically and contemptibly? And so much so that it needs to be replaced? Not such an easy task for a party that itself in 2006 went down to defeat over some of the most egregious ethics issues ever seen in Canadian politics. On an ethical basis, how do you trump the passing of taxpayer money under the table in brown bags to political operatives and Liberal Party cronies?

The other thing working against the Liberals and the NDP is the economy and you can be sure the Conservatives will do everything in their power to make this the focus of the election. Canada has weathered the world-wide recession well and this is largely attributed to the good fiscal management of the government.

With the Conservatives leading in key provinces like Ontario and BC, and improving in Quebec, one has to wonder about the logic of the Liberals to force an election at this time. Is Iggy so absorbed in his own BS that he is blind to the mood of Canadians? Or has he had enough of Canadian politics and wants to go back to his cushy job at Harvard?

Update: via the Globe:

It was also a motion that declared the government to be in contempt of Parliament for its refusal to share information that opposition members said they needed to properly assess legislation put before them.

Hmmm... you would think the government said something like "We will have to pass the bill for you to find out what's in it"? Oh, the arrogance!

Health care

2011-03-25T09:14:00.003-04:00

In today's National Post, Shaun Francis examines the case of a Toronto woman who was denied a life saving drug by Ontario's Ministry of Health - until enough public pressure was brought to bear on the Minister. Francis points out how government health-care bureaucrats decide what treatments will be allowed and when they will be permitted. These bureaucrats must, after all, control costs within our health care monopoly. From today's National Post:

During last year’s debate over Obamacare in the United States, right-wing critics accused reformers of promoting “death panels” that would make life-or-death decisions about citizens’ health care. Obamacare defenders insisted that such a notion was ridiculous.

Yet here in Canada, “death panels” dictate our health care every day — even if that is not the name they go by.

Francis goes on to explain that our health care system is not "free" as many like to think. In fact, he shows how high the costs are, and that they're increasing all the time, while service continues to degrade.

Socialized medicine is a great system if you don't mind the long wait times for treatment, having to go without certain life saving drugs and having little or no choice within the bureaucracy. There has to be a better alternative to the current government run monopoly. It's time to introduce some competition in our health care system.

Forward, Into the Past

2011-03-24T15:47:00.001-04:00

Where the left is tasking us, via Ed Driscoll

Obama: Drill, baby, drill... in Brazil

2011-03-23T20:54:00.002-04:00

From Investors Business Daily:

Energy Policy: While leaving U.S. oil and jobs in the ground, our itinerant president tells a South American neighbor that we'll help it develop its offshore resources so we can one day import its oil. WHAT?!?

That should be WTF?!

Now, with a seven-year offshore drilling ban in effect off of both coasts, on Alaska's continental shelf and in much of the Gulf of Mexico — and a de facto moratorium covering the rest — Obama tells the Brazilians:

"We want to help you with the technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely. And when you're ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers."

Is this an energy policy designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil? or to increase it?

Michelle Malkin asks, "why don’t we send Ken Salazar over there [Brazil], too?"

Proof that socialism works

2011-03-21T09:46:00.001-04:00

via Kelly McParland.

Leadership

2011-03-19T11:49:00.009-04:00

The situation in Libya is reaching critical mass. Col. Ghadafi thumbs his nose at the United Nations resolution and continues his assaults on his own civilians while claiming to have imposed a "ceasefire". Clearly, decisive action is required quickly to prevent further atrocities. Some of the western world's leaders, including Canada, are meeting in Paris today to determine how they will deal with the situation.

Mr. Harper had arrived in Paris early Saturday morning for the summit after an overnight transatlantic flight from Ottawa, accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and General Walt Natynczyk, the chief of the defence staff, for the one-day meeting.

The fact that PM Harper has brought with him Foreign Affairs Minister Cannon and Canadian Forces Chief General Natynczyk says that Canada is serious about participating in possible military operations. In fact a number of Canadian CF-18 fighter jets are already in the region, presumably Italy, and reports say they will be ready for action very soon. Reports this morning indicate that France already has fighter jets in the air over Libya.

While military intervention in Libya carries risks, primarily the risk of further escalation, the leaders of Britain, France, Canada and other nations are tackling the problem head-on.

All this begs the question: where is the leader of the free world?

Update: US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, "There are difficulties".

Update 2: Rex Murphy: There’s a great vacancy at the top of the world: A retreat by the American government from its global leadership role.

Detecting the greenhouse effect... or not

2011-03-18T19:23:00.005-04:00

IPCC 1990 report Detection of the Greenhouse Effect in the Observations:

"Given our rudimentary understanding of the magnitude and causes of low frequency natural variablity, it is virtually impossible to demonstrate a cause-effect relationship with high confidence from studies of a single variable (However if the global warming becomes sufficiently large, we will eventually be able to claim detection simply because there will be no other explanation)"

Dr. James Hansen in 1988 testimony before the US Senate:

"...the global warming is now large enough that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship to the greenhouse effect."

Anthony Watts has the full story.

Aussie sceptics destroy EU carbon commissioner

2011-03-14T14:25:00.005-04:00

In a radio interview (it starts about halfway through the clip) with Andrew Bolt on the Steve Price program. Jill Duggan is an "expert" on carbon markets for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action which plans to reduce Europe’s carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. As James Delingpole says, "In the process she will of course destroy every last vestige of 550 million people’s economic future".

The money line:

“You’re in charge of a massive programme to rejig an economy and you don’t know what it costs and you don’t know what it will achieve,” says Bolt.

h/t

Silencing the skeptics

2011-03-12T19:24:00.003-05:00

The impact of climategate on the credibility of some key global warming alarmists was significant. Now comes the backlash. And no, it doesn't involve a scientific argument.

At CO2 Insanity, John O’Sullivan writes:

Beleaguered global warming religionist, Michael Mann has signed up a Canadian libel law firm that has ties to the ultra-green David Suzuki Foundation (DSF). Skeptics fear DSF and other warmist groups are gearing up for reprisals against skeptic scientists who have helped derail the global warming tax raising juggernaut.

Internationally renowned climate scientist, Dr. Tim Ball and prominent U.S. skeptic Chris Horner appear to be the first victims of a coordinated attack by discredited ‘hockey stick’ graph conjurer, Michael Mann.

Read the full article. Please.

Propping up an industry that can't compete in the marketplace

2011-03-12T18:43:00.002-05:00

A look at "green energy" by ReasonTV:

via Hotair.

McGuinty's reality

2011-03-12T09:40:00.002-05:00

The full article by Lawrence Solomon in today's Financial Post is worth the read. Here's an excerpt:

Here's the reality. Ontario doesn't need Mr. McGuinty's new electricity system, which will be immensely less reliable and immensely more costly than the current system. The only one who needs the system is Mr. McGuinty himself, to make good his boast of being the world's first leader to get his jurisdiction entirely off coal.

Full story here.

Winds of change

2011-02-13T21:13:00.003-05:00

The cruel reality of so-called "green" energy may be catching up with the McGuinty Liberals.

After years of touting wind projects as a critical piece of the alternative energy puzzle, the government let slip — very quietly — that offshore wind projects are no longer part of the game plan.

But it's not just offshore wind projects that are proving to be impractical. A legal challenge to the Green Energy Act is being heard by the Ontario Divisional Court:

If the challenge is successful, it will significantly impede wind development in Ontario until the province can provide satisfactory evidence that there is no evidence of negative health impacts associated with wind farms, an issue that has been the subject of much debate.

It gets even worse. Kelly McParland on the solar energy front:

On Friday, hundreds more Ontarians were told that installations they’d erected at the behest of the government can’t be connected to the provincial grid because of technical problems. Rural residents, some of whom have invested large amounts in solar generating operations, will be left high and dry.

Instead of trying to please his latte sipping yuppies in the GTA with his "green" policies, McGuinty should have given some thought to thousands of rural residents who will be forced to live in close proximity to his wind machines. They're angry. And those people who have invested tens of thousands of dollars into solar panels only to find they won't be getting the exorbitant rates they were initially promised. Or worse, they can't connect those panels they spent their life savings on. They're way beyond angry.

The way I see it, thre are two problems with investing in solar and wind. First, these energy sources are not economically viable on their own. Massive taxpayer subsidies are required. Which leads to the second problem, reliance on the government as a partner. And this government is looking less and less like a reliable partner.

Rex Murphy: misery loves company

2011-02-13T01:23:00.001-05:00

Gore-Olbermann: never so fruitful a partnership since Gilligan and the Skipper.

The Weather Isn't Getting Weirder

2011-02-12T23:56:00.004-05:00

I often hear from otherwise normal, rational, intelligent people how the weather is getting more and more extreme. And that this is proof that we humans have somehow messed up the climate with our carbon emissions. I argue that it isn't so, that the floods, hurricanes, hot spells and even the record cold and snowfalls are not signs of extreme weather brought about by anthropogenic global warming, er climate change. After all, most of the "records" we have been experiencing recently impact only the last 40 or 50 years, a relatively short time span in the historical record and the global climate change business.

That's why it was encouraging to see this study:

The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project is the latest attempt to find out, using super-computers to generate a dataset of global atmospheric circulation from 1871 to the present.

As it happens, the project's initial findings, published last month, show no evidence of an intensifying weather trend. "In the climate models, the extremes get more extreme as we move into a doubled CO2 world in 100 years," atmospheric scientist Gilbert Compo, one of the researchers on the project, tells me from his office at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "So we were surprised that none of the three major indices of climate variability that we used show a trend of increased circulation going back to 1871."

It is all too easy for climate alarmists to point to recent extremes of weather and cry "we must do something before it's too late". We need to keep in mind that while the weather around the globe can and has been experiencing extremes, this doesn't signify anything out of the historical norm.

FCIC Reports

2011-01-27T21:12:00.004-05:00

Writing in the Financial Post, Janet Whitman asks, "What caused the financial crisis?". The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission has issued it's report on the crisis and surprise, surprise the blame falls largely on party lines.

The Dems on the commission blame "reckless" Wall Street Bankers, the Fed and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and "ethics breaches at all levels". The Republicans blame "the U.S. housing bubble, non-traditional mortgages, faulty credit ratings for investments of bundled mortgages, financial firms with too much exposure to high-risk loans, inadequate capital at some big banks, risk of big bank failures, and financial panic amid failures and near failures of Wall Street banks".

Then there's the dissenting report by Peter J. Wallison, an American Enterprise Institute fellow appointed to the FCIC by Republicans. Wallison offers another viewpoint, assigning the blame most closely to where it should be.

Mr. Wallison pins the blame squarely on U.S. government housing policies. By encouraging and supporting high-risk loans to low-income borrowers, the government inflated a massive and unmanageable bubble of bad home loans.

By 2008, fueled by the policies of the Clinton and Bush administrations, the United States had 27-million subprime and Alt-A home mortgages – representing half of all mortgages outstanding and valued at a whopping US$4.5-trillion.

The U.S. government through vehicles like the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie and Freddie actively encouraged (forced) the nations banks to loan money to people who otherwise would never have qualified for a mortgage loan. Did bankers act "recklessly"? Probably. But because of government policies they had a lot of "troubled assets" on their hands that they had to deal with or get burned. It was a game of financial "hot potato" and it eventually collapsed.

Read the Wallison's report: http://c0182732.cdn1.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/fcic_final_report_wallison_dissent.pdf

CFLs disappoint

2011-01-27T08:57:00.004-05:00

"Green" states like California are finding out that compact fluorescent lamps are not all they were cracked up to be.

It was all flowers and roses when the state of California launched its $548M USD program to help promote consumer use of compact fluorescent lamps. Manufacturers and utilities were onboard because they received bonus pay to enact rebate programs. Citizens were happy as they received cheap CFL bulbs, which promised to save them money on power expenses. And the politicians were happy, as they looked sufficiently "green" to satisfy the eco-minded voters.

Now that utopian vision of futuristic lighting has dissolved into rancor and disappointment. A multi-million dollar program by the state designed to evaluate the actual results has concluded that energy savings were not as good as expected and that utilities were being over-rewarded for their performance.

Emphasis added. Unfortunately, Ontario is unwilling to see the failures of other jurisdictions in the so called "green economy". It's full steam ahead here with CFLs, wind and solar power - all unaffordable and unsustainable without heavy subsidies from taxpayers.

Stupid. Reckless. Incompetent.

2011-01-26T19:38:00.001-05:00

What word captures the way Dalton McGuinty’s government has blown it when it comes to windmills and green energy?

For the answer just read this post by Christina Blizzard in the Toronto Sun.

Rex Murphy

2011-01-23T21:37:00.001-05:00

offers his unique Newfoundlander's insight on the People's Republic:

We are apologizing ourselves into impotence and irrelevancy over many of our greatest successes, while more confident — even ruthless — powers such as China are emerging brisk with the determination to develop as fast and as far as they can.

Maxime Bernier for smaller government

2011-01-12T11:17:00.001-05:00

What did Cancun accomplish?

2010-12-12T16:59:00.006-05:00

The Climate Conference in Cancun, Mexico has wrapped up after a long chilling week. So just what was accomplished at this big conflab? Ronald Bailey has a summary at Reason.com. Here's a snippet:

It would be cynical to call it a bribe, but the Cancun agreements were largely reached because the rich countries continued their vague promises to hand over $100 billion in climate aid annually to poor countries beginning in 2020.

Basically the deal on emissions is that countries will agree to agree on cuts at the next climate change conference in Durban. Big developing country emitters like China and India still refused to agree to any legally binding limits on their emissions. Of course, neither did the developed countries.

[...]

I repeat the highlights of the Cancun Agreements below:
(1) As far as I can tell, the COP has indeed kicked the Cancun down the road by agreeing that they "shall aim to complete" further commitments by rich countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions "as early as possible." They do include the saving phrase "and in time to ensure that there is no gap between the first and second commitment period." Translation: Additional cuts should be agreed to before 2012. The telling words are "shall aim to complete." No real promises here.

(2) The shared vision says that the parties set the goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions "so as to hold the increase in global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels...." The parties will think about trying to hold average temperature increase to 1.5 later after further scientific review in 2015.

(3) The shared vision drops the earlier text that would have required that the world cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent and that developed countries cut their emissions by 80-95 percent by 2050. Instead, the parties will "work towards identifying a global goal for substantially reducing global emissions by 2050" and consider it at the next meeting in Durban.

(4) The shared vision also drops the proposal that global greenhouse gases should peak by 2015.

(5) The text also sets up a process for creating a system for accounting and monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions from developed countries. As far as I can tell from reading the rather opaque text, the U.S. has not been roped into a process that leads to legally binding emissions reduction commitments.

(6) China, India and other emerging countries also have not been roped into legally binding commitments, but if they take mitigation actions that are supported by outside money, those activities will be subject to some kind of international auditing. On the other, the world will have take their words for their domestically funded activities.

(7) The text also says that the parties decide to establish a Green Climate Fund under the authority of the Conference of the Parties with a board of directors consisting of 24 members, half of whom will be from rich countries and half from poor countries. The devloped country parties commit to "mobilizing jointly USD 100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries."

Not much commitment to reducing carbon emissions there, but that $100,000,000,000 per year ain't no chump change!

And that's what it's always been about.

Update #1: JoNova has a roundup of the media response and says it was all about the PR:

After the awful post-Climategate-and-Copenhagen year, more than anything else, the Big Scare Campaign needed a PR win. And in that sense Cancun was a major victory. Nobody agreed to anything legally binding, Kyoto was not extended, and all they achieved amounted to nothing more than an extension of the yearly junkets, and the promise that the gravy train is not dead yet. But the headlines will warm the hearts of all on Team-Scare-Us. The most important thing for the side that’s losing friends, faith and face, was to regain momentum. They’re trying to stop the death spiral.

Update #2: From the Christian Science Monitor:

To prevent the talks from collapsing, the language had to accommodate the developing countries that are clinging to Kyoto as well as a Japan that wants very little to do with it any longer. Observers described the language as “weak” without a direct call for countries to pledge reductions in the second commitment period. [...]

“Anything that is said about a legally binding outcome in the future must make it very clear that that is a legally binding outcome that would apply to at least all the major countries including China, India, Brazil, and so forth,” says Todd Stern, the US special climate envoy.

The Wall Street Journal:

World leaders at a climate-change conference in Cancun, Mexico, made clear that addressing the issue will be all about money, agreeing that rich countries would spend potentially trillions of dollars to help poor countries develop on a greener path.

But the diplomats postponed hashing out which rich countries would pay how much, and exactly what the poor countries would have to do to get the checks.

The two-week United Nations climate conference in the resort city of Cancun underscored that future global efforts to address climate change will likely depend more on economic incentives than on environmental mandates.

From Reuters:

(Reuters) - Global carbon markets will struggle after the deal reached at annual U.N. climate talks did little to ensure mandatory emissions caps would be extended next year.

The Gore Effect hits Cancun

2010-12-10T15:29:00.003-05:00

The Gore Effect: wherever Al Gore goes, so does record cold weather. I don't know if the Goreacle is in Cancun, but there are enough warmists and climate change activists gathered there at the UN conference to trigger an impressive example of the Gore Effect. From Anthony Watts:

The irony, it burns. Do you think maybe Gaia is trying to send the U.N. and the delegates a message? One record low was funny, three in a row was hilarious, a new record low for the month of December was ROFL, but now six straight days of record lows during the U.N. COP16 Global Warming conference? That’s galactically inconvenient. The whole month so far has averaged below normal

E.P.A. Delays Tougher Rules on Emissions

2010-12-10T14:16:00.003-05:00

From the New York Times:

The Obama administration is retreating on long-delayed environmental regulations — new rules governing smog and toxic emissions from industrial boilers — as it adjusts to a changed political dynamic in Washington with a more muscular Republican opposition.

The move to delay the rules, announced this week by the Environmental Protection Agency, will leave in place policies set by President George W. Bush. President Obama ran for office promising tougher standards, and the new rules were set to take effect over the next several weeks.

Now, the agency says, it needs until July 2011 to further analyze scientific and health studies of the smog rules and until April 2012 on the boiler regulation. Mr. Obama, having just cut a painful deal with Republicans intended to stimulate the economy, can ill afford to be seen as simultaneously throttling the fragile recovery by imposing a sheaf of expensive new environmental regulations that critics say will cost jobs.

The delays represent a marked departure from the first two years of the Obama presidency, when the E.P.A. moved quickly to reverse one Bush environmental policy after another. Administration officials now face the question of whether in their zeal to undo the Bush agenda they reached too far and provoked an unmanageable political backlash.

What next? Will Obama try legislation rather than regulation? I doubt that will fly with the new Republican dominated Congress.

It seems that elections do have consequences.

h/t

Lord Monckton on the New World Order

2010-12-09T22:05:00.006-05:00

Update: Joanne Nova: "The power hungry tyrants learnt from Copenhagen. They realized that they have a far better chance of success by underselling the expectations and sliding in long impenetrable documents in front of underling bureaucrats. The UN wants nothing less than 1.5% of our GDP."

Original Post

Via WUWT, here is the report from the Viscount Monckton of Brenchley in Cancun, Mexico, Dec 9th, 2010 titled The Abdication of the West:

I usually add some gentle humor to these reports. Not today. Read this and weep. Notwithstanding the carefully-orchestrated propaganda to the effect that nothing much will be decided at the UN climate conference here in Cancun, the decisions to be made here this week signal nothing less than the abdication of the West. The governing class in what was once proudly known as the Free World is silently, casually letting go of liberty, prosperity, and even democracy itself. No one in the mainstream media will tell you this, not so much because they do not see as because they do not bl**dy care.

The 33-page Note (FCCC/AWGLCA/2010/CRP.2) by the Chairman of the “Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Co-operative Action under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change”, entitled Possible elements of the outcome, reveals all. Or, rather, it reveals nothing, unless one understands what the complex, obscure jargon means. All UNFCCC documents at the Cancun conference, specifically including Possible elements of the outcome, are drafted with what is called “transparent impenetrability”. The intention is that the documents should not be understood, but that later we shall be told they were in the public domain all the time, so what are we complaining about?

Since the Chairman’s note is very long, I shall summarize the main points:

I found this particularly disturbing.

The world-government Secretariat: In all but name, the UN Convention’s Secretariat will become a world government directly controlling hundreds of global, supranational, regional, national and sub-national bureaucracies. It will receive the vast sum of taxpayers’ money ostensibly paid by the West to the Third World for adaptation to the supposed adverse consequences of imagined (and imaginary) “global warming”.

The rest is here.

Can anyone be Environment minister?

2010-12-07T23:02:00.007-05:00

A post at Macleans.ca by Aaron Wherry today entitled The Commons: Anyone can be environment minister described a verbal exchange during Question Period on the latest report from the environmental commissioner. Mr Wherry seems a bit dissatisfied with the answers from Conservative MPs Mark Warawa and Chuck Strahl, who is quoted:

“We welcome the commissioner’s report,” he explained. “We of course are working to address those concerns that were raised. We welcome his suggestions. In fact we are already taking action on preventing and preparing for environmental emergencies, something that he highlighted, strengthening our water monitoring program and investing in climate change adaptation. Those recommendations are welcome and they are consistent with what the government is already doing. [...]

“We are dealing with the Copenhagen accord right now in Cancun to make sure that all major emitters sign on the dotted line,” Mr. Strahl later explained for the benefit of the NDP’s Thomas Mulcair. “There is no use having an accord when the major emitters of the world are not signed on and doing their part. We want all world economies to be part of this program.””

I have included only the above quote from MP Strahl. But if you read the whole article, it becomes apparent that the writer is dissatisfied with the responses. Mr. Wherry is obviously a "believer" and his article seems filled with contempt for not only the responses but the responders.

However, I think that Mr. Strahl's response deserves some study. He says, "In fact we are already taking action on... investing in climate change adaptation". Many would argue that adaptation is a far better response to climate change than an expensive and futile exercise in prevention. Even the UN has admitted that full implementation of the carbon reduction targets in Kyoto would have almost a negligible effect on their climate predictions. So wouldn't the money be better spent on adaptation. Perhaps not an answer that the enviro-marxist crowd wants to hear, but certainly one that's worth persuing.

Mr. Strahl makes another valid point, "There is no use having an accord when the major emitters of the world are not signed on and doing their part." Again, the enviro crowd want Canada to take drastic measures which would surely disadvantage our economy while countries like China, India and the United States who all dwarf us on the emissions scale are bound by no carbon reductions targets. Unfortunately Canada is a very small fish in this big pond and while some think it might be nice to "lead the way" and "set an example", such action would have absolutely no impact on the climate.

The whole anthropogenic global warming scheme is a scam. Always has been. Canada got sucked into Kyoto by the Lliberals under Jean Chretien who then proceeded to do absolutely nothing to reduce emissions. Recent events like climategate have helped to expose the fraud of man-made global warming. The lack of warming over the past decade and a half has helped too. So now that the wheels are falling off the whole climate change thing, why should Canada consider doing anything other than adaptation?

To get back to the question that Mr. Wherry didn't ask but inferred, not just anyone can be Environment minister. The job requires someone who can look at the issue of climate change rationally, see it for what it is and develop a response that is appropriate to the "threat" - while at the same time protecting the country's economy and the jobs that depend on it.

Adaptation seems like a pretty good approach to me.

The Green Collapse

2010-12-07T22:43:00.003-05:00

Lawrence Solomon:

The Ontario government paints itself in extreme green. It has outlawed coal — the only jurisdiction on the continent to have done so. It boasts the world’s biggest solar plant. It boasts the western world’s biggest subsidies to the renewables industry. And now, it also boasts the western world’s fastest-growing renewables industry.

But Ontario’s new-found status didn’t arise because Ontario newly increased its level of its subsidies. It arose because the world’s other extreme green jurisdictions — to avert the economic and political ruin that comes of unaffordable green power — recently swallowed their pride, slashed their subsidies and backstabbed their renewables industries. Like its extreme green counterparts elsewhere, Ontario will follow suit soon enough.

Want more?

On Friday, Spain slashed payouts for wind projects by 35% while denying support for solar thermal projects in their first year of operation. Spain’s renewables industry also faces a cap on the number of megawatt-hours eligible for subsidized rates.

More?

Also Friday, France announced a four-month freeze on solar projects and a cap on the amount of solar that can be built, to nip a “veritable speculative bubble” by its rapacious renewables industry. These measures and others continue a retrenchment that saw industry payouts cut twice earlier this year, and that will likely continue as opposition grows to France’s rapidly rising power tax on electricity.

Enough yet? There's more.

Earlier this week, the German government announced it may discontinue the solar industry’s sweetheart tariffs in 2012. This latest announcement follows a surprise reduction in 2009 and another reduction to start in 2011.

You guessed it, there's more...

Also in October, New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, slashed by two-thirds the revenue that homeowners who had installed solar panels would receive, from 60¢ per kilowatt-hour to 20¢.

One last point.

Also in October, the U.K. government announced that withering spending cuts were coming to renewable projects, many of which have already been withering, and not just due to government austerity measures, or to the consumer backlash against rising power rates. Because of fierce grassroots opposition from the U.K.’s 230-odd anti-wind organizations, local governments have shelved or rejected two out of three wind-farm applications that have come before them.

While the rest of the world is retreating from the green energy scam, Dalton McQuinty continues to waste Ontario tax dollars on this pipe dream and endanger our energy future at the same time. Take a look, Mr. McGuinty at the failures of green energy in Europe and you will see our future.

Canada joins in to reject extension of Kyoto

2010-12-04T16:03:00.006-05:00

With climate negotiations wasting away in ~~Margaritaville~~, er Cancun, the AP is reporting that Canada has taken a stand against extending the disastrous carbon emissions targets of the Kyoto Accord.

CANCUN, Mexico - Canada has reportedly aligned itself with Russia and Japan to block the extension of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.

U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres says Canada is one of three countries among the 36 signatories that's opposed to extending their emission targets under the pact.

Bravo, Mr. Harper. Bravo.

Update: More from Le Devoir via Norman Spector:

“Yesterday, Canada stirred a veritable commotion [in Cancun] by aligning itself with Japan to block the extension of the Kyoto protocol beyond 2012 – an extension that would see a new period of obligatory reductions in greenhouse gases agreed to by the 36 parties to the treaty.

It was the chair of the conference herself, Christiana Figueres, who confirmed the identity of the three countries opposed to extending Kyoto beyond 2012. She spelled out that Russia, the final country to have ratified Kyoto – thereby giving it international binding legal effect – had joined with Japan and Canada to form what from now will be known as the ‘Group of Three.’”

It sounds like Canada has (finally) decided to do the right thing about Kyoto. I'll be watching for more on this in upcoming days. I'm sure that PM Stephen Harper is going to get a roasting in the liberal news media here. But I'm just as sure that he has calculated the backlash and is ready for it.

Climategate Round II

2010-12-04T13:42:00.004-05:00

Could Wikileaks bring us the next round of Climategate? Some iinteresting posts from the Guardian:

Close reading of the cables released by WikiLeaks reveals in excruciating detail the US tactics deployed to achieve its aim of overwhelming the opposition to the Copenhagen accord.

Well, we know that the Copenhagen thing didn't work out so well for the warmists, but it is interesting to learn of all the behind the scenes manipulation and intimidation that went into the effort.

Embassy dispatches show America used spying, threats and promises of aid to get support for Copenhagen accord [...]

Hidden behind the save-the-world rhetoric of the global climate change negotiations lies the mucky realpolitik: money and threats buy political support; spying and cyberwarfare are used to seek out leverage.

The US diplomatic cables reveal how the US seeks dirt on nations opposed to its approach to tackling global warming; how financial and other aid is used by countries to gain political backing; how distrust, broken promises and creative accounting dog negotiations; and how the US mounted a secret global diplomatic offensive to overwhelm opposition to the controversial "Copenhagen accord", the unofficial document that emerged from the ruins of the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2009.

Looks like they have lowered their expectations for Cancun.

Cancún climate talks doomed to fail, says EU president. Herman van Rompuy dismisses Copenhagen climate summit as 'incredible disaster' and expects Cancún to be no better. [...]

Van Rompuy said the Copenhagen climate change talks had been "an incredible disaster". Looking forward to the current negotiations in Cancún in Mexico, the European leader predicted that these would be a disaster too.

Wasting away in Margaritaville

2010-12-04T13:13:00.007-05:00

To say that Rex Murphy has a way with words is to say that Michelangelo was pretty good with a paint brush. Rex offers his thoughts on the big climate party in Cancun.

Perhaps they know that this show of theirs is on its last legs, the jig is up, the great game is over. After the unsuccessful 2009 Copenhagen conference, they had to have realized that even Al Gore and all Al Gores’ grim little men would never be able to put the whole rickety, tendentious machine back together again. After Copenhagen, and especially after Climategate, even the true believers must have lost heart. Witness this year’s confabulation. Notice who’s not there?

Right. The world's leaders are conspicuously absent from this latest warmist gathering. The shine is off the apple. And this group of self-serving elites is becoming more and more irrelevant.

With my apologies to Jimmy Buffett:

Wasting away again in Margaritaville
Searching for a transfer of wealth
Some people claim that there's a carbon to blame
But I know... it's nobody's fault

Senator Jim Inhofe

2010-12-03T21:14:00.003-05:00

on Copenhagen, Cancun and the death of Cap & Trade.

h/t: Captain Ed

As if we needed proof...

2010-12-03T20:38:00.004-05:00

UN moonbattery confirmed.

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, invoked the ancient jaguar goddess Ixchel in her opening statement to delegates gathered in Cancun, Mexico, noting that Ixchel was not only goddess of the moon, but also "the goddess of reason, creativity and weaving. May she inspire you -- because today, you are gathered in Cancun to weave together the elements of a solid response to climate change, using both reason and creativity as your tools."

While these UN elites cavort in sunny Cancun, a couple feet of global warming gets dumped on Buffalo, NY.

Oh wait! It appears that we're freezing because of global warming!

Burying the Kyoto Accord once and for all

2010-12-02T20:48:00.003-05:00

The Kyoto Accord has been on life support for a while now. Warmists who were hoping for some form of resuscitation at the big climate conflab in Mexico this week must surely be disappointed by this news:

Talks threatened with breakdown after forthright Japanese refusal to extend Kyoto emissions commitments.

The delicately balanced global climate talks in Cancún suffered a serious setback last night when Japan categorically stated its opposition to extending the Kyoto protocol – the binding international treaty that commits most of the world's richest countries to making emission cuts.

Given that Japan was the birthplace of this disaster, it seems only fitting that the Japanese should be the ones to drive the silver stake through it's heart.

h/t: WUWT

Putting the brakes on the EPA

2010-11-30T19:27:00.004-05:00

From the Politico, Jerry Lewis pledges to strip funds for climate rules.

Specifically, Lewis said he wants to target EPA’s “ongoing arbitrary interpretation of the Clean Air Act” to begin regulating greenhouse gases in January. He said he will refuse to support federal funding to regulate greenhouse gases in the 112th Congress “unless Congress passes bipartisan energy legislation specifically providing the authority to do so.”

Lewis is hoping to be chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee come January and as such, would have his hands on the purse-strings.

h/t: Captain Ed

Dalton's green follies will cost us all

2010-11-29T18:44:00.004-05:00

Lawrence Solomon says that with it's newly announced energy plan, Ontario is digging itself an $87-billion grave:

All told, the province plans to spend $87-billion on a 20-year plan that will bring Ontario a system highly dependent on nuclear, wind and solar, all of which have a track record of being unreliable and all of which, by the government’s own reckoning, will contribute to much higher power rates in future.

Ontario's Long Term Energy Plan.

"we redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy"

2010-11-28T18:48:00.004-05:00

Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer is an economist and Co-Chair of Working Group III of the United Nation's International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He was interviewed recently by Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

But one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy. Obviously, the owners of coal and oil will not be enthusiastic about this. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore...

Emphasis added. English language version above is from the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

Foster: Canada dodges carbon suicide

2010-11-28T18:14:00.002-05:00

Peter Foster in the Financial Post:

Mr. Harper has always clearly grasped-- apparently unlike the majority of his international counterparts--that the greatest threat facing humanity is not climate change, but climate-change policy.

Good for Canada's unelected, conservative Senate.

Welcome to the wacky world of green power

2010-09-06T20:36:00.001-04:00

Margaret Wente in the Globe and Mail

Welcome to the wacky world of green power, where misguided governments have sparked a massive corporate feeding frenzy (at taxpayers’ expense) to achieve little or nothing of any social benefit.

Good news

2010-07-22T17:53:00.004-04:00

Senate Democrats abandon comprehensive climate bill

The Dems have an overwhelming majority in the House and a "super-majority" in the Senate and they still can't put together enough votes on their "cap & tax" climate bill. But that's good news for consumers who won't be straddled with yet another massive tax by the Obama administration.

Watch them blame the Republicans for this.

h/t: SDA

Update: I couldn't resist adding the very cool video. Kinda sums things up.

video h/t: Allahpundit

58 days

2010-06-17T00:24:00.002-04:00

is way too long to respond the greatest environmental disaster in decades.

When failure was not an option

2010-06-03T08:59:00.002-04:00

From Watts Up With That? Apollo 17 astronaut and geologist Dr. H. Harrison Schmitt comments on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

President Obama’s Administration and its supportive media repeatedly say our 1970 Apollo 13 experience is analogous to the effort to contain and cap the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Not hardly!

(...)

“Failure was not an option” for Gene Kranz and his Apollo 13 flight controllers and engineers. In contrast, failure clearly has been an option for President Obama and those claiming to have been on top of this situation “from day one” in his White House and in the Departments of Interior, Energy and Homeland Security.

With no single, competent, courageous and knowledgeable leader in charge of a comparably competent, courageous and knowledgeable team as we had with Apollo 13, the Administration has been doomed to failure from the start. The President, without any experience in real-world management of anything, much less a crisis, has no idea how to deal with a situation as technically complex as the Gulf oil spill.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

Who gets the hockey stick?

2010-06-02T00:01:00.005-04:00

There's lots of speculation about why this partnership is coming to an end after 40 years. Lots more speculation about who will get which mansion? Will Tipper get California and leave Tennessee to Al? Why the split? Did Tipper just get tired of the hypocrisy? the narcissism? or is she getting out before the lawsuits start and there's still something to get? Who gets ~~the Prius~~ the private jet? the hockey stick?

Ace has a good thread going and the comments are worth reading.

Update: Alan Caruba weighs in and he's not sympathetic.

After his election defeat Al Gore put in a call to David Blood, an 18-year veteran of Goldman Sachs. As stated in a new book ‘Killing Wealth’, “Together they began talking about the potential for the largest swindle in history.” In 2003, “Mr. Gore and Mr. Blood had established Generation Investment Management and created a $1 billion fund to invest in the ‘green technologies’ that would save the planet.”

Thereafter, in collusion with a handful of climate scientists, Gore led the most sophisticated and diabolical campaign to convince people and entire governments that “the Earth has a fever” due to too much carbon dioxide. It would require, he said, green technologies to save the Earth from global warming.

These are, by the way, the same technologies that have reaped millions in subsidies and grants from the U.S. government for those desperate to convince everyone that a zillion wind turbines or acres of solar collectors were a better source of energy that a few coal-fired or nuclear plants.

This is the same global warming scheme that enriched a number of university scientists like Michael Mann of the University of Virginia and government hacks like James Hansen who, as director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, started the hoax with his 1988 testimony about global warming before Congress. Their data has since been debunked.

There was, Gore told everyone, a climate crisis and, in the process he grew rich, hailed the first “carbon billionaire” for his various investments.

Nationalizing the risk and privatizing the profit

2010-05-29T00:50:00.009-04:00

Mortgaging our future in the age of the bailout.
Here's the Hannity interview with the producers of Generation Zero.

Gen Zero Hannity Special from Citizens United on Vimeo.

Maxime Bernier

2010-05-28T21:17:00.008-04:00

Do you think it's impossible for Canada to produce a political leader who believes in small government, free markets, individual freedoms and is skeptical of the whole man-made global warming hype? I present to you this interview with Former Industry Minister Maxime Bernier (MB) from Conversations from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FC) - emphasis added.

FC: Politicians around the world are back pedaling on the topic of global warming. Most of the important countries have postponed plans to bring in carbon taxes and the majority of the public now believes that humans are not the cause of global warming. Why did you choose to express your own skepticism earlier this year contrary to the Canadian political mainstream?

MB: Because I was tired of it and I just wanted to express what I believe in. I am in politics to do that. We must look at all the studies and it’s obvious that there is no scientific consensus on this issue. I just wanted to tell that reality to Quebecers and Canadians. I’m very pleased that there are more and more people who now are skeptical like me. Before investing more money I think we need to know a bit more about the causes and the consequences of climate change.

Not only has Bernier expressed his skepticism about anthropogenic global warming, he's also hinted that he's interested in the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, post Stephen Harper. He's by no means free of controversy and scandal, but you gotta like what he has to say.

FC: Why did you go into politics?

MB: To promote what I believe in: free markets, less government and more individual freedom. I think that Canadians are responsible people and they don’t need a big government.

and this...

FC: You are skeptical that governments can spend money more efficiently than the average Canadian. Why is that?

MB: It’s just based on the historical data. I think that people know better what is good for them than bureaucrats or politicians in Ottawa. So just leave the money in the pockets of the people. They will save money and they will spend money and we will have more prosperity in our country. I don’t think that taking money from one person to give to another is useful. We need to have some programs. We need to have small government but right now, you are working half the year just to pay taxes to different governments (municipalities, provincial and federal) I think we are paying too much taxes in this country.

I couldn't agree more. Here's a politician who calls 'em the way he sees 'em. What a breath of fresh air this is!

Keep your eye on Maxime Bernier.

h/t: SDA

Study finds increased gov’t spending results in unemployment

2010-05-28T00:10:00.001-04:00

You knew the stimulus wouldn't work. Here's why.

...the results of the new study by Harvard Business School will certainly shock some Keynesian academics — and high-ranking government officials. Instead of providing a stimulating effect to the economy, government spending creates pressures on private industry to reduce staff and investment.

Come to the USA

2010-05-21T23:38:00.001-04:00

Ray Stevens puts thing in perspective...

Spain changing course

2010-05-14T08:18:00.005-04:00

Only time will tell if it's enough to save them, but at least it shows that when the political will is there, major changes can be made. From Investors Business Daily, Spain is Escaping the PIIGS:

As Europe fashioned a $1 trillion bailout fund and prepared for the worst, Spain did what no one thought a socialist state could ever do: It cut public-sector workers' salaries 5% and held off their raises for 2011. Pensions were frozen for all but the poorest.

Better still, all the big money-wasting "green" and "alternative energy" projects — which a Spanish university study exposed as job killers — were scrapped. That's right, all the global warming measures put in place because of the "emergency" were dumped.

While climategate exposed the fraud of global warming, it's taking an unprecedented financial crisis to spur action. Even a leftist state when pinched can recognize the uselessness of combating the Mann-made faux emergency called global warming and take steps to put an end to the wasteful spending it demands.

Not surprisingly, markets rallied on this amazing show of will, whose message was that Spain is not Greece.

It's a heartening story to see a nation on the precipice decide to walk back from the cliff instead of jump. Up until now, socialist states from all over — from Venezuela to Greece — have always resorted to blaming others when the money ran out.

It's not going to be easy for Spain, but that's the point. Doing the right thing isn't usually an easy thing to do. There will surely be opposition and turmoil and there's no guarantee that Spain will succeed. But they're heading in the right direction.

Other nations should take a look at Spain's responsible response and ask themselves if they want to follow the example of Greece into the black hole of debt or suck it up and find the balls to take action like Spain. Sooner or later, they will have to.

As they say, "socialism works great until you run out of other people's money".

Meanwhile, in the USA:

How GM paid back their government loan

2010-05-13T22:01:00.001-04:00

Can you say "Government Motors"?

Fixing debt with more debt

2010-05-11T15:13:00.006-04:00

It doesn't make sense to anyone with the fiscal experience of running a household budget. But that's exactly what the world's leaders are proposing. Terence Corcoran writes in the Financial Post

The great muddle of Keynesian economics is crashing in on statists everywhere. The spending that was supposed to save Europe and the world economy is driving it to ruin. The Keynesian economists and forecasters who promised it would work and were plucking "green shoots" out of the economic desert failed to see the debt crisis rolling up behind them. As Peter Foster wrote on this page last week, the world is in the grip of Keynesian contagion, not the private or capitalist meltdown so many of the G20 leadership blamed when the crisis first struck.

This obsession with Keynesian economics will bring us nothing but economic disaster. Seriously. Are there any leaders willing to follow the Hayek school of thought?

Here's an amusing yet brilliant video comparing Hayek vs. Keynes plus analysis from mises.org:

On a more serious note, an interview with Freiderich Hayek:

Alarmists regroup: new strategy formulated

2010-05-11T08:21:00.004-04:00

Climategate has taken such a toll on the global warming agenda that alarmists are taking a new tact. Academics urge radical new approach to climate change:

The UN process has failed, they argue, and a global approach concentrating on CO2 cuts will never work.

They urge instead the use of carbon tax revenue to develop technologies that can supply clean energy to everyone.

All this stems from a group of academics who have issued a paper, called the Hartwell Paper with this surprising admission (emphasis added):

The paper says that the outcome of December's UN climate summit, plus the "ClimateGate" affair and inaccuracies within the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 report, means "the legitimacy of the institutions of climate policy and science are no longer assured".

So, successfully tackling climate change initially means re-framing the issue.

In an article for the BBC's Green Room series, another of the authors, Mike Hulme, writes: "Climate change has been represented as a conventional environmental 'problem' that is capable of being 'solved'.

"It is neither of these. Yet this framing has locked the world into the rigid agenda that brought us to the dead end of Kyoto, with no evidence of any discernable acceleration of decarbonisation whatsoever."

They are advocating a new, non-United Nations approach towards "decarbonisation", which not surprisingly contains a "carbon tax" aimed at developing new "green" energy technologies while concentrating on short term reduction in carbon emissions.

Division in the ranks? Not all alarmists think this is such a good idea.

"The paper's focus away from CO2 is misguided, short-sighted and probably wrong," said Bill Hare from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.

The alarmists can regroup and reframe the issue all they want. Their problem is their junk science has been revealed and they no longer enjoy the blind faith following of the public in general.

We have all become skeptics.

And we have no appetite to commit a major portion of our economy to try to solve a problem that no one can prove exists.

Hide the Decline II

2010-04-21T08:45:00.004-04:00

It seems a certain Professor and key proponent of Mann-made Global Warming is displeased with the video "Hide the Decline" published online by Minnesotans for Global Warming. Via Anthony Watts:

Penn State University’s Michael Mann, one of the central figures in the Climategate scandal, has threatened legal action against Minnesotans for Global Warming (M4GW) over the group’s popular satirical YouTube video “Hide the Decline.” The No Cap-and-Trade Coalition, a group that includes M4GW, responded today at an event at the National Press Club, releasing Mann’s threatening letter and an updated version of the “Hide the Decline” video.

“We understand why Michael Mann is eager to silence public discussion of the hockey stick scandal,” said Jeff Davis of No Cap-and-Trade, “but truth is an absolute defense.”

In response, M4GW have released an updated - I think better - video, Hide the Decline II.

Hide The Decline II from No Cap And Trade Coalition on Vimeo.

Update: I've linked to this video at Vimeo, since the sheeple at YouTub have decided to take it down. It should work OK now.

The cost of green energy

2010-04-16T10:00:00.002-04:00

Despite continued decline in Ontario's electricity demand, prices are soaring as we move away from coal towards "green" energy.

Price of electricity jumps 12 per cent
The price for the energy portion of an electricity bill is going up on May 1

Ontario is rapidly pricing itself out of the market when it comes to electricity.

Ontario is getting less and less electricity at higher and higher prices. It's only going to get worse

And cheap electricity has long been one of the big attractions for industry to locate here. Industry that provides jobs.

Bernier cautions about climate science

2010-02-24T13:37:00.005-05:00

Many of us have been disappointed with the Harper government's handling of the climate-change issue, with their stance on limiting carbon emissions and support for Copenhagen. Well, perhaps this is the first chink in the armour.

Canada's ex-foreign minister Maxime Bernier has written a letter to LaPresse in which challenges climate change science. Here's an English version via Norman Spector in the Globe & Mail

“Environmental groups in Copenhagen criticized our government for blocking an agreement … and again when Jim Prentice announced our targets at the end of January ... But with each passing week we see the wisdom of the government’s moderate position … since December, a debate has broken out in the media over the science of warming, a debate that had been stifled due to political correctness … the numerous errors by the IPCC add to alternative theories of warming that have been put forward over the years.

We now recognize that it’s possible to be a “skeptic,” or at least to keep an open mind about nearly all critical aspects of the warming theory. For example, while no one questions whether there has been warming, there is no consensus among scientists as to its degree.

Moreover, we realize that during the period of greatest concern about warming – the last decade – temperatures have stopped increasing! Meanwhile, the quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere, said to be the cause of warming according to the official theory, is still increasing. Some very serious scientists believe that we are under-estimating the influence of the sun and other factors that have nothing to do with carbon emissions.

Mojib Latif, a German researcher associated with the IPCC who essentially supports the warming theory, said last fall that temperatures may decline for two decades before warming resumes. No model predicted this. But the same models claim to predict the number of degrees of warming by the end of the century. And that’s only one of the “certainties” about which there is no consensus.

What is certain is that it would be irresponsible to spend billions of dollars and to impose unnecessarily stringent regulations to solve a problem whose gravity we still are not certain about. The alarmism that has characterized this debate is no longer appropriate. Canada is wise to be cautious.”

The original letter is here.

Climategate meets the Law

2010-02-23T10:03:00.002-05:00

via Pajamas media:

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) today asked the Obama administration to investigate what he called “the greatest scientific scandal of our generation” — the actions of climate scientists revealed by the Climategate Files, and the subsequent admissions by the editors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).

Senator Inhofe also called for former Vice President Al Gore to be called back to the Senate to testify.

“In [Gore's] science fiction movie, every assertion has been rebutted,” Inhofe said. He believes Vice President Gore should defend himself and his movie before Congress.

[...]

Senator Inhofe is asking the Department of Justice to investigate whether there has been research misconduct or criminal actions by the scientists involved, including Dr. Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University and Dr. James Hansen of Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Science.

Senator Inhofe's blog.

Cheap gas from coal

2010-02-22T12:41:00.002-05:00

Fossil fuels, coal in particular, have been given a bad rap by the environmental movement. Well some researchers at the Unviersity of Texas at Arlington say they've found a practical way to make synthetic crude from inexpensive coal.

"We're improving the cost every day. We started off sometime ago at an uneconomical $17,000 a barrel. Today, we're at a cost of $28.84 a barrel," said engineering dean Rick Billo.

That's $28 a barrel versus $75 we pay now for imported crude.

Challenging the EPA

2010-02-21T18:40:00.006-05:00

The EPA isn't getting a free ride on its decision to regulate CO2. We reported earlier that Utah, Texas and Virginia had challenged the ruling. Now another big player, non-government this time, has waded into the fray:

The world’s largest private sector coal business, the Peabody Energy Company (PEC) has filed a mammoth 240-page “Petition for Reconsideration,” a full-blown legal challenge against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The petition must be answered and covers the entire body of leaked emails from ‘Climategate’ as well as those other ‘gate’ revelations including the frauds allegedly perpetrated under such sub-headings as ‘Himalayan Glaciers,’ ‘African Agricultural Production,’ ‘Amazon Rain Forests,’ ‘Melting Mountain Ice,’ ‘Netherlands Below Sea Level’ as well as those much-publicized abuses of the peer-review literature and so called ‘gray literature.’ These powerful litigants also draw attention to the proven criminal conduct by climate scientists in refusing to honor Freedom of Information law (FOIA) requests.

Peabody is, in effect, challenging the right of the current U.S. federal government to introduce cap and trade regulations by the ‘back door.’

via climategate.com

Update: There's more.

Industry groups, conservative think tanks, lawmakers and three states filed 16 court challenges to U.S. EPA's "endangerment" finding for greenhouse gases before yesterday's deadline, setting the stage for a legal battle over federal climate policies.

Update 2: John O'Sullivan offers general legal strategies for challenging what is fast being recognised as the greatest criminal fraud of all time.

Common law tells us that governments cannot impose climate regulations on their citizens by regarding similar facts differently on different occasions. This principle is known among legal practitioners as stare decisis (i.e. judges are obliged to obey the set-up precedents established by prior decisions). I’ve examined two of the recently filed climate skeptic petitions filed by U.S. corporations. In both there is the common argument that ‘arbitrary and capricious’ governmental climate-related decisions have been imposed upon the people. These EPA regulations, they argue, must be over turned because the science that underpins them has been proven to be fraudulent and significantly based on subjective elements. Thus, the basis of the EPA’s decision to determine that carbon dioxide is a pollutant is unlawful due to the ‘arbitrary and capricious’ components within the EPA’s fact finding process.

How Al Gore Wrecked Planet Earth

2010-02-20T23:42:00.001-05:00

Walter Russell Mead asks...

How did the climate of carelessness at the IPCC develop — and why were warning voices from inside the movement ignored in the rush to get all the alarming but unverified predictions into print?