We have heard soaring rhetoric about the need for change.

If the change we make is in the right direction, that will be a real plus.

OUR OVERALL GOAL

The greatest overall change we can make is to control spending by a spending mad federal government.

Excessive spending has much to do with the power of the special interests mentioned below.

Specifically here are others, not talked about often enough, because it does not fit the agenda of the Mainstream Media to do so.

However the changes suggested here would likely have a powerful and positive impact on American morale, achievement and the standard of living.

RASMUSSEN REPORTS

June 17, 2008

Believe Supreme Court Justices Have Their Own Agenda

Justices Have Their Own Agenda--60%

Justices Remain Impartial--23%

Supreme Court should base decisions on Constitution and legal precedent or on judge's concept of fairness and justice

Should Base on Constitution--54%

Should Base on Judge's concept of fairness and justice--37%

###

RASMUSSEN REPORTS

JUNE 3, 2008

The Federal Government Represents The Will of the American People

Agree 17%

Disagree 68%

The Federal Government Has Become A Special Interest Group That Looks 0ut Primarily For Its Own Interest.

Agree 67%

Disagree 15%

Rasmussen Reports

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters say that the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interest. Just 15% disagree with that assessment.

Sign Up Now to Get Congress to start drilling now at American Solutions

Sign up To Bring Gas Prices Under Control

ENVIRONMENTAL EXTREMISTS

Stand up to the extremists of the Environmental Movement, a movement which has intimidated every day Americans far too much and for far too long.

Hardly anyone is standing up to this group as it creates tremendous hardships for American workers.

Americans know the importance of and attention to a clean environment but modern technology, which has been mostly ignored by this group, could go a long way in fulfilling America's needs while paying proper attention to the environment.

The Democratic candidates forever preach their concern for "hard working Americans" while they cater to this very harmful special interest.

America has far more gas and oil than it needs, but the extremism of this group has prevailed for 30 years.

We should start drilling tomorrow.

It is way past time to start standing up to this group.

TEACHERS' UNIONS

Is there a bigger scandal in America than the one keeping minority students imprisoned by the public-school-monopoly led by the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

These two groups have made great gains for themselves over the last 30 years while battling school choice for students with a ferocity that almost matches the skill and determination of the US military. How many minority students would avoid a ghetto lifestyle, poverty and prison if these groups really cared is not specifically known, but wherever choice has been allowed to prevail, results have been impressive.

In addition to what the public-school-monopoly is doing to minorities, its record of achievement for American students is dismal-minus.

In International competition our students have had shockingly negative results.

FREE TRADE

Only unions and Democrats are living in denial about the millions of jobs and billions of dollars of revenue that have resulted from free trade.

Unfortunately unions give so many millions to Democrats that the great harm these groups are doing to America will continue.

One-hundred forty million non-union workers are paying higher than necessary taxes, and being kept from jobs while 15 million union workers are being catered to.

Barack Obama is talking a great game about change, but his change is nothing more than increased nanny-state, feel good redistribution of "net taxpayers'" money to those who support that redistribution.

If he really wants to help hard working Americans, he would buck these three powerful self-serving special interests who are among the largest most powerful lobbyists in the nation.

Their own interests will be served greatly by Barack Obama, but if he's elected, the lives of average Americans will be no better off.

Take it to the bank!

He should stop his subtle anti-business, anti-capitalist rhetoric against those who pay most of the nation's bills.

Millions of Americans believe the opposite of what is really going on.

Most of the business community that is being villified are those who pay hundreds of billions to pay for government while the nanny-state interests of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are those that drain of those same hundreds of billions in costs and inefficiency.

Famous Lawyer Who Has Given Hundreds of Thousands To Democrats Receives Two Years In Prison

William S. Lerach

Excerpts:

Ashby Jones

Law Blog

Wall Street Journal

"Lerach pleaded guilty last fall to a felony count of conspiring to obstruct justice and to submit false testimony in federal judicial proceedings.

To recap, prosecutors have claimed that Milberg shared legal fees with clients to induce them to quickly file securities class actions. Lerach has acknowledged making secret payments to former client Steven Cooperman. For an overview of the case and its players."

TRIAL LAWYERS

Below are excerpts from the publication MOTHER JONES

Power Suits: William S. Lerach (#2)

"After Bill Clinton dined with Lerach, who makes millions suing Silicon Valley companies, the president suddenly dropped tort reform.

William S. Lerach and wife Star Soltan, San Diego, Calif. Donated $480,043 since 1993. Party: D. They gave $320,000 in soft money to the Democrats, $53,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Fund, and $65,342 to 66 candidates, nearly all Democrat.

By W. John Moore

Attendees at a private White House dinner on December 15 may have seen Bill Clinton and William Lerach speaking and shaking hands. What they probably didn't notice was Lerach twisting the president's arm.

Four days later, the president vetoed the Securities Litigation Reform Act. The bill, which makes it more difficult for shareholders to sue their own companies for securities fraud, enjoyed wide bipartisan support, but Clinton startled his party with a last-minute veto. (In late December, Congress overrode the veto handily.)

Clinton's veto seems to have been a "good faith" gesture to Lerach, head of the San Diego office of law firm Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach. Milberg Weiss, the acknowledged leader in shareholder class-action litigation, secures annual settlements estimated at $225 million from this type of suit, according to the newsletter Securities Class Action Alert.

Though most consumer groups opposed the Securities Litigation Reform Act, the bill was generally popular with the public as well as with Congress. But Milberg Weiss is difficult to ignore, especially if you're a Democrat. Lerach, wife Star Soltan, and other associates of Milberg Weiss (such as #24 Melvyn Weiss and #325 Leonard Simon) have poured more than $1 million into Democratic coffers since 1990..."

$125 Billion Waste-Improper Payments 2004, 2005, 2006- GAO Reports page 2

GOVERNMENT IS INSIDIOUS

Income Tax

The first income tax was enacted in 1913.

The lowest tax rate was 1% on the first $20,000 of income.

Twenty Thousand dollars in 1913 is equivalent to $433,986, today.

This means that taxpayers then did not pay even 2% on their income until reaching almost a half-million dollars of income, measured in today's purchasing power.

Also, nothing else was taking from their paycheck.

Today the lowest rate is 10 % on the first $14,000 of income, and taxpayers move up to the next bracket, 15%, above $14,000.

Social Security Taxes-FICA

In 1936, the first year, workers paid 2% on the first $3000 of income or a "top tax" of $60 for the entire year.

Today they pay 7.65%, starting on the first $102,000 or a "top tax" of $7803.

Although 1.45% pays for medicare, the original tax rose to 7.65%, before deciding to redirect it to other funds.

This is a partial list, others will follow.

Mick has 42 political articles on the directory Ezine articles.com

To read those articles go to:

EzineArticles.com Mick's Articles

My Stumble Upon

4th of July Tucson: Activities & Nightlife Below Declaration

July 4th is Just Days Away-Lucky Americans Will Celebrate Our Good Fortune

Following "Reflections "Are The First Two Paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence Interrupted By Brackets and Spaces

Reflections

Near the end of its session the Supreme Court issued three major rulings.

Two of them dragged down American opinion of the Court's performance.

The liberal members of the Court and the swing voter, Anthony Kennedy, seemed to follow what a majority of Americans object to, i.e. decisions being based on what justices think is fair rather than being based on what the Constitution says.

The unfavorables essentially:

1. gave enemy combatants the same rights guaranteed to American citizens in the court system,

2. ruled that a child rapist cannot receive the death sentence if a murder was not committed.

The Court's ratings went up after it ruled that the law in Washington D.C., banning handguns was unconstitutional.

We know that the court's decision should not be based on popularity with voters.

However is the question of what the Constitution says, regarding how those decisions are arrived at, valid, when we are talking about the obligation of justices to follow the Constitution or decide issues based on their own opinion, of what is fair.

This seems to be the history of the liberal members of the court, although this is not established as a fact.

The polling referred to was from Rasmussen Reports.

As murders of children and women on college campuses seemed to be happening with regularity shouldn't we begin to question the phrase "cruel and unusual punishment" if legislatures representing the voters pass laws, which get overturned by the courts.

We have amendments whereby we change decisions, even those made by the courts.

We can even change (alter or abolish) our government, as long as we do it properly; no rebellions of an illegal nature, or treasonous acts, and if I interpret correctly the the wording below in brackets, the government itself would first have to be in violation of constitutional principles.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

[[[ - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.]]]

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. - Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

###

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Things to do on the Fourth of July

06/30/2008 04:41 PM

Adrienne Lake

Full article Adrienne Lake Az Daily Star

The Fourth of July is a big one in Tucson. That's probably because its long-standing traditions are not only unifying, but are right out there in every neighborhood within firework-spotting distance for everyone to see and enjoy, instead of behind closed doors as with other, less neighborly holidays (Thanksgiving, I'm looking at you). It's one of the most social of holidays around these parts - families drag folding chairs out into the street or climb onto still toasty roofs in the Barrios, South Tucson or in the University area. They blast boom boxes that play Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" or perhaps just good old fashioned Norteño, dip into coolers full of beer and soda, and every burg is thick with the all-American scent of BBQ.

Personally, I can't imagine growing weary of this scene - where neighbors are neighborly and festive, where awestruck children and unashamed jaded hipsters stand side by side to ooh and aah at the display of exploding airborne chemicals. But just in case, here is a short list of 4th of July to-dos about town. Many are family friendly, but please%u2026 leave the pets at home, indoors with some nice mood music playing to soften the impact of what sounds like Armageddon descending to them. It's tiring constantly chasing down the inevitable pack of spooked mutts that break free every year.

OK, first things first - to those who don't have friends with homes with a good view of A Mountain's fireworks (set to begin at 9 p.m.), you have options: you can tailgate at the Tucson Convention Center, Parking Lot B (Granada & Cushing). It's $4 a car, but hey, there's food! A beer garden! Live music! It all starts at 7 p.m. Or you can cruise the West Side for businesses that allow people to gather in their parking lots for the festivities.

Caliente

Night life events

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.03.2008

Acacia at St. Philip's Plaza - 4340 N. Campbell Ave. Live jazz, 7-10 Saturdays; Ed DeLucia Trio, 6-9 Fridays. 232-0101.

Antonio's - 2231 S. Fourth Ave. DJ music, 9 Wednesdays; live waila music, 8:30-1:30
Fridays-Sundays. 884-8086.

This excerpt is from Laborpains.org

Laborpains.org

Maine Union Bosses v. Free Speech
Thursday, June 5th, 2008 by J. Justin Wilson

Union bosses have a beef with free speech. They are trying to pressure Maine television stations to pull our ads. Apparently they don't want Mainers to hear the truth about labor leaders' history of harassment, politics, and forced dues.

The latest strong-arm tactics by unions

Unions Want To Take Away Secret Ballots

August 7, 2008

More Taxes Will Mean Less Oil

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

August 05, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Investor's Business Daily

Excerpts:

Energy Policy: Democrats say there should be a limit to the profits oil companies can make. Should there also be a limit on the taxes government can take? Just who's the profiteer here?

...The oil and gas industry as a whole made 8.3% compared with 8.9% of all U.S. manufacturing. Meanwhile, the federal government operated at a huge loss...

...Electronics company LG saw its profits grow by 505% in 2007. Abbott Laboratories saw its profits soar 110% Google had a profit margin of 25.3%, more than double Exxon's...

..." for what advocates of a windfall-profits tax to redistribute income ignore is that Exxon Mobil also paid a record $61.7 billion in taxes...

August 6, 2008

The United States has such advanced technology that percentage wise, we would provide the safest drilling in the world.

But Nancy Pelosi and Democrats are so controlled by the extremist Environmental movement she and Democrats are sticking their collective fingers in the eye of the American people.

Pelosi is so determined to do what hurts America that she leaves the door wide open for tyrants like Chavez and countries unfriendly to us, like Russia, to gain the benefits while probably doing more harm to us.

August 5, 2008

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Monday, August 4, 2008

DRIESSEN: Hot air about wind power

Paul Driessen WASHINGTON TIMES

Excerpts:

...We can and should harness the wind, but 22 percent of our electricity by 2020 is far-fetched. Wind power is intermittent, unreliable and expensive (even with subsidies). Many modern turbines are 400 feet tall and carry 130-foot, 7-ton, bird-slicing blades. They operate at only 20 percent 30 percent of rated efficiency - compared to 85 percent for coal, gas and nuclear plants - and provide little power during summer daytime hours, when air-conditioning demand is highest, but winds are at low ebb.

Using wind to replace all gas-fired power plants would require over 300,000 1.5-megawatt turbines, covering Midwestern "wind belt" agricultural and wildlife acreage equivalent to South Carolina...

Building and installing these turbines requires 5 to 10 times more steel and concrete than is needed to build nuclear plants to generate the same electricity more reliably, says Berkeley engineer Per Peterson. Add in steel and cement needed to build transmission lines from distant wind farms to urban consumers, and the costs multiply.

August 4, 2008

Al Gore and Environmental Extremist Movement Ignores World's Biggest Polluter-China-Never Fails To Find Fault With U.S.

Investor's Business Daily

August 2, 2008

Investor's Business Daily

China has overtaken the U.S. as the world's top polluter, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study published this year in the Journal of Environment Economics & Management. The evidence is seen daily in the skies over Beijing.

The Berkeley researchers say China's emissions are growing at an annual rate of 11%. In 2006-07, China added 186,000 megawatts of coal-fired electrical generation capacity, equivalent to two United Kingdoms. The U.S. Energy Department says China's emissions rose 138% from 1990 to 2005.

As the Heritage Foundation's Ed Feulner points out, China's emissions rose 8% last year after jumping 11% in each of the two previous years. The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency notes that China alone accounted for two-thirds of the growth in global greenhouse gas emissions in 2007.

August 3, 2008

INCOME TAX PAID BY MAJOR OIL COMPANIES

Before Individual Tax Cuts of 2001-2003

2001---$27.7 billion

2002---$14.6 billion

2003---$32.3 billion

After Individual Tax Cuts of 2001-2003

2004---$48.4 billion

2005---$71.1 billion

2006---$90.4 billion

August 2, 2008

WHO OWNS BIG OIL

Mutual Funds and Other Firms--29.5%

Pension Funds-----------------27.0%

IRA'S--------------------------14.0%

Individual Investors------------23.0%

Other Institutional Investors----5.0%

Corporate Management---------1.5%

August 1, 2008

OIL DRILLING UPDATES

T. Boone Pickens "We Are For All Forms of Energy Except For Foreign Oil"

Investor's Business Daily

McCain Rows The Boat Offshore, Hallelujah!

July 30, 2008 4:20 PM PT

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Some 168 platforms and 55 rigs were destroyed or damaged by Katrina and Rita. According to the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS), "due to the prompt evacuation and shut-in preparations made by operating and service personnel, there was no loss of life and no major spills attributed to either storm."
What about accidental spills? According to MMS figures, since 1980, 101,997 barrels spilled during offshore oil drilling operations that extracted 11,855,000 barrels of oil. That's a rate of 0.001%. Mother Nature oozes 620,500 barrels of oil naturally from the seabed every year, and there are suggestions that drilling would relieve the pressure that forces these natural leaks.

Ironically, those who have blocked drilling off the California coasts for 40 years say it would take five to 10 years to develop these offshore resources. But as we saw in the price drop that followed President Bush's lifting of the federal ban, just the expectation of increased supply throws cold water on the speculators betting on higher prices as domestic production dwindles.

July 31,
2008

Bush pushes Congress on oil drilling
President cites tough times for families in
urging lawmakers to allow vote on bill to open ocean drilling

President Bush on Wednesday called for Congress to allow offshore oil drilling, citing an "urgent" need to reduce pressure on crude and gas prices.

The comments come as lawmakers are debating legislation to expand domestic oil drilling. The Senate, which is set to begin summer recess after this week, has been gridlocked for days on various energy bills.

Bush criticized Democrats who he said are refusing to allow a vote on legislation to expand domestic oil drilling.

"American drivers are counting on Congress to lift the ban and so are American workers," Bush said.

Full article Lara Moscrip CNNMoney.Com

July 30, 2008

Investor's Business Daily

By M. DAVID STIRLING

Monday, July 28, 2008

Full article M. David Stirling IBD

Excerpts:

Consider that in the 1980s the U.S. Geological Survey estimated some 17 billion barrels of recoverable oil lie under the 1.5-million acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. One million barrels of oil produces 27 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel; here there are potentially 17 billion barrels.

Many urged drilling in ANWR to capture this oil and natural gas. With modern drilling technology, only about 2,000 surface acres would be required to recover the oil and natural gas under the Coastal Plain. But the environmentalist organizations began a "no drilling in ANWR" PR campaign, claiming that wildlife species such as the porcupine, caribou, arctic wolf, polar bear and others were on the brink of oblivion, and would be lost forever if drilling occurred.

Several bills to allow extraction of this oil and natural gas were presented in Congress over the past 20 years, but each was either killed or vetoed. Nor was there scientific evidence supporting the claim that any of the wildlife species were even close to the brink of extinction.

July 29, 2008

Washington Post

This Time, It's Different

Steven Mufson

Global Pressures Have Converged to Forge a New Oil Reality

July 29, 2008

Excerpts:

"...Last month, 51 percent of the respondents in a Washington Post poll said rising gas prices were causing a serious financial hardship for them or others in their household. It was the first time a majority had said that since the poll began posing that question eight years ago.

The rising prices are also adding to inflation, aggravating the U.S. trade deficit -- oil now accounts for about half of it -- and taking a toll on businesses already struggling with the economic slowdown caused by the housing and financial crises.

The tightening of the oil market reflects decisions made a decade ago, when conditions looked radically different. Regular unleaded gas was less than a dollar a gallon. Oil was little more than $10 a barrel. And the Economist magazine, predicting prices could soon be half that, ran a cover story with the headline: "Drowning in Oil..."

Full article

Steven Mufson Washington Post

July 26, 2008

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Arctic Abundance

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Full article INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Energy: It has become something of an article of faith among those who oppose drilling in the Arctic that it's too much trouble for too little oil. Well, how about 90 billion barrels of oil? Too little for you?

That's how much oil is estimated to be in the Arctic region, with at least a third of it under sovereign U.S. territory, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Let's put this in perspective. That 90 billion barrels of Arctic crude is enough to run the entire world economy for three years. And it could fuel the U.S. alone for 12 years.

July 25, 2008

July 22-23 Fox Poll

75% Want Drilling To Begin Immediately

72% Want Immediate Drilling Including Offshore Drilling

Democrat Party spin and deceit is not persuading thinking Americans.

July 24, 2008

American Spectator

Peter Ferrara

Shut Up and Produce Some Oil

July 23, 2008

Full article The American Spectator Peter Ferrara

Excerpts:

Well, let's see. On Friday, July 14, the price of a barrel of oil hit $147. On Monday, July 17, President Bush withdrew the Executive Order banning offshore drilling. That doesn't even start any new drilling because there is still a Congressional ban in place. Nevertheless, by Friday, July 21, after 4 straight days of decline, the price of oil had plummeted to $128, a decline of 13% on a symbolic action alone. The Center for American "Progress" was only off by 21 years, 51 weeks.

There are oil wells off the Pacific coast that were capped years ago when the offshore drilling ban was first adopted. They could be brought back into production in less than a year. Expert oil engineers recently interviewed have said other sites could be producing in 18 months. The standard estimate for production from new drilling in Alaska is 10 years. But if the government gets the lawsuits and regulatory delays out of the way, here's betting the new wells would be producing in less than 5 years.

More importantly, if Congress adopted a comprehensive plan to open up domestic oil production in the U.S., everyone would know that in the long run the price of oil would be heading down. That would break the back of the oil panic today that has driven the price up to ridiculous levels. If the Fed reversed its weak dollar policy at the same time, within a year the price of oil would drop by 50% or more, dropping the price of gas down close to $2 a gallon, which is where it should be. In a competitive market, price is supposed to equal the marginal cost of production. For a barrel of oil, that would be $25 to $40 at most, which is where the long term price of oil would be if the U.S. removed production restrictions.

July 23, 2008

Oil: Change Your Lifestyle-Elitist Democrats Know What's Best For You

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

July 22, 2008

Full article IBD

Excerpts:

...With the advent of $4 gasoline, Democrats began sensing an opportunity to drive the country closer to their vision of utopia.

These are the people - or in some cases representatives of people - who want $8 a gallon gasoline so we'll get out of our cars, turn off our air conditioners, dim our lights, strangle our commerce and impose a global asceticism in a post-capitalism wilderness.

Of course, this spartan existence would be for the masses only. The elites will still be able to live their lives of opulence, just as high-ranking communists in the Soviet Union, the nomenklatura, had private Chaika lanes in Moscow streets that members of the working class - Marx's proletariat - were forbidden to drive on...

Bank Mess Started With Gov't Intervention

Investor's Business Daily

Full article Thomas Sowell IBD

Excerpts:

In one of those front-page editorials disguised as "news" stories, the New York Times blames "the lucrative lending practices" of banks and other financial institutions for helping create the current financial crisis of millions of borrowers and of the financial system in general.

It must take either a willful determination to believe whatever they want to believe or a cynical desire to propagandize their readers for the New York Times to call "lucrative" the lending practices that have caused many lenders to lose millions of dollars, some to lose billions and some to go bankrupt themselves.

The practice of not lending in some neighborhoods was demonized as "redlining" and the fact that minority applicants were approved for mortgages only 72% of the time, while whites were approved 89%, was called "overwhelming" evidence of discrimination by the Washington Post.

July 21, 2008

Gas Prices: Democrats Thumb Their Nose At Taxpayers-Hope To Stall Energy Production Till Election, Hoping Voters Blame Republicans

The science strongly suggests that alternative energy would fullfil about 4% of future needs.

Even though we need a massive effort for the other 96%, Democrats are bowing to the Environmental Extremists.

Excerpts from Donald Lambro, Washingyon Times article:

...The Obama and Pelosi Democrats are captives of their global-warming special interests, who are dead set against drilling.

The response in Democratic cloakrooms seems to be "let Bush and Republicans turn slowly, slowly in the wind" -- an apt turn of phrase that fits into the Democrats' rigid energy orthodoxy, which supports biofuel, solar and wind, spurns oil production at home.

But our patience is coming to an end with the Obama Democrats who say no to more oil drilling, no to more refineries and no to nuclear power...

FULL ARTICLE: Donald Lambro Washington Times

July 20, 2008

More of Al Gore's Insanity Refuted By Facts

THE AMERICAN

The Good News About Energy

By Robert Bryce From the July/August 2008 Issue

Filed under: Science & Technology

Despite the pessimistic headlines on energy, a beneficial long-term trend is underway called decarbonization.

Full article Robert Bryce The American

Excerpts:

Amid this torrent of doom and gloom, there is some good news that has largely been ignored by the media: the trend toward consumption of cleaner fuels that contain less carbon. This decrease in the carbon intensity of global energy use, known as decarbonization, has been ongoing for more than two centuries and appears to be gathering speed.

Better still, decarbonization is continuing without government mandates or subsidies. The reason for this is clear: consumers are always seeking the cleanest, densest fuels that they can get. Given a choice, most consumers would prefer cooking their dinner over a natural gas stove rather than a wood fire. Most also prefer electric lights to kerosene lanterns or candles for illuminating their homes. The reasons for these preferences are obvious: natural gas and electricity don't pollute indoor air when they are used.

" Nobel Prize winner Al Gore has said that global warming will likely result in "a string of terrible catastrophes." And in his Academy Award-winning movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," he implies that a warmer planet could mean that sea levels will rise by 20 feet.

July 18, 2008

Al Gore's Insane Environmental Extremism Grows Worse

U.S. News & World Report

James Pethokoukis

Full article James Pethokoukis U.S. News & World Report

Dissecting Al Gore's $5 Trillion Energy Plan

Excerpts:

..."Al Gore challenged the United States to "produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun, and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years"...

..That would be like creating another Japan. Or fighting World War II all over again...

...This isn't the first time Gore has made a proposal with jaw-dropping economic consequences. Environmental economist William Nordhaus ran the numbers on Gore's idea to reduce carbon emissions by 90 percent by 2050. Nordhaus found that while such a plan would indeed reduce the maximum increase in global temperatures to between 1.3 and 1.6 degrees Celsius, it did so "at very high cost" of between $17 trillion and $22 trillion over the long term, as opposed to doing nothing. (Again, just for comparative purposes, the entire global economy is about $50 trillion...

July 18, 2008 Results of the Tax Cuts of 2003

-Increased the number of American jobs by eight million.
-Increased real per capita income by $2,887.
-Increased stock market value by $3.7 trillion.
-Increased federal revenues by $785 billion.

Those tax cuts lapse in January 2011.

The Democrat Party is fighting to increase taxes back to where they were before 2003.

July 17, 2008 Cost of Government Day

Happy Cost of Government Day

By Grover Norquist

July 16, 2008

This year Americans have worked until today, July 16, to pay for the total costs of federal, state and local government. This is 197 days of the year consuming 53.9 percent of national income. Over the past 22 years, in only four years (1982, 1983, 1991 and 1992) did Cost of Government Day fall later in the year.

Federal spending will consume 83.7 days. State and local spending will consume 50.5 days effort. Federal regulations cost 4l.7 days and State regulations cost 20.9 days. The spending data is precise, the regulatory burdens are understated.

Full article Grover Norquist Real Clear Politics

July 16, 2008 End Taxes on Capital Gains and Dividends

Andrew Roth

Via National Taxpayers Union, Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA-02) is sponsoring a bill that would get rid of the capital gains tax and the dividend tax. This is a wonderful, pro-growth proposal.

National Taxpayers Union

July 15, 2008

Today July 14, 2008: Victory In Iraq Is Now Possible-Rasmussen Reports

Agree 40%

Disagree 44%

One Year Ago July, 2007 Victory In Iraq Is Now Possible

Agree 32%

Disagree 54%

July 14, 2008

UnionLeader.com

Hitting rock: Dems oblivious on oil

Saturday, Jul. 12, 2008

Full article Union Leader.Com

Excerpts:

MAYBE THE quickest way to lower oil and gas prices would be this: Immediately enroll every Democratic member of Congress in an entry-level economics class.

JULY 12, 2008

Dissent Is By No Means The Highest Form of Patriotism

New York Post

Ralph Peters

Full article Ralph Peters New York Post

July 12, 2008

Friday July 11, 2008 Rasmussen Reports

Which Is More Important? Cutting Government Spending or Balancing The Budget?

Favor Cutting Spending Over Balancing The Budget--58%

Favor Balancing The Budget Over Cutting Government Spending--30%

Cutting Government Spending Is More Important Than Balancing The Budget--By Party

Republicans 70%

Unaffilitate Voters 57%

Democrats 52%

JULY 11, 2008

Oil Exec Explains Market Realities

Joseph Petrowski Wall Street Journal

Excerpts:

To Democrats:

Supply must be increased, and that will require more drilling.

We can responsibly drill. The technology to find, drill and recover oil has evolved tremendously, and careless drillers will fear tort lawyers more than government regulators. The claim that the oil companies are sitting on leases and not drilling defies all logic. With oil at $135 per barrel and drilling rigs renting at $300,000 per day, there are no idle rigs anywhere. Furthermore, economic decline - and war induced by basic resource struggles - are greater threats to the environment and American workers than drilling.

Your claim that any oil we drill for now will not come on line for five years or longer - and will thus have no effect on prices today - is incorrect. Unlike past oil crises, where the spot price of oil (that is, today's price) rose more than forward prices, the oil price for delivery in 2012 is trading at $138 per barrel. The market is sending a clear price signal that our problem is in the future - because we do not have the will to curb demand or increase supply.

JULY 10, 2008

Obama Would, In Fact, Govern From Left

By Dick Morris Real Clear Politics

Full article Dick Morris RCP

Excerpts:

The list of issues on which Barack Obama has flipped now that the primaries are over is long and growing rapidly.

He says he believes in a Second Amendment right to bear arms.

He now opposes late-term abortion.

He suddenly is a devotee of using faith-based institutions to deliver public services.

He now says that he won't raise Social Security taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. In the primary, he said he'd eliminate the threshold entirely, including on people making as little as $100,000.

He recently opposed the Fairness Doctrine for talk radio.

Now he says he's going to consult with the military before pulling out of Iraq.

But so extensive a list of flip-flops, all in the past few weeks, begs the basic question: Was he lying before when he was a liberal, or is he prevaricating now?

JULY 8, 2008

California Republicans Will Withhold Funds-Want Republican Leadership Ousted For Not Fighting Earmarks

To Learn more and to support an end to Earmarks, visit FLASH REPORT

The message: "Come Nov. 5, should the current GOP leadership in either house survive to lead in a new Congress, the Lincoln Club of Orange County will review the financial backing of all congressional Republicans, and we urge others to do likewise. A GOP caucus that would re-elect such leaders is not one we would likely continue to support. Because, simply put, we refuse to support a permanent minority."

The Lincoln Club estimates that its nearly 300 members will individually contribute $1.5 million to federal causes and candidates in the 2008 election cycle. The club is spreading its message to angry Republicans throughout California and around the nation. The ultimatum finds responsive members of the House (if not the Senate), who even now are preparing a housecleaning after the additional loss of seats in this year's election.

RASMUSSEN REPORTS JULY 7, 2008

Middle Quintile-$37,771 To $60,000-Now Paying Lowest Tax Rate Since 1979

Full article Carpe Diem Dr. Mark J. Perry

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Recently released Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data show that the total effective federal tax rate (including income, payroll, and excise taxes) of the middle fifth of households declined after 2001 to its lowest levels since at least 1979 (see chart above). Under the 2001 and 2003 tax relief legislation, the income tax as a share of income for the middle fifth also has fallen to its lowest levels in decades.

RASMUSSEN REPORTS JULY 6, 2008

Townhall.Com

Does Patriotism Matter

Thomas Sowell

Full article
Thomas Sowell Townhall.com

Excerpts:

Most Americans today are unaware of how much our schools have followed in the footsteps of the French schools of the 1920s and 1930s, or how much our intellectuals have become citizens of the world instead of American patriots.

Our media are busy verbally transforming American combat troops from heroes into victims, just as the French intelligentsia did-- with the added twist of calling this "supporting the troops."

Will that matter? Time will tell.

July 4, 2008

Spectacular 4th of July Desserts!
FabulousFoods.Com

Link To See More Fabulous Foods Great 4th of July Recipes-Below

Satisfy a patriotic sweet tooth with a spectacular dessert. Using the classic combination of raspberries or strawberries and blueberries, it's easy to deck these desserts out in the colors of the day. The recipes are quick and easy to fix and feed a crowd for hassle-free Independence Day entertaining!

* Easy Flag Cake
* Strawberry & Blueberry Pavlova
* Blueberry & Custard Filled Star Puffs
* Trifle -- One Easy Recipe, Endless Variations
*

Red, White & Blueberry Cheesecake Pie
* 4th of July Lemon Bar Flags

Independence Day dessert recipes

Fabulous Foods

June 27, 2008

Cheer up. We're winning this War on Terror

Full article Gerard Baker Times of London

June 18, 2008

Is Congress Doing A "Poor" Job or is it "Good or Excellent

Poor Job--52 %

Good or Excellent--11%

The poor rating has jumped 5 points from 47% last month giving a rating of poor, up to the present 52%

Corruption In Congress

Members of Congress Are Corrupt

Agree 30%

Disagree 43%

Two Democratic Senators Get Sweetheart Mortgage Deals

Senator Christopher Dodd-Hypocrisy Beyond Belief