Global Warming? Nevermind . . .

In an interview with the BBC, British climate scientist Phil Jones, the man at the center of the University of East Anglia e-mail kerfuffle (also known as "Climategate"), made some startling admissions that run opposite of the "settled" conclusion that global warming exists and is the result of human activity.  The statements made by the professor include:

• There has been no statistically significant global warming since 1995.
• The so-called "Medieval Warming Period" may have been just as significant as the current warming period.
• The issue of whether global warming currently exists is NOT settled according to the professor, who said, "I don't believe the vast majority of climate scientists think this. This is not my view."

I wonder if the High Priest of Global Warming, Al Gore, will now retract the statement he made to Congress in 2007 that the science of global warming is settled and that carbon emissions from human activity is the cause.  I doubt he will.  After all, he is making too much money from this enormous bamboozle.

Admittedly, Professor Jones spends a good part of the interview in academic double-speak as he attempts to salvage what is left of his reputation.  But other sources can be mined to support the implosion of the global warming thesis.  Professor John Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (aside:  UAH was the location of last week's shooting by deranged Professor Amy Bishop) is now stating that “temperature records cannot be relied on as indicators of global change.”  Why should Professor Chisty's opinion matter?  Because he is a former lead author of the reports issued by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC").  And what does the IPCC have to do with Professor Jones at the University of East Anglia?  The Climactic Research Unit at the UEA, which serves as the data repository for the IPCC, was formerly headed by Professor Jones until he was forced to resign in the wake of the Climategate e-mail scandal.  You may recall the IPCC from the recent revelation that it deliberately overstated the evidence to support a conclusion that Himalayan glaciers will disappear by 2035.  According to the lead author of that IPCC report, the inaccurate statement was made because, "We thought that if we can highlight it, it will impact policy-makers and politicians and encourage them to take some concrete action."  In other words, the report's authors lied in an attempt to exert political pressure.  Wow.

I have only scratched the surface of all the revelations that are now coming out as the global warming house-of-cards comes tumbling down.  Yet at a time when the Federal budget is totally out-of-control, the Obama Administration continues to push for action to address the climate change phantom menace, action that will cost the taxpayers of America trillions of dollars.  It is time to bury this issue and get to work on putting Americans back to work and bringing the budget under control.

Iraq a "Great Achievement" for President Obama?

Here's a jaw-dropper for you:  according to Vice President Biden, Iraq represents a "great achievement" for President Obama.  From the transcript of the Vice President's appearance on The Larry King Show on February 10:

I am very optimistic about -- about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You're going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.

I spent -- I've been there 17 times now. I go about every two months -- three months. I know every one of the major players in all of the segments of that society. It's impressed me. I've been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.

I agree with the Vice President that the current situation in Iraq is a "great achievement" given the state of affairs on March 20, 2003, when the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Denmark, Austrailia and others launched the invasion of Iraq that resulted in the ouster of Sadam Hussein's tyrannical, murdering regime.  Iraq now has a democratically elected parliament and prime minister, a free press, and the beginnings of an economic system based on free enterprise.  Yes, it has been quite an achievement.

But a great achievement for President Obama?  The same man who voted against the invasion while serving in the Senate?  The same man who opposed the massively successful troop surge?



Umm, yeah.  That guy.

Quote for Today

"The essence of contemporary liberalism is the illiberal conviction that Americans, in their comprehensive incompetence, need minute supervision by government, which liberals believe exists to spare citizens the torture of thinking and choosing."  George F. Will.

Why are liberals so condescending?

In an excellent opinion piece from Sunday's Washington Post, University of Virginia professor Gerard Alexander asks the question, "Why are liberals so condescending?"  The piece gives voice to a question I have pondered for years.  Please take a moment to give it some thought.

More on the Budget

In an excellent article prepared for The Heritage Foundation, Brian M. Riedl provides yet more detail about the unsustainable levels of spending proposed by President Obama in in 2011 Federal budget.

The article points out that in FY 2007 during the Bush Administration, the Federal budget deficit was a (relatively) modest $162 Billion.  Only during FY 2008 and 2009 did the Bush deficits skyrocket as a result of measures taken in response to the recession and the banking crisis.  Now that the recession appears to be over and the massive stimulus and bailout spending is no longer needed, the Federal deficit should return to pre-recession levels, right?  Wrong!  Under the Obama spending plan, deficits remain at staggering levels through 2020, with almost all (90%) of the deficits resulting from increased spending.  Even when compared with President Obama's budget from last year for FY 2010, the FY 2011 budget reflects $2 Trillion in additional deficits through 2020 (see table).

President Obama must act to curb these massive spending increases and to reign in uncontrolled entitlement spending.  Every year that passes without these issues being addressed just sends our nation deeper into a financial hole.

Habitat for Humanity's Work in Haiti

I have been a Habitat for Humanity volunteer for more than 20 years, during which time I have served on the board of directors and as an officer of our local Habitat for Humanity affiliate and as a founding member of the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity of West Virginia.  I know first hand the good work that is being done all over the world by Habitat and its volunteers, and I have seen the joy in the faces of the families who have partnered with Habitat to obtain a simple, decent place to live.

Habitat for Humanity International is on the ground in Haiti bringing its resources to the millions of people there who need shelter (in the short term) and a simple, decent home (in the long term).  But the cost of these efforts is great.  I urge you to consider making a gift to Habitat's work in Haiti by clicking here or on the banner at the top of the site.  Like my other favorite relief charity, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Habitat for Humanity International is a four-star rated charity.

The Obama Budget

Yesterday, President Obama presented his fiscal year 2011 budget to Congress.  Since then, every news organization and every pundit on every side have tried to parse the text to determine what it all means.  For certain, when The New York Times, which never wastes an opportunity to serve as cheerleader for Team Obama, calls the President's spending and debt levels unsustainable, they certainly must be so.

Shall we consider the numbers?  Here are a few to ponder:

• A deficit in the Federal budget of $1,270,000,000,000 (that is $1.27 Trillion) for the coming year, which is on top of the deficit of $1.56 Trillion during President Obama's first year in office.
• According to the President's own projections, after a short period of leveling off from 2014 to 2018, the Federal budget deficit will begin another cycle of dramatic increases beginning in 2019.
• The President's projected budget deficits over the next ten years cumulatively total $8.53 Trillion (and remember, these are just the deficits, not the total national debt).
• Total Federal revenues for FY 2011 will exceed $2.57 Trillion, an increase of 18.6% over Federal revenues for the preceding year.

In the President's remarks, linked above, he blames George W. Bush for the budget problems, continuing a trend that is growing old.  For example, he placed part of the blame for the current budget deficit on the passage of Medicare Part D (the drug benefit) during the Bush Administration.  However, he conveniently leaves out the fact that Part D was strongly supported by BOTH parties in Congress and that the version favored by the Democrats was actually much more costly than the version that was ultimately adopted.  And if Part D entitlement is to blame for a large part of the Federal budget shortfall, then why doesn't President Obama simply urge the repeal of the benefit?  The current budget belongs to President Obama, not President Bush, and he needs to take the blame for his own runaway spending rather than blaming it on the previous Administration.  And just so you know, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a supporter of the free-spending of President Bush and Congressional Republicans when they controlled the budget.  The same rules apply to all, and there is plenty of blame to go around.

We should not lose sight, either, that all of the numbers being pushed around by the Administration and others regarding the budget fail to consider the consequences of Federal unfunded budget liabilities, which add Trillions and Trillions more to the national debt.  According to David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States, the current national debt figure of $12.3 Trillion that is quoted by politicians and news sources should actually be $45 to $50 Trillion more to account for unfunded liabilities from Medicare, Social Security and other Federal programs.  And you can also add to the bottom line the $6 Trillion or so that taxpayers are on the hook for as a result of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac takeovers.

Our government cannot continue to bury us under mountains of debt.  If the current trend continues, we will become a client state of China, to whom we owe all of that money.  (Do you think the Chinese know this fact?  I'm betting they do.)  Someone must step up and speak the truth:  entitlement spending must be brought under control.  We must stop borrowing our way out of economic hard times.  Creation of a massive new entitlement program in the form of Obamacare cannot be justified in the face of our current budget crisis.