UnCommonSense

December 11, 2009

BOOM TIME

December 10, 2009

YEP

Taken from xkcd.com ("Engineer" changed from "Scientist")

As the central government continues to take control of more and more pieces of society, it is important to remember why the United States of America is different from other countries around the world. That difference has made us the most free and privileged societies the world has ever known. That difference is written into the foundation of our republic, the PEOPLE have the power, not the government:

Declaration of Independence of the United States of America

governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to 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 shown 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.

Constitution of the State of Texas

All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their benefit. The faith of the people of Texas stands pledged to the preservation of a republican form of government, and, subject to this limitation only, they have at all times the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient.

Constitution of the State of Virginia

That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community; of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and, whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.

Constitution of the State South Carolina

All political power is vested in and derived from the people only, therefore, they have the right at all times to modify their form of government

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December 5, 2009

CLIMATE-GATE SUMMARY

Around November 16, 2009 an unknown individual hacked into the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU). The hacker copied e-mails, documents, data, and pictures and published them on the internet. The result has been an explosive story bringing into question the science behind man-made global warming. Some say it proves AGW is a fraud, others say it is no big deal, but Phil Jones, the director of the CRU has resigned over the controversy. I have downloaded all the material and will give a few examples.

The stolen documents seem to show an ongoing attempt to hide data, alter data analysis to get desired results and shut down critical papers and scientists:

Item 1 (email 1256765544)
Phil Jones complains about a professor Dr Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen who is critical of his research and data. He asks a professor, Graham Haughton, at Hull University if he can keep her from using her Hull affiliation title now that she is retired. Graham says no, but now that she is gone he is "a lot more free to push my environmental interests without ongoing critique...I've signed my department up to 10:10 campaign and have a taskforce of staff and students involved in it".

Item 2 (email 1047388489)
Michael Mann proposes to Phil Jones a way to shut down a scientific journal "Climate Research" that is publishing peer-reviewed papers skeptical of AGW. "What do we do about this? I think we have to stop considering "climate Research" as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to , or cite papers in, this journal."
Phil Jones then emails "I will be emailing the journal to tell them I'm having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor."

Item 3 (email 0939154709)
Tim Osborn sends data to Mike Mann. He discusses various ways to manipulate the data to make the recent decline in the data less obvious. They assume the recent decline in the data is caused by non-temperature signals. "We usually stop the series in 1960 because of the recent non-temperature signal that is superimposed on the tree-ring data" "One could, of course, shift the mean of our reconstruction so that it matched the observed series over a different period - say 1931-60 - but I don't see that this improves things. Indeed, if the non-temperature signal that causes the decline in tree-ring density begins before 1960, then a short 1931-60 period might yield a more biased result than using a longer 1881-1960 period."

Item 4 (email 1212063122)
Michael Mann emails everyone to delete any emails they have had dealing with Freedom of Information requests they have received. "Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4? Keith will do likewise. Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? We will be getting Caspar to do likewise."

Item 5 (email 0942777075)
Phil Jones comments on his data manipulation to make more alarming warming graphs.
"I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline. Mike's series got the annual land and marine values while the other two got April-Sept for NH land N of 20N. The latter two are real for 1999, while the estimate for 1999 for NH combined is +0.44C wrt 61-90. The Global estimate for 1999 with data through Oct is +0.35C cf. 0.57 for 1998."

Item 6 (email 1255352257)
Several scientist were discussing the extremely cold October we had this year (I wrote about it earlier) and the fact that there has been no warming over the last decade. They are all dismayed that the BBC has done a story about the lack of warming. "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't." "It is extremely disappointing to see something like this appear on BBC. its particularly odd, since climate is usually Richard Black's beat at BBC (and he does a great job)."
So, according to the scientists, if we have hot weather the media should be trumpeting it as global warming, but if it is cold it should be ignored.

Item 7 (email 1054736277)
Scientists discuss how nice it would be to eliminate the Medieval Warm Period (MWP). "I think that trying to adopt a timeframe of 2[000 years], rather than the usual 1[000 years], addresses a good earlier point that Peck made w/ regard to the memo, that it would be nice to try to "contain" the putative "MWP", even if we don't yet have a hemispheric mean reconstruction available that far back"

Item 8 (email 1255523796)
In response to Item 6 above, Tom disagrees and says he has two methods to work with the data to show the cooling. Kevin replies "How come you do not agree with a statement that says we are no where close to knowing where energy is going or whether clouds are changing to make the planet brighter? We are not close to balancing the energy budget. The fact that we can not account for what is happening in the climate system makes any consideration of geoengineering quite hopeless as we will never be able to tell if it is successful or not!"

Item 9 (email 1139521913)
After a skeptic article came out in Science magazine, Michael Mann explains how he will manipulate comments on the Real Climate website so skeptics can't use it to promote the article. "We can hold comments up in the queue and contact you about whether or not you think they should be screened through or not, and if so, any comments you'd like us to include."

Item 10 (email 1106322460)
Tom Wigley had some resistance publishing a paper of his about glaciers in GRL. He and Mann thought the GRL editor-in-chief James Saiers may be a skeptic. He writes to Mann "If you think that Saiers is in the greenhouse skeptics camp, then, if we can find documentary evidence of this, we could go through official AGU channels to get him ousted. "

There is much much more... including:
- Briffa saying there is political pressure to produce a graph showing unprecedented warming (email 0938018124)
- Climate organisations are coordinating to resist freedom of information requests (email 1219239172)
- Revkin and Von Storch say they should toss the hockey stick chart back in 2004, this is 2 years before Al Gore used the chart in his "documentary" (email 1096382684)
- Funkhouser says he's used every trick up his sleeve to milk his Kyrgistan series. He doesn't think it's productive to juggle the statistics any more than he has.(email 0843161829)
-Wigley discusses fixing an issue with sea surface temperatures in the context of making the results look both warmer but still plausible. (email 1254108338)
-David Parker discussing the possibility of changing the reference period for global temperature index. Thinks this shouldn't be done because it confuses people and because it will make things look less warm.(emial 1105019698)
-Jones tells Mann that he is sending station data. Says that if McIntyre requests it under FoI he will delete it rather than hand it over. Says he will hide behind data protection laws. (email 1107454306)

Countries around the world are debating carbon taxes and cap-and-trade programs to stop global warming including the US. The British people have already paid billions in carbon taxes, and Spain has invested billions also. Politicians are creating hundreds of new laws and regulations in the name of saving the planet. If this huge cost and invasion of rights is to continue, the science behind the catastrophe should be sound! We should know exactly what the costs to us will be, both monetarily and in standard of living, and what effect it will have on cooling the planet. If cap-and-trade is a huge cost with little or no impact on climate, then why are we even having the debate? Anyone suggesting it should be laughed (and voted) out of office. On the other hand, if we are in certain doom if even one more SUV is built, than we must do what is necessary to survive. I don't think the doom has been proven yet though!

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November 29, 2009

CLIMATE LECTURE

For those who think all scientists agree that man-made global warming is a certain disaster. This is a good lecture on the science of the skeptics:

Catastrophe Denied: A Critique of Catastrophic Man-Made Global Warming Theory from Warren Meyer on Vimeo.
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November 19, 2009

SIZE MATTERS

A very cool animation that gives some perspective on how small objects get. (Picture below is just for reference, must use link to get it to work. Click on the button and slide it to the right to zoom down)
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/

What is really wild... once you get to the carbon atom we aren't done, we can continue to drill down into the single atom and it becomes like its own universe with Protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks and more. And, of course, when we zoom out from the coffee bean we enter our known world, our solar system, our galaxy, our known universe and more. It seems we live in a world that is infinite in BOTH directions! Amazing.

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October 31, 2009

TRUE COURAGE

My best friend, Alva Williams, was just sworn in as a Traveler's Rest police officer. If you have ever met Alva, you know what an incredible man he is. He has overcome many obstacles in his life including a broken home, an amputation, job losses and foreclosures. But he has never lost his courage and his faith that God is in control. He is always kind, giving, and encouraging.
Police Chief Lance Crowe explains, “You know, you feel good after Alva’s been around. He enters a room, brightens it up, makes people feel good and he leaves and you still have that feeling. He’s very encouraging."

Alva had always thought about being a police officer. He attempted in New York and failed the test. Years later he tried for the opening in Traveler's Rest. He was excepted as a recruit but couldn't pass the physical tests due to his leg. Twice he tried and failed. But if you know Alva, you know of his belief that through God ALL things are possible. He kept training and finally passed the test. He has now become the first police officer in South Carolina history to graduate the Academy with an above-the-knee prosthetic leg! The SC police academy created a new award, The SC Police Academy Award for Courage, and Alva was the first ever recipient.

We are all so proud of you Alva! Congratulations!

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October 29, 2009

WILDLY SUCCESSFUL FOR GOVERNMENT = WILDLY WASTEFULL

The cash-for-clunkers program has been hailed by many as one of the most successful and popular government programs in a while. It was "a wildly successful program that sold nearly 250,000 cars in its first four days alone" says Bill Adams, spokesman for the DOT. Auto sales added about 1.7% to the GDP number that was out today, accounting for about half of the GDP rise we saw in the 3rd quarter. A total of 690,000 cars were sold under the program.

Edmunds.com, an online car site, compared normal sale trends before and after the program and typical trends compared to vehicles that were not part of the program (trucks, luxury, etc.) and estimated that without the program 565,000 cars would have been sold. So cash-for-clunkers added about 125,000 cars. The government spent $3 Billion dollars ($3,000,000,000) on the program. That means it spent $24,000 per "stimulated" car sale!

If Ford or Honda tried this they would soon be bankrupt! But when the government does this it is called wildly successful! Not to mention that we arrived at the point where taxpayers are footing the bill for the downpayment of people's new cars... which is really mind blowing to me.
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October 27, 2009

IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

New York increased taxes $7.8 billion this year to "balance" the budget. The personal income tax has risen to 8.97%. It also gives New York City residents the highest income tax rate in the nation at 12.62%. Additionally, over $3.8 billion in other taxes and fees were created on rental cars, cigars, beer, wine, and internet sales.
The budget gives the Empire State the worst-ranked business tax climate in the nation - stealing the number one spot away from rival New Jersey. Not surprisingly, the Empire Center and Beacon Hill Institute have found that the budget will cost the state over 15,500 private sector jobs. Over the past ten years, spending in New York has increased a disturbing 39%!

So what is the result when politicians continue to burden the taxpayers and increase the giveaways to other voters? The taxpayer move away! 1 of every 7 taxpayers (1.1 million people) have moved out of NYC and 1.5 million people statewide have left over the last 8 years. This is the largest migration out-of-state in the country. An incredible 4.3 Billion dollars was lost in government revenue in just one year (2006-2007) due to people moving away. Not surprisingly, the most popular destination for the people fleeing NY is Florida, which has ZERO personal income tax.

It seems so obvious that, in order to have a prosperous society, you must keep taxes low to promote work, business, spending, innovation, etc. The wonderful thing about this country is we have states that have control over their own laws. So when a state like NY decides to make disastrous tax policies, people can simply move to a different state. There is competition and rewards and punishments that keep the states in check. But what happens when the entire country increases spending and taxes and overburdens the taxpayers? Will people move to other countries or stay put? I guess we will see over the next several years, the experiment is beginning now.
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ASTROID EXPLODES OVER INDONESIA

An asteroid about 30 feet across hit the earth and exploded over Indonesia on October 8th. The force of the explosion was estimated to be 3 times as powerful as the atomic bomb that levelled Hiroshima. Luckily, because the asteroid was small enough, it couldn't penetrate the atmosphere and exploded about 10 miles above the earths surface resulting in no damage. An asteroid hit this size is rare, once every 10 years or so. If the asteroid was even twice as big, it could have hit the earths surface causing great damage. Some dust from the asteroid's explosion was captured on armature video:

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October 26, 2009

YES! NORTH DAKOTA IS STIMULATED!

My point in returning to this topic is not because I take pleasure in watching the economy suffer under a President I happen to disagree with politically. I couldn't care less who gets the political "points" for a good or bad economy and, of course, I want a strong and vibrant economy. My point is demonstrating how the federal government CAN NOT provide us with prosperity. It is not its function, it is not in its power, it is not possible. The government is supposed to protect our PURSUIT of happiness, not guarantee our happiness. The former means it ensures the rules and opportunities are equal so we have the best possibilities to achieve our own desires and benefit from our own work. The latter means it must confiscate all resources and distribute them "fairly"... this has proven to destroy a society.

Our federal government has recently tried hard to guarantee our prosperity. It attempted to purchase jobs with taxpayer money to stimulate a recession economy. I have written about it here, here, and here. In February they projected how many jobs they could create with the 787 Billion dollars they borrowed from the FED. We are about halfway through the time period they had given themselves so I wanted to look at each state to see the results (click to enlarge):

1 out of the 50 states has had an increase in jobs! Wow. I understand why politicians think they can solve every problem, and why they promise the world to get us to vote for them. What I don't understand is why we keep giving them the power to do so!

Government is absolutely necessary in society, without it there is anarchy and the strong will rule over and usually enslave the weak. However, when government exceeds its boundaries and takes responsibilities it should not have, it allows the politically connected to rule the common man and places us all in bondage.
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October 24, 2009

WE'RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT, AND WE'RE HERE TO HELP

Paul A Rahe is a Professor of History and Political Science at Hillsdale College in Michigan. He is the author of such works as Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution, Soft Despotism: Democracy's Drift, and Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty. Hillsdale College is a unique institution. It does not accept federal or state taxpayer subsidies for any of its operations! This allows the college to do something amazing... focus on the students and their education and well-being, instead of focusing on obeying all the regulations and red tape associated with keeping federal and state money flowing in. Professor Rahe writes about one tiny aspect of this freedom and then ties it in with the much, MUCH larger picture:

This weekend, I will spend my Saturday morning in a fashion unheard of in most academic institutions. Because I teach at Hillsdale College, I will be meeting with the parents of my students -- at ten minutes intervals -- to discuss their progress.
If last year is any guide, something on the order of 800 parents will descend on us this weekend. Those who come to what we call Parents' Weekend are, for the most part, parents of the 400-freshmen we take in every year.
Most of the conversations that I have with these parents will be inconsequential. They love their children; they worry about their well-being; and they want to be reassured that they are doing well. Once reassured, they relax. Some conversations will, however, be of genuine importance. For some freshmen run into trouble, and there are occasions in which an intervention on the part of their parents serves a real purpose. Some parents come back again and again. The parents of sophomores and juniors tend, however, to be more interested in meeting the professors that their children have described than in discussing their sons and daughters. They are no longer worried in the slightest concerning their progeny, and they come back a second and even a third time because they had a good time when they first ventured into the wilds of south-central Michigan.
Where I taught before I came to Hillsdale two years ago, nothing like this was possible. This is not due to the fact that Hillsdale College is well run (which it is) nor to the fact that the University of Tulsa is dysfunctional (which is also the case). It arises from the fact that Hillsdale College takes not one dime from the federal government. With that money -- whether it comes in the form of federal loans to students, research grants, or the GI Bill -- comes the heavy hand of regulation. It is, of course, perfectly proper that a granting organization -- whether public or private -- sees to it that the money it grants is spent for the purpose for which it was granted. But this is not what I have in mind.
When Washington gives money to a state government, a municipality, a school system, or even a private college,it encroaches on the autonomy of the entity whose beneficiary it is. This should come as no surprise. As any teenager will tell you, generosity is wonderful, but there are always strings attached. In this case, however, the story is especially interesting. For the busybody who attached these particular strings, the man who denied to any institution of higher education that took in as much as a dime in federal funding the right to communicate with the parents of a student with regard to his well-being, was a libertarian. His name was James F. Buckley. He was the brother of William F. Buckley. In the late 1960s, he was elected a Senator from New York on the Conservative ticket; and in 1974 he authored an amendment to a federal bill, aimed at protecting the putative privacy rights of eighteen-year-olds (among others).
Some years ago, while teaching at the University of Tulsa, I had a freshman in my honors course who showed up for the first class and then disappeared. I thought nothing of it; I presumed that he had dropped the course (as many students do). When he showed up four weeks later, I contacted the Dean's office and asked that they look into the matter. It turns out that this student had turned into a binge alcoholic and was sleeping on the floor of a fraternity house, surrounded by empty whiskey bottles. But the university could not contact his parents about the matter without risking the loss of all of its federal funding.
There is, I think, a moral to the story -- and I try to draw this moral in the two books mentioned below. We need government, and it is essential that the government be vigorous within its proper sphere. When, however, a government exceeds its prerogatives, especially when that government is far, far away and effectively out of sight, it is quite likely to succumb to tyranny -- petty or otherwise. We are all inclined to think that we know better than our neighbors. We are all inclined to be busybodies. When offered the opportunity to interfere, even a man as sensible as Jim Buckley is apt to succumb.
When our compatriots saw to the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, legalizing the income tax, they created that temptation. What Barack Obama and the thugs with whom he has surrounded himself are trying to do right now on a very grand scale has been taking place on a much more petty scale for a very long time.It is not enough that we throw the current crowd of rascals out (though that is essential). We need to remove the temptation to which Jim Buckley succumbed thirty-five years ago. As long as there is largess in Washington on a magnificent scale, as long as the federal government has the wherewithal with which to offer to everyone a helping hand, our ability to govern ourselves in the ordinary business of life will be in peril. Obama may fail, but there will some day be someone who does not.

What Professor Rahe writes about is exactly what is wrong with our government right now. It is why it doesn't matter if you vote Democrat or Republican. Our problem is not that we have an evil dictatorship, ours is that we have a government that "gives" to everyone and a people who like the "free" gifts. But the gifts are not free. Top management in our biggest companies are learning that right now as the government dictates to them how much money they can make because they accepted large amounts of "free" money. As a people, we must have the discipline to reject the government programs and handouts and tax deductions and grants and scholarships and incentives. If we don't, it doesn't matter if we get term limits or a 3rd party or a flat tax or anything else. We will continue to lose freedoms one small piece at a time as the government becomes more and more involved in everyday life. After all, they are just trying to "help".
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October 11, 2009

AUTHOR OR ACCIDENT

The dictionary defines author as, "One that originates, creates, makes or designs. The source." It defines accident as, "An event that happens unexpectedly, without a deliberate plan or cause. Chance, fortune, or luck." These terms are antonyms, they cannot both be used to describe something. In fact, recognizing that something has an author eliminates the possibility that it came about by accident. And recognizing something as an accident, eliminates the possibility it was authored.

Our experiences quickly enable us to distinguish between authorship and accidents. As intelligent creatures who create, make and design, it is very easy for us to see when something came about by chance or by design. In fact, there is essentially zero controversy on this subject. Let me give some examples.

Here in South Carolina we have a mountain called Ceaser's Head.

In New Hampshire there is (was) "The Old Man in the Mountain"

And even as far away as Mars there is the "Face"

We can all see these rock formations and immediately recognize they came about by accident. But why? They look "like" a human face. But there is something missing. They don't look enough like a human face and they don't contain any specific information. They are generic faces. We see them as being able to come about by chance. With enough rock formations, some will look like things we recognize, but they were not authored.

But what about this rock formation?

We all immediately know that this had an author. Someone made this. Why? Because it looks too much like something. It's not only highly improbable, if not impossible for it to come about naturally, it contains specific information. Mount Rushmore has four Presidents of the United States on it. It is conveying information that we recognize. It isn't simply a rock that looks like a man.

But as obvious as these examples are, we are actually even more acute at detecting authorship. Consider the Man-Pupu-Nyor:

Amazing free standing rock formations that are grouped together on an otherwise barren plain. But we still see these as an accident. Wind and rain and years of erosion have formed these unique formations. But a very similar rock formation we know is not an accident:

Stonehenge is simply rectangular rocks in a circle. It is possible for wind and rain to make rectangular rocks. It is nothing unusual for circles to appear in nature, they are quite common actually. So why are plain rectangular rocks in a circle so obviously authored? It is because there is information contained in the rocks. They were there for a purpose. During the solstice the sun aligned perfectly between the heel stones and struck the altar stone with a beam of light. There is more here than just rocks, there is a design, and the rocks are simply the media in which the author used.

Of course authors use much more than rocks. The written word has been one of the most important tools to transfer information. By purposefully combining 26 separate letters, an author can transfer an incredible amount of information. When we look at a book, e-mail, sign, recipe, or instructions we know, without question, someone wrote them. They are there for a purpose. What is really amazing, is that the letters themselves are not really that unique. We see individual letters in nature all the time. But when even a few letters are put together on purpose, we immediately know it is no longer chance. Conversely, you can string together thousands of letters at random and get nothing but junk. I can imagine a possibility of a baby turtle crawling across a beach leaving a mark behind him. He could crawl in a way that could easily look like letters simply by chance. But what if you look on the beach and see four simple letters "HELP". With only four letters you are positive this did not come about by accident!

This brings me to the one place where author or accident is actually HIGHLY controversial. The DNA molecule.

DNA is extremely similar to letters on a page. There are 4 "letters" G, C, A, and T. Each is a nucleotide that forms the code of the DNA. These nucleotides are arranged to store information in exactly the same way letters are arranged in a book or 1's and 0's are arranged to store computer software on a disk. Human DNA contains about 750 MB of (known) used code. That is roughly equal to 750 full length novels. It is all a very complex system that is the instruction book for life. It tells the cell how to do everything, how to manufacture the proteins it needs, how to divide and grow, how to protect itself, how to react in its surroundings and how to die.

How can someone look at this incredibly complex, purposeful, information rich object that has no known method of being created by nature, and conclude that it came about by accident? Of course that would be silly. But when you naturally conclude that the DNA molecule was authored, like every other similar object we know of in the world, that leads to the existence of a CREATOR, a GOD. Modern science has foolishly started with the assumption that there is no God and everything must be explained through nature. So they come up with complex theories as to how the DNA molecule could come about on its own. It is as crazy as arguing that the wind and rain could form Mount Rushmore or natural magnetic forces could create a computer program on a disk.

When I look at DNA, I immediately recognize that it had an author. It has a purpose, a function, and is full of information.

The question science should be exploring, is not how did DNA come about without an author, but who is the author, what can we learn about him from his creation, and how do we get to know him better?!
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October 10, 2009

GLOBAL COOLING ON THE BBC

The fact that the earth has NOT been warming over the last decade is getting very hard to ignore. Even news agencies like the BBC, that have been fanning the flames of man-made global warming for years, are having a hard time ignoring the facts. The IPCC keeps telling us we are doomed, but some of us are realizing there may be a bit more to global weather patterns than how much CO2 humans emit:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8299079.stm

"Warmest year recorded globally was.... in 1998"
"For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures. And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made [emitted] carbon dioxide... has continued to rise"
"The Pacific Decadal Oscillation cool mode has replaced the warm mode in the Pacific Ocean, virtually assuring us of about 30 years of global cooling."

One must always remember that short term weather is irrelevant to long term global trends. But the following are kind of funny considering Congress is currently trying to pass a Cap-n-Trade bill to stop global warming:
Killing freeze warning for farmers
Baseball fans face record cold in Denver
Earliest opening for Ski resort in California
Chicago expecting earliest snowfall in history
Potato farmers had to stop harvest - Too much snow
Earliest Snow day - Oct 5th
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October 3, 2009

$787,000,000,000 SPENT TO ELIMINATE 7,200,000 JOBS

President Obama promised that unemployment would not exceed 8% if his "Stimulus Bill" was passed immediately. In fact, he declared that unless congress passed his bill immediately, the recession could be "catastrophic" and "irreversible". Of course the bill was passed. And the result?

Unemployment is up to 9.8%. A net total of 263,000 jobs were lost last month in addition to a downwardly revised 201,000 in August. If you include those who have settled for part-time work or have given up looking for new jobs, the unemployment rate rose to 17 percent. 571,000 people dropped out of the work force last month, presumably out of frustration over the lack of jobs. That sent the participation rate, or the percentage of the population either working or looking for work, to a 23-year low. Over 15 million Americans are now out of work. 7.2 million jobs have been eliminated since the recession began in December 2007.

Incredibly, President Obama claimed Thursday that "America is stronger" because of the stimulus bill.

To bring the issue closer to home, I will look at my own county in South Carolina. Spartanburg county unemployment is at 12.7%. The "Stimulus Bill" has done the following:
Sherman College - $13,410 grant
University of South Carolina - $2,372,829 grant
Spartanburg Methodist College - $511,306 grant
Spartanburg Community College - $3,354,652 grant
Wofford College - $304,910 grant
City of Woodruff - $18,239 grant
Woodruff Housing Authority - $200,880 grant
RP Financial Services - $250,000 loan
Regenesis Community Health Center - $703,637 grant
Spartanburg County First Steps - $89,470 grant
Piedmont Community Actions, Inc. - $267,148 grant
Converse College - $301,770 grant
ETV (PBS) - $50,000 grant
United Way - $9,000 grant
There are NO contracts (jobs) awarded in Spartanburg County from the "Stimulus Bill".
So some colleges, community centers, a television station, local governments and the united way got some "free" money. How does that create jobs? Would Spartanburg really be in a "catastrophic" and "irreversible" recession right now without the above grants? I don't think so.

To put this all in another perspective, each person who has lost his/her job since December 2007 could have received a $110,000 check from the federal government for the same cost as the "Stimulus Bill". Do you think that would do more or less for the unemployed people in Spartanburg county than the above grants?

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September 24, 2009

GET THEM WHEN THEY'RE YOUNG

This was filmed in June 2009 at the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, NJ. I am all for being proud of your country and your president. But this goes too far in my opinion. This is exactly why people were worried about Obama speaking directly to the school children. Obama had nothing to do with this, of course. This is school teachers forgetting what their job is and turning little kids into their personal political tools. I especially like how they stole the song about Jesus "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in HIS sight" and re-made it about Obama "Red and yellow, black and white, All are equal in his sight". Nice.

Song 1
Mm, mmm, mm!Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!Mmm, mmm, mmBarack Hussein Obama

Song 2
Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"

Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray!
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September 20, 2009

IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE

Former President Jimmy Carter said he thinks the recent hostility to President Obama's agenda is based on racism. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president."

While I am sure there are some in this country with that feeling, I personally don't know of any, and I live in the South and listen to lots of "Right Wing" talk radio. The only time race is brought up is in response to outlandish comments like this. I, along with many millions of others, am happy that a black man became president, it proves what a free and great country we live in. But the fact that Obama is the first black president, doesn't mean we all ignore his policies. Conservatives are very upset at the huge swing toward the European-style liberal state that Obama is trying to take us. Socialized medicine, cap-and-tax, government takeover of private businesses, bailouts, massive spending and give-aways, crazy anti-capitalism rhetoric from top White House advisers, illegal activity from top funded groups close to Obama, hostility toward Israel, appeasing Russia and Iran, etc. This is why hundreds of thousands of people showed up in Washington DC last weekend in protest, not because Obama has dark skin!

Maybe Carter is just incapable of saying anything negative about a black person, since he was actually a racist in his past. Maybe he is trying to make up for the guilt?

[Jimmy Carter] was a member of the Sumter County School Board, which did not implement the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision handed down by the Supreme Court. Instead, the board continued to segregate school children on the streets of Carter’s hometown. Carter’s board tried to stop the construction of a new “Elementary Negro School” in 1956. Local white citizens had complained that the school would be “too close” to a white school. As a result, “the children, both colored and white, would have to travel the same streets and roads in order to reach their respective schools.” The prospect of black and white children commingling on the streets on their way to school was apparently so horrible to Carter that he requested that the state school board stop construction of the black school until a new site could be found. The state board turned down Carter’s request because of “the staggering cost.” Carter and the rest of the Sumter County School Board then reassured parents at a meeting on October 5, 1956, that the board “would do everything in its power to minimize simultaneous traffic between white and colored students in route to and from school.”

Wow! So why is he qualified to judge others about racism?
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September 12, 2009

THOSE ACORN PEOPLE ARE NUTS!

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is continuing to get themselves in trouble. When people think of community organizers, we think of people who selflessly help others in their community. Hopefully most are like this, but many are not. ACORN seems to be a radical, heavily connected and funded group that will do anything and everything in order to get votes for democrats.

The latest trouble shows workers at ACORN helping a couple who claim to be a pimp and a prostitute. This couple is undercover and has a camera. The ACORN people give them advice on how to start a fake business as a cover for the prostitution, how to get tax breaks for money spent turning tricks, and even how to get child tax credits for underage girls smuggled in from El Salvador to work as sex slaves. You have to watch it to believe it:

This is edited and of course the undercover couple had an agenda, but I will assume for now that this is not faked.
ACORN has plenty of other wonderful qualities:

ACORN intimidates banks to give home loans to people who shouldn't qualify, adding to the subprime bubble.

ACORN with 8000 false voter registration cards

ACORN turns in thousands of more false voter registration cards in Indiana

ACORN with more fraud

What is really amazing is ACORN may have gotten funds from the "Stimulus" Bill.
ACORN gets money from the Stimulus Bill

"Neighborhood Stabilization: $4.2 billion to help communities purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed, vacant properties in order to create more affordable
housing and reduce neighborhood blight"

And ACORN was one of the organizations that was part of the 2010 census. Looks like this latest outrage finally put them out of the game!
ACORN was part of the 2010 census.
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September 8, 2009

GREAT SPEECH - WAS THAT ALL IT WAS?

Obama delivered a speech to all school children today. The speech was awesome overall. It was all about personal responsibility, no excuses, not complaining about things not being fair, working hard even if you're underprivileged, everyone has a talent-find it and use it, stay in school and contribute to your own future and the future of the country, etc. In fact, it was a more conservative speech than I have heard conservatives give! So, I give an A+ on content.

But, unfortunately, Obama's actions do not line up with this rhetoric. Obama's actions are the opposite: we live in an unfair society, the rich take advantage of the poor and must be punished, greed drives most of society, we can't do anything on our own, we need the federal government to help us do everything, minorities can't get ahead without help, Washington has the solution to all our problems. So which is it Obama?!

Original controversy erupted on this speech because a politician (President or not) was forcing himself into every classroom. As President, he holds great power, we live in a country that has historically been very cynical of powerful political leaders (for good reason). Children at school can not vote, they have no choice, they can not change the channel, so many were afraid that there would be unwanted political tones. This is wise to be very cautious in allowing politicians to teach morality. After reading the speech, however, I thought it was a great message. But just because I personally like the message doesn't mean it is a good idea to let politicians speak directly to our children. This is not crazy, right wing fear mongering... it is common sense.

Below are a few excerpts from the speech:

When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

I will have to take his word for it here... but this seems like exaggeration to me. How often did he really have to get up at 4:30am to do extra school work growing up?! Call me a cynic ;-)

I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every Single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has Something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Right on! And that is why this country is so great. Because we have the freedom to go out and use our individual talents to improve our own life. If one person is willing to work hard and better his/her life, and another is not, is it then "fair" to forcibly take money (under threat of jail) from the first person and give it to the second person?

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

This is so true! The future of our country certainly hinges on the youth of today. So then what can be said of the fact that in 17 major cities in this country, OVER half of the students in public schools drop out before graduation! To me that points to a broken system. One in desperate need of change. This speech will not change that sad fact.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in Science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

This is a lot of liberal goo. At least he added build companies and create jobs at the end of this list. Your going to need someone to tax to pay for curing AIDS, protecting the environment, fighting poverty, fighting homelessness and discrimination, and making the nation more fair. Probably not what kids are thinking though: "I want to become a doctor/lawyer, so I can be taxed at over 50% of my income to help fight homelessness!"

My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had.

Barack Obama really has a great personal story. It shows how hard work and a determination to win can overcome every single obstacle. This is a rare thing in human history, and one that, while not exclusive to the United States, is concentrated here! So why does Obama travel the world apologizing for our country and his wife says she has only just been proud of it?

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home –that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

RIGHT ON!

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. But the truth is, being successful is hard.

PREACH IT BROTHER!

Over all, like I said, a terrific speech. A message I certainly HOPE sinks in to a few and they CHANGE for the better.
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September 1, 2009

CONGRESS HARD AT WORK

Congress is back, and hard at work:

On one hand, it is of course a disgrace. Congress has just returned from a month off and are "debating" the budget. Actually, they are completely ignoring everything, playing on the Internet, e-mail, solitaire, etc. I especially like the little American flags next to each laptop, very patriotic as they erode the foundation of this great nation. When the vote comes they will just pass the hugely blotted bill written by a slew of lawyers and lobbyists, knowing close to nothing about the billions/trillions of dollars they just spent. They will be happy as long as their personal, pet projects got funded.

On the other hand, it is quite a fitting picture of where we seem to be going as a country. After all, we elect these people every 4 years, and most will be elected again in 2010 and 2012. Are we all becoming like this? Lazy, self-absorbed, believing we are more important than we are, expecting high pay and a good life while putting forth little effort? When the time comes, are we still the rugged, freedom loving, individuals that made this country, or have we become a soft, entitlement minded people, just looking for the easy way out?

I hope, when called upon, we are still the former. I believe in that.
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December 11, 2009

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