By Jove, I think the Brits got it

I love global warming…it makes my garden grow.  I love carbon dioxide, it makes them grow even better.  Now at the break of the year, this article appears in the Telegraph:

2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved

Looking back over my columns of the past 12 months, one of their major themes was neatly encapsulated by two recent items from The Daily Telegraph.

 

By Christopher Booker

Polar bears will be fine after all Photo: AP

The first, on May 21, headed “Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts” , reported that the entire Alpine “winter sports industry” could soon “grind to a halt for lack of snow”. The second, on December 19, headed “The Alps have best snow conditions in a generation” , reported that this winter’s Alpine snowfalls “look set to beat all records by New Year’s Day”.

Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects.

First, all over the world, temperatures have been dropping in a way wholly unpredicted by all those computer models which have been used as the main drivers of the scare. Last winter, as temperatures plummeted, many parts of the world had snowfalls on a scale not seen for decades. This winter, with the whole of Canada and half the US under snow, looks likely to be even worse. After several years flatlining, global temperatures have dropped sharply enough to cancel out much of their net rise in the 20th century.

Ever shriller and more frantic has become the insistence of the warmists, cheered on by their army of media groupies such as the BBC, that the last 10 years have been the “hottest in history” and that the North Pole would soon be ice-free – as the poles remain defiantly icebound and those polar bears fail to drown. All those hysterical predictions that we are seeing more droughts and hurricanes than ever before have infuriatingly failed to materialise.

Even the more cautious scientific acolytes of the official orthodoxy now admit that, thanks to “natural factors” such as ocean currents, temperatures have failed to rise as predicted (although they plaintively assure us that this cooling effect is merely “masking the underlying warming trend”, and that the temperature rise will resume worse than ever by the middle of the next decade).

Secondly, 2008 was the year when any pretence that there was a “scientific consensus” in favour of man-made global warming collapsed. At long last, as in the Manhattan Declaration last March, hundreds of proper scientists, including many of the world’s most eminent climate experts, have been rallying to pour scorn on that “consensus” which was only a politically engineered artefact, based on ever more blatantly manipulated data and computer models programmed to produce no more than convenient fictions.

OK, ok, they got it…more ice and snow in 2008 than they can add up on their computer models.  Then this ditty from business and media:

EPA ‘Cow Tax’ Could Charge $175 per Dairy Cow to Curb Greenhouse Gases
Farm Bureau warns just this one rule may increase milk production costs up to 8 cents a gallon.

By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
1/5/2009 3:55:30 PM

Call this one of the newest and innovative ways your government has come up with to battle greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Indirectly it could be considered a cheeseburger tax, but one of the suggestions offered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) for regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act is to levy a tax on livestock.

 

The ANPR, released early this year, would give the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas for not only greenhouse gas from manmade sources like transportation and industry, but also “stationary” sources which would include livestock.

 

The New York Farm Bureau assigned a price tag to the cost of greenhouse gas regulation by the EPA in a release last month.

 

“The tax for dairy cows could be $175 per cow, and $87.50 per head of beef cattle. The tax on hogs would upwards of $20 per hog,” the release said. “Any operation with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs would have to obtain permits.”

 

Kate Galbraith, correspondent for The New York Times, noted on the Times’ “Green Inc.” blog that such a “proposal is far from being enacted” and that the “hysteria may be premature.”

 

But Rick Krause, senior director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau, warned it’s certainly feasible – especially based on the rhetoric of President-elect Barack Obama and the use of the EPA to combat global warming. Such action by an Obama administration would take an act of Congress for livestock to be exempt.

 

“The new president has been on record as saying that he really supports regulating greenhouse gases out of the Clean Air Act,” Krause said to the Business & Media Institute. “So, we really have to keep an eye on it. Legislation would really be the only way to exempt it at this point – the cow tax.”

 

Krause said it is difficult to quantify the cost that might be passed directly to the consumer by farmers from the legislation, but predicted it would mean higher costs for dairy production.

 

“It’s hard to figure what it would do to consumer prices since farmers, unlike other industries, really can’t pass their cost along directly like utilities and things do,” “About the only thing we could realistically come up, in terms of any of this stuff – it would add between 7 and 8 cents per gallon of milk costs to farmers. So it would cost them 7 or 8 cents more to produce a gallon of milk.”

 

Even the Department of Agriculture warned the EPA that smaller farms and ranches would have difficulty with limits as much as 100 tons annually on emissions:

 

“If GHG emissions from agricultural sources are regulated under the CAA, numerous farming operations that currently are not subject to the costly and time-consuming Title V permitting process would, for the first time, become covered entities. Even very small agricultural operations would meet a 100-tons-per-year emissions threshold. For example, dairy facilities with over 25 cows, beef cattle operations of over 50 cattle, swine operations with over 200 hogs, and farms with over 500 acres of corn may need to get a Title V permit. It is neither efficient nor practical to require permitting and reporting of GHG emissions from farms of this size. Excluding only the 200,000 largest commercial farms, our agricultural landscape is comprised of 1.9 million farms with an average value of production of $25,589 on 271 acres. These operations simply could not bear the regulatory compliance costs that would be involved.”

 

 Wait, I’m out of breath, cow poots now at $175 each, what’ll they think of next…a global flatulance tax.  Wonder what one of big Al Gore’s carbon poot credits will sell for? And you read it right here.  Hahahahaha!

Steve

When they pry my cold dead fingers…

Bill Foster sends me these.  What lesson are we to learn here, guns are bad, guns are good?  Guns are for bad guys, or only bad guys will have guns?  Well, if the wackos in government have their way, we can have all the guns we want…just no ammo.  And yes, idiocy reins in the great State of Tennessee.  I just hope that since we had enough smart legislators to pass a carry law, that this “limbo” bill will go away.  First, the story from the Washington times, and a young black writer named Stephen Roberts:

In the summer of 2008, police in the District set up military-style checkpoints to stop vehicles without a “legitimate purpose” from entering the city’s Trinidad neighborhood. It was a bold attempt to stop the murders and violent crimes plaguing the area.

During this month’s inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, that same police force is already warning it will not be able to provide adequate protection to revelers taking advantage of extended drinking hours at bars and nightclubs throughout the city.

In 2002, when Shelley Parker discovered the Capitol Hill home she had recently bought was located on a block where men gathered to drink beer and possibly sell drugs, she got a dog for protection, installed a security camera and joined an anti-crime patrol. These actions earned her taunts and death threats from the men and vandalism to her home and car. Seeking advice on protecting herself, a police officer told Ms. Parker to get a gun. This was unhelpful, since most gun ownership in Washington was illegal.

Guns are often used to commit violent crimes, but might they also be an answer for cities suffering from crime? St. Louis Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe thinks so, and suggests citizens arm themselves. The Associated Press quotes him as saying: “The community has to be ready to defend itself, because it’s clear the economy is going to get worse, and criminals are getting more bold.”

Mr. Troupe notes that a St. Louis district police commander told him that “there was nothing he could do to protect us and the community… that he didn’t have the manpower.” Like Washington, St. Louis has an unacceptably high crime rate. With ten being the least safe, St. Louis and Washington both earn a rating of eight regarding “violent crime” on the Sperling’s BestPlaces data analysis website. The national average is three.

It’s clear that something must be done, and current methods aren’t working. Peace and justice are only as strong as people’s will and power to maintain it. A prospective criminal must be presented with fearsome consequences or crime will flourish. But so many police forces are overwhelmed and incarceration is not always an effective deterrent. Prison these days is just as likely to provide “street cred” as it is to induce shame. It makes many criminals more hardened and more sophisticated in their methods. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that two-thirds of released prisoners are rearrested within three years.

Crime thrives in the vacuum created by insufficient law enforcement and deterrence. That is why it’s time that law-abiding citizens exercise their constitutional right to arm themselves.

Kennesaw, Ga. actually passed a law in 1982 requiring households to have a gun. The city’s crime rate fell drastically afterwards. There were 55 house burglaries in the year before the law, for example, but 26 the year after and only 11 several years later. In 2007, Family Circle magazine ranked Kennesaw one of the top-ten cities in America for families. With such laws on the books and an active citizenry, prospective criminals have to weigh whether his potential misdeeds are worth putting his life at risk.

What about Ms. Parker? She sued the D.C. government for the right to own a gun. This past June, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with her and struck down the city’s gun ban.

As Alderman Troupe’s call to arms was being reported on news programs across the country, a lesser-known story circulated in St. Louis — the shooting death of a 22-year-old police officer named Norvelle Brown.

While such tragedy often precedes calls for fewer guns, the better response is for law-abiding citizens to work hard at promoting and nurturing good in their community, as well as being willing to stop evil, even if it is found at the end of a gun.

Stephen Roberts is a research associate for the Project 21 black leadership network and seminary graduate.

Then I get this info from Bill:

The bill that is being pushed in 18 states (including Illinois and Indiana) requires all ammunition to be encoded by the manufacturer in a data base of all ammunition sales. So they will know how much you buy and what calibers. Nobody can sell any ammunition after June 30, 2009 unless the ammunition is coded.

Any privately held uncoded ammunition must be destroyed by July 1, 2011.
(Including hand loaded ammo.) They will also charge a .05 cent tax on every round so every box of ammo you buy will go up at least $2.50 or more!

If they can deprive you of ammo they do not need to take your gun!

This legislation is currently pending in 18 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississ ippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington.

To find more about the anti-gun group that is sponsoring this legislation and the specific legislation for each state, go to: http://ammunitionaccountability.org/Legislation.htm

I couldn’t stand it, so I looked up the goofballs at ammunition accountability and saw this id of ammo:

 

 

Bullet identification technology, known as an ammunition coding technology, has been developed and will provide law enforcement with modern crime fighting tools. Ammunition coding technology assigns a unique code to every round of ammunition manufactured, and by recording sales records, law enforcement personnel will be able to easily trace the ammunition involved in a crime and have an avenue to pursue and solve even the most difficult cases.

The unique code is micro-laser engraved on factory-produced ammunition. This laser engraving is etched on both the projectile and the inside of the cartridge casing.

 

 

 

 

Each code will be common to a single box of cartridges and unique from all other ammunition sold. The unique ammunition codes will be tracked and records maintained to identify individual ammunition purchases. The ammunition coding technology will provide a method for law enforcement personnel to trace ammunition purchases and link bullets and cartridge cases found at crime scenes to the initial retail ammunition purchaser.

This system will not necessarily prove who pulled the trigger, but it will provide law enforcement with a valuable lead and a starting point to quickly begin their investigations.

The design of the ammunition coding technology laser engraving system will allow law enforcement personnel to identify the bullet code in cases where as little as 20% of the bullet base remains intact after recovery. Since bullets are designed to keep the base solid and in its original configuration, the likelihood of ammunition codes remaining legible after recovery is very high. Law enforcement testing has already shown a 99% success rate in identifying the ammunition code after bullet recovery.

Let me see if I can spell out how this is wrong.  No matter how you go about it, it’s a liberal movement to subvert the constitution. 

Amendment II

 

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Now, I’m assuming they’re gonna say that we will have the right to bear arms, just not the right to buy any ammo but marked ammo.  Here’s the problem.  To keep the security of a free state, the state can’t know what’s against them.  It’s the very thing that has kept this country free since 1776.  Shall not be infringed (or hindered).  If you hinder the right to bear arms to maintain a free state, that is a flagrant violation of the 2nd amendment. 

Once again, I’m a simple man, I ain’t none them fancy lawyerin people who are paid millions to cipher this stuff, but neither were those courageous founders who wrote it so simple that a man with little education could understand that he had the right to hold land and defend it in this country. 

When they pry my cold dead fingers….

 

Steve

Food co-op hit by SWAT raid fights back

When I first read this article……I thought why is this happening in America? What’s wrong with selling your fresh produce, milk or pasture raised beef and chickens to people in your community ? We see that done daily in rural Tennessee. This is an unbelievable story here. A lawsuit has been filed by Buckeye Institute’s 1851 Center for Constitutional Law. I’m including an article by them below the Worldnet Daily article and a video from You Tube of the Stowers family.

---

‘Government basically engaged in intimidation

By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A LaGrange, Ohio, family whose food co-op connecting local consumers with local farmers was raided by sheriff’s deputies is fighting back with the help of two organizations aimed at protecting the basic rights of Americans.

“We hope that the Lorrain County Court of Common Pleas recognizes that government is overreaching in this case and is basically engaged in intimidation tactics to frighten people into believing that they cannot provide food for themselves,” said Pete Kennedy, a spokesman for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

The organization, which is intended to protect and defend the rights of farmers and consumers to have direct commerce, has announced it is working with the Center for Constitutional Law at the Buckeye Institute, which has filed a court complaint alleging authorities “made a haphazard unannounced entry into the property with guns drawn, as other officers surrounded the property, with guns drawn,” then “confiscated the family’s personal food supply, personal computers, and personal cell phones.”

The complaint names the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the Lorain County General Health District and the state’s attorney general. A spokeswoman at the Department of Agriculture said its officers were at the scene in an advisory role. A spokeswoman at the county health agency refused to comment except to explain it was a “licensing” issue regarding the family’s Manna Storehouse.

Kennedy said his organization works in support of allowing farmers and consumers to have “direct commerce with each other free from government interference and harassement.”

“This is an example where, once again, the government is trying to deny people their inalienable, fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice,” said Gary Cox, general counsel for the FTCLDF. “The purpose of our complaint is to correct that wrong.”

The organizations have reported the raid came at Manna Storehouse, a private food cooperative run by John and Jacqueline Stowers. In a video posted both on YouTube and on the Buckeye Institute’s website, the couple explained how they just wanted to provide a resource for both farmers and consumers.

The complaint also seeks a preliminary injunction against the Department of Agriculture and declarations stipulating that Manna Storehouse and the Stowers are not a “retail food establishment” under Ohio’s Food Safety Code. As a private cooperative, Manna Storehouse is exempted from the Food Safety Code, the organizations said.

Officials with the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nutrition education non-profit, said several of its members had been participating in the co-op, but now their food supplies are disrupted.

The Buckete Institute’s spokesman, David Hansen, said, “The use of these police state tactics on a peaceful family in simply unacceptable.”

He described the situation, “Officers rushed into the Stowers’ home with guns drawn and held the family – including 10 young children – captive for six hours. This outrageous case of bureaucratic overreach must be addressed.”

Read the entire article here:

Raid on Family’s Home and Organic Food Co-Op Challenged

Columbus – The Buckeye Institute’s 1851 Center for Constitutional Law today took legal action against the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and the Lorain County Health Department for violating the constitutional rights of John and Jacqueline Stowers of LaGrange, Ohio. The Stowers operate an organic food cooperative called Manna Storehouse. ODA and Lorain County Health Department agents forcefully raided their home and unlawfully seized the family’s personal food supply, cell phones and personal computers. The legal center seeks to halt future similar raids. The complaint was filed in Lorain County Court of Common Pleas.

“The use of these police state tactics on a peaceful family is simply unacceptable,” Buckeye Institute President David Hansen said.  “Officers rushed into the Stowers’ home with guns drawn and held the family – including ten young children – captive for six hours. This outrageous case of bureaucratic overreach must be addressed.”

The Buckeye Institute argues the right to buy food directly from local farmers; distribute locally-grown food to neighbors; and pool resources to purchase food in bulk are rights that do not require a license. In addition, the right of peaceful citizens to be free from paramilitary police raids, searches and seizures is guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 14, Article 1 of the Ohio Constitution.

“The Stowers’ constitutional rights were violated over grass-fed cattle, pastured chickens and pesticide-free produce,” Buckeye Institute 1851 Center of Constitutional Law Director Maurice Thompson said. “Ohioans do not need a government permission slip to run a family farm and co-op, and should not be subjected to raids when they do not have one. This legal action will ensure the ODA understands and respects Ohioans’ rights.”

On the morning of December 1, 2008, law enforcement officers forcefully entered the Stowers’ residence, without first announcing they were police or stating the purpose of the visit. With guns drawn, officers swiftly and immediately moved to the upstairs of the home, finding ten children in the middle of a home-schooling lesson. Officers then moved Jacqueline Stowers and her children to their living room where they were held for more than six hours.

Such are raids are beyond the scope of the purely administrative authority delegated to ODA and county health departments. In enforcing licensure laws, these agencies are only permitted to contract for routine enforcement services. Forceful raids and sweeping searches and seizures are not routine, and exceed the authority granted to ODA and county health departments.

There has never been a complaint filed against Manna Storehouse or the Stowers related to the quality or healthfulness of the food distributed through the co-op.  The Buckeye Institute’s legal center will defend the Stowers from any criminal charges related to the raid.

Read the entire article @ buckeyeinstitute.org

The Economy-IS THE PARTY OVER?

Here’s an interesting and thought provoking article by Derry Brownfield. I know Steve is familiar  with  Derry, but others may not be. Derry Brownfield was born in 1932 and grew up during the depression. He is a farmer and a broadcaster. Derry attended the College of Agriculture at the University of Missouri where he received his B.S. and M.S. degrees.

Derry started farming when he was 16 years old and received the Future Farmers of America State Farmer degree in 1949. Since that time the Brownfield Farm has grown to over 1000 acres maintaining a herd of 200 registered Charolias cows.

In 1972, Derry and his partner established the Brownfield Network which now serves 250 radio stations throughout the Midwest with news and market information. In 1994, Derry started his own syndicated radio talk show and he is one of the most popular radio talk show hosts in America.

IS THE PARTY OVER?

By Derry Brownfield
January 4, 2009

NewsWithViews.com

We have been watching the Stock Market, the multi-billion dollar bailout, bank closings, mortgage defaults and now the entire economic mess is being turned over to the “unelected financial elite.” Patrick J. Buchanan writes: “The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people’s wealth, is like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another. We are witnessing what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores history and forgets and abandons the philosophy and principles that made it great. For years Americans have spent more than we earned. We saved nothing. Our standard of living is going to fall. The party’s over. What we are witnessing today is how empires end.”

Ron Paul stated: “The bailout is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. You can’t stop a problem of too much spending and too much deficits and too much monetary inflation with more of it. So I’m positively opposed to the bailout and believe it will just delay the correction that is required.” Paul goes on to say: “We are in the middle of something very big. We’re not talking about trillions of dollars, the obligation is immeasurable. An economy structured on debt and credit lies at the root of the current financial meltdown. The end comes when the people reject the dollar and I think we’re getting awfully close to this. The answers are in the free market, sound money and our Constitution.”

Below is a video I’m inserting where Ron Paul is discussing the bailout and where the Federal Reserve gets their authority to coin our money from with Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve (which by the way isn’t federal at all). The Constitution gives ONLY Congress the right to coin our money....

Article 1, Section 8, clause 5 of the Constitution gives Congress (not delegate to the Federal Reserve) the power:

“To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;…..”

In the video below: … you can hear Congressman Paul emphasize the word “coin.”

Thomas M. Hoenig, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City wrote in the fall issue of the President’s Message, “I can tell that if you are asking the question; is my money safe in my bank? – the answer is almost always, Yes. Between l980 and l994 more than l,600 banks nationwide either failed or received financial assistance amid turbulence in agriculture, energy and real estate markets. The number of banks involved in that crises is far larger than what we are seeing today. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said 117 institutions were on its ‘PROBLEM LIST.’ Out of approximately 8,500 commercial banks, this represents only a little more than one percent of all banks. The number also makes it clear that banks remain a good place to store your money. Moreover, even if your bank fails, you will get all your money back up to $l00,000 immediately.” (The $l00,000 figure was recently changed to $250,000)

Hoenig goes on to say: “As far as the customers of a failed bank are concerned, the FDIC is the insurance agency and customers will get their money the next business day.”

A NOTE OF INTEREST – A married couple could actually hold three accounts in the same bank. One under each individual name, one in a joint account, and have $750,000 worth of their deposits covered by the FDIC.

Having lived through that period when more than 1,600 banks failed, I remember very well what happened. A high percentage of those banks were in rural areas and farming communities. The problem came about because farmers had overextended in land purchases and when interest went to 20% they couldn’t make their annual land payments. These community banks were taken over by larger regional banks that weren’t so heavily involved in farm loans.

This time it isn’t small community banks losing millions of dollars. Today it’s Bear Stearns, IndyMac Bank, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac… the list goes on, all mega-banks involving not millions, not even billions, but trillions of dollars. Refinancing is out of the question. Those l,600 plus banks that were taken over in the l980’s were small banks, many with fewer than one billion dollars in assets. At that time the number of community banks decreased by 36%, while larger banking organizations increased their shares of banking assets significantly. Today when Bank of America purchased Merrill Lynch, and JP Morgan Chase acquired Bear Stearns, it shows how vast amounts of financial power is being concentrated into the hands of a few financially powerful elite.

This crisis is of historical perspective and is affecting finances on a world wide basis. Joan Veon sees the crisis as a globalized, feudalistic structure that the Europeans and Commonwealth countries have. America’s move to feudalism is in the process of being finalized. The backbone of the middle class is home ownership, which also includes the property under the building. Joan believes that the new system will change America’s entire mortgage structure to leasehold, a system used all over Europe, whereby individuals will pay a monthly rent to the owner of the property that their house sits on. There will be a total restructuring of property rights in America to fit our new third world status. All of the rights of property ownership will be changed forever – - “Gone With the Wind.” Pat Buchanan may have been right when he said “the party’s over.”

Read the entire article @ newswithviews.com