In an opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) declares “Cap and Trade is Dead”. I say, that is just OFS!
A few excerpts for your reading pleasure.
[...]“Internationally, world leaders finally acknowledged that the recession has sapped them of their political power to impose devastating new carbon-restrictions. China and India are clear they won’t join the West in an economic suicide pact. Next month’s summit in Copenhagen is a bust. Instead of producing legally binding agreements, it will be dogged by queries about the legitimacy of the scientists who wrote the reports that form its basis.
The next opportunity to get international agreement is in Mexico City, 2010—a U.S. election year. Democrats were already publicly acknowledging there will be no domestic climate legislation in 2009 and privately acknowledging their great unease at passing a huge energy tax on Americans headed for a midterm vote.
Add to that the CRU scandal, which pivots the focus to potential fraud. Republicans are launching investigations, and the pressure is building on Democrats to hold hearings, since climate scientists were funded with U.S. taxpayer dollars. Mr. Inhofe’s office this week sent letters to federal agencies and outside scientists warning them not to delete their own CRU-related emails and documents, which may also be subject to Freedom of Information requests.”[...]
Well, your humble blogger got back from three weeks in Ghana where business is sideways, the traffic is the WORST I have ever seen and no one has heard of charge cards. Unreal. It would take too long to write it all up so let me just say it was the most interesting and frustrating place I have ever tried to do business. And there is business to be had.
The Mighty Asian Badger Blog, a hotbed of rants and raves cutting edge commentary will be down for awhile as your humble blogger will be overseas for who knows how long.
Sorry for the lack posts….I know my readers expect more from this cutting edge report of rants and raves the thoughts of the day…so here are a few in random order. I’m so disgusted by Washington, I’m incapable of writing on a single thought other than target practice….PULL!!
1) The Packers have NOT looked good over the last two games despite the scores. They had two additional pre-season games in Detroit and Cleveland. I see at best, an 8-8 finish. I hope I’m wrong. If they don’t beat Minnesota next week, it’s time to start over on the coaching and GM side. I could go on but I’m not that good a typist. See me at DR for more.
2) 0bamas health care plan will increase the national debt at a rate of at LEAST $800 million per year. Why isn’t the left screaming like they did when the GOP was running debts at a much lower rate? Well, we already know the answer to that.
3) Alzheimer’s is an insidious disease…I have yclept it “God’s Cosmic Joke”.
4) My cyberfriend, Dr. Bond, married a beautiful Russian girl and got her out of the shithole that is modern Russia.
5) Speaking of shitholes, why is 0bama deserting our men and women in Afghanistan? It doesn’t take that long to make a decison on troops dying, Barry. You’re still a shithead. Fuck you.
Support them as Gen. McChrystal has outlined or get ‘em out of harms way. BTW, our job there is to kill terrorists and those who support terrorists. Read books on Sherman and Patton if you have a problem. Of course, Barry, we know you won’t. You’re not capable of doing your own scutwork. Let me also say this to Gen. McChrystal….well done, SIR!!
To our men and women over there…..hang tough. You’re the best. America is with you.
The Wall Street Journal had an editorial piece today pointing out that Pol Pot Doyle has given the profs the right to organize. The question is, will they do it?
“f some professors at the University of Wisconsin at Madison get their way, the first thing a newly minted PhD will learn about is not research or teaching—but union dues. This summer Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Jim Doyle gave the school’s professors the right to unionize. Not all want to, so this fall the faculty lounges are livelier than usual.
Organized labor has already wreaked havoc on the nation’s K-12 public-school system, and it’s often thought this could never happen to a higher education system that is the envy of the world. But over the past 10 years or so, unions have become an increasingly common presence at colleges and universities. More than 375,000 faculty and graduate students are members of a collective bargaining unit, according to the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions. That’s about a third of the total, and a 24% increase in the past decade.
Thanks to unionization provisions Gov. Doyle put into Wisconsin’s biennial budget, things are likely to get worse. There were three important elements in the initiative.” [...]
Go and read the whole thing if you’d like but it is comforting to know a few of the profs understand how devestating a union would be.
[...]“John Witte, an education scholar at the school, says he would quit if the faculty organize. He tells us it would be “demoralizing to see my hard work rewarded with the same pay as someone who doesn’t do hard work.” Unionization, he says, would be “devastating to the university.” Others worry that the campus’s pervasive atmosphere of political correctness will sway much of the faculty to vote for unionization.
In 2008, the American Federation of Teachers announced a joint campaign with the American Association of University Professors to unionize more public universities. “We don’t have a number in mind,” Sandra Schroeder, chairman of the AFT’s higher education council, said, but it’s “as many as we possibly can.” If UW Madison goes, expect more former free-thinkers to go over to the union mind set.”
Congratulations to Prof. Witte; he’s got it exactly right. Whatever a Sandra Schroeder is, she’s got it wrong and history proves it.
On Sunday, October 4, the MJS ran an editorial supporting MKE County Executive Scott Walker and his ideas about forming an office for business development in Milwaukee County. You can read the editorial here.
Now, this editorial was interesting on two fronts, the first being the MJS actually supported Scott Walker on something. But here’s something that was even more interesting.
“At first glance, there is reason to doubt whether Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s proposal for an office of business development makes much sense. After all, there are already several entities in the region working on economic development issues. Done wrong, Walker’s proposal could be duplicative of those efforts and confusing to outsiders.
There’s the Milwaukee 7 economic development consortium that covers all of southeastern Wisconsin, and, in Milwaukee County, the cities of Milwaukee, Wauwatosa and West Allis all have offices or departments dedicated to attracting businesses and growing the economy. The City of Milwaukee has roughly 200 people working on it, and they’re doing a good job in tough times.”[...]
200 people on the payroll at the Milwaukee business development office? Assuming the above isn’t a typo, that’s just moronic. What the hell could 200 people possibly have to do and justify a paycheck? It’s not like they’ve had any big wins in the last, I don’t know how many years.
Let’s assume the average salary is $40,000 with a benefits package of $35,000. That’s $75,000 x 200 or $15,000,000 in salary for what? Has this bloated group pulled in enough new businesses to expand the tax rolls by $15,000,000 per year? And that’s just to break even.
In the private sector, the above office would be staffed by 5, maybe 10 people who would have true accountability AND responsibility. Notice that Walker’s office, which encompasses all of Milwaukee County, has only FOUR people and a budget of $400,000.
I’m not against development offices. In fact, I think they’re necessary. But in order to truly succeed, the office and officers have to have ombudsman powers to pull together the various factions necessary for new business development. The way the City Milwaukee business development office is structured, you need an ombudsman just for that office alone. And we get to pay for it.
Please tell me how this creates jobs for the American worker.
A tiny car company backed by former Vice President Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000.
The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive Inc. follows a $465 million government loan to Tesla Motors Inc., purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster. Tesla is a California startup focusing on all-electric vehicles, with a number of celebrity endorsements that is backed by investors that have contributed to Democratic campaigns.”[...]
If the car was designed in the U.S. and prototypes were built in the U.S., why can’t total production be in the U.S.? Maybe Algore doesn’t want to deal with those pesky UAW members.
I’m not going to even comment about yet another rape of the American taxpayer. I’m too nauseous.
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.
Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it “Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold.”
“The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent.
A previously unreleased analysis prepared by the U.S. Department of Treasury says the total in new taxes would be between $100 billion to $200 billion a year. At the upper end of the administration’s estimate, the cost per American household would be an extra $1,761 a year.“[...]
Now remember, this is EVERY household in America. It includes homeowners, renters, students in dorms, everybody. This doesn’t include the incremental costs to business. Of course, those costs will be passed on to the consumer.
