42 to 19

That’s percentage of people who think the Marxman-Wacky bill will hurt the economy rather than help it. A new Rasmussen poll shows a two to one disparity between the two groups:

Americans have mixed feelings about the historic climate change bill that passed the House on Friday, but 42% say it will hurt the U.S. economy.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 19% believe the climate change bill passed by the House on Friday will help the economy. Fifteen percent (15%) say it will have no impact, and 24% are not sure.

A majority of both Republicans (56%) and adults not affiliated with either major political party (52%) think the bill will hurt the economy. Among Democrats, however, 30% say it will help the economy, 23% that it will hurt and 21% say it will have no impact.

That is not a strong showing even among Democrats. The numbers are disastrous for Democrats unless the economy recovers between now and election day 2010. But with the current unemployment, this appears unlikely.

An awful lot of Democrats have left their political throats exposed with this one vote.

Flunking Basic Math

Forbes on the Marxman-Wacky fraud bill:

Electricity is a good thing. It powers your computer, drives economic growth, transmits images from Tehran streets, keeps preemies alive in hospitals, prevents meat from rotting and enchants and cools you in movie theaters.

Yes, electricity is a good thing. Where does it come from?

In the U.S., electricity is produced from these sources. If you are reading this on a handheld and can’t read Wikipedia’s wonderful pie chart, here is the breakdown:

48.9% — Coal
20% — Natural Gas
19.3% — Nuclear
1.6% — Petroleum

Got that? A tick over 88% of U.S. electricity comes from three sources: coal, gas and nuclear. Petroleum brings the contribution of so-called “evil” energy–that is, energy that is carbon- or uranium-based–to almost 90%.

The remaining sources of U.S. electricity, the renewables, are, by comparison, tiny players:

7.1% — Hydroelectric
2.4% — Other Renewables
0.7% — Other

Hydroelectric accounts for 70% of renewable energy in America. But, of course, hydro is mostly tapped out. Almost every dam that could be built has been built. Ironically enough, political opposition to building more dams comes from the same crowd of tree huggers who oppose coal, gas and uranium.

Do you see where I’m going?

The Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House on Friday by a 219-212 margin will punitively tax energy sources that contribute 90% of current U.S. electricity (or 71% if you want to leave out nuclear). The taxes will be used to subsidize the 10% renewable contributors (but really just 3% after you leave out hydro).

I’ve pointed out before that wind energy is a bad bet. Yet this is deemed to be the future of this nation. Marxman-Wacky dooms the United States to a future of rapidly-rising energy costs and a much lower standard of living. On top of the, it hammers the economy while we are still in serious economic trouble. 

On top of that, the “science” this is based on is more faith than fact.

Start calling your Senators and help stop this monstrosity.

A Break With Tradition

Quite often, the winner of the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, held annually at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair tends to be from the “Chinese Crested” breed. (Which, we suspect, is actually a huge, complicated practical joke on the part of the Chinese.) This is because the good looking Chinese Crested dogs can make a grown man cry for his mother.

However, there has been a break in the tradition this year. Enter a dog named Pabst:

A new champion has emerged in the competitive world of ugly-dog exhibitions. Pabst, a 4-year-old boxer mix, was crowned World’s Ugliest Dog at the annual event held at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in northern California on Friday.

Pabst, like many of the event’s competitors, is a rescue dog — owner Miles Egstad of Citrus Heights, Calif., adopted him from a shelter three years ago. He’s named for the well-known cheap adult beverage because, Egstad said, he had a “bitter beer face.”

Pabst’s win was something of an upset for the competition, now in its 21st year, which often appears to favor members of the Chinese crested breed. “Hairless” Chinese cresteds (which aren’t truly hairless, as tufts of fur sprout from their heads, feet and tails), with their tendency toward dental issues that cause their tongues to stick out, are typically World’s Ugliest Dog shoo-ins. (Chinese cresteds also come in a coated variety known as “powderpuff,” and hairless and coated puppies can even be born in the same litter. Understandably, however, the powderpuffs aren’t the regular victors in the Ugly Dog competition that the hairless dogs are.)

Pabst took the championship away from – wait for it – a Chinese Crested – who won the purebred category.  There hasn’t been this much excitement since Elwood – a Chinese Crested – won. (Well, ok, we didn’t post about last years winner, so we don’t have a lot of history to go on. Hey, we’re short on staff here.)

We will however, point out that Pabst looked very familiar when we first saw the picture of him. Then it hit us. Pabst looks distressingly like a gym teacher we had in junior high school. In fact, on close inspection, we are not at all sure that it is not the same creature.

Honduras

Go read Fausta, she has it all put together.

What is of concern here is that Obama, who ignored, belittled and reluctantly supported Iranian dissidents jumped right out to support a guy who was blatantly trying to destroy his country’s Constitution.

But Wait

There is no more. Billy Mays has died:

Internationally known TV product pitchman Billy Mays, who rose to the top of his profession with a boisterous persona that touched consumers and helped create more than $1 billion in merchandise sales, was found dead in his South Tampa home this morning .

His wife Deborah woke up and found Mays, 50, in bed and not breathing, Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

He was dead when Tampa Fire Rescue arrived at Mays’ house at 2853 Bowen Daniel Drive, where he was with his wife and 3-year-old daughter. The time of death was reported as 7:45 a.m.

My youngest boy actually told me about this. Personally, I do not watch a lot of television, but even so, I knew who Billy Mays was. I think that’s a pretty good epitaph for a TV pitchman.

Rest in Peace.

Target: Scientists Unwilling To Support AGW

The world’s left wing has a slightly different agenda focus than the US left:

Dr Mitchell Taylor has been researching the status and management of polar bears in Canada and around the Arctic Circle for 30 years, as both an academic and a government employee. More than once since 2006 he has made headlines by insisting that polar bear numbers, far from decreasing, are much higher than they were 30 years ago. Of the 19 different bear populations, almost all are increasing or at optimum levels, only two have for local reasons modestly declined.

Dr Taylor agrees that the Arctic has been warming over the last 30 years. But he ascribes this not to rising levels of CO2 – as is dictated by the computer models of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and believed by his PBSG colleagues – but to currents bringing warm water into the Arctic from the Pacific and the effect of winds blowing in from the Bering Sea.

He has also observed, however, how the melting of Arctic ice, supposedly threatening the survival of the bears, has rocketed to the top of the warmists’ agenda as their most iconic single cause. The famous photograph of two bears standing forlornly on a melting iceberg was produced thousands of times by Al Gore, the WWF and others as an emblem of how the bears faced extinction – until last year the photographer, Amanda Byrd, revealed that the bears, just off the Alaska coast, were in no danger. Her picture had nothing to do with global warming and was only taken because the wind-sculpted ice they were standing on made such a striking image.

Dr Taylor had obtained funding to attend this week’s meeting of the PBSG, but this was voted down by its members because of his views on global warming. The chairman, Dr Andy Derocher, a former university pupil of Dr Taylor’s, frankly explained in an email (which I was not sent by Dr Taylor) that his rejection had nothing to do with his undoubted expertise on polar bears: “it was the position you’ve taken on global warming that brought opposition”.

Please go over and read it all. It speaks volumes that the people pushing AGW are trying to shut down any dissent. People secure in their science have no need to do so.

The “science” of the AGW true believers, however, does not actually constitute science.

For example, there is, indeed, a loss of ice cover at the North Pole right now. But it is completely negated by the addition of ice at the South Pole. Net result for the planet: zero. 

Not that you’d read that in the MSM.

Via Memeorandum.

Target: Democrats

By the left:

In the high-stakes battle over health care, a growing cadre of liberal activists is aiming its sharpest firepower against Democratic senators who they accuse of being insufficiently committed to the cause.

The attacks — ranging from tart news releases to full-fledged advertising campaigns — have elicited rebuttals from lawmakers and sparked a debate inside the party over the best strategy for achieving President Obama’s top priority of a comprehensive health-system overhaul.

The rising tensions between Democratic legislators and constituencies that would typically be their natural allies underscore the high hurdles for Obama as he tries to hold together a diverse, fragile coalition. Activists say they are simply pressing for quick delivery of “true health reform,” but the intraparty rift runs the risk of alienating centrist Democrats who will be needed to pass a bill.

In recent days — and during this week’s congressional recess — left-leaning bloggers and grass-roots organizations such as MoveOn.org, Health Care for America Now and the Service Employees International Union have singled out Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) for the criticism more often reserved for opposition party members.

“Will Mary Landrieu sell out Louisiana for $1.6 million?” says one Internet ad that suggests a link between contributions she has received from the medical industry and her reluctance to back the creation of a government-sponsored insurance option.

Why the full frontal assault on Democrats? Simple. If Harry Reid can muster a simple majority, the leftist Democrats plan on blasting this health care “fix” (it is not) through, bypassing the normal rules of the Senate.  

What they are not calculating, I suspect, is that should they do so, they will own – wholly – the ire of those people who are forced off their private health insurance because their employers decided it was cheaper to pay than play in a rigged game.

If I were one of the targeted Democrats, my back would be up right now. I sincerely hope this effort by the likes of MorOn.org accomplishes exactly the same result as their attacks on the surge in Iraq: the opposite of what they intended. 

I’ll just point out that MorOn.org is very, very loud and knows how to grab left-leaning media attention. But in terms of actual strength, not so much. So the targeted Senators have no real reason to fear the sliming from such groups.

Via Memeorandum.

Lies, Damned Lies And Low, Low Medicare Administrative Costs

Tom Bevan at Real Clear Politics:

In fact, President Obama has made this claim several times. This statistic about Medicare’s low administrative costs has become one of the linchpins in the argument for a “public option” on health care. The only problem, not surprisingly, is that it’s hogwash.

The explanation is really quite simple, and it’s provided here by Robert Book of the Heritage Foundation. The statistic cited by Alter and Krugman uses administrative costs calculated as a percentage of total health care costs (For Medicare it’s roughly 3 percent and for private insurers it’s roughly 12 percent).

But here’s the catch: because Medicare is devoted to serving a population that is elderly, and therefore in need of greater levels of medical care, it generates significantly higher expenditures than private insurance plans, thus making administrative costs smaller as a percentage of total costs. This creates the appearance that Medicare is a model of administrative efficiency. What Jon Alter sees as a “miracle” is really just a statistical sleight of hand.

The fact is, on a per person basis, the government plans simply costs more in terms of administrative costs than competently run private sector insurance. Anyone who has ever dealt with any Federal agency knows that intuitively. Bevan calls this oft-touted statistic “hogwash”.

I’d call it an outright, intentional lie.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Nancy Pelosi said last night before the Crap and Tax bill passed that there were four words to remember about passing the bill. Those would be the four words in the title of this post:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) followed Mr. Boehner to close debate, but spoke only briefly to urge passage. “Just remember these four words: Jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs,” she said, reinforcing her party’s portrayal of the bill as good for the economy.

As you may recall, we were assured that millions of jobs would be “created or saved” if only the “stimulus” bill were passed. Unemployment, they swore, would not exceed 8%. Well, we are at 9.4% now and that number is expected to climb. Many states, in fact, are already well into double digit unemployment. Then there is the latest from the US Department of Labor:

Employers took 2,933 mass layoff actions in May that resulted in the separation of 312,880 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer.  The number of mass layoff events in May increased by 221 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 41,654.  Over the year, the number of mass layoff events increased by 1,232 and associated
initial claims increased by 132,322.  Initial claims rose to its highest level on record, while events matched the peak level from March 2009, with data available back to 1995.  In May, 1,331 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in
165,802 initial claims.  Over the year, manufacturing events and initial claims more than doubled.  (See table 1.)

During the 18 months from December 2007 through May 2009, the total number of mass layoff events (seasonally adjusted) was 37,059, and the number of initial claims (seasonally adjusted) was 3,811,307.  (December 2007 was the start of a recession as designated by the National Bureau
of Economic Research.)
  
The national unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in May 2009, seasonally adjusted, up from 8.9 percent the prior month and from 5.5 percent a year earlier.  In May, total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 345,000 over the month and by 5,366,000 from a year earlier.

By the yardstick of the “stimulus”, Pelosi’s repetition of the word “jobs” like a mantra indicate that we would all do well to, indeed, remember jobs.

As in remember when there were any jobs at all. 

Because the trade war that the House bill would touch off will sink this nation’s economy completely.

Nothing Times Eight Is Nothing

Via AllahPundit at Hot Air:

Update: 219-212, with eight Republicans – the difference between passage and defeat – defecting to vote yes. The boss is already hunting around for their names. I hope they got a sweet deal from Pelosi because talk radio is about to make their lives very, very difficult.

Update: Inhofe predicts cap and trade will die in the Senate, which is probably true. I wonder if that made the bitter pill easier to swallow for those eight Republicans.

Update: The boss has the names:

Bono Mack
Castle
Kirk
Lance
LoBiondo
McHugh
Reichert
Smith (NJ)

For the eight I promise nothing. As in I will not contribute one thin dime to the Republican party if a fraction of a cent of party support goes to any of those eight. I will contribute, cheerfully, to any primary challenger for any of the eight.

But for the eight, nothing. Nothing at all. Exactly what they deserve. Exactly what they are to me.

That is also a warning to the party. You have a problem if you support any of these nothings.

Unsettled Science

The Wall Street Journal:

Among the many reasons President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are so intent on quickly jamming a cap-and-trade system through Congress is because the global warming tide is again shifting. It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as “deniers.” The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S.

In April, the Polish Academy of Sciences published a document challenging man-made global warming. In the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus remains a leading skeptic, today only 11% of the population believes humans play a role. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to tap Claude Allegre to lead the country’s new ministry of industry and innovation. Twenty years ago Mr. Allegre was among the first to trill about man-made global warming, but the geochemist has since recanted. New Zealand last year elected a new government, which immediately suspended the country’s weeks-old cap-and-trade program.

The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. — 13 times the number who authored the U.N.’s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world’s first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak “frankly” of her nonbelief…..

The cult managed a seven vote victory in the lower chamber of the US Congress. Now is the time to start pushing back on the science – hard. Because these are, again, unsettled times.

UPDATE: For example, one might want to read this little gem that punctures the “science” of global warming. (Via QandO, found on Memeorandum)

Seven Votes

The House has passed the Crap and Tax bill by a whopping margin of 7 votes. 44 Democrats declined to support the bill. Roll call is here.

Not Welcome

Britain has officially lost it. We have posted fairly regularly about some of the, frankly, insane things British Bureaucrats have found time and money to waste on regulating. But this one goes all the way to the mat.

The “Welcome” mat. As in banning welcome mats.

Families living in a flat block have been told to remove welcome mats from their porches because they are a health and safety risk.

They have also been told to remove pot plants because they create trip hazards and fire risks.

Residents at the block in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs. say the items have never caused problems.

(That is “potted plants” for US readers). This is what the local councils in Britain  have time and money to defend against? 

Good Lord.

Keep in mind that Britain has had many years of leftist rule. How’s that hope and change?

Well, Then, We Now Know Two Things About ObamaCare

If you are old, you’re screwed and the plan is not good enough for Obama to actually submit himself or his family to.

First the old thing:

President Obama suggested at a town hall event Wednesday night that one way to shave medical costs is to stop expensive and ultimately futile procedures performed on people who are about to die and don’t stand to gain from the extra care.

In a nationally televised event at the White House, Obama said families need better information so they don’t unthinkingly approve “additional tests or additional drugs that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care.”

He added: “Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.”

Anyone who has read Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War (at least in the later editions that contained the novella  You Can Never Go Back) know that Haldeman predicted this. In that story, the main character’s mother becomes ill and cannot get any health care at all. She is old, after all. Therefore, she is useless to the government. So, she dies, a squalid and miserable death.

Don’t for a moment think that you will have any voice what is done to you or to your loved ones, either. The Federal bureaucrats, safely exempt from the rules they set for you and yours, will simply take away any option but the pills.

They will be the only option. Cost/benefit, don’t you know. (I told you this was coming.)

The second revelation by Obama, that ObamaCare is certainly not good enough for him and his is even worse:

Barack Obama got ABC to move their news division into the White House in order to make the big pitch for his egalitarian, everyone-gets-treated-equally ObamaCare push. Instead, Obama fumbled into a Michael Dukakis moment that exposed him as a hypocrite. ABC itself leads with Obama’s response that he wouldn’t stay within his own plan for his family:….

…..Oopsie! So ObamaCare for thee, but not for me? Hope and change, baby!

There’s video of the exchange.

Congress is planning on exempting itself and all Federal employees from the plans they have for you, the taxpayer. Obama just personally exempted himself and his family from ObamaCare and has no plans to submit to what he deigns to force on you.

Your private health insurance will simply vanish as employers drop their plans and you will be cast upon the “mercy” of what the (fully exempt) Federal Bureaucrats will allow you to have for treatment.

Plus you get to pick up the trillion dollar plus cost of all this.

How’s the hope and change?

Michael Jackson Is Dead

The AP reports. So does the LA Times.