And now a little blast from the past… Funny how some stories more easily disappear when it’s the heart of election season and the story casts a liberal Democrat incumbent in a bad light. The last Saturday in September is the perfect time to dive back into the Mount Virtus archives to remind readers why it’s time to bring home my Democratic Congressman.
From July 15, 2009, a look at ethically challenged Ed Perlmutter and a Washington Times scoop that should find its way back onto the radar of local political reporters:
Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado inserted a provision into the recently passed House climate change bill that would drum up business for “green” banks, such as the one he has invested in and his family and a political donor helped found in San Francisco.
What do I think of Barack Obama’s so-called “spending freeze”? Imagine someone you know who’s in a little bit of debt increasing his household spending until he maxes out all his credit cards, then reassuring the bank that he’s going to stop increasing his spending rate for 3 years. Yeah, I guess it’s good that he’s not going to try to outlive his means any more than he already does. But then again, it doesn’t really address the problem, does it?
Check out this Red State diary for a more detailed and down-to-earth deconstruction. Or Al Maurer and the Cato Institute article he cites pointing out the true “smoke and mirrors” behind the “spending freeze” pronouncement.
Then I recommend you go over to Hot Air and vote in Ed Morrissey’s poll on how to respond to Obama’s proposal, and decide whether conservatives should “support it as a good start, demand more action” or “oppose it as a fraud, demand across the board freeze and cuts”. (Far better and more realistic than the other two choices, in my estimation.)
As uninspiring policy, Obama’s “spending freeze” isn’t much better than our own lame duck Colorado governor Bill Ritter’s 2007 “mill levy freeze”. And even though it’s a transparent and self-serving tactic, nevertheless here’s hoping that the “spending freeze” least is more faithfully applied than Ritter’s 2009 “hiring freeze”.
What is it with Democrat leaders and rhetorical “freezes” these days, anyway? Is it some subconscious ploy to hush the talk about the fraudulent science behind global warming hysteria? Or maybe we can take the whole temperature metaphor too far…
In the wake of the telling Climategate revelations, it’s very interesting to see the mask come off the fanatical climate change crowd. The Denver Post ran a Sunday opinion piece by Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network that ought to make your skin crawl.
See what I mean — Tidwell writes:
Instead of continuing our faddish and counterproductive emphasis on small, voluntary actions, we should follow the example of Americans during past moral crises and work toward large-scale change.
The country’s last real moral and social revolution was set in motion by the civil rights movement. And in the 1960s, civil rights activists didn’t ask bigoted Southern governors and sheriffs to consider “10 Ways to Go Integrated” at their convenience. [emphasis added]
A moral crisis compared to the entrenched evils of Jim Crow laws and segregation? I have no qualms in calling climate change fanatics like Tidwell the greatest moral idiots of our time. (more…)
After a busy weekend, all I have to offer are a few worthwhile reads for a Monday:
Last week Craig Steiner wrote an insightful piece titled “On GOP Unity in Colorado”, especially worthwhile for those who have followed the intense controversy around the “Platform for Prosperity” and misappropriated Tea Party endorsements
My Independence Institute colleague Jessica Peck Corry tackles the issue of church-state boundaries and public religious displays in a new Colorado Springs Gazette column, just in time for the Christmas holiday season
Our own hometown journalist David Harsanyi explains clearly why we have a reason to be skeptical
The Wall Street Journal‘s Bret Stephens says if you want to understand why scientists were so eager to quash dissent, and manipulate and throw out data: “Follow the Money”
The Washington Times reports that a Competitive Enterprise Institute scholar is pushing hard for NASA to release its raw climate data, too
While you ponder the obnoxious deception of it all and the opportunity for a backlash to help set things aright, don’t forget to bundle up today.
Climategate deniers, unready to admit that the emperor has come undressed before their eyes, are aptly parodied in a YouTube video that’s worth the 3 minutes of sheer amusement: (more…)
On a different note, George Will has a great column about the power of states to nullify a coercive Obama Care law — a Plan B I hope we can keep in mothballs.
Update, 10/12:Here’s the video of Phelim McAleer’s question, with a little more context.
Yesterday I told you about the important October 18 premiere of the movie “Not Evil But Wrong”. The movie’s producer and co-director Phelim McAleer yesterday confronted Al Gore at a public forum with inconvenient questions about the errors in his movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. After Gore failed to answer his question, McAleer’s microphone was turned off. Listen:
Meanwhile, here in the metro Denver area, record cold temperatures have forced the postponement of a first-round Major League Baseball playoff game.
Update, 10/14:Here’s a (substantially) complete worldwide listing of all the premiere showings of “Not Evil Just Wrong” — looks like there is only one other showing in Colorado, and that’s down in the Springs. Don’t miss this one!
Join the resistance against extreme environmentalism that threatens the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people in the developed and developing world. This will be a record-setting, international Cinematic Tea Party!
Watch the compelling trailer about the human cost of “climate change” hysteria (of course, there’s the broader economic cost, too):
I had the opportunity earlier this year to watch a sneak preview presentation by the Irish filmmakers. I was truly impressed, and have been looking forward to the premiere ever since. Hope you can make it on October 18!
From Red State, the uncut video showing what Obama wants to do to your private health insurance:
Does this qualify as “disinformation” from the President’s own lips? Someone should report him, or me, to the White House.
Makes you wonder if the White House is also going to start collecting reports of “disinformation” on the cap-and-trade energy tax issue, too. After all, the Washington Times reports that a new study from the U.S. Department of Energy refutes The One’s claims that cap-and-tax “holds the promise of millions of new jobs — jobs, by the way, that can’t be outsourced.”
… Is that something fishy I smell? Someone may have to report the U.S. Department of Energy, too.
Rather than take the time to write a substantial, coherent post on any one topic on this Friday, July 31 — the birthday of the late, great Milton Friedman — I offer you four quick hits to amuse, inspire, frustrate, and activate. Without further ado: (more…)
The research, by Chris de Freitas, a climate scientist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, John McLean (Melbourne) and Bob Carter (James Cook University), finds that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a key indicator of global atmospheric temperatures seven months later. As an additional influence, intermittent volcanic activity injects cooling aerosols into the atmosphere and produces significant cooling.
“The surge in global temperatures since 1977 can be attributed to a 1976 climate shift in the Pacific Ocean that made warming El Niño conditions more likely than they were over the previous 30 years and cooling La Niña conditions less likely” says corresponding author de Freitas…. (more…)
Our “new energy economy” Governor Bill Ritter went before a Senate committee and tapdanced his way around the question of whether he supports the Waxman-Markey cap-and-tax bill. (Yes, I’m late to the story. Yes, I’m hopping on the bandwagon. Yesterday was an important personal day away from blogging, but with a story like this one, better late than never.)
El Presidente was quick to put up the video of Ritter’s exchange with Senator James Inhofe, as well as the video of Senator Kit Bond explaining how the governor’s highly-touted new “green” jobs are heavily subsidized by taxpayers: $71,000 per job.
On the Denver Post’s Gang of Four blog, John Andrews highlighted “the squirmy nervousness in Ritter’s face, voice, and body language as he tries to wiggle past a direct yes or no.”
Finally, Face The State offered a wrap-up of different responses to Ritter’s testimony.
Here’s my question: Why didn’t Ritter send the message about the cap-and-tax bill to fellow Democrat freshman Congresswoman Betsy Markey, whose subsidized vote for the massive energy tax may have been the decisive moment in her brief political career on Capitol Hill?
Earlier today Representative Ed Perlmutter responded to my letter urging him to vote against the Waxman-Markey massive energy “cap and tax” (no doubt with boilerplate language):
As you may know, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 is important legislation to help build a new clean energy economy. This bill will create millions of clean energy jobs, put America on a path to energy independence, and help limit carbon emissions which contribute to global warming. As a supporter of green energy initiatives, I am fortunate for the opportunity to represent Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, which is home to the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) located in Golden. I am a proponent of wind and solar energy as well as other forms of renewable energy and will continue to do all I can to work toward the advancement of a sustainable energy policy to meet our nation’s growing energy demands. It is essential to collectively move in the direction of energy sustainability.
Pleasant words unencumbered by economic realities. A Heritage Foundation analysis released today finds that Colorado’s 7th Congressional District — represented by Perlmutter, where I live — would be in for a major economic shock if Waxman-Markey is enacted. (more…)
Lovers of liberty, it’s not time to be resigned or downtrodden. It’s time to stand up and be heard. This week the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the massive energy tax sometimes known as the Waxman-Markey bill or “Cap and Trade”.
FreedomWorks not only tells you why this bill is bad but provides easy links for you to take action and contact your representative. I already contacted Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s office.
(Of course, we also have the problem of an already very long piece of legislation that has suddenly added several hundred pages. Unlike the stimulus bill, will our Congressman be able to read it all in time? Consider me skeptical.)
As it turns out, the timing of the House vote is proving to be quite ironic. At American Thinker, Larrey Anderson explains how the tide has turned against global warming mythology. There also appears to be more anti-climate hysteria evidence being conveniently covered up by the Environmental Protection Agency.
More specifically, Robert Tracinski and Tom Minchin write over at Real Clear Politics that Australia is getting ready to sink its own proposed “Emission Trading Scheme” — thanks in large part to the scientific work of Ian Plimer.
But even if you accept the “climate change” mantra, the Waxman-Markey bill would do very little (if anything) to stop it at a devastatingly high cost to our economy. Now is the time to stand up.
