Mount Virtus

Update, 3:00 PM: Michelle Malkin has a great video and some informative links about the eco-indoctrination so many American children have to bear.

Yesterday was Earth Day. Where were all the Green folks celebrating four decades of remarkable progress in reducing air pollution (for example)? Yes, that’s the sound of clean air-breathing crickets chirping.

Taking a day off work for reasons other than the holiday itself, my family took a day trip to the Denver Zoo, where we were treated to a mild dose of eco-crisis hysteria from indoctrinated schoolchildren. When a little girl stopped us and sweetly asked if we wanted to learn more about penguins, I was gullible enough to believe we might learn some facts about the creatures’ diet, lifespan, habitat, and other random facts.

Nope. We were straightway bombarded by three other kids explaining how irresponsible humans and oil companies are about to send the species packing for oblivion.

At least my 3-year-old daughter was able to feel some penguin feathers. Otherwise, the whole encounter would have been a waste. I felt bad for the kids running the table. Yes, they were well trained, but what have they been learning? My wife afterward half-jokingly wondered aloud whether the students knew their multiplication tables.

Perhaps. But you have to have your scaremongering priorities. It seems the mother Earth Enviro-religion is the only religion you can teach in the public schools. Bill Ritter’s agenda is reaping some kind of result. (If this is happening to your child and you don’t like it, there is something you can do about it.)

I’m a conservationist, not an environmentalist: The difference is important.

My big regret from a low-key weekend? That I somehow forgot to celebrate Human Achievement Hour. Kudos to all those who did, and made a statement for liberty.

It’s most interesting to me that this weekend’s events closely follow the discovery that the infamous solar panels on the Denver Museum of Nature and Science likely won’t come close to paying for themselves while state lawmakers seek to induce school districts into installing cost-inefficient “new” “green” energy.

Speaking of higher taxes and energy prices for consumers like you and me, Paul Chesser takes on the cap-and-trade folly in the new American Spectator.

At least here in the Denver area our big snow has all but melted away … for now.

Too much good stuff out there, too little time. Here’s a quick Wednesday morning roundup of the best from the Colorado blogs (in no particular order):

• Rocky Mountain Right brings attention to Governor Bill Ritter’s lavish overseas business trip on Colorado taxpayers’ dime during a very tight budget situation
• Now your 10 dollars (or more) can go a lot further in helping the Independence Institute promote transparent government in Colorado
• Rossputin points to a hilarious Scott Ott spoof on embryonic stem cell research and global warming (did he read yesterday’s post?)
• Michael at Best Destiny observes some irony from Al Gore concerning global warming and moon landings
• Rossputin also points to Gateway Pundit’s detailed litany of the abomination that was the first 50 days of the Obama presidential administration … It can’t get worse, right?
• Getting more specific, Joshua bids an unflattering adieu to another failed Obama nomination: Chas Freeman
• Julian Dunraven details the Obama administration’s ongoing diplomatic faux pas
• Both Slapstick Politics and The Drunkablog are keeping tabs on the Ward Churchill trial so you don’t have to
• Sean Paige (aka The American Contrarian) offers a tongue-in-cheek idea for another mandate our Democratic state legislature could propose
• At The Colorado Index, Civil Sense lauds the ongoing alternative work of recently displaced Rocky Mountain News writers

The Colorado blogosphere is certainly on a roll… and then some. I’m sure I’ve missed other good entries, but this is probably more than enough to keep you busy for awhile.

This morning you can read the Denver Post‘s glowing “DeGette relishes stem-cell research triumph” by Michael Riley – in which the only dilemma is not the ethics of harvesting cells from dead unborn babies (or now, thanks to President Obama, spending taxpayer money to do so) but to what extent Denver’s liberal Congresswoman will have a successful political career now that her pet issue has been passed into law.

Or, if you actually want a thoughtful and critical approach to the issue, you can go back and refresh yourself with Yuval Levin’s masterful deconstruction of Diana DeGette’s book Sex, Science, and Stem Cells (H/T David Harsanyi).

I hope that the Post isn’t trying to imply from Riley’s article today that the ethical debate concerning embryonic stem-cell research is over (especially given the breakthroughs with adult stem cells), any more than many among the media, political and cultural elite are trying to tell us that the debate over anthropogenic global warming is over.

The true-believing capital-L Liberals are the unquestioned experts on your life, the universe, and all that. Supposed experts who appear to disagree? Well, they are just a delusion of Right-wing fantasy. When it comes to the great all-encompassing theory of climate change, pay no attention to these highly-respected international scientists (or the scientist formerly in charge of many NASA climate projects).

When the great Barack Obama speaks ex cathedra, we must listen. Not only on climate change, but also on the economic recession. Recently he told us: “There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jumpstart the economy.” The President’s glorious speech supersedes the more than 200 economists – including representatives of primitive wingnut institutions like George Mason University and Hillsdale College, not to mention Barry Poulson – who dared to sign a full-page advertisement (PDF) challenging the sacred word.

/Friday Satire: We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog-casting.

So I’ve heard the State Capitol has become a rough place these days (yes, Denver truly is the Wild West!), but I had no idea it had come to this, as disclosed in the Headline of the Week: “Brophy bill to protect homeowners killed in committee”.

My first thought was, How many homeowners have been killed in committee meetings lately? I especially have reason to be concerned, seeing as how I plan to be under the golden dome tomorrow to speak on a new media/blogger luncheon panel to the Senate GOP Caucus.

I will be joined by the famous Vodkapundit (aka Stephen Green), Zombyboy, Rossputin (aka Ross Kaminsky), Charles Martin, and Face The State editor Brad Jones. Frankly, I’m humbled to be with this group of accomplished bloggers / new media gurus, and hope to represent the Rocky Mountain Alliance and People’s Press Collective well. (more…)

State senator Greg Brophy – “the Senate GOP’s self-described ‘eco-freak’” – on the trumped-up claims of Governor Bill Ritter’s New Energy Economy:

Said Brophy, “I guess if you can’t use tax dollars to effectively promote green energy, you always can use them to promote the promotion of it.”

Well-said. I guess we’ve found one area where Ritter can begin to trim $632 million from the budget.

From an article that appeared yesterday highlighting weather conditions in the region in which I grew up:

Here’s the bad news:

Flint broke a 95-year-old record early Wednesday morning when the temperature plummeted to a frigid 19 below zero. The previous record? Minus 10, set in 1914, according to the National Weather Service.

Here’s the even worse news: We won’t seeing relief in the next few days.

Early morning lows Thursday are expected to be 9 below zero, with a 20 below zero wind chill. Highs on Thursday will reach 4 degrees.

Friday’s lows are expected to be 5 below, with wind chills reaching 25 below. Highs are expected to reach around 6 degrees.

Wind chills will reach 25 below again on Saturday.

Two quick observations: First, I’m really glad to be in Colorado right now. Second, I’m going to miss all the hype about global warming – which soon will sound really good as cries of the approaching Ice Age grow louder.

Back from his overseas trip, Rossputin makes an interesting observation about an apparent effort to airbrush a major Obama appointee’s official Socialist organization ties. Check it out.

For those who may be laboring under the misconception that President-elect Barack Obama is leaning exclusively to the political center in his administrative appointments, Cooler Heads notes that the new “energy czar” Carol Browner is a card-carrying Socialist. Our work is cut out for us.

It’s the last day of 2008, and time for a quick month-by-month retrospective. The following are posts I’ve selected as the best posts for each month:

• January: Why did Ritter Leave Worker Protections Out of His Order?
• February: Getting the Whole Story Behind Ritter’s Climate Action Plan
• March: High-Ranking Democrat: Property Tax Hike Not Just for Schools
• April: What Was All That Money Doing in Ritter’s Inaugural in the First Place?
• May: Colorado Dems Fail to Lead or Take Responsibility, Irony Lost on Dead Guvs
• June: Bill Ritter, Tax Increases, Unions, and the Colorado Supreme Court
• July: Majority of Coloradans Don’t Think Bill Ritter is Doing a Terrible Job
• August: It’s Official: Colorado Government 100% Unionized, Thanks to Bill Ritter
• September: Romanoff & Kennedy: Saving TABOR’s Heart by Driving a Stake Through It
• October: Conservative Lesson from CoDA: Time to Latch on to Transparency Issue
• November: Amendments 47, 49, & 54 as Good as Grandma’s Freshly-Baked Cookies
• December: Democrat Cary Kennedy: Protecting Coloradans from Open Government

Notice any themes developing? I didn’t think so. Anyway, I hope my handful of faithful readers enjoyed that brief walk down memory lane. On to 2009….

A great read for this Friday is Paul Chesser’s well-documented rant in the American Spectator. He gets it rolling as follows:

Someone please tell me it’s about to end. That it’s O-V-A-H in New England. That’s it’s D-U-N in Rio Linda. That it’s fini in France and finito in Italy.

I’ve experienced a build-up of evidence that undermines climate change alarmism, and I’m at the tipping point. My head has formed a canopy of truth-trapping that can only contain so much before my circuits overheat, blood pressure elevates, and my faith in broad-based common sense melts away. So please: polish it off in Poznan — wishful thinking, you might think, but signs point to the beginning of that end. Read on.

As global warming pathologists insist that increasing carbon dioxide drives planetary meltdown, scientists who actually watch the climate trends — as well as all the forces that affect it – see something different. They observe unchanging (if not declining) temperatures over the last dozen years despite increased global CO2 emissions during the same time period. They see Antarctic ice swells despite a greater media emphasis on Arctic ice (PDF) loss. They see a current warming bias across temperature monitoring stations; a cooling pattern since 1997; and a valid theory that solar cycles affect climate change more than any other phenomena.

It goes on. Public support and interest in the increasingly shaky theories of climate change alarmists are on the wane. In retrospect, maybe the 2008 Presidential campaign with the nominees of both major parties subscribing lock, stock, and barrel to theories of anthropogenic global warming disaster someday soon will look like a bizarre anomaly. Same for our current Governor Bill Ritter’s obsession.
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Watching hot air balloons might never have been so much fun as this: Americans for Prosperity’s Hot Air Tour is coming to Colorado, starting tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at Broomfield County Commons Park (13200 Sheridan Blvd).

What am I talking about?

Climate alarmists have bombarded citizens with apocalyptic scenarios and pressured them into environmental political correctness. It’s time to tell the other side of the story.

Americans for Prosperity is working hard to bring you the missing half of the global warming debate. What will the impacts of reactionary legislation be for you, your family and our economy?

Be among the first 50 to pre-register online for the Broomfield event tomorrow – or for events later this week in Fort Collins, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction, or Denver – … and get a free T-shirt.

It’s the hot air balloon tour Al Gore tried – and failed – to ground.

And I’m told, all the Colorado stops on the Hot Air Tour will also be calling out Mark Udall for his energy record. Fun, information, and future savings for the whole family!

For more information, contact Jim Pfaff at jpfaff@afphq.org or (303) 957- 8600.

From the Examiner:

Saving energy may not be so easy after all. A television commercial featuring Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter was meant to show viewers how easy it is to save energy, but it showed Ritter using more, not less.

The original, which aired for weeks, showed Ritter turning a thermostat down from 72 degrees to 68. But during the summer, that means the air conditioner would work harder – and use more energy.

I would need to see this commercial to believe it. Apparently, some remedial education is needed as part of Gov. Ritter’s “Climate Action Plan”.

Bill Ritter would have known he couldn’t turn his thermostat down to 68 if Barack Obama had been on his shoulder:

In today’s Rocky Mountain News, Colorado Democrat pollster Floyd Ciruli takes a cold, analytical look at Gov. Bill Ritter’s approval ratings — boiled down, the picture isn’t pretty for the potential one-term governor:

Surprisingly, new Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter may be in trouble. When compared with his Montana counterpart, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, in recent Rasmussen polls, Ritter’s job rating lags behind Schweitzer by 19 points. Only 45 percent of Colorado voters gave Ritter an excellent or good job rating, whereas 64 percent of Montanans rated Schweitzer as doing an excellent or good job.

Floyd Ciruli cites a litany of reasons for Bill Ritter’s sagging popularity, reasons that have been regular themes of this and other local new media sites:

• An unconstitutional property tax increase
• Do-nothing blue-ribbon panels
• New regulations on oil and gas drilling
• Pushing an unpopular severance tax initiative
• Legal troubles over misspent campaign funds
• Giving union leaders a gold-plated invitation to state government

Ciruli might also have mentioned starring in preachy, taxpayer-funded “green” commercials and signing the now infamous Senate Bill 200, aka the “bathroom bill.” (I’m sure I’ve missed a few.)

As the second half of Bill Ritter’s term approaches, the question remains whether Republicans can field a strong and viable challenger to unseat the increasingly vulnerable incumbent in 2010.