ON THE PROPER USE OF ENGLISH

“So far as I’m concerned, the only term [the Obama administration] have come up with that I approve of is ‘man-made disaster,’ which was invented by Janet Napolitano. Understand, I don’t sanction her using it as a euphemism for 9/11. The only reason I like it is because I think it so perfectly defines the Obama presidency.”

COMMON SENSE

Is becoming such a rare quality that it should be renamed “uncommon sense.”

OBAMA’s FIRST TEST?

[President Obama] commands overwhelming firepower in the form of a growing flotilla of U.S. warships, but he doesn't want to use it.

"Piracy may be a centuries-old problem, but we are working to bring an appropriate 21st-century response," [Secretary of State] Clinton said.

Yeah, TOTUS is preparing an apology ...

[UPDATE] Three pirates dead; one captured; Capt. Phillips rescued. Good job!

PRESIDENT PANTYWAIST

Mr. Obama isn't looking good in the UK:

Watch out, France and Co, there is a new surrender monkey on the block and, over the next four years, he will spectacularly sell out the interests of the West with every kind of liberal-delusionist initiative on nuclear disarmament and sitting down to negotiate with any power freak who wants to buy time to get a good ICBM fix on San Francisco, or wherever. If you thought the world was a tad unsafe with Dubya around, just wait until President Pantywaist gets into his stride.

From the comments: "Obama is Jimmy Carter on stilts."

SOMETIMES IT DOESN'T WORK

A metaphor for Obama, perhaps?

NO BIAS HERE

Found in the Washington Times Show section (4/10-11/2009): "It's tempting to attribute critical neglect of the late author-filmmaker [Michael Crichton] to contemporary biases - against his global warming denialism and all that."

Crichton was an intelligent, articulate, informed critic, yes. But denialist?

No bias here. None. Nope. Move along, now.

ELECTRIC (CAR) UTILITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

“So I’m reading this Wall Street Journal article on surplus cars in storage and the thought occurs to me: If only these cars were all electric they could be used for grid load balancing while they were waiting to be sold. All those batteries could shift electric power from night to day.”

And in response to a reader question on how grid balancing would pay her for her personal auto, Joe Cresko, an AAAS Science Policy Fellow in the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy wrote:

[I]t is based on the simple concept of peak (day) and off-peak (night) electricity rates. Charging the battery at night, when rates are lower, and feeding back to the electricity grid during the day would help utility companies by leveling demand. This type of rate structure is common in the power industry, and with the advent of a "smart grid" (an electricity distribution system based on more-advanced metering and communications technologies), residential customers would be able to benefit through significant efficiency increases.

Let's use Ms. Ivancic's own example (let's say 10 units at 10 cents per unit for $1), but consider connecting to the smart grid when at work to supply two units back to the utility. This would be of value to the utility (let's say at 15 cents per unit), since it would not need to increase power generation as much during the day to meet the increased electricity demand. In this example, charging at lower off-peak rates would reduce the daily cost of the work commute by 10 cents.

Hmm. That’s all well and good, except for a couple of minor points.

One. It assumes a 50% differential between on-peak and off-peak power generation. I’m not an engineering economist (that was 40 years ago), but that number seems a bit high.

Two. There is an energy conversion loss on both ends of the transaction. It isn’t much (a percent or so), but it’s there.

Three. There is no discussion of the infrastructure requirement at both ends of the transaction to perform the energy conversion. That isn’t cheap, especially since it has to exist for every car that is used. Who pays?

Four. Every battery has a limited lifetime (charge/discharge cycles) and must eventually be replaced. Will that ten-cent daily saving pay for the early replacement cost of the electric automobile’s battery?

Five. What are the chances that anyone would willingly give up 20% of their car’s capacity just prior to their commute home? Especially if the commute is a long one?

It’s a pleasant idea, but practical? I doubt it.

With apologies to the New Mexico State University Electric Utilities Management Program for the title.

OBAMA - STOP PIRACY BY REDUCING SHIPPING

Piracy spurs Obama calls for cargo-ship reductions:

The rash of piracy incidents off the coast of Africa in recent years has spurred the Obama administration to reach out to the other G-20 nations to build consensus around a "gradual drawdown of cargo vessels in global sea lanes."

"We need to get rid of the old trans-oceanic M.A.D. doctrine of Mutual Assured Delivery," said [White House press secretary Robert] Gibbs, "and look toward a safer future, where piracy no longer looms over the world as an ever-present threat. As everyone knows, President Obama is a visionary, and he can see the day when we'll have a world without nukes, and a world without cargo ships."

Scott Ott only thinks he's joking.

THE WAYBACK MACHINE

This was taken from an email I received back in 2001, after George W. Bush was first elected President.



I think we just did - and they are.

FROM TODAY'S ROAD TRIP

Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia

WHEN BILL WHITTLE SPEAKS, I LISTEN

Bill Whittle has a message for the rich in America: Leave.

Here’s an excerpt:

“The Washington Post ran a column a few days ago, in which a Mr. Joel Berg applauds the Obama Administration for reducing the amount of charitable deduction that The Rich are allowed to take when they write a check to charity.”

“Mr. Berg – who runs a charitable foundation that feeds the poor — explains things for us thusly: ‘Combined with other progressive Obama tax proposals, that change would not only start to redress the inequality gap that has engulfed America in recent decades but would also help to pay for many effective domestic programs…’”

“…Which Mr. Berg then helpfully goes on to list."

“Well, I read this article in the Washington Post, and I thought: there you have it. The top ten percent, that pays sixty percent of the total income tax and which allows the bottom half – HALF! – to pay nothing… Those horrible, greedy bastards are not using their free-will generosity as ‘efficiently’ as the government can, so let’s just take more of their money and call it square. “

“So let me now send a personal message to The Rich in America…”

“As an American and a patriot, I implore you – I go to my knees and beg you – LEAVE NOW."

"[O]n behalf of those few of us who still believe in the Land of Opportunity, I beg you and implore you, in the name of our common patriot ancestors who worked so hard and sacrificed so much so that we could become so spoiled and ungrateful: take your 60% of the total income taxes and just go away.”

“Because if you do, then there will no longer be an Enemy for the Left to stick it to. Then, perhaps, the half of the country that pays no income tax might have to put some skin in the game. Then, perhaps, with most of the wealth generation gone we will turn to our community organizers to provide the wealth creation, and the tax dollars, and the innovation. When you have gone, the President of the United States, supported by an army of little acorns like Joel Berg, will have to start calling for the rest of us to be taxed more to address the inequality gap.”

“That’s what I want.”

“You see, I’ve actually been there. I have experienced this pathology from the inside."

"That is the pathology – that is the sickness – that dependency breeds: resentment and hostility to those that help you the most.”

I posted on Joel Berg here, but Bill Whittle did a better job. Read the entire article.

GUESS WHO PAYS?

Courtesy of Michael Ramirez (April 7).

WHERE ARE THE LOONS?

Ordinarily I use “Where are the clowns?” to caption tripe such as this, but “clown” just isn’t adequate to describe the darkness of this conspiracy theorist.

With the notoriously conservative Tea Party movement gaining steam, is it time to take the ‘United’ out of ‘United States’? ... Their arguments have the potential to divide the country along titanic lines not seen since the bloody days of the Civil War.

Oh, my. Would anyone care to remind this young gentleman of the protests of the Viet Nam era? By his side?

Think I’m exaggerating here? The Tea Party movement is an incredibly dangerous concept, fuelled by the usual gushes of sycophantic support from the conservative news media (here’s looking at you, Fox).

I get it: Conservatives bad. Liberals good.

Can you imagine the potential for chaos if some of these ‘protesters’ decide to exercise the Second Amendment and bring their weapons to these rallies? There’s a thin line between peaceful protest and bloodthirsty patriotic fervor, especially if those protesting are used to being on the side of the mighty status quo.

Of course. Jim Bob, Billy Joe, and Cooter are going to exercise their Second Amendment rights in camouflage and with assault weapons.

President Obama was elected democratically, according to the doctrines set forth by the Founding Fathers.

And of course former President Bush wasn’t elected democratically.

The Tea Party movement represents a real danger to the tenets of democracy Americans have embraced for centuries.

Uh, have you heard about the First Amendment? Freedom of speech and all that? Oh, it only applies to your side?

[The author] is an unabashed atheist who says he's doomed whether or not the world ends on December 21, 2012. But that doesn't stop him from taking a dark interest in all things apocalyptic. Join him as he explores the various signs that portend the End of Days.

Seems to me that he missed his mark by about 3 years and 11 months.

WHERE DID OUR STIMULUS MONEY GO?

Ask Google. On February 14, with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Congress shoveled $787 billion of stimulus money out the door. Now they're using Google to find out where it went.

[T]he Binghamton, New York Press & News-Bulletin ... reported that the small town of Union, New York would receive $578,661 from the [HUD’s Homeless Prevention] Fund, even though "Union did not request the money and does not currently have homeless programs in place in the town to administer such funds."

[T]he Altoona Mirror reported that the small central Pennsylvania town was going to receive $819,000 from the Fund even though Altoona officials "may not have enough of a homelessness problem to use it."

WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania saying the city would receive $855,478 from the Fund, but does not know what to do with it.

The bill's supporters stressed that it included strong oversight safeguards. So Google is a “strong oversight safeguard”?

SHUT UP?

No. Never.

IS IT MY IMAGINATION?

Or are we seeing more stories like this?

Their livelihood was being threatened, and they were tired of waiting for government help, so business owners and residents on Hawaii's Kauai island pulled together and completed a $4 million repair job to a state park -- for free.

"They [state of Hawaii parks department] said it would probably take two years. And with the way they are cutting funds, we felt like they'd never get the money to fix it."

So ... business owners and residents made the decision not to sit on their hands and wait for state money that many expected would never come. Instead, they pulled together machinery and manpower and hit the ground running March 23.

And after only eight days, all of the repairs were done.

Here’s another.

Do you have gaping potholes on your street and feel the city is not fixing them quickly enough? How about patching them yourself?

That's what a group of residents on Chicago's West Side did Wednesday. Members of the South Austin Coalition bought eight bags of a pavement mix for about $100 and used shovels, rakes and a 250-pound push roller to fill 15 holes on the 4800 block of West Van Buren Street.

"The city's not doing it, so residents need to take the matter into their own hands," said Elce Redmond, an organizer with the coalition.

I’ve posted about this before (here and here, among others), and it seems to me that ever since the Obama administration hit the ground stumbling and bumbling, I’ve seen more and more stories of states, financial institutions, businesses, and citizens ignoring government “help” and taking their affairs into their own hands.

Of course, government isn’t happy ....

For example, Chicago city officials don't think that's a good idea for citizens to fill potholes:

For starters, it's not safe for people to work in the street without taking safety measures like putting up orange cones to warn traffic, said Brian Steele, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation. Secondly, city crews are trained in the art of filling potholes ...

Well, maybe it’s time for us to tell government “We’re quite capable of taking care of our own affairs, thank you very much. Now go away.”

GEOENGINEERING CLIMATE CHANGE

“The president’s new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth’s air.”

One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays.

Hmm. Aren’t we supposed to be against polluting the environment? And if this is so great, why not build lots of dirty coal-fired power plants and at least get the benefit of cheap electricity and energy independence?

Another geoengineering option ... mentioned was the use of so-called artificial trees to suck carbon dioxide—the chief human-caused greenhouse gas—out of the air and store it.

Real trees aren’t good enough?

via Instapundit.

[UPDATE] Hah! According to NASA:

Sulfates, which come primarily from the burning of coal and oil, scatter incoming solar radiation and have a net cooling effect on climate.

And

[W]ith China building sulphur-belching coal power stations and diesel vehicles at a furious rate in recent times ... it's at least possible that this has something to do with the fact that global temperatures have actually dipped slightly over the last couple of years.

AMERICA'S PROMISE

Not dependent on government. Via Day by Day.

JOE BIDEN WAS RIGHT

Not even pirates respect the U.S. flag.

Somali pirates on Wednesday hijacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with 20 American crew members aboard, FOX News has learned.

Will Obama apologise to them too?

[UPDATE] Never mind, Mr. President, you needn't apologise. The American crew on board took back the ship and captured at least one pirate.

FAIRNESS

CBO: Top 1% Earned 19% of Income, Paid 28% of All Taxes. And got 1% of the vote.

Via Instapundit.