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Protesters Calls Go Unheeded

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 7:30:00 PM
    Haven't done much on the second amendment because, well, there has been anything of significance to report. 
    This link from Instapundit about says it all. This also explains why the Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg has to go behind the scenes to get his agenda moving. Obviously, public opinion is not in his favor. And it would seem that his coalition of anti-gun mayors is slowly falling apart as well.
    And what is this about? Is this the best that NYDAILYNEWS.COM can come up with? As usual, when they have no legitimate argument they subvert to back handed tactics to paint who they don't like as something they are not. Claiming racism always works well.
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Linkin Park's Contribution To The Environment

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, August 25, 2007 1:47:30 PM
    In Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie the 11th Hour, I noticed that the background music featured Linkin Park.
I have always liked their music, so I did a little research on what their policies are and the environment. Couldn't find much, but came across this.

     "All of our records, any paper product is all printed on this new material that is actually...like super-recycled," he said. "Even our inks are environmentally friendly, like, everything we do, we're trying to focus on polluting as little as possible." 

    Super-recycled? That is, like, totally cool. "Like, we try not to pollute, or something".

I have always liked their music, but maybe they should just stick to that. 
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A State's Look At Climate Change

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, August 25, 2007 1:22:36 PM
    This is from a fellow townhall blogger. Good read.
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Climate Change Is Effecting Drug Maker GlaxoSmithKline

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, August 25, 2007 1:10:09 PM
     Timesonline Business Editor James Harding writes that the unusual winter in Britain has hurt the Blackcurrant crop of which 95% is purchased by GlaxoSmithKline for use in their product Ribena. In his article, he never mentions what Ribena is, so when I read it, I figured it was some kind of important drug.

    But on further inspection; I just don't think that if the climate was to go haywire, that Ribena would be a huge loss. I doubt people will be dying in the streets because they didn't get their fruit flavored energy drink.

But that is not all. It seems that GlaxoSmithKline has been wading in some public controversy related to their vitamin drink product. Read about it here. They are very sorry as stated in this public apology on their website concerning all the misleading things about their product and their advertising.
    
    So, the premise of the TimesOnline article seems a little weak, don't you think? 
 

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Progressives For Al Gore

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, August 25, 2007 12:20:35 PM
    I don't even know what to think of this bone-head. In today's post, the writer puts down a whole list of Thomas Jefferson quote's presenting his political prowess and reasoning to statements made by Al Gore in his book "The Assault On Reason".
Jefferson must be rolling over in his grave. 

    And that is why I have to type this as well as a supporter of Al Gore who is now on my second time reading The Assault On Reason which to me is a Jeffersonian doctrine of our time: Al Gore stated right from the beginning that this book is not a 'candidate' book. It is a serious look in the mirror not only for those in our government who have abandoned reason in exchange for the politics of fear, propaganda, and expediency over the rule of law, but more so for the complicit corporate media that is their accomplice, and even more so for the citizens of this country used by that fear, propaganda, and expediency who on the whole constantly complain about the state of affairs but who never seem to want to get their hands dirty when it comes to truly standing up for it. This book is a primer for them in doing that, and yet I don't get the feeling that is how many see it and that is disappointing to me.

    Al Gore is the master of fear mongering and using the media to get what he wants done, as I posted a few days back.

Al Gore says: "Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis."
 
Read this guys blog. He is living proof of one of those people who still think that Gore was robbed of the election in 2000.

He will always be my president, and has been since December 13, 2000. However, as he has stated as well, this is not about him but about all of us, and he has done more for this world as a statesman than any of the cretins that stole this Democracy from us and for that he will have my undying respect because he has done it and continues to do it against all odds with a conscience and moral awareness.
 
    It's a laugh riot!
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Short But Sweet

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, August 25, 2007 11:21:29 AM
    This just about clears up everything, right?
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Brad Pitt's Katrina

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:34:56 PM
    Movie stars like to make a ruckus when it comes to publicizing tragedy to make a statement. But I will admit that Brad Pitt has a point when he says it was a "man-made disaster". As I posted earlier, we humans don't seem to be smart enough to build properly. 

    Here he is praising the work of Global Green USA on the new house built in New Orleans.
   
Actor Brad Pitt (L) smiles with Holy Cross Neighborhood Association president Charles Allen, during a milestone celebration for Global Green's sustainable, low-income home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana August 21, 2007. (Lee Celano/Reuters)

    The problem with this new "Global Green USA" house, is they built it on concrete piles three feet from the Mississippi river. 
    Brilliant. We are still doing the same thing, after all that has happened. And Mr. Pitt thinks this is better smarter building?  I'm confused?!

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The 11th Hour

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:05:44 PM
    Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie The 11th Hour will be released in a few weeks, starring Hurricane Katrina, Midwestern Tornado's, power plant smoke stacks, and a host of extras being terrorized by the weather.
     The 11th Hour Action Group has been organized with the help of Mr. DiCaprio to help everybody learn to be greener. The trailer is below.
 





Leonardo DiCaprio's "The 11th Hour" is a feature length documentary concerning the environmental crises caused by human actions and their impact on the planet. The 11th Hour documents the cumulative impact of these actions upon the planet's life systems and calls for restorative action through a reshaping of human activity.

The 11th Hour opens in Los Angeles and New York on August 17th, in select markets on August 24th, and nationwide on August 31st.

In order to view the video properly, please make sure you have upgraded to the latest version of Flash 9



     Of course we can all do a better job at cleaning up the environment. But how the enviro's have linked natural occurring disasters that have been going on for hundreds of thousands of years to climate change is beyond me. 
    Let's take Katrina for instance. Katrina was a powerful hurricane that could not have picked a worse place to make land fall. But there are two things that are of consequence here. First, the area around New Orleans that bore the brunt of the storm is nine feet below sea level. That stretch of shore line should not be inhabited by humans anyway. Be the problem of getting people out and moving them is simply not feasible. Secondly, the levee's were completely inadequate to handle a category 5 hurricane. The state of Louisiana new this. The city of New Orleans new this, and they had known for years. But it was never dealt with because they kept waiting for the federal government to fix the problem. But is this due to increased intensity of hurricanes? No. It's poor planning by humans.  We do things that make no sense and then complain later when it all goes to hell. People to this day still build homes on the shores of Florida. Why? Statistically, it is only a matter of time before a hurricane comes and lays it all to waste. 

    What bothers me is the fear monger in the movie clip. It's predicated on science that has not been proven and realistically shouldn't matter in this debate anyway. As long as we building on the shore lines across America  and around volcano's like in seattle, horrible things will follow. We as citizens have to be smarter, not only about our infrastructure, but with our waste. But trying to scare everyone with misleading movies and tragic weather scenarios is lacking true intelligence.


    
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A Dishonest Documentary

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 7:16:10 PM
   
 Here is a story from the Wall Street Journal on mining and Environmentalism in Transylvania.

Is this another case of hypocrisy?

Tonight, PBS will air "Gold Futures," a film by Hungary's Tibor Kocsis. The film focuses on residents in Romania's Rosia Montana, a rural Transylvanian town, who are divided over the benefits of a proposed gold mine. It also features Gabriel Resources, the Canadian mining company trying to convince them to relocate so it can dig for a huge gold deposit estimated at 14.6 million ounces, worth almost $10 billion. PBS describes the film as a "David-and-Goliath story."



     The other side to the controversy is told in a new film that will never be shown on PBS, but is nonetheless rattling the environmental community. "Mine Your Own Business" is a documentary by Irish filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney. They conclude that the biggest threat to the people of Rosia Montana "comes from upper-class Western environmentalism that seeks to keep them poor and unable to clean up the horrific pollution caused by Ceausescu's mining." 

    My question is why would George Soros care about this situation at all? 

    I think there is quite a bit more to this story than meets the eye. Remember, Mr. Soros is a businessman, and money is the name of the game.





    
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Middle Ground On Cleaning The Air

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 6:56:33 PM
    This article by Michael Gerson from the Washington Post is actually very good. Centrist ideas and thought don't flow from the Post on any type of regular basis. But Mr. Gerson seems to understand that there is a middle ground to be taken on global warming, and the envoronment in general.
    Los Angeles has broken the ozone standard set in California only 27 times in 2007 compared with 192 times in 1975.  This has been accomplished by a mixture of technology and governmental pressure.

    

In 1975, Los Angeles exceeded the ozone standard 192 days out of the year -- meaning the choking smog was so bad that children, the elderly and the infirm were better off avoiding the risky practice of outdoor breathing. In 2005, the ozone standard was exceeded on just 27 days. Los Angeles has had 30 years of consistent improvement in reducing smog.

 

As conservatives would expect, these gains were largely the result of technology -- the catalytic converter in automobiles and reformulated gasoline -- and not by pedaling to work or undoing the Industrial Revolution. Smog was reduced mainly by innovation, not austerity.

But liberals are correct about something else: This technological progress would not have taken place as a result of the free market alone. Easterbrook argues that as long as producing pollution is a free good -- without cost to the polluter -- there is little economic incentive to produce new methods to restrict it. Federal and state regulations on auto emissions and air quality created an environment in which the invention of new technologies was economically necessary.


    Technology has to be "helped along" into the free market place by government to get the ball rolling on technology. That has been my position all along. With out it, oil and coal will always be are fuel of choice because we have no incentive to choose any alternative. 

    He also talks about cap-and-trade programs, which he admits can be misused and corrupt, but overall can produce positive effects.

    There are some common sense ways of dealing with this issue without wrecking the economy or stepping on too many toes in the free market.

    
    
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New Books To Read

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Sunday, August 12, 2007 12:02:43 PM
     I am half-way through the book "Unstoppable Global Warming", and am finding it a little disconnected but pretty good on substance. Fred Singer and Dennis Avery make some compelling points on the science behind why the planet is warming, and some of the natural causes that could be behind it. Notice I say "could". They are not claiming they are correct, only showing some evidence that cannot be ignored, and may have an overall effect on the climate. They are offering another "theory".

    Here is a new book that I will have to read next.
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Hurricanes and Politics

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Sunday, August 12, 2007 11:28:46 AM
     At the Irish Trojan's Blog, there is a fascinating debate about the conservative branded "slow" hurricane season, and the liberal hyping of a strong hurricane season. Global warming, and it's potential link to hurricanes has become an issue of left and right instead of science.

    I have posted on the "slow" season this year, and it's not because I feel global warming is a hoax, it's to point out the fact that the left is hyping the predictions, and they are wrong. And don't tell me Al Gore doesn't have an agenda. Yet, is it not true that all  humanity is agenda driven? Are we not all looking to get something done, or trying make something happen? Let's be honest.
    The problem is that all these global warming blog sites talk is if they are scientists. They believe in something they can't possibly know or understand but believe in the scientists they quote, and they are putting their faith in them. And that is why some on the right have called this global warming following a "religion". 

    People on both sides of global warming are simply involved in a swing-fest of competing political opinions. I would like to see the scientists swing at each other with data. But what we read and see on MSM is one sided. Conservatives are a bunch of "deniers" and the Earth is doomed because of them. Just type in global warming in any search engine and you will find by a margin of 100 to 1, stories and websites about coming disaster reported by scientists who are preaching apocalypse, and how nothing is getting done because the denier's are fighting them every step of the way. 

    The Earth is warmer now, that part is "fact". What is still "theory" is what is causing it and what it means for our planet, and it's inhabitants. Scaring people into believing this will bring about the end of everything is tiresome and ridiculous.
Our climate system has evolved over millions of years, with ice ages, drought's and somewhat calm conditions. Is there a pattern? Are humans the cause? Can we fight it? Or must we learn to adapt? We have not answered all these questions yet. The debate is on going, but the left is trying to end it. 

Clarity is what I am trying to reveal.
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Common Sense On Global Warming

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Sunday, August 12, 2007 10:27:59 AM
     Instapundit links to Robert J. Samuelson's piece on the Newsweek article that came out last week concerning global warming. 

    The article reads more like a campaign stump for the IPCC,and the Democratic party. It sounds as if they are trying to get Al Gore to run for office again.

Newsweek, as in the past, will have to apologize for this story as well. (Not for another thirty years though.)
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Interview With Hillary About The Environment

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, August 11, 2007 1:06:44 PM
     In case your interested, Grist.org interviewed Hillary Clinton, discussing her commitment to the environment. This should generate a ton of comments...well, maybe not.

    This leads to my real point. Where does the environment rank as to importance in the 2008 presidential race?

    

CBS News/New York Times Poll. July 9-17, 2007. N=1,554 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3 (for all adults).

.

"What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?" Open-ended

.

%

War in Iraq

 27

Health care

 9

Economy/Jobs

 8

Immigration

 8

Terrorism (general)

 6

President Bush

 4

Other

 33

Unsure

 5

.

"In deciding who you would like to see elected president next year, which ONE of the following issues will be most important to you: [see below], or something else?" N=1,398 registered voters

.

%

The war in Iraq

 20

Terrorism and national security

 17

The economy and jobs

 17

Health care

 16

Immigration

 10

Education

 8

The environment and global warming

 7

Something else

 5

    Being the poll was conducted by two left-leaning organizations, still, global warming is just not on the fore-front of peoples mind, regardless of all of Al Gore's attempts at trying to make it one.

    We still got plenty of time before sea level rise, increased hurricane activity and really hot temperatures have a detrimental effect on society. It's all good!
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No Point In Planting Trees

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, August 11, 2007 12:35:42 PM
     Wouldn't you know, planting trees is just not going to work to help reduce CO2 emissions.
A Duke University study tells us that without all the nutrients and water to go along with healthy trees, they simply won't offset enough carbon to make a difference.
    So what do we tell all the carbon offsetting companies that plant trees to offset you driving your car? Uhhh, sorry about that. (Use the voice of beavis from the MTV show Beavis and Bitthead).

Is there any hope?
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