Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Government's Many Failures Mean - HANDS OFF Health Care!

 

Why government should NOT be anywhere

near health care.

 

To the Congress:

The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775 -

you have had 234 years to get it right; it is broke.

 

 

Social Security was established in 1935 - you

have had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.

 

 

Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - you have

had 71 years to get it right; it is broke.

 

 

The "War on Poverty" started in 1964 - you have

had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our

money has been confiscated and transferred to

"the poor"; it hasn't worked and our entire country

is broke.

 

 

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 -

you've had 44 years to get it right; they are broke.

 

 

Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - you

have had 39 years to get it right; it is broke.

 

 

 

 

Trillions of dollars were spent in the massive

political payoffs called TARP, the "Stimulus", the

Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009... none show

any signs of working, although ACORN appears to

have found a new b***h: the American taxpayer.

 

And finally, to set a new record:

 

"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and

went broke in 2009! It took good dependable cars

(that were the best some people could afford) and

replaced them with high-priced and less-affordable

cars, mostly Japanese. A good percentage of the

profits went out of the country. And the American

taxpayers take the hit for Congress' generosity

in burning three billion more of our dollars on failed

experiments.

 


 

So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record

that proves that "services" you shove down our

throats are failing faster and faster, you want

Americans to believe you can be trusted with a

government-run health care system?

20% of our entire economy?

With all due respect,

Are you crazy?

Forward - vote them all out!

 



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The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

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Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. Get it now.

 

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Hewitt Halloween

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Monday, October 12, 2009

Bumper Stickers

Friday, September 11, 2009

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Grandma Got Run Over by Obamacare

GreatHairGuy version

 

Grandma got run over by Obamacare
While waiting for the move to eternity
We know that we cannot live forever
But now they expect us all to go early

It all began with a little bump on her knee
Then she slipped and bruised her elbow
They all said she was too far gone
We all knew it was not her time to go

Then they rushed her off to Hospice
Where she could die with some dignity
We all wish we could help her
Trouble is that there’s just no money

Grandma got run over by Obamacare
While waiting for the move to eternity
We know that we cannot live forever
But now they expect us all to go early

Now were all so proud of Grandpa
He's been takin' this so well
See him in there watchin' football
Drinkin' beer and playin' cards with cousin Belle

It’s not the same without Grandma
All the family's dressed in black
And we just can't help but wonder
Who here will have the next heart attack.

Grandma got run over by Obamacare
While waiting for the move to eternity
We know that we cannot live forever
But now they expect us all to go early

Now we’ve all said goodbye to our Grandma
And grandpa now knows his time is coming
Where he too will soon meet his fate
It’s a good thing that we’ve got him numbing

I've warned all my friends and neighbors
Better watch out for yourselves
Never vote for Barackonomics
Where they keep the best health care for themselves

Grandma got run over by Obamacare
While waiting for the move to eternity
We know that we cannot live forever
But now they expect us all to go early

New Preamble to the Constitution

NEW PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION


This is one of the best e-mails I've seen in a long, long time. The following has been attributed to State Representative Mitchell Kaye from GA. This guy should run for President one day...
************************************************************************************************************

'We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights.'

ARTICLE I:

You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II:

You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III:

You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful; do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV:

You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.

ARTICLE V:

You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.

ARTICLE VI:

You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

ARTICLE VII:

You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII:

You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful. 

ARTICLE IX:

You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.


ARTICLE X:

This is an  English speaking country . We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from.

                    Lastly

ARTICLE XI:

You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution.The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!


If you agree, share this with a friend. No, you don't have to, and nothing tragic will befall you if you don't. I just think it's about time common sense is allowed to flourish. Sensible people of the United States speak out because if you do not, who will?

 

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Twitter









Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Can We Survive?

Barack Obama Countdown widget brought
to you by www.obamacountdownwidget.com

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

Obama lookalike contest and spoof speech


 

Tempe Marketplace

HERE COMES THE CHIEF

Tempe Marketplace Celebrates Obama’s ASU Appearance
with Look Alike Contest, Spoof Speech

Look-Alike Contest – Tuesday May 12 – 6 p.m.
Hilarious ‘Spoof’ Speech – Wednesday May 13 – 6 and 6:30 p.m.

TEMPE, ARIZ. – No tickets to ASU’s graduation? No problem! Tempe Marketplace has you covered with two presidential events next week that will make you see stars and stripes – no matter your political affiliation. 

Tuesday, May 12 101.5 Jamz personality Super Snake will host an Obama Look Alike Contest at The District Stage at 6 p.m. From the stature to the duds, this will be an incredible visual.

The most Obamaesque participant wins a $250 shopping spree for Tempe Marketplace.
Wednesday, May 13 Join six-term U.S. Congressman JD Hayworth and his top-rated afternoon radio show for entertaining banter, and a spoof speech that is sure to blaze a new trail on YouTube.

NewsTalk 550 KFYI will broadcast live at Tempe Marketplace from 4-7 p.m. with the spoof being broadcast live on the big screen at 6 p.m. and again at 6:30 p.m. Then, at 7 p.m., the real President will take the big screen as he delivers the commencement speech at ASU.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Emergency Room Tip

THE PATCH

The other day, I needed to go to the emergency room.

Not wanting to sit there for 4 hours, I put on my old fatigues and stuck a patch onto the front of my shirt that I had downloaded off the Internet.

When I went into the E.R., I noticed that 3/4 of the people got up and left. I guess they decided that they weren't that sick after all. Cut at least 3 hours off my waiting time.

Here's the patch. Feel free to use it the next time you're in need of quicker emergency service.











It also works at DMV, the Laundromat and long lines at WalMart.





Thursday, April 16, 2009

Phoenix and Gilbert AZ Tea Parties

PHOENIX TEA PARTY


GILBERT TEA PARTY

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Obama Commencement at ASU

President Barack Obama is scheduled to address Arizona State University’s graduating class in what would be his second visit to Arizona in his first five months as chief executive. 
ASU’s spring commencement ceremony is expected to celebrate the graduation of roughly 8,000 students on the evening of May 13, said Terri Shafer, a university spokeswoman. 
ASU President Michael Crow praised Obama for his political progress and decision to speak to the university’s students. 
“The progressive leadership he has already displayed and the values he espouses are a great example for our students and the extended community that surrounds us,” Crow said in a prepared statement. 


ASU President Michael Crow, I am a part of the "extended community" that surrounds the university and have been for over four decades.  I have undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University and also worked at the institution for many years.  President Obama has displayed little "leadership" and certainly is not a "great example" for my extended community nor the students, one of them my daughter.  Obama's policies are no doubt progressive, however, they are already bringing economic turmoil to the country.  How can you possibly believe that creating trillions of dollars of debt that "our students" will inherit can possibly be a "great example"?

It's one thing to show the appropriate courtesy to the Office of the President, quite another to endorse an agenda that will bankrupt the country and rob generations with reckless spending.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Catching Wild Pigs


A chemistry professor in a large college had some
exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in
the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who
kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The
student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been
shot while fighting communists in his native country who were
trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new
communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and
asked a strange question. He asked, ‘Do you know how to catch
wild pigs?’

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch
line. The young man said this was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs
by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the
ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the
free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a
fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.
When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn
again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to
that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all
four sides of the fence up with a gate in The last side. The
pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the
gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.
Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run
around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon
they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it
that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for
themselves, so they accept their captivity.
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what
he sees happening to America . The government keeps pushing us
toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the
form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for
unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments
not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we
continually lose our freedoms — just a little at a time.
One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free
lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you
cheaper than you can do it yourself.
Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government
‘help’ is a problem confronting the future of democracy in
America , you might want to send this on to your friends. If you
think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you
will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate
slams shut!
In this ‘very important’ election year, listen closely to
what the candidates are promising you !!
Just maybe you will be able to tell who is about to slam
the gate on America
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is
big enough to take away everything you have.


- Thomas Jefferson

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Video

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Friday, January 02, 2009

Disco Lives

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Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Congratulations Barack Hussein Obama:

1. For bringing Chicago-style political corruption and intimidation to a national level.
2. For raising untold millions of illegal foreign and domestic campaign contributions through a system without even modest levels of controls.
3. For effectively hiding your complete disregard for the Constitution and its irrelevance as written by old, white, European males centuries ago.
4. For calling for a "fundamental transformation" of America and effectively labeling it, "change", while really pedaling an old and discredited Marxist agenda of wealth redistribution and a political philosophy that government should manage its citizenry by taking from each according to his ability and distributing to each according to his needs.
5. For insisting that the Bill of Rights was a modest first step and that a second Bill of Rights is needed to guarantee that all Americans are beneficiaries of certain goods and services regardless of whether they were earned and regardless of whether they must be confiscated from others.
6. For proving that dishonesty and corruption can, at least sometimes, overcome honor and integrity.
7. For proving that symbolism can prevail over substance and competence.
8. For proving that playing the 'race card' can still be an effective strategy in the 21st century.
9. For pinpointing a defining moment in history where American exceptionalism has peaked.
10. For preparing the world for America's unilateral disarmament.
11. For proving the Founding Fathers wrong in their belief that a free press would not be collectively corrupt.
12. For proving the Founding Fathers right in their grave concerns about the "tyranny of the majority'.
13. For demonstrating that we really don't need to be our brother's keeper, or our aunt's or our half-brother's.
14. For demonstrating that charitable giving need not be an individual choice but done through government with the requisite government surcharge, of course.
15. For demonstrating that class-warfare can be an effective political strategy.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Great Clips Dancers

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Oh So Light On Their Feet

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Amy and Scott, I had no idea.

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2008 Elections

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Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Go ahead, take the test.

bedroom toys
Powered By Best Toys

Friday, June 22, 2007

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Separated at birth?





Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Immigration Reform-what's the problem?

This should be the plan:

1. Keep illegals out.
2. Imprison or deport illegals that are felons.
3. Change immigration laws so they meet the interests of the U.S.

The country needs a constant flow of immigrants, however, WE should SELECT those that can become citizens. We do NOT need 20 million illiterate landscapers. We DO need doctors and nurses and engineers. We need to accept people from AROUND THE WORLD, not just those that can physically get here.

They need to come on OUR TERMS:

1. They must be willing and eager to learn English.

2. They must embrace our government and our society and work to assimilate.

3. They must be able-bodied with a skill and work ethic that will strengthen our country. They cannot come to live off our welfare system.

Why is this so damn hard to agree on and do something about???

Monday, April 23, 2007

Harry Reid is un-American

Senator Harry Reid is the majority leader of the Senate, one of the most powerful political positions in our government. Four days ago he had the audacity and the stupidity to say in public, the war in Iraq "is lost" while our brave soldiers are still risking their lives there. Senator Reid also voted FOR sending them to war to begin with. Why is his statement so incredibly irresponsible ....... let someone in Iraq explain it:

Senator Reid:

When you say we’ve lost in Iraq, I don’t think you understand the effect of your words. The Iraqis I speak with are the good guys here, fighting to build a stable government. They hear what you say, but they don’t understand it. They don’t know about the political game, they don’t know about a Presidential veto, and they don’t know about party politics.

But they do know that if they help us, they are noticed by terrorists and extremists. They decide to help us if they think we can protect them from those terrorists. They tell us where caches of weapons are hidden. They call and report small groups of men who are strangers to the neighborhood, men that look the same to us, but are obvious to them as a foreign suicide cell.

To be brief, your words are killing us. Your statements make the Iraqis afraid to help us for fear we’ll leave them unprotected in the future. They don’t report a cache, and its weapons blow up my friends in a convoy. They don’t report a foreign fighter, and that fighter sends a mortar onto my base. Your statements are noticed, and they have an effect.

Finally, you are mistaken when you say we are losing. We are winning, I see it every day. However, we will win with fewer casualties if you help us. Will you?

Respectfully,

LT Jason Nichols, USN
MNF-I, Baghdad

How pathetic is it that our troops have to ask a high ranking elected official who sent them to war to support them.

From Gathering of Eagles.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Terrorism-The Long Road

Must read and see. An excerpt.

The Koran also tells Muslims, that when being defeated in battle, to ask for truce, and to use that truce to re-arm and to renew strength to defeat the enemy, Shoebat explained. We, in the West, think of a truce in terms of stopping hostilities, and looking for a way to achieve peace. Islam looks at a truce as an opportunity to lull the enemy into complacency, and then attack when that enemy is least prepared.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Catastrophic Global Warming Hoax

Just watch .

Minimum Wage

A New York Times writer actually gets it right about the minimum wage. Excerpts:

BOTH the House of Representatives and the Senate have recently passed bills raising the minimum wage. The Senate bill includes tax breaks for businesses, based on the following logic: While a minimum wage increase is popular, the resulting higher labor costs will translate into fewer jobs, more expensive products or both. The solution, the senators concluded, was to subsidize companies that hire disadvantaged workers, in order to reimburse them for these higher wage costs.

Does this reasoning hold up? A look at one of the key pieces of this business tax package — the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which has been in place since 1996 and would be extended for five years under the proposal — suggests otherwise.

If we don’t think that people with low incomes are getting what they need, let’s not look to ineffective employer tax credits to try to create jobs. And let’s not burden employers with the costs of a higher minimum wage, most of which won’t even go to low-income families. If additional investments are to be effective — and directed toward the intended recipients — they should focus instead on making sure our Earned Income Tax Credit program provides an adequate income supplement for the working poor.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Harry Betrays the Troops

Harry Mitchell and nearly all of the Democrat House members voted to abandon our troops while they are at war on foreign soil. It's partisan politics and it is harmful to the country and elevates the dangers to our troops. It was outrageous and unforgivable and even cowardly to vote for such a"non-binding" resolution as H.Con.Res.63.

Don't believe me, try reading from those in Iraq:

Most Americans say, “I support the troops.” “Supporting the troops” is far more than sending a care package, or shaking a service member’s hand, or tying a ribbon on their lapel. Supporting the troops should also be backing our mission.

People back home may not realize how effective this enemy is using the media as a weapon. Every time some talking head gets on the TV and shouts anything negative about this war, it motivates our enemy, who interprets dissent as weakness and who uses our free press against us. That is exactly how “the terrorists” win. For the Terrorist does not have to defeat us, he just has to outlast us.

Read it all.

My Pathetic "Representative".

First, Harry Mitchell gives one of the most clueless political interviews in history. This is not a parody, from the actual interview:

Q: How do you assure Americans that after allowing those who already made it here illegally to stay, that the country will get a handle on continued illegal immigration?

A: You have to realize that people are coming here because there are jobs. Once those jobs are taken by people who are here legally on a temporary status or a guest worker status, there are no more jobs. As long as there are jobs and we don’t have workers to fill them, you’re going to find people trying to cross the border to get here. It’s just pure economics. If there are no jobs here and they are not being hired, where’s the incentive?

Let's see, Harry believes that jobs are not being created; that once they are all filled, that's it, immigration is over. Just like what occurred after the last amnesty program. It's just pure stupidity.

Here is who paid to get this brainiac in Congress, courtesy of OpenSecrets.org. My first question is what the hell is ASU doing contributing to a Congressional candidate? Is this what the taxpayers had in mind for their tax dollars? Is this what the donors to the University had in mind? Note that ASU did not contribute to J.D. Hayworth, Harry's opponent in the race.

HARRY E. MITCHELL (D-AZ)
Top Contributors
1 Arizona State University $15,190
2 Pederson Group $12,600
2 RBC Financial Group $12,600
4 Gammage & Burnham $10,450
5 American Assn for Justice $10,000
5 American Federation of Teachers $10,000
5 American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees $10,000
5 AmeriPAC: The Fund for a Greater America $10,000
5 Forward Together PAC $10,000
5 International Assn of Fire Fighters $10,000
5 Laborers Union $10,000
5 NARAL Pro-Choice America $10,000
5 National Air Traffic Controllers Assn $10,000
5 National Assn of Letter Carriers $10,000
5 National Assn of Social Workers $10,000
5 National Education Assn $10,000
5 National Leadership PAC $10,000
5 Operating Engineers Union $10,000
5 Our Common Values PAC $10,000
5 PAC to the Future $10,000
5 Painters & Allied Trades Union $10,000
5 Robson Communities $10,000
5 Service Employees International Union $10,000
5 United Food & Commercial Workers Union $10,000
5 United Transportation Union $10,000

Saturday, February 17, 2007

John McCain

I've been watching McCain since he first became a representative in my district in 1982. He is a war hero but a HORRIBLE political figure for all the reasons we know and some you are unaware of that I will not go into.

The McCain campaign is off to a rough start. They called me this week for support and I listened to a message from McCain so I could let them know what I thought about his positions on the second amendment and illegal immigration. After his message, I received another recorded message that the operators were busy handling others and to hold for the next available person. Not a chance, I hung up. How many others would go through that to donate?

I would prefer almost ANY Republican over McCain but he would get a very reluctant vote from me over any Democrat. God help us, however. Not only is he insufferable, he already has an uncontainable ego. He has horrible judgment, remember the Keating 5? He will also be 72 next year. That's just too damn old to start a presidency.

As for the AZ GOP, I am heartened. Randy Pullen was elected to succeed Matt Salmon as state chairman. Pullen is widely seen as the anti-McCain candidate. McCain has taken Republicans, like me, for granted. Hopefully, that will change.

Our favorite Republican Senator in AZ, by a landslide, is the honorable Jon Kyl!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Voting Trends by Race

Will this change in 2008?

Monday, February 12, 2007

Laws of Economics

Why voters should be offered a ballot proposition that attempts to suspend the laws of economics.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Presidential candidate

Watch Ronald Reagan below and then watch this candidate.

Remembering Ronald Reagan

He was great then, it applies now.


Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Coming US challenge: a less literate workforce

A larger share of workers will have minimal reading skills in 2030 than today, according to a report released Monday.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

War on terror to move beyon the Middle East

The terror battlefield moves westward.

ISLAMIC terror cells in Britain have been instructed to carry out a series of kidnappings and beheadings of the kind allegedly planned by the nine terrorist suspects arrested in Birmingham last week.
Activate the domestic cells for a series of synchronized low-intensity suicidal attacks with guns or bombs. A dozen people killed by Islamic gunmen in each of a dozen US cities at the exactly same time on a Tuesday morning rush hour, or in the malls on a Saturday afternoon, would bring the United States to a screeching halt. (And no, I’m not giving them ideas. This kind of thing is (A) obvious and (B) has been discussed quite a bit.) We knew the cells existed. Two al-Qaeda operatives picked up in Jordan had been Boston cabbies just a couple of years earlier.

Friday, February 02, 2007

The decline of Europe.


A must read book. Click image for Amazon link.

Kyrsten Sinema is a kook.

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, a D-Phoenix in the Arizona legislature was a member of the Green Party. First, she went after the Minutemen with a bill that would make their activities illegal. It would also make some neighborhood watch programs illegal.

"Now, she is certain that voters made a mistake last November. We are asking the Legislature to reconsider just this one part of 300, which denies financial aid and in-state tuition to college students,” Sinema said. “We feel the voters were unaware of portions of the bill that deny financial assistance to students with non-citizen status."
She wants to undo the tuition restrictions that the voters passed. She is a fruitcake that survived the holiday season.

Is our immigration system a problem?

You decide.

Why women are running out of men to marry.

Could it be the ongoing changes in college enrollments?

Personal savings disaster!

"Savings rate hits 73-year low" screams the headline above the fold on our East Valley Tribune today. Did they forget something? Something like $3.2 trillion in 401(K) and similar savings plans.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

E.V. shivers through coldest January since ’79

Congratulations, East Valley residents and winter visitors: We’ve just endured the coldest January in 28 years. According to the National Weather Service, Phoenix’s official thermometer recorded for the month an average temperature of 52.9 degrees — 3.1 degrees below normal.
Looking at all the Januaries since 1971, 2007’s ranks as the sixth coldest, and not since 1979 has a year’s opening 31 days been so chilly.

“I don’t remember it being warm,” Tony Haffer, meteorologist in charge of the Weather Service’s Phoenix office, said when reminded that Jan. 9 experienced a high of 78. “It was obliterated by all the cold stuff.”

When just considering this January’s average high temperature, the ranking is even more dramatic. That mark of 63.6 degrees is the fourth coldest since 1971.

Haffer explained the low temperatures in the Valley are creeping upward, because of the urban heat island effect. The sprawl of concrete and asphalt means the heat created by sunlight can’t dissipate at night as fast as decades before.

Responsible for the cold weather, Haffer said, was a high-pressure system over the Pacific Northwest. That system’s clockwise rotation pumped cold air from the north down to Arizona.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Global Warming and Overpopulation

Reminds me of the scare tactics I read in 1970 in Paul Ehrlich's book, The Population Bomb. In the prologue to The Population Bomb he wrote, "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate..."

Ehrlich also wrote, that some parts of the world might see some minor and temporary recovery, but "a minimum of ten million people, most of them children, will starve to death during each year of the 1970s. But this is a mere handful compared to the numbers that will be starving before the end of the century". I must have missed that somehow.

Believing that the United States could only support a population of 150 million, Ehrlich proposed that "luxury taxes could be placed on layettes, cribs, diapers, diaper services, [and] expensive toys..." and suggested giving "responsibility prizes" to couples who went at least five years without having children or to men who got vasectomies. He called for setting up a federal Bureau of Population and Environment to oversee reducing U.S. population growth.

Why did Ehrlich’s predictions fail to come true? Because the model he used, like almost all those who predict dire problems from population, was basically flawed. In a nutshell what Ehrlich did was take population growth for the 1960s and extrapolate it out through the 1970s, but he insisted production of resources such as food and water were at their limits -- both would likely decline, and certainly not increase.

Food production not only increased, but increased faster than population growth, so 27 years after the publication of The Population Bomb, not only are there many more people alive in the world, but they eat more than they did in the past. Water quality, which Ehrlich believed beyond repair, has also steadily improved.

Now it's global warming for the doom and gloomers. Start by reading about the 'Hockey Stick'.

Some information on CFC's.

A great book on the subject by a Distinguished Research Professor at George Mason University and Professor Emeritus of environmental science at the University of Virginia.

Gee, could this have anything to do with it?

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Culture of Corruption-110th Congress style



From: PBS: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript
NEWSMAKER: SENATE MINORITY LEADER HARRY REID
January 18, 2006

JIM LEHRER: First, why has it taken so long for everybody to move on lobbying reform?

SEN. HARRY REID: Jim, it's taken a while for this culture of corruption the Republicans have developed to come into fore. The Republican leader in the House, four ethics convictions in one year, money laundering indictment, the Republican leader being investigated criminally and civilly, we have for the first time in 135 years, someone who works in the White House indicted. Safavian, who is in charge of government contracting, the president appointed him, hundreds of billions of dollars a year, led away in handcuffs because of sweetheart deals he had with Jack Abramoff and then you have, as has been talked about earlier in your program, the K Street Project. Think about this, the "pay and play" program. You as a lobbyist, you pay, and we Republicans will take care of you legislatively. That's why it hasn't come to the forefront. The arrogance of power, the culture of corruption has not come to the attention of the American public as it has the past several months.

Amazingly from the LA Times:

It's hard to buy undeveloped land in booming northern Arizona for $166 an acre. But now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively did just that when a longtime friend decided to sell property owned by the employee pension fund that he controlled.

In 2002, Reid (D-Nev.) paid $10,000 to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Las Vegas lubricants distributor and his friend for 50 years. The payment gave the senator full control of a 160-acre parcel in Bullhead City that Reid and the pension fund had jointly owned. Reid's price for the equivalent of 60 acres of undeveloped desert was less than one-tenth of the value the assessor placed on it at the time.

Six months after the deal closed, Reid introduced legislation to address the plight of lubricants dealers who had their supplies disrupted by the decisions of big oil companies. It was an issue the Haycock family had brought to Reid's attention in 1994, according to a source familiar with the events.

If Reid were to sell the property for any of the various estimates of its value, his gain on the $10,000 investment could range from $50,000 to $290,000.

It is a potential violation of congressional ethics standards for a member to accept anything of value — including a real estate discount — from a person with interests before Congress.