It was such a joy to watch Obama and Biden, supposedly the leaders of the strongest nation on earth, enjoy a staged, cold beer photo op with Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley.    So while Iran and North Korea are busy formulating plans to end the world as we know it, our fearless leader nurses a lukewarm beer with a police officer, who just one week ago, was being categorized as stupid? Maybe  I missed something here, but don’t we have more pressing issues facing our society?  Perhaps it is Obama that is acting stupidly.

My guess is that this is just a Clintonesque ploy by Team Obama to take attention away from his insidious government healthcare proposals that won’t do a damn thing for you or I other than robbing us of more money which will be used to give another freebie to those who are too lazy to work for a living. 

In the meantime, Der Fuhrer Pelosi was busy on the hill demonizing insurance companies, calling them “villains”. The first thing that we all need to remember is that a villain is a person, an insurance company is a corporate entity which is a legal structure that does not have any type of personality; good or bad.  Then again, Pelosi is simply out to stoke the class warfare fires in the name of power.  What we all need to realize is that just like liberals, there are good and bad in the insurance industry.   However, liberals seem to be missing the point that the single biggest thing that can be done to stem the rising cost of insurance is to cap frivolous litigation with meaningful tort reform. 

I wonder why it is that those who liberals view as simpletons, like you and I (again, people who work for a living and therefore don’t vote for liberals) can solve the healthcare problem in a simple blog, for a fraction of the cost being proposed by Pelosi, Reid, Kennedy and the rest of the seditious left?

In addition to tort reform, we need to ban all medical care for illegal aliens.   If you are here illegally and get sick or get hurt, tough. You are breaking the law and perhaps your agony will serve as a deterrent to the rest of the gate crashing criminals.   To you pansies on the left, this isn’t cold or mean spirited; it is common sense. If you want healthcare, then get in line, come here legally, get a job and pay for healthcare like the rest of us.  Perhaps this risk will serve as a future deterrent from you returning to our land without permission.

Are there things the insurance carriers could do? Certainly.   In exchange for tort reform which will benefit them immensely, they could work to ensure that all policies are portable, pre-existing conditions are covered and contracts are clearly and unambiguously worded so the general public knows what they are receiving.   The government needs to help these initiatives along but giving a 100% tax credit to all insurance policies and medical costs incurred by policyholders.  Hey, if we have billions of dollars to spend to buy back clunkers, there's plenty of cash to do this. If there's not, then get the cash by cutting out worthless entitlement and welfare programs.

In addition to medical reform, we need drug reform. The FDA needs to cut the red tape so that pharmaceutical companies can get drugs to market faster.   The government needs to repeal all laws regarding purchasing drugs from other countries, as this will increase competition and drive down prices.   Pharmaceuticals need to stop passing their advertising costs onto consumers. Look, if you want to advertise feel free, but don’t pass along the costs of your lobbying efforts for genital enhancing drugs to me.   Lastly, let generics be developed within 12 months of name brands.  

As for the lawyers out there, they need to step up to help out.   If you have a legitimate medical malpractice case, fine; use the power of the courts to sue.   However, if you pursue a frivolous suit then you will be held personally liable.   The reality is that the types of people who pursue frivolous lawsuits are generally of the same caliber of person who voted for Obama.   They don’t have jobs, they don’t have money and are simply opportunists looking for a quick buck. Attorney’s need to be held accountable for their catering to this type of clientele.   If they pursue frivolous cases then they will be responsible for paying back the insurance companies.   Certainly the folks on the Hill won’t like this because many of them are either lawyers or in the pockets of the Trial Lawyers Association.  

Simply put, what has been laid out here will do exponentially more than ANYTHING the power mongering liberals will be able to do in Washington. Then again, this is why liberals hate facts.

Christopher Van

www.goldenpansy.com

 

With Obama’s popularity plummeting, it appears that he is resorting to the typical liberal tactics used to cover up their failings; bash Bush.   Claiming he inherited all of the current problems, he and his left wing cronies are once again lashing out at the former president. Interestingly, when Bush was in office unemployment was less than 5%; today it is more than 10%.   Perhaps it is time for liberals to look in the mirror and realize that liberalism will always fail. It failed under Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Mao and Carter just as it will fail under Obama.

Rather than telling us what to eat, which doctor to see and what kind of car to drive perhaps now is the time to craft some real solutions.   So just what are the liberals doing to fix the current economic woes? They are sneaking through “card check” legislation that will outlaw the ballot box in union elections, requiring employees to raise their hand in public which will subject them to intimidation if they vote against organizing.   They are trying to ram through healthcare, despite the irrefutable fact that socialized medicine has failed the world over.   They are pushing the so called “Fairness Doctrine” which is designed to silence conservative viewpoints.    They are sneaking through a bill that will grant amnesty to 13 million gate crashing criminal aliens. What they aren’t doing is providing any meaningful solutions to fix our problems.   No wonder their poll numbers are in the toilet, the very place their insidious and un-American legislation belongs.

Today Rasmussen released a poll in which 49% say that America’s best days are behind her. Only 38% think we have better times ahead.  That is a sad commentary on our society, but there is a silver lining in that this means that even some kool aid drinking Obamabots have realized the errors of their way and are rethinking the messiah’s ability to walk on water. 

The reality is that as long as liberals remain in power we will suffer tremendously.   With the monetizing of our debt at the fastest rate in history it is only a matter of time until inflation rears its ugly head.    Once the prices rise precipitously, the interest rates will have to be raised to reign in the cost escalation. Liberals don’t get it because most of them couldn’t pass a basic Economics 101 class.   While kicking the Pelosi/Reid/Kennedy crowd to the curb would be a good start, I’m actually rethinking my hopes that it would happen in 2010, as our economic misery will peak about a year after that and the media would most certainly blame Republicans if they somehow managed to take back Congress.   I want 100% of the blame for our misery, which is going to get A LOT worse, to be on the shoulders of liberals for generations to come. I want the public to be sooooooooooo angry that in 2012 Obama suffers the most humiliating defeat in history to a true conservative; not some middle of the road, nanny state, country club elitist. 

In the meantime, it’s time for us to do our duty as true patriots and share the gospel of what made America great; God, guns, family, economic freedom and individual liberty. It’s time that the government become fearful of the people, as that is the only true path to liberty.   This is precisely why liberals hate hearing the truth, because they understand that throughout history the only way to institute their tyrannical ideals is by indoctrinating and controlling the masses.   In the end, freedom can prevail but only in the event that we finally find a cure for liberalism, a disease that has cost more lives throughout history than all others combined.

Christopher Van

www.goldenpansy.com

 

Liberals in Congress are apparently working to pass new taxes to combat obesity. Go figure, the same group that created the entitlement class with food stamps, welfare checks and free satellite TV to watch reruns of Jerry Springer now wants to tax the very constitutents who put them in office.   Are they afraid that the folks from whom they routinely purchase votes will get so fat and lazy that they won’t be able to make it to the voting booth? Maybe they should give them free scooters from the Scooter Store!

According to recent reports, the CDC is working closely with Congressional liberals to push through a three cent tax on soda. Seriously, do they really thing three cents is going to have any impact on obesity in America. My guess is that this move is part of a bigger ploy to further take over greater aspects of our lives. 

Liberals created the insidously un-American concept of political correctness to control what we say. They are pushing laws to ban our right to defend our homes and families from criminals.   The Fairness Doctrine is being pushed as a way to silence dissent on talk radio.   They now own our banks and our auto makers. They soon will tell us what doctor we can see; when, where and how often.   Now they want to tell us what we can eat. Imagine another four years of Obama’s hope and change:

Pizza Guy: Thank you for calling Papa John’s, can I have your phone number?

You: 555-1212

Pizza Guy: What can I get for you tonight?

You: I’ll have two large pizzas, one with the works and the other with pepperoni.

Pizza Guy: Sorry, according to the CDC records you have high cholesterol. How about a salad.

You: No, I really want a pizza. 

Pizza Guy: No can do, the government says you are too fat. I am only authorized to sell you a salad.

You: Fine, I’ll just call Domino’s.

Pizza Guy: You can’t do that. It’s now in the system that you attempted to order fatty foods and if you try again you could be arrested by the food police.

What truly is amazing are the sheeple who can’t see through this charade, where Stalin and Marx have been reincarnated in the form of the Obamamessiah who seemingly walks on water to the dumb and ignorant in our midst. At any other time in history the actions we are seeing in Washington would have resulted in an all out revolt by the people. Then again, what we are witnessing is the result of 200 years of government using education as a tool to indoctrinate the masses. 

Christopher Van

www.goldenpansy.com

 

A neighbor calls the police to support a suspected break in; the sign of a good neighbor.   The police promptly respond to apprehend the suspected burglars; the sign of a good police force.   Upon arriving at the scene of a potential crime, the officer confronts the suspect who it turns out was Harvard Professor Henry Gates who had locked himself out of his own home. 

Acting like any good cop would, Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley asked Mr. Gates for identification.   Rather than complying, Gates decided to play the race card and got belligerent with the officer who was doing nothing more than trying to serve and protect his community.    Gates was subsequently and justifiably arrested for his irresponsible actions and charged with disorderly conduct at which time President Obama, weighed in with a statement that the police acted stupidly. 

Apparently Obama is friends with Gates, who teaches African culture at Harvard. Apparently Obama made his statements without any foundation of fact, whatsoever, and most certainly without the assistance of his teleprompter.  While one would think that Obama has better things to do with his time, he apparently felt the urge to once again reinforce the so called plight of the black man in America.

The bigger issue is that the entire situation reflects the inherent racism that continues to percolate amongst many in the black community, who continue to use stereotypes in their ACORNesque approach to solving race relations in our nation.   Keep in mind that this entire situation could been averted had Gates simply kept his mouth shut and produced identification as the police had requested. 

Police are continually in the cross hairs of race pimps for doing nothing more than protecting their communities.   Anytime a high profile case involves a black defendant, rather than examine the facts, racists such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and now Henry Gates and Barack Obama use their bully pulpit to demonize law enforcement.  

 

I have been conspicuously absent from the blogs for one very good reason; to give credibility to my assessment of the Obama presidency.   When Obama took the oath of office 6 months ago, many on the right had already resigned themselves to the ultimate failure of this candidate while those on the left viewed him as a messiah who could do no wrong. I decided to sit on the sidelines to give the guy a chance; to make the case that an ideology that historically fails in every society in which it is tried could actually work here.

Now that he has had a full six months, the honeymoon is over. Obama came to power with promises of hope and change and has delivered on both.   We hope that our nation can survive the economic and social disaster that he and his extremely left wing Congress have created.   As a nation we have changed from one of prosperity and abundance to one of complacency and entitlements. In the eyes of socialists, Marxists and rogue dictators the world over Obama has been a resounding success. As for the rest of us; you know the ones who actually work for a living, he is an abysmal failure. 

As I have been sitting on the sidelines, I have also been taking notes so that an interim report card could be issued.   Here it is:

Economy F. Plain and simple, unemployment was less than 5% when Bush was in office. It is now 10% with nearly twenty states in double digits.   Michigan, a state wholly owned and operated by the Democratic National Committee and union thugs, leads the pack at 15%.   Detroit is nearly 40%.   If there was a grade lower than an F, I would give that to Obama. In short, Obamanomics a train wreck. 

Healthcare D-.   To propose a system of healthcare that has failed the world over is just plain stupid. It shows the naiveté of a president who is unfit for command.   Anyone with an ounce of business savvy knows that you don’t manage to exceptions. Liberals like to claim that there are 45 million uninsured, when the truth is that the real number is much smaller, especially when illegal aliens are excluded from the mix.  You know, criminals who shouldn’t be entitled to free healthcare in the first place. In addition, recent polling shows that 85% of Americans are satisfied with their healthcare.   It’s time for the government to learn their place, which would be somewhere beneath the untouchables in the Hindu caste system.

War on Terror C-.   While Obama gets an F on rhetoric, his actions speak louder than words. He proclaimed an end to Club Gitmo with a promise to bring terrorists to your backyard yet the terrorists remain in Cuba.   He claims to have ended water boarding, which certainly brings his grade down.  He sought to appease Muslims, yet we still have troops fighting for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq.   While he gets a passing grade here, it will quickly turn to an F should an Islamic fascist commit an act of terror in the United States.

Foreign Policy F. You don’t go to another nation, let alone a Muslim nation, and apologize for the actions of the United States.   You don’t bow down to Muslim royalty and kiss there hand.   You don’t kowtow to the Euroweenie agenda. You don’t court the likes of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. Again, if there were a lower grade, Obama’s foreign policy would be a prime candidate.

Supreme Court D-. Sonia Sotomayor is a bad candidate, but not as bad as Obama could have done. She has a history of being liberal and a tendency towards being a judicial activist. Her views on gay marriage and killing children are relatively unknown and there is hope that her being Hispanic, a group known being socially conservative,  will have an influence on those and other social issues. After the racism extolled in her ruling against the New Haven firefighters it was hard not to give this nominee an F, but some consideration was given to her confirmation hearings. 

Overall this administration is on the brink of failure.   Government takeovers of the banks and auto industry certainly could most certainly be used to make the case that Obama has already failed.   If government takes over health care then failure is even more likely. If Democrats retain a majority in Congress in 2010 then failure is inevitable, as liberalism is the root cause of each and every problem facing us today. 

However, every once in a while there is a glimmer of hope.   The mere fact that liberals are fit to be tied on a number of fronts, such as Obama continuing to prohibit gays from openly serving in the military and Club Gitmo remaining open shows that Obama is not 100% kooky.   99% perhaps, but not 100%.  

We should all know, at least those of us with half a brain, that global warming is a hoax designed to create a perceived need for government. The agenda of global warming alarmists has never been about Mother Earth but rather how to take from those of us who produce and redistribute to life's losers. The following is just more proof that Al Gore and the rest of his liberal kook aid drinking kooks are full of it. The following is from http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical/ Tropical cyclone (TC) activity worldwide has completely and utterly collapsed during the past 2 to 3 years with TC energy levels sinking to levels not seen since the late 1970s. This should not be a surprise to scientists since the natural variability in climate dominates any detectable or perceived global warming impact when it comes to measuring yearly integrated tropical cyclone activity. With the continuation (persistence) of colder Pacific tropical sea-surface temperatures associated with the effects of La Nina, the upcoming 2009 Atlantic hurricane season should be above average, as we saw in 2008. Nevertheless, since the Atlantic only makes up 10-15% of overall global TC activity each year (climatological average during the past 30 years), continued Northern Hemispheric and global TC inactivity as a whole likely will continue. As previously reported here and here at Climate Audit, and chronicled at my Florida State Global Hurricane Update page, both Northern Hemisphere and overall Global hurricane activity has continued to sink to levels not seen since the 1970s. Even more astounding, when the Southern Hemisphere hurricane data is analyzed to create a global value, we see that Global Hurricane Energy has sunk to 30-year lows, at the least. Since hurricane intensity and detection data is problematic as one goes back in time, when reporting and observing practices were different than today, it is possible that we underestimated global hurricane energy during the 1970s. See notes at bottom to avoid terminology discombobulation. Using a well-accepted metric called the Accumulated Cyclone Energy index or ACE for short (Bell and Chelliah 2006), which has been used by Klotzbach (2006) and Emanuel (2005) (PDI is analogous to ACE), and most recently by myself in Maue (2009), simple analysis shows that 24-month running sums of global ACE or hurricane energy have plummeted to levels not seen in 30 years. Why use 24-month running sums instead of simply yearly values? Since a primary driver of the Earth's climate from year to year is the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) acts on time scales on the order of 2-7 years, and the fact that the bulk of the Southern Hemisphere hurricane season occurs from October - March, a reasonable interpretation of global hurricane activity requires a better metric than simply calendar year totals. The 24-month running sums is analogous to the idea of "what have you done for me lately". During the past 6 months, extending back to October of 2008 when the Southern Hemisphere tropical season was gearing up, global ACE had crashed due to two consecutive years of well-below average Northern Hemisphere hurricane activity. To avoid confusion, I am not specifically addressing the North Atlantic, which was above normal in 2008 (in terms of ACE), but the hemisphere (and or globe) as a whole. The North Atlantic only represents a 1/10 to 1/8 of global hurricane energy output on average but deservedly so demands disproportionate media attention due to the devastating societal impacts of recent major hurricane landfalls. Why the record low ACE? During the past 2 years +, the Earth's climate has cooled under the effects of a dramatic La Nina episode. The Pacific Ocean basin typically sees much weaker hurricanes that indeed have shorter lifecycles and therefore -- less ACE . Conversely, due to well-researched upper-atmospheric flow (e.g. vertical shear) configurations favorable to Atlantic hurricane development and intensification, La Nina falls tend to favor very active seasons in the Atlantic (word of warning for 2009). This offsetting relationship, high in the Atlantic and low in the Pacific, is a topic of discussion in my GRL paper, which will be a separate topic in a future posting. Thus, the Western North Pacific (typhoons) tropical activity was well below normal in 2007 and 2008 (see table). Same for the Eastern North Pacific. The Southern Hemisphere, which includes the southern Indian Ocean from the coast of Mozambique across Madagascar to the coast of Australia, into the South Pacific and Coral Sea, saw below normal activity as well in 2008. Through March 12, 2009, the Southern Hemisphere ACE is about half of what's expected in a normal year, with a multitude of very weak, short-lived hurricanes. All of these numbers tell a very simple story: just as there are active periods of hurricane activity around the globe, there are inactive periods, and we are currently experiencing one of the most impressive inactive periods, now for almost 3 years. Bottom Line Under global warming scenarios, hurricane intensity is expected to increase (on the order of a few percent), but MANY questions remain as to how much, where, and when. This science is very far from settled. Indeed, Al Gore has dropped the related slide in his PowerPoint (btw, is he addicted to the Teleprompter as well?) Many papers have suggested that these changes are already occurring especially in the strongest of hurricanes, e.g. this and that and here, due to warming sea-surface temperatures (the methodology and data issues with each of these papers has been discussed here at CA, and will be even more in the coming months). The notion that the overall global hurricane energy or ACE has collapsed does not contradict the above papers but provides an additional, perhaps less publicized piece of the puzzle. Indeed, the very strong interannual variability of global hurricane ACE (energy) highly correlated to ENSO, suggests that the role of tropical cyclones in climate is modulated very strongly by the big movers and shakers in large-scale, global climate. The perceptible (and perhaps measurable) impact of global warming on hurricanes in today's climate is arguably a pittance compared to the reorganization and modulation of hurricane formation locations and preferred tracks/intensification corridors dominated by ENSO (and other natural climate factors). Moreover, our understanding of the complicated role of hurricanes with and role in climate is nebulous to be charitable. We must increase our understanding of the current climate's hurricane activity. Background: During the summer and fall of 2007, as the Atlantic hurricane season failed to live up to the hyperbolic prognostications of the seasonal hurricane forecasters, I noticed that the rest of the Northern Hemisphere hurricane basins, which include the Western/Central/Eastern Pacific and Northern Indian Oceans, was on pace to produce the lowest Accumulated Cyclone Energy or ACE since 1977. ACE is the convolution or combination of a storm's intensity and longevity. Put simply, a long-lived very powerful Category 3 hurricane may have more than 100 times the ACE of a weaker tropical storm that lasts for less than a day. Over a season or calendar year, all individual storm ACE is added up to produce the overall seasonal or yearly ACE. Detailed tables of previous monthly and yearly ACE are described below. The table does not include the Northern Indian Ocean, which can be deduced as the portion of the Northern Hemisphere total not included in the three major basins. Nevertheless, 2007 saw the lowest ACE since 1977. 2008 continued the dramatic downturn in hurricane energy or ACE. The following stacked bar chart demonstrates the highly variable, from year-to-year behavior of Northern Hemisphere (NH) ACE. The smaller inset line graph plots the raw data and trend (or lack thereof). Thus, during the past 60 years, with the data at hand, Northern Hemisphere ACE undergoes significant interannual variability but exhibits no significant statistical trend. So what to expect in 2009? Well, the last Northern Hemisphere storm was Typhoon Dolphin in middle December of 2008, and no ACE has been recorded so far. The Southern Hemisphere is below normal by just about any definition of storm activity (unless you have access to the Elias sports bureau statistic creativity department), and the season is quickly running out. With La Nina-like conditions in the Pacific, a persistence forecast of below average global cyclone activity seems like a very good bet. Now if only the Dow Jones index didn't correlate so well with the Global ACE lately... Notes: Hurricane is the term for Tropical Cyclone specific to the North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii eastward to the Mexican coast. Other names around the world include Typhoon, Cyclone, and Willy-Willy (Oz) but hurricane is used generically to avoid confusion. Accumulated Cyclone Energy or ACE: is easily calculated from best-track hurricane datasets, with the one-minute maximum sustained wind squared and summed during the tropical lifecycle of a tropical storm or hurricane. Global Infrared Satellite: Tropical Sectors Global Tropical Cyclone ACE through Mar 17, 2009 00z BASIN 2009 ACE CLIMO YEARLY ACE* NORMAL TO DATE % of NORMAL Northern Hemisphere 0 557 4 - North Atlantic 0 104 0 - Western Pacific0 280 3 - Eastern Pacific0 156 0 - Southern Hemisphere 79.33 229 142+ 56% * Climatological Values based upon 1982-2008 calendar year activity except for Southern Hemisphere. + Normal to date for Southern Hemisphere, 1981-2008 October-Februrary. Includes Southern Indian and Southern Pacific basins. V max is maximum sustained 1-minute wind (knots) throughout the tropical lifecycle of each TC Previous Basin Activity BASIN 2005 ACE 2006 ACE 2007 ACE 2008 ACE 1982-2008 AVERAGE Northern Hemisphere 655 576 383 408 557 North Atlantic 243 83 72 142 104 Western Pacific301 274 212 167 280 Eastern Pacific97 204 55 83 156 Southern Hemisphere* 285 182 191 164 229 * Southern Hemisphere peak TC activity occurs between October and April. Thus, 2008 values represent the period October 2007 - April 2008. Note: 1981-2008 March and April Southern Hemisphere ACE has averaged 84 with a standard deviation of 27, with a minimum of 47 in 1987 and maximum of 154 in 1992. Current Global TC Graphics Northern Hemisphere Hurricane Days & Global Major H Days -- 24 month running sum Excel Data File Global and NH TC Accumulated Cyclone ACE -- 24 month running sum Analysis shown in the figure depicts tropical cyclone energy continuously summed over 24-month periods from 1973 through 28, February 2009. The top green time series shows the evolution of global Accumluated Cyclone Energy (ACE). Global ACE is at historical low levels -- the lowest in 30-years. The Earth is experiencing a prolonged period of severely depressed cyclone activity. The Northern Hemisphere is responsible for 70% of global tropical cyclone ACE on average since 1973. Thus, it is no surprise that Northern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclone activity is also at 30-year lows. MONTH/YEAR NH ACE SH ACE NH HDAYS [INTENSE *] SH HDAYS [INTENSE *] GLOBAL 24-MONTH RUNNING ACE NH 24-MONTH RUNNING ACE JAN06 5.45 20.75 0 3 1863.0 1408.1 FEB06 15.41 42.91 0 9.25 [2] 1851.3 1407.9 MAR06 0.58 61.63 0 13.25 [4.75] 1840.8 1407.1 APR06 10.33 36.14 2.25 [1.25] 5.5 [3.25] 1850.4 1381.1 MAY06 25.27 0 6.75 [2.75] 0 1836.1 1369.2 JUN06 4.17 0 0 0 1763.6 1296.7 JUL06 101.15 0 22.25 [8] 0 1820.8 1353.9 AUG06 150.91 0 28 [13] 0 1796.5 1329.6 SEP06 166.45 0 44.75 [14.25] 0 1702.8 1237.9 OCT06 47.27 10.71 11.75 [1.25] 2.75 [1] 1688.8 1214.1 NOV06 39.71 4.89 8.75 [3.5] 1 1677.5 1227.2 DEC06 25.20 27.29 8.5 6.75 [3.25] 1690.7 1231.2 JAN07 0 17.6 0 3.25 1669.9 1225.8 FEB07 0 71.4 0 16.75 [4.75] 1655.4 1225.8 MAR07 0.13 46.3 0 10 [2.75] 1617.9 1222.2 APR07 8.0 12.7 2.25 2.5 [1.25] 1590.2 1217.5 MAY07 18.8 0.37 4 [2] 0 1606.2 1233.1 JUN07 21.7 0 3.5 [2] 0 1591.9 1218.8 JUL07 32.0 0 7 [2.25] 0 1522.0 1148.9 AUG07 108.3 0 21.75 [11.75] 0 1501.9 1128.8 SEP07 85.5 0 19.25 [4.75] 0 1363.2 990.1 OCT07 53.9 0 8.75 [4.25] 0 1317.1 944.6 NOV07 57.2 8.4 13.5 [3.25] 0.25 1344.1 982.5 DEC07 1.0275 15.6 0 2.5 [1] 1339.5 962.9 JAN08 0.3675 35.5 0 6.75 [1.75] 1349.2 957.8 FEB08 0 67.7 0 15 [5.25] 1374.0 957.8 MAR08 0 33.1 0 7.75 [2.5] 1344.9 957.3 APR08 15.59 3.33 5.5 0 1317.4 962.5 MAY08 45.6 0 10 [4.5] 0 1337.7 982.8 JUN08 20.1 0 5.25 0 1353.6 998.7 JUL08 81.14 0 20.75 [0.5] 0 1333.6 978.8 AUG08 49.5 0 10 [2.25] 0 1232.3 877.4 SEP08 130.45 0 26.75 [10.75] 0 1196.3 841.4 OCT08 42.085 4.645 9 [2.25] 0 1185.0 836.2 NOV08 16.0475 0.565 2.5 [1.25] 0 1157.0 812.5 DEC08 9.0825 16.25 2 3 [1.25] 1129.9 796.4 JAN09 0 10.1725 0 1.75 [0.25] 1122.4 796.4 FEB09 0 24.2925 0 4.5 [2] 1075.4 796.4 MAR09 0 23.405 0 4.75 [2.5] 1052.36 796.3 1979-2008 CLIMO - - - - 1570.4 1108.3 HDAYS are hurricane days [64 kts +]; Intense [96 kts+] or Category 3 and higher on the Saffir Simpson Scale 2009 Southern Hemisphere Operational Tracks Used in Table --> SH09_tracks 2008 Northern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclone Year in Review Upon examination of all tropical cyclone activity in the basins throughout the Northern Hemisphere for the past 2 years, a remarkable downward trend in cyclone energy has continued and reached historic levels of inactivity. USA Today Article on Northern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclone Inactivity 2007 Record Hemispheric Tropical Cyclone Inactivity Links 2008 Tropical Conference Powerpoint 2008 AMS New Orleans TC Reanalysis Trends and Sizes PPT 2008 AMS New Orleans Powerpoint [Extra] My friends at the Higher Ground Ministries Climate Donkey Climate Audit Watts Up With That Blog ICECAP Northwest Pacific Floater MeteoSat Full Disk (Europe) Indian Ocean Full Disk (INDOEX) GOES Full Disk East West RAMMB/CIRA NOAA TCs Navy NRL TC Digital Typhoon Database National Hurricane Center Joint Typhoon Warning Center NOAA Geostationary Satellite Global Storm Tracks Global Weather Maps HWRF and GFDL Hurricane Model Maps Earth Moisture Animation Wikipedia 2007 Hurricane Season Wikipedia 2008 Hurricane Season This, my friends, is why liberals hate facts. Learn the truth at www.goldenpansy.com

 

Dear President Obama,

It’s been a week and everything is still the same. Where is all the change that you promised? Perhaps it was a campaign slogan or perhaps you just can’t deliver. Whatever it is, I think that perhaps there is a better solution.

As a conservative, otherwise known as a patriot, I had high hopes that perhaps you weren’t the Marxist that some claimed.   As an American, I prayed that perhaps you could bring our nation’s political divide to an end. To the contrary, we are now more polarized than ever.  

I know that we thought we could work it out, but it just hasn’t happened that way.   Our two ideological sides of America cannot, and will not ever agree on what is right, so let’s just end it on friendly terms. We can smile, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences, and go our separate ways.

We begin by equitably dividing up the country.   Certainly we can sit down and come to an agreement on what is fair. Obviously we start by giving you Michigan and Illinois because your fellow liberals have been the model of efficiency in each of those states.  Don't worry about the cold, I'm sure your global warming will take care of that. We will take the south since you never really liked us anyway. 

After we divvy up the land, the rest should be simple since liberals and conservatives have such distinct and disparate tastes. We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore, and Rosie O’Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them) …

We’ll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, gangbangers, homeboys, hippies, welfare moms, single moms, transvestites and illegal aliens. We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s, and rednecks. We’ll keep the bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.  We’ve got dibs on family values, since you never really cared for them anyway. You can have gay marriage and the pedophiles at NAMBLA. 

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we’ll retain the right to invade and destroy any place that threatens our way of life. You can have the peaceniks, and war protesters.  Since you don't like Guantanamo Bay, we'll take the property and turn it into a resort.  You can have the occupants and maybe give them free room and board in the Lincoln Bedroom.  But remember, when they start blowing things up, don't come crying to us because all we'll say is "I told you so".   Well also go ahead and keep Israel as an ally and you can start a dialogue with your pals in North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values and In God We Trust on our currency. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, Jane Fonda and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We’ll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks, and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.  You can give everyone healthcare, if you can find any practicing doctors. We’ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya, or We Are the World.

We’ll keep English as our official language and you can have Ebonics or whatever it is you’re teaching the younger generation these days.   We’ll practice trickle down economics, and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot.  Since it often so offends you we’ll keep our history, our name, our Constitution and our flag.

In the spirit of friendly parting, I’ll bet you ANWR and 100 offshore oil rigs which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

 

On the First Day, the messiah flubs the oath of office while the Wall Street referendum results in a 322 point, record setting drop.   On Day Two, we come to find out that jobless claims are the highest in 26 years. Day Three results in new construction being at the lowest point since 1959. I'm just going out on a limb, but my guess is Day Four won't result in the creation of the sun and moon, aligning the stars and seasons in perfect harmony.  So much for parting the skies and walking on water; this is more like the coming of Satan.

After all, would anyone but Satan himself risk the lives of Americans by closing the Guantanamo Bay Country Club?  What kind of message does this send to our enemy who are celebrating this decision in caves from Kabul to Karachi.  I'm sure they have already had their share of laughts as we doled out prayer rugs, Korans, cable television or burqua clad prostitutes to their incarcerated jihadist brethren who have no regard for freedom or our way of life.  But, this is justice in the eyes of liberals whose only true regret is that there was not more carnage by these goons on 9/11. 

So what will the president of the ignorant portion of the electorate do with these enemies? Does he intend to bring them to the United States and give them access to our courts?   Are they going to be the beneficiaries of our tax dollars? Isn’t there something truly sick and twisted about our paying to defend those who seek to annihilate us? Then again this should come as no surprise as liberals have long slept with the enemy. 

Here’s another example of how Obama could gain praise and respect.   Rather than coddling our enemy, kill them.   How about we strike a compromise; you get to close Club Gitmo and we get to kill the terrorists. In fact, let’s make it a pay per view event with all proceeds going to those who lost loved ones on 9/11. But alas, killing criminals wouldn’t be morally right because in the eyes of liberals the only ones worthy of a death sentence are innocent little children. 

This charade under the guise of hope and change will continue until America wakes up, but they won’t. They are too busy watching American Idiot and getting their news from ET, Oprah and The View.   They actually think that Obama is here to solve their problems. I guess this is understandable when we have a president who mistakenly believes that government is the solution to all when in fact government is the root cause of all that troubles us today.  

 

Well, I’m waiting…I still have a mortgage and an empty gas tank.   You promised to take care of me from cradle to grave. I heard the campaign rhetoric and the best you can come up with is a taxman who refuses to pay his taxes. Oh, that’s right, he said he was sorry. Yes, it was a goof. In fact it wasn’t even his fault, it was Turbo Tax! Of course, silly me, go ahead and confirm the guy so we can all use him as precedent if we conveniently forget to pay our taxes. Then again, if we do it, we go to jail becase we are not members of the political elite.

Seriously folks, what’s the messiah done already? Wall Street tanked on Day One. He attended an overpriced orgy of fellow liberal elitists who flew in on their leer jets at our expense.   I heard he called a few foreign leaders….what dinner in Tehran? 

All the while the media gushes with pride and joy that their self serving man was put into office by the folks over at ACORN.   Usually I’d be willing to give the new president a chance, which I did. He promised that his election would bring about a change to politics as usual; yet we have a cabinet filled with Clinton retreads. The media promised an end to the racial divide; yet we had to listen to the race baiting drivel of Reverend Lowery. No more corruption in Washington; yet we sit through confirmation hearings on the queen of corruption herself.   Honesty and integrity inside the beltway; is that how Timothy Geithner spells his name? 

The liberal template has been laid out before us, so I guess wanting Obama to fail is where I stand. Certainly if he were proposing the Fair Tax, English only mandates, an end to illegal immigration, defeat of Islamic fascism and school choice I would want him to succeed, but that’s not where he stands. He stands for socialism and an undermining of our rights of economic freedom and individual liberty, so why on earth would anyone who loves America want to see that agenda succeed?

I don’t know how long the honeymoon will last but it can’t possibly be forever. Will it take saddling out kids with a few more trillion? Perhaps. Will it take a terrorist attack on our homeland? That may do it.   Will it take free healthcare, education and welfare for gate crashing criminals? Well, that’s already going on and people could care less.

My guess is once the nanny state stupor wears off, the anger will escalate. I think it may come down to increased taxes. Obama and his fellow liberals seem to be of the belief that they can just tax the superwealthy but the last time I checked they were in relatively short supply.   What happens when they are tapped out, or just get fed up and move elsewhere? 

Each trillion dollar check costs every American somewhere in the neighborhood of $6700 dollars.   We are talking multiple trillions for a population that doesn’t have fifty bucks in the bank.   The debt we are creating will be the demise of our country. If you don’t believe me, just wait until China decides to stop underwriting our foolishness. 

As any historian of the Great Depression will tell you, the market crash of 1929 would have resulted in mere recession of twenty four to thirty six months had the government not intervened.   They did and it took World War II and a half million American lives a decade later to fix what the government created.   If Obama and the liberal Congress institute what they have planned it will take an equally catastrophic event to get our nation back on course. Is that really what we want for our kids? Maybe you should ask those who are hoping his socialist agenda works.  

Christopher Van

www.christophervan.com

 

With 2008 officially marking the death of investigative journalism in America, we are now forced to get our news from overseas.   According the Pravda, a paper once more in the tank for Marxism than the New York Times, the world is on the brink of entering another Ice Age.   Hold the phone; ice age. What the heck are you talking about? Don’t you mean global warming, the greatest science fiction hoax since Orwell penned 1984. Oh wait, 1984 is coming to fruition as our government seizes our property and usurps our rights.

As it turns out, there is no such thing as global warming. There never has been and never will be. Sure the earth goes in cycles, as does every other planet in our galaxy and probably in the universe for that matter.   We see temperatures go up, we see them go down. We see increased hurricane activity and different levels of arctic ice.   What we don’t see is any correlation between man and planet other than what the liberals and their Spielbergesque writers in the mainstream media can conjure up. 

We all know that liberals hate facts because the truth so often gets in the way of their wild imagination.   We know that throughout history the world has seen periods of time when ice covered masses such as Greenland were arable farmland.   We have seen other times when the sub tropics were covered in ice as wooly mammoths had their way with the liberal elite. 

According to a growing group of scientists the world is set to enter another Ice Age.   Didn’t Newsweek call this in 1979? That was before their pipedream of global warming; sort of like Obama being accepting of public funds before he was against it.   Ah yes, the wonderful world of liberalism where hypocrisy is a badge of honor.

Long term data indicates that the tilt of the earth, the shape of the orbit and the Precession of the Equinoxes have come into an alignment that gives rise to valid, not Al Gore like, concerns that earth is poised to plunge into an interglacial era, or ice age. 

The astronomical theory of ice age formation was first brought forth by mathematician Joseph Adhemar in 1842 and was adopted by Czech mathematician Milutin Milankovich to present his findings in the 20’s and 30’s. These facts, which run counter to liberal fiction, were published in  1976 by renowned scientist John Imbrie.

During this same period, junk science was brought forth by Carl Sagan to suggest that greenhouse gasses trapped in the earth’s atmosphere would not only prevent another ice age, but would lead to global warming.   Of course we know that there were some years with above average temperatures that have occurred since the 1970’s, but we also know that every year of the 21^st century has been colder than 1998, the baseline for the great global warming hoax. In fact, the snowpack in the northern hemisphere is the deepest since 1966 and the temperatures the coldest since 2001.

Of course the main flaw in the global warming theory is that it ignores temperature data from the previous million years while selectively utilizing data from a couple years in the 90’s that prove to be convenient.   In addition, the global warming lie conveniently forgets to interpret solar activity, which has a direct and proven correlation to temperature on Earth, as well as all of the other planets that, while lacking SUV’s, did have a similar spike in temperature a decade ago but are now plunging into an ice age. 

 

Wow, just two short weeks until the Messiah parts the skies with peace on earth and goodwill towards man. No more Hamas rocket attacks on innocent Isreali kids, no more gate crashing illegals killing innocent Americans, no more Islamic fascists turning airplanes into projectiles.   The peace and harmony will make me forever grateful to those who had the foresight to bow down to the chosen one. 

Of course we know that none of this will happen as the risk of violence continues to increase in direct correlation to our coddling of terrorists, who for those who attend government schools, are radical Muslims.   Yes, they look different and they dress different, just don’t let your local government academician or bureaucrat hear you saying that aloud. 

Along with this risk of violence abroad will be the increased risk at home, as our intelligence agencies are gutted in the dawn of the Obamanation.   Terrorists and illegals will be given free reign to do as they please to the American public and those who have been basking in the sun at Club Gitmo will now be entitled to their day in our kangaroo courts, where they will be released on their own recognizance to build bombs and slash throats to their hearts content.

If they are lucky, they can sidle up to the trough and maybe get their own terrorist bailout. I mean, we are only at one trillion dollars for this so called stimulus package. Why not give away a little more to our enemies to blow up bridges and roads that, according to liberals, are in great need of repair anyway. Surely we would save a lot on demolition costs and we wouldn’t even have to deal with union road crews who seemingly just stand around and do nothing.

One trillion dollars! Can you even fathom that amount? Did you know that it would take 31,500 years to count to a trillion one second at a time?   Did you know that one trillion dollars in pennies would weigh 310 million tons, which is about the combined weight of all the pregnant illegals between East LA and El Paso.   One trillion dollars in pennies would rise 98.6 million miles into the sky, more than the distance from the earth to the sun. One trillion dollars in pennies laid side by side would be more than 14,000 square miles which is larger than Delaware AND Hawaii, the purported birthplace of the messiah, combined. 

One trillion dollars will break the back of our nation and nobody seems to care, probably because the average government educated moron lacks the intellectual wherewithal to realize the damage that it will inflict. After all, it was these same morons that gave rise to Obama, as he spread his wings and soared amidst the columns of the ancient Greek temple.  

Keep in mind that this trillion dollars is on top of trillions of dollars in debt from the failed socialist security ponzi scheme. It is on top of medicare and Medicaid. It is on top of the inevitable trillions that will be tied up in the government takeover and ultimate destruction of our healthcare system.  

The kind of debt that gave rise to entire economic conundrum we are currently in will pale in comparison to the debt that the government is going to put on the backs of our children, their children and their children’s children. This is the kind of debt that no nation can possible survive.  

Thomas Paine once said that “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” To describe our government today as anything but intolerable would be an understatement of epic proportions.   We are witnessing, for the first time in our history, a government that is truly drunk with power and is using every means possible to silence the truth while passing a sentence of death on our nation.

Government schools are raping the minds of our youth while the media fills the airwaves with lies and distortions in lock step with their liberal allies in Washington who seek to undermine the foundation upon which our nation was founded.   Liberal special interests are working in unison with the courts towards the obsolescence of real marriage, American culture and private property. Liberals in congress have an agenda calling for the banning of free speech and limiting the right to bear arms to only criminals, illegal aliens and terrorists.  

The stage is set for some really bad things to happen to our nation unless people wake up from their nanny state entitlement stupor.   The party is over and it’s time for those of us with any intelligence to make a difference.  

Most certainly, for those of us over thirty, indifference would be the easy way out. Let our children deal with the inevitable pain where suffering and likely violence will arise out of the congressional negligence that is occurring today.   But, to quote Thomas Paine one more time, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, so that my children may have peace.”

Our founding fathers lived by these words.   While they were forced to pick up guns, against the will of the ignorant and uninformed way back when, we are not there (yet). We have the ability to throw Congress out of office and it is something that must be done in 2010.   Sure, there will be damage done to the fiber of our nation in the interim by the careless, reckless and indifferent liberals who have turned our nation in a banana republic where Senate seats are for sale, judges are for hire and government contracts depend not on cost or benefit but rather who you know.   

If the GOP were smart, which they have proven not to be over the past eight years, they will seize this opportunity.   They will point out each and every aspect of the culture of corruption, hypocrisy and sedition that are the foundation of the modern day Democrats.  

 

Oh Boy, do I feel safe now. As Islamic fascists regroup to hatch a plan on what to blow up next, the Obamamessiah goes and picks Leon Panetta as head of the CIA. Seriously, he should have gone to Wal-Mart and picked a cashier who would likely have more experience in espionage than Panetta who served as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff and whose biggest decision in life was where to hide the blue dress after Bill made a mess of it.

Coming on the heels of two illegal Senators being installed by the corrupt Democrat machine, this could be an even bigger mess for the chosen one, who was supposed to part the skies and walk on water. 

Today marks the beginning of the Congressional session, as Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of their sedition brigade head to Washington to seize more of our money and usurp more of our rights. I guess the big question is whether or not they will be able to get an approval rating of more than single digits. 

The first item on the agenda is this so called stimulus package that will cost the taxpayers somewhere in the range of $1 trillion dollars.   Included in this stimulus package is a lot of pork, including snow making equipment for Minnesota. As if they needed more snow, but then again when the idiot portion of the electorate votes for Al Franken what do you expect.  My guess is there is even a bailout for the Somali pirates, who by way of a long and sordid family tree are probably distant cousins of B. Hussein Obama himself.

Did you hear that B. Hussein is going to take the oath of office and use his entire name. Yes, the name that Americans were banned from uttering is now going to be broadcast on prime time for his coronation as the latest winner of American Idiot.   I wonder how Ann Coulter feels about that. If you recall she was repudiated for emphasizing his middle name. Perhaps now the Obama voters will realize what damage they have inflicted upon our nation. Then again, most of them don’t even know that 9/11 occurred because it wasn’t reported on Inside Edition, their main source for current events.

Speaking of Ann Coulter, she has been banned from NBC. Yes, banned. Along with transfats, charcoal grilles and fireplaces, the liberal elitists now want to ban Coulter because of her new book, Guilty, which decries media bias. OK, so if the media isn’t biased why don’t they have Coulter on to discuss the media lies, distortions and treasonous agenda that they put forth.   It’s kind of like Obama’s continued refusal to make public his purported birth certificate that would put to rest whether or not he is really an American citizen.

All I can say is it is going to be a very interesting few years.   My suggestion; get as much money out of the country as you possibly can. Explore other places to live because the government has written a check that they can’t cash and when it comes time to pay the fiddler all hell is going to break loose in a way not seen in the history of our republic.   For that you can thank your local liberal. 

Christopher Van

www.christophervan.com

 

Without fail, the dawn of the new year brings about the inevitable bevy of new laws to hit the books across the fruited plain.   Effective January 1, 2009, it is now illegal to pee in New Hampshire and those who have the sudden, uncontrollable urge to do so will be faced with a $1000 dollar fine. Of course, the law goes on to say that the person urinating must know that they will be offending someone.   I guess this is a case where ignorance truly is bliss.

In California it is now illegal to text while driving. So let me get this straight, it’s perfectly fine to come across the border, live on the dole and get in state college tuition rates but it’s no longer acceptable to text my illegal alien cousin in Fresno while I drive my low rider through the barrios of East LA.

In Oregon, transfats are now banned.   Yes, another example of idiocy led by liberals who seek to control everything from bodily functions to waistlines. It’s a good thing that there aren’t any transfats in the pot that is legal there. 

In Illinois it is now illegal for contractors with more than $50,000 in state contracts to contribute to the office holder who oversees the deal. At least they excluded Senate seats from this punitive measure that is part and parcel to how business in the most corrupt state in the land is conducted. 

What this amounts to is more evidence that we have far too many unaccountable bureaucrats deciding how we can and can’t live our lives, caring nothing of the masses in their never ending quest for complete government control.

There is nothing wrong with new laws, if they are sensible. Laws that would deport illegal aliens and make illegal border crossings a felony punishable by death would make sense. Rather than banning transfats, wouldn’t it make more sense to sentence anyone driving slow in the fast lane to a month in jail? 

There are a number of things that our legislators could be doing, but are choosing not to.   We need laws to separate schools and state, ban teachers unions and preserve the right to free speech.  

How about some real sensible electioneering laws, like requiring that voters pass a test before they can cast their ballot.   It need not be overly difficult, but perhaps knowing the name of your Senators and Congressional Rep would be a start. Heck even having to know the sum of 1+1 would get rid of half the Obama constituency. 

So why is it when we have a need for real laws that would have a meaningful impact do we find legislators passing what can be described as complete idiocy? Banning transfats, seriously. What next, banning SUV’s, fireplaces and charcoal grilles? 

Take a look around at what liberals have in their crosshairs and this isn’t as far fetched as one may believe.   Liberals are already seeking to ban free speech with something called the Fairness Doctrine.   They are continuing their never ending assault to ban your right to defend your family from criminals, the only people they deem worthy of the right to bear arms.   Perhaps the most sensible law that we could ever pass would be a permanent ban on liberalism, a disease that afflicts nearly one half of our population who are either too dumb or too uninformed to know that there is a cure called common sense.  

Christopher Van

www.christophervan.com