UN, AIDS and Global Warming

Public policy is generally determined by data and government spending is determined on the basis of that data. Spending on AIDS has increased to $10 billion per year and is classified as a pandemic.

Now the United Nations has greatly reduced the estimate of the worldwide number of AIDS cases. Read the story here.

Daniel Halperin, an AIDS epidemiologist, said, "the numbers are probably still on the high side."

Helen Epstein, author of "The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS," was quoted as saying, "There was a tendency toward alarmism, and that fit perhaps a certain fundraising agenda."

Public policy, pandemic, fundraising––these are words that should lead to far more analysis of the data presented for a myriad of other issues on which governments want to spend your money.

On a related note, if the UN can’t get a good handle on the number of AIDS cases worldwide, how is it possible for the UN to have any credibility regarding global warming in its recent warning? The latter is vastly more complex than the former. But you can be certain that the "unequivocal" UN data will be used to drive fundraising through scare tactics. The manipulators are at work, the do-gooders must save the earth from you.

The climate views of John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel, will go unheeded. His non-alarmist declaration doesn’t require spending tax dollars or public policy created by manipulators. Have project, need data. Just manipulate the people with manipulated data.

Talk about faulty data. Check out this on official thermometers. We called attention to this back in July.

Update Nov. 27: Of course the UN needed to offer its denial of cooking the books.

Reflections on Sonia Pitt

Sonia Pitt was properly fired from Mn/DOT for several violations. Read the Pioneer Press accounts here and here and here and the Star Tribune report.

Governor Pawlenty agreed that the firing was proper according to this Press article.

And Governor Pawlenty has called for an investigation to ascertain if Pitt had proper supervision at Mn/DOT (Press accounts here and here and Star Tribune).

Given the vast number of state employees, perhaps every day there are employee firings and/or disciplines of varying degree. This one made the news because it was high profile. A collapsing bridge made her conspicuous by her absence.

Government waste and even fraud is legendary. Taxpayers hate it, as we should. To be fair, we must recognize that the vast majority of state government employees are honest and hard-working, but a few bad apples can make the whole barrel appear rotten. And many a supervisor has been driven to misery by a wayward employee who is protected very much from firing.

What Pitt did is bad enough, but the real odious ones are the politicians, the supercilious ones. According to the Press article, "Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, said Pitt's firing was welcome "but three months late"." That’s easy to say to score political points for herself against the Republican administration; she probably would have said little or nothing if it were a Democrat administration.

The investigation should have been lengthy in order to be thorough. There was a massive amount of documents to review and there were numerous people to interview. The investigation needed to be fair to Pitt and the state needed to be correct in its assessment in order to avoid an employment lawsuit. Mn/DOT needed to do the personnel investigation properly so that no one could say it was not thorough. Thus Senator Clark’s criticism of Mn/DOT’s timetable is self-serving.

Another odious politician in this affair is Jeremy Kalin (D-17B), concerning whom we have posted several times on the issue. Like a vulture from beginning to end in this case, he has been waiting for Pitt to fall. For a freshman legislator, he sure has thrust himself into the limelight through his web site and local paper declarations and pandering after Twin Cities papers and radio regarding Pitt and the bridge collapse to get his name in the media. This is self-serving at the expense of a failing state employee and a state tragedy that took 13 lives and injured scores. He has played partisan politics with calamity for his own personal benefit. He has demonstrated clearly that he puts politics (especially his own) before people, contrary to his mantra.

Kalin was salivating over Pitt’s spending of tax dollars for personal gain. Even though she spent tax dollars for herself and cost the state more to investigate her misdeeds, that total amount is nothing compared to the tax dollars legislators spend. They can bellyache about Pitt, but think nothing of appropriating billions of our dollars, much of which is wasted or has dubious purposes. This last session, the Dems, including Kalin, approved bills that would have cost the taxpayers more than $4 billion if Governor Pawlenty had not vetoed over 50 bills.

This highway robbery makes Pitt look like a small time operator. It’s Kalin and the big time Democrats who should be fired. In order to fund "local property tax relief" for some, Kalin was willing to reach brazenly and shamelessly into the pockets of 61 Chisago County "rich" taxpayers to fund it. What’s the difference between Kalin and Pitt? As an employee, her acts were illegal; as a legislator, he can make wrong legal.

Governors sign energy pact to cut use, build new resources

By EMILY FREDRIX

MILWAUKEE—Midwestern governors and a Canadian premier agreed to two pacts Thursday to reduce greenhouse gases, increase alternative fuel production and raise renewable energy standards.

Other regions of the country, including the Northeast and West, have adopted similar climate accords. The Midwestern deals, brokered by the 12-state Midwest Governors Association, blast the federal government for not dealing with global warming.

"The U.S. federal government has not met the challenge to date of crafting a comprehensive national response to climate change," one agreement says. " The effects of climate change present growing economic, social and environmental risks in the Midwest and the world ... we must begin to take action now."

The governors of Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa and Michigan as well as Gary Doer, premier of Manitoba, performed a symbolic signing in Milwaukee Thursday. Not all states in the association have agreed to every part of the two deals.

One agreement calls for developing a cap-and-trade mechanism to reduce greenhouse gases. Under that system, businesses that don't meet the goals would be able to obtain credit from ones that do.

The plan calls for laying out concrete goals within the next eight months and establishing the cap-and-trade system within a year, with the entire agreement implemented within two-and-a-half years.

Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin agreed to that deal, according to an association ballot circulated among the states. Indiana, Ohio and South Dakota have agreed as observers.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland believes the federal government should deal with greenhouse gases, not the states, his spokesman said.

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds said he wants to understand the costs to energy consumers and producers before signing.

"We're not convinced we have in front of us the answers we can all agree to," Rounds said.

Under the other pact, biofuels produced in the Midwest and other low-carbon fuels would make up at least half of all transportation energy consumed in the region by 2025. A third of retail gas stations in the region, or about 10,000 stations, would offer the ethanol-based gasoline E-85 by that year.

Thirty percent of electricity in the region would come from renewable sources by 2030. All new coal plants would capture and store carbon dioxide emissions by 2020, and a multi-jurisdiction pipeline would be permitted by 2012 to move carbon dioxide captured from new plants to a reservoir.

The deal calls for working groups, state officials and gubernatorial and premier staffs to being making recommendations early next year on how to reach those goals.

Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin agreed to all parts of that pact, according to the ballot. Other states agreed to parts.

"If we continue on with the status quo, we are in serious, serious danger in terms of quality of life," Doer said.

Doyle, a Democrat, praised the deals, saying they would create "enormous" economic opportunity for Midwestern energy researchers and manufacturers.

"Our strong manufacturing base and rich agricultural industries, along with the wealth of resources in our vast northern forests and our world-leading research universities, position the Midwest to become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy," he said in a statement released by his office.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, said the accords could serve as a national model.

"In the not-too-distant future, we want to see national improvement and we hope the states can lead the way," Pawlenty said.

Minnesota state Sen. Michael Jungbauer, R-East Bethel, called the accords a "boondoggle" and criticized Pawlenty for being part of it.

He accused Pawlenty of focusing on a politically popular issue at the expense of more pressing concerns such as transportation.

"I'm mad as heck at our governor for implementing policies that cost a lot of money," Jungbauer said. "There's no cost-benefit analysis and really what they end up being is huge tax increases."

Source: Pioneer Press.

___________________________________________

Senator Jungbauer is right. Gov. Pawlenty has just laid the groundwork for a huge tax increase. The no new taxes governor is no longer that. It is disturbing that a governor would commit a whole state to an agreement such as this. Carbon dioxide pipelines are a mere 4 years away. More and more subsidies will be needed to move toward alternative fuels while cost effective fuels are ostracized. Energy costs will skyrocket. This is taxation without representation.

Government is attempting to solve a problem that does not exist. It is the height of audacity to think that humans are creating global warming. Belief in human-caused global warming is not science, but a religion. Minnesota has now endorsed a state religion with Pawlenty as high priest and evangelist. We will all be forced to worship at this shrine. This is a sad day for Minnesota.

DEMOCRATS TURN A PART-TIME LEGISLATURE INTO A FULL-TIME JOB

House Minority Leader Marty Seifert Says: "It's time to cut government."

SAINT PAUL -- (November 7, 2007) -- Citing the more than 80 committees, subcommittees, working groups, task forces and commissions in the Minnesota House of Representatives, House Republican Leader Marty Seifert today criticized Democrats for the expansive and expensive growth in government.

"The explosive growth of government shows what happens when Democrats take over," said House Republican Leader Marty Seifert. "The complicated and bloated process is confusing to the public, time consuming and expensive. There is very little to show for the excessive amount of meetings taking place. When all is said and done, there will be a lot more said than done."

Seifert said it is nearly impossible to determine how many groups are working on legislation and how much this process is costing Minnesota taxpayers. To view the process, click here:

"There seems to be a lot of repetition without reason. We question the necessity of having so many subgroups working on legislation that a standing committee should be able to accomplish on its own and the great number of meetings being held at taxpayer expense to hear about the problems but not bring forward solutions," Seifert said. "The Democrats have turned a part-time citizen legislature into a full-time job."

Seifert said at a time when schools and nursing homes are struggling to make their budgets, House Democrats chose to almost double its operations budget from $324,000 to $646,000 during a House Rules Committee meeting in August.

"We gave schools a mere 3 percent increase for the biennium and nursing homes received even less than that but then gave gigantic increases to the Legislature," Seifert said. "This is a matter of priorities. The Democrats ran on fiscal responsibility and leadership. They have failed to demonstrate either during their reign of confusion in the Minnesota House. When House Republicans are in charge, we will restore fiscal sanity by cutting the number of committees by more than 50 percent and returning costs to prior levels."

Seifert said he is most concerned about the upcoming legislative session.

"We have important issues we need to resolve and this process doesn’t make me confident that we will achieve those results," Seifert said. "In the private sector, failing businesses are often over managed and under led. The more than 80 House Democrat committees are too busy mopping the floor to take time and turn off the faucet."

Source: Marty Seifert

Also look at the House Committee structure chart under Democrat "leadership."

DFL Woes

Right now, the D in DFL stands for debt

The party needs a $5,000 contribution just to meet this week's payroll. Competition among political campaigns, internal party disillusionment and extra staffing are complicating budgeting. State Republicans, meanwhile, have off-year fundraising troubles, too.
By Doug Grow
Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007

The DFL, which always has presented itself as the political party of the little guy, should have more empathy than ever for all of those Minnesotans living check to check.

A year before a huge election, the party is in debt. Meeting its own payroll has become a week-to-week, white-knuckle ride. One of its big fundraising events of the year lost $48,000. And to complicate matters, a major union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), is on the verge of leaving an important DFL campaign committee.

Read more....

And another article by Doug Grow....

DFL party problems go deeper than finances and debt

There were no signs of unrest. No hard questions about the red-ink budget.

When the DFL Central Committee, a vast body of activists who run the party, met Saturday at Prior Lake High School, good feelings filled the air about financial and electoral successes that surely are just around the corner. Even when the party's chairman Brian Melendez said the party may not be out of debt until January, no one blinked.

All the good will inside the building almost covered the fact that there seem to be structural fissures in the party that could affect its campaign effectiveness next year. Some large bodies of the labor movement are "re-evaluating" their relationships with the DFL.

In both words and actions, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the union showing the most unrest. But the AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization of unions representing 300,000 Minnesotans, also is cautiously expressing concerns about DFL leadership.

Read more....

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Take heart conservatives. I have a hunch the real cause of low contributions to the DFL has been misdiagnosed. Just maybe the high tax load the DFL always throws on taxpayers is affecting DFL donors! Maybe there isn’t enough moolah to go around. This is probably the case even though DFLers are frustrated that they could not get a $4 billion tax increase passed the conservatives and Gov. Pawlenty in the last legislative session. If they had won, then they would really be in a pickle for donations!

Washington Times Commentary

Socialist oil death spiral
Richard W. Rahn

Socialism always plants the seeds of its own destruction, and state-owned oil is no exception. Most people do not realize that about 90 percent of the world's liquid oil reserves are controlled by governments or state-owned companies. Exxon Mobil, the world's largest privately owned oil company, owns only 1.08 percent of the world's oil reserves, and the five largest private global oil companies together own only about 4 percent of the world's oil reserves.

There is enough liquid oil in the ground to last generations; and when oil sands and oil shale are included, there is enough oil to last centuries. If there were a truly free market in oil, with both the reserves and production owned and controlled by many competitive companies, the price of oil would be a fraction of today's price.

For the rest of the commentary, read this.

Continuing the Series

Making Haditha safe from car-bombs
How U.S. Marines license vehicles in Iraqi-style DMV operation

By Matt Sanchez

It's Tuesday morning, and the 5th battalion 10th Marines out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., are up early and won't be returning to their 'racks until very late.

By 0700 (7 a.m.), Iraqis have begun to form lines in the waiting area just in front of the Civil Military Operational Center, or CMOC, set smack dab in the center of downtown Haditha, directly across the street from the mayor's office.

The Marines had pinned tarps from the rooftop to the gates, so the growing line would have a bit of comfort. As the temperatures rise, a Marine hands out bottled water. Between the dirt-filled Hesco barriers and the C-wire (concertina wire, a modernized and much more effective version of barbed wire), the outside waiting space offers few places to sit. Iraqi women are led to the front of the line so they won't have to wait among the men.

Continue reading more by embedded reporter Sanchez.

Now you know

If you’re white, you’re racist! End of debate. Find out here.

Governmentium is active in Venezuela

Governmentium has been catalyzed by Hugo Chavez and is morphing into the radical form of totalitarium. Check it out here.

Rukavina on the Kool-Aid

Check out this article on True North.

Waterboarding with Ted

Source: Steve Kelley.

Ellison Drubbed By Massie

Mychal Massie
Vote fraud: Democrats' meal ticket

Claiming that to require photo IDs to vote in federal elections would disenfranchise minorities, the poor, women, elderly and young people, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., with the support of John Conyers, D-Mich., has introduced legislation in the House making any such requirements illegal. He asserts that "while photo IDs seem harmless, they are in fact the modern-day poll tax."

Read more....

Governmentium

A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element known to science. Its existence was proved during the hurricane, gasoline, and other issues of the last year or two. The new element has been named *Governmentium*.Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.These 312 particles are held together by forces called mo-rons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called pe-ons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take over four days to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of four years. It does not decay, however, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, as each reorganization will cause more mo-rons to become neutrons, forming iso dopes. This characteristic of mo-ron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever mo-rons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium -- an element which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium because, though it has only half as many pe-ons, it has twice as many mo-rons.

A Fine Officer

I just wanted to post this story as it focuses on one of the many heroic soldiers serving our country in Iraq. The following appeared in this Friday's Patriot Post:



Profiles of valor: Marine Corps Staff Sgt Bogart

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Daniel Bogart, leader of the 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Platoon serving in Iraq, had just completed the disposal of two IEDs while under enemy fire. A traveling Humvee suddenly detonated another IED mere feet away from Bogart and a fellow team member. The explosion left Bogart’s eardrums damaged, and his fellow Marine sustained shrapnel wounds. As medics attempted to assist the injured Marines, Bogart insisted they stay clear, knowing there was another live IED in the area. Bogart then located and dismantled the explosive device, evacuated his partner, and then came back to conduct post-blast analysis before finally allowing medics to treat him.

Bogart is credited with disposing of over 11,000 pounds of unexploded ordnance during a seven-month tour in which his team conducted 170 missions. The father of two was recently awarded the Bronze Star with combat “V” for valor. “I wish they could give this award to my whole team,” Bogart said. “Nobody gets anything done on their own. When your team sets you up for success like this, you can’t go wrong.”

Elephant Herd Finally Returns

A while back I was presented with the following story, but it had consequences.

Sally was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a liberal Democrat, very much in favor of redistributing wealth.

She was deeply ashamed her father was a staunch Republican. Based on the lectures she had heard and chats with professors, Sally felt her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he earned.

One day she challenged her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and more welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.

He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA. She let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, never studies, and barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus. For her, college is a blast. She's invited to all the parties and lots of time she doesn't even show up for class because she's too hung over."

Her wise father suggested, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who has only a 2.0? That way you both will have a 3.0 GPA which certainly would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

Sally, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Republican party."

After reading this story, they asked if I agreed with it. I said, "Definitely! I believe in conserving what I have!" That was a mistake. They sent me away for diversity training and rehabilitation. However, try as they might, they could not convince me that it was fair. But when I discovered all the diversity trainers had 2.0 GPAs in college, they kicked me out! So I’m back, but not rehabilitated!

Elephant Herd