Media Trickery: Part 2

Lack of comparison

Picking up with the aforementioned billions and billions of pounds of CO₂, I will continue this series. 580 billion pounds of CO₂ is so large it is hard to compare it to anything that is comprehensible. How much is it? Most people have a very difficult time guessing the weight of familiar things like their car, their TV or a sack of groceries. In fact, an extremely high percentage of the populous could not identify the weight of a gallon of water.

The Christmas dinner article (mentioned previously) attempts to make a comparison of the 51,000 tons of CO₂ involved in a British Christmas to auto emissions. It alleges that amount of carbon dioxide equals "A carbon footprint equivalent to 6,000 car journeys around the world . . . "

The problem with this comparison is that it is meaningless to the average individual. The article’s comparison is not meant to make it understandable. It obfuscates true understanding; they just want you to think about a mammoth amount. In an article such as the Christmas dinner, the author knows no one wants to have a thorough math explanation. Just get to the point. Hit ’em with the enormity of their sin against Mother Earth and get on with it!

But let’s consider the math because it will be beneficial. A trip around the world at the equator is 24,900 miles. 6,000 of those trips is 149,400,000 miles. No one understands that distance. We have a difficult enough time imagining 24,900 miles of travel.

I propose a more understandable comparison. The average person drives about 10,000 miles per year. It would take all the people in 15 towns of a thousand people each to drive a combined 149,400,000 miles. That is how large the total carbon footprint is that is created by the British Christmas dinners. That's impressive!

But this still does not tell a Brit his own personal carbon footprint for Christmas dinner. The Christmas dinner under consideration in the article is for one-third of all 61 million Britons. Take the distance of 149,400,000 miles divided by the 20,333,000 Brits and you have the individual’s personal impact.

Ready for the terrible news? Are you ready to feel real guilty and hang your head in shame for what you did to Gaia?

Your individual carbon footprint amounts to a drive of 7.35 miles. Whoop-de-do! What a let down. Who cares? But that’s for your whole Christmas dinner. You were going to eat anyway so let’s be liberal and say you splurged twice as much for Christmas dinner as a regular meal. Your extra carbon footprint amounts to a drive of 3.675 miles.

Whenever your personal carbon footprint is calculated, it is small. It is so insignificant that it is irrelevant. In order for the news media to make a mountain out of a mole hill, they must aggregate individual carbon footprints for large blocks of people. Then the numbers are huge, but not understandable to us. That’s the way they want it. They don’t want you to know your extra carbon footprint for Christmas dinner is equivalent to driving 3.7 miles!

Media Trickery: Part 1

The news media loves hype. A recent article warned us that tons and tons of carbon dioxide were created to provide Christmas dinner for Britons. Or tons of CO₂ were produced flying to the global warming conference in Bali.

The Gaia-loving media has some tricks they use to pull on the heart strings of their readers. Let’s consider a few.

Perspective is everything

Many in the media do not want you to have perspective when you are reading their claptrap. They do not want you to be able to focus clearly on what is presented. So they distort the picture deliberately to keep it out of focus.

Enormity
Here is an example. A writer hypes billions and billions of pounds of CO₂. 580 billion pounds of the stuff is incomprehensible. It’s a big number, but nondescript. That’s the intention. It is intended to overwhelm you. Whatever the size, volume or weight 580 billion pounds of the awful stuff is, it is intended to remain amorphous, mysterious, deadly and your fault.

Bigger numbers
In the above article, notice the writer hyped 580 billion pounds of the poison. Why talk about pounds? That is deliberately designed because it sounds worse than 290 million tons.

They love to use bigger numbers to make it sound better (or worse, depending on the situation). They figure we are like the little kid who will choose the ten pennies over the dime. The number, not value, is in the little one’s inexperienced mind. The bigger the number, the better (or worse) it is. 580 billion is more than 290 million, but when we know that 2,000 pounds are in a ton, then we are dealing with the same weight. Yet the larger number sounds worse. Most Americans are so mathematically challenged they are like the little kid.

Remember your math teacher said it would be useful! It is. Don’t be fooled by the media’s use of numbers.

The media loves to raise awareness about climate change. It's time we raise awareness of their tricky use of numbers.

Gore Files Lawsuits Against Time

By Pat Sajak

Lawyers for former Vice President Al Gore have filed numerous lawsuits against Time magazine, alleging a series of voting irregularities they maintain deprived Gore of Time's "Person of the Year" Award. It has been announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin received the 2007 award, with Gore finishing second.

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Read the rest here to catch Sajak’s drift.

Al Gore Opens Mouth, Increases Carbon Footprint

By Selwyn Duke

Speaking today to COOL-IT (Communists for Only Onerous and Lofty Industrial Taxation) in Nome, Alaska, former vice-president Al Gore criticized the United States’ failure to adequately address climate change. Mr. Gore warned of future consequences of inaction while emphasizing that we have already felt the effects of a lamentably low suicide rate. Gore mentioned the extinction of species, the melting of the polar ice caps, and his loss of Florida in the 2000 presidential election. Said Gore,

Florida is a very hot state – even in November. And members of lower-income socio-economic groups – who are most likely to vote Democrat – often can’t afford air-conditioning. Now, if you’re sitting around in a pool of your own sweat drinking Thunderbird, what are the chances you’ll be motivated to vote on election day?

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I always enjoy Selwyn Duke’s writings. Read the rest of his article to be sure and catch his drift.

Why U.S. kids rank 33rd in math

Walter E. Williams

American education will never be improved until we address one of the problems seen as too delicate to discuss. That problem is the overall quality of people teaching our children. Students who have chosen education as their major have the lowest SAT scores of any other major. Students who have graduated with an education degree earn lower scores than any other major on graduate school admissions tests such as the GRE, MCAT or LSAT. Schools of education, either graduate or undergraduate, represent the academic slums of most any university. As such, they are home to the least able students and professors with the lowest academic respect. Were we serious about efforts to improve public education, one of the first things we would do is eliminate schools of education.

This paragraph should grab your attention, but read the whole article here.

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The amount of money spent educating a child has little or no relationship to that child’s learning according to Williams. We all knew that, but these numbers substantiate it. Senator Olseen needs to put that in his pipe and smoke it before he wastes more of our tax dollars as noted in the previous post.

Olseen Pandering to Raise Taxes

The Chisago County Press carried the following December 6, 2007 appeal by Senator Rick Olseen (D-17). His article entitled, We must find a better way to fund schools, can be found online at the Forest Lake Times and at Olseen’s Senate site. Please read it online and then consider my comments.

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Former Governor Jesse Ventura brought about a higher level of state funding for education and a corresponding lowering of property taxes that funded schools. That legislation allowed local property owners to vote on school levies for more dollars to augment state funding, which many districts have done.

Senator Olseen says, "...we must move away from our reliance on operating levies to fund education in Minnesota." He wants to move beyond Ventura "...to ensure that ALL kids receive a quality education"—more money from the state so local referenda are not needed.

Of course this is for the kids—children get dragged into everything the Dems want. They are the excuse to soften up the taxpayer to be willing to let go of more hard-earned money.

Olseen is empathetic with local taxpayers who are stressed to come up with the cash to pay for local school operating levies. In fact he is so empathetic that he wants the state to pay for the extra cash for education so we taxpayers don’t have to do that. Wow! Isn’t that generous of him?

Apparently Olseen thinks the state is an ATM machine; it can tap into cash that just magically appears. This is how Dems always talk—it’s free so you would be stupid not to go along with it. We voters are not so stupid to realize that those who are stressed to come up with the cash to pay for local school operating levies are the same ones who will be taxed by the state to pay for the increased state funding of education. We will have the same stress either way, Senator Olseen.

Olseen is also in favor of taking away the local taxpayer’s voice in local funding. He is much in favor of the legislature usurping that say. The vote of thousands in each school district in his senate district will be preempted by his vote in the Senate. By one vote he will dip into your pocketbook to fund schools at the level he thinks is right. Who made him a god over us? I don’t want that kind of stress either!

Carbon cost of Christmas dinner

A carbon footprint equivalent to 6,000 car journeys around the world will be produced by the UK tucking into Christmas dinner, researchers say.

It is claimed the UK's love of the traditional turkey dinner will generate 51,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Academics calculated the production, processing and transportation costs of the festive ingredients.

The Manchester researchers estimate a dinner for eight generates 20kg (44lbs) of carbon dioxide emissions.

They arrived at the total emissions figure by assuming one third of the UK population eats a typical Christmas meal.

Methane emissions

Project leader professor Adisa Azapagic, from the University of Manchester, said: "Food production and processing are responsible for three quarters of the total carbon footprint, with the largest proportion - 60% - being related to the life cycle of the turkey.

"All stages in the supply chain have been considered, including raising the turkey, growing the vegetables, food storage, consumer shopping, cooking the meal at home and waste management.

"This includes the emissions of carbon dioxide due to energy consumption along the turkey supply chain and the emissions of methane and nitrous oxide generated due to the agricultural activities to raise the turkey."

The cranberry sauce alone, normally imported from North America, contributes half the carbon footprint related to transport.

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Oh, who cares? These people need to get a job; they have too much time on their hands. I will feast on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. And I won’t feel one bit guilty about it. Please join me with relish as we stamp our individual, momentary carbon footprints on the face of the earth.

The above story is one-sided and part of the truth. It leaves out so much—well life itself. All life is carbon based. Carbon based life is passed up higher and higher in the food chain. At every step in that chain, life has a carbon footprint. Carbon footprints are recycled and reused. When we consume the carbon based life called turkey, we recycle carbon in one way, for example, as carbon dioxide, which becomes a feast for vegetation.

The cycle starts over as oat plants consume carbon dioxide to make grains of oats for the turkey to eat so we have a meal for next Christmas. Vegetation isn’t interested in oxygen for itself, but it uses carbon dioxide for itself and gives off oxygen for us. Human-caused-global-warming-doomsayers don’t ever want to balance the carbon equation because that would kill their fear-mongering.

So while you are feasting on Christmas and releasing carbon dioxide, remember the wind will blow your carbon dioxide so the trees can have a feast. Eat up and rejoice without guilt. And who cares if the Goracle feels guilty!

Tax Poem

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts
Anyway!

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.

Tax his cars,
Tax his trucks,
Make sure you
Take all his bucks.

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers,
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid.

Put these words
upon his tomb,
" Taxes drove me
to my doom..."

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Tax
Export Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Import Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Wheelage Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

Author: Anon E. Mus

Is there anything that isn't taxed? I doubt it.

Skeptical Scientists Urge World To 'Have the Courage to Do Nothing' At UN Conference

BALI, Indonesia - An international team of scientists skeptical of man-made climate fears promoted by the UN and former Vice President Al Gore, descended on Bali this week to urge the world to "have the courage to do nothing" in response to UN demands.

Lord Christopher Monckton, a UK climate researcher, had a blunt message for UN climate conference participants on Monday.

"Climate change is a non-problem. The right answer to a non problem is to have the courage to do nothing," Monckton told participants.

"The UN conference is a complete waste of our time and your money and we should no longer pay the slightest attention to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,)" Monckton added.

Monckton also noted that the UN has not been overly welcoming to the group of skeptical scientists.

"UN organizers refused my credentials and appeared desperate that I should not come to this conference. They have also made several attempts to interfere with our public meetings," Monckton explained.

Here is the rest of the story. The last paragraph is truly scary. Human-caused-global-warming-religionists don’t want to hear any evidence against their ardently held beliefs. These closed-minded activists intend to rule the world and manipulate our lives. If they have their way, we will all be forced to worship at their altar.

Mn/DOT Discipline

Now that three Mn/DOT supervisors have been disciplined for inadequate oversight of Sonia Pitt, the fired Homeland Security and Emergency Management director, the Dems still want more according to the Press here and here. It doesn’t make any difference how many layers of management there was between Pitt and Commissioner Molnau, the Dems will not be satisfied until they remove the Commissioner.

To the Dems, it won’t make any difference that Pitt was a difficult employee according to the report—belligerent, aggressive and "difficult to work with." It won’t make any difference that the report says many Mn/DOT managers "did not want to have her under their supervision." Somehow this is all Molnau’s fault.

To the Dems, like Murphy, Clark and Kalin, it won’t make any difference that an investigation into Pitt had already commenced before the I-35W bridge collapsed. This investigation may very well have lead to discipline or dismissal of Pitt that would have gone unnoticed by DFL legislators. Of course in that case, Molnau would never have received praise for the good work in her department.

But the collapsing bridge exposed Pitt before that ongoing investigation could be completed. And now Molnau is charged with guilt. If Molnau is to be that involved in the daily activities of each of the 4,700 Mn/DOT employees and supervisors, she would never have time for running the department. But for too many Dems, any excuse will do to get at Pawlenty by attacking Molnau.

Sad to say, if all this had happened under a Democrat administration, none of the Dems would have made any complaint about their Commissioner of Transportation. The issue isn’t about Mn/DOT spending tax dollars wisely; it is about increasing taxation. The issue isn’t about misconduct; it’s about getting rid of Molnau for any excuse. At the same time any Democrat excuse will excuse Mark Richie.

Pitt Appeals Firing

Now that Sonia Pitt has appealed her firing from Mn/DOT, maybe Tarryl Clark will learn a lesson in patience. Earlier we had noted that she said, "Pitt's firing was welcome "but three months late"."

Mn/DOT was wise to take its time to make a proper case for firing its employee, knowing that it could be appealed. It takes time to dot the "i"s and cross the "t"s, not just to prepare the case for the firing, but be prepared for an appeal.

Meanwhile, Steve Murphy and other Democrats have been castigating Mn/DOT for its incompetency. For all their eagerness to get rid of Pitt (Jeremy Kalin included), what will they say if Pitt is reinstated? I suppose they will condemn Mn/DOT for being incompetent once again.

Vacations at Government Expense

More than 10,000 jet into Bali for global warming conference
U.N. official rejects notion attendees adding to problem
By ROBIN MCDOWELL

BALI, Indonesia -- Never before have so many people converged to try to save the planet from global warming, with more than 10,000 jetting into this Indonesian resort island, from government ministers to Nobel laureates to drought-stricken farmers.

Finish reading the article.

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Imagine 10,000 people attending this conference. That’s equivalent to 1 out of every 4 people in Chisago County or everyone in North Branch flying to Bali to talk about global warming. It is inconceivable that 10,000 people are needed in a single conference to evaluate and propose solutions for any sort of genuine problem. Imagine if every one in North Branch attended a city council meeting to talk about a proposed Comprehensive Plan. It would be madness and pandemonium.

Actually, this conference will be bad for all of us because they aim to set the stage for the upgraded Kyoto treaty. When this many loony environmental, liberal, one-world-government, human-caused-climate-change do-gooders get together, nothing but evil can come of it.

Let’s pray they have such a grand time on vacation that they miss the conference.

A Hippie Generation Apology

A baby-boomer apology
By Dennis Prager

We live in the age of group apologies. I would like to add one. The baby boomer generation needs to apologize to America, especially its young generation, for many sins. Here is a partial list:

Prager hits many of the baby-boomer generation’s sins.

Miserable Liberals

Divorce can be bad for the environment.

In countries around the world divorce rates have been rising, and each time a family dissolves the result is two new households.

"A married household actually uses resources more efficiently than a divorced household," said Jianguo Liu, an ecologist at Michigan State University whose analysis of the environmental impact of divorce appears in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More households means more use of land, water and energy, three critical resources, Liu explained in a telephone interview.

Read the rest of this nonsense.

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One does not need a degree in any subject or be an ecologist to realize the inefficiency of divorce. And we don’t need to study it; we know the conclusion without being paid to collect data. We all know intuitively that two can live as cheaply as one....well half the time.

These people would love to cram everyone into drab concrete high-rise prisons, 20 to a small flat, Soviet-style alongside of light rail to be squeezed in for the ride to work. These know-it-alls will find inefficiency in everything no matter how conservative we are with land, air, water and energy.

They are ridden with the guilt of being alive and want to make the rest of us miserable.

Meanwhile, they expend great energy, time, money and take up space to study the imagined problem and then get paid for it--- all to "raise awareness" of the guilt of living. Talk about production efficiency!

More global warming nonsense...leave one candle unlit at Hannukah to save the earth! Next the Christmas tree lights will need to be turned off for an hour a day. And those dazzling houses will have to tear down their exterior Christmas lights.

The energy and CO2 from the burning Hannukah candles is an infinitesimally small amount compared to that produced by the fires that raged worldwide this past year. Not burning the candles means nothing to the world. It's just a feel good, knee-jerk reaction.

From now on, to be consistent, liberals should never hold a candlelight vigil.

Celebrity Endorsements: Does Anyone Really Care?

A great thought from Pat Sajak:

"Trust me, one's view of the world isn't any clearer from the back seat of a limo."

Read full article.

This is Not a Joke

View Franken vs. Franken on the war in Iraq.

From the Coleman For Senate Campaign.

Update: This Strib article addresses Coleman’s video. Author Kevin Diaz also posted it here.

Ten Commandments

Here is the real reason that we cannot have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse.

The commandments "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery," and "Thou Shalt Not Lie" create a hostile work environment in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians.

If the shoe fits, wear it.

House GOP Responds to Budget Deficit

HOUSE REPUBLICANS CALL FOR FISCAL RESTRAINT

Seifert Says: "Stop growing government. Start growing jobs."

Saint Paul - (November 30, 2007) - House Republican Leader Marty Seifert today said the state's $373 million budget deficit demands fiscal restraint and accountability in the upcoming legislative session.

"We need to spur the economy with business development and job growth," said House Republican Leader Marty Seifert. "Government should not grow at a faster rate than the private sector. Government needs to make sacrifices so we don't increase the tax burden on job creators and families. Our financial ground will continue to erode until we acknowledge that we cannot grow government and tax our way to prosperity.

"The state's budget forecast reflects the impact of a national economic slowdown that is being largely driven by slower projected economic growth, record high oil prices, an increasingly weak housing market and the resulting tightening on lending.

"Minnesotans across the state are seeing less discretionary income and that has a direct impact on the state's economy," Seifert said. "While businesses, families and farms are looking to tighten their budgets, the Democrats are working on plans to raise their taxes to fuel the growth of government."

Government spending has grown rapidly in the past 10 years. State general fund spending has increased nearly 40 percent in the last 10 years from $24 billion to $34.5 billion.

"Now is not the time to raise taxes. We do not need more money from taxpayers to fund unsustainable growth in government programs. We need to prioritize, cut wasteful government spending and use taxpayer dollars more efficiently," Seifert said.

Seifert said the budget deficit presents many challenges to the spending proposals and large bonding bill already being discussed for the next legislative session.

"The state budget should operate like the family budget. When there is less revenue, we spend less money," Seifert said. "The Democrats already spent the $34 billion in the state's budget and squandered away a $2 billion surplus. We simply do not have the money in the checkbook for more spending. The bonding bill must stay within the $965 million threshold. It should focus on fixing our state's core infrastructure needs. Festivals, theaters and ice rinks come in a distant second to funding for safe roads and bridges.

Seifert said the budget deficit could have been higher if the Democrats tax and spend proposals were all signed into law. Governor Tim Pawlenty line-itemed veto more than $32 million in spending and vetoed a pork-filled bonding bill.

"The Democrats overspent last session and then tried to raise our taxes," Seifert said. "Government doesn't need relief. Minnesotans do. We need to protect the taxpayer pocketbook, not use it as a never-ending cash machine."

Short on Science, Long on Politics

Need a legacy? Al's got a hot one
By Wesley Pruden

All the wiseheads keep telling us that Climate is headed south, but Weather keeps getting in the way.

Global warming is scheduled to kill us all before next Christmas, but since Christmas is going the way of the hula hoop to avoid offending Osama bin Laden, the ACLU and assorted grinches, we might yet muddle on.

The United Nations sponsored a session for wiseheads the other day in Valencia, where they dined in expensive Spanish restaurants, basked in luxury hotels and took the waters on a government dime, obligated only to listen to each other talk about the coming death in the afternoon for those who don't die first of bird flu, AIDS, staph infections and other plagues that were supposed to dispose of us by now.

Read the whole article, but notice the following two paragraphs.

Short on science, the faithful are long on politics. Politics, says Michael Crichton, the novelist and inventor of Jurassic Park who made cloning popular, leads to belief and science leads to facts. Or ought to. He recalled in a speech to the National Press Club two years ago how quickly politics can intimidate science.

"In the first Earth Day in 1970," he said, "Kenneth Watt [of the University of California-Davis], said: 'If present trends continue, the world will be about 4 degrees colder in 1990, but 11 degrees colder by the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us in an ice age.' International Wildlife warned 'a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war' as a threat to mankind. Science Digest declared that the world 'must prepare for the next ice age.' The Christian Science Monitor noted that armadillos had moved out of Nebraska because it was too cold, glaciers had begun to advance, and growing seasons had shortened around the world."

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Kenneth Watt missed it by a mile in 1970. So has Al Gore in 2007, but he doesn’t care about the science. The alleged science is junk science, but it serves the politics of government control of people. The doomsayers must have a sufficient reason to justify all the governmental regulations they need to save the earth.

Also read this Brit’s comments on measures to counter global issues in England, which he calls "planet-saving madness." He understands.