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Open thread
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted May 2, 2007 at 1:04 a.m.
- Filed under Open thread
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177 Comments
KBMZ radio in Kansas City tried to invent an ethics problem involving Phill Kline last Friday:
http://kmbz-am.fimc.net/listingsEntry.asp?ID=496296&PT=Top+Story
This “news reporting” happened after certain radio ads started appearing on KMBZ. This story was part of the KMBZ news at 6 PM on Friday, but apparently no other news source in Kansas picked up the story. The ethics “case” invented by KMBZ’s Bill Grady had no factual basis.
Last week KMBZ’s Bill Grady held an interview with the Ohio group Women Influencing the Nation after their ads started running on KMBZ. Apparently Grady was a bit hostile and couldn’t believe people from outside Kansas might want to do this project on their own (especially after all the exposure Bill O’Reilly brought to Kansas last year about child rape and viable babies being killed). The Ohio group, Women Influencing the Nation, is currently airing radio and TV ads throughout Kansas to educate everyone about the Kansas Laws being ignored by the Attorney General.
Listen to their ads here:http://chargetiller.com/radioads.html
With mostly a news blackout in Kansas about the Kansas Laws that are being ignored, it’s good to know this group from Ohio cares enough to get involved.
Olathe News Editorial:”Tiller case being mishandled”The Olathe News(another McClatchy newspaper)OPINION page 4Thursday, April 26, 2007
We were right. The Judicial Ethics Committee dismissed the complaint against Sedgewick County District Court Judge Paul Clark. No Admonishment. They didn’t even bat an eye. They protected one of their own, although Clark’s action was clearly a political favor, not a legal concern.A complaint was filed against Clark after he dismissed 30 charges against Tiller, a Wichita abortion doctor. Clark dismissed the case when Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston filed a motion with his court saying former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline didn’t seek approval from her office to file charges against Tiller in her jurisdiction.Clark dismissed the case on a technicality without allowing Kline to defend the case. Actually, Clark didn’t even meet with Kline until the appeal hearing, at which time Clark denied the appeal.The complaint was filed when it was discovered that Clark, a Democrat, failed to disclose in court donations made to his campaign by Tiller’s attorney, Dan Monnat of Monnat & Spurrior law firm, and Foulston, also a Democrat. Clark says he didn’t know who contributed to his campaign, the law still holds him accountable for his campaign funds.Why would Clark receive the motion when he mostly hears traffic cases? Why would a judge dismiss a case without talking with the attorney who filed the case?An Kline said that he did meet with Foulston before filing the charges, and that she had no problem with the case then. This also came after a highly contested campaign between Kline, a Republican, and now Attorney General Paul Morrison, a Democrat.Is something not adding up here? If we can see it, we know the committee can see it.Morrison hasn’t appealed Clark’s ruling on the Tiller case setting a dangerous precedent for his office. By not appealing this decision, Morrison is stripping away power from the Kansas Attorney General’s Office. This ruling basically says the Kansas attorney general has no power to file cases in a district attorney’s jurisdiction without the permission of that district attorney, a lesser law enforcement officer.State law gives the attorney general the right to file cases throughout the state, and if Morrison pushed the point, the higher courts most likely would rule in his favor.But the point isn’t about the attorney general’s power to enforce the law, it’s about defeating Kline and taking away the capability or anyone else’s capability to charge Tiller with a crime.This political mistake does great harm to the office of the attorney general.Knowing Morrison, if this were any case that didn’t involve Kline, he wouldn’t allow a district attorney to impede the attorney general. Morrison said he’s investigating the case, but he needs to move on it and make sure this does nothing to weaken the power of the attorney general’s office
In some parts of this country people can’t drink water from the tap, they get sick from tainted meat, tainted peanut butter. Women can’t take certain hormone medication because it causes cancer. In some places people raise children with asthma because the air is too polluted. We can’t eat certain fish because of the high mercury levels.
Slowly America is becoming a third world nation, but we’ll spend billions to occupy a nation on the other side of the world. Mission accomplished.
Last I heard, Olathe was a Harris newspaper.
Doug have you always had trouble staying on topic or is this something that has come on so gradually that you don’t know it is happening.
Good post Meadowlark. I don’t expect anything to happen. Morrison, Fulston and Clark have been bought and paid for. Their hands are tied.
How does one stay on topic on an open thread?
“How does one stay on topic on an open thread?”
By repeating the lines sought by grm and others. See my most recent post about this woman and her shameful nonsense. Shame on grm, shame, shame…
Read her posts, it is okay from grm to suck off the teat of the government, but others shouldn’t do this. The absolute height of hypocrisy…
“I will admit I had help in doing this. It happened to be the same year Boeing laid off a large number of people and because the CEO couldn’t tell the real reason he terminated me, he said he had elimenated [sic] my position, I qualified as a displaced person. The state helped me and hundreds of others get our degrees. That is why I say help is ok but if they had just paid me to set at home, I would have learned nothing, and never been able to pull myself. Gov. does play a part in helping others help themselves. It took three semesters to achieve something I had not had the time or money for in the past.”
And then we have the integrity of that Robert Redford look-alike, GolfNutZ:
“The way I see it – if Hillary “no more Rodham” Clinton or Osama Obama win the nomination – then we’ll be ensure of having another Republican in the White House in ‘08.”
The honesty of Repubs like these jokers is very underwhelming…
Hey, I am real impressed, you clowns, keep it up, okay?
Apparently Steven Davis’ single testicle-driven comments is in response to his own inadequacies.
Being insulted by Republican, the other sucker on the government teat around here, just hurts my feelings so much…
For those of you interested in reality, check this out:
“Fresh lies! Get your fresh lies right here! Step right up….”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/
I would gladly give up my disabled status to live a normal life Steven Davis. However, the reality of my situation does not allow for that.
The benefit you received by others and myself who served, allow you to disparage freely as you see fit.
However, your rendering of verbal fat only depletes your wholeness not mine.
The benefit you received by others and myself who served, allow you to disparage freely as you see fit.
You are no more deserving than teachers, fireman or police.Many public servants sacrifice along with the military.
What do you people want fom us constant praise non stop parades? Give it a rest and grow a little dignity.
I never asked for constant praise nor did I ask that Steven Davis’s disparaging comments on those who served be given credence.
Evidently matrix you agree with Steven Davis and appreciate nothing nor respect others that have their own opinion and viewpoint.
You and others like Steven Davis only slice open wounds for your own verbal advantage to acquire a false status of superiority.
I have dignity, evidently matrix, you haven’t found yours or you would have never made such a statement as you did.
wah wah wah you sound like one of my kids. Hey look what I did. Blah blah. Maybe you were in the military maybe not. Pherhaps your wounds were self inflicted you know like John Kerry. Hey give me your adress I’ll send you a box of band aids with purple hearts drawn on them.
Matrix
“You are no more deserving than teachers, fireman or police.Many public servants sacrifice along with the military.”
Absolutely —-
“What do you people want from us constant praise non stop parades -”
Well, I would venture a guess most military people would opt for fewer parades — and most of the service connected people you mention appreciate (and some times embarrassed by) the praise and thanks that the public in general gives them — what they would like more is a bigger paycheck (like everyone else) , obey the laws so they don’t have to constantly pick up after the messes of accidents / shootings, don’t try to out race police / fire vehicles when you see them coming with sirens blaring, try to do the things of a good citizen that can make their job a tad easier, elect people who see war as the final solution ….
Matrix:
HE represents very few of the service people (you people?), military and civilian, most (99%)don’t make their service or disabilities an “I” issue — but there are narcissists everywhere …
Thanks for your post
“… your rendering of verbal fat only depletes your wholeness…..”
…. sounds like someone ate a “Mother Earth” catalogue …..
ok writer dog —- you’re good at this stuff — one up him ?
Meadowlark expects the AG office to be the state’s anti-abortion law firm. When he can’t have his way, he posts lengthy whines about so-called miscarriages of justice.
Meadowlark, give it a rest. Every point you raised in today’s rant has been argued endlessly, and your points are no more valid today than they were the last time we saw them.
Kline lost. Barnett lost. The vast majority of Kansans don’t agree with you, with Kline, or with Troy Newman. In fact, in Kline’s home county of Johnson, he lost by 65%-35%. Even the people who know him best, rejected him.
Boo hoo.
Is it just me, or are the wingnuts on this blog REALLY crying the blues these days? They just piss, moan and sigh about every damn mistake and disaster and then…
…try to blame these disasters on democrats and liberals?
They just seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel these days for whiney posts.
Somebody should call the Waaaaambulance for them asap….
Oh, and isnt it cute how the bedwetters are already wetting the bed over the DEMOCRATIC candidates instead of rounding up a winner of their own.
McCain? Giuliani? Romney? WTF? Hehehehehehehehheehheh!
I think a yellow dog could beat these guys, but please, keep trying to tell us which yellow dog YOU prefer.
Here’s the tip of the day for all you residents of wingnuttia. It’s going to get WORSE for you all before it gets better.
(deep breath) I loves me the smell of some wingnut flop sweat in the morning.
hee hee hee hee
Still laughing about the wingnut malaise here….
Yer gonna love this one. The title is “Hippies Were Right” after all!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×803320
Fred Thompson will be a formidable candidate for president. The only weakness I see with Thompson is the same one that runs glaringly through the leading Democrat candidates. Lack of administrative experience. So with Thompson you would give up the obvious advantage the Republican field has in that critical aspect.
However, his personal appeal and charisma may more than make up for that. I am glad he is going to run.
1. Meadowmuffin–get some sleep.
2. Republican–still alternating between blog cheap-shotting pit bull and then hurt victim. No one is “making fun of your disability” and you know it. What we are making fun of is your towering HYPOCRISY at living on gov’t aid while insisting that everyone else who takes gov’t aid are welfare queens, socialists, and slackers.
But you already knew that.
3. KSGRRL–missed you the last couple of days. Funny stuff!
Outlander, yeah, I’ve heard the same right-wing radio talking points you have.
But don’t you think the American people are getting a little tired of the “moralizing white guy in a suit” style of presidential politics?
We’ll see what happens with Thompson when he’s put under *real* public scrutiny. No “second takes” in the real world.
Hee hee hee! Thanks capn. I’m so busy I dont know whether to wind my butt or scratch my watch!
Tom, your comment about the “moralizing white guy in a suit” struck my funny bone.
Pat Boone for president? I mean, since the republicans and wingnuts want to live in the 1950’s and all…
Oh hell, I thought it said moralizing guy in a WHITE suit…
nevermind. heheheheheheheh!
Hey farmgrrl,
Ain’t sweating here, must be your own armpits backing up on ya.
I personnally don’t care who the libs nominate for president, none of them show me much.
As a republican in good standing though, some of our front runners scare the hell out of me!
I’m hoping for either Newt or Fred. Newt will have the lib panties in a Gordian Knot wad and Fred would make them look like the shrill fools they are.
All in all an interesting two years ahead of us.
Hank
Newt? Oh Please…then the Dems will have it for sure!
Ah Meadowlark has his new fundy group to pimp. He thinks a new group with a new name may get somewhere?
Not after anyone reads their website. I’d say they’re even worse than CWA.
Oh and Meadowlark, reporting pedophiles wasn’t an issue…but you know that so why keep bringing it up?
Don’t answer that, we already know.
Oh yes, I saw ksgrm’s post about how she lifted herself up…er….took advantage of a government program to get her education.
Even though she didn’t have kids at home, and already had a decent salary, and probably making unemployment to boot. Gee, can someone give me that opportunity?
Repub, nobody makes fun of your disability. But it almost makes me sad that I sit here and fight for your rights as a disabled individual while you turn around and fight against them….because you don’t want anyone else to have the benefits.
I don’t know Mary, Don’t misunderestimate the Newtster!
His thighs aren’t quite as big as Mrs Bill Clinton’s but he’s a little bit smarter and actually dirty enough t geve her a run for the money.
Hank
Hank – changing topics here. River Festival Friday afternoon Purina Dog Challenge – You?
Newt Gingrich has so much baggage, bellhops everywhere cringe in terror.
He doesn’t have a chance.
The applicant list for the District One council seat is out, and I’m happy to see some decent community-oriented people on it. Some of the rest really make me shudder, though.
“Is it just me, or are the wingnuts on this blog REALLY crying the blues these days? They just piss, moan and sigh about every damn mistake and disaster and then……”—————
I don’t think anyone can out-whine your crybaby stories about how you were fired for being gay…..how you are mistreated for being gay…..hated for being gay…..ad nauseam.
Sometimes I think you must have 1-800-Waaaaaa on your speed dial.
GSheridan,
Farmgrrl *was* fired for being gay. She was fired for exercising her most basic Constitutional right: The right to petition her government for a redress of grievances.
In 2004, Farmgrrl, on her own time and at her own expense, took a vacation day off work and traveled to Topeka to testify against the proposed marriage ban. When news of her testimony was published in her local press, she was fired. Not for poor performance, either. She was fired for being a lesbian who dared have the audacity to exercise her most basic constitutional rights.
How dare she.
Hey Ben,
Haven’t paid much attention. Gotta work all day Friday and then we’re going to Emporia Friday night for the dog show there on Saturday and Sunday.
I don’t even know what the Purina Dog Challenge is!
Hank
“I don’t even know what the Purina Dog Challenge is!”
It’s the challenge where a dog has to consume more Purina dog chow than any other dog in one minute. Last years winner was a Japanese dog named “wice bow”:-)
Damn, and here I cut my hair too many moons ago:-)
Think where we would be WITHOUT the counter culture (hippy) revolution that started in the fifties (I remember beatniks, and I grew up at Venice Beach, CA).
I seriously doubt corporate America would have seen the light to start doing something about smog, recycling, alternative energy sources, etc, etc.
Awesome link, kfrngrrl. Put a lot of things in perspective.
And as for gs; there lies a woman with the mind of a newt, and I ain’t talking Gingrich.
JM,
That sounds like a recipe for potential animal abuse. How many competitors will let their dogs go hungry for a day or few?
I rest my case about whiney and bitter cons on the blog. Republican, gs, and germie seem to be particularly demoralized and sulky.
Whatever.
I just realized that the Salina shows are the weekend of the 12th.
I don’t participate in the River Festival since the Eagle became to cheap to have the paper airplane contest.
I was in the final the last year they had it. I can put my paper airplanes in a trash can from 60′ away.
I aggree with Tom. If the Purina challenge is an eating contest I don’t think it’s a good idea.
Hank
She was fired for being a lesbian who dared have the audacity to exercise her most basic constitutional rights.
How dare she.
Posted by: Tom | May 02, 2007 at 10:03 AM
Man that sucks, and would seem to be lawsuit actionable somehow. What was her job?
“Farmgrrl *was* fired for being gay. She was fired for exercising her most basic Constitutional right: The right to petition her government for a redress of grievances.”————-
lol
Or so the Germans would like us to believe….
More appropriate question than “what was her job” is “who was her employer?”
Sounds like I wouild like to NOT do business with them
GSheridan,
What happened with Farmgrrl is a matter of public record. That you choose to belittle and dismiss someone who was punished for exercising their First Amendment rights shows just how little respect you have for our Constitution.
lj – I agree. What one does on one’s private time should not be grounds for dismissal.
Is it really, Tom?
A matter of public record, huh?
Care to back that up with the ‘record?’
Littlejohn,
First, thank you for your kind words.
Farmgrrl was Economic Development Director for a western Kansas county. I’d be stepping too far into her business by naming it here.
It is perfectly legal in Kansas to fire someone for being gay. We have no legal recourse at all.
We’re trying to change that by adding “sexual orientation” to the state’s current anti-discrimination statute – the same one that protects people from being fired or evicted because of their religious views.
We currently have bill in the Senate Federal and State Affairs committee, SB163, but it’s stalled by a few conservative radicals who think it’s perfectly okay to persecute someone based on sexual orientation. These are the people who enjoy protection from discrimination based on their religion (definitely a choice), but think gay and lesbian (NOT a choice) Kansans deserve nothing but what people like GSheridan care to give us.
GSheridan,
What happened to Farmgrrl has been presented as testimony in the Senate Federal and State Affairs committee.
Oh please. I didnt even bring this up. gs has started this crap with me and about me before. All you have to do is google me to know what’s gone on.
And lj, yes there has been legal action. And additionally, the WaKeeney City Council, and several other entities in Trego county are currently under investigation by the AG’s office.
But since the supoenas issued are under seal, there is no official record of what is being investigated. And the investigation is expanding.
But since gs is such an expert on my employment and my legal affairs, you would probably just have to ask her about it.
When all else fails, and the world according to bushco is going to hell, gs can always fall back on a “let’s bash farmie” day. It’s so much easier to plow ground that has already been cultivated.
Everything that was done to me has been examined here on this blog in detail. I continue to be mystified by gs’s obvious obsession with me. Why are we going over this again?
Tom, thank you for your defense, but gs is just insane when it comes to me. I’m her favorite subject. No amount of examples, research, documentation suits her.
She’s best ignored. It is the most cruel blow of all for a narcissist.
Tom,
The chow chowing contest was a joke. See smiley face at end of the sentence;-0
You’re right Ben!
Heheheheh. Even Ralph Ostmeyer will vouch for what happened to me. So will Virginia Beemer and Jerry Moran.
Maybe THOSE sources would suit the residents of wingnuttia?
Farmgrrl,
It grieves me to see your private life dragged through this public muck once again.
I can say no more.
At least a selective version of the accounts, huh, Tom?
But did, or didn’t, the employer state a totally different reason altogether?
If, as you say, there was nothing wrong with firing her because she was gay – why then did the employing entity give a different reason? They wouldn’t have needed to – correct?
Why hasn’t she been rehired?
So many questions.
So few answers.
At least so few verifiable answers.
GS seems to think it’s okay to go to war, and get thousands of people killed for this administrations bungling, but a gay person is going to hell, and has no rights whatsoever.
GS, your priorities are as screwed up as your thinking. This is Kansas; go find a brain. You are definitely lacking in that department.
Smear, inuendo, and vague threats.
Typical conservative M.O. Dont have the facts, or the facts dont agree with you?
Bring on the swiftboaters.
Tom, Walker, I think saying no more on the subject is a good idea. If gs wants to back up any of her bullshit, she’s welcome to do so.
Otherwise? I am tired of being the wingnut diversion from how bad it sucks to be a bushie these days.
Well, that certainly sucks. If you are qualified for a job, and are doing nothing illegal in your spare time, then it’s none of their business. I would think you could make a first amendment case, and sounds like something is going on there as it is under investigation. I am sorry to have reopened stuff by asking questions. I was not part of the previous discussions.While I am not always sure of “protected classes” legislation,I am always sure that mean and dumb is just mean and dumb. What happened was both. I hate “protected classes” legislation actually, but events like that certainly build a case for them. Peoples stupidity seems to know no end
ksfarmgrrl,
I had NO idea that had all happened to you. I am so sorry. And proud as hell of you for taking a stand in Topeka. And Tom, thanks for the backstory.
GSheridan,
If there was any doubt before, thanks for settling it. My contempt for you has given way to pity.
I didn;t see the previousposts intime. GS–just shut up. KSFarmgirl, I too will say no more and ask no more questions. I am sorry for what has happened to you
Gosh CF, I thought you knew. Next time we meet in person, I’ll fill you in on all the bloody details.
And lj, I dont know who you are, but you are right on target when you say mean and dumb are mean and dumb.
And the voters have let them know. ALL of the city council members and the mayor who did this are now out of office. One did not run for re-election and every single one of the others has been defeated.
Next up? Two mean and dumb county commissioners in 08. Sometimes little guys do win.
Sorry, I forgot the link to the Trego/WaKeeney corruption and the expanding investigation.
http://online.hdnews.net/content/news/wakeeney042607.shtml
ksfarmgrrl,
Helluva link! Sounds like Peyton Place on the high plains.
Nothing like entrenched power structures and small-town nepotism to make people think they’re above the law. Given all that insularity and cravenness, it’s no wonder they went after you.
Lemmy, from the band Motorhead, has a line in one of his songs to the effect that “we scare ‘em senseless just by showing up alive.” Sounds to me like an apt description of how the WaKeeney “Power Elite” (sic) responded to a farmgrrl in their midst.
Thanks CF. That’s more appropriate than you can imagine.
And I’m still here. And I’m still standing. Maybe I’m a weeble?
You know, weebles wobble but they dont fall down. hehehehe. Maybe they just dont STAY down.
To a different topic …
“Renewable energy could power half the nationIndustry report says wind, solar could make big contribution to energy supply by 2025, but only if policies change.”
http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/02/news/economy/renewables/index.htm?postversion=2007050212
Came across that while checking the markets. Add a renewed push to nuclear and we could be off fossil fuels altogether. Think about being able to tell Osama bin Ladin/Saudi Arabia to SHOVE IT!
Ben,
Indeed. Green energy is an enormous, entapped growth sector for the American economy. Hence the antipathy of the oil-based powers that be.
And another topic – posted on the “Keeepr” thread:
There will be a River cleanup this Saturday. A number of groups are involved:
Ark River Coalition meet on east side of bridge in Sim Park parking lot.
Sierra Club in Central Church of Christ parking lot.
Bank of America Employees at Gander Mountain.
South Central Improvement Alliance and others meet at Harry and Greenway.
10AM to Noon this Saturday. Gloves and trash bags provided. Wear tough shoes, hat, sunscreen
Green may be politically “groovy”, but it appears it is not just the oil companies that are unyielding
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/12/news/economy/green_consumer/index.htm
Ben – Could wind power be converted to energy that Kansas could eventually export to other states?
Very true lj. That is why internalizing costs is so important.
I could reduce my trash disposal costs very easily. Just take my daily trash with me in the morning and toss it out the car window along Kellogg.
I think that would be considered unacceptable. So should other methods of doing the same thing.
TDT – YES. Easily.
TDT,
One of the big problems with wind power in Kansas is that the windiest places don’t have the high-capacity transmission lines necessary to export power. My understanding is that the investment would be staggering, and would render the windfarm unprofitable for years.
That is, of course, unless energy prices keep going up and up and up…
I apologize for the length of this, it is from an email and not a website, so I had no idea how to do it except cut and paste. Intereesting and worth the read though.
Boeing looks to algae as alternative aviation fuel
By Aimée Turner
Massive cultivation of oil-rich, CO2-absorbing algae pools covering an area equivalent to the size of Austria – or Maryland in the US – could hold the key to eliminating aviation’s contribution to global warming.
Speaking exclusively to flightglobal.com, Boeing’s alternative fuel expert Dave Daggett explains that algae has been elevated by the US aircraft manufacturer to front-runner status in terms of its potential to become a viable alternative aviation fuel.
The news comes as UK carrier Virgin Atlantic announced that it is to team up with Boeing, Virgin Fuels and engine manufacturer GE Aviation to conduct a joint biofuel demonstration on one of the airline’s Boeing 747-400s in 2008 which aims to develop sustainable fuel sources suitable for commercial jet engines.
“The major driver that we will be evaluating is the performance of these fuels so they meet all the certification requirements for a jet fuel, such as its freezing point,” says Daggett.
He said early tests may use biofuels derived from either soya or rapeseed rather than algae as these are advanced in development terms: “We might use them initially just to prove they can work but the large amount of land required to produce this as an alternative fuel and the carbon dioxide footprint generated during the production process will be important factors to take into consideration.”
Significant advances have already been made in the science of manipulating the metabolism of algae and the engineering of microalgae algae systems to produce large amounts of oil while absorbing equally impressive quantities of carbon dioxide.
The US Department of Energy’s Office of Fuels Development funded a program for almost two decades until 1996 to develop renewable transportation fuels from algae. The main focus of the program, know as the Aquatic Species Program was the production of biodiesel from high lipid-content algae grown in ponds in the Arizona desert, feeding on waste CO2 from coal fired power plants.
Development was interrupted when oil prices fell, however, and the commercial need to develop an alternative was substantially reduced.
Some countries, including New Zealand, have continued to work on the production of fuel from algae, and have made significant progress.“There are still some technical challenges to be overcome. If the costs of fossil fuels had remained high we would have solved some of the issues that algae still presents such as harvesting and water separation. It’s very doable, however. It all depends on the effort we want to put in to create a carbon-neutral fuel, but essentially it’s the right thing to do,” says Daggett.
He estimates that algae ponds covering an aggregated 34,000sq km located in a warm climate – a land bank equivalent to the size of the US state of Maryland or Austria could reduce the carbon dioxide footprint generated by global aviation to zero.“Boeing is going to be there to help fuel suppliers and their customers to commercialise biofuels. What we want to do is to create a lighthouse project so that we can help focus industry’s attention and efforts. What we are not going to do however is to get into the fuel business ourselves,” says Daggett.
Littlejohn,
That’s a lot of land, and a lot of algae.
I’m going to imagine a lot of water, too. How many acre-feet would it take to cover an area the size of Maryland? How much more water per year to replenish it after evaporation and seepage?
How will a project this size affect food production, both in acreage and water diverted into fuel production?
It’s an interesting concept, but I’d sure like to see impact analysis.
me too.
There is plenty of pond scum available for renewable energy. :)
Nice to see you volunteer for something useful :)
I was thinking more in line of lobbyists. :)
Republican,
FYI: I don’t get paid a dime to go to Topeka. It’s all volunteer work. Nor do I take legislators to dinner or lunch, and I don’t make contributions to their campaigns. I go to Topeka on my own time, at my own expense, to talk to lawmakers about the importance of fair treatment and equality for gay and lesbian Kansans.
Mock me for my lobbying work all you like. I’ll match my volunteer accomplishments against yours any day.
Tom – I doubt the water should be an issue; if I am correct it would be sea water. As a result it would cycle well. (correct me if I am wrong lj)
Tom – Rah Rah Rah. I don’t know how to do a cheer on a blog, but GOOD FOR YOU!!
Hee hee hee, things are getting hotter out here. The latest link in the ongoing saga of corruption in WaKeeney and Trego County. Sounds like there were a few sparks at last night’s city council meeting.
http://online.hdnews.net/content/news/wakeeney050207.shtml
Pmom this is the second time you have taken a cheap shot at me when I have tried to help you out of what you call a ‘dead end job’.
What the state helped me do was much different than what it does for the idiots that stand around with their hands out waiting for the government to fill them.
I worked for 25 years and never drew a dime of unemployment. I have been fortunate enough to have a husband who is a good provider. This doesn’t mean we haven’t had hard times. It simply means that when times were tough we just got tougher. At 45 he lost a job he had had for 23 years. He was a united rubber worker and because of union demands his job went to Mexico.
We didn’t lay down and say poor me. We put everything we had into a business and he learned another trade. We made a success out of it. No I didn’t get to set around the house while the state sent me to school. I was keeping books for this business and attending school on the side. Studying at night to make a 4.0 GPA.
Now this is the basic difference between demos and republicans. We never thought we were defeated. We knew that we had all the opportunities in the world to succeed. We lived in America after all, the land of opportunity.
Demos set on your hands and just keep thinking that some day the demos will gain enough power to raise taxes to the point that we will all live equally. Well dream on because when that happens the rich will no longer work. They’ll just rest on their laurels and those waiting on THEIR tax dollars will go hungry. That is socialism pure and simple and I am beginning to think there are many on this blog who don’t deserve anything better.
ksgrm – you were well on your way to making good points until you got to “this is the basic difference between demos and republicans” etc. As a Dem who works full-time and makes my own way in life I beg to differ with you. Your politicization of your comments degraded your own worthy arguements.
Ben, why don’t you comment on the bastards that constantly belittle against this honest woman who goes by the nick of ksgrm.
Instead, you would rather stand by with your double standard of politicization when your Liberal friends use disparaging remarks.
In that regard, ksgrm spoke the truth about the Democratic Party, the party of empty pallet and ever waffling talking points.
Ben I apologize if I offended you in any way. The majority of democrats I know, that would be my entire family still in Oklahoma, are just like you so I should not have generalized.
The majority of dems on this blog are bitter, obnoxious, petty, mud slingers who give your party a bad name.
I am proud of what my husband and I have accomplished and am proud that my three sons are all self sufficient hard workers. All three put themselves through college, the youngest is still paying off his student loans.
Sorry if I was a little hot, or I guess a lot hot.
No problem ksgrm. Quick question – what ages the grandkids? I have a pair of 5’s and a 3. Lots of fun!
Ours are all over the map. We have four boys and four girls. Their ages are 20, 15, 13, 12, 10, 9, 9 and 7. We have more fun with them than grandparents should be allowed to but they are much more fun than my own kids were. Not sure why. Maybe because we spoil them rotten then send them home.
;^)
SO TRUE!
Grandchildren are our reward for not killing our children!
Sounds like Republican is headed for a JM-like meltdown.
Ksgrm – I read a lot, and post occasionally. Although I am one of the Dems you were referring to, I too, have a full time job and have only been on unemployment once. However, I thought your post was thoughtful, and it was one of the few I agreed with when I read it. I am very pro-education. I think what happens is people who are not “active listeners” also appear to not be “active readers”, and only pick out the parts of the post that they can get an argument out of. So I will continue to read mainly, post occasionally, agree with you rarely, but enjoy it all nonetheless!!
Thanks that is why I get on. I am challenged to think about things I wouldn’t do otherwise. I have become much greener since listening to Cosmos and JR. We are actually looking at a Prius. Since my husband is 6′4″ this is a real sacrifice for him. But anything for those grandkids.
Ksgrm,
GM has a line of larger hybrids:http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/adv_tech/300_hybrids/
So does Ford:http://www.fordvehicles.com/suvs/escapehybrid/
On a quick search, I couldn’t find anything on Chrysler’s web site.
If you’re into high dollar, Lexus has a great hybrid SUV that even the Jones can’t keep up with…..
http://www.lexus.com/magazine/q207/Hybrid_Drive/Hybrid_Drive_0.html
WS,
Yeah, other makers have larger hybrids. I was looking for American-made vehicles. (And don’t get technical with me that Chrysler is no longer an American company! :)
ksgrm–consider the Honda civic hybrid.
It’s rated 50 mph city and 50 highway.
Also, 8,000 dollars less than a Prius.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/01/889/
Fun article:
All this is exactly what one would expect in the way of a political farewell gesture from a spoiled rich kid who never grew up. Future generations of historians will note George W. Bush made a mess of every real job he ever had – and, unfortunately for America, the presidency of the United States proved to be no exception.
Ksgrm–
I’m happy for your success.
But when you wrote, “demos set on your hands and just keep thinking that some day the demos will gain enough power to raise taxes to the point that we will all live equally,” you veered into Rush Limbaugh land.
Democrats don’t believe that. I am a democrat and I also worked my way through college. Not only did I incur no debt from college, I invested in bank CD’s while I was still an undergraduate.
If Democrats believed what you say they believed, none of us Democrats would have anything to do with our party.
The way to judge a party is not to look at what our enemies (Rush O’Hannity) say we think.
The way to judge us is to look at the results.
Eight years of Clinton-Gore: balanced federal budget three years running, national debt reduced, real wages increased, low unemployment, expanding economy, poverty rate reduced, no major wars. In short, peace and prosperity.
Seven years of Bush-Cheney: federal budget wildly in debt, national debt exploding, half a trillion dollars spent in Iraq alone, a major terrorist strike on 9-11 despite repeated warnings, poverty rate increasing every single year, real wages falling, 3,500 Americans dead for nothing in Iraq.
Judge them not by their words, but by their deeds.
Good points capn. One thing that we push for is improved education opportunities at all levels – vo-tech, university, K-12, etc.
Other topic – I also recomment the American-made Civic hybrid.
Capn,
The economy peaked in 1999; by March of 2000, it was clear the cycle was headed downward.
As to 9/11 – those responsible were in the country before Bush took office. That Bush happened to be president the day of the attack was coincidence. It could just as easily been Gore that day.
What matters is how the President responded. Would Gore have attacked Iraq? Unlikely.
Would Gore have taken steps to correct the economic downturn that started on Clinton’s watch? We’ll never know.
Cap you make some good points. I have said before that I was a demo for many years. I moved here from Oklahoma and opened a small business. It was a Sub-S corp. and even though the first few years we put every dime of profit back into the company we had to pay personal income tax on the net profit. That was very hard on the income we were taking out of the company. That is why I have always held a job outside the family business so we could fund the business.
Looking at the tax structure and hearing from the democrats that we should be paying more just didn’t seem fair. The republican party is fairer to businesses tax wise. I firmly feel that small businesses employ a large segment of our working population.This was why we switched to the repub party. I stay active in the party and frequently correspond with our senators and congressmen about how we can help low income Americans help themselves. One thing I have pushed for is allowing working moms keep daycare payments as long as they are working and the kids are not in school. I also was very vocal in the need to implement Healthwaves, a program that gives dental and medical care to children of low income Kansans.
There are good and bad things we could say about each other but I think if we worked together as hard as we work against each other we can accomplish many good things.
I agree with Bush that we should have gone after Saddam. He was just going to keep violation the UN sanctions until he did finally get that nuclear capability, but I wish there was some way now to take our men and women out of there without doing it in defeat.
To many of our young men and women are giving their all for the cause and are not being appreciated for it. I hate to see this become political.
Looking forward to good discussions in the future.
ksgrm – I’m curious – why an S Corp instead of sub-chapter K (Partnership)? Seems like that would have been easier (but still very similar).
As for plowing profits back in it would seem that with Sec 179 you would eliminate most of the tax bite.
Capn,
You should ask Republican to accept your bet, but with 50 to 1 odds in your favor.
If you lose, you pay him $50. If you win, he pays you $2,500.
If it’s okay for his hero Lindzen to ask for 50 to 1 odds on a roughly 50% chance, it’s okay for you also.http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/05/open_thread.html#comment-68227918
Not pretending to answer for her, but if a partnership, profits subject to self-employment. As an S Corp, profits taxed at individual income tax rates, but not subject to SE. Only subject to OI rates. Plus, when taken out in later years, the dividend comes out “tax free” as PTI. Don’t know if this is her answer, but that’s mine. :-)
Plus, the limited personal liability one has as a shareholder in a corporation opposed to the personal liability one has as a general partner in a partnership.
“Looking at the tax structure and hearing from the democrats that we should be paying more just didn’t seem fair.”
What Democrats said you should pay more? What Democrats made you pay more?
Clinton cut taxes on the middle class.
People building their small business should not have to pay taxes on re-invested profits, IMHO. How can it be profits if you’re investing it in the company? I thought it’s only profit when you take it out of the company.
Anyway, the trouble with Bush Inc. is that he cuts our taxes a little and cuts taxes for the wealthy A LOT to the point that gov’t is bleeding red-ink.
You can’t cut taxes that much without also cutting expenses. Instead BushCo. INCREASED gov’t spending by 9 percent a year, faster than any post-war president including LBJ.
You should go back to the Democratic Party, KSgrm. We’re the people who don’t believe in “beliefs”–we believe in what works.
Perhaps if you would not tell liberals and Democrats what “they think” or ascribe the worst traits to them, the conversations could be a little more civil, GRM.
Ben at this point I couldn’t tell you why. Twe were following the advise of a long time business man in Wichita. As soon as possible we changed to a C corp. which was much better. Those were some slim years but well worth the struggle.
Capn, to give legal status to your beliefs on reinvesting profits from a small business, you will need to secure enough political standing to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as amended).
VT – Two points: The IRS has been going after people who take money out of S-corps without “paying themselves” an appropriate salary (with SS taxes equivalent to SE taxes). (see West Fed Taxation Individual page 20-26).
Liability – how about an LLC under sub-chapter K?
Heh, funny, Cosmos.
Republican won’t accept any bets with me.
That would imply that words have meaning.
For him, they don’t. It’s all just a game. He’s going to re-incarnate himself as a Thai prostitute or some such nonsense one of these days.
It’s his idea of a good time.
Sad . . .
VT, Capn – VT is correct on that; although I think with judicious use of Sec 179 and accellerated depreciation you can substantially decrease the bite.
One good thing about a pass-through structure is that you can take losses (early years) against your ordianry income (assuming active and enough at-risk).
Of course as they say “see your tax advisor”
Right, VT. When it comes to taxes and small business, I’m a clean slate.
But I am curious, how does a huge corp. that makes tons of money (say, McDonald’s) end up showing “no taxable profit.” As I understand it, that’s what prompted the Reagan administration (no less) to push for the alternative minimum tax.
Ben, I know that is happening, and rightly so. However, a “reasonable salary” can be paid while still preserving some profit for reinvestment without the dreaded SE tax burden thereon.
LLCs are a relatively recent development in the law, and as I have picked up from ksgrm’s posts, their business was likely started before LLCs existed as a vehicle. However, the same SE issue applies there as well.
ksgrm mentions conversion to a C corporation, which used to make a lot of sense when the business became profitable enough to take advantage of the delta between the corporate rates and the individual rates at certain income levels, an advantage that, by and large, does not exist now. Of course, if the business becomes profitable enough to consider C Corp status, there are benefit plans that, if carefully adopted, can be “helpful”.
VT – good points. With all the changes you need a good accountant/lawyer team who keep up with things.
Anyone watching Beck’s show tonite should also read this page and supporting links,
‘CNN’s Glenn Beck to host hour-long global warming smear-fest’http://mediamatters.org/items/200705020001?f=h_top
Also this, and note the graph,’Arctic Ice Retreating More Quickly Than Computer Models Project’http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/seaice.shtml
Ah, Capn, there are some ways (not so many any more) that this can occur. For further information, contact the office for an appointment. :-)
Ben, 179 has been around a while, but until recently hasn’t generated large expense deductions for acquisitions of otherwise depreciable over time assets. Also, if one disposes of an asset where 179 expense was claimed at a “gain”, there is recapture income to be realized, as with any other asset upon which depreciation has been allowed or allowable (with the exception as I recall of real property which has been depreciated under the “straight line” method; haven’t looked at section 1250 lately). Of course, we’re discussing profitable businesses here, so I won’t go into the “modified” taxable income limitation on 179 deductions.
Interesting that “liberal left-wing Commie-News-Network” is broadcasting this.
Cosmos–
We’re like the Easter Islanders who cut down all their trees to construct bigger and bigger god statues.
Unfortunately they needed those trees to make fishing boats with.
When the Europeans found them, they were a tiny rag-tag group living on the brink of starvation.
No doubt, they had a Glen Beck saying that “just one more big god statue will solve all our problems.”
Ben,
I’ve often wondered why CNN hired that guy. Maybe it’s to mock him by letting him speak in public?
VT – very true. That is also why you talk with yout lawyer/accountant BEFORE doing things!
;^)
Hehehe, VT, yup, I thought the answer might be a little complicated.
Speaking of the office, time to get out of mine.
Going home . . . cya.
The economy peaked in 1999; by March of 2000, it was clear the cycle was headed downward.
… the economic downturn that started on Clinton’s watch?Posted by: Tom | May 02, 2007 at 05:19 PM
False, all 3 statements. This is a common smear of Clinton’s economic policies. It can be argued persuasively, however, that the recession of Mar-Nov 2001 was actually a result of GW Bush’s moral suasion re: tax cuts (ie, tax cuts or we will suffer a recession: a self-fulfilling prophecy).
The rate of growth peaked in 1999, but the economy as measured by GDP peaked in March 2001.
No economic downturn began on Clinton’s watch. The rate of growth, however, became negative on Clinton’s watch.
f’>0, f”>0: 1992-1999
f’>0, f”<0: 1999-2001
f’=f”=0: March 2001
where GDP is a function of time.
Thank you, Pedant, you are absolutely correct.
I’m just curious grm, which dems on this board are sitting here looking for govt. handouts?
Since that’s what we’re all about.
And which dem ever said tax the rich till we’re all equal?
YOUR circumstances are DIFFERENT. If you had so much money, why didn’t you pay for your college education on your own since you had the money to start your own business anyway? Why did you need to go to school in order to do it?
I’m not destitude anymore at least. Why anyone would WANT to live off the govt is beyond me.
I’m just frustrated right now with where I want to go and no way to get there.
Pedant,
Thanks for the selective, out-of-context quote of my 5:19 post. I appreciate that. My leading statement was:
“The economy peaked in 1999; by March of 2000, it was clear the cycle was headed downward.”
Pmom anyone can start a business with a small business loan. You put together a business plan and if the SBA thinks it is workable they will loan you enough to get started.
Why do people think I am rich? I hear that all the time and am not sure where that comes from. Is it because we have a family business. Many SB owners are scratching to make the next payroll. We came from a town of 17,000 and the main employer was BF Goodrich. When they closed their plant to move it to Mexico, the real estate values dropped 50% overnight. Five years after this happened the unemployment rate was still in the 25% range.
We owned two houses. One was a rental that we had bought as newly weds. The other we lived in. We sold both at a big loss and it took us three years to do that. We basically started over with what we had as newly weds except we had a family now ane even when your business becomes successful you still have times when the outgo outruns the income.
I’m not complaining mind you, just telling it like it is.
I just see in you someone who wants to improve her lot in life. I have been where you are. I was a clerk in a TG&Y before I moved ‘up’ to sewing pockets on fatigues.
I had a mentor who helped me greatly to pick up the skills necessary to reach my goals. I guess I was trying to do that with you.
I hear so frequently that the rich should pay more taxes. The line that has been drawn to divide the rich from the middle class is so high now that many families have been caught in the minimum tax trap. This is my point.
I will tell you again what I said last night and can’t stress enough. Go to a community college and talk to a counselor. They will do a financial aid package for you. You might qualify for grants which will pay for your classes. Take those classes which will give you saleable skills such as Excel, Word, Power Point, etc… There is a course taught at Butler which will teach you all of these in one semester. It will only take 3 hours a week for one semester to do this. Start small but start. You are only limited by the limits you place on yourself. Even if you know these get the Certificate which says you are proficient in them. There is a big demand in Wichita for good office helpers. Once you get in the door you can move up and the sky is the limit.
Ok, Tom, I’ll bite. In fact, I’ll apologize preemptively if I misunderstood what you wrote.
When you say “the economy peaked,” can you explain exactly what it was that peaked in 1999?
Tom,All I know is that the bottom fell out of my portfolio in March of 2001.
I’m still trying to figure out how someone, who doesn’t know the difference between “set” and “sit”, could receive a 4.0 GPA.
Pmom,Maybe you can get someone to pay for your education like the welfare-hater ksgrm did. Then you can complain endlessly about people who game the system and fail to see the utter hypocrisy of your little rants.
On second thought, Pmom, don’t ever do that. One around here is more than enough.
I type faster than I think. Does that ever happen to you?
Steven I am sorry life has been so cruel to you. With all of the set backs we have had life has been great. I guess that is why 99% of the time I can just tune you out. Hope tomorrow is better for you.
Perhaps all of those that benefited from government programs can take the Clarence Thomas approach – affirmative action was good for me but you can’t have it because now I want the law to be color neutral.
No hypocrisy there, is there?
RD, Maybe she really is an inanimate object?
Now that the civilized section of the bloggers has left I think I will call it a night. Have fun guys.
Just like the administration she supports she has an excuse for everything. I can show you that each time she should say “sit” she says “set.” But, hey, maybe each time she is typing faster than she thinks.
See ya!
RD,
If we are judging grammar and spelling here, I’m sure many of my posts and also Dr. Huie’s posts would fail your standards.
If you want to get into that, then many posts here fail on punctuation, spelling, grammar and structure.
However, I doubt you want to get into that because you meant it to be an ad hominem attack.
From a dare, I took the test administered to nurses for their basic knowledge of sciences. I believe it is called NLP or NELP, something to that effect.
Guess what? I made in the top 0.1 percent of all scores for that year. Does that mean I’m smarter? Does it mean I’m a better test taker? Does it mean my memory is better? Does it mean that the standard for the examination is lower than let’s say what PhD’s or Physicians are required to know?
Maybe a little of all of the above for the reasons, except for the smarter part. Intelligence can be measured on many levels.
There are people with autism that are incredible with mathematics and other autistic that have very high word IQ. My sister is considered a functional autistic, however the examination she was giving for words and terms exceeded 150 IQ points. However, she failed miserably in the mathematics examination.
So RD, try again and let’s be more careful on our analysis of a person’s intelligence.
Has anyone else noticed that if you don’t sign into TypePad but instead list your nic/name and email addy where requested it DOESN’T display like before? Good change!
RD – typos mean nothing. If they did I would be in a heap of hurt, even though I do have advanced degrees. On this I have to agree with ksgrm.
Pedant, Tom. I think Pedant technically mis-spoke with “The rate of growth, however, became negative on Clinton’s watch.” While the rate of growth slowed it remained positive. It is the second derivitive that turned negative. That would be the “rate of increase in the rate of growth.”
p-mom – your situation is what frustrates me so much with the state of post-secondary education; particularly the evisceration of Vo-Tech.
When I ran for legislature so many years ago the centerpiece of what I wanted to do was to bring together the 4 community colleges, Vo-Tech and WSU into a system. That way a person in need of ‘improvement’ would have one place to go and then follow within that system to what is needed.
When I was teaching at WSU I informally counseled a student who was searching for his path. As it turned out he needed to be at Vo-tech; after much discussion he left WSU and went there. There would be those at WSU who would have considered that a loss; not me. The STUDENT got what he needed; that is more important than headcount. Heck, with a skilled trade he is probably making more money than I am!
I have a selfish reason for this. When I retire I need that guy paying into the system. The more money HE makes the better for me.
And that is also why this liberal calls education spending an investment.
Maybe! I used to get harassing e-mails from some people on this blog.
I just turn their e-mail address into spam and that’s where it goes. I’m not for sure if they still harass me or not, because I never check the Spam folder.
Hi Rep – we were typing at the same time! ;^) And, at least in part, sayingthe same thing.
It used to list our email addys when you hovered over the nic/name, but now doesn’t. I like that change!
I’m not sure the email address you enter where requested needs to be an active one, but even if it doesn’t I still think this is a BIG improvement.
Ben! Did you read the article in the Eagle about how top heavy WATC is. Something like 80+ Administrators and support personnel vs 40 instructors.
http://www.kansas.com/101/story/54466.html
ksgrm, I’ve already explained soooo many times why I cannot go back to school right now. And I don’t care to get attacked on it once again.
Yes I did. It is part of the fallout from the evisceration. They wiped out staff and programs but kept administrators.
A comment in defense of ’support personeel’ – in at least some cases they are needed counselors, testing staff, placement etc. With the varied mission and diverse clientelle they may be needed.
WATC lost some of their best programs when they were severed from the School District.
I’m not for sure of the circumstances that lead up to that. But it was a bad deal for sure.
I went through WATC for Aircraft Instruments back when they actually had an Aviation program.
I think Pedant technically mis-spoke with “The rate of growth, however, became negative on Clinton’s watch.” While the rate of growth slowed it remained positive. It is the second derivitive that turned negative. That would be the “rate of increase in the rate of growth.”Posted by: Ben | May 02, 2007 at 08:57 PM
You’re right, I stand corrected. The economy as measured by GDP continued to grow from 1999-Mar 2001, but at a decreasing rate. As measured by annualized GDP, March 2001 was smaller than annualized GDP in February 2001. That’s the technical definition of an economic recession.
This followed 4 consecutive months where GW Bush used the bully pulpit to threaten Congress: cut taxes or we will endure a recession. At the time, many people thought he was purposely talking us into recession in order to time the business cycle. He wanted to slow the economy in order to allow the economic infrastructure built up during the dot com bubble to carry GDP growth through November 2004.
No way he wanted to face what 43 faced: a downturn in the business cycle just before election (1992).
I don’t think Presidents have much of anything to do with the economy. Bush, Clinton or any of them.
Joe – ABSOLUTELY!
I attended one of the hearings when they did that. I was especially struck by a few students who pumped up the courage to speak trying to defend the programs. Now for guys like us it is easy to speak in public but no for those guys. “Typical” blue-collar types; hard-working people who deserve a chance to better themselves. THAT is what pissed me off about what was done to vo-tech.
No way he wanted to face what 43 faced: a downturn in the business cycle just before election (1992).Posted by: Pedant | May 02, 2007 at 09:13 PM
Not my night.
43, W, didn’t want to fight a recession during his reelection campaign in 2004, as his father, 41, did.
Any Dems or Libs on this blog a subscriber to “The Nation” magazine?
If not, that’s ok! I might go out and by the magazine to read the article “Is Global Warming a Sin?” by Alexander Cockburn.
Just want to read the entire article, but you have to be a subscriber to read it all online.
http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20070514&s=cockburn
“There is still zero empirical evidence that anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide is making any measurable contribution to the world’s present warming trend.”
I wonder where Cockburn got HIS science degrees? His statement is BUNK.
I don’t think Presidents have much of anything to do with the economy. Bush, Clinton or any of them.Posted by: Joe Williams | May 02, 2007 at 09:17 PM
Counterexamples:
-FDR pushed hard and got New Deal legislation through the 73rd-75th US Congresses.
-Bretton Woods and the Nixon Shock of price controls.
-After learning that projected budget deficits were far higher than estimated, Clinton listened to counsel from the bond market and worked hard to balance the budget. Interest rates plummeted and probably led to the huge housing boom that ended only recently.
While it’s true that Presidents can’t control monetary policy, and that Congress ultimately controls appropriations, I don’t think there’s much doubt that the POTUS can influence fiscal policy and the business cycle.
That is why I want to read the entire article.
I got some more, but not the entire article.
“Now imagine two lines on a piece of graph paper. The first rises to a crest, then slopes sharply down, levels off and rises slowly once more. The other has no undulations. It rises in a smooth, slow arc. The first wavy line is the worldwide CO2 tonnage produced by humans burning coal, oil and natural gas. It starts in 1928, at 1.1 gigatons (i.e., 1.1 billion metric tons), and peaks in 1929 at 1.17 gigatons. The world, led by its mightiest power, plummets into the Great Depression and by 1932, human CO2 production has fallen to 0.88 gigatons a year, a 30 percent drop. Then, in 1933, the line climbs slowly again, up to 0.9 gigatons. And the other line, the one ascending so evenly? That’s the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, parts per million (ppm) by volume, moving in 1928 from just under 306, hitting 306 in 1929, 307 in 1932 and on up. Boom and bust, the line heads up steadily. These days it’s at 380. The two lines on that graph proclaim that a whopping 30 percent cut in manmade CO2 emissions didn’t even cause a 1 ppm drop in the atmosphere’s CO2. It is thus impossible to assert that the increase in atmospheric CO2 stems from people burning fossil fuels.”I met Martin Hertzberg, Ph.D., the man who drew that graph and those conclusions, on a Nation cruise back in 2001, and he remarked that while he shared many of The Nation’s editorial positions, he approved of my reservations on the question of human contributions to global warming as outlined in columns I wrote around that time. Hertzberg was a meteorologist for three years in the U.S. Navy, an occupation that gave him a lifelong mistrust of climate modeling. Trained in chemistry and physics, a combustion research scientist for most of his career, he’s retired now in Copper Mountain, Colo., but still consults from time to time. Not so long ago, Hertzberg sent me some of his recent papers on the global warming hypothesis, a thesis now accepted by many progressives as infallible as Papal dogma on matters of faith. Among them was the graph described above, so devastating to the hypothesis. As Hertzberg readily acknowledges, the CO2 content of the atmosphere has increased about 21 percent in the past century. The world has also been getting just a little warmer.
“The not very reliable data on the world’s average temperature … show about a 0.5 degree Celsius increase between 1880 and 1980, and still rising. But is CO2, at 380 ppm in the atmosphere, playing a significant role in retaining the 94 percent of solar radiation that the atmosphere absorbs, as against water vapor, also a powerful heat absorber, whose content in a humid tropical atmosphere can be as high as 20,000 ppm? As Hertzberg says, water in the form of oceans, snow, ice cover, clouds and vapor ‘is overwhelming in the radiative and energy balance between the earth and the sun. … Carbon dioxide and the greenhouse gases…carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases are, by comparison, the equivalent of a few farts in a hurricane.’ And water is exactly that component of the earth’s heat balance that the global warming computer models fail to account for.”
“We’re warmer now because today’s world is in the thaw that follows the recent ice age. Ice ages correlate with changes in the solar heat we receive, all due to predictable changes in the earth’s elliptic orbit around the sun and in the earth’s tilt. As Hertzberg explains, the clinical heat effect of all of these variables was worked out in great detail between 1915 and 1940 by Milutin Milankovitch, a giant of Twentieth Century astrophysics,” The human carbon footprint is of zero consequence amid these huge forces and volumes, not to mention the role of the giant reactor beneath our feet: the earth’s increasingly hot molten core.”
“Congress ultimately controls appropriations”
Add to that an incredibly compliant Congress and the influence is much greater.
Clinton had fostered very conservative FISCAL policies which allowed the Fed to be accomodating. Bush reversed that; fostering extremely loose fiscal policies (huge deficits) which led the Fed to tighten monetary policy.
There is a great discussion in my Econ text about how tight fiscal coupled with loose monetary can lead to sustained growth without over-heating. Acording to Mankew (the author of the text) the opposite combination (loose fiscal) leads to boom-bust and massive debt.
Pendant! One of the best documentaries I have seen on the subject of Economics is called: “Commanding Heights”.
It’s a 6 hour documentary done by PBS and taken from a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the subject and same title.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/
If you got Netflix, check it out. It’s done extremely well.
“whose content in a humid tropical atmosphere can be as high as 20,000 ppm?” HUH? Sure, in the direct exhalation of an animal perhaps.
“The human carbon footprint is of zero consequence amid these huge forces and volumes, not to mention the role of the giant reactor beneath our feet: the earth’s increasingly hot molten core” TOTALLY FALSE.
Milankoitch – yes, he was a giant. It was in finally sorting out HOW his cycles worked that we developed our understanding of feedback loops etc. These are the foundation of today’s modeling.
“We’re warmer now because today’s world is in the thaw that follows the recent ice age” We have gone from an interglacial to a “super-interglacial” far OUTSIDE the Milankovitch cycle range.
An interesting aside about Milankovitch. He did a lot of his work while a POW in Germany in WW 1. (He was Serbian I think). And obviously, he did it WITHOUT computers.
Joe! Did you finally admit that the vast majority of trans fat comes from a chemical lab? Did you ever read my links? Figure out how we get Kosher trans fat?
By the way, the core is slowly cooling. (but VERY slowly)
No I didn’t Ben! I haven’t been back to that thread.
Of course most of all trans fats are chemically derived. Since when did I ever deny that or speak against that?
You ask if their was any natural food source that had trans fat and I answered you. Your question and my answer has nothing to do with were most trans fats that human consume come from.
My point on the trans fat debate was that the use of medical doctors advice on limiting or try to eliminate trans fats from ones diet has crossed over into the political realm where they now legislate it.
They are doing it to CO2 now. And they use science and scientist to back it up.
You know! The same correlation of what Nazi Germany did when they paraded science and scientist for their propaganda to have the public accept that eugenics was the correct form of action to take.
Can you provide proof that the earth’s core is cooling?
Ah yes, the NAZI comparison. That is another of the ’skeptics’ approaches – label serious scientists as being NAZIs.
No Joe! No comparison.
Now my other question: should a manufacturer be allowed to adulterate food with melamine and not tell consumers? After all, if we don’t let them do that we are being like Nazi germany – according to you.
Joe! Yes, I can lend you the elementary geology textbooks. It has to do with the rate of radioactive decay in the core; as the redioisotopes deplete the rate of energy release decreases.
I should note that this is a multi-BILLION year process.
Try taking some geology instead of just communications.
And, by he way, the sun HAS gotten warmer – just VERY SLOWLY. About 20-40% over about 5-6 billion years. That would be about 0.005% over a million years. definitely NOT enough to explain what we are seeing today; however it DOES halp understand climate several hundred million years ago.
Now, since I am now a Nazi, it’s time to turn in for the night. Need to adulterate some food tomorrow and pass it on to unsuspecting consumers. Gotta keep freedom of choice ya know!
Pedant,
Go to http://consumerresearchcenter.org/pdf_free/economics/bci/lei1006.pdf and scroll all the way to the last page. The charts show that leading and lagging economic indicators all peaked in late 99, early 2000. Another note: The 2001 recession started in March – 7 weeks after Bush was inaugurated. Hardly time there to crash an economy, even for someone as feckless as he.
“Steven I am sorry life has been so cruel to you. With all of the set backs we have had life has been great. I guess that is why 99% of the time I can just tune you out. Hope tomorrow is better for you.”
I wish the same for you, germ. Betting that won’t be the case, however. Being such a pathetic hypcrite must be incredibly hard work. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving person than you – I am sure.
Stop this B.S. that you have any idea what my life is like. Isn’t just plain lying enough for you? You have to make up shit about me, too?
Shaking my head… The Republican mind at work, not such a pretty sight.
“I will admit I had help in doing this. It happened to be the same year Boeing laid off a large number of people and because the CEO couldn’t tell the real reason he terminated me, he said he had elimenated [sic] my position, I qualified as a displaced person. The state helped me and hundreds of others get our degrees. That is why I say help is ok but if they had just paid me to set at home, I would have learned nothing, and never been able to pull myself. Gov. does play a part in helping others help themselves. It took three semesters to achieve something I had not had the time or money for in the past.”
Just remember people, welfare is A-OKAY if germ gets it; other people, not so much.
Joe Williams,
So you believe that Cockburn is correct, and the 600+ plus scientists who wrote the recent WG1 report are wrong?
Then I suggest you download, and print the 120+ megabytes of PDF’s at http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report.html
Then put the column, “Is Global Warming a Sin?” by Cockburn, on top of that HUGE, very detailed scientific report.
And write a cover letter, saying that YOU believe that Cockburn is correct, and that all of those peer-reviewed scientists are wrong.
Then give copies to your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc..
You DO believe in personal responsibility, don’t you?
Okay. Then let Earth’s future generations determine if YOUR opinion is correct.
No one have here has every said Global Warming isn’t occurring. They just disagree on how it is occurring.
If the UN and its IPCC wants to do it their way that’s fine, but leave me out. I trust the United States more to do the right thing.
The UN doesn’t have the best track record after all. They are known to pull out and leave people high and dry in the heat of battle.
Wait, that sounds familiar…
UN – Democrats… hmmm :)
Well,. . .
First of all, I don’t really care if it is warming or not. But, I would like the GW enthusiasts here truthfully tell me how much they think it is.
It’s my belief that we’ve warmed a degree or less in the last century. Also, it’s my belief that most of that warming occurred in the first half of the century.
And, in the last 20 years since we’ve been using satellite temperature measuring instrumentation I believe that the temperature has been constant or even decreased a little.
So,. . . I guess that I’m saying global warming isn’t occurring. At least not in any signifigant or provable way.
Sorry Republican.
Hank
Hank–
You better tell that to your favorite president.
He mentioned “global climate change” in his last state of the union address.
Republican’s sister has autism. His cousin has Down’s.
Shoot. If you have any medical condition, just start talking about it and Republican will one-up you with a personal anecdote of sick family member.
And check this bullsh*t: “I believe it is called NLP or NELP, something to that effect.”
He can remember what he scored, but he can’t remember the NAME OF THE TEST.
Funny, you’d think if anything stuck in your mind, it would be the name of the test.
But wait, there’s more:
“Guess what? I made in the top 0.1 percent of all scores for that year.”
WOW! That is so similar to “Right Angle” saying that his son scored 176 on the Standford-Binet IQ test, the highest in Wichita that year.
The coincidences and improbabilities just never stop from Republican, do they?
My recollection on why the Vo-Tech was separated from the district is that there was legislative action resulting in the passage of a bill, signed into law, that placed vocational-technical education under the supervision of the State Board of Regents. Thus, the district was forced to divest the Vo-Tech. If I have time, I’ll try to find the statute/link thereto.
VT – I think you are correct. The unconscionablr part is that they never followed through with any sort of support.
Since Sedgwick County does not have a Community College there is especially no excuse in the evisceration of Vo-tech.
Dear Capt.
My favorite president is dead.
Hank
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