PolifrogBlog

There is no free in liberty.


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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Our Atheocratic State Demands Environmental Contrition ...

polifrog



The religion of science, atheism, has found a home in western governments. And just as the unknown gives rise to superstition, the immeasurably of the future gives rise to science's equivalent ... conjecture; the best example of which is AGW. The result is environmental contrition.
The fact is that scientists and politicians have been too quick to assume causation when it comes to climate change. Like ancient tribes of people who made sacrifices to the gods of nature, modern societies are too easily convinced that they are the ones responsible for weather changes and that they can somehow atone for their environmental sins through changes in behavior. And this happens to be very convenient for politicians and profiteers who are intent on regulating global energy use for their own power and financial gain.

...

All pain for no measurable gain.




Where once Medieval Catholicism co-opted government and forced tithes, modern atheism has co-opted government and is forcing environmental contrition.

Although America is not a Theocracy, it's well on its way to becoming an Atheocratic state.



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Geithner Gives Up on Obama?

polifrog


I suppose there is only so much failure one man can endure...

We can help propel the economy through a downturn like Regan and the mid 1920's crash
http://www.economicnoise.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/employmentrecoveries-graph-dec.jpg

or we can stop the cycle through Keynesian solutions,

http://boombustblog.com/media/wpmu/uploads/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/03/image0015.png

So long and no fish for you ... we hope.





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Ace on the Recent Sixth Circuit ObamaCare Ruling ...

polifrog



Ace

But this new claim is that really there is only one clause that matters in the Constitution, and that is the Commerce Clause, and this one brief clause renders all 4400 other words in the Constitution null and void, because the Commerce Clause says, it is contended, that the federal government may do anything so long as, in the aggregate, it "affects interstate commerce," which, as is often pointed out, applies to everything.




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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Monday, June 27, 2011

The New Leftist Racism...

polifrog



H/T Bubba.


Dr. Sanity:
Real racism is indeed truly disgusting; and nowhere is it more real and objectively manifest than in the left's politically correct posturing and in the perpetual victimhood scams perpetrated by their compassionate policies--you know, the ones that infantalize other races and ethnicities and keep them "in their place" so that the truly superior denizens of the political left can manage their lives.

Dr. Sanity referenced this post in the NRO...
If you want to be disgusted, take a look at the front-page story in today’s New York Times, “On College Forms, a Question of Race, or Races, Can Perplex.” It’s about how selective colleges and universities are wrestling with the problem of how to deal with applicants who check more than one box for race and ethnicity: which mixes are to be most favored, whether it’s better to be mixed or pure, what do to about students who refuse to check any box, and how to tell if a student is really sincere in his or her self-identification or is just "gamming" the system. Now, maybe it’s just me, but I think a lot of people will find it really sickening to read about how these politically correct educrats sit around and give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down to an 18-year-old based on his racial and ethnic mix. As for “gaming” the system, were we supposed to lament the fact that a black applicant 100 years ago might try to pass for white? I think our condemnation then and now should be more concentrated on the racially discriminatory system itself rather than on those who tried or try to game it.

There is another strain of leftist racism - the presumption of racism without proof, an example which would be the accusations of racism hurled toward the Tea Party.

The war on traditional racism has nearly been won and it seems evident that as the old racism fades into history, the proof of its existence fades with it. What is slower to fade, though, is the perception of political leverage gained from the charge of racism. What remains is the current sea of baseless charges of racism for political advantage. Furthermore, without proof that there is racism involved then merely labeling something as racist is indicative of viewing events through a racial prism.

When an individual charges racism where there is none, the charge of racism becomes an act of racism itself.




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Sunday, June 26, 2011

I Am Not A Witch ... I Am Not A Flake ... Palinization

polifrog





The urgency to bring down Palin before the 2008 election after her nomination helped fuel the insanity that swept the press during that period. That degree of urgency does not currently exist in reference to Bachmann.

That is not to say, however, that Chris Wallace did not lay the ground work for a repeat of what happened to Palin.

Poor journalism.





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Saturday, June 25, 2011

The Great Econ Hoodwink...

polifrog



Economics is a humanities masquerading as a science. Keynesians got it fundamentally wrong.

...all of the equations in neoclassical economics are rubbish. The differential equations describe nothing. Economics is not about mathematics, it is about the human being.



Yep...



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Frackers Fracking Windmills ...

polifrog



It is easy to discount the problem solving capabilities of innovation as it resides in a human blind spot, the future, and for that reason economists and scientists alike, unable to measure it, discount it.

Just as the unknown gives rise to superstition, the immeasurably of the future gives rise to science's equivalent ... conjecture.

Of course, the future always arrives with technology in hand and the carcasses of conjecture can be found from Malthusian Doctrine to Global Warming to Peak Oil.

Enter the combination of horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing.

It makes one wonder how long the antifrackers will play the part of Don Quixote and how much damage they will do tilting at our windmills.

WSJ...

The U.S. is in the midst of an energy revolution, and we don't mean solar panels or wind turbines. A new gusher of natural gas from shale has the potential to transform U.S. energy production—that is, unless politicians, greens and the industry mess it up.

...

The resulting boom is transforming America's energy landscape. As recently as 2000, shale gas was 1% of America's gas supplies; today it is 25%. Prior to the shale breakthrough, U.S. natural gas reserves were in decline, prices exceeded $15 per million British thermal units, and investors were building ports to import liquid natural gas. Today, proven reserves are the highest since 1971, prices have fallen close to $4 and ports are being retrofitted for LNG exports.

Of concern to our Greensboro NC. artists, writers and others wowed by "burning water"...

Fracking contaminates drinking water. One claim is that fracking creates cracks in rock formations that allow chemicals to leach into sources of fresh water. The problem with this argument is that the average shale formation is thousands of feet underground, while the average drinking well or aquifer is a few hundred feet deep. Separating the two is solid rock. This geological reality explains why EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, a determined enemy of fossil fuels, recently told Congress that there have been no "proven cases where the fracking process itself has affected water."

A second charge, based on a Duke University study, claims that fracking has polluted drinking water with methane gas. Methane is naturally occurring and isn't by itself harmful in drinking water, though it can explode at high concentrations. Duke authors Rob Jackson and Avner Vengosh have written that their research shows "the average methane concentration to be 17 times higher in water wells located within a kilometer of active drilling sites."

They failed to note that researchers sampled a mere 68 wells across Pennsylvania and New York—where more than 20,000 water wells are drilled annually. They had no baseline data and thus no way of knowing if methane concentrations were high prior to drilling. They also acknowledged that methane was detected in 85% of the wells they tested, regardless of drilling operations, and that they'd found no trace of fracking fluids in any wells.

There is much more at the link.



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Friday, June 24, 2011

Bureaucracy Ignoring the Correct Choice...

polifrog



And by ignore, I mean petulant silence on Greece bailout two:



"You cannot fuse together different economies, with different rates of growth, with different patterns of trade across the world. We learned our lesson, we didn't join the EURO, thank God. You, I'm afraid, are currently trapped inside an economic prison."



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Thursday, June 23, 2011

More Thad McCotter...

polifrog



I am not sure how the deadpan thing would go over nationally but I like it.






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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Extending Recessions via Keynesian Solutions...

polifrog



It should be noted that the longest recessions and depressions as exemplified by the experiences of both Japan 90's and 2000's and the US during the Great Depression and our current recession have coincided with the greatest use of Keynesian solutions.




http://boombustblog.com/media/wpmu/uploads/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/03/image0015.png





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Tea Party Salvation...

polifrog



Gota give him points on the Foundation reference alone.



Then, of course, he gets points for being correct.





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Monday, June 20, 2011

Verification, Statistical Analysis, Meteorology, Economics and AGW...

polifrog


The image “http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/The-Use-and-Abuse-of-Statistics-2.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.We often hear tongue in cheek comparisons made between meteorology and economics. There is merit the comparison and the similarities between the two fields of study help illuminate a difference that points to the utility of statistics as a tool. Weather forecasters use statistics regularly, but do so honestly while AGW and economists do not. That honesty is born of real world verification of statistical analysis and dishonesty born of being freed of the same.

Verification is an integral part of the scientific process, but neither AGW or economics seem to be held accountable for their statistically based projections and are hence free to engage in propaganda via dark side of statistical analysis and enjoy its electrolysis like ability to impart the patina of credible scientific analysis on what would otherwise be immediately recognized as fraud.

Meteorology, however, uses statistics differently. Honestly, via verification.

Economists, like proponents of AGW use statistics dishonestly. Each is freed from verification of statistical analysis by the nature of their field of study; verifications of AGW forecasts are hidden in the distant future while verifications of economic forecasts and observations are hidden in the very complexity of economics and the endless perspectives one can derive from that complexity.

From this ability to avoid verification arises the dishonest use of statistics in defense of dearly held beliefs. This in combination with fields of study being predominantly populated by like minded individuals results in the loss of clout of entire fields of study.

Once again bias in academia damages academia itself, in this case by removing the layer of protection afforded by diversity of thought and the verification that arises against abuse of statistical analysis.




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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Perdue Veto of NC Budget Overridden...

polifrog


Via WBT:

The North Carolina House has voted to cancel out Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue's veto of the two-year state budget.

The vote Wednesday just after midnight was 73-46. That's just enough to meet the three-fifths majority required to override a veto.


The NC Senate does not need democrat help to override a veto.

No link yet.


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Monday, June 13, 2011

Questioning the Data...

polifrog



I am frequently attacked by academics for denying the data ...
3. "Culled data... Keynesian catnip": Right. When the data contradict your deeply held beliefs, the data must be wrong.
The charge comes in different forms and it is partially correct. In fact, I question "the data" ( is it complete? is it manipulated? what agenda may be driving the data?) as it is always presented through the massaging magic of statistics.

After the global warming scandal it is amazing we let academics anywhere near such an easily abused tool as statistics.









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2 of 4 Dems Needed to Override Perdue Veto Will Vote to Override...

polifrog



Fayetteville Observer:

Two Cape Fear region lawmakers who are key figures in the state budget battle say they will vote to override Gov. Bev Perdue's budget veto.

Rep. William Brisson and Rep. Dewey Hill are among the five Democrats in the House who voted for the budget. Four are needed to override the veto.


I doubt Perdue would have vetoed the budget without assurances that she had the votes to block an override of her veto but there is the chance that she sees no political harm in having her veto overridden if she makes gains in solidifying her base.

William D. Brisson - 919-733-5772 - william.brisson@ncleg.net
Dewey L. Hill - 919-733-5830 - dewey.hill@ncleg.net

Two Dems still needed....

James W. Crawford - 919-733-5824 - jim.crawford@ncleg.net
Bill Owens - 919-733-0010 - bill.owens@ncleg.net
Timothy L. Spear - 919-715-3029 - tim.spear@ncleg.net



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Smile File Econ. Disappointments...

polifrog




http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pZkYvkH8LPM/TfN46CB4vlI/AAAAAAAAOPw/s3bfz-iikis/s1600/15.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qHOHrApNP10/TfN4u113UII/AAAAAAAAOOo/30udmGx6TpU/s1600/6.jpg





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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Judge Biery's Nullified Arrogance...

polifrog



Early this month Judge Fred Biery found that certain words cause irreparable damage; It was unclear to what...

Judge Biery’s ruling banned students and other speakers from using religious language in their speeches. Among the banned words or phrases are: “join in prayer,” “bow their heads,” “amen,” and “prayer.”

He also ordered the school district to remove the terms “invocation” and “benediction” from the graduation program.

“These terms shall be replaced with ‘opening remarks’ and ‘closing remarks,’” the judge’s order stated. His ruling also prohibits anyone from saying, “in [a deity’s name] we pray.”


Words, mind you, words. He was nullified by the 5th Circuit this past Friday. Expression won,

And Angela Hildenbrand, valedictorian of Medina Valley High School, near San Antonio publicly expressed her thanks in the form of prayer during the school's Saturday graduation ceremony.


Hildenbrand's prayer:

Lord, I thank you so much for the blessing of this day. And I just thank you for the amazing group of people that you surrounded me with.

God, I thank you for the support of our whole entire community through this case hearing; and also for Erin (Leu)and all the people at the Liberty Institute; and my parents, who’ve helped get me through the last couple of days.

Lord, I just thank you so much for your presence in our lives through these 18 years. And I just praise you for your incredible faithfulness through all adversity and all joy.

God, I thank you for the men and women who have given their lives helping to give us, and protect, the freedoms that we have today. And I ask that you please keep your hand of guidance on all of them — past, present and future military.

God, I thank you just so much for the freedom to be here today. And most of all, I thank you for loving us first.

God, I ask that you please keep each of us safe and well, as we all go our separate ways. And I can’t wait to see where you’ll be leading each of us. I ask that you’ll ask us all to remember where we come from, and to know where we stand.

God, I thank you for the gift of your Son and for the forgiveness that surpasses all understanding. And most of all, I thank you for your great love for us, and for our great nation, where we are free.

And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.



As it should be.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Generational Warfare Via the Generation of Peace...

polifrog



Bruce Krasting touches on a theme I revisit after his comments. Namely the coming generational war if Boomers attempt to continue generational trend of living off the plates others if they attempt to pass the cost of SS to susequent generations...

Bottom line; either a significant portion of seniors are going to be eating cat food, or the next few generations are going to be paying (unfairly) through the nose.

...

To me, it is absolutely insane to think that the Baby Boomers (I’m one) can put the burden of SS on younger workers. This simply will not work. The result of a policy approach that sticks everyone under 50 with the cost of the Boomers is going to result in deep social divides. We have enough problems in our society today. We don’t need/want Age Warfare to be added to the list. But if the plan to “fix” SS is one that sticks the bill onto young people we WILL have age warfare, it’s inevitable. The social consequences would be greater than the economic costs. Why does no one see this?

...

The solution(s) have to be born (largely) by the Baby Boomers themselves. Post the Boomers, SS can be a PayGo concept. But the transition is not PayGo. It is a huge inter-generational transfer of wealth. This means that well off Boomers (there are many, including myself) are going to have to dig into their pockets to support those in their age group who did not fair so well. That, in my opinion, is the only viable solution. That would be more representative of the American way. Fairness.

As I have gently mentioned previously:

The majority of the boomer generation could never stop thinking of themselves. First rejecting the thrift, success and sacrifice of the greatest generation then engorging themselves on a combination of free love, consumerism, and me-ism. Nothing satiated the boomer generation; not their incessant self aggrandizing through the media, not new age nonsense. They were lost in an endless maze of perpetual desire and unable to find contentment. Now with the bill for all their excess firmly on the table, they pass it on to subsequent generations. Once a hippie, now the man -- perpetually living off the plate of another.

Never before has our country seen such a worthless, selfish, shiftless, horrible, or gluttonous group of malcontents so intent on shifting their individual responsibility to society as the generation that followed the Greatest Generation.

They truly are --- The Worst Generation.





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Friday, June 3, 2011

Frackers Tilting at Windmills...

polifrog



It is easy to discount innovation as it resides in a human blind spot, the future, and for that reason economists and scientists alike, unable to measure it, discount it.

Just as the unknown gives rise to superstition, the immeasurably of the future gives rise to science's equivalent ... conjecture.

Of course, the future always arrives with technology in hand and the carcasses of conjecture can be found from Malthusian Doctrine to Global Warming to Peak Oil.

Salon:

Are we living at the beginning of the Age of Fossil Fuels, not its final decades? The very thought goes against everything that politicians and the educated public have been taught to believe in the past generation. According to the conventional wisdom, the U.S. and other industrial nations must undertake a rapid and expensive transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy for three reasons: The imminent depletion of fossil fuels, national security and the danger of global warming.

What if the conventional wisdom about the energy future of America and the world has been completely wrong? …

If gas hydrates as well as shale gas, tight oil, oil sands and other unconventional sources can be tapped at reasonable cost, then the global energy picture looks radically different than it did only a few years ago. Suddenly it appears that there may be enough accessible hydrocarbons to power industrial civilization for centuries, if not millennia, to come.

So much for the specter of depletion, as a reason to adopt renewable energy technologies like solar power and wind power. Whatever may be the case with Peak Oil in particular, the date of Peak Fossil Fuels has been pushed indefinitely into the future. What about national security as a reason to switch to renewable energy?

The U.S., Canada and Mexico, it turns out, are sitting on oceans of recoverable natural gas. Shale gas is combined with recoverable oil in the Bakken “play” along the U.S.-Canadian border and the Eagle Ford play in Texas. The shale gas reserves of China turn out to be enormous, too. Other countries with now-accessible natural gas reserves, according to the U.S. government, include Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, France, Poland and India.


It makes one wonder how long the antifrackers will play the part of Don Quixote and how much damage they will do tilting at our windmills.



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Breaking A Juggernaut Through Debt...

polifrog




Was the American dream of home ownership just that?

The transformation of Americans from a nation of savers and entrepreneurs in the era of the family farm to a nation of consumers in the last eighty years was a fateful one. Our ancestors thought that debt was shameful and a burden; we’ve come to think of cheap debt as part of our birthright. The American Dream as we’ve known it entailed a lifestyle based on permanent debt. The growth of the American economy depended on growing debt at every level from federal Keynesian stimulus to credit card and mortgage debt.

Savings and therefore growth can only be gained from the present, current growth is illusory when "savings" is instead pulled from the future in the form of debt.




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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Word Choice...

polifrog



You may have seen this, but it is worth the 2 minutes:






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