Garden State Patriot

Quite honestly, it is growing tiresome having to report on another fake Republican who is selling us out. In this case, it is the RINO senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Graham once appeared to be a strong conservative voice on the Hill during his tenure in the House. Those days seem like long ago.

Ever since joining that elite club known as the U.S. Senate, Graham has been anything but a conservative. He was a member of the infamous Gang of 14 and a supporter of blanket amnesty for illegals (which earned him the moniker ‘Lindsey Graham-nesty’). Now, the faux Republican is teaming up with none other than John ‘F’n’ Kerry on C(r)ap & Trade. Here is an excerpt from their dual-penned article which appeared in the NY Times (h/t Michelle Malkin).

CONVENTIONAL wisdom suggests that the prospect of Congress passing a comprehensive climate change bill soon is rapidly approaching zero. The divisions in our country on how to deal with climate change are deep. Many Democrats insist on tough new standards for curtailing the carbon emissions that cause global warming. Many Republicans remain concerned about the cost to Americans relative to the environmental benefit and are adamant about breaking our addiction to foreign sources of oil.

However, we refuse to accept the argument that the United States cannot lead the world in addressing global climate change. We are also convinced that we have found both a framework for climate legislation to pass Congress and the blueprint for a clean-energy future that will revitalize our economy, protect current jobs and create new ones, safeguard our national security and reduce pollution.

Our partnership represents a fresh attempt to find consensus that adheres to our core principles and leads to both a climate change solution and energy independence. It begins now, not months from now — with a road to 60 votes in the Senate.

It’s true that we come from different parts of the country and represent different constituencies and that we supported different presidential candidates in 2008. We even have different accents. But we speak with one voice in saying that the best way to make America stronger is to work together to address an urgent crisis facing the world.

Sickening.  

One wonders if the Senator is ignorant or simply out of touch with reality. Are we to believe he does not know about scientists who refute global warming? Is he unaware that global temperatures peaked over a decade ago? Are we to believe that a Republican Senator does not see reports from esteemed think tanks like the Heritage Foundation which consistently debunk global warming myths and also detail quite clearly how Cap & Trade will kill jobs and significantly inflate our energy bills, while having virtually no impact on global temperatures?

Senator Graham, I’m sad to say, has become a typical me-first politician. His aim is not to support conservatism, let alone his party, but only to further his own political career and personal gain. His betrayal on this issue is no less severe than Arlen Specter’s on the Porkulus Bill. Like Specter, Graham needs to be targeted and primaried out. The good people of South Carolina certainly deserve a far better conservative voice than this – and so do the rest of us.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

 Last week, at the Defending The American Dream Summit, we were treated to a sneak preview of the anti-global warming documentary, ‘Not Evil Just Wrong.’ The film, directed by two vocal global warming critics, Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer, takes direct aim at Al Gore and debunks many of the myths put forth by the GW alarmists. Here is a synposis of the film from the web site.

Global warming alarmists want Americans to believe that humans are killing the planet. But Not Evil Just Wrong, a new documentary by Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, proves that the only threats to America (and the rest of the world) are the flawed science and sky-is-falling rhetoric of Al Gore and his allies in environmental extremism.

The film drives home the realities of that extremism. “Turn off your lights. Turn off your heat when you get cold. Turn off your air when you get hot,” one man on the street says. “And then think about that.”

Not Evil Just Wrong warns Americans that their jobs, modest lifestyles and dreams for their children are at stake. Industries that rely on fossil fuels will be crippled if the government imposes job-killing regulations on an economy already mired in recession. Small towns in the heartland, like Vevay, Ind., will become bastions of unemployment and poverty. Breadwinners like Tim McElhany in Vevay will lose their jobs — and will have to start borrowing money again just to buy bread for their families.

The damage that would be wrought is unjustified by the science. Not Evil Just Wrong exposes the deceptions that experts, politicians, educators and the media have been force-feeding the public for years. Man-made pollution is not melting the polar icecaps. The ocean will not rise 20 feet in a flash. And the only polar bears dying because of man are the ones who try to eat men.

McAleer and McElhinney debunk what for a time was the environmental movement’s most powerful weapon of disinformation, the infamous “hockey stick” graph that attributed a supposedly unique burst of warming in the 20th century to humans. They also shatter the myth that the hottest years in the United States were 1998 and 2006. The hottest year was 1934, and the hottest decade was the 1930s — when there were half as many people and no SUVs or jumbo jets.

But environmentalists like actor Ed Begley Jr. and Leo Murray of Plane Stupid, who appear in the film, won’t tell you that. Instead, Begley sheds phony tears for ex-cons who are offered “green” jobs, and Murray decries air travel as the modern world’s worst indulgence. Their hysterical claims have fooled many people into believing that carbon dioxide, an element that is essential to life, is poison.

Organizations like Greenpeace, whose excesses are roundly condemned in Not Evil Just Wrong by founding member Patrick Moore, persistently push the same kind of propaganda that prompted world leaders to ban DDT. They believed environmentalist Rachel Carson’s doomsday scenarios about the mosquito-killing chemical, and millions of children in the Third World may have been infected by malaria and died as a result.

The documentary notes that the World Health Organization lifted its ban on DDT in 2006, but Al Gore and his allies will not accept that verdict any more than they will accept the science that discounts theories about global warming. They are determined to blame humans for everything.

And here is the trailer for the film.

Al Gore, of course, rarely if ever takes questions when it comes to global warming. But Mr. McAleer had a chance to do just that the other day in Wisconsin, challenging him to respond to a report identifying 9 factual errors in his film ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’ To no surprise, Gore dodged the question and McAleer had his microphone cut off.

Suffice it to say, this film could not come at a more appropriate time. The official premiere will be next Sunday, October 18th. If you wish to attend a screening, you can check the website for specific information.

Our friend Jim Poesl, who is running for Assembly in the 19th District, also pointed out to us at yesterday’s Conservative Leadership Breakfast that one screening will be held at the Knights of Columbus in Avenel. The screening will begin at 7:45 with a suggested donation of $10 per adult/$5 per child. The address is 109 Morrissey Avenue in Avenel (Tel: 732-734-0704). 

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Valero Energy is fighting back against C(r)ap & Trade. The sign you see here is being posted at their gas stations around the country. They also have a web page set up called Voices for Energy, urging people to contact legislators in opposing this energy tax. My Fox- Houston had the story:

“It’s definitely unprecedented for Valero,” said company spokesman Bill Day. “We’ve never done something like this before. But this particular issue is so important and this particular piece of legislation is so demonstratably bad that we did take the lead on this.”

Day says the bill pending before Congress holds refiners solely responsible for their product’s carbon footprint.

“So when you and I and everybody else drives their car, the manufacturer of the fuel in that car is the one responsible for the carbon emissions, not the owner of the car, not the driver.”

Valero estimates the company could be on the hook for $6 billion in carbon allowances every year, which is more than the company made in its most profitable year.

Of course, they balanced the story with the POV of the radical enviro nut:

“They’re not worried about this cost to their business,” said Matthew Tejada, executive director of GHASP (Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention).

“They’re worried about the fact that they know they’re going to pass that (cost) on to the consumer and that’s going to drive the consumer even more quickly to get away from oil.”

Tejada takes umbrage at Valero’s claim that Cap and Trade legislation would make “no measurable improvement on global climate change,” as stated on the website.

“If somebody doesn’t want Cap and Trade and they aren’t offering a more viable solution,” said Tejada, “what they’re really saying is ‘we don’t want to deal with greenhouse gases, we don’t want to deal with global warming.’”

To see Fox Houston’s corresponding video report, click HERE.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Last evening, Gov. Haley Barbour hosted an RGA webcast on C(r)ap & Trade. Gov. Barbour, of course, was an instrumental player in the GOP comeback in 1994 in his role as party chairman (personally, I don’t think we’ve had as effective a chairman since he left the post).

The purpose of last night’s webcast was to both provide an update on C(rap) & Trade, as well as to explain the consequences of capping CO2 emissions.

Gov. Barbour began the webcast by providing some perspective on the Democrats’ energy proposals. While the governor is greatly troubled by a potential government-run healthcare system, by contrast, that would only impact 18% of our economy while C(rap) & Trade would impact 100% of our economy. Energy, he said, ‘is the life’s blood of our economy.’ It effects everything we do and produce.

Currently in the U.S., the Governor noted, our energy comes from 3 main sources: Coal (50%), Natural Gas (20%), Nuclear power  (20%). The rest is derived from Hydro-electric (7%) and Solar/Wind/Bio-Mass (3%).

This is key to understand because one of the things Democrats are proposing, such as in the Waxman-Markey bill, is a ‘Renewable Energy Standard.’ This would regulate that a certain percentage of energy come from renewable sources which do not produce greenhouse gasses (solar/wind/bio-mass) which currently produce only about 3% of our energy. Importantly, nuclear power -which Gov. Barbour said is ‘the most proven way (to produce energy) without emitting greenhouse gasses’ – would NOT be counted toward the standard.

Moreover, hydro-electric power would not be a feasible alternative because the environmentalist wackos (my term) oppose the creation of dams and threats to the eco-system that they claim would affect things like salmon runs.

In a Waxman-Markey world, the only place to turn would be solar, wind and bio-mass. These sources would have to make up for the loss of production from carbon-emitting sources and nuclear. In Gov. Barbour’s state of Mississippi, he says this would be devastating and that without nuclear power his state would not be able to make up for the loss in energy production.

As an example, Gov. Barbour mentioned that the Tennessee Valley Authority now has 2 wind farms in place. But these wind farms are of little use in the South because wind is simply an unreliable source. The TVA farms, as a consequence are only operable 20% of the time.

Obviously, all of this will mean that energy costs will go up and jobs will be lost. Gov. Barbour mentioned that for every 1% increase in GDP, it would require a 3% increase in energy production. Logically, if energy production can not meet this demand, our economy will suffer. In fact, the Governor cited CBO numbers indicating that C(r)ap & Trade would cost the U.S. 2.5-3.0 million jobs PER YEAR. The average family would be burdened with roughly $1800 more in energy costs per year.

And there’s more.

Gov. Barbour said that C(r)ap & Trade would make industries like steel ‘uncompetitive.’ They would lose business to foreign steel makers in places like China.  And, ironically enough, this would actually lead to MORE pollution not less because American steel manufacturers emit 5x less per ton of steel produced than a steel producer in China. This would undermine the whole intent of C(r)ap & trade. And as we all know, so long as countries like China don’t get on board with C(r)ap & Trade, any efforts on our end to postitively impact the environment will be futile.  

In fact, Governor Barbour pointed to recent comments by none other than Lisa Jackson. At a recent hearing on energy, Jackson was asked how much less greenhouse gas emissions there would be if the U.S. does everything outlined in Waxman-markey and she said ‘NONE.’

Meanwhile, China is preparing to build 50 coal plants a year. And India has basically told us they have ‘no intention’ of going along with any of this.

It gets better.

Gov. Barbour pointed out that the Waxman-Markey bill actually has a provision in it to – get this – provide special unemployment benefits to people in the energy sector who lose their jobs as a result of this legislation. Quite frankly, I couldn’t believe that when I first heard it. Within the Waxman-Markey bill itself, they are admitting that their own proposal is a job killer!

In closing, the Governor asked: If you were going to come up with a plan to de-industrialize America, could you think of anything better? Well, the answer to this question is a clear and emphatic ‘NO!

Here is some more on C(r)ap & Trade today from The Heritage Foundation. 

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!‘

No not that Christie! This one…

The former Governor was interviewed by the National Journal and was asked about, among other things, C(r)ap & Trade. Her answer shows she doesn’t know a ‘whit’ (sorry, couldn’t help it) about it.

I believe cap-and-trade can work. It worked with SO2 reduction. I understand carbon is a very different emission, but it worked there, and there were all the same kind of concerns evidenced in the beginning. As with most things, the devil’s in the details. Depending on where you set the levels, and how quickly people have to meet them, it can work without sending the economy into a tailspin.

I’ve documented some of the problems with C(r)ap & Trade here. The bottom line is C(r)ap & Trade amounts to a tax on just about everything produced in this economy and would negligibly impact global temperatures over the next 4 decades, particularly because nations like India and China won’t sign on.

So, nice try Governor but you are just way off-base on this one.

You can read the rest of the interview here where the former Gov touches on the healthcare debate, Obama and the current governor’s race. Of course, you can decide to put a cap on her emissions by deciding not to read it.

Cross-posted at Red County & Conservatives with Attitude!

Well, it seems Congressman Steve Rothman is doing his best to boost the sales of Government Motors. The latest little gimmick is a bill called ‘Cash for Clunkers.’ The bill gives vouchers of up to $4500 to people who trade in their gas-guzzlers for more fuel efficient vehicles.

Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ) voted in favor of the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act, H.R. 2751, also known as the “cash-for-clunkers” bill. Consumers may trade in their old, gas-guzzling vehicles and receive vouchers worth up to $4,500 to help pay for new, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. The program will provide for approximately one million new car or truck purchases. The Act passed the U.S. House 298-119. It now must make it through the Senate.

“By supporting new, fuel-efficient car and truck purchases, Congress today passed common sense legislation to spur car sales at a time when auto companies and dealers are suffering in this tough economy,” said Rothman. “At the same time we are providing a boost to our clean energy economy and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. I hope New Jerseyans, who tend to spend a lot of time in their cars, take advantage of this new incentive.”

The cash-for-clunkers plan will run for one year, offering vouchers to people who trade in vehicles with average city/highway fuel economy of less than 18 miles a gallon to buy a more-efficient new car or light truck. The proposed program would offer the maximum $4,500 voucher for people to use to buy a car that gets at least 10 more mpg or a truck that is at least five mpg more efficient.

Now, I am by no means on expert on this but a few questions come to mind. Where’s this money coming from? How many people out there are actually driving passenger cars that get less than 18mpg? Even if every eligible car/truck owner turns in their vehicle, how much will this actually do to make us less dependent on foreign oil?

Yes, call me cynical but I have my doubts that this bill would do anything in the way of seriously helping the environment or lessening our dependence on foreign oil.

However, I have a better version of a ‘Cash for Clunkers’ bill that is certainly no gimmick. In my version, it’s quite simple. We immediately force all Democrats to resign their offices and replace them with Republicans who will actually cut our taxes. Now THAT’S a bill that most assuredly is no lemon.

Cross-posted at Red County and Conservatives with Attitude!

It hasn’t felt much like a warming planet here in the Northeast this spring. If you’re like me, you’ve been waiting and waiting for things to warm up so you can permanently shed that spring coat and pants for a t-shirt and shorts. Instead, most of the days of late have felt more like mid-April than early June.

Well, apparently, global warming isn’t just non-existent here in the Northeast, but it’s hardly rearing its  head in other northern parts of the U.S. Consider: 

• In Green Bay, Wisconsin on Saturday, the city saw an all-time record low of 52 degrees set. The previous low was 53 degrees way back in 1943.
• And in Dickinson, North Dakota snow fell in June for the first time in over 60 years.

Yet, Congressional Democrats remain poised to foist the job-killing, tax raising C(r)ap and Trade on us in the name of cooling the planet.

How much more evidence do we need to understand what a hoax this is?

The Heritage Foundation has done an exhaustive analysis of the C(r)ap & Trade legislation being readied in the House. The Waxman-Markey bill [logically so-called for the bill's main sponsors, Henry "The Taxman" Waxman (CA) and Ed Markey (MA)], would have significant and drastic negative effects on our economy according to Heritage. Consider that Waxman-Markey, by 2035, would:

Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $7.4 trillion,

Destroy 844,000 jobs on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 1,900,000 jobs,

Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation,

Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent,

Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent,

Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,500, and

Increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by 29 percent, or $33,400 additional federal debt per person, again after adjusting for inflation.

Sound like change you can believe in?

Read the rest of the heritage analysis here: The Economic Impact of Waxman-Markey

Honestly, I’m not even sure where to go with this one. I guess taxes on fatty foods are just around the corner. Maybe mandated vegetarianism?  

THE rising number of fat people was yesterday blamed for global warming.

Scientists warned that the increase in big-eaters means more food production — a major cause of CO2 gas emissions warming the planet.

Overweight people are also more likely to drive, adding to environmental damage.

Dr Phil Edwards, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “Moving about in a heavy body is like driving in a gas guzzler.”

Each fat person is said to be responsible for emitting a tonne more of climate-warming carbon dioxide per year than a thin one.

It means an extra BILLION TONNES of CO2 a year is created, according to World Health Organisation estimates of overweight people.

The scientists say providing extra grub for them to guzzle adds to carbon emissions that heat up the world, melting polar ice caps, raising sea levels and killing rain forests.

The environmental impact of fat humans is made even worse because they are more likely to travel by car — another major cause of carbon emissions.

Battle

And researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine say wealthy nations like the US and Britain are getting fatter by the decade.

Dr Phil Edwards said: “Food production accounts for about one fifth of greenhouse gases.

“We need to do a lot more to reverse the global trend towards fatness. It is a key factor in the battle to reduce carbon emissions and slow climate change.

“It is time we took account of the amount we are eating.

“This is about over-consumption by the wealthy countries. And the world demand for meat is increasing to match that of Britain and America.

“It is also much easier to get in your car and pick up a pint of milk than to take a walk.”

The study by Dr Edwards and colleague Ian Roberts is published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Dr Edwards went on: “We are not just pointing the finger at fat people. All populations are getting fatter and it has an impact on the environment.

“UK health surveys estimate fatness has increased from an average body mass index of 26 to 27 in the last ten years.

“That’s equivalent to about half a stone for every person.”

Anyone with a BMI above 25 is overweight, while more than 30 is obese.

A staggering 40 per cent of Americans are obese, among 300 million worldwide.

I don’t know about you but I think this makes me want to run to Mickey D’s and grab a Big Mac and some fries. Or maybe I’ll run to White Manna down the road from me and grab some really greasy grub. Better yet, I’ll save it for tomorrow’s lunch being that it is Earth Day and all. Who’s with me?

MmmmMmmm…

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Rep. Boehner gave an excellent speech at CPAC and pulled no punches – warning about the path to ’socialism’ the Democrats are leading us down.

Part 2 contains the meatiest part of the speech. To see the entire speech, here are the links for Part 1 and Part 3.