Still "believe" in global warming?

In addition to the EPA burying a report questioning the relationship between CO2 and the earth's temperatures come the following conference on climate change ignored by the main stream press.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83323

HEAT OF THE MOMENT
Scientists abandon global warming 'lie'
650 to dissent at U.N. climate change conference

Posted: December 11, 2008
12:00 am Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily
WASHINGTON – A United Nations climate change conference in Poland is about to get a surprise from 650 leading scientists who scoff at doomsday reports of man-made global warming – labeling them variously a lie, a hoax and part of a new religion.

Later today, their voices will be heard in a U.S. Senate minority report quoting the scientists, many of whom are current and former members of the U.N.'s own Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

About 250 of the scientists quoted in the report have joined the dissenting scientists in the last year alone.

In fact, the total number of scientists represented in the report is 12 times the number of U.N. scientists who authored the official IPCC 2007 report.
Here are some choice excerpts from the report:
• "I am a skeptic ... . Global warming has become a new religion." -- Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever.
• "Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly ... . As a scientist I remain skeptical." -- Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology and formerly of NASA who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called "among the most pre-eminent scientists of the last 100 years."
• Warming fears are the "worst scientific scandal in the history ... . When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists." -- U.N. IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning Ph.D. environmental physical chemist.
• "The IPCC has actually become a closed circuit; it doesn't listen to others. It doesn't have open minds ... . I am really amazed that the Nobel Peace Prize has been given on scientifically incorrect conclusions by people who are not geologists." -- Indian geologist Dr. Arun D. Ahluwalia at Punjab University and a board member of the U.N.-supported International Year of the Planet.
• "The models and forecasts of the U.N. IPCC "are incorrect because they only are based on mathematical models and presented results at scenarios that do not include, for example, solar activity." -- Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
• "It is a blatant lie put forth in the media that makes it seem there is only a fringe of scientists who don't buy into anthropogenic global warming." -- U.S. Government Atmospheric Scientist Stanley B. Goldenberg of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• "Even doubling or tripling the amount of carbon dioxide will virtually have little impact, as water vapor and water condensed on particles as clouds dominate the worldwide scene and always will." -- Geoffrey G. Duffy, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering of the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
• "After reading [U.N. IPCC chairman] Pachauri's asinine comment [comparing skeptics to] Flat Earthers, it's hard to remain quiet." -- Climate statistician Dr. William M. Briggs, who specializes in the statistics of forecast evaluation, serves on the American Meteorological Society's Probability and Statistics Committee and is an associate editor of Monthly Weather Review.
• "For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming? For how many years must cooling go on?" -- Geologist Dr. David Gee, the chairman of the science committee of the 2008 International Geological Congress who has authored 130 plus peer-reviewed papers, and is currently at Uppsala University in Sweden.
• "Gore prompted me to start delving into the science again and I quickly found myself solidly in the skeptic camp ... . Climate models can at best be useful for explaining climate changes after the fact." -- Meteorologist Hajo Smit of Holland, who reversed his belief in man-made warming to become a skeptic, is a former member of the Dutch U.N. IPCC committee.
• "Many [scientists] are now searching for a way to back out quietly (from promoting warming fears), without having their professional careers ruined." -- Atmospheric physicist James A. Peden, formerly of the Space Research and Coordination Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
• "Creating an ideology pegged to carbon dioxide is a dangerous nonsense ... . The present alarm on climate change is an instrument of social control, a pretext for major businesses and political battle. It became an ideology, which is concerning." -- Environmental Scientist Professor Delgado Domingos of Portugal, the founder of the Numerical Weather Forecast group, has more than 150 published articles.
• "CO2 emissions
make absolutely no difference one way or another ... . Every scientist knows this, but it doesn't pay to say so ... . Global warming, as a political vehicle, keeps Europeans in the driver's seat and developing nations walking barefoot." -- Dr. Takeda Kunihiko, vice-chancellor of the Institute of Science and Technology Research at Chubu University in Japan.
• "The [global warming] scaremongering has its justification in the fact that it is something that generates funds." -- Award-winning Paleontologist Dr. Eduardo Tonni, of the Committee for Scientific Research in Buenos Aires and head of the Paleontology Department at the University of La Plata.

The report also includes new peer-reviewed scientific studies and analyses refuting man-made warming fears and a climate developments that contradict the theory.

Move the Fed!

The Federal Reserve is a curious creation. In an effort to keep it insulated from the political whims of the president and the congress, it was made as independent as a central bank can be - with one exception. Its seven governors serve 14 year terms and once appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate cannot be fired - only impeached. Its chairman is appointed to a 4 year term which is staggered with that of the president's so a new president has to wait two years to appoint the chairman. The Fed is off budget and self funding so congress cannot influence the Fed's decisions by controlling its funding. The Open Market Committee which sets and implements monetary policy is made up of the 7 governors, the president of the New York Fed and three of the other 11 reserve bank presidents who serve on a rotating basis. The banks that are members of the Fed have limited influence on the Board of Governors and the chairman in that they do not have direct input over Fed decisions. The member banks do elect directors of the reserve banks, but those directors essentially serve only a limited advisory role and have no direct voice in either the running of the reserve bank or on monetary policy. I know there are all sorts of conspiracy theories out there but none make a great deal of sense once scrutinized. The recent financial "reform" legislation introduced would give the Fed some additional oversight responsibilities but that legislation discussed below goes in the wrong direction. The Fed argues that it needs hands on regulatory authority in order to conduct monetary policy. This is bogus. The Fed has always been a power hungry institution and simply wants to gain more power - like any politician or regulator. In reality regulatory oversight distracts the Fed. It should not write banking regulations, it should not regulate state member banks, bank holding companies, financial holding companies, foreign banks operating in the US or US banks operating abroad. The Fed should only concentrate on monetary policy. Oh. As to the one thing missing from insulating the Fed? It should not be located in Washington, DC. Here the Fed is acutely aware of the pressures applied by the administration and the congress. Fed governors live in the area surrounded by neighbors who live off the Federal government and are directly influenced by Fed decisions. Research has shown that the Fed is influenced by all these factors if only by osmosis. What can be done? Move the Fed to Kansas City. There, surrounded by real people who have to actually work at productive ventures for a living, the Fed would make better and more rational decisions.

Ever Wonder Why Regulations Don't Work?

Proposals don't fix reason for crisis

By Dr. Harold Black

Knoxville News- Sentinel
Sunday, July 5, 2009

Politicians, like generals, fight the last war. A clear case in point is the proposed legislation on financial institutions.

The main parts are that the FDIC would be able to seize nonbank companies that pose a systemic risk to the economy, the Office of Thrift Supervision will be merged into the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, financial companies would be required to hold more capital, hedge funds would get regulatory oversight, a new consumer agency would be created to regulate financial products, and the Fed would get oversight authority over all big financial companies.

These proposals are backward-looking. The power to seize nonbanks was likely prompted by the failure and subsequent bailout of AIG. The imposition of more capital would lessen the cost of failure to the government but not lower the likelihood of failure. The government has always wanted to regulate hedge funds, and the financial crisis gives it that opportunity, even though hedge funds had nothing to do with the financial crisis. There were critics of some financial products offered to consumers, but the banking agencies already had oversight responsibilities, making the new agency redundant. Since the Fed already regulates bank holding companies and financial holding companies, the new legislation must intend to include financial institutions that are not members of holding companies.

The merger of the OTS into the OCC is of little consequence.

Note that none of the proposals addresses the reasons for the financial crisis - namely asset bubbles. Remember when Alan Greenspan said in 1996 referring to the stock market that "irrational exuberance has duly escalated asset values?" That bubble was fueled by the dot-com craze and wiped out more than $5 trillion in market value. Although the rules will do nothing to prevent asset bubbles, at least they also will do little harm - which is in direct contrast to cap-and-trade, which arguably is the single worse piece of congressional legislation in the history of the republic.

What to do? Here is some unsolicited advice from someone who has taught regulation, written regulation, headed a federal regulatory agency, and been the subject of regulation as a director of one of the nation's largest savings and loans and as a director of the nation's largest real estate investment trust:

n There is no such thing as systemic risk. If it is too large to fail, it is too large to exist. Use the existing anti-trust legislation to limit monopolies (private or government) and to encourage competition.

n The market is always ahead of regulation. Enact rules that make market participants apply for use of new instruments and explain their risk. The regulator would have 90 days to either approve or disapprove. If no action is taken, then the instrument can be used.

n Prevent asset bubbles. Both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq can suspend trading of company stocks and that of the entire exchange. The SEC also can suspend trading if it "is in the public interest."

I'm Kickin in my Red Prius?

Our musical heritage is full of songs depicting the American love for the automobile. I have listed a few below in no particular order although I am really fond of Maybelinne, Pink Cadillac, Freeway of Love and especially Mustang Sally. So I am wondering will the truly awful looking teeny cars, plug-ins and greenie weenie hybrids inspire the next generation of songs? I'm gettin' a jolt from my Volt?

I’ve omitted songs that do not specifically mention a make like Drive my Car by the Beatles.

"Freeway of Love" (Pink Cadillac)- Aretha Franklin

"Little Red Corvette" - Prince

" Jaguar" - The Who

"Mustang Sally" - Wilson Picket Pickett)

“64 Chevolet Impala” – Dr Dre (explicit)

“Wild, Wild Mustang_ (The Del-Tones)

"Little Deuce Coupe" - Beach Boys "Mercedes Benz" - Janis Joplin

"My Hooptie" (about a 69 Buick) Sir Mix-A-Lot (taken from his 1989 album Seminar)

“Pink Cadillac” – Natalie Cole

"Jeepster" by T. Rex

“Go Mustang” – T-Rex

"I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler" - Tom Paxton

"Chevy Van" - Sammy Johns

“Long White Cadillac” - The Blasters

“Who's Cadillac is That?” - War

“Little GTO” – Ronnie and the Daytonas

“Maybelline” – Chuck Berry (Coupe de Ville)

“Shelby GT 356” – Chesterfield Kings

“Rollin in My 5.0” (Mustang) – Vanilla Ice

“Chevrolet” – ZZ Top

Is Justice Blind?

Supreme Court nominee's Sonia Sotomayor comments regarding a wise Latina judge based on her life experiences could make better decisions than a white male judge elicited cries of racism from her detractors. It also elicited comments about how "justice is blind" and should be practiced without regard to demographics of the parties in court and only to the law. Judge Sotomayor is wrong. A wise Latina judge would not make better decisions but could possibly make different decisions than a white male judge. While her first statement can be called "racist", the second statement clearly is not. Justice is not blind and there is nothing wrong with that. Consider this: the Supreme Court rarely has unanimous decisions. The reason is that the law is rarely precise and ironclad. This leads to interpretations which is true with any field of endeavor. Economics, for example, is a discipline with clear theories and hypotheses, yet economists are famous for disagreeing with each other. Climate scientists have clarity as well, yet disagree over virtually all important issues including climate change. Judges are no different. It would be naive to think that a judge's life experiences, tastes and preferences, values and principles would have no impact on the interpretation of the law. However, whether the interpretation of one type of judge (say a Latina) is superior to that of another (say a white male) is clearly debatable. Nevertheless, one would expect agreement on those cases that are basically free from interpretation. However, those are the cases that seldom come before the Supreme Court. The open and shut cases are ones that the Supreme Court do not hear except to overturn egregious earlier decision (Plessey v Ferguson). The very cases that are on its docket are there precisely because of nuance rather than crystal clarity. These are the cases that will garner split decisions which may result in truly "bad" law or "good" law - depending on your personal views. Consider that in the Robert's court one third of the decisions were by a 5-4 vote. Thirteen of those cases were decided by all the "conservative" judges plus Kennedy; six cases were decided by all the "liberal" judges plus Kennedy; the remaining five had a mixture of both conservative and liberal justices. Now since all the justices are constitutional experts, why aren't all their decisions unanimous if justice were indeed blind?

Some More Random Thoughts

1. Part of the criticisms of Chrysler and GM is that they have "too many dealers" and bankruptcy allows them to shed those dealers without additional compensation (when GM dropped the Oldsmobile brand they paid the dealers over $1 billion). I simply do not understand this argument. Since the dealers are independent businesses, if they are not profitable then they will themselves go out of business. Why should the manufacturer care if there are 5,000 dealers or 1,000 dealers if the same amount of cars are sold?

2. I love basketball but am not a basketball fan. The game - especially the NBA - is unwatchable mainly because I hate all the tattoos. As a result, I pull for the team with the fewest tattoos. This year I was pulling for the Lakers to beat the Nuggets - who are unwatchable - and for the Magic to beat LaBron James' Cavaliers - who are equally unwatchable. If the results had been otherwise, I would not have watched the finals.

3. Of all the topics that I write about, the three that generate the most controversy are on global warming, the "fair" tax, and the Fed. With global warming and the fair tax, I tread on some people's gospel. Understand dear reader that I come to each issue only with the bias imposed by market economics. I do my research and reach a conclusion. When critics challenge me I gladly send them the sources that have shaped my opinion. The third area is the Fed where there appears to be vast believers in some conspiracy shaped by Griffin's "The Creature from Jeykll Island". I have serious doubts about anyone who believes in conspiracies and wonders whether they have thought through the consequences of their beliefs. Don't get me wrong. I am not defending the Fed - I am one of its harshest critics. Like Milton Friedman, I believe that the Fed should adopt the monetary rule. That is, it should set the rate of growth in the money supply equal to the long run rate of real economic growth. That way, monetary policy no longer becomes the main source of destabilization within the economy. The Greenspan Fed was responsible for the current economic crisis and the Bernanke Fed has done us all a disservice by not only prolonging the crisis but by sowing the seeds for more future economic destabilization. However, I do not believe that the Fed is a tool of manipulation by a few powerful figures for their own benefit. If that were true, then they would have put out a contract on Bernanke who has probably helped destroy much of their new worth.

On Cap and Trade

The following appeared in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on May 3, 2009

In December 2007, I wrote about the economic consequences of enacting the Kyoto Accords on carbon emissions. Briefly, there was a rise in unemployment, a fall in GDP, a rise in utility bills and gasoline costs. These results occurred in the countries that adopted Kyoto. It is also interesting that emissions in Europe increased from 2000 to 2006 by 3.5 percent while in the US, emissions only increased by 0.7 percent. I guess that is a confirmation of Harold Black's First Law: Any Law worth being circumvented will be."

Yet despite this evidence, we are now faced with cap and trade on steroids. President Obama's budget calls for a reduction in US carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Just recently, Henry Waxman introduced in the US House a bill calling for a reduction of 20 percent by 2020.

The economic impact will be staggering. Gasoline prices will increase by 50 percent. Energy prices will double. Economic growth will fall by 2 percent. Interest rates will rise. Inflation will increase. Unemployment will be permanently in the double digits. Construction, manufacturing and other industries will relocate to other countries.

Given the economic effects of cap and trade one wonders why any politician would vote for it. The reason why politicians want cap and trade is that it would constitute the largest tax increase in history and would be used to pay for the unprecedented increase in government spending. Politicians know that the trillion dollar deficits cannot be solely paid by taxing businesses or higher income households. That is why I have said before that the most likely alternative is to impose a consumption tax on top of the current income tax. Cap and trade taxes the production and use of fossil fuels and the Obama administration estimates that it would bring in $650 billion over the first 8 years. The second reason that politicians would favor cap and trade is dramatically increases their power. The $650 billion would be doled out by the government. The government could then pick winners and losers. It would tax carbon users and subsidize "greenies". As a sop to the public, the budget remits $400 to single worker families and $800 to two worker families - while costing them an estimated $4,000.

Since it would be political suicide to vote for a dramatic increase in taxes along with permanent decrease in the standard of living, Obama and Waxman will get cap and trade through the back door. The EPA has announced that carbon emissions are a pollutant and endanger health. As such it has the authority to impose carbon caps under the 1970 Clean Air Act.

To "cap" this all off, the EPA is following a political agenda and not a scientific one. Many environmental models show minimal if any effect on global temperatures. Indeed, last year 31,000 scientists signed a petition asserting that there is no convincing scientific evidence linking greenhouse gases to global temperature change. So dear reader, how are we going to extricate ourselves from this mess?

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/03/how-can-we-escape-cap-and-trade/