Whacko Politics

Tax Revenue “Gusher” Lowers Deficit

Why do Democrats keep calling for higher taxes when the President’s economic policies are working?

From Fox News/AP:

Federal Budget Deficit Falls to Lowest in Four Years

WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit, helped by a gusher of tax revenues, fell to $247.7 billion in 2006, the smallest amount of red ink in four years.

The deficit for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was 22.3 percent lower than the $318.7 billion imbalance for 2005, handing President Bush an economic bragging point as Republicans go into the final four weeks of a battle for control of Congress.

Bush called the 2006 outcome a “dramatic reduction” in the deficit which allowed him to fulfill his 2004 campaign pledge of cutting the deficit in half earlier than his original 2009 target date.

“These numbers show that we have now achieved our goal of cutting the federal deficit in half and we’ve done it three years ahead of schedule,” Bush told reporters at a Rose Garden news conference. “The budget numbers are proof that pro-growth economic policies work.”

The pledge to cut the deficit in half was based on the administration’s forecast that the 2004 deficit would hit $521 billion, a figure that proved to be too pessimistic by more than $100 billion. However, the administration has continued to use the forecast number as its benchmark for deficit reduction.

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Europe Greener in Spite of Climate Worries

The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change recently reviewed a study by European scientists to estimate changes in vegetation in the European continent between 1982 and 1999. The Center published an online report analyzing the study entitled Land Surface Temperatures and Plant Productivity of Europe: 1982-1999. The report deflates global warming and greenhouse gas disaster claims made by alarmists and political opportunists. The Center’s conclusion is as follows:

Considering the results in total, the Dutch and Spanish researchers conclude that, over the last two decades of the 20th century, “Europe as a whole has a tendency to greening,” and much of it is “seeing an increase in its wood land proportion.”

Within the context of today’s obsession over the ongoing rise in the air’s CO2 content and the many environmental catastrophes it has been predicted to produce, this observation is rather remarkable, in view of the fact that the world’s climate alarmists claim the CO2-induced global warming of the last two decades of the 20th century was unprecedented over the last two millennia, and that this phenomenon is claimed to be the greatest threat ever to be faced by the planet (worse, even, than nuclear warfare and global terrorism).

Apparently the climate and vegetation of Europe have not been informed that their recent actions are not politically correct!

The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change operates an excellent website that features a new lineup of articles every Wednesday. Please have a look at this interesting and informative website.

Visit the Climate and Global Warming Archive

Clinton’s Nose Just Keeps On Growing

During the recent interview of former president Bill Clinton by Chris Wallace of Fox News, Clinton asserted that he “left a detailed plan” for the Bush administration for dealing with terrorism:

When I failed I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke!

I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked why didn’t you do anything about the Cole. I want to know how many you asked why did you fire Dick Clarke.

During an interview yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this about Clinton’s remarks:

“What we did in the eight months was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years,” Rice said Monday during a meeting with editors and reporters at the New York Post.

Rice took exception to Clinton’s statement that he “left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy” for incoming officials when he left office.

“We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight Al Qaeda,” she told the newspaper, which is owned by News Corp., which also owns FOX News Channel.

Rice said Clarke “left when he did not become deputy director of homeland security.”

Once again, the Clintons attempt to rewrite history and sweep their dirty little business under the carpet. (Emphasis added by Damsel.)

Photoshop of Clinton by David Lunde via Michelle Malkin.

Update: Rewriting History Clinton Style (Cox & Forkum):

Organized Labor Crime

Apparently, we’re not the only ones who know the truth about unions. My opinion? The only difference between organized labor and organized crime is the way the second word is spelled. From CNS News:

Unions Have Embraced Anti-War Extremism, Report Says.

(CNSNews.com) – Labor leaders have established a close relationship with anti-American, anti-war activists as part of a move to the political left that began more than three decades ago, according to a recent report produced by a conservative think tank.

“Prominent self-styled ‘peace activists’ such as Cindy Sheehan, Leslie Cagan and Ramsey Clark rarely waste an opportunity to portray America as the number one obstacle to world peace,” said Carl Horowitz, author of the report “Common Cause With America’s Enemies: How Labor Unions Embraced Antiwar Extremism.”

Hurricane Alarmists — Wrong Again!

In spite of predictions of Global Warming alarmists that hurricanes in 2006 would again devastate the Nation, largely due to the Administration’s non-participation in the Kyoto accords, the weather patterns aren’t supporting their theories.

World Climate Report, one of our favorite blogs, published another very interesting article about this. Unlike the alarmists who cherry-pick their talking points without actually doing any serious research, the authors at World Climate Report use actual science and quote their references.

More Stormy Weather Ahead for Hurricane Doomsayers

The work of Bengtsson et al. provide yet another example that the present and future of tropical storms, and the potential human impact on their frequency and intensity, is far, far from being settled in the pages of scientific journals, despite what you may be reading in the pages of your favorite newspaper.

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Read about how the Sun is responsible for most of Earth’s climate fluctuations. Also visit our collection of articles on the topic of Global Warming.

Kallyfoania Kyoto

How many times must I say to Arnold, “Tell me it ain’t true!?!?”

Last week, the Governor of California signed legislation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the state. What this means to businesses and taxpayers is an increasing burden amounting to hardship proportions. The Governator, who is running for reelection on a no new taxes plank, now imposes this burden on EVERY Californian — indirectly, it IS a new tax!

From World Climate Report, we get some objective analysis of the motivation behind this recently-signed, whacked-out, drive businesses-out-of-the-state Greenbat legislation:

California Retro

For nearly 100 years, Californians have claimed to be the innovators that the rest of the United States and the world ultimately follow. Not so on global warming. Instead, the California Legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger have just passed and signed global warming legislation that is an awful lot like a watered-down version of the failed Kyoto Protocol. That’s sooo 1990s.

That Protocol was supposed to reduce our emissions of Carbon Dioxide, the main human-generated global warming gas, to 7% below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. Nationally, emissions are up about 18% since then. Recognizing this failure, the California law merely cuts back California emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a 25% cut.

Why on earth did they do this, and what will it accomplish?

In a word, politics.

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Microstamping Dead in California?

AB352 debate is not over yet. Cam Edwards‘ blog linked to an article which had this dispatch regarding the California State Assembly ammunition microstamping bill AB252:

BULLETS – The Assembly also rejected legislation by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, that was intended to help police solve shootings by creating a tracking system for bullets. The measure, AB352, would require new semiautomatic pistols sold in California after 2008 to stamp bullets with an identifying mark that would allow police to trace them. It got only 38 votes, three short of the bare majority it needed to move to the governor’s desk.

However, the Assembly has sent the bill back to the Conference Committee, so it will be back when the Legislature again convenes it’s next session. From the Official California Legislative Information webpage (HISTORY of AB352 – emphasis mine):

BILL HISTORY
2006
Aug. 31 Reconsideration granted.  Assembly refused to concur in Senate amendments.  To Conference Committee.
Aug. 30 Assembly refused to concur in Senate amendments.  (Ayes 40. Noes 37. Page  7438.)  Motion to reconsider made by Assembly Member  Frommer.
Aug. 28 In Assembly.  Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.  May be considered on or after  August  30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.

Watch for this to return next session. Meanwhile, let your State Assemblyman and State Senator know what you think about this issue.