Saturday, February 20, 2010
Tectonic plates below Haiti
The Obama Administration will be honoring the 43rd President of the United States
by naming the gap between the tectonic plates beneath Haiti after him.
The area will now officially be referred to as "Bush's Fault."
An End to Operation Iraqi Freedom
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen on Feb. 16
STRATFOR has received word that effective Sept. 1, when U.S. forces, under orders from U.S. President Barack Obama, are expected to cease all combat operations in Iraq and transfer full authority to Iraqi forces, Operation Iraqi Freedom will officially conclude. The new name of the U.S. mission in Iraq will be Operation New Dawn, symbolizing a new phase in U.S. military engagement in the Middle East.
A name is but a name, but the semantic shift is nonetheless a message at home and abroad that the United States is committed to disengaging from the Iraq war by 2011. This means a number of things for a number of people. For the Iraqis — particularly the Sunnis and the Kurds — this means that their security guarantor is departing and other means of defense will have to be deployed. For Iran, this means that any efforts to keep the United States preoccupied in Iraq — and hostage to Iranian retaliation in the event of an attack on its nuclear facilities — will require enormous focus and resources. For Russia, this means the United States is freeing up its military, giving Moscow less time to consolidate influence in its near abroad. For other players around the world, the opportunities afforded by the United States’ distractions in Iraq will also begin to dissipate.
The United States has long outlined its commitment to extricate itself from the Iraq war and refocus its attention on other pressing issues, the most immediate being Afghanistan. While the shift in mission from combat to training was expected, the deeper realization of what it means for the United States to free itself from a seven-plus-year war is sinking in for many across the globe.
From Statfor.com
STRATFOR has received word that effective Sept. 1, when U.S. forces, under orders from U.S. President Barack Obama, are expected to cease all combat operations in Iraq and transfer full authority to Iraqi forces, Operation Iraqi Freedom will officially conclude. The new name of the U.S. mission in Iraq will be Operation New Dawn, symbolizing a new phase in U.S. military engagement in the Middle East.
A name is but a name, but the semantic shift is nonetheless a message at home and abroad that the United States is committed to disengaging from the Iraq war by 2011. This means a number of things for a number of people. For the Iraqis — particularly the Sunnis and the Kurds — this means that their security guarantor is departing and other means of defense will have to be deployed. For Iran, this means that any efforts to keep the United States preoccupied in Iraq — and hostage to Iranian retaliation in the event of an attack on its nuclear facilities — will require enormous focus and resources. For Russia, this means the United States is freeing up its military, giving Moscow less time to consolidate influence in its near abroad. For other players around the world, the opportunities afforded by the United States’ distractions in Iraq will also begin to dissipate.
The United States has long outlined its commitment to extricate itself from the Iraq war and refocus its attention on other pressing issues, the most immediate being Afghanistan. While the shift in mission from combat to training was expected, the deeper realization of what it means for the United States to free itself from a seven-plus-year war is sinking in for many across the globe.
From Statfor.com
Math education fail
From The Buffalo News
This is going on all over the country. Meanwhile, others are beginning to discover the efficacy of the Singapore Math system.
At a recent informational meeting, the Amherst School District reaffirmed its support for the way children are schooled in math. The meeting was held, partially, in response to a small but growing number of concerned parents who question the 2005 decision to use the controversial Math Investigations Curriculum as the framework for elementary math. Apparently, parents are so confused by math homework that the district has sent home a parent math book to further inform them on how to do K-5 math.
Interaction was limited to a handful of prescreened questions. Parents distributing information that questioned the preachy salesman were swiftly confronted by district administrators in a bizarre fashion, who reminded parents that such heresy was inappropriate at an informational meeting.
This is going on all over the country. Meanwhile, others are beginning to discover the efficacy of the Singapore Math system.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Hall of Shame
Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2009
Read the article at Judicial Watch
- Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
- Senator John Ensign (R-NV)
- Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
- Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner
- Attorney General Eric Holder
- Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)/ Senator Roland Burris (D-IL)
- President Barack Obama
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
- Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and the rest of the PMA Seven
- Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)
Read the article at Judicial Watch
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Clunker Math
A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year. A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons a year.
So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce an individual's gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.
They claim the program turned 700,000 vehicles so that's 224 million gallons saved per year. That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.
5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption. More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars.
So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.
Which means they spent $8.57 for every dollar saved.
I'm pretty sure they'll do a great job with health care though...
Terry Evans
Field Operations Manager-New Orleans/Shreveport-Monroe, Louisiana
So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce an individual's gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.
They claim the program turned 700,000 vehicles so that's 224 million gallons saved per year. That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.
5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption. More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars.
So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.
Which means they spent $8.57 for every dollar saved.
I'm pretty sure they'll do a great job with health care though...
Terry Evans
Field Operations Manager-New Orleans/Shreveport-Monroe, Louisiana
USCAP statement misleading
President Obama's cap-and-trade policy took another hit with the announcement that oil companies BP and ConocoPhillips and heavy equipment maker Caterpillar are leaving the high-profile United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) lobbying organization.
USCAP played a key role in lobbying for the Obama-supported Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill approved by the House of Representatives last year.
"The companies that bolted USCAP realized the organization was really a front group serving only the interests of GE and utility companies and their environmental allies. This became obvious when the Waxman-Markey bill gave the vast majority of free carbon allowances to the utility industry while GE reaped the reward of its lobbying muscle by securing federal mandates for electricity generation in a way that benefits GE's wind turbine business," said Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project.
"With the Waxman bill, environmental special interest groups and GE achieved their renewable energy dreams and the utilities took the free carbon allowances, leaving their coalition partners in the oil and heavy industry companies out in the cold," added Borelli.
For years, policy experts at the National Center have been harsh critics of USCAP, saying its lobbying goals are bad for the U.S. economy, low-income Americans, employment and the stockholders of affected companies, including those of several USCAP members.
On the eve of Caterpillar's 2007 stockholder meeting, for example, The National Center organized a letter to Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens signed by 70 organizations, companies and prominent individuals, including a former U.S. Attorney General, urging Owens to immediately withdraw Caterpillar from USCAP. National Center for Public Policy Research Vice President David Ridenour noted when the letter was released that the cap for which USCAP was lobbying would "cost the poorest fifth of Americans nearly double what it would cost the wealthiest fifth of Americans, as a percentage of wages, in added energy costs."
GE secured hundreds of millions of dollars from President Obama's $787 billion "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act" for its utility customers Duke Energy, Exleon and FPL Group - all USCAP members.
"USCAP has always been about GE, the utility industry, and environmental advocacy groups advancing their narrow cause at the cost of the other coalition 'partners' and taxpayers. It's only a matter of time until the other USCAP members, such as John Deere & Co., wake up and recognize that cap-and-trade legislation is toxic to shareholder interests," said Borelli.
National Center for Public Policy Research
USCAP played a key role in lobbying for the Obama-supported Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill approved by the House of Representatives last year.
"The companies that bolted USCAP realized the organization was really a front group serving only the interests of GE and utility companies and their environmental allies. This became obvious when the Waxman-Markey bill gave the vast majority of free carbon allowances to the utility industry while GE reaped the reward of its lobbying muscle by securing federal mandates for electricity generation in a way that benefits GE's wind turbine business," said Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project.
"With the Waxman bill, environmental special interest groups and GE achieved their renewable energy dreams and the utilities took the free carbon allowances, leaving their coalition partners in the oil and heavy industry companies out in the cold," added Borelli.
For years, policy experts at the National Center have been harsh critics of USCAP, saying its lobbying goals are bad for the U.S. economy, low-income Americans, employment and the stockholders of affected companies, including those of several USCAP members.
On the eve of Caterpillar's 2007 stockholder meeting, for example, The National Center organized a letter to Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens signed by 70 organizations, companies and prominent individuals, including a former U.S. Attorney General, urging Owens to immediately withdraw Caterpillar from USCAP. National Center for Public Policy Research Vice President David Ridenour noted when the letter was released that the cap for which USCAP was lobbying would "cost the poorest fifth of Americans nearly double what it would cost the wealthiest fifth of Americans, as a percentage of wages, in added energy costs."
GE secured hundreds of millions of dollars from President Obama's $787 billion "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act" for its utility customers Duke Energy, Exleon and FPL Group - all USCAP members.
"USCAP has always been about GE, the utility industry, and environmental advocacy groups advancing their narrow cause at the cost of the other coalition 'partners' and taxpayers. It's only a matter of time until the other USCAP members, such as John Deere & Co., wake up and recognize that cap-and-trade legislation is toxic to shareholder interests," said Borelli.
National Center for Public Policy Research
Monday, February 15, 2010
No, this is not "Presidents' Day"
"Washington's Birthday Eve"
by Ogden Nash
George Washington was a gentleman,
A soldier and a scholar;
He crossed the Delaware with a boat,
The Potomac, with a dollar.
The British faced him full of joy,
And departed full of sorrow;
George Washington was a gentleman.
His birthday is tomorrow.
When approached by fellow patriots,
And asked for his opinion,
He spoke in accents clear and bold,
And, probably, Virginian.
His winter home at Valley Forge
Was underheated, rather.
He possessed a sturdy Roman nose,
And became his country's father.
His army was a hungry horde,
Ill-armed, worse-clad Colonials;
He was our leading President,
And discouraged ceremonials.
His portrait on our postage stamps,
It does him less than justice;
He was much respected by his wife,
The former Mrs. Custis.
He routed George's scarlet coats;
(Though oft by Congress hindered)
When they fortified the leeward side,
He slashed them from the windward.
He built and launched our Ship of State,
He brought it safe to harbor;
He wore no beard upon his chin,
Thanks to his faithful barber.
George Washington was a gentleman,
His birthday is tomorrow.
He filled his country's friends with joy,
His country's foes, with sorrow.
And so my dears, his grateful land
In robes of glory clad him.
George Washington was a gentleman.
I'm glad his parents had him.
Ogden Nash
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
(Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938), pp. 155-156.
---------------
"His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man."
-- Thomas Jefferson (on George Washington in a letter to Dr. Walter Jones, 2 January 1814)
by Ogden Nash
George Washington was a gentleman,
A soldier and a scholar;
He crossed the Delaware with a boat,
The Potomac, with a dollar.
The British faced him full of joy,
And departed full of sorrow;
George Washington was a gentleman.
His birthday is tomorrow.
When approached by fellow patriots,
And asked for his opinion,
He spoke in accents clear and bold,
And, probably, Virginian.
His winter home at Valley Forge
Was underheated, rather.
He possessed a sturdy Roman nose,
And became his country's father.
His army was a hungry horde,
Ill-armed, worse-clad Colonials;
He was our leading President,
And discouraged ceremonials.
His portrait on our postage stamps,
It does him less than justice;
He was much respected by his wife,
The former Mrs. Custis.
He routed George's scarlet coats;
(Though oft by Congress hindered)
When they fortified the leeward side,
He slashed them from the windward.
He built and launched our Ship of State,
He brought it safe to harbor;
He wore no beard upon his chin,
Thanks to his faithful barber.
George Washington was a gentleman,
His birthday is tomorrow.
He filled his country's friends with joy,
His country's foes, with sorrow.
And so my dears, his grateful land
In robes of glory clad him.
George Washington was a gentleman.
I'm glad his parents had him.
Ogden Nash
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
(Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938), pp. 155-156.
---------------
"His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man."
-- Thomas Jefferson (on George Washington in a letter to Dr. Walter Jones, 2 January 1814)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)