Daily Archives: September 5, 2010

Going Down: Obama Hits -23 In Rasmussen Poll

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Via Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 24% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-seven percent (47%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -23 (see trends).

That’s the highest level of Strong Disapproval and the lowest Approval Index daily rating yet recorded for this president.

In honor of Obama reaching another new low in his Rasmussen approval index… Going Down as performed by Keith Richards:

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Going Green Without Thinking It Through: Using Wind Power Increase Emissions From Other Sources

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There is a new study that points out that the addition of windmills to the electrical grid causes coal power plants to run less efficiently due to the intermittent nature of wind power. Via The Foundry:

Second, the intermittency of wind forces coal and gas-fired plants to operate inefficiently and actually increase emissions. Coal plants run most efficiently when continuously running, so the ramping up and down of conventional coal plants to make up for intermittent wind pumps out more carbon dioxide. Bryce likens it to the efficiency of an automobile: “An automobile that operates at a constant speed—say, 55 miles per hour—will have better fuel efficiency, and emit less pollution per mile traveled, than one that is stuck in stop-and-go traffic.”

This has proven to be the case in Colorado and Texas, two states that have adopted a renewable portfolio standard, which mandates that wind be included in the state’s electricity supply. A recent study commissioned by the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States looks at the power plant records from these two states and finds:

Coal-fired power plants are designed to run most efficiently at stable rates and are not well-suited to accommodate the load variability imposed by the integration with wind generation. Cycling causes coal-fired power plants to operate less efficiently, and reduces the effectiveness of their environmental control equipment, which together drive up emissions. Paradoxically, using wind energy in such a way that it forces utilities to cycle their coal generation often results in greater SO2, NOX and CO2 emissions than would have occurred if less wind energy were generated and coal generation was not cycled.

Remind me again why we are subsidizing wind power?

High Speed Photography: Bullets Through Drops Of Water

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These very cool photograhphs were taken by Alexander Augusteijn. Via PetaPixel:

I am a photographer from the Netherlands, specializing in high speed photography. I use a normal flash to achieve very short illuminations. The most critical parameter in this kind of photography is timing, which is achieved by computer control of shutter, flash, valve, gun or whatever other device is used.

These kind of images require a lot of experimentation, dedication, patience and willingness to endlessly clean spill of liquids and debris from objects shot to pieces. Several hundreds of trial shots may be needed to get timing correct. After that, the process is pretty well controlled, and often half of the shots will be usable, with 1 out of 10 really interesting.

These pictures remind me of a video of bullet contrails:

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The Trap Of Personality Politics

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To reduce deficit spending and our enormous debt, you reign in spending. You cut the budget. You don’t take more from the private sector and grow government with it. And that’s exactly what Obama has in mind with this expiration of Bush tax cuts proposal of his.

Sarah Palin

I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible. The reason I am is because I believe the big problem is not taxes, the big problem is spending.

Milton Friedman

Conservative need to stay focused on what is important and not get tripped up in the lefts’ trap of personality politics. Lately, it seems the left is making inroads within some conservative circles using this tactic. Solid conservatives are starting to form their opinions around rumor, gossip and innuendo. “A former disgruntled aide said this…A Vanity Fair reporter said that.”

Some conservatives are saying “I read this candidate is a control freak.” As if this is unusual for a politician.

We are not trying to vote ourselves a new friend. We are voting for a representative that will implement our conservative agenda. If the candidate has a nice public persona, that’s a bonus. It shouldn’t, however, be the overriding factor in the decision making process.

Also, keep in mind the left wing media are pro’s at the Personality Politics game and have been at it for a very long time. Remember how merciless they were with Ronald Reagan.

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The left did everything they could to smear Ronald Reagan taking shots at him from all sides.

It seemed every facet of left wing pop culture lined up to take a shot at him. The left created sensational TV movies like ‘The Day After‘ depicting life after nuclear Armageddon (brought on by President Reagan’s tough stance against the Soviets). There were cheesy music videos, Hollywood took cheap shots at him in movies- remember Back to the Future?

In the end, nothing stuck and liberals were reduced to mocking him on SNL as a bumbling old fool / evil genius:

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Reagan was reelected in a landslide and was so popular at the end of his second term, George H.W. Bush received Reagan’s ‘third term.’

Conservatism works. We know this. Our job as conservative voters is to find the most conservative candidates and get them elected to office. We need to ask two fundamental questions “does the candidate have your requisite conservative core principles?” and then ”will he or she implement them once in office?”

Everything else is smoke and mirrors.

Conservatives must evaluate current and future candidates primarily on their core principles and not get caught up in the trap of Personality Politics, glossy Vanity Fair articles, gossip and hype.