To Obama And The Democrats The Only Jobs In America Are Road Construction Jobs

Posted on September 6, 2010 by steve

What about all the other jobs and businesses that Obama and the Democrats are actively destroying?

WASHINGTON — Appealing to a union crowd on Labor Day, President Obama on Monday is calling for a $50 billion investment in long-term infrastructure projects that the administration claims will stimulate the flailing economy, create jobs and refill the exhausted highway trust fund.

Though the infrastructure package is aimed at the next six years, the investment of $50 billion is intended to be a “front-loaded” expansion of the $814 billion stimulus package that emphasized shovel-ready projects.

“The plan builds upon the infrastructure investments the president has already made through the Recovery Act, includes principles the president put forth during the campaign and emphasizes American competitiveness and innovation,” reads a statement from the White House press office.

How, exactly, is taking money from us, sending it to the heavy construction industry, to build a road going to ‘stimulate’ the economy?

Getting To Know Your Michigan Candidates: State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D) 12th House District

Posted on September 6, 2010 by steve

“I believe we need comprehensive immigration reform that reflects our nation’s values and restores the rule of law. Instead we have an immigration system that leaves families in limbo, deports people based on frivolous principles, allows for worker abuse and says to immigrants that you truly will never belong. The lack of action from the federal government is irresponsible and continues to negatively impact local communities.”

Rashida Tlaib, 2007 Michigan Political Leaders Fellow

Don’t let the warm smile of Democrat State Rep. Rashida Tlaib fool you, she is a prototypical Progressive Democrat.

Democrat Rashida Tlaib is a one term State Representative from Michigan’s 12 district and is actively involved with the Progressive States Network (PSN), an organization aggressively working to implement Obama style progressive legislation in state capitals across the country. Mrs. Tlaib one other thing in common with Obama, she is also a former community organizer.

One issue that is very important to Rashida Tlaib is the Environmental Justice movement. It gets top billing on her campaign web page:

Rashida has established a strong track record in holding polluting businesses accountable to state, local, and federal law. Environmental justice has been Rashida’s top priority, and she has recently championed a bill that requires school districts to perform an environmental assessment before acquiring land to build or expand a school building to protect the health and well-being of kids, as well as our natural resources.

Environmental Justice is so important to her, she even took time out from her schedule to protest the expansion of Marathon’s Detroit Refinery to process tar sand from Canada:

On July 9, citizen activists rallied outside the Detroit refinery to also call attention to the effects of tar sands development on water and air. “Tar sands are the dirtiest source of fossil fuels,” said Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), who attended the protest.

Its not like Detroit and Michigan could use the jobs, or the increase in economic activity, the expansion of the refinery would bring. Another Environmental Justice initiative Mrs. Tlaib is involved with is “We Have the Right to Breathe” campaign. Form Rashida Tlaib’s Michigan Democrat web page:

I hope you will join the “We Have the Right to Breathe” campaign – a grassroots, environmental justice movement to improve Detroit’s air quality, hold businesses accountable and help slam the brakes on the thousands of trucks that rumble through our neighborhoods. This is a chance for you to speak up against these companies, tell them that they are destroying our quality of life and ensure they are held accountable for the damage they cause.

Together with the Delray Community Benefits Coalition, Bridgewatch Detroit and community advocates, we can educate our community and increase awareness about air quality issues in our neighborhoods.

Rashida Tlaib is also advocating progressive style immigration reform advocated by the Progressive States Network. She has signed on to the PSN version of Immigration Reform. A few of their ideas are:

For America to be a land of opportunity for all, our policies must recognize our common human rights and shared responsibilities. Our focus should be on raising wage standards for all workers and ending illegal economic exploitation across the economy, not punishing a small subset of immigrant workers.
Immigrant entrepreneurs and workers pay taxes and create jobs, businesses, and new technologies that propel American innovation. Since those taxes are paid disproportionately to the federal government, the federal government should return those revenues to state and local governments to provide necessary social and technical services including health care, education, and integration.
We reject the politics of anger and division and are working together across the states to promote policies that live up to America’s core ideals and community values. Intrusive and unnecessary identification laws designed to divide communities actually hurt American citizens and prevent them from accessing necessary social services and fully participating in our democracy.

Maybe I’m wrong, shouldn’t a State Representative be more concerned with their district and not worrying about national immigration policy?

It appears Democrat Democrat Rashida Tlaib is more interested in implementing a progressive national agenda working through our State Legislature rather than addressing the concerns (i.e. jobs) of her district.

However, there is an opportunity stop the advance of progressivism in our state. If you live in Michigan’s 12th district, vote for Darrin Daigle, Republican.

*h/t John Carey @ The Current for the info about the PSN

Going Down: Obama Hits -23 In Rasmussen Poll

Posted on September 5, 2010 by steve

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:

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

Posted on September 5, 2010 by steve

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

Posted on September 5, 2010 by steve

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:

The Trap Of Personality Politics

Posted on September 5, 2010 by steve

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.

click for a larger version of poster

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:

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.

Federal Government Is Going After Arizona On Multiple Fronts

Posted on September 4, 2010 by steve

I wonder if these two events are related…

Controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Under Investigation for Allegedly Violating Civil Rights- Justice Department Alleges That Arpaio is Stonewalling the Investigation

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona has gained national attention for his relentless pursuit of illegal immigrants, but now the hard-line lawman finds himself in the sights of the U.S. Justice Department.

The self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in the country is under investigation for possibly breaking civil rights laws.

Among the federal allegations against Arpaio: “unlawful searches and seizures, discriminatory police conduct, and a failure to provide basic services to individuals with limited English.”

In short, the Justice Department charges that the sheriff unfairly targets Latinos.

Arpaio has reacted with outright defiance.

“This is the people of Arizona they are going against, using me as a puppet,” Arpaio said at a press conference on Thursday. “They’re not going to put handcuffs on this sheriff. I’m not going to surrender!”

EPA requires stronger air quality plan for Phoenix / EPA proposes to disapprove inadequate plan

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today proposed to disapprove Maricopa County’s air quality plan because it does not adequately control emissions of coarse particulate matter.

“Phoenix has an air quality problem that EPA is committed to solving. Too many residents in our nation’s 5th largest city suffer from asthma, chronic lung disease and other breathing disorders resulting from particulate air pollution,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “The State’s plan does not achieve the emission reductions needed for Maricopa County. While it does take some steps to control pollution, more aggressive measures are needed to achieve air quality standards.”

The Maricopa area is considered in “nonattainment” for coarse particulate matter (PM-10) — meaning the air quality fails to meet national standards for this pollutant. The State of Arizona submitted a plan in 2007 intended to ensure that coarse particulate matter was reduced by five percent each year until the standard was attained. The State did not correctly inventory the sources of PM-10, resulting in a plan that does not satisfy the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act. Additionally, the State contends that many of the days with poor air quality, when particulates exceed the standards, are due to “exceptional events” such as dust storms. But EPA has determined that a legally significant number of these exceedances were not caused by “exceptional events.”

Video: IR Nerf Auto-Cannon

Posted on September 3, 2010 by steve

This is really cool:

Via Engadget.

2011 Dodge Durango

Posted on September 2, 2010 by steve

The 2011 Durango is looking really nice:

Thursday Night Quick Hits: The Tuned Pale Ale Edition

Posted on September 2, 2010 by steve

For all the music aficionado’s out there… beer bottle labels that indicate the note of the sound the bottle makes when you blow across the bottle top.

EPA and Global Warming Nuts

ON FIRE… Mark Levin: We Must Take Back Our Country, Stay Engaged & Fight for Liberty (video)

Take this with a grain of salt (it is from Politics Daily), but it is interesting : After Alaska Loss, GOP Gets Aggressive Against Tea Party Candidate in Delaware

Delaware GOP officials are wasting no opportunity to attack Christine O’Donnell ahead of the Sept. 14 Republican primary, preparing a slew of negative ads and accusing her of inflating her resume and making false statements about the moderate Castle, The Associated Press reported.

“She’s not a viable candidate for any office in the state of Delaware,” state party chairman Tom Ross, who is backing Castle, told the AP. “She could not be elected dog catcher.”

The Political Divide

Obama was for the war before he voted against it…