Our newly reelected President used his Inaugural Address and the State of the Union to advocate that we must take action to combat man made global warming. He said there have been increases in droughts and violent storms. I’m frustrated because those statements are easily proven to be false. Most of the media have once again simply ignored the fact that the President is speaking from beliefs not supported by facts. George Will is one exception. His latest article, which focused on the nonsense of having a State of the Union address, mentions comments about climate change. “Data are unkind to his assertion that climate change is causing storms to become more violent and drought to become more prevalent.” “Hurricane and other tropical cyclone activity are at a three-decade low, and Nature journal reports that globally ‘there has been little change in drought over the past 60 years’.” Continue reading
Category Archives: Commentary
Benghazi–What Difference Does It Make
I have been astonished at the lack of attention given by several major media outlets to the attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed four Americans, including our ambassador to that country. I understand that many in the media did not want anything to distract the voting public from re-electing Mr. Obama. They apparently now do not want anything to get in the way if Hillary Clinton chooses to run in 2016. Perhaps that’s why there was little media criticism when Clinton responded to a question whether the attack was a spontaneous protest or an organized terrorist attack. “Was it a protest or is it because of guys out on a walk one night and they decide they would go kill some Americans?”What difference, at this point, does it make?” The media celebrated the “brilliance” and emotion of her response. I was appalled at her response. Continue reading
United States Had Hottest Year Ever
Fans of global warming have been celebrating that the U.S. had the highest average recorded temperature in 2012, and the national media was full of stories about the horrors to come. Reports that indicate there is no global warming trend were displayed less prominently. One report mentioned that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that the average temperature for the entire world barely made it into being one of the top ten years. The average was 58 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a full degree above the twentieth century average.
Another article that did gain a rather large headline on page 19A of the January 6, 2013 Denver Post reports that China is experiencing unusually cold weather. The national average temperatures are the lowest in almost three decades. Snow and ice have created havoc and knocked out power in several provinces. That information should be remarkable to advocates of the theory that global warming is being caused by man’s carbon dioxide emission, since China has been busy outstripping the U.S. in those emissions. Continue reading
Notice about Expression (and Review) Blog Page(s)
The Expressions and Review weblog pages of RockyFlatsFacts.com have been experiencing technical problems that are forcing their migration to a different blogging platform. Access to the blog pages has been disrupted (for both you and me) several times over the past few weeks, and made it a challenge to meet my regular Wednesday schedule to post new reviews, expressions, and commentaries.
We are busy battling further service disruptions and transferring content from current weblog pages to our new platform, and intend to transition completely to the new platform as soon as practicable. Regular readers of this page will probably notice a few format and content improvements, which we hope you will appreciate. We are attempting a smooth transition and ask your indulgence for any temporary glitches over the next week or two.
I expect to get back into my regular posting routine as soon as transfer to the new platform is completed.
Social Security Projections
The U.S. deficit continues to grow out of control, and there should have been actions taken to address the problem long before now. However, President Obama’s comments that the deficit is not a short term problem indicates to me we won’t do anything about the deficit for the next four years. Much of the problem is caused by “entitlement” commitments, and President Obama said in his inaugural address that he has no intention of doing anything about those either.
I’m baffled how the American people and the media are going along with the “don’t worry, be happy” approach. Looking at Social Security alone is frightening. A recent article by Chuck Saletta on the Motley Fool points out that each new analysis finds that the program will reach “financial unsustainability” sooner than the previous analyses. The Social Security Trustees reported in 2008 that problems would not be encountered until 2041. The date has now changed to 2033, and that is going to continue to move closer.
Money taken from employees and employers is invested in bonds, and bonds that mature must be replaced with new ones. The older bonds were yielding much more in interest than the ones currently available. The program is projected to earn $5.4 billion less in bond interest in 2012. The fact the Federal Reserve has recently said they are going to artificially keep interest rates low until the unemployment rate begins to drop means the revenue is not going to improve. Continue reading
Looming Demographic Disaster
The first paragraph in an article authored by Bill Frezza is disconcerting, to understate the level of concern it should cause. “If demography is destiny, democracy is toast-at least those democracies where citizens can vote themselves a living at someone else’s expense. It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to see that governments’ addiction to intergenerational income redistribution is not sustainable unless someone keeps supplying babies at an accelerating pace.” The last sentence of the article is, “The problem with entitlement democracy is that you eventually run out of other people’s babies.” (I’m guessing this is a slight theft of Margret Thatcher’s famous quote that, “The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.)
The gist of the article is that we are facing a self-imposed financial disaster. “The root cause of the economic disaster that lies ahead is the kamikaze drive of democratic governments to displace the functions of the family, including the care of relatives in their old age.” Continue reading