Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Uh Oh, Blue On Blue Cannibalism. Again

Landrieu blasts Salazar And Obama Over lies About Energy And Drilling


Must be election year. I wonder if Obama can keep is little kids in line. I don't think he can. A mile wide and an inch deep is his support.

The Stink Of Algae And Green Cronyism In ObamaLand

via Curmudgeonly and Skeptical


Thanks to some extensive research by the Washington Post, the magnitude of the scandal is now better defined.  Here’s what the WaPo found:
  • $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama Administration staffers and advisers.
  • Sanjay Wagle, a venture capitalist and Barack Obama fundraiser in 2008, went to work at the DOE in 2009, and guided $2.4 billion to companies in which his former firm, Vantage Point Venture, had invested. 
  • David Danielson, formerly of General Catalyst, joined a DOE mission to fund breakthrough technologies and directed $105 million to three General Catalyst portfolio firms.
  • David Sandalow was a highly compensated consultant in 2008 for Good Energies, a venture capital firm, before becoming an Assistant Secretary at DOE in 2009.  SolarReserve, a Good Energies investment, received a $737 million DOE loan.
  • Steven Spinner, got a job as an “adviser” at DOE after having been a campaign fundraising bundler for Obama.  Spinner’s wife worked for the global law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati  that specializes in clean technology companies.  WSG&R clients garnered $2.75 billion in DOE loans, including the now infamous $535 million for Solyndra. 
  • Steve Westly – an Obama campaign fundraising bundler in 2008 and 2012 – was the founder of the venture capital firm, the Westly Group, and an adviser to DOE Secretary Steven Chu.  Westly Group portfolio companies received $600 million in funding through the green-loan program.
  • David Prend is Managing General Partner at the Boston based venture capital firm, Rockport Capital Partners.   Prend also chaired a solar technologies advisory panel for the DOE, and had close ties with Energy Czar, Carol Browner.  The DOE pumped $550 million into various Rockport Partners supported firms, not including Solyndra in which Rockport Partners was a 7.5% stakeholder.  The DOE also funded electric-car battery company, Ener1 – a partner with Rockport portfolio car company Think - with a $118 million loan.  [Full article]

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Alter At Ghent By Van Eyck

Closer to Van Eyck: Rediscovering the Ghent Altarpiece 
is an online presentation of the results of a research project 
that examined the artist’s extraordinary masterwork 
in extreme detail, both to assess and 
record its condition for conservation.

HUH??

Monday, February 27, 2012

Fair Is Fair: An Obama Success!

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) blamed President Obama for the spike in oil prices, saying the administration had pushed for consumers to pay higher prices at the pump.
“Let’s give the president credit for one domestic policy that works. He wanted higher gas prices and he got them,” said Daniels on Fox News Sunday. “Secretary Chu said $8 are about what they pay in Europe. It would be great. Secretary Salazar said $10 and it still wouldn’t be for drilling in the places where we know there’s an awful lot of domestic production. And so, they have gotten the doubling of gas prices and perhaps worse, it’s a conscious policy of this administration. Maybe the one thing they set out to do and actually accomplished.” he said.

All the Obots and progressive-regressives will crow that Obama has made America a net exporter of energy. Uh, no.

Obama Claim: The U.S. has become a net energy exporter.
Reality: This claim is 100 percent false. Because the Obama campaign does not provide a single citation or source for their information, it is impossible to know how great its ignorance of energy facts extends. Every year, the Energy Information Administration, which is part of the Obama administration’s Department of Energy, publishes an Annual Energy Review. If the Obama campaign understood energy facts, they would have looked at Table 1.4 of the 2010 Annual Energy Review. They would have found a table titled, “Primary Energy Trade by Source, Selected Years, 1949–2010.” That table shows that in 2010, far from being a net energy exporter, the U.S. had net imports of 21 quadrillion Btus of energy of the 98 quadrillion btus used.
Obama likes to say that he has created more energy, but it has been the private sector that has grown while the federal government has dwindled as well as dragging their feet on permits, thwarting the Keystone pipeline and trying to stop shale oil drilling. 
Some charts (being updated):

Like Gov Daniels said, Obama wanted to screw us at the pumps and he is accomplishing that. Success!


Prague Castle and Mala Strana / Pražský hrad a Malá Strana

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Hey Geithner, It's A Privilege You Get To Serve Us So Do Us The Privilege Of Shutting Up!

Turbo Tax Timmy couldn't pay his taxes, but wants people to pay more. In logic so twisted even Timmy looks to be in disbelief.



"That’s the kind of balance you need," said Geithner. "Why is that the case? Because if you don't try to generate more revenues through tax reform, if you don't ask, you know, the most fortunate Americans to bear a slightly larger burden of the privilege of being an American, then you have to -- the only way to achieve fiscal sustainability is through unacceptably deep cuts in benefits for middle class seniors, or unacceptably deep cuts in national security."


Well, we know just how much this administration is dedicated to national security, but how much deeper can they really cut the military? Middle class seniors? Really? Their polls must see a real slump there. So, that leaves the rest of us because they are going to raise taxes on everyone, especially farmers and other small business owners.


Privilege? Our forefathers gave us the privilege we enjoy today, not government and they would tell pansies like Little Timmy to do them and us the privilege of just shutting up.

Besides Murder What Are The Economic Costs Of Our 35,000,000 Abortions

Over $200 billion in taxes each year lost from dead babies.


AGW: Catastrophic Catastrophe Claim Is Catastrophic To Catastrohes

Stated briefly, I will simply try to clarify what the debate over climate change is really about. It most certainly is not about whether climate is changing: it always is. It is not about whether CO2 is increasing: it clearly is. It is not about whether the increase in CO2, by itself, will lead to some warming: it should. The debate is simply over the matter of how much warming the increase in CO2 can lead to, and the connection of such warming to the innumerable claimed catastrophes. The evidence is that the increase in CO2 will lead to very little warming, and that the connection of this minimal warming (or even significant warming) to the purported catastrophes is also minimal. The arguments on which the catastrophic claims are made are extremely weak – and commonly acknowledged as such. They are sometimes overtly dishonest.


UPDATE: Speaking of catastrophes:


A meme that permeates the left is that the Heartland Institute is a bastion of anti-science morons that are actually paid oil stooge know-nothings who are scared of real debate by real scientists and are representative of all illiterate and stupid conservatives. They even have a new "study" that shows that stupid children grow up to be conservatives! Oh, my, I love dat science! (If you are not an atheistic liberal they have a study researched by JEN-U-INE geniuses that shows Christians are stupid too)

Why Heartland? And how did the “leaker” get his hands on authentic Heartland board materials that are obviously the source for the faked strategy memo? The Heartland Institute sponsors the most significant annual gathering of climate skeptics, usually in New York, Chicago, or Washington, D.C.—a conference that attracts hundreds of scientists and activists from around the globe, including most of the top skeptical scientists, such as MIT’s Richard Lindzen, Yale’s Robert Mendelsohn, and career EPA official Alan Carlin. By assembling a critical mass of serious dissenting opinion, the Heartland conference dispels the favorite climate campaign talking point that there’s virtually no one of repute, and no arguments of merit, outside the -so-called consensus of imminent climate catastrophe. 
The Heartland conferences have been too big for the media to ignore completely, though coverage has been spare and grudging. The conferences are also a morale booster for skeptics, who tend to be isolated and relentlessly assailed in their scattered outposts. It is worth adding that Heartland has always extended invitations to the leading “mainstream” figures to speak or debate at the conference, including Al Gore, NASA’s James Hansen, and senior officials from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (Heartland typically receives no response from such figures.)
Morons, all! Just ask a liberal. Especially liberals who have no expertise in the areas of which they speak. They know the most!

A Real American Apology To Karzai And Other Outrages Muslims Over Burned Korans




Friday, February 24, 2012


AGW: Anthropogenic Global Whining

Holy OLR emissions!

In my article about the Peter Gleick affair coming out tonight or early tomorrow morning in the next issue of The Weekly Standard, I note that “the Heartland Institute has always extended invitations to the leading ‘mainstream’ figures to speak or debate at the [annual Heartland climate change] conference, including Al Gore, NASA’s James Hansen, and senior officials from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (Heartland typically receives no response from such figures.)”
It turns out that one of the “mainstream” figures that Heartland has invited to debate is . . . Peter Gleick!  Quite recently in fact.  Which only adds to the mountain of circumstance explaining why Gleick gave into his jonesing for a fix of Heartland’s proprietary information in late January.  Gleick has been sharing pixels with Heartland’s James Taylor on Forbes.com, where they have traded fusillades over climate issue.  It would seem it drove Gleick insane.
Go read the rest, especially the parts concerning transparency. $26 mill of oil money to save the planet was hidden in the mist!

How's That $44K Hope And Change?

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Ash Wednesday


Every Blog Seems To Attract One

To me banning someone is extreme. Of course, some have to run with that to become abusive, obnoxious and boring. Then there are the ones that go over the edge. Some build towards it while others are born to it.


Bloggers Beware – A Cautionary Tale

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

AGW: When True Science Isn't True

Forged documents, false data, coordinated lies and a community dependent on billions of dollars of grants and other monies to support the movement and salaries. What's not to question?

Well, there is at least one question for AGW's disciples; What is science without ethics?

I hardly know what to say about the latest developments in the Heartland document dump. Profanity seems too weak, and incredulity too tame. . . . Gleick has done enormous damage to his cause and his own reputation, and it’s no good to say that people shouldn’t be focusing on it. If his judgement is this bad, how is his judgement on matters of science? For that matter, what about the judgement of all the others in the movement who apparently see nothing worth dwelling on in his actions? When skeptics complain that global warming activists are apparently willing to go to any lengths–including lying–to advance their worldview, I’d say one of the movement’s top priorities should be not proving them right.”

I know, I know, we're rubes without paper thus we should quietly sit on our hands and keep our mouths shut so our betters can do their magic in saving us from ourselves. Well, maybe one question more, how many trillions have we spent on AGW “science” or is that beyond our purview as well? Just asking…

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Barack Obama: Greatest Gun Salesman Evah!

The Greatest Gun Salesman In America: President Barack Obama [INFOGRAPHIC]
Via: Ammo.net

AGW: When You Absolutely Must Speak The Truth, Lie

Another crack in the wall. How many more cracks are needed to cause the wall to fall for even those most invested in this hoax?




Think I'll grab my hockey stick and go play. It would have just as much consequence since I don't play hockey (any more).

Why must people lie to address their "truth"?

Monday, February 20, 2012

Obillionaire's Friends Scratch His Back And He Scratches Their Backs


According to the story below the kind owners of a couple of ski resorts put up their shack for Michelle, family and friends for a few days.


According to the Aspen Daily News, which first reported the news, the family is staying at the home of Jim and Paula Crown, who own and operate four ski mountain resorts. The paper also reported that the first family is skiing Saturday at Buttermilk, one of the Crown's mountain resorts that caters to beginners and families.

If you have a few resorts, even for beginners and families, you have money to cover the mortgage, but to say that Jim and Paula Crown own a few resorts is like saying David Rockefeller owns a nice beetle collection.

It appears that Jimmy and Paula have a bit more than beginner and family ski resorts. Oh, they also own a lot of influence over government.

James Schine Crown (born June 25, 1953)[1] is an American businessman. He is president of Henry Crown and Company, a private investment company. He is a director of JPMorgan Chase & Co., General Dynamics and Sara Lee as well as being the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the University of Chicago. A member of Chicago's Crown family, James' father is billionaire Lester Crown. He earned his BA from Hampshire College in 1976 and his law degree from Stanford in 1980. It is believed his family holds ownership in the following companies: Aspen Skiing Company.

Aspen Institute

James Schine Crown

Department:

Biography

James Schine Crown is President of Henry Crown and Company, a privately owned investment company which invests in public and private securities, real estate and operating companies. He is a director of General Dynamics Corporation, JPMorgan Chase and Sara Lee Corporation. Mr. Crown is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago.  He is also a trustee of the Museum of Science and Industry and the Orchestral Association.
Jim Crown was born in Chicago in 1953, the son of Lester and Renée (Schine) Crown. Mr. Crown earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1976 from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He received his law degree in 1980 from Stanford Law School, where he was projects editor of the Stanford Law Review and a member of the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation.
Upon graduating, Mr. Crown joined Salomon Brothers Inc, in New York City, as an associate. He became a vice president of the Capital Markets Service Group in January 1983. In April 1985 he returned to Chicago to join his family's investment firm.
Mr. Crown is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association. Mr. Crown has been married to the former Paula Hannaway since 1985. She was also a vice president of Salomon Brothers, and is currently working at Henry Crown and Company. Mrs. Crown is a Trustee of the Children's Memorial Medical Center, Conservation International, the Museum of Modern Art, the Aspen Music Festival, Duke University, the Latin School of Chicago, Vice Chair of the Board of High Jump and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Chicago Community Trust. She is on the Board of Advisors of Nasher Museum of Art and serves on the Women's Boards of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the University of Chicago.  They have four children.

James S. Crown

Independent Director

JP Morgan Chase & Co

New York ,  NY

Sector: FINANCIAL  /  Money Center Banks

Lead Independent Director ,  Sara Lee Corporation

Downers Grove ,  IL

Sector: CONSUMER GOODS  /  Processed & Packaged Goods

Officer since January 2010

Independent Director ,  General Dynamics

Falls Church ,  VA

Sector: INDUSTRIAL GOODS  /  Aerospace/Defense Products & Services

57 Years Old
Mr. Crown joined Henry Crown and Company, a privately owned investment company which invests in public and private securities, real estate and operating companies, in 1985 as Vice President and became President in 2003. Mr. Crown is a director of General Dynamics Corporation (since 1987) and of Sara Lee Corporation (since 1998). Mr. Crown graduated from Hampshire College in 1976 and received his law degree from Stanford University Law School in 1980. Following law school, Mr. Crown joined Salomon Brothers Inc. and became a vice president of the Capital Markets Service Group in 1983. In 1985 he joined his family?s investment firm. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the University of Chicago Medical Center and a Trustee of the Museum of Science and Industry, The Aspen Institute, the University of Chicago and of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Forbes Rankings
Director Compensation (JP Morgan Chase & Co) for 2009
Fees earned or paid in cash
$90,000.00
Stock awards
$170,000.00
Option awards (in $)
$0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$0.00
Total Compensation
$260,000.00
Director Compensation (JP Morgan Chase & Co) for 2008
Fees earned or paid in cash
$90,000.00
Stock awards
$170,000.00
Option awards (in $)
$0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$0.00
Total Compensation
$260,000.00
Director Compensation (JP Morgan Chase & Co) for 2007
Fees earned or paid in cash
$90,000.00
Stock awards
$170,000.00
Option awards (in $)
$0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$0.00
Total Compensation
$260,000.00
Director Compensation (JP Morgan Chase & Co) for 2006
Fees earned or paid in cash
$90,000.00
Stock awards
$264,532.00
Option awards (in $)
$0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$0.00
Total Compensation
$354,532.00
Director Compensation (JP Morgan Chase & Co) for 2005
Fees earned or paid in cash
$90,000.00
Stock awards
$170,000.00
Option awards (in $)
$0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$0.00
Total Compensation
$260,000.00
Director Compensation (Sara Lee Corporation) for 2010
Fees earned or paid in cash
$92,500.00
Stock awards
$137,511.00
Option awards (in $)
$0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$0.00
Total Compensation
$230,011.00
Director Compensation (Sara Lee Corporation) for 2009
Fees earned or paid in cash
$86,250.00
Stock awards
$131,281.00
Option awards (in $)
$0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$5,000.00
Total Compensation
$222,531.00
Director Compensation (Sara Lee Corporation) for 2008
Fees earned or paid in cash
$80,000.00
Stock awards
$102,529.00
Option awards (in $)
$0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$10,303.00
Total Compensation
$192,832.00
Director Compensation (Sara Lee Corporation) for 2007
Fees earned or paid in cash
$81,875.00
Stock awards
$82,766.00
Option awards (in $)
$0.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$20,000.00
Total Compensation
$184,641.00
Director Compensation (General Dynamics) for 2010
Fees earned or paid in cash
$163,167.00
Stock awards
$40,420.00
Option awards (in $)
$81,258.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$2,140.00
Total Compensation
$286,985.00
Director Compensation (General Dynamics) for 2008
Fees earned or paid in cash
$129,750.00
Stock awards
$47,930.00
Option awards (in $)
$69,829.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$2,164.00
Total Compensation
$249,673.00
Director Compensation (General Dynamics) for 2007
Fees earned or paid in cash
$122,250.00
Stock awards
$40,438.00
Option awards (in $)
$60,387.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$2,189.00
Total Compensation
$225,264.00
Director Compensation (General Dynamics) for 2006
Fees earned or paid in cash
$95,000.00
Stock awards
$16,842.00
Option awards (in $)
$45,629.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation
$0.00
Change in pension value and nondisqualified compensation earnings
$0.00
All other compensation
$2,189.00
Total Compensation
$159,660.00

Good for them to be so successful They can only influence those that will be influenced and I think it’s pretty clear who they know they can.

Obama: Switch Hitter

With the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt the probability of them attacking our best ally, Israel,  becomes more probable. So, why not arm a radicalized Egypt with better weapons of war?



I once headed up a corporation that sold goods to Egypt, a then Egypt exponentially more sane, and we had to stencil the sides of each crate with an images of an axe and a bloody severed hand to deter thieves once the product arrived in Egypt. Did wonders for our marketing. We also sold to Israel where there was little chance of theft and we didn't have to use graphic imagery because Israeli workers could read.

So, the Arab Spring of Obama will now be able to spring an attack on our ally using weapons from us. The switch hitting logic is astounding. And naive, but then that is the administration we have.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Michelle Antoinette: Surfing Onto Skiing

It's tough fighting for middle class values.

Martini anyone?

Friday, February 17, 2012

Key