Free Republic

A very interesting editorial by Steve Margolis at Newmark's Door (HT: TAE) discusses the economics of cap and trade, and outlines how it will bring about the largest transitional gains trap we've ever seen. Among many brilliant points about the economics of cap and trade, Margolis discusses the paradox that the economics of the bill will create for itself, that being that by creating a new market for the trading of carbon, the bill effectively destroys incentive to build the renewable resources it superficially calls to be created:

Rush, yesterday, June 30, continued to drop "birth bombs" into his monologues. In the midst of commenting on Mark Sanford, Rush several times mentioned that God, like Obama, does not have a birth certificate. Shortly thereafter, Rush mentioned a friend who had said that Obama had admitted being born in "Taco, Texas." "Or maybe it's 'Toco, Texas.'" I believe that Rush knows something substantive about the birth issue, and is taunting the government-run media--knowing that they are caught in a bind: They have to be enraged with each "birth bomb" he drops, but they dare not react. Rush is using...

Scientists Write Open Letter to Congress: 'You Are Being Deceived About Global Warming' -- 'Earth has been cooling for ten years' 'Present cooling was NOT predicted by the alarmists' computer models, and has come as an embarrassment to them' Wednesday, July 01, 2009By Marc Morano – Climate Depot Below is a reprint of a July 1, 2009 Open Letter to Congress by a team of prominent atmospheric scientists. OPEN LETTER TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: YOU ARE BEING DECEIVED ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING You have recently received an Open Letter from the Woods Hole Research Center, exhorting you to...

She was plucked to safety by the crew on a building site nearby after they spotted the plight of her and her husband. The workers used a crane to lower colleague Jason Oglesbee down to lift the woman free of the water and away to safety. While they were able to rescue the woman, her husband drowned after the boat overturned on the Des Moines River, Iowa. Joe Lowe, one of the construction workers, said: "I saw the boat drift down, and he started it up and he hit the bridge base. "Then he tried to wrap it up with...

Please forgive the shameless plug here; Whispers in the loggia is an excellent source for all things related to current events in the Catholic Church.

SPRINGFIELD -- State government limped into a new budget year Wednesday without a solid spending plan and rookie Gov. Pat Quinn threatened to drag the fight out all summer until he gets an income tax increase.For the third year in a row, Democrats who control Springfield failed to reach agreement on time, once again creating uncertainty for social service providers, public employees and others who count on the state paying its bills.Quinn scolded lawmakers in a rare joint session of the legislature and threatened to veto an admittedly underfunded spending plan passed by lawmakers in late May. But in a...

WTF?

From Gallup by Jeffrey M. Jones PRINCETON, NJ -- A Gallup Poll finds a statistically significant increase since last year in the percentage of Americans who describe the Democratic Party's views as being "too liberal," from 39% to 46%. This is the largest percentage saying so since November 1994, after the party's losses in that year's midterm elections. (Cross our fingers this leads to a future loss) Most major demographic and attitudinal subgroups show at least a slight uptick since 2008 in perceptions that the Democratic Party is too liberal. The increasing perception of the Democrats as too far left...

Many people in the United States and Europe are seeing gorgeous lavender sunsets lately thanks to the eruption more than two weeks ago of Russia's Sarychev Peak volcano. The volcano blew its top June 12, generating a remarkable shock wave in the atmosphere seen in a photo taken by astronauts. It also hurled massive plumes of sulfur dioxide into the air, and that material has been circling the globe. Deep purple hues and ripples of white characterize the spectacular views the past few evenings. The phenomenon occurs when the ash and fine particles sprayed high into the atmosphere by the...

Although President Obama had recently stated that "We're out of money now" he still continues with his nonstop catering to the Islamic world. It is obvious where his loyalties are.

How you can send me to jail I've made a lot of enemies through the years because of my fight for medical freedom. Unfortunately, my fight for freedom is about to get a lot harder. In fact, if the new universal medicine legislation making its way through Washington becomes law, I could go to jail. Here's why: Imagine coming to me for treatment and you get better. That's great, right? Of course it is. But if you don't tell the government what you saw me for, then I go to jail. It's that simple. And it's coming. The Obama Administration...

Not a whole lot to be happy about with this win by Franken but at least now they own everything. They have a filibuster proof Senate. Either everything they have whined about for the last eight years gets fixed or they are outright liars. Scott said it best in the comments: DEMS OWN IT NOW. What’s it? IT is EVERYTHING. 2010 midterms: if unemployment is still worse than when Obama took office, it’s their faultif GDP is still falling it’s Democrats’ faultif every American-EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN and most illegal aliens-don’t have the same high-quality/free medical coverage as Barack Obama…it’s their...

In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Gov. Mark Sanford called his tryst with a woman from Argentina a "whole lot more than a simple affair." He added it was a "love story" that was not only "forbidden" but "tragic" also.

The conventional wisdom, as recorded in the New York Times, is that the Republican party is in terrible trouble because of the confessions in the past two weeks of adultery by two possible presidential candidates, Nevada Senator John Ensign and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. I think this is overwrought, for reasons set forth in my Washington Examiner blog post. The Democratic party is surviving the confessions of adultery by 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards and former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, and the Republican party will survive the confessions of Ensign, who never seemed likely to be a...

Yesterday Bernie Madoff was sentenced in NYC to 150 years for his financial crimes. OK - the guy is a fraudster and a thief, who conducted the biggest Ponzi scheme in history - or was it? If Bernie Madoff isn't the biggest fraudster in history, who is?

"Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!" --George Washington, letter to James Warren, March 31, 1779

A PAC to release a TV ad taking aim at the Obama syndicate. Should be interesting. Originally found here: PAC Ad Takes on Obama Administration’s 'Inexcusable Conduct'

With the Supreme Court narrowly striking down Judge Sonia Sotomayor's decision in the New Haven fire fighter's case, it emphasizes the importance of a single vote and there are renewed questions about her judgment on race. It brings back into focus not only her comments on the superiority of certain racial groups and women, but when combined with her recent comments on the Belizean Grove club indicate a very selective and self serving decisions on deciding when discrimination is occurring. Judge Sonia Sotomayor can't take back her seven speeches over a decade where she talked about women's (or Latina women's)...

Dear Mahmoud, You suck. Freegards, Fatima

The recent discovery of a massive oil field in the Gulf of Mexico has crude oil refinery companies projecting its potential output to be well over 15 billion barrels. If these projections are true the impact of this discovery will be much greater than the actual discovery itself and may have encouraged continued crude oil dependency in the midst of a universal push for alternative fuel sources. It would certainly have a significant impact on crude oil consumption in the United States. According to the US Energy department, Americans consumes roughly 5.7 billion barrels of crude oil annually with reserves...