Thursday, December 11, 2014
Boehner spending bill deficit tally: $3.8 trillion in the 3.8 years
(CNSNews.com) – The federal debt has increased by $3.8 trillion in the 3.8 years that have passed since House Speaker John Boehner cut his first spending deal with Senate Democrats and President Obama.
That works out to $32,938.38 for every household in the United States—including those taking federal welfare benefits—and $42,783.20 for every full-time year-round private-sector worker in the United States.
In fact, the $42,783.20 that the federal government has borrowed per full-time year-round private-sector worker since Boehner cut his first federal spending deal exceeds the $41,916 that according to the Census Bureau was median annual earnings of full-time year-round private-sector wage and salary workers in 2013.
Boehner became speaker in January 2011, after the Republicans won a majority of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections of 2010. At that time, the government was operating under a continuing resolution that expired on March 4, 2011. Before that CR expired, Boehner cut a spending deal to fund the government after it expired.
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Chaos: WH Holds Conference Call To Prepare For Possible Government Shutdown…
WASHINGTON–The White House’s budget office held a conference call Thursday with all federal agencies to review plans for a possible government shutdown, an administration official said, reviewing protocol in the event Congress doesn’t pass funding legislation by midnight.
A similar preparatory call was held on Dec. 4. The Obama administration doesn’t expect a shutdown to occur on Friday because lawmakers are still trying to round up support for a spending bill. But if the talks falter, and a short-term bill isn’t agreed to quickly, a partial shutdown could happen as of midnight.
Also see: Government may shut down as spending bill is delayed
With this in mind, the conference calls with management-level officials from all federal agencies were held out of an abundance of caution.
NBC News Brian Williams Wonders: “Are We Better Morally” Than Our Jihadist Enemies?…
The answer to that is clearly yes. Pouring some water up a terrorist's nose or giving him a slap is clearly morally superior to crucifying children, beheading aid workers and stoning adulterers. Asking whether we are morally superior is irrelevant in my opinion. When you are at war with someone who has sworn to kill or destroy you, it's not about being "morally superior." At the end of the day, we can win and be alive and continue our way of life or we can be dead and our children will be living under an Islamic Caliphate. The question is, "Are we willing to do what it takes to win?" After we have won the war, there will be time to criticize what we could have done better. If we lose, being "morally superior" will be small consultation to the dead or our daughters living their lives as sex slaves.
Change: Al Gore speaks to half full room at COP-20
Via The Daily Caller:
Former star of stage and screen Al Gore arrived at COP-20 early Wednesday morning to give one of the opening speeches at an all-day conference put on by the Chinese delegation on Making the Future of Cities Green. I got there a few minutes too late hear him, so made sure I was early to hear his big talk at 1:15.
It was scheduled for one of the COP’s two big plenary meeting rooms. I arrived at 12:50. The UN security officer guarding the door told me that the official session was over and the Cusco Room was now closed. I said, What about Al Gore’s speech at 1:15? He said that there was nothing until 3 PM, but when I pressed him, he went and got his list of the day’s events in the Cusco and Lima Rooms (which are actually very large tents–the whole COP is being held in very nice temporary structures erected on the grounds of Peru’s Pentagonito). Sure enough, there were the Climate Reality Project and Al Gore listed at 1:15.
The former U. S. Vice President arrived early, but did not start speaking until 1:30. That may be because there weren’t many people in the very large room. By the time he began to speak, perhaps half the seats were occupied. More people came as he continued talking. At the end, he got a polite round of applause. Such are the indignities of being a former movie star.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Tweet of the Day: Gruber gets thanked...
Right after hearing I shook Gruber's hand, looked him in the eye, and said:
"Thank you for helping us destroy the shitty law you passed."
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) December 9, 2014
Kathleen Sebelius: “If you ask people do they like Obamacare, the answer is pretty universally no,”
Via Daily Mail:
… “If you ask people do they like Obamacare, the answer is pretty universally no,” Sebelius said at a Politico “Lessons from Leaders” event. “Unless they have coverage.”
The public’s distaste for the Affordable Care Act is irrefutable. While many Democratic supporters of the law continue to blame unpopularity on the botched website during Sebelius’ tenure as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Obamacare reached its lowest approval rating from Gallup just last month.
But Sebelius charges that the law is working and simply needs to be re-branded and re-sold to the American people.
“So Obamacare no question has a very bad brand that has been driven intentionally by a lot of misinformation and by a lot of paid advertising and I think we may need to call it something, in the future, different,” Sebelius said. “But it’s working and now people are getting coverage.”
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Climate Alarmists Heartache: Global Warming isn't behind California's drought.
Via Discovery
Climate change is usually discussed in extremes: Epic heat in Australia. A deadly heat wave in Europe. Hurricane Sandy grinding New York to a halt.
The extreme California drought? Maybe not so much.
A new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study released Monday shows that the three-year California drought may have been caused by natural variability and not necessarily human-caused climate change.
The study follows a series of studies released in September that were inconclusive about the role of climate change in the California drought, and another published last week showing that the drought is the worst the state has seen in 1,200 years.
The devastating 3-year drought, which began in 2011 and is ongoing despite recent rains, was caused by a high pressure system that was sitting over the West Coast and part of the North Pacific Ocean, driving moisture away from California, report co-author Richard Seager, a professor of oceanography at the Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y., said.
The persistence of the high pressure ridge was also present in previous long-term droughts in California, some of which were longer than the current drought. The ridge was initially caused by cool sea surface temperatures in the Pacific brought about by a La Niña in 2011, but it persisted even after cool ocean surface temperatures began to warm, the study says.
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