Politicians

Global warming: Our best guess is likely wrong – Nature Geoscience

“In a nutshell, theoretical models cannot explain what we observe in the geological record,” said oceanographer Gerald Dickens, a co-author of the study and professor of Earth science at Rice University. “There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way temperature and carbon are linked in climate models.”

via Rice University | News & Media.

PRUDEN: Franken, a clown for all seasons, arrives in time – Washington Times

One member of the Minnesota canvassing board, a state Supreme Court justice, conceded that some ballots were probably counted twice, but he said there was not much anybody could do about it. In more than 25 precincts, officials counted more ballots than actual voters; this was put down to well-meant enthusiasm. If everyone has a duty to vote, who could scold a voter for going above and beyond the call of duty?

via PRUDEN: Franken, a clown for all seasons, arrives in time – Washington Times.

Momentum builds toward possible end of this U.S. agency

I think I’m in favor of this. Any reduction in the secrecy and power of the Fed is a good thing. Just not sure if it will expose just how many amateur academics are sitting on that committee and tank the dollar even more in that light. I’m ashamed of them. Really poor decisions by congress in the past.

In a recent Straight Talk commentary, Rep. Paul wrote, “Claims are made that auditing the Fed would compromise its independence. However, by independence, they really mean secrecy. The Fed clearly cherishes its vast power to create and spend trillions of dollars, diluting the value of every other dollar in circulation, making deals with other central banks, and bailing out cronies, all to the detriment of the taxpayer, and to the enrichment of themselves. I am happy to challenge this type of ‘independence.'”

via Momentum builds toward possible end of this U.S. agency.

Obama & Crew: Excellence Versus Nothing – HUMAN EVENTS

It is no wonder to me why President Obama believes and does what he does: he has zero experience in the private sector, zero executive experience, and even very limited experience in government.

via Obama & Crew: Excellence Versus Nothing – HUMAN EVENTS.

A Government Failure, Not a Market Failure – WSJ.com

This was a market failure, we are told, and the promise of capitalism has always been that the self-correcting mechanisms built into the system would preclude the possibility of a systemic market failure.

But the housing bubble only burst after government subsidies pushed house prices up so fast that marginal buyers could no longer afford to chase prices even higher. A bubble created by rigged financial markets and a government-sponsored obsession with home ownership is not a result of market failure, but rather, a result of bad public policy. The belief that home ownership, per se, is such a benefit that no amount of government support could be too great and no pace at which home prices rise could be too fast is the root of the crisis.

There was no market failure.

via A Government Failure, Not a Market Failure – WSJ.com.

Strassel: Pelosi’s Pork Problem – WSJ.com

Picture a freight train roaring down the tracks. Picture House Speaker Nancy Pelosi positioning her party on the rails. Picture a growing stream of nervous souls diving for the weeds. Picture all this, and you’ve got a sense of the Democrats’ earmark-corruption problem.

via Strassel: Pelosi’s Pork Problem – WSJ.com.

World Agenda: Nicolas Sarkozy puts Barack Obama in the doghouse – Times Online

The American President’s call “to free the world of the menace of a nuclear nightmare” was hot air, Mr Sarkozy’s diplomatic staff told him in a report. “It was rhetoric – not a speech on American security policy but an export model aimed at improving the image of the United States,” they said. Most of Mr Obama’s proposals had already been made by the Bush administration and Washington was dragging its feet on disarmament and treaties against nuclear proliferation, the leaked report said.

Personal pique and French politics are also behind the souring of Mr Sarkozy’s self-promoted honeymoon with the United States. On the personal side, the French President is needled by the adulation for an unproven US leader whose stardom has eclipsed what he sees as his established record as a world troubleshooter. “The President is annoyed by what he sees as the naivety and the herd mentality of the media,” said a journalist who is privy to Elysée thinking.

. . .

Again, according to the Sarkozy version, at the Nato summit in Strasbourg, Mr Obama was meekly yielding to Turkey’s refusal to endorse Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the alliance’s new Secretary-General. It took pressure from Mr Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel of Germany to stiffen him up and change his mind, say the French.

via World Agenda: Nicolas Sarkozy puts Barack Obama in the doghouse – Times Online.