Right Mind

Planet Slayer: Greenhouse Gas Calculator

Barack Obama has resigned as a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago

According to CNN.

You have to wonder why he didn’t resign 20+ years ago.

I wonder if it has to do with a change in heart or a change in campaign status…

Petition Project

This petition has been signed by over 31,000 American scientists.

Enclosed is a twelve-page review of information on the subject of "global warming," a petition in the form of a reply card, and a return envelope. Please consider these materials carefully.

The United States is very close to adopting an international agreement that would ration the use of energy and of technologies that depend upon coal, oil, and natural gas and some other organic compounds.

This treaty is, in our opinion, based upon flawed ideas. Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful.

Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

A review of the research literature concerning the environmental consequences of increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide leads to the conclusion that increases during the 20th Century have produced no deleterious effects upon global weather, climate, or temperature. Increased carbon dioxide has, however, markedly increased plant growth rates. Predictions of harmful climatic effects due to future increases in minor greenhouse gases like CO2 are in error and do not conform to current experimental knowledge.

Note: The Petition Project has no funding from energy industries or other parties with special financial interests in the "global warming" debate. Funding for the project comes entirely from private non-tax deductible donations by interested individuals.

See Dr. Noah Robinson's Video Presentation: http://www.discovery.org/v/30

Download Dr. Art Robinson's Power Point Presentation: http://www.oism.org/pproject/ARPresentation/Presentations.zip

Courts Confront Climate Change

Fred Singer, an atmospheric physicist, is Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, and former founding Director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service. He is author of Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming’s Unfinished Debate (The Independent Institute, 1999).

From The Washington Times:

Late last year, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration must consider the “risks of global warming” when setting gas-mileage standards for light trucks, minivans and SUVs.

Central to the court’s ruling was the claim that NHTSA, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, had ignored the benefits of reducing emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2).

Whatever their legal acumen, Justice Betty Fletcher and her colleagues on the bench demonstrated they have little expertise in climate science. Tighter restrictions on CO2 emissions cannot produce the imagined benefits. Greenhouse gas emissions occur globally: The court’s mandate will not measurably curb CO2 levels or global warming.

The court also assumed that human activity is the main cause of global warming. This has yet to be demonstrated by hard evidence.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) points to glacial melting, shrinking sea ice, and other consequences of global warming. But such “evidence” doesn’t tell us whether the causes are natural or manmade. Other evidence, such as the claimed correlation between temperature and CO2, is circumstantial; during much of the 20th century the climate was cooling while CO2 levels were rising.

A forthcoming report by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), of which I am the editor, may provide needed balance. An independent organization, not sponsored by the United Nations, national governments, or industry, NIPCC—which includes many IPCC authors and expert reviewers—was created to provide a second opinion on the IPCC’s official findings, much as a physician’s diagnosis may warrant a second opinion.

Drawing on peer-reviewed publications in major scientific journals, NIPCC examined the data used in IPCC’s May 2007 climate-change assessment, as well as research ignored in the IPCC report or published subsequent to its release. NIPCC concludes that “evidence” to support public hysteria about human-caused greenhouse warming does not hold up to scrutiny. Among the findings, expected to be published early this spring:

• Human activities—such as transportation and industrial production—contribute little to global warming. The claim that greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for rising global temperatures is based on computer models. But as NIPCC confirms, key temperature readings contradict the models. For example, while all greenhouse models show temperature trends rising with altitude in the tropical troposphere—the lowest portion of the Earth’s atmosphere—weather balloon data show the opposite: a cooling trend. The models are wrong.
• Greenhouse warming has been significantly overestimated. NIPCC has found that the models exaggerate the warming effect of greenhouse gases by ignoring “negative feedback” from—that is, the possible cooling effects of—clouds and water vapor. Taking this into account, greenhouse warming might amount to no more than one-half of 1 degree Celsius by 2100, well within the climate’s normal range of ups and downs.
• The leading cause of observed climate warming appears to be variability of solar emissions and solar magnetic fields. The U.N. panel ignored substantial recent research on the effects of solar activity on climate change. This evidence suggests climate changes are essentially unstoppable and cannot be influenced by controlling CO2 emissions.
• Government efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions will have little effect on the environment. The requirements of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2007 Bali Climate Declaration cannot influence the natural factors controlling the climate. Similarly, massive government efforts to replace fossil fuels with ethanol, biodiesel, and wind and solar power will little effect the climate. Besides, they are uneconomic and require large subsidies.

In view of these findings, the Justice Department should appeal the 9th Circuit’s ruling to the Supreme Court. Doing so would also provide an opportunity for the high court to revisit its April 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA—in which it ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate CO2 as a pollutant.

This time around, the White House should be better prepared to argue its case. Science is on its side. 

Royal Society’s Evasions on Climate Change

Royal Society’s Evasions on Climate Change:

The venerable Royal Society of London has become a publicist for climate alarmism, having recently published a pamphlet that misrepresents the case against the theory of man-made warming catastrophe, according to Independent Institute Research Fellow S. Fred Singer.

Both the U.S. National Academy and the Russian Academy of Scientists turned down the Royal Society’s call for help with the pamphlet, yet the Royal Society claims to speak on behalf of a non-existent consensus of scientists.

“More than 31,000 American scientists recently signed the Oregon Petition, which expresses doubt about the major conclusions of the IPCC [the United Nations–sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], and opposes the drastic mitigation demands of the Kyoto Protocol and the proposed ‘cap-and-trade’ legislation of the U.S. Congress,” Singer writes.

The latest IPCC report ignores evidence that undermines its conclusions, according to Singer. Temperatures have not risen over the past decade, and any man-made global warming that occurred earlier in the twentieth century was likely overwhelmed by natural climate-change cycles, which can last one decade or 1,500 years, according to ice core samples discovered in Greenland. Variations in solar activity, solar wind, and cosmic rays all seem to have a greater impact on the earth’s climate than do rising levels of carbon dioxide. “It is a pity that the Royal Society, rather than facilitate debate, has tried to misrepresent the honest views of those who are skeptical of what has become climate change orthodoxy,” Singer concludes.

“Foggy Science in London,” by S. Fred Singer (New York Sun, 5/23/08)

Also see:

“Courts Confront Climate Change,” by S. Fred Singer (Washington Times, 1/24/08)

Purchase Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming’s Unfinished Debate, by S. Fred Singer.

Coming Soon to a Bathroom Near You...

See:

• Colorado Governor Signs Dangerous Legislation
• California Assembly Approves Bill Promoting Euthanasia of Terminally Ill Patients

From the FRC:

Congress may be adjourned for the Memorial Day recess, but a series of misguided state bills aren't providing any relief for pro-family groups. Just ask the residents of Colorado, where locals are bracing themselves for an "anti-bias" law that is actually changing where people use the restroom. Yesterday, over the protests of thousands of families, Gov. Bill Ritter (D) signed SB 200 into law. The legislation blurs the sexual lines by making all public accommodations, including locker rooms and restrooms, "gender-free." In other words, anyone--regardless of their biological identity--will be welcome in the men's or ladies' room, including cross-dressers, men who self-identify as women, women who self-identify as men, and people who haven't made up their minds. To make matters worse, Colorado defines "public accommodations" as everything from malls, restaurants, and schools to small and even home businesses. The other side says this is about discrimination. But the chance of offending a few people hardly justifies putting everyone else at risk, which is exactly what SB 200 does. For every transvestite who takes advantage of this law, there are a dozen sexual predators who will see this as a chance to put women and children into a vulnerable situation. Focus on the Family launched a statewide awareness campaign, but in the end, even Colorado's largest Christian ministry couldn't compete with Ritter's desire to pay off liberal financier Tim Gill, who sank serious dollars into the governor's election campaign in 2006. From here all eyes will turn to Montgomery County, where a November ballot initiative will determine the fate of its bathroom bill. Meanwhile, leaders in the California Assembly dealt another blow to values voters on Wednesday by passing an assisted suicide bill by one vote. Under AB 2747, doctors and nurses could suggest "death by unconscious dehydration" for terminal patients as well as those who are "depressed and confused." Although some say the sedation-starvation method is more painful than lethal injection, California leaders insist on pursuing a bill that treats humans with less dignity and sensitivity than animals. Interestingly, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) position is that voters should decide. Under his system of selective democracy, Schwarzenegger is fighting to silence voters' opinion on marriage but welcoming their views on euthanasia. In 2006 he said that assisted suicide "probably should go to the people, like the death penalty... I don't think that we, 120 legislators and I, should make that decision."

Surgeon: One in Three Accident & Emergency Patients in London has been Knifed

From the UK’s Evening Standard:

Knife violence in London is now running as high as gun warfare in some US cities, it is claimed today.

One of Britain's leading trauma surgeons has told how one in three of his Accident & Emergency patients is now a stabbing victim.

Karim Brohi, a consultant surgeon at the Royal London Hospital, said the proportion of injuries from knives and guns was now on a level with - if not greater than - cities such as Los Angeles or Chicago.

He described how, on occasions, the wards in his hospital resembled "a war zone" with some patients being treated for their second or third knife wound.

HT: Chris W.

Obama’s Plan to Abolish the Social Security Wage Ceiling: A State-by-State Breakdown

Here’s what it looks like for Idaho:

In the table below we give a state-by-state breakdown of those three scenarios: (1) wage ceiling is eliminated, (2) wage ceiling eliminated but with a donut hole up to $200,000, and (3) wage ceiling eliminated but with a donut hole up to $250,000.

Obama's Plan to Abolish the Social Security Wage Ceiling What Is the State-by-State Impact?
State	Total Number of Workers (a)	Scenario 1: No Wage Ceiling and No Donut Hole			Scenario 2: No Wage Ceiling but Donut Hole Up to $200K	Scenario 3: No Wage Ceiling but Donut Hole Up to $250K
		Number of Workers Who Would Pay More	Percentage Who Would Pay More	State Rank of Percentage	Number of Workers Who Would Pay More	Number of Workers Who Would Pay More
U.S. Total	162,186,672	10,144,275	6.25%		2,425,540	1,682,698
ID	817,006	28,121	3.44%	45	(b)	(b)
(a) Workers are defined as those having at least $1 in wages or self-employment income. (b) Census "top-codes" high-income tax returns for privacy reasons, preventing an accurate estimate of the donut hole's impact in these states. Source: 2006 American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Set.

 

From The Tax Foundation:

A new Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact addresses Barack Obama’s proposal to eliminate the wage ceiling for Social Security taxes.

Whether the wage ceiling is justified in sound policy depends on one's view of Social Security, but there has always been a ceiling on the tax, an amount of annual wages above which the tax does not apply. Right now, the wage ceiling is quite high, $102,000 for a single person, so almost all American workers pay on every dollar of wages. In 2008, the maximum Social Security tax for a single person is 12.4 percent of the first $102,000 in wages, or $12,648.

Reporters have asked Obama how he can propose to abolish the wage ceiling and also keep his promise not to raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $200,000 or $250,000 (Obama has cited both figures). His response is that he might campaign for a "donut hole" in the Social Security tax. That is, wages up to the ceiling would be taxed as usual, followed by a non-taxable amount up to $200,000 or $250,000, and then all wages above that would be taxed.

The Fiscal Fact (click here to view) presents a state-by-state breakdown of three scenarios: (1) wage ceiling is eliminated, (2) wage ceiling is eliminated but with a donut hole up to $200,000, and (3) wage ceiling is eliminated but with a donut hole up to $250,000.

Young Hillary Clinton

HT: ChasUK

The Obama Gaffe Machine

And he’s given a pass left-and-right — passes that are not granted to Hillary and McCain.

I’ll highlight the doozies below.

BTW, are these really gaffes?

From the Wall Street Journal:

ABC reporter Jake Tapper calls him "a one-man gaffe machine."

Take the Auschwitz flub, where Mr. Obama erroneously claimed last weekend in New Mexico that his uncle helped liberate the Nazi concentration camp. Reporters noted Mr. Obama's revised claim, that it was his great uncle who helped liberate Buchenwald. They largely downplayed the error. Yet in another, earlier gaffe back in 2002, Mr. Obama claimed his grandfather knew U.S. troops who liberated Auschwitz and Treblinka – even though only Russian troops entered those concentration camps.

…

Mr. Obama, a former editor of the Harvard Law Review, has largely been given a pass for his gaffes. Many are trivial, such as his suggestion this month that America has 57 states, and his bizarre statement in a Memorial Day speech in New Mexico that America's "fallen heroes" were present and listening to him in the audience.

Some gaffes involve mangling his family history. Last year in Selma, Ala., for example, he said that his birth was inspired by events there which took place four years after he was born. While this gaffe can be chalked up to fatigue or cloudy memory, others are more substantive – such as his denial last April that it was his handwriting on a questionnaire in which, as a state senate candidate, he favored a ban on handguns. His campaign now contends that, even if it was his handwriting, this doesn't prove he read the full questionnaire.

Mr. Obama told a Portland, Ore., crowd this month that Iran doesn't "pose a serious threat to us," saying that "tiny countries" with small defense budgets aren't much to worry about. But Iran has almost one-fourth the population of the U.S. and is well on its way to developing nuclear weapons. The next day Mr. Obama had to reverse himself and declare he had "made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave."

Last week in Orlando, Fla., he said he would meet with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez to discuss, among other issues, Chávez's support of the Marxist FARC guerrillas in Colombia. The next day, in Miami, he insisted any country supporting the FARC should suffer "regional isolation." Obama advisers were left explaining how this circle could be squared.

Perhaps BHO should suffer regional isolation?

In a debate last July, Mr. Obama pledged to meet, without precondition, the leaders of Iran, North Korea, Syria and Cuba. He called President Bush's refusal to meet with them "ridiculous" and a "disgrace."

Heavily criticized, Mr. Obama dug in rather than backtrack. He's claimed, in defense of his position, that John F. Kennedy's 1961 summit with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna was a crucial meeting that led to the end of the Cold War.

Not quite. Kennedy himself admitted he was unprepared for Khrushchev's bullying. "He beat the hell out of me," Kennedy confided to advisers. The Soviet leader reported to his Politburo that the American president was weak. Two months later, the Berlin Wall was erected and stood for 28 years.

From Pulpit At Obama's Church: "I'm White. I'm Entitled. There's A Black Man Stealing My Show"

More “help” from Obama’s church.

Another pastor pushed into politics. Father Michael Pfleger was taking heat Thursday over a controversial sermon he made at U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's church.

…

He spoke last Sunday at Rev. Wright's former church, Trinity United Church of Christ at 400 W. 95th St. He spoke about Hillary Clinton's tears as she felt the Democratic nomination slip away.

"I really don't believe it was a put-on. I always thought she felt 'This is mine. I'm Bill's wife. I'm white. And this is mine. I just got to get up and step into the plate,'" he said. "And then out of nowhere came, 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama.' And she said, 'Oh damn, where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show.'"

I’m sure McCain appreciates all the help that Barack’s pastors are giving…

Maxine Waters and Hugo Chavez

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Europe Balks at $8 a Gallon Gas: Protests have rocked London, Paris, and other cities across the continent this week.

How soon before we reach a similar price?

Granted, there are significantly more taxes in Europe on gas/oil than we have in the US.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

London - Trucks blocking a main London highway, fishermen blockading French ports, Dutch drivers petitioning parliament, Spanish and Italian fishermen voting to strike – Europeans are becoming restless at relentlessly high energy costs.

But what can governments do about oil prices that are six times what they were six years ago? Protesters, experts, and officials disagree substantially on which is the most appropriate course of action.

Their choices?

• Tax Relief
• Diversify Supplies
• Increase Oil Output

Think of America’s liberal-progressives. Which of these solutions would they approve of? Which would actually help?

Hint: think Supply and Demand…

HT: Bill J.

Wal-Mart puts the squeeze on food costs: The retailer is using its clout with vendors to hold onto its everyday low prices.

But, of course, Wal-Mart is evil for doing this. Progressives would prefer high food prices.

Priceless (literally).

Via CNN Money:

With gas, grain, and dairy prices exploding, you'd think the biggest seller of corn flakes and Cocoa Puffs would be getting hit by rising food costs. But Wal-Mart has temporarily rolled back prices on hundreds of food items by as much as 30% this year. How? By pressuring vendors to take costs out of the supply chain.

"When our grocery suppliers bring price increases, we don't just accept them," says Pamela Kohn, Wal-Mart's general merchandise manager for perishables. To be sure, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) isn't the only retailer working to cut fat from the food chain, but as the largest grocer - Wal-Mart's food and consumables revenue is nearly $100 billion - it has a disproportionate amount of leverage.

HT: Greg D.

Colorado Governor Signs Dangerous Legislation

Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, issued this statement late today after Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed SB 200.

From CitizenLink:

“Who would have believed that the Colorado state Legislature and its governor would have made it fully legal for men to enter and use women’s restrooms and locker-room facilities without notice or explanation?

“Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence. The legislation lists every conceivable type of organization to which this law applies, including restaurants, bathhouses, massage parlors, mortuaries, theaters and ‘public facilities of any kind.’ Those who would attempt to protect females from this intrusion are subject to a fine of up to $5,000 and up to one year behind bars.

“This is your government in action. It represents a payback to Tim Gill and two other billionaires who have essentially ‘bought’ state legislators with enormous campaign contributions. Coloradans deserve better!

“And by the way, because of the way this bill is written, it is not subject to the initiative process. There is no recourse.”

The Disaster of Collectivism

This comment also ran in the BBC. Go figure.

Hypocrisy is not the biggest issue. The real issue is that Messrs. Obama and McCain are telling us Americans that our normal lives are not good enough, that pursuing our own happiness is "self-indulgence," that building a business is "chasing after our money culture," that working to provide a better life for our families is a "narrow concern".

They're wrong. Every human life counts. Your life counts. You have a right to live it as you choose, to follow your bliss. You have a right to seek satisfaction in accomplishment. And if you chase after the almighty dollar, you just might find that you are led, as if by an invisible hand, to do things that improve the lives of others.

—David Boaz, Cato.

State of Education in America

This video from CNBC discusses the status of American Education.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=756835424

• 7:10 finish high school
• 11% of the poor earn college degrees.
• US ranks 17^th in high school graduation rates.
• US ranks 14^th in college graduation rates.
• 13% of US students take Calculus. 100% of Chinese students do.
• India produces 3 times the number of scientists and engineers than the US.
• In India, you take math for 4 years for 4 years; physics for 4 years; chemistry for 4 years; biology for 4 years.

CNBC interviewed Bob Compton, author of “2 Million Minutes” (the amount of time that passes between 8^th grade and 12th grade).

Compton followed around students from the US, India, and China. High School students in India and China allocate their time toward academics. In the US, the time is allocated towards sports, extra-curricula activities, and jobs.

CNBC also interviewed Molly Broad, President of the American Council on Education. She argues that most kids who go to college in the US are not qualified to attend because of their math and science backgrounds. “Our schools are not meeting the needs of the 21^st century”.

India and China reward intellectual achievement. Families there encourage their kids to excel academically. The US is not prepared for the high-growth, high-tech sectors of the 21^st century.

The focus in US education is on social, diversity, or political agenda rather than the important substance of math and science.

This will not be fixed until we have a separation of school and state.

Cap-and-Trade, Regulate-and-Mandate

Here's a chart from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce detailing the regulatory effects of the Lieberman-Warner Climate bill.

Do you find this kind of Global Warming law helpful?

HT: Heritage Foundation.

P. J. O'Rourke Quote

"The college idealists who fill the ranks of the environmental movement seem willing to do absolutely anything to save the biosphere, except take science courses and learn something about it."

—P. J. O'Rourke

Let Wal-Mart Fix U.S. Health Care

From MSN Money Central:

The discount retailer already has made major inroads into accessible, affordable care through lower drug prices, walk-in clinics and electronic record-keeping. Why stop there?

Wal-Mart has done more to expand coverage and lower costs in the past year than any government program to come out of Washington in the past 10 years. And I'd bet the new programs that this company has announced in the past year will do more to expand coverage and cut costs than anything likely to come out of a McCain, Clinton or Obama first term.

Blame Congress for High Oil Prices

From the Wall Street Journal:

Despite its pious denunciations of the behavior of U.S. investor-owned oil companies (IOCs), Congress by its actions over the years has ensured the economic viability of the foreign national oil company cartel (which control nearly 80% of world petroleum reserves).

It has done so by preventing the exploitation by IOCs of reserves available in nonpark federal lands in the West, Alaska and under the waters off our coasts. These areas hold an estimated 635 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas – enough to meet the needs of the 60 million American homes fueled by natural gas for over a century. They also hold an estimated 112 billion barrels of recoverable oil – enough to produce gasoline for 60 million cars and fuel oil for 25 million homes for 60 years.

If Congress really cared about the economic well-being of American citizens, it would stop fulminating against IOCs and reverse current policies that discourage, indeed prohibit, the production of domestic oil and natural gas. Even the announcement that Congress was opening the way for domestic production would lead to downward pressure on oil prices. 

To the Victims Go the Spoils

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Parks and Rec to seek more money for ballfields project: Curtis to double usual request for dedicated money to $1 million

How typical of Moscow — head down a path with no idea how much it will cost or whether the citizens are even willing to pay for it.

Also how typical — more money is available, so more money should be spent.

I wonder if the city workers run their own personal finances in such a manner.

As reported in yesterday’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Moscow Parks and Recreation Director Dwight Curtis plans to ask for $1 million for ballfields in his fiscal year 2009 budget this summer.

The city has planned to build seven baseball and soccer fields on West Palouse River Drive for several years, but is just getting into the logistics of paying for the project. The City Council dedicated $500,000 of the multimillion-dollar Hamilton Fund to the ballfields in 2003, but parks and rec has not gotten to the point where it needs to access that money. Curtis wants to boost the dedication to $1 million, because a recent sale of gold increased the money in the Hamilton Fund.

"It's $500,000 less we'd have to fund," Curtis said. "It's just one step closer. Everything is one step closer."

City Finance Director Don Palmer in April sold gold that was in the Hamilton Fund, which was willed to the city in 2000 by former resident Robert Hamilton. The money is to be used for the benefit of Moscow youth, and the Parks and Recreation Department.

The gold was valued at about $377,000 when it came to the city, but was sold for almost $1.2 million.

…

Some members of the Public Works/Finance Committee were not confident that dedicating the $1 million was the right way to go at this point.

Councilman Wayne Krauss said he would prefer to stick with $500,000 to keep the fund at a workable level. Taking that amount out would leave about $7.4 million in the fund in 2023.

Councilman John Weber agreed he'd like to dedicate $500,000 for now.

"I think we should keep a close eye on the amount that's in that fund," he said.

A Fish That No One Has Heard About But Is In Immediate Danger Because Of Global Warming

Here’s an article about a fish that is in immediate danger because of global warming. 

Apparently this fish has adapted  for 400 million years (including ice ages and significant warm periods), but recent global warming and "other" reasons  may spell it's extinction.

As reported in yesterday’s edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

University of Idaho researchers investigate decline of one of the world's earliest fishes.

University of Idaho faculty member Christopher Peery, an assistant research professor in the College of Natural Resources, and the research team in the Fish Ecology Research Lab in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources received funding totally $800,000.00 for several studies investigating factors that may be limiting migrations and productivity for Columbia River populations. This work is being funded by the Portland and Walla Walla Districts of the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Pacific lamprey are native to this area. Like steelhead and salmon, they migrate to the ocean as juveniles and return to spawn as adults, and so must deal with a river system highly modified by dams, habitat loss and now global climate change. Lamprey represent an ecological link to the earliest fishes, having evolved 450 million years ago, or about 400 million years before salmon appeared.

Ecologically, lamprey are an important food source to other fish and birds as juveniles, and for sturgeon and sea lions during the adult migrations. They also are an important part of cultural heritage for Native American tribes. They are still harvested from the Willamette Falls near Portland, Ore., for ceremonial feasts, when numbers permit.

Results of these and related studies will be available at the University of Idaho Fish Ecology Research Lab Web site, www.cnr.uidaho.edu/uiferl/.

HT: April C. 

Nazis resurface in British academia

See if this doesn’t sound similar to demands that academics in the US are making as well — in our case, not on Jews. Think Expelled.

From the UK’s Spectator:

Today, the Universities and Colleges Union is discussing whether universities should single out Israeli and Jewish scholars for active discrimination.

Yes, you read that correctly. The UCU is debating a motion which not only raises the spectre yet again of an academic boycott of Israel but demands of Jewish and Israeli academics that they explain their politics as a pre-condition to normal academic contact. The motion asks colleagues

to consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned, including Israeli colleagues with whom they are collaborating... the testimonies will be used to promote a wide discussion by colleagues of the appropriateness of continued educational links with Israeli academic institutions... Ariel College, an explicitly colonising institution in the West Bank, be investigated under the formal Greylisting Procedure.

The implication is that, if they don’t condemn Israel for the ‘occupation’, or practising ‘apartheid’, ‘genocide’ or any of the other manufactured crimes laid at Israel’s door by the Palestinian/Islamist/neonazi/leftwing axis, they won’t be able to work. Their continued employment will depend on their holding views which are permitted. The views they are being bludgeoned into expressing as a condition of their employment are based on lies, distortion, propaganda, gross historical ignorance, blood libels and prejudice. And this in the universities, supposedly the custodians of free thought and inquiry in the service of dispassionate scholarship.

What makes it all the more appalling is that it is Israelis and Jews alone who are being singled out for this treatment. No other group is to be barred from academic activity unless they hold ‘approved’ views; no state-run educational institution controlled by any of the world’s numerous tyrannies is to be ‘grey-listed’. The UCU’s own rules state that it actively opposes all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair discrimination.

HT: Tim T.

Iraq War May Have Increased Energy Costs Worldwide by a Staggering $6 Trillion

“The Iraq War means oil costs three times more than it should. How are our lives going to change with oil heading toward $200 a barrel?”

You can blame George Bush for this one. The entire mess that we’re in can be laid at his feet.

From Alternet:

The invasion of Iraq by Britain and the US has trebled the price of oil, according to a leading expert, costing the world a staggering $6 trillion in higher energy prices alone.

The oil economist Dr Mamdouh Salameh, who advises both the World Bank and the UN Industrial Development Organisation (Unido), told The Independent on Sunday that the price of oil would now be no more than $40 a barrel, less than a third of the record $135 a barrel reached last week, if it had not been for the Iraq war.

He spoke after oil prices set a new record on 13 consecutive days over the past two weeks. They have now multiplied sixfold since 2002, compared with the fourfold increase of the 1973 and 1974 "oil shock" that ended the world's long postwar boom.

Goldman Sachs predicted last week that the price could rise to an unprecedented $200 a barrel over the next year, and the world is coming to terms with the idea that the age of cheap oil has ended, with far-reaching repercussions on their activities.

Creation of a National Fingerprint Registry -- as part of the Home Loan Bailout Bill???

OK, figure this one out. Via RedState:

Apparently in the name of preventing people who can't afford mortgages from getting "swindled" by lenders who have been strongly encouraged by the federal government to offer mortgages to those same people who can't afford them (whew! that's a mouthful), the federal government is incorporating into its mortgage bailout legislation the creation of a National Fingerprint Registry.

Not that they'd want you to know that, though. As CNET reported:

What's a little odd is the lack of public discussion about this new fingerprint database. No mention of it appears in the official summary of the revised Senate bill. No fingerprint database requirement is in the House version of the legislation approved earlier this month. No copy of the revised Senate legislation is posted on the Library of Congress' Thomas Web site, which would be the usual procedure.

This database, which would incorporate anybody even remotely related to the housing and home loan markets, is, according to Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), an attempt to remedy the fact that "today the rules governing mortgage brokers and lenders are inadequate...just a patchwork of regulation."

So the answer is to massively invade the privacy of anybody who might buy, sell, or offer loans for the buying or selling of, a home? Really?

HT: RFB

Horton slips past Bradbury, keeps seat

The following is from the online edition of the Lewiston Tribune.

Idaho Supreme Court Justice Joel Horton will retain his spot on the state’s highest bench after narrowly defeating his challenger, 2nd District Judge John Bradbury, in Tuesday’s election.

Unofficial returns showed Horton barely took the lead with 285 more votes than Bradbury early Wednesday morning.

California same-sex marriages to start June 17th

From the Associated Press:

SAN FRANCISCO - Barring a stay of a historic California Supreme Court ruling, same-sex couples will be able to wed in the state beginning June 17, according to a state directive issued Wednesday.

Subway apologizes to home schoolers

Subway has apologized for not allowing homeschoolers to participate in the contest.

The apology reads:

Regarding your concerns about the Subway contest that excludes home schools from contest eligibility, Scholastic and Subway apologize to all individuals who have taken offense at this. Our intention was never to make independent schooled children feel discriminated against or excluded from this specific promotion.

Throughout the course of the year Scholastic runs a number of contests and sweepstakes that are open to all teachers and students. The eligibility of this contest in particular was solely put in place to award a large group of children with the grand prize of $5,000 worth of athletic equipment. We do however understand how home- schooled children could benefit from this type of prizing and will make sure eligibility is open to everyone in future promotions.

We appreciate your feedback and will make sure a similar situation does not happen in the future.