ScaifeNet because we can't let Soros have all the fun...

Why would we want to produce batteries in the United States? It's probably cheaper to do it somewhere else. President Obama spoke proudly about protecting 'American jobs' in his Ohio speech but his proposed...

Most of Obama's 30 minute diatribe in Cleveland was pretty much a holocaust for anyone still holding out for bipartisanship in America. If you listened closely, you could hear a few whispers of concrete policy ideas...

Proponents of domestic and international global warming regulations like to argue that human-induced climate change could affect the safety of not only the U.S. but other countries as well. They suggest that global warming will lead to more natural disasters, which will in turn lead to increased global conflict.

Even the Department of Defense now considers climate change a threat to U.S. security. Exercises from the National Defense University concluded that “over the next 20 to 30 years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response.”

But according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, that’s not the case. Halvard Buhaug, senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo’s Centre for the Study of Civil War and author of the study, said:

Climate variability in Africa does not seem to have a significant impact on the risk of civil war. If you apply a number of different definitions of conflict and various different ways to measure climate variability, most of these measurements will turn out not to be associated with each other.

My article points to the fact that there has been too much emphasis on single definitions of conflict and single definitions of climate. Even if you found that conflict, defined in a particular way, appeared to be associated with climate, if you applied a number of complementary measures—which you should do in order to determine the robustness of the apparent connection—then you would find, in almost all cases, the two were actually unrelated.

Worse, climate treaties to cap carbon dioxide emissions would do little to address climate change and a lot to cripple economic competitiveness. These treaties would limit the resources available to effectively prepare and respond to either natural disasters or national security threats. Carbon caps would cause energy prices to soar, and as a result, production would decrease, resources would become scarcer, and innovation and entrepreneurial activity would fall.

These are the sorts of conditions that could actually give rise to actual conflict.
Heritage’s nation security expert James Carafano testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last year that climate change is not a threat to national security. He stressed that “any changes in the climate, for better or for worse, will occur gradually over decades. Thus, there will be ample time to adjust national security and humanitarian assistance instruments to accommodate future demands. Those adjustments can and should be made with the most appropriate instruments, which might comprise any or all of the elements of national power including diplomatic, economic, political, and informational tools as well as the armed forces.” If the Obama Administration decides to fight this war on climate change and enter into a multilateral treaty to reduce CO2, the U.S. would ultimately lose, coming out of the battle with a weaker economy, weaker security, and weaker personal freedoms.

New York Post
Lawsuit Says Robert De Niro Ruined His Ex-Manager's Standing With Rich People
New York Magazine
The alleged defamation, says Thompson, cost him a job with billionaire George Soros's eldest son, as well as other potential jobs with the landed gentry of ...
Robert De Niro's ex-estate manager sues over firingNew York Post
Robert De Niro Sued by Former Estate Manager Over TerminationDNAinfo

all 4 news articles »

A few weeks back, the WSJ had an interesting Look at the Reading Habits of E-Reader Owners (sub req):A study of 1,200 e-reader owners by Marketing and Research Resources Inc. found that 40% said they now read more than they did with print books. Of those surveyed, 58% said they read about the same as before while 2% said they read less than before. And 55% of the respondents in the May study, Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03781053410876242483noreply@blogger.com

Nothing new here, President Obama's speech was just the same argument he has been making since he took office, and the economy is still falling off a cliff: It is all George Bush's fault and Republicans have no new or...

Yes, this ThunderJournal has been quiet for awhile. I'm working on two freelance articles and, as you know, those pay the bills. This ThunderJournal hasn't paid a bill since August of 2007. Don't worry. I'll have something up before the end of the week....

As Congress returns to Washington next week, the fight over the Obama Tax Hikes has already begun. President Obama has indicated that he plans to allow taxes to rise while also announcing a new “stimulus” that even some in the White House refuse to promise will stimulate the economy.

The Winston Group has created a new video contrasting President Obama’s positions on taxes with that of another president who understood the importance of keeping taxes low: President John F. Kennedy.

As we explained in our own video last month, the Obama tax hikes are exactly the wrong prescription for an ailing economy. Here’s wishing President Obama will take heed of his predecessor’s sound advice.

As we wait for President Obama to speak in Ohio about jobs, the economy and his personal connection to hard times when he was raised by his grandmother, let's look back at an audio clip from then candidate Barack Obama...

President Obama must sense there's a hellhound on his trail, which explains why he complained about being treated like a dog in a recent appearance in Milwaukee.

Perhaps President Obama needs to realize that some kind of solitude is measured out in you. You'd think he'd know, but he hasn't got a clue.

Then again, the current economic situation must be weighing on him. It didn't take too long, til we found out, what people mean by down and out, right? The problem is when we sent him to Washington, eventually we caught him running around, spending our money all over town.

It makes me wonder why he must be like that, why he must chase the metaphorical cat? It's gotta be the dog in him, right? My advice for President Obama is that he needs to shake this creeping malaise. If he doesn't stand his own ground, how will he find his way out of this maze?

Last week we broke the story that (increasingly popular) New Jersey Governor and rising GOP star Chris Christie will be hitting the campaign trail across the country this fall on behalf fellow Republicans. Today,...

President Obama will not receive lockstep Democratic support for his new "stimulus" efforts, as a prominent vulnerable Senator has broken ranks:Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) broke with President Obama on Wednesday,...

In addition to Greg Hengler's post, Nancy Pelosi has a favorable rating of 11 percent, and 56 percent of Americans approve of the repeal ObamaCare. Leave it to AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka and the unions to praise...

The President’s new infrastructure spending plan is merely an effort to shore up support within organized labor.

They never learn. It’s been a little over two years since Andy Birkey of the Minnesota “Independent” first sniffed that Rep. Michele Bachmann “only does sympathetic media”. Of course, it makes perfect sense for Bachmann; she represents a conservative district; talking with hostile media (and when it comes to the Twin Cities media, “hostile” is not just [...]

We noted yesterday that White House aides were already backtracking on President Barack Obama’s promise that his $50 billion infrastructure plan “will not only create jobs immediately, it’s also going to make our economy hum over the long haul.” Specifically a “senior administration official” told Politico: “This is not an … immediate jobs plan.”

Well The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank apparently has been talking to the same “senior administration official.” Here is how he reports the exchange between reporters and the Obama White House:

Q. What is your estimate of how many jobs would be created?

A. We don’t have a jobs estimate for that.

Q. What are you thinking in terms of timing?

A. I don’t want to make a prediction about timing.

Q. So just your best-case scenario . . . when do we start to see jobs created as a result of all this?

A. In 2011.

Q. And are we talking January 2011 or December 2011?

A. Over the course of 2011.

Milbank then adds: “Obama himself must not have been briefed, because he told the crowd in Milwaukee that the plan would ‘create jobs immediately.’”

The President is scheduled to give another speech outlining another economic stimulus today at 2 PM. We’ll let you know if he gets his facts straight.

Heritage analyst Ron Utt has written extensively on the false hope of infrastructure spending job creation:

Infrastructure Bank Proposals Rely on Backdoor Deficit Spending
Learning from Japan: Infrastructure Spending Won’t Boost the Economy
More Transportation Spending: False Promises of Prosperity and Job Creation

Ever since May, the DFL – via their closely-knit band of media and “alternative” media mouthpieces – have been spending time and money trying to paint Tom Horner as “the reasonable Republican”, to try to soak votes away from Tom Emmer.  The conventional wisdom is that, in this year of revulsion with government spending and [...]

Last year, when Congress was getting ready to pass a stimulus bill that included $144 billion to help spendthrift states facing huge budget gaps, critics argued that states would be better off in the long run without the money. The...

Obama's Union chum spoke to the Labor Caucus at the California Democratic Convention in Los Angeles, April 2010. Here's a little transparency for ya:

Add this piece of evidence to the growing pile of discarded Obamacare promises:Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating...