600 lb. Grizzly killed by train

A large, 600-pound male grizzly bear was killed on the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks west of Banff during the early morning hours of last Thursday (May 14). Parks Canada officials say a necropsy performed later that day to determine stomach and intestinal contents indicated the adult bear had been feeding on natural foods, including grass and sedges. There was no obvious sign of grain immediately on top of the train tracks there, but Parks officials say they found grain-filled grizzly bear scat very close to the site. While there was no apparent grain on top of the tracks, environmentalists who visited the site said there was a substantial amount of grain beneath the ballast, some already beginning to spout. Pissot said Defenders congratulates Canadian Pacific Railway for its commitment to repair leaking hopper-gates, but the program is scheduled to take five years, and so trains continue to spill grain. “Even if grain spills are reduced to a minimum, grizzlies and other wildlife still will be attracted to the fresh, fermented and sprouting kernels on the tracks,” he said...RM Outlook

Texas Constructs U.S. Border Wall To Keep Out Unwanted Americans

Calling it an essential step toward securing the Texas border and protecting his people's way of life, Gov. Rick Perry announced Tuesday the completion of a 1,953-mile wall designed to keep out millions of unwanted Americans. According to Perry, the 75-foot-high barricade running along the northern boundary is the culmination of more than 160 years of escalating tensions between Texas and the United States. Though a protective barrier has been under consideration for decades, the Texas Legislature voted unanimously to begin construction on the project immediately following the 2008 presidential election. "As governor, it is my responsibility to do whatever's necessary to maintain the territorial integrity of Texas," Perry told reporters during a press conference held inside a sniper tower overlooking Oklahoma. "If you are a Texas citizen, you shouldn't have to worry about some American coming in here, using your goods and services, and taking away your job." "Let the record show I have nothing personal against Americans," Perry added. "I just think they should stay in America, where they belong."...The Onion (satire)

Wind turbines 'killed goats' by depriving them of sleep

Late-night noise from spinning wind turbines on an outlying island of Taiwan may have killed 400 goats over the past three years by depriving them of sleep, an agricultural inspection official said on Thursday. After the eight turbines were installed in the notoriously windy Penghu archipelago in the Taiwan Strait, a neighbouring farmer reported that his goats had started dying, Council of Agriculture inspection official Lu Ming-tseng said...London Telegraph

Global warming may be twice as bad as previously expected

Global warming will be twice as severe as previous estimates indicate, according to a new study published this month in the Journal of Climate, a publication of the American Meteorological Society. The research, conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), predicts a 90% probability that worldwide surface temperatures will rise more than 9 degrees (F) by 2100, compared to a previous 2003 MIT study that forecast a rise of just over 4 degrees. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 forecast a temperature rise of anywhere from 2 to 11 degrees by 2100 based on a variety of different greenhouse-gas-emissions scenarios. The projections in the MIT study were done using 400 applications of a computer model, which MIT says is the most comprehensive and sophisticated climate model to date. The model looks at the effects of economic activity as well as the effects of atmospheric, oceanic and biological systems...USA Today

White House Economic Team Touts Green Jobs as Key to Global Competitiveness

Experts advising the White House on economic recovery have reached a “remarkable consensus” on the need for green jobs to make the United States competitive around the world. It was announced Wednesday at a meeting of the President’s Economic Advisory Board. That assessment, consistent with the Obama administration’s environmental policies, conflicts with an academic study examining the consequences of the government promoting “green jobs” in Spain. A number of the policies instituted there have been referenced by the Obama administration as worth implementing in the United States. However, for every four green jobs created in Spain, nine regular jobs were lost, according to the study by Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. “We talked about energy and clean energy and the opportunity and necessity for reform – there was remarkable consensus from this group,” said Paul Volcker, chairman of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, after the first quarterly meeting with President Barack Obama on Wednesday at the White House...CNSNews
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Climate Bill Would Generate $750 Billion for Consumers, Study Finds

Opponents of climate legislation paint efforts to reduce carbon emissions as “cap and tax” policy, but a new analysis of the current House proposal to curb greenhouse gas emissions finds that consumers would receive around $750 billion in direct and indirect handouts and subsidies through 2030 to offset the higher energy costs. Point Carbon, a market analysis firm, has estimated that the total value of the allowances given out by the government would amount to $1.5 trillion between 2012 and 2030, assuming that carbon prices rise from $13 a ton in 2013 to $22 a ton. In the early years of the program, most of these permits will be handed out freely by the government. They will be gradually auctioned off, increasing the cost of spewing out carbon into the atmosphere, and creating a large source of new revenue for the government. The 932-page bill gives local electric distribution companies, whose rates are regulated by states, 30 percent of the allowances, amounting to a handout of $409 billion to mitigate any increases in power rates from higher carbon costs, according to Point Carbon. These free allowances will phase out over a five-year period from 2026 through 2030. In addition, the program provides $227 billion to low-income households, $90.6 billion to local gas companies, and nearly $20 billion to protect against increases in rising heating oil costs. The bill also allocates an estimated $254 billion in subsidies to industries that would see their costs rise because of higher carbon costs. These include auto companies, which would be required to work on fuel-efficient vehicles, or industries vulnerable to competition from countries that have not set a cost on carbon, like the steel or cement industries...NYTimes

What a mess. The Politically Superior Ones think they can manage all the facets of energy production plus any international trade that impacts the energy industry.

What arrogance.

What ignorance.

National Black Chamber of Commerce says Waxman-Markey would reduce employment by 2.3 million jobs in 2015

The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) today released a study by Charles River Associates (CRA) on the economic impacts of H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACESA), the regulatory climate bill sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA). The results aren’t pretty, and they generally get worse over time as the Act’s emission caps tighten. The report specifically debunks two myths propagated by ACESA proponents. One is that there would be virtually no cost to consumers because (a) utilities would receive lots of free emission allowances, avoiding costs they would otherwise pass on to ratepayers, and (b) revenues from auctioned allowances would be returned as dividends to low-income households. What this myth overlooks is that emission caps inescapably–and by design–increase the cost of producing and consuming energy. The “cap” in cap-and-trade “works”–that is, reduces emissions–by creating an artificial scarcity in the right to produce and use fossil (carbon-emitting) energy. This drives up the price of coal, oil, and natural gas. It also increases reliance on higher-cost non-fossil energy. About 85% of our total energy is carbon-emitting, and about 99% of all transport sector energy is carbon-emitting. Since energy is used to produce and move everything from autos to food to houses to bytes of electronic information, ACESA’s impacts would cascade through the economy. In the report’s words: This analysis reveals that businesses and consumers would face higher energy and transportation costs under ACESA, which would lead to increased costs of other goods and services throughout the economy. As the costs of goods and services rise, household disposable income and household consumption would fall. Wages and returns on investment would also fall, resulting in lower productivity growth and reduce employment opportunities....Open Market

Climate Bill Clears Hurdle, but Others Remain

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, splitting largely along party lines, approved on Thursday the most ambitious energy and global warming legislation ever debated in Congress. The bill’s passage, on a 33-to-25 vote, served as a bookend to a week that began with President Obama’s announcing a deal with auto manufacturers to impose tough new mileage and emissions standards for all cars and trucks sold in the United States starting in 2012. With progress on this legislation and his own executive actions, Mr. Obama is assembling the pieces of a credible American package to take to Copenhagen later this year as United Nations negotiators gather for talks on a new global warming treaty. But the energy legislation passed on Thursday still faces a tortuous path through several more House committees before it can be brought up for a vote later this year. In the Senate, leaders say they lack the votes to pass the bill as it is now written...NYTimes

Renovating Private Parking Garages for U.S. House Will Cost Taxpayers $156,322 Per Congressman

As it is considering legislation that would cap carbon emssions and significanly increase energy prices of U.S. consumers in the name of controlling global warming, the U.S. House of Representatives is also considering spending $68 million to renovate two parking garages that are used exclusively by members of Congress and their staff. Given that there are only 435 members of the House, the renovation of these exclusive garages would cost $156,322 per congressmen. One “green” feature: The garages would have energy-saving lighting after renovations...CNSNews

Rail industry petitions to reduce toxic cargos

Railroad companies are pressing federal regulators to cut back on trains carrying hazardous materials through urban areas, saying they fear a catastrophic release of toxic chemicals in a large city. The companies also fear billions in legal claims if toxic materials spill during a derailment or act of sabotage. Rail industry associations are petitioning to allow railroads for the first time to refuse to carry chemicals such as chlorine over long distances. Federal law requires railroads to transport such materials, which are used in manufacturing, agriculture and water treatment. The companies' move is opposed by the Obama administration and others who say railroads are the safest way to move toxic materials. If trucks end up carrying materials that railroads reject, "that would pose a much greater danger," said Patricia Abbate of Citizens for Rail Safety, a Massachusetts advocacy group. The railroad petition is the latest effort to address the danger posed by the 110,000 carloads of toxic chemicals rail companies carry each year. Navy researchers have said an attack on a chemical-carrying train could kill 100,000 people...USA Today

Number of gadgets to cause global power surge

The number of TVs, computers, iPods and other electronic devices in the home is expected to jump threefold by 2030 and will require the equivalent of 230 new nuclear reactors to keep them running, according to an international study calling on world governments to raise the bar on gadget efficiency. This year, the number of people using a personal computer worldwide will pass one billion and there are already nearly two billion television sets in use today. More than three billion people subscribe to a mobile phone service and the number of chargers for mobile devices is fast approaching six billion. And we're just getting going, argues the Paris-based International Energy Agency in a report released yesterday titled "Gadgets and Gigawatts."...Toronto Star

Water Needs Electricity Needs Water …

It has long been an axiom of infrastructure planning that it takes a lot of water to make electricity, and a lot of electricity to make water. Each day, for example, the nation’s thermoelectric power plants (90 percent of all power plants in the United States), draw 136 billion gallons of water from lakes, rivers and oceans to cool the steam used to drive turbines, according to the Department of Energy. In recent years, the energy department says, plans for new power plants had to be scrapped because water-use permits could not be obtained. For their part, water- and wastewater utilities consume at least 13 percent of the electricity drawn nationwide each day, according to River Network, an environmental group based in Portland, Ore. Such plants face increasing public pressure to cut energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions...NYTimes

Horse Teeth Floaters Freed from Felony Fines, Prison

Today, Gov. Brad Henry signed a bill that reverses a controversial Oklahoma law enacted last November that turned horse teeth floaters into felons. The existing law threatened Oklahoma entrepreneurs who care for horse teeth—known as floaters—with felony penalties that included fines of up to $10,000 and jail for up to four years. Gov. Henry’s action returns to a misdemeanor the acts of filing down and extracting horses’ teeth without a veterinary license. Prior to November, Oklahoma district attorneys did not prosecute floaters when the penalty was a misdemeanor. Horse owners and floaters applaud the Governor for recognizing last year’s mistake and for freeing floaters from potential penalties far greater than any penalty that veterinarians face under their practice act. “Last year’s legislation caused incredible concern for horse teeth floaters,” said Edye Lucas, founder of the Coalition for Oklahoma Teeth Floaters, whose hundreds of grassroots members have called for reversing the law after Bob Griswold, a popular floater from Geary, Okla., was arrested on March 3 in a sting operation set up by the Oklahoma Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. “The Governor’s signature is a strong message to the Vet Board and district attorneys across the state that floaters should be able to work free from crushing occupational regulations.” Begun last year, Lucas’s grassroots movement swelled in membership following the arrest of Griswold, who still faces felony charges for violating the Veterinary Practice Act because the new law does not apply retroactively...Institute For Justice

Why is it even a misdemeanor? Even your horses teeth are regulated by the government.

Raccoon bites motorist who hit him

A motorist who stopped to remove a wounded raccoon from the road led to the second reported case of rabies in Alamance County this year. On Saturday, a raccoon was hit by a motor vehicle on N.C. 119 North near Stagecoach Road in Mebane. The motorist stopped to remove what he thought was a dead raccoon from the roadway. But the raccoon was still alive, and it bit the motorist through a pair of work gloves. The motorist managed to catch the raccoon, which died before Animal Control could claim it. The victim was later treated for the bite at Alamance Regional Medical Center. He is now undergoing post-exposure treatment for rabies...new-record.com Hat Tip: Slugs & Plugs

Thank goodness he didn't mess with that coon's teeth or he could be goin' to prison.

Song Of The Day #044

The Hank today was gonna be the man with the coldest name in country music - Hank Snow. I don't have all my files configured on my new computer, and don't have access to my Hank Snow CDs. I do, however, have access to my old time country radio files and lo and behold here's a 15 minute Hank Snow radio program. It's Country Style USA starring Hank Snow and brought to you by the U.S. Army.

Have a great holiday everybody.

Congress votes to allow loaded firearms in national parks

Pro-gun forces won a major victory in Washington on Wednesday when Congress voted to allow people to carry loaded weapons in most national parks and refuges. The action was a major defeat for supporters of gun control, who earlier in the year won a court reversal of a Bush administration policy that first lifted the restrictions on loaded firearms on those public lands. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, was an outspoken supporter in the House. He has been asking for the rule change since 2007. "Murders, rapes, robberies and assaults happen each year on National Park Service land, and the victims don't have the right to carry a firearm and protect themselves,'' Young said in a prepared statement. "The Second Amendment grants us the fundamental right to protect ourselves. Anyone who knows me knows that I will always defend our right to bear arms and protect ourselves and our loved ones. Current Park Service Regulations require that firearms transported in national parks be unloaded and encased. This makes them useless. Guns are allowed in most park areas in Alaska, and that should be the case across the country."...Anchorage Daily News

National Park Rangers and Park Advocates Outraged by Votes Allowing Loaded Guns in National Parks

"We are disappointed in the members of the House and Senate who allowed this amendment to pass, as well as in President Obama. By not taking a stand to prevent this change, they have sacrificed public safety and national park resources in favor of the political agenda of the National Rifle Association. This amendment had no hearing or review, and will increase the risk of poaching, vandalism of historic park treasures, and threats to park visitors and staff." "These are special protected places, where millions of American families and international visitors can view magnificent animals and majestic landscapes and experience our nation's history, including sites where lives were lost to preserve our American ideals. "Passage of this legislation that would allow firearms of all kinds in national parks is an absolute travesty. There is simply no need for it, given the extremely low risks that visitors face in national parks compared with everywhere else. "Legislators who voted for this amendment now have to live with the fact that they have, in fact, increased the risk to visitors and employees, as well as the risk to wildlife and some cultural resources. Moreover, they've just contributed to diminishing the specialness of this country's National Park System. We hope the American people register their disappointment in the actions of these legislators."...Press Release

I don't know why I take such great pleasure in posting this story.

Senate confirms No. 2 official at Interior

Republicans relented and allowed the Senate to confirm President Barack Obama's pick for the No. 2 job at the Interior Department on Wednesday. David Hayes, an environmental lawyer, was confirmed by voice vote after the GOP senators who had opposed his nomination said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had promised to review a recent decision to revoke 77 oil and gas leases in Utah. Last week, Republicans kept the Senate from reaching the 60 votes needed for Hayes to advance past a filibuster, making him the first of Obama's top-level nominees to be sidetracked on the Senate floor. Hayes, picked by Obama to serve as deputy secretary of the Interior Department, held the same post during the last three years of the Clinton administration. He also led Obama's natural resources transition team, responsible for naming a new Interior Department chief...AP

The Climate-Industrial Complex

Some business leaders are cozying up with politicians and scientists to demand swift, drastic action on global warming. This is a new twist on a very old practice: companies using public policy to line their own pockets. The tight relationship between the groups echoes the relationship among weapons makers, researchers and the U.S. military during the Cold War. President Dwight Eisenhower famously warned about the might of the "military-industrial complex," cautioning that "the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." He worried that "there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties." This is certainly true of climate change. We are told that very expensive carbon regulations are the only way to respond to global warming, despite ample evidence that this approach does not pass a basic cost-benefit test. We must ask whether a "climate-industrial complex" is emerging, pressing taxpayers to fork over money to please those who stand to gain. This phenomenon will be on display at the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen this weekend. The organizers -- the Copenhagen Climate Council -- hope to push political leaders into more drastic promises when they negotiate the Kyoto Protocol's replacement in December...WSJ

Study: No consensus on climate change

Americans fall into six groups when it comes to climate change, from the alarmed to the dismissive. That's the conclusion of a study from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "When we talk about 'the American public' and its views on global warming, that's a misnomer," said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale F&ES Project on Climate Change and a co-author of the report. "There is no single American voice on this issue." Leiserowitz and his colleagues found in their survey of more than 2,000 adults in the fall that Americans are in six distinct groups when it comes to climate change: The alarmed (18 percent); the concerned (33 percent); the cautious (19 percent); the disengaged (12 percent); the doubtful (11 percent); and the dismissive (7 percent). Those numbers are about in line with a recent Gallup poll that found about a third of Americans worry a "great deal" about global warming...AP