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Political payback: Oregon style

Confused visitors will be forgiven for thinking Oregon State University is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Congressman Pete DeFazio and the “progressive-socialist” wing of the Democratic Party. Or for likening what’s going on there to political retribution as practiced in Third World thugocracies.The idea that three outstanding students – PhD candidates at OSU – could face dismissal, and worse, shortly before receiving their degrees, is simply shocking. That this could be happening because their father had the temerity to challenge an entrenched 12-term Democratic congressman (and OSU earmark purveyor) could make people think the university is in Zimbabwe, not America.Dr. Art Robinson [...]

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Paul Driessen

|2011-04-25T00:00:00-04:00April 25th, 2011|Comments Off

Global warming â€œoops,â€ failures and persistence

The following article is an excerpt from the original posting at Orange Punch, a blog at the Orange County Register. Today, we’ll sign off with a brief round-up of Global Warming Oops Moments, failures and some of the movement’s most persistent foolishness. This would be funnier, if it didn’t cost you so much, and enrich so many schemers. (Incidentally, our items in this post are pulled from Marc Morano’s exceptional Climate Depot ezine newsletter. Go here to get it delivered to your email box daily. Highly recommended – and not just because he linked to our column.) —-> There’s this news [...]

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|2011-04-23T00:00:00-04:00April 23rd, 2011|Comments Off

The US should follow Europeâ€™s lead

President Obama and environmentalists often say America should follow Europe’s lead on energy, climate and economic matters.Recent events suggest that we should listen more attentively to the Europeans.Two brutal winters have awakened Europe to the fact that global temperatures stopped rising in 1998 – and that frigid days and nights pose far graver dangers to the elderly and poor than warm weather and moderate global warming.Germany and the Netherlands were gripped by near-record lows this past winter. People suffered frostbite and some froze to death in Poland and Russia.Barely twelve months after its Meteorological Office said the 2009-10 winter was the [...]

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Paul Driessen

|2011-04-18T00:00:00-04:00April 18th, 2011|Comments Off

Dog lovers and baby killers

By Cyril BoynesA couple months ago, when its dog-sledding business lost customers, a Canadian company had a hundred of its dogs killed. The incident “shocked” and “angered” people. The employee who shot the dogs said he suffered “post traumatic stress” from killing them and wants compensation.Animal activists used the incident in campaigns against dog sled rides. “I don’t think society is willing to accept that animals should be killed just because they are surplus or don’t suit the purpose they were born for,” said one. “The magnitude of this atrocity is so shocking – our heads are reeling,” another said.Huskies are [...]

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Christina Norman

|2011-04-12T00:00:00-04:00April 12th, 2011|Comments Off

Fears & facts about nuclear power

The ground hadn’t stopped shaking. Tsunami waters had not receded. And yet coverage of this awful natural disaster – a scene of almost unfathomable devastation and death – was already giving way to single-minded focus on radiation exposure and meltdowns.

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Paul Driessen

|2012-10-25T11:46:04-04:00April 11th, 2011|Comments Off

Power for the people

In a scene reminiscent of Colonial Williamsburg, for 16 years Thabo Molubi and his partner had made furniture in South Africa’s outback, known locally as the “veld,” using nothing but hand and foot power. When an electrical line finally reached the area, they installed lights, power saws and drills. Their productivity increased fourfold, and they hired local workers to make, sell and ship far more tables and chairs of much higher quality, thereby also commanding higher prices.

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Paul Driessen

|2013-02-11T16:19:34-05:00April 7th, 2011|Comments Off

What really threatens our future?

By Willie Soon & Barun MitraEnergy sustainability is not about resource availability and pollution. Capitalism and human ingenuity have already addressed “sustainability” in these regards, if the statistics are to be believed.The real sustainability challenge and threat concerns government intervention in the name of “sustainability,” because it is political and bureaucratic intervention that reduces the availability, reliability and affordability of energy. The real sustainability challenge is also about overcoming the forces of nature, via with ever stronger energy infrastructure around the world. That is a job for capitalism, not central planning.Consider these worldwide examples....Japan is grappling with a triple tragedy: earthquake, [...]

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|2011-04-06T00:00:00-04:00April 6th, 2011|Comments Off

Virginia eyes eminent domain reform

Six years after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its highly controversial Kelo v. City of New London decision, efforts to reign in the power of eminent domain continue to roll across the nation.In February, a Senate panel in Virginia narrowly approved a proposal to amend the state Constitution to redefine what is considered public use of private property. The measure, sponsored by Delegate Johnny Joannou (D-Portsmouth) would also compensate home and business owners at a level near market value for the loss of their property through eminent domain.Joannou told the Virginia Statehouse News (Feb. 15) that his bill would protect [...]

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2011-04-05T00:00:00-04:00April 5th, 2011|Comments Off

The anti-energy EPA

Presidential candidate Barack Obama promised that his policies would cause electricity rates to “skyrocket” and “bankrupt” any company trying to build a coal-fired generating plant. This is one promise he and his über-regulators are keeping.President Obama energetically promotes wind and solar projects that require millions of acres of land and billions of dollars in subsidies, to generate expensive, intermittent electricity and create jobs that cost taxpayers upwards of $220,000 apiece – most of them in China.His Interior Department is locking up more coal and petroleum prospects, via “wild lands” and other designations, and dragging its feet on issuing leases and drilling [...]

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Paul Driessen

|2011-04-04T00:00:00-04:00April 4th, 2011|1 Comment

EPA’s Clean Air Act: Pretending air pollution is worse than it is

Despite historically low levels of air pollutants, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking to enforce air quality regulations that are increasingly strict and burdensome. These regulations cost the economy billions of dollars by the EPA's own admission. Steve Milloy, publisher of JunkScience.com and frequent commentator for Fox News, has produced a thorough analysis of the EPA's latest regulatory attempt, the Clean Air Transport Rule (CATR), which seeks "to reduce the interstate transport of air emissions from Midwest power plants that the EPA claims cause or contribute to air quality problems downwind in 32 Eastern states." He concludes that the [...]

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|2011-03-31T00:00:00-04:00March 31st, 2011|1 Comment

Is it time to sell federal lands?

Faced with a soaring federal deficit and a slumping economy, some Capitol Hill lawmakers have hit on an idea to deal with both: They want the federal government to begin selling off some of its vast estate.

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2012-10-25T11:26:09-04:00March 29th, 2011|Comments Off

Congress bickers over biodegradable forks

CFACT's Marc Morano, editor of Climate Depot, appeared on Fox News with Neil Cavuto to discuss congressional Democrat's fight for biodegradable forks, knives, and spoons in the congressional cafeteria. Under Nancy Pelosi's "Green the Capitol" initiative, the flatwear in the Capitol's cafeteria was replaced with biodegradable utensils made from corn starch. They soon proved impractical, actually melting in hot soup and too flimsy to even eat a salad. Bipartisan complaints rolled in from all quarters. Now that the House is under GOP control, the "green" forks are history, and useful utensils are back in diners' hands. Some members of Congress, however, [...]

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|2011-03-25T00:00:00-04:00March 25th, 2011|Comments Off

The Japan nuclear emergency in context

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan delivered a devastating one-two punch to that island nation and to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. So what does much of the world do? You guessed it. They blamed the designers, builders and operators of the nuclear plant for not doing a good enough job.

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Kelvin Kemm

|2012-10-25T11:53:20-04:00March 24th, 2011|Comments Off

Nuclear safety: Reactors that can’t meltdown

The recent tragic events in Japan have brought the issue of nuclear energy to the forefront of public discussion. While radical environmentalists have exploited the issue to advance anti-nuclear policies, others have tried to defend this important energy source on the grounds of its importance to our economy and standard of living. Missing in the discussion is the fact that important breakthroughs in nuclear engineering should now be given proper vetting – developments that could reduce or eliminate the threat of nuclear meltdown.In order to grasp the significance of these breakthroughs, a basic understanding of the development of nuclear power technology [...]

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Kelvin Kemm

|2012-09-19T23:59:04-04:00March 17th, 2011|Comments Off

Welcome to the Third World

As Britain suffered through its coldest December in a century, families were forced to choose between keeping homes warm and feeding their children nourishing meals – thanks to climate policies that have forced extensive reliance on wind power and deliberately driven energy prices skyward. Barely two months later, the UK’s power grid CEO informed the country that its days of reliable electricity are numbered. Families, schools, offices, shops, hospitals and factories will just have to “get used to” consuming electricity “when it’s available,” not necessarily when they want it or need it. A new “smart grid” will be used to allocate [...]

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Paul Driessen

|2011-03-15T00:00:00-04:00March 15th, 2011|Comments Off