Monday, December 17, 2012

Wind, solar could provide 99.9% of ALL POWER by 2030 • The Register

Wind, solar could provide 99.9% of ALL POWER by 2030 • The Register
Fossil-fuel sources wouldn't be abandoned entirely.
There would likely be times when neither wind nor solar could provide enough juice, and when storage had been depleted.
When that happens, they say, it'd be time to fire up the ol' CO2 spewers and spin their turbines.
Doing that, however, would be a last resort, and not the first, as is true in much of the US's power grid today.
While the idea of a large, geographically diverse renewable-energy grid might seem heinously expensive, the paper's authors contend that if current estimates are correct that by 2030 wind and solar capital costs will be about half of what they are today, by that date a renewable system would be as cost effective as a fossil fuel system, and all without government subsidies.
There is one cost sweetener in their calculations, however: their cost estimates for that comparison includes the costs related to the human health effects of fossil fuel–caused air polution.
Those are costs, of course, that are not borne by the electric power industry. Yet. ®

SO IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A “NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON GUNS,” HERE ARE SOME OPENERS:

Instapundit » Blog Archive » SO IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A “NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON GUNS,” HERE ARE SOME OPENERS:
 Why do people…: UPDATE: John Lucas emails:
Joe Scarborough, who claims to be a “proud NRA member” just said there is no reason to allow someone to have an “assault weapon” that shoots “30 rounds a second.”
The ignorance is appalling.
Well, yes. It’s MSNBC. But it is interesting that Scarborough — like Mark Shields and Rupert Murdoch — seems entirely ignorant of actual gun law.
But to be fair, the National Firearms Act has only been around since 1934.
Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 8:15 am

Question of the Day: Should Gov. Snyder veto new gun legislation in the wake of the Connecticut school shootings?

Question of the Day: Should Gov. Snyder veto new gun legislation in the wake of the Connecticut school shootings? | MLive.com:
Connecticut has a similar law, but the proposed Michigan bill goes even further.
Gov. Rick Snyder has not indicated if he supports the legislation.
Leaders of the MEA and Progress Michigan have urged Snyder to veto the bill.

What If Nothing or Nobody is to Blame for Adam Lanza? Guns, Video Games, Autism or Authorities

What If Nothing or Nobody is to Blame for Adam Lanza? Guns, Video Games, Autism or Authorities - NationalJournal.com
What if there is nobody or nothing to blame?
Would that make this inexplicable horror unbearable?
What if we didn't rush to judgement?
What if we didn't waste our thoughts, prayers and actions on assigning blame for the sake of mere recrimination?
What if we calmly and ruthlessly learned whatever lessons we can from the massacre -- and prevented the next one?
A parting thought: What if it wasn't one thing, but everything, that set off Lanza?

2012 salary report: 20 University of Michigan deans collect $7.28M in base pay

2012 salary report: 20 University of Michigan deans collect $7.28M in base pay
Related article: 2012 salary report: University of Michigan's top 16 execs collect $7.19M in base pay
Two University of Michigan dean reappointments in 2012 came with 13 percent salary increases.
Overall, U-M's 20 deans earn a combined $7.28 million in base salaries, according to compensation figures released Friday by the school.
Last year U-M's deans earned $6.92 million.

Union Steward Paid $100K By Taxpayers Attends Rally Advocating Against Them

Union Steward Paid $100K By Taxpayers Attends Rally Advocating Against Them [Michigan Capitol Confidential]
Unlike most public and private-sector workers, being there was easy for Levine — she is paid by taxpayers to represent the union full-time.

As Michigan Capitol Confidential noted in a story in 2011, Levine is an elementary school teacher who is released from her duties as a teacher to work for the union.
That's the perk of being union president.

According to documents provided by the district via a Freedom of Information Act request, Levine makes $145,117 in total compensation (as of 2011).
The Chippewa Valley School District in Macomb County pays $103,807 of that. Another teacher in the district, Larry Schulte, is allowed to spend half his time involved in union business.
He receives $125,135 in total compensation of which taxpayers pick-up $104,480 (as of 2011).

Prosperity: US Drops Out of Top Ten

Prosperity: US Drops Out of Top Ten | Power Line
Consistent with this finding is the fact that for the first time in history, the average Canadian is wealthier than the average American.
Canada has a conservative government, and they have passed us like we are standing still.
Which we are, at best.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

ACLU Killed Connecticut Forcible Institutionalization Law That Might Have Prevented Killings

ACLU Killed Connecticut Forcible Institutionalization Law That Might Have Prevented Killings
But thankfully the ACLU won and over two dozen children were murdered.
And there will be of course no cries that the ACLU, rather than the NRA, should be held accountable for a dangerous lunatic being on the loose.

The Anarchist Soccer Mom: Thinking the Unthinkable

The Anarchist Soccer Mom: Thinking the Unthinkable
I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother.
I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother.
I am James Holmes’s mother.
I am Jared Loughner’s mother.
I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother.
And these boys—and their mothers—need help.
In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns.
But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

EyeOnMuskegon 12-16-2012


Saturday, December 15, 2012

Obama: Pot users not a 'top priority'

Obama: Pot users not a 'top priority' | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
Obama simply told Walters that going after "recreational users" would not be a "top priority."

Editorial: Muskegon city commissioners should follow voters' directive on senior citizen transit program

Editorial: Muskegon city commissioners should follow voters' directive on senior citizen transit program | MLive.com
The people of Muskegon clearly wanted the senior citizen transit program to receive funding, even if a technicality ended up in its defeat at the polls.

Editorial: Politicizing job creation doesn't benefit Michigan business or labor

Editorial: Politicizing job creation doesn't benefit Michigan business or labor | MLive.com
We're not suggesting that everyone sit in a circle and sing "Kumbaya."
Michigan's strength is in its diversity, but there is a potential for weakness there, too.
Because the state did not have a proper debate over right to work, we will spend the next two years sorting the issue out in a political and legal battle that will cost us dearly.
But we should not let that distract us from the most important issue: jobs.

The MLive and Muskegon Chronicle Editorial Board members are Peg West, community news director; Clayton Hardiman, columnist; and Paula Holmes-Greeley, community engagement specialist.

ABC, NBC and CBS ignore union thugs' attack on Fox News contributor

ABC, NBC and CBS ignore union thugs' attack on Fox News contributor | Fox News
It’s a sad day for American TV journalism when The Huffington Post is a more honest news outlet than ABC, CBS or NBC.
On Tuesday, after Michigan union protests escalated into violence, HuffPo led with several stories, including one headlined: “Fox News Contributor Punched.”
That story was about how Fox News contributor Steven Crowder and others were attacked by union thugs during the protest against the new “right-to-work” law.
ABC, CBS and NBC covered the protests but only ABC made mention of police having to deal with protesters.
None of them mentioned the attack on Crowder or showed the videos of that attack and the thugs tearing down a tent with people in it, both widely available on the Internet hours before the evening news show broadcast.
No network quoted Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa predicting “civil war” between lawmakers and union members.
NBC anchor Brian Williams referred to it all meekly as “a boisterous day in the state capital.”

Study: Less Than 10% of Indian MBA Graduates Are ‘Employable’

Study: Less Than 10% of Indian MBA Graduates Are ‘Employable’ - India Real Time - WSJ
The study found that less than half of the students tested had some knowledge of key industry terms and concepts in their areas of specialty.
For instance, a third of the surveyed students who had majored in finance, did not know what IPO – short for initial public offering – stood for.
A third of all students tested lacked basic English grammar skills, a prerequisite for working in the corporate environment, particularly in client-facing roles like consulting, banking, marketing and sales.

Obama administration, Congress quietly let school security funds lapse

Obama administration, Congress quietly let school security funds lapse | WashingtonGuardian
Beneath the expressions of grief, sorrow and disbelief over the Connecticut school massacre lies an uneasy truth in Washington: over the last few years the Obama administration and Congress quietly let federal funding for several key school security programs lapse in the name of budget savings.

Government officials told the Washington Guardian on Friday night that two Justice Department programs that had provided more than $200 million to schools for training, security equipment and police resources over the last decade weren't renewed in 2011 and 2012, and that a separate program that provided $800 million to put police officers inside the schools was ended a few years earlier.

A Thought Experiment Related to School Shootings

The Volokh Conspiracy » A Thought Experiment Related to School Shootings

A Thought Experiment Related to School Shootings

Imagine that you ran a school district, and some rich foundation, worried about school shootings, gave you the following offer: We’ll hire armed security guards for you, who could try to do something about the school shooter. These aren’t going to be highly trained police officers, just typical security guards, given some modest training and subjected to basic background checks. It’s not like they’re highly skilled; security guards rarely are. But they have a basic understanding of how to shoot, and when to shoot.
They wouldn’t deal with ordinary trespassing, vandalism, and the like, nor would they be at all guaranteed to be effective in the event of a school shooting (who can offer such a guarantee?). But they’d provide someone on the ground who could try to interrupt a killing spree. And the foundation is paying, so it’s virtually no cost to the district. Would you say yes?
I imagine that you probably would. You probably wouldn’t much worry, for instance, that the guard would go crazy and himself start shooting — theoretically possible, to be sure, but unlikely. You’d figure that someone who can defend the school with a gun during an attack (as opposed to the police, who will come in many precious minutes after the attack begins) is better than no-one.
Nor would you object in principles about there being a gun in school, since it’s in the right hands. Just like people who have money often to pay for armed neighborhood-wide security patrols, and don’t insist on the unarmed kind or no patrol at all, you’d probably think that this free security guard would probably be helpful.
But wait! The foundation has just learned that its investment portfolio has done very badly, and the grant doesn’t go through. But someone else suggests: Instead of hiring special-purpose security guards, why not take some of your existing employees — teachers, administrators, and the like — and offer them a deal: They’d go through some modest training and subjected to basic background checks, and in exchange they’d be given the right to carry the same guns that the security guards would have had.
Indeed, this way you could have not just one security guard but several (if several staff members sign up). And you might get people to do this even without paying them, since they might value the ability to defend themselves and to not be sitting ducks should the worst happen. (If there’s some union contract or labor law that precludes that, that can of course be changed, if people think this is a good idea.) Maybe Assistant Principal Joel Myrick, who confronted the Pearl, Mississippi high school shooter with a gun, after Myrick went to the car to get it, might have participated in such a program if it had existed, and had let him keep the gun in school.
And no need to call the licenses given to those who participate in the program “concealed carry” licenses, just in case some parents and others don’t like the concept. Just call them “volunteer security guard” licenses, though you might expect that most people who sign up for this will also have licenses to concealed carry on the street. Of course, if a killer does show up, maybe some of these volunteer security guards will just cower in the corner rather than trying to defend the students, or attack the killer. But it seems more likely that someone will confront and try to stop the killer if that someone is armed then if that person is disarmed.
What’s your answer to that? Is there some reason why the armed security guard is safe and helpful, but the armed teacher, administrator, or staffer — er, the teacher with a volunteer security guard license — would be useless and a menace?

DETNEWS | Weblogs | The Watercooler

DETNEWS | Weblogs | The Watercooler
Guv Snyder death threats

After what I saw and heard Tuesday in person in Lansing... this surprises me not at all:

Examiner: Liberals on Twitter issue death threats against Gov. Snyder over right to work

Liberals and union supporters on Twitter issued a number of tweets calling for the death of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder over the right-to-work measure he signed into law, Twitchy reported Tuesday.

"I have signed the freedom to work bills into law," Gov. Snyder tweeted.

"F**k Snyder ill kill him (sic)," tweeted "TheWhitegirl."

"I Wanna Shoot Gov Snyder In His Eye. . .Bastard Been F**kin' Michigan Left & Right (sic)," one person said.

"[Y]ou are soooo going to die painfully for this b******t, it isn't even funny (sic)," said another person.

Union thugs assault Steven Crowder.

Some called for Gov. Snyder to kill himself, while others demanded Snyder's voters commit suicide.

AFPMichigan's channel - YouTube-UNION THUGGERY EXPOSED

AFPMichigan's channel - YouTube

How many bowl games are too many? College football's devalued postseason

How many bowl games are too many? College football's devalued postseason | al.com
USA Today reported that the average salary for the 15 leaders of the non-profit bowls is about three times more than the average for a nonprofit chief executive of mid-to-large charities.
Five bowl directors make more than the CEO of the American National Red Cross, who last year made $561,000 while overseeing revenues of $3.5 billion.
By contrast, Outback Bowl President Jim McVay made $753,946 in 2010 with revenues of $10 million.

Ticket prices are $87 for the Capital One Bowl on the Georgia and Nebraska web sites -- even though Nebraska (which played in Orlando last year) has sold only about 4,000 tickets and they can be found for $14 in the secondary market.
According to The Orlando Sentinel, the Capital One Bowl wanted Texas A&M-Northwestern, but caved to pressure from the SEC and Big Ten to protect the conference runner-ups.
Florida State has sold 4,000 of its 17,000 tickets for the Orange Bowl against Northern Illinois, an unlikely BCS team.
Those tickets are going for as low as $10 elsewhere.
Virginia Tech is forced to sell tickets for the Russell Athletic Bowl against Rutgers at $72.
They're available for $2 online -- joining the Gator and Music City (Vanderbilt-N.C. State) as bowls with tickets going for as low as less than $10.

Lucianne.com News Forum - HomePage

Lucianne.com News Forum - HomePage: Late Breaking News!

Secretary Hillary Clinton, suffering from a stomach flu, has fainted and sustained a concussion (AP)
THIS JUST IN - FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be unable to testify on the Benghazi raid next week due to her recent concussion.

Blog: It's Time to End Gun-Free Zones

Blog: It's Time to End Gun-Free Zones
Gun-free zones in schools are invitations to psychopaths to commit murder.
I remember my son recently showing me a satirical sign that said, "Attention Criminals, the people in this establishment have been disarmed for your convenience."

....Only Texas allows teachers to carry guns.
How many tragedies have to happen before we do the same?
How many children have to die before we finally allow the law-abiding citizens charged to educate and defend our students to do the latter as well as the former?
...I call the reader's attention to a few simple questions.
How many mass murders have been committed at a gun range or in a gun shop?
How many have been committed in a police station?
The answer is few, if any.
What is it that these locations have that our schools don't?
Simple: a plethora of armed law-abiding individuals.
 If just one person had been armed in Newtown or Aurora, how many lives could have been saved?

Michigan Fight Symbolizes Coming Changes in Delegation

Michigan Fight Symbolizes Coming Changes in Delegation : Roll Call Politics

'New urbanism' residential development proposed in downtown Muskegon by Jon Rooks

'New urbanism' residential development proposed in downtown Muskegon by Jon Rooks | MLive.com
Rooks, a Norton Shores resident, told the Muskegon Planning Commission that the residential development would feature small lots measuring 36 feet by 100 feet with small homes.
He said the goal is to have the residential lots priced at about $100,000 on the lakefront with $150,000 homes built on them.

Steven Crowder Files Criminal Complaint Against Pro-Union Protester

Steven Crowder Files Criminal Complaint Against Pro-Union Protester | NewsBusters.org
Earlier that day, union supporters turned violent as they attacked supporters of the new law, tearing down a tent with people in it and punching Crowder in the face. Both acts were caught on video.
Needless to say, if the clips had been reversed with workers' rights supporters attacking union members, you would not be able to watch television without seeing the footage.

Michigan’s adoption of right-to-work legislation may spark chain reaction

Michigan’s adoption of right-to-work legislation may spark chain reaction | Washington Free Beacon
Michigan has not been so lucky.
The state ranked 13th for its business climate in 2006.
By 2012, it had fallen to 39th due in part to union power and the high deficits of the Jennifer Granholm administration.
“This could be the first year that Michigan starts to reverse its decline because [Snyder] has shown that he’s willing to take the state in a new direction,” Pollina said.
“Where it’s going to help out is in attracting out of state employers—it’s a great thing for the state of Michigan.”

Brand USA found to have wasted even more money

Brand USA found to have wasted even more money | Washington Free Beacon
The Daily Caller first reported Thursday on new expense reports and business audits that paint a picture of Brand USA as a rudderless organization with a penchant for spending:

Some of the new organization’s recent expenses include $4,139 for 250 holiday cards, $3,592 for a holiday e-card and $2,449 for a ringtone version of the Rosanne Cash song “Land of Dreams,” which was created specifically for a sweeping Brand USA promotional campaign.
Also among the expenditures, according to the documents, are $2,700 for 26 sets of business cards and $50,252 for giveaway materials at the International Pow Wow trade show, which was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center earlier this year.
The agency spent nearly $35,000 on Chinese-made water bottles for the event.
And Brand USA spent close to $1 million on its posh launch party in London last year, including $69,300 on freebies for attendees.
Almost $50,000 went to neck wallets, and the organization dished out a grand total of $13,101 for umbrellas.
Brand USA has also paid out approximately $1 million in severance pay to eight terminated employees, the documents show.
Brand USA, formerly known as the Corporation for Travel Promotion, is a public-private partnership established by Congress to promote the United States abroad.
It receives $1 in federal funding for every $2 in private contributions from corporations.

The Koch Brothers Should Buy MSNBC

The Koch Brothers Should Buy MSNBC « American Glob
The Koch Brothers should buy MSNBC and turn it over to conservative bloggers. That concludes today’s Live at Five Report with Stacy McCain and Smitty.
Coming up at 6, Bill Whittle followed by Jim Geraghty and William Jacobson at 7 and Glenn Reynolds at 8. Ratings at MSNBC would go up as FOX News found itself competing for viewers for the first time since launching.
Sheldon Adelson should buy CNN and turn it over to NewsBusters which could spend 24 hours a day pointing out the inaccuracies and lies of liberal media on TV and in print.
After all, the liberal media has no idea how biased it is.

Read more on this at Powerline and Legal Insurrection.

Gun-free zones provide false sense of security

Column: Gun-free zones provide false sense of security
One of the interesting characteristics of mass shootings is that they generally occur in places where firearms are banned: malls, schools, etc.
That was the finding of a famous 1999 study by John Lott of the University of Maryland and William Landes of the University of Chicago, and it appears to have been borne out by experience since then as well.

Union Protesters' Attack Hits Local Employer With $35K Tent Destruction

Union Protesters' Attack Hits Local Employer With $35K Tent Destruction [Michigan Capitol Confidential]
“I understand that the protesters had a grudge," Gill said.
"But when they were tearing down the tents and cutting them up, they were taking their grudge out on a small local employer. I
t was like what they did to the hot dog guy (Tarver).
They just wanted to show force.
They really didn't care who they were hurting.
It apparently didn't matter to them."
Gill, who owns Rentals Unlimited in Traverse City, said he wondered what sort of news coverage the destruction would have received if the political dynamics had been reversed.
"If these had been conservative protesters, I think the news media would be making a lot bigger deal about it," he said.