From the Seattle Times:

Washington, DC - Congressman Dave Reichert (WA-08) released the following statement today after the U.S. House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act:

“Energy independence and our national security are critical issues for America. These issues transcend politics. The future of this country is on the line and we can spare no effort when it comes to  leading on these issues at a global level.

“This bill is not perfect, but it is a vital step toward energy independence. America cannot maintain global leadership without innovation and new ideas, and we cannot lead if we increasingly depend
on foreign nations to heat our homes and move people and goods. The price of inaction is too great; America cannot stand on the sidelines while our competitors embrace new energy efficient technologies. It’s also important that we engage in a bipartisan discussion as we move forward - this bill has many other hoops to jump through before it becomes law and I will continue to work with my colleagues across the aisle and in the Senate to gain more tax relief for middle-income families.

Michelle Malkin and the Americana for Prosperity are reporting that Dave Reichert (R - Wa. Dist is leaning towards a YES vote on the Cap and Trade Economy Killer bill, currently being ramrodded through the House of Representatives, despite the Republicans being locked out of the process, and Cong. Waman doing a midnight drop of a 300+ page amendment to the bill.

I cannot encourage people strongly enough to contact Cong. Reichert’s office, and let them know where you stand on this issue!

Washington DC office phone: (202) 225-7761

Mercer Island office phone:  (206) 275-3438 or (877) 920-9208

If you are a constituent, you can email his office here.

Courtesy of JoNova:

Michael Kundu, Board President of Marysville (Washington State, USA) District #25 has written to colleagues to urge them to trash a free science resource that discusses logic, reason and evidence, and the core of science. The Skeptics Handbook has arrived at school board presidents’ desks around the US.

“I would encourage all of you to stuff that junk mail directly into the recycle basket.”

In a spot of unwitting self-parody he states:

“…we need to have the ability to tell fact from fiction.  This last mailing is an excellent example of ‘fiction’.”

Thus Michael Kundu, whale photographer, pronounces the data from NASA, Hadley, UAH, CSSP, IPPC, as fiction.

There is a great deal more background at the link, including an interesting exchange between a Marysville resident, and Mr. Kunda, in the Comments.

Washington State that is. Paula over at It’s Only Words has got two new posts up with a bit of information about Washington’s SB6900.

It seems that our beloved State Senators want to tack on some truly onerous fees to our car tabs, despite being told time and again by the electorate that we want them to be affordable. If you’ve got a 350 cubic inch V8 under your hood, you’ll end up paying $325.00 extra in fees just for the engine displacement. So, if you own a classic car, it’s going to really cost you. If it’s got a big block you’re going to pay through the nose to the tune of $400.00 or more.

Courtesy of the Guardian UK:

Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb.

The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.

The reactors, only a few metres in diameter, will be delivered on the back of a lorry to be buried underground. They must be refuelled every 7 to 10 years. Because the reactor is based on a 50-year-old design that has proved safe for students to use, few countries are expected to object to plants on their territory. An application to build the plants will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission next year.

I haven't taken the time to put together a round up of the Enviro-nitwit Supreme and all the other fun, so now seems like a good time.

I do want to note one thing though, and that is the I am retiring the phrase "eco-nazi" from the blog, except in rare occasions.

I decided that the term "Eco-Nanny" instead.  It seems to fit the "we know what's best for you" mentality that so many of these idiots seem to favor.

With that in mind, let's see what's going on.

First up is the Mighty Alarmists Supreme, the Grand Goracle, the mighty Al Gore, the biggest nanny of them all.

Al has taken on a new target for his science-less propaganda:  Bloggers.

Gore pushes environment with activist bloggers

I have long been opposed to ethanol (and many bio-fuels) on many grounds, not the least of which is that I feel it immoral to use foodstuffs to create fuel while millions starve in the world.

Many others have noted that as the population increases, along with standards of living in the developing world, that the most basic resources will become scarce, including the two most basic: Food and Water.

I will leave speculation on the coming water wars for another time, as shortages of food are far more pressing today.

I had not given much thought to food shortages in the past, as, like most Americans, I was content that the Breadbasket of the World (in which I include the US and Canada) could easily produce enough to feed not only the North America, but the world. 

Snow fell today in Baghdad for the first time in at least 100 years.  This Flickr photo of a man and his dog by myndtheef is from somewhere in Iraq.  Have a great weekend, all.

I believe that one reason for my decline in posting over the last few months, besides time constraints due to business, is that so many things that I want to say, have already been said, and far more eloquently, by others.  Case in point is a Two-fer from Big Lizards last week:

“The Courage to Do Nothing”

And here’s a nice round-up of forbidden knowledge from the Republicans in the Senate, led by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK, 100%), ranking member (and former chairman) of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works (EPW). Inhofe is a national treasure, one of the few Republicans not only willing to stand up against the greedy socialists at the UN (many Republicans do that), but also willing to put in the time to educate himself on the actual science involved.

Here’s a bit of news that you probably won’t be reading on the front page of the New York Times…

The scare over global warming, and our politicians’ response to it, is becoming ever more bizarre. On the one hand we have the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change coming up with yet another of its notoriously politicised reports, hyping up the scare by claiming that world surface temperatures have been higher in 11 of the past 12 years (1995-2006) than ever previously recorded.

Driest-ever autumn to follow wettest summer

Damian Lanigan: The eco-nihilists

Britain’s worst polluters

This carefully ignores the latest US satellite figures showing temperatures having fallen since 1998, declining in 2007 to a 1983 level - not to mention the newly revised figures for US surface temperatures showing that the 1930s had four of the 10 warmest years of the past century, with the hottest year of all being not 1998, as was previously claimed, but 1934.