Pa. Wind Turbines Destroying Environment

Bats, as scary as they are to some, are one of the more useful mammals in creation. The diets of those species common in Pennsylvania consist of mosquitoes and other insect pests including the ones that damage crops.

A colony of 100 brown bats can consume of a quarter-million insects in a single night. Science magazine has estimated the pest control service provided by bats can save farmers about $74 per acre.

Well, the unattractive wind turbines built at the hectoring of  the nature worshipers who’ve managed to convince most that they are the arbiters of all dogma scientific are turning out to be a bit of an environmental disaster.

The 420 wind turbines in use in Pennsylvania  killed 10,000 bats last year.

The plans call for 2,900 turbines to be placed in the state by 2030 so figure on 72,000 less bats per year by then and 180 million more bugs.

And a lot more expensive tomatoes.

Meanwhile, nuclear power, which is probably the most environmentally friendly energy source, is constantly vilified by the nature worshiping pseudo-scientists and fear mongers with the talent to make you forget about a 9 magnitude earthquake and a 30-foot tsunami if a nuclear power plant can be blamed for something.

If the citizens of this nation don’t learn to turn a deaf ear to them we are going to find ourselves walking five-miles to work as their gardeners and bean pickers while living in thatched roofed huts.

Penn State Tuition Hike Lowest In Decade

Those evil Republicans running Harrisburg cut funding for the wealthy state-affiliated colleges and, lo and behold, Penn State just announced an in-state tuition hike of 4.9 percent.

Just proves how much Republicans hate education, right?

Not right.

Charles Mitchell of Commonwealth Foundation points out that this year’s increase is the smallest — by far — in a decade being just a tad over half of the school’s average 8.4 percent annual gouge of young persons and their families since 2001.

Penn State Tuition Hike Lowest In Decade

Toomey Explains Why We Won’t Default

Six days ago, July 13, Pennsylvania’s competent senator, Pat Toomey, explained the debt ceiling debate to Neil Cavuto of FoxNews.

“If we get to August 2 without having raised debt ceiling that will be disruptive,” he said. “That will be a partial government shutdown.  But we will not default on our debt. There is enough ongoing revenue in
the form of tax revenue to prevent that. And, frankly, if we just raised
the debt limit without the structural reform, without the real spending
cuts we need, then we’re inviting a catastrophe down the road.”

He also said the Republican are more than willing to raise the debt ceiling if the President offers a path to a balanced budget, which he has been strangely and extraordinarily adverse to doing.

“I think there is overwhelming, if not unanimous, support among Republicans
to raise the debt ceiling, which is what the president has insisted he
vitally needs,” Toomey said. “So, we’d be willing to do that. I won’t speak for all of my colleague,
but I think a big majority would be willing to raise the debt limit if
we were on a path to a sustainable balanced budget. I don’t see why the
president can’t accept that.”

Hat tip to Bob Guzzardi

Cleared Christine Fires Back; Moody’s And Ponzi Schemes

The woman who was the subject of unending abuse during her run to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate has been cleared by federal investigations of the charges made against her by the cynics willing to do what it takes to grab power.

And now she’s fighting back.

U.S. Attorney Charles Oberly III in a letter sent Friday to  Christine O’Donnell’s campaign
lawyer said that prosecutors had finished a probe
of allegations that Ms. O’Donnell used campaign funds for personal
use, including rent, and had made false statements in Federal Election
Commission filings.

“I write to inform you that this office has closed its review and does not intend to pursue criminal charges at this time,” Oberly said in the letter to Cleta Mitchell.

Meanwhile, the Federal Election Commission has voted to end an investigation as to whether Ms. O’Donnell’s campaign and the California-based Tea Party Express illegally coordinated campaign spending.

With  exoneration, Ms. O’Donnell now gets her turn at bat and she has filed a complaint with the FEC asking it to investigate Melanie Sloan who is executive director of Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) which filed the claim of wrongdoing by the O’Donnell Campaign.

Ms. O’Donnell complaint alleges that  CREW based its claim on an affidavit that it failed to vet  former O’Donnell campaign worker David Keegan, Jr. 

The affidavit, according to Ms. O’Donnell, contained false information.

“Although the purely political
motives behind the submission to your office are not illegal, making
false statements to the United States Attorneys’ office and/or FEC would
violate federal law,” said Ms. O’Donnell’s lawyer, Richard Abbott.

In other behind the headline news, Reuters is reporting that Moody’s ratings agency wants the U.S. to end the statutory limit on debt so bondholders won’t be subject to “periodic uncertainty”.

So holders of existing debt are somehow endangered when an institution declines to keep borrowing? Only in a Ponzi scheme. Has Bernie Madoff gotten a prison job managing Moody’s?

In a certainly unrelated matter, the Obama Administration is reported to be considering civil fraud charges against Moody’s and fellow respected ratings agency Standard and Poor’s regarding their actions relating to mortgage debt and the collapse of the housing market.

Expect to see the investigation dropped.

Against Moody’s anyway.

How deep does the corruption in our government go?

Sharpshooter

The finest shot on the planet at a time when marksmanship was prized as an international sport (second half of 19th century) was one William Frank “Doc” Carver, friend of Wild Bill Hickock and Buffalo Bill Cody — so say both the dime novels and authentic newspaper documentation. After establishing his dominance, Carver teamed with Cody to form the first large-scale Wild West show. But as an entrepreneur and personality, Cody was superior. He became the icon, Carver a footnote.

But Doc Carver created an enduring show biz act after splitting from Buffalo Bill: the Diving Horses, that quirky yet dramatic splashdown that became the calling card of the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. I’m researching Carver’s life for a new book. Interesting character. — Jim Waltzer

Jim Waltzer’s novel “Brother’s Keeper,” set in 1920s Atlantic City, has just been published.

Old Media Monopoly In Philly, Yawn

The hedge fund that owns a “significant stake” in Philadelphia Media Network Inc. which is the owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, has acquired Journal Register Co. of Yardley, Pa. which owns just about all the other print publications in the Philadelphia area including most of the weeklies.

JRC banners include the Trentonian of Trenton, N.J., The Daily Times of Delaware County, The Daily Local of Chester County, The Mercury of Pottstown, and the Times Herald of Montgomery County.

The hedge fund is Alden Global Capital which has offices in New York, Dallas, Mumbai and Dubai.

Once, this type of monopoly would have been something to be concerned about but times change.

JRC and Philadelphia Newspapers LLC., which was the subsidiary of Brian Tierney’s Philadelphia Media Holdings, Inc.  that previously owned the Inquirer and Daily News,  filed for bankruptcy in the same week in February 2009.

There are decent people in both companies and I sincerely wish them all the best.

Old Media Monopoly In Philly, Yawn

Old Media Monopoly In Philly, Yawn

 

18th Century Taverns, Traffic Snarls And Global Warming

After decades of trying to figure out what to do with the building, Delaware County, Pa. is almost ready to move its tourist department into the 18th Century Rose Tree Tavern in the county-owned Rose Tree Park in Upper Providence Township.

The county, in a typical display of its insecurity, calls the department the Brandywine Conference  and Visitors Bureau. It should be noted that the Brandywine River will now be 12 miles away from the new HQ  and the Brandywine Valley is an exceedingly small portion of the historically influential county.

Regardless, the historic building is now about to be put into use and we can now address the real issue. For 200-plus years, the building  had stood about 200 feet to the southwest which meant it was almost directly at the corner of Rose Tree  and Providence roads, the latter of which would become at that particular stretch the heavily traveled State Route 252.

Plans to install  desperately needed turn lanes were always squashed due to the complexities relating to the historic structure. This meant  long exhaust-emitting, gasoline-wasting traffic jams.

So it was moved back on Aug. 10, 2004 with PennDOT bearing the entire $1.25 million bill and fixing the jams became a simple thing.

So where are the turn lanes?

We have solar panels on the Springfield Library, we have brand new rails for the Route 101 trolley but we don’t have turn lanes at a infamous problem intersection the placement of which would have done far more to alleviate pollution — and achieve energy independence — than a hundred  feel-good  projects.

The refusal of “man-made global warming” activists to get involved in the mundane and practical solutions  — like unsnarling traffic — to their various complaints is just one more reason to doubt their sincerity.

When they get around to demanding the end of toll roads and bridges is when you can get around to considering buying a Chevy Volt.

No Action On Debt Ceiling Won’t Hurt Grandpa

No Action On Debt Ceiling Won’t Hurt Grandpa — For those fearful  that the elderly will be thrown in the street and bankers will repossess the Statue of Liberty if the debt ceiling is not raised Aug. 2 here are some facts courtesy of MarketWatch.Com that will rest your troubled souls.

Tax revenue for August is expected to be $200 billion.

Now, interest on the debt will be $29 billion, Social Security outlays will be $49.2 billion (hey, wasn’t that supposed to be in a separate “lockbox” fund?????), Medicare and Medicaid outlays will be $50 billion, and $5.8 billion will be spent on active duty troop pay and veterans affairs programs.

So that leaves $66 billion without having to spend beyond our means.

The problem is that Obama wants to spend $300 billion for August.

Well as Mick Jagger once said, you can’t always get what you want.

And with the facts on the table it looks like you don’t even have to try real hard this time to find that you get what you need.

There will be dire consequences to any Republican who votes to raise the debt ceiling.

 

No Action On Debt Ceiling Won’t Hurt Grandpa

Texas Don’t Mess With; Pa. Is A Mess To Begin With

Texas Don’t Mess With; Pa. Is A Mess To Begin With — Columnist Chris Freind has just got back from Texas and tells me that there is a world of difference between that state and ours — and not in our favor.

Chris notes that Pennsylvania ranks 43rd in economic performance while Texas is number one. He notes that Pennsylvania is dead last, in fact, with regard to labor competitiveness due to the influence of unions and trial lawyers.

Texas, on the other hand, is a Right To Work state, has no state income tax and has aggressively passed legal reform measures reducing litigation costs to historic lows.

This means that 40 percent of all new jobs created in the current “recovery” have been in Texas and that Texas is only one of three states to have gained jobs since the recession began in December 2007, which not coincidentally, is not long after the Democrats took over control of Congress.

Check out Chris’ column at PhillyMag.Com

Obama Forehead Has Dubya

Obama Forehead Has Dubya

As his administration slowly sinks under the weight of the tumult of our times, and as he finds himself taxed far beyond the level of his rather limited competency, a strange, mysterious mark has begun appearing on our president’s pulsating forehead.

What could it possibly mean? It could only be the Mark of Dubya as it seems to appear when he is blaming George W. Bush for something.

It’s like a curse of some sort.

Pretty scary kids.

The photo was taken by Keith Koffler of WhiteHouseDossier.Com at Obama’s July 11 press conference.

 

Obama Forehead Has Dubya