Wind-farm developers face hurdles before project can become reality

Wind-farm developers face hurdles before project can become reality
"There was an audible gasp at a public hearing Tuesday when the audience saw what the proposed Aegir Offshore Wind Farm would look like from Mears State Park in Pentwater."

Wait till they see how much it costs!

...and all those dead birdies......

Fruitport Township, county, Indian tribe set up account for casino-related expenses

Fruitport Township, county, Indian tribe set up account for casino-related expenses
"The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians has proposed constructing a casino on the property near I-96 and U.S. 31. The tribe, which operates Little River Casino in Manistee, purchased the former Great Lakes Downs racetrack in 2008 and acquired additional adjacent property for a 233-acre site."

Not really noteworthy except for a comment by a friend yesterday.
"When is it gonna open?"

Lots of hurdles still remain before the fat lady sings and we may have a whole new state government elected in about 10 months.

Muskegon Public Schools award $2.4 million in construction contracts

Muskegon Public Schools award $2.4 million in construction contracts
"But the work does not include about $50,000 in lighting improvements to the district’s two middle school swimming pools — work the school board dropped after Superintendent Colin Armstrong indicated the pools could be closed as part of cost-cutting measures for next year."

Hmmm.

For teachers union members:
The automatic annual "step-up" pay increases continue.
The automatic "cost of living" pay increase continue.
The featherbedding in classrooms continues.

But children swimming in the two swimming pools won't continue.

I guess the phrase "it's for the children" only matters when the teacher's union bosses demand more money and benefits for teachers.

more:

http://muskegonpundit.blogspot.com/2009/10/teacher-perks-bleed-budget-dry.html

Lawrence Solomon: Wikipedia’s climate doctor

Lawrence Solomon: Wikipedia’s climate doctor
"The Climategate Emails reveal something else, too: the enlistment of the most widely read source of information in the world — Wikipedia — in the wholesale rewriting of this history.

The Medieval Warm Period, which followed the meanness and cold of the Dark Ages, was a great time in human history — it allowed humans around the world to bask in a glorious warmth that vastly improved agriculture, increased life spans and otherwise bettered the human condition.

But the Medieval Warm Period was not so great for some humans in our own time — the same small band that believes the planet has now entered an unprecedented and dangerous warm period. As we now know from the Climategate Emails, this band saw the Medieval Warm Period as an enormous obstacle in their mission of spreading the word about global warming. If temperatures were warmer 1,000 years ago than today, the Climategate Emails explain in detail, their message that we now live in the warmest of all possible times would be undermined. As put by one band member, a Briton named Folland at the Hadley Centre, a Medieval Warm Period “dilutes the message rather significantly.”"

Climategate: What's the "trick" and what did it "hide"?

Climategate: What's the "trick" and what did it "hide"?
"In a new famous email, Phil Jones, then head of the Climactic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, wrote on Nov. 16 to climate research colleagues in the United States and at his own CRU:
'Dear Ray, Mike and Malcolm,
Once Tim's got a diagram here we'll send that either later today or first thing tomorrow.
I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) and (sic) from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline...'
What's the trick and what did it hide?"

Michigan's Fire Safe Cigarette Law Takes Effect January 1, 2010 Manufacturers Required to Certify Self-Extinguishing Cigarettes with State

DELEG - Michigan's Fire Safe Cigarette Law Takes Effect January 1, 2010 Manufacturers Required to Certify Self-Extinguishing Cigarettes with State
"State Fire Marshal Ronald R. Farr today announced that cigarette manufacturers must certify their brand families and associated styles as fire safe in order to sell them in Michigan after January 1, 2010. The Fire Standard Compliant (FSC) mark approval process for manufacturers begins today."

Shocker: Medicare Has A Higher Claim Denial Rate Than Private Sector Employers

Shocker: Medicare Has A Higher Claim Denial Rate Than Private Sector Employers
"under the government health care we already have Americans are denied far more often than the private sector."

Why are we learning this now?
A bit late, eh.

Payoffs for states get Harry Reid to 60 votes

Payoffs for states get Harry Reid to 60 votes
"Ben Nelson’s “Cornhusker Kickback,” as the GOP is calling it, got all the attention Saturday, but other senators lined up for deals as Majority Leader Harry Reid corralled the last few votes for a health reform package.

Nelson’s might be the most blatant – a deal carved out for a single state, a permanent exemption from the state share of Medicaid expansion for Nebraska, meaning federal taxpayers have to kick in an additional $45 million in the first decade.

But another Democratic holdout, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), took credit for $10 billion in new funding for community health centers, while denying it was a “sweetheart deal.” He was clearly more enthusiastic about a bill he said he couldn’t support just three days ago.
Nelson and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) carved out an exemption for non-profit insurers in their states from a hefty excise tax. Similar insurers in the other 48 states will pay the tax.
Vermont and Massachusetts were given additional Medicaid funding, another plus for Sanders and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
Three states – Pennsylvania, New York and Florida – all won protections for their Medicare Advantage beneficiaries at a time when the program is facing cuts nationwide.
All of this came on top of a $300 million increase for Medicaid in Louisiana, designed to win the vote of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu."

12 Amazing Christmas Lights Around the World

12 Amazing Christmas Lights Around the World - Oddee.com

Wannabe Pundits

Wannabe Pundits

See if you can guess the topics of the New York Times articles from which the following two excerpts are drawn:

'These are all minor annoyances, mind you, in a world with daily reminders that an embittered, small-hearted senator from Connecticut can hold up health care for millions.'

'President Obama and the Congressional leadership have repeatedly stressed their commitment to wresting the wealth of the nation from the hands of a few.'

Actually, don't even try; you'll never get it.
The first article, by Timothy Egan, is about Costco opening a store in Manhattan; the second, by a Paul Greenberg (though we're pretty sure it's not the Paul Greenberg), is about--no joke--fish oil.

To be sure, both appear in the Times's opinion section, so the 'Wannabe Pundits' designation isn't totally fair.
But the political references are just so bizarre and off topic.
It's as if we were to mention, apropos of absolutely nothing, that John Kerry has the hat to this day."

Proud Flag-Waving Communists and Socialists March in Copenhagen to Stop Global Warming

Watemelons, green on the outside.
Red on the inside.
Deep, rich, dark red.
Murderous red.

A dog is a rat is a doctor is a vet

Classical Values :: A dog is a rat is a doctor is a vet
"I want to return briefly to a point made in a hard-hitting post from Canadian blogger Blazingcatfur about the awful treatment his mother received:
With barely contained anger I informed the nurse that keeping an ill, 84 year old woman in a hospital corridor for 18 hours was not the type of care that anyone should be expected to tolerate. In fact my cat receives better treatment from his vet.

This is not the first time I've seen the point raised about veterinary care being better than health care for humans.
And you don't have to compare veterinary care to health care under socialized medicine to see the difference, although it becomes particularly glaring if you do.
Under our 'system' of veterinary health care, there's generally little or no wait, they're invariably friendly (because you could always grab your dog or cat and take it to another vet), and as to the prices?"

Nine Months After Stimulus 49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs

Nine Months After Stimulus 49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs
"Only North Dakota and the District of Columbia have seen net job creation following the February 2009 stimulus (though both fall short of seeing the promised level of job creation)."

Islamic mosque built at 9/11 Ground Zero

Islamic mosque built at 9/11 Ground Zero
"A new Islamic mosque will open its doors just steps from Ground Zero where Muslim terrorists murdered 2,751 people in the name of Allah on Sept. 11, 2001 – and its leading imam, who conducts sensitivity training sessions for the FBI, has reportedly blamed Christians for starting mass attacks on civilians."

(HT-WSB via M-Live)

12 Creepiest Children's Books

12 Creepiest Children's Books
"The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts, written by Shinta Cho, explores all forms of flatulence."

TaxProf Blog: Estate Tax News

TaxProf Blog: Estate Tax News
"Following up on recent estate tax posts (here, here, and here):"

Lots going on...or not.
But lots of links to the future of the death tax.

Laughing at the Left

The American Spectator : Laughing at the Left
"They believe we can spend our way out of debt.
They believe taking money from one part of the economy to give to another part somehow makes the economy bigger.
They believe people who have never run a business can run a business better than people who have spent their whole lives running businesses."

This "left lunacy" list goes on and on...it's scary...and there are SO many of them around.....
Read it and be armed against idiocy.

Are first shoes really closer to a girl's heart than her first kiss?

Are first shoes really closer to a girl's heart than her first kiss?
"Some 92 per cent of women remember the first shoes they bought with their own money - whether they were Carrie Bradshaw-inspired Manolo Blahniks or Jimmy Choos, or simply a high street bargain."

This explains a lot!

Congress Travels More, Public Pays

Congress Travels More, Public Pays
"The expenses racked up by U.S. lawmakers traveling here for a conference last month included one for the 'control room.'

Besides rooms for sleeping, the 12 members of the House of Representatives rented their hotel's fireplace-equipped presidential suite and two adjacent rooms.
The hotel cleared out the beds and in their place set up a bar, a snack room and office space.
The three extra rooms -- stocked with liquor, Coors beer, chips and salsa, sandwiches, Mrs. Fields cookies and York Peppermint Patties -- cost a total of about $1,500 a night.
They were rented for five nights.

While in Scotland, the House members toured historic buildings.
Some shopped for Scotch whisky and visited the hotel spa.
They capped the trip with a dinner at one of the region's finest restaurants, paid for by the legislators, who got $118 daily stipends for meals and incidentals.
Eleven of the 12 legislators then left the five-day conference two days early.

.......The cost they reported for such travel abroad was $13 million in 2008, a 70% jump from 2005, "

This is disgusting!

They are disgusting!

And the fact that the WSJ doesn't report the names of the congressional scum who "attended" this debacle is also disgusting.

Climategate goes SERIAL: now the Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming

Climategate goes SERIAL: now the Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming
"On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with Russian-climate data.

The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory.

Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports.
Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations."

MTA Approves Doomsday Cuts

MTA Approves Doomsday Cuts
"The MTA board has approved its 2010 doomsday budget. It includes service cuts and could leave New York City children without free rides to their public schools if it is implemented.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the nation's largest transportation agency, is facing a $383 million budget shortfall."

Remember this EVERY time a democrat (or anyone else) tells you how much better off we would be if we just had more public transportation.

59% Say Average Government Worker Earns More Than Average Taxpayer - Rasmussen Reports™

59% Say Average Government Worker Earns More Than Average Taxpayer
"Among those who have close friends or relatives who work for the government, the belief is even stronger: 61% say the average government worker earns more than the average taxpayer."

Misusing knowledge to expand government power

Misusing knowledge to expand government power
"Underlying the angry responses in focus groups and tea parties is an appreciation that problems can best be addressed by widely dispersed people with specialized knowledge operating in a predictable framework.
Not by central planners acting in ignorance of or by manipulating specialized knowledge."

Obama’s Gift To Republicans:

Obama’s Gift To Republicans
"PETER WEHNER: Obama’s Gift To Republicans: Their Resurgence.
“From strictly a governing and competence perspective, the health-care process that is unfolding has been one of the worst — and maybe the worst — we have ever seen.
Democrats are pushing for legislation that would take over one-sixth of the American economy — and they are doing it in a manner that insults the memory of Mo, Larry, and Curly.”"

I seem to remember Bill Clinton had the same effect a few years back.

Luggage Limits - Airline Baggage Allowance Policies

Luggage Limits - Airline Baggage Allowance Policies
"FREE Search Tool for Flight-Specific Baggage Information
Detailed baggage allowance information is available on all routes and ticket classes for over 100 airlines! All of the information you need to avoid expensive airline luggage fees is provided along with helpful airport specific links."

(HT Kim Komando today!)

Climategate goes SERIAL: now the Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming – Telegraph Blogs

Climategate goes SERIAL: now the Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming
"Climategate just got much, much bigger.
And all thanks to the Russians who, with perfect timing, dropped this bombshell just as the world’s leaders are gathering in Copenhagen to discuss ways of carbon-taxing us all back to the dark ages.
Feast your eyes on this news release from Rionovosta, via the Ria Novosti agency, posted on Icecap. (Hat Tip: Richard North)"

read it!

I came across this phrase yesterday

I came across this phrase yesterday: "FENDER SKIRTS"

(HT to Grampa!)

The fairness problem with cost shifting in health care

Bookworm Room » The fairness problem with cost shifting in health care
"One of the things that ObamaCare proponents keep saying (and please add a whining note in your mind as you read the following) is that “the current system isn’t fair.”
It’s not right, they say, that, in a rich country, some people have premium health care, while others are forced to go to a free clinic or an emergency room (or possibly back to their native Mexico).

What all these fairness proponents forget is that there is nothing fair about socialized medicine."

.....(http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=1224 )
It’s not just me saying this.
Indeed, even though I had inchoate thoughts on precisely this topic, I didn’t put it together until Zombie sent me a link to a comprehensive article spelling out everything that’s wrong with the universality of universal health care.
Please read it.
Think about it.
Forward it to friends.
Use it as the basis for letters to your Congressman or woman, or as the talking point for a friendly discussion at work

U.S. gave up billions in tax money in deal for Citigroup's bailout repayment

U.S. gave up billions in tax money in deal for Citigroup's bailout repayment
"The federal government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments from Citigroup as part of the deal announced this week to wean the company from the massive taxpayer bailout that helped it survive the financial crisis.....
"The government is consciously forfeiting future tax revenues.
It's another form of assistance, maybe not as obvious as direct assistance but certainly another form," said Robert Willens, an expert on tax accounting who runs a firm of the same name.
"I've been doing taxes for almost 40 years, and I've never seen anything like this, where the IRS and Treasury acted unilaterally on so many fronts."

College Basketball: Highlights and lowlights of the decade - SI.com

The Decade in Sports - SI.com

"BEST SCHOOL: Michigan State

It's hard to go against North Carolina, which went to four Final Fours and won two titles, or Florida, which in 2006-07 became college basketball's first repeat champion in 15 years.
But while the Spartans only won a single championship (in 2000), they also went to four Final Fours.
Moreover, unlike the other two candidates, the Spartans made the NCAA tournament every year this decade.
That is a remarkable achievement in an era when
the best teams so frequently lose young players to the pros."

How lucky we are to have Coach Izzo!

(HT Son-of-MO)