Bush Tax Rate Cuts Raises Taxes

See International Herald Tribune U.S. deficit forecast to decline this year January 25, 2007

■ “The U.S. Congressional Budget Office projects the national budget deficit to shrink again this year”
■ “The agency said Wednesday that the deficit for 2007 would decline to about $200 billion.”
■ “It would be the third big annual decline in a row, and it would come even though spending on the war in Iraq is expected to remain high this year.”

US National Security at Stake in Iraq and Moderate Muslims Too

A liberal friend of mine giggled derisively when I asked what about the three times Iraqis risked their lives to participate in democratic elections in 2005.

Often I hear the question where are the moderate Muslims willing to stand up and condemn and fight the extremists. Well, a lot of them are our allies in Iraq, the only Arab democracy, who are fighting to live in a democracy. It would be shameful for the US to abandon voters who dipping their finger into indelible purple ink defied the terrorists and voted to elect their government representatives.

However, the US is not using military force and spending money in Iraq just to be nice guys and help the Iraqis. Rather, it is in the national security interest of the United States to have functioning democracies in the Middle East. President Bush’s strategy is that to weaken terrorism and radicalism, the people of the Middle East need a better alternative.

It is a grand strategy worthy of a significant effort, and any anti-American or Jihadist worth his salt ought to be doing everything possible to cause the US strategy to fail. We are not talking about establishing a perfect democracy, governments on the level of Columbia or New Orleans would be sufficiently powerful examples to influence neighboring states. The mullahs in Iran should and do fear a democratic Iraq and Afghanistan on its border.

The Iranians should fight with everything they can for the US to fail while the US should recognize the importance of succeeding. The benefits should outweigh the costs, but one should remember that being a soldier has never been easy as John Hinderaker wrote “between 1983 and 1996, 18,006 American military personnel died accidentally in the service of their country. That death rate of 1,286 per year.”

Burning Dung and Biomass Contribute to Global Warming

The particles reflect sunlight initially contributing to cooling, but overtime the greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. Let’s get those poor folks burning dung electricity from zero-greenhouse gas emitting nuclear power plants.

See Stanford University Science Daily August 24, 2004 article “Global Warming, Climate, Environmental Issues, Nature, Acid Rain, Air Quality”

■ Burnt wood “gases and particles … cause short-term global cooling, but over decades the gases overwhelm this cooling effect to cause long-term global warming”
■ “Of the carbon dioxide that we humans contribute, one-third is from the burning of biomass, such as forests, grasslands and agricultural crops.”
■ “Biomass is sometimes burned for fuel, as when people in villages burn dung to heat homes or cook meals.”
■ “biomass is also burned to clear land, rid debris from old crops or perform rituals”
■ "the particles from biomass burning are health hazards”

Bush Economy Grows US GDP More Than Entire China Economy

From the Los Angeles Times article on China and Japan patching up diplomacy a chart showed the Gross Domestic Product of China as $2.6 trillion in 2006.

This World Bank 2005 data lists the US GDP as $12.4 trillion. The US GDP in 2000 was $9.8 trillion so has increased $2.6 trillion from 2000. So during a portion of the presidency of George W. Bush, in fiveyears, the United States economy has grown as much as the entire Chinese economy.

See http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf, and http://eh.net/hmit/gdp/gdp_answer.php?CHKnominalGDP=on&CHKrealGDP=on&CHKGDPdeflator=on&CHKpopulation=on&CHKnominalGDP_percap=on&CHKrealGDP_percap=on&year1=1992&year2=2005

Weather is Complex

The weather is complex. See BBC Weather at http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/ice1.shtml and http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding/iceage_02.shtml

“Historical evidence shows that the climate of the world since the planet was formed more than 4,000 million years ago has fluctuated greatly, and on many occasions has borne little resemblance to what we experience today.”

“More average conditions would be significantly warmer, producing the lush vegetation and hot conditions that prevailed aeons ago when dinosaurs walked the Earth for millions of years.”

“Throughout the history of the Earth it has been unusual to have one polar ice-cap; it is unique for us now to have two of them.” “the land mass that has become known to us as Antarctica has temporarily (in global terms!) positioned itself over the South Pole thereby blocking off warm currents.” “by another quirk of the slow drift of the continents, land has encircled the North pole, causing the waters there to be largely cut off from the worldwide drift of oceanic currents. This too has allowed an ice-cap to develop at the North Pole.”

“At the moment the Earth is passing through an interglacial which has lasted for around 10,000 years following the last Ice Age, which in turn went on for some 100,000 years.” “Perhaps ominously for man, the pattern suggests that ice ages last around 100,000 years on average and the shorter, warmer interglacials around 10,000 – so we are nearing the end of our current warmer period.”

“However, there is no need for any alarm at this thought. The next ice age could be up to 1,000 years or more away – a short period in climatology but a comfortingly lengthy one for us. And in any case no one can yet predict what effect the greenhouse effect may have on the overall pattern of global cooling and in arresting a return to glacial conditions.

“within the current interglacial, starting some 10,000 years ago, there have been smaller patterns emerging – periods of warmer weather, followed by colder weather and so on.” “probably reached its warmest about 5,000 or 6,000 years ago. At this time the temperature would have been on average about 2C (3.6F) warmer than the present day.” “This period has acquired the name the Optimum period as a result, and was followed by a much colder spell which more or less coincides with the historical period called the Iron Age, which reached its coldest around 2,500 years ago.”

“Ice ages should be seen on Earth as the norm rather than the exception. That is to say that with the present continental arrangements balanced against the heat source from the sun, it is to be expected that ice ages will occur.”

“The Earth's orbit changes from being almost a perfect circle to its elliptical form and then back again. This pattern can take around 100,000 years. Similarly, the Earth's tilt does not remain fixed at 66.5° to the plane but varies between 65.6° and 68.2° over a period of 40,000 years. At present the tilt is increasing.”

“analysis of climatic history suggests that this indeed is what has happened in practice and that it is these orbital variations that account for our weather pattern during the present ice epoch.”

Most of those calling for increasing the size and power of government to get the weather back to “normal” do not appreciate the complexity of weather. I doubt that many of them can explain the concept relative humidity.

Greenpeace Cofounder Criticizes Eco Extremism

Read How Sick Is That? Environmental Movement Has Lost Its Way by Co-founder of Greenpeace, Dr. Patrick Moore who is Chairman and Chief Scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd. in Vancouver, Canada. www.greenspiritstrategies.com.

■ Eco Extremists “made a sharp turn to the political left and began adopting extreme agendas that abandoned science and logic in favor of emotion and sensationalism.” “favoring political correctness over factual accuracy, stooping to scare tactics to garner support. Many campaigns now waged in the name of the environment would result in increased harm to both the environment and human welfare if they were to succeed.”

■ “Activists persist in their zero-tolerance campaign against genetically enhanced varieties of food crops when there is zero evidence of harm to human health or the environment, and the benefits are measurable and significant. Genetically enhanced (GE) food crops result in reduced chemical pesticides, higher yield, and reduced soil erosion.”

■ “The campaign against salmon farming, based on erroneous and exaggerated claims of environmental damage and chemical contamination, is scaring us into avoiding one of the most nutritious, heart-friendly foods available today.”

■ Eco Extremists “call for a ban on polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl), claiming it is the “poison plastic”. There is not a shred of evidence that vinyl damages human health or the environment. In addition to its cost-effectiveness in construction, and ability to deliver safe drinking water, vinyl’s ease of maintenance and its ability to incorporate anti-microbial properties is critical to fighting germs in hospitals.”

■ “International activists boast they have blocked more than 200 hydroelectric dams in the developing world and are campaigning to tear down existing dams. Hydro is the largest source of renewable electricity, providing about 12% of global supply.”

■ Eco Extremists “continue to lobby against clean nuclear energy, and in favour of the band-aid Kyoto Treaty. … nuclear energy is the only non-greenhouse gas-emitting power source that can effectively replace fossil fuels and satisfy global demand.”

■ “Anti-forestry activists are telling us to stop cutting trees and to reduce our use of wood. North Americans use more wood per capita than any other continent, yet there is about the same forest area in North America today as there was 100 years ago.”

Join Orange County Great Park Conservancy

The Orange County Great Park is actually three park experiences in one, as laid out by the Great Park Master Plan, including the Canyon, the Habitat Park, and the Fields & Memorial Park. The Fields & Memorial Park commemorates the history of the site from the earliest recorded times to the present.

To read more, go to http://www.orangecountygreatpark.org

To become a friend go to http://www.orangecountygreatpark.org/become.html

The Conservancy envisions one of the world’s great metropolitan parks.
The role of the Great Park Conservancy is to generate and maintain public and private support throughout Orange County and beyond for the development and operation of the Orange County Great Park.

I Like China Growing But Will They Overtake USA

I do like China growing economically. I think one of the most wonderful things in my lifetime has been the hundreds of millions of people brought up out of dire poverty thanks to globalization. I do hope they grow more and we do more trade with them and other developing countries. I believe it is our moral imperative.

I agree with the comments at http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=432320
Somewhere down there is: “US is growing at 2-4% because it's a mature economy. A developing country like China can grow at 8-10% for a period of time until it itself becomes "mature" when the growth rate has to come down. At some point in future (maybe 20 years), China's growth rate has to slow to what US's growth rate is right now. At that point, both countries will be growing at roughly the same rate because both are "mature economy". So, if China can not exceed US's GDP in 20 years (US will be at 21.67 trillions growing at 3%/yr while China will be at 12.21 trillions growing at 10%/yr for the first 10 years and then 8%/yr for the second 10 years), it will never surpass the US.”

Or see http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-03/21/content_426718.htm “By 2020, the nation's [China’s] GDP will reach US$4.7 trillion, or US$3,200 per capita," said Zhang, director of the centre's Foreign Economic Relations Research Department. China's overall GDP ranks sixth in the world after decades of rapid economic development, with the nation's per capita GDP exceeding US$1,200.” US GDP is currently about $13 trillion.

However, pollution and CO2 emissions (which is not a pollutant) are a concern. For example, see http://www.cfr.org/publication/7548/economic_boom_environmental_bust.html
“China's environmental crisis is evident everywhere. The country's air quality is among the worst in the world: According to the World Bank, 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities are on the mainland, and acid rain affects one-third of China's agricultural land.” and http://www.scidev.net/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews&itemid=1761&language=1 "China is second biggest greenhouse gas emitter".

We should help China and India build zero-greenhouse gas emitting nuclear power plants.

Democrats Can’t See Good in the US Economy

“It’s the economy stupid” was the focus of the Bill Clinton 1992 campaign as managed by James Carville. Today, fifteen years later, I keep running into Democrats who claim the United States economy is terrible. If they cannot see reality, how will they come up with sensible policy prescriptions? For many Democrats, that doesn’t matter, as they are really interested in expanding the size and scope of government and enhancing their own political power.

Those who want to understand the economy should read New York Times Sunday, February 11, 2007 column by David Brooks “Who’s Afraid of the New Economy”?
■ Neopopulists, like former North Carolina Senator “John Edwards talks about the economy, you think he’s running for the Democratic nomination of 1932”.
■ “No Democrat today speaks … confidently about globalization and technological change”
■ The writers of the Third Way’s report ‘The New Rules Economy’ “challenge the neopopulists depiction of economic reality” and “expose what they call ‘the myths of neopopulism’”
■ “the myth of the failing middle class
■ “household’s headed by people in their prime working years, 25 to 59…median income is $61,000, if married is $ $72,000”
■ “Between 1979 and 2005, prime age households making over $100,000 in current dollars rose by 12.7 percent”
■ Myth “direst warnings about credit card debt (household assets have risen faster than debt)
■ “No nation on earth is better positioned to take advantage of an ever-more-open economy” than US
■ “Challenge is…enable more people to take part in it”

Third Way see http://www.third-way.com/ report “The New Rules Economy” to be released Monday, February 12th

Moqtada al-Sadr Fears for His Life

I like this story.

See Friday January 19, 2007 article in The Guardian by Mark Oliver Sadr fears for life in security crackdown

■ “Moqtada al-Sadr has moved his family to a secure location because of fears he will become the target of a security sweep of Baghdad”
■ “In an interview with Mr Sadr, published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica today, the cleric said 400 of his men had already been arrested.”
■ “I even have had a will drawn up” he was quoted as saying.
■ “The Bush administration is putting pressure on the Shia-dominated government of the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to stop Shia death squads.”
■ “A senior figure close to Mr Sadr was shot dead by a US soldier during a raid in the Shia holy city of Najaf last month.”

Laguna Greenbelt California Paintings Program Thurs Feb 8 at 7:30 PM

Interested in the environment? Interested in California history?

Please join fellow Greenbelt supporters at the Laguna Greenbelt Annual Meeting

“Then and Now: looking at the Past Through California Paintings”
Presented by Jean Stern, Executive Director, The Irvine Museum

Thursday, Feb 8th
7:30 PM
at The Woman’s Club
286 St. Ann’s Drive
Laguna Beach

Make sure to support the Laguna Greenbelt
Annual membership is:
$35 per individual
$50 Family
$500 Lifetime

Donations are tax-deductible to fullest extent of the law.

For more information see http://www.LagunaGreenbelt.org

Hillary Clinton on Oil Company Profits

See Senator Clinton's video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1PfE9K8j0g
and Fox News article at Hillary Clinton Already Making Policy

I guess so much for free enterprise and the rule of law when Sentaor Clinton says:

“Energy independence, the Democrats know what needs to be done”

"I want to take those profits
and put them into an alternative energy fund that will begin to fund alternative smart energy alternatives that will actually begin to move us toward the direction of independence."

77% Say Iraq Matters to Security of U.S.

See FOX News Poll: Most Say Iraq Matters to Security of U.S.
Thursday, February 01, 2007 by Dana Blanton

■ “The latest FOX News Poll finds that most Americans believe the situation in Iraq makes a difference to their security here in the United States — a sentiment often repeated by President Bush.”

■ “Fully 77 percent of Americans believe that what happens in Iraq matters to their security here in the United States, including majorities of Democrats (66 percent), independents (79 percent) and Republicans (90 percent).”
■ “In addition, the poll finds that people believe the military should use more force against the insurgents. While 1 of 10 Americans think the military’s response to the continuing violence in Iraq has been too aggressive, a 44 percent plurality thinks it hasn’t been aggressive enough”