The Principle of the Thing

Meatless Friday

Derica Lorraine — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:07:00 GMT

The Chair of the IPCC that says driving our cars will cause catastrophic global warming has a solution: go without meat.

I think even a grammar school student would be hard-pressed not to laugh out loud. I think that a lot of people feel that they are being scammed by the IPCC, the news media and their governmental officials, but they can't easily point out the flaws in the propaganda. This solution, meatless days, should make it easier. If driving our cars is causing a problem, why is the solution to eat less meat?

The basic science that CO₂ from cars will cause the earth's icecaps to melt evades the fact that people exhale CO₂ with every breath. The flaws in the propaganda are hidden enough and the news media, which should have been our first defense, has leapt to the forefront of the crusade without researching one iota of the facts.

The basic solutions to global warming are all sacrificial: give up driving, give up meat, give up. This rings the religious bell of sacrifice, always seen as a virtue. The politicians see dollar signs in their eyes as they dream up more and more ways to tax their constituents today for a future pay-off that none of us will see.

The best solution to any problem is to find the root of the problem and eradicate that. But the first question to ask is do we have a problem. Even the worst case scenario as propagated by Al Gore is only a 20 foot rise of water 100 years from now. And so far we have seen none of that in the past few years since his movie was released.

Well, the sun's about to come up here. I bet that will warm up the earth.

Global Warming Farce

Derica Lorraine — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:34:00 GMT

Seattle's mayor Greg Nickels has come up with a psychotic plan for saving the planet from global warming. He is going to ban car driving on certain streets during certain times. He wants his constituents to "keep an open mind."

He wants people to keep an open mind because he is not willing to listen to reservations anyone else may have on his idea. So, he doesn't practice what he preaches.

The first victims here are the small businesses who rely on customers to be able to get to them. The next victims, the restaurant servers whose earnings are made up of the tips that some people leave, have had their earnings cut. The third victims are the car-owners of the residents who were not allowed to park on these streets. That means in order to get people to drive less, these car-owners had to drive their cars out of the area and then back again for car-less streets! And to add insult to injury, those cars that were not moved were towed. How much extra CO₂ was produced for that? How much money went into the tow-truck drivers' pockets and the city coffers?

Flyers were handed out for this event. What was that carbon footprint worth? Police were hired to enforce this. How much money went to that? How did they get there? They drove.

This fiasco doesn't end there. The ban had to be lifted two hours early due to the rain. Well, if they can't predict the weather 24-hours ahead, perhaps their 100-year prediction is also flawed.

We don't need another plan to save the planet. We need to be saved from our politicians who are running amuck based on bad science propagated by-- another politician, a has-been politician at that.

Garbage In Garbage Out

Derica Lorraine — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:27:00 GMT

The latest scientific scare is upon us: Oxygen Depletion. Using computer models, scientists have determined that oxygen-depleted zones are expanding. They conclude that it might be due to global warming.

Obviously, if it might be due to global warming, then, logically, it might not be due to global warming.

If they are using computer models to predict the expanding zones, their computer models are just that: computer models. Nothing more. The computer model is only as good as the information fed into it, the program that is written for it and the software designer's parameters.

But because they are claiming that it might be due to global warming, they should be able to get more financing to get more data and make more observations.

One thing you might note, as with all scare-mongering, is that there are no numbers. How much less oxygen is there in the oxygen-depleted zones? I suspect because the numbers are so small, that they may be insignificant. Now, my understanding of the measurement of a gas, such as air, is that there are a number of factors necessary in order to determine the percentage of gas. One of the factors is temperature and another is barometric pressure. What this means is that if you have a higher or lower temperature at sea level, the amount of oxygen will vary. If you take measurements at different air pressures, the amount will vary.

I'm suspecting that they made a formula to "correct" the readings they were getting at various barometric pressures and temperatures, and then extrapolated to "prove" that the oxygen depletion was expanding.

As P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute, and two to take him."

Psychology of More Laws

Derica Lorraine — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:26:00 GMT

After having been hounded by state authorities for infractions at their kennels, some kennel owners euthanized approximately 80 dogs to avoid further legal action. This was legal. However, the Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell now wants to change the legality of that and make it illegal for kennel owners to euthanize their animals.

Imagine that you were playing a game of cards and at every hand that you won, the owner of the cards changed the rules so that you couldn't use the strategy you had used to win any more. You would give up playing cards with this person and leave.

This is such a clear-cut case of bureaucratic abuse. The kennel owners were being targeted and rather than try to explain or work with the punitive bureaucrats, they sacrificed their dogs. In other words, these business men threw out their stock. You can't stay in business very long doing that. The abuse had to have been constant with no end in sight.

The governor is trying to continue the abuse. He has not looked at what the bureaucrats have done that were unleashed against the kennel owners. Instead he wants the owners to have to pay a veterinarian for euthanization. This is more punitive legislation.

People are more important than dogs (with the exception of some people and some dogs I have known). We don't need more laws against people. We need less. The governor should have looked at the thugs that have been mercilessly terrorizing the kennel owners. He should be looking at curbing their power by removing some of their authority. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Bad Theory Gone Wild

Derica Lorraine — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:59:00 GMT

Japanese are moving forward with a plan to label goods with their global warming footprint number.

Now, considering that the alarmists are claiming that millions will die and coastal plains will be flooded, I have to seriously wonder what good a label will do. I could see this happening in a movie that was a farce. “Oh, we’re all going to die! Let’s make a label!” But this is real life. Or actually a really bad theory gone wild.

If global warming is real, the only solution is to stop driving cars and industrial production according to the global warming theory itself. How is a label of any use? Would the consumers comparison shop between two cans of soup and pick the soup with the lowest global warming footprint number? Then they could go home and eat their cold soup (because heating it would leave a carbon footprint) satisfied that they had done their part in reducing global warming.

Here's the problem. According to the theory, global warming is under way. Until and unless we cease all production and car driving, the CO₂ will continue to rise. All these solutions merely move the apocalyptic date down the road. None solve the problem.

Instead of solving the problem, the legislators are killing economies there and everywhere. What is the cost of producing these labels? Of course we would need to hire more bureaucrats to determine the footprint levels of all these products. And we would need more bureaucrats to determine the footprint number of each product. We would need footprint label police to ensure that businesses do not misrepresent their footprint number. Oh, and the fines! We will be able to fine businesses that do not have a label or have the wrong label or have the wrong number on the label. Maybe the business owner could even be put in jail.

I don't think that the average thinking person has fallen for this hoax. However, the machinery is in place to strangle every economy in the world. The news reports slant towards global warming, teachers teach it in school and legislators whose only goal is to get elected are not about to rock the boat by proclaiming disbelief.

Label: No animals were killed or injured during the production of this blog.

The Whole Truth

Derica Lorraine — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:40:00 GMT

ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson, finally got to explain his high profits. But you won't see that explanation in the video. It's written in the article. The record profits of $11.7b has been headlined in newspapers and TV reports around this country. The implication is that these profits are the reason the prices at the pump are so high. Has anyone noticed that this contradicted the previous headlines that blamed futures' traders for driving up the price?

The profits they earned apparently work out to $1,400 per second. Sounds pretty good. However, Tillerson gets to add in the cost of production and the taxes that were paid: $15,000 per second for costs and $4,000 per second for taxes.

The media hype is that they should be vilified for these high profits. There should be an extra tax on exorbitant profits. And this will help the average driver at the pump how? It will just be more money going into the politician's pockets. The tax is 285% higher than the profit. Why doesn't the media point out this exorbitant tax? One would think that the government could afford to waive the taxes at the pump that they impose with this windfall of taxes from the fuel companies.

During the 90's when gasoline prices fluctuated very little and the price of everything else went up including taxes, not one word was heard from the media as fuel companies struggled to stay in business and earn enough to continue research and exploration. Nobody wondered how it was possible to sell fuel in 2001 for the same price as 1991. But then oil has always been a boom or bust business.

When you see a headline, and read what the reporter wants you to read, remember that the reporter is not in a court of law where he is obliged to not only tell the truth, but to tell the whole truth. If you want the whole truth, you have to hunt it down yourself.

Brilliant Readers

Derica Lorraine — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:30:00 GMT

Germans are trying to slow the melting of a glacier with a giant screen. The amazing inanity of this project is eclipsed by the brilliant comments of readers who respond.

From the analysis of what do Germans mean when they say giant to the scientific projection of the results of giant pinwheels that would have the unexpected consequence of throwing the earth off balance, these comments show that man-made global warming is considered a farce. They highlight the taxes that are thrown away on spurious science and the equally moronic laws in our country launched to protect insects.

Many times, I get more from the comments than from the article. I know it gives me hope that the wool may have been pulled over the politician's eyes, but the average taxpayer is well aware of the goal and purpose of this hoax.

Current Facts vs Global Warming Hysteria

Derica Lorraine — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:35:00 GMT

Assembly Michael Doherty has called for a halt to further global warming regulation and a repeal of the Global Warming Response Act.

He mentions the many scientists who have questioned the man-made global warming theory, the earth's current cooling cycle and the punitive regulations that strangle the economy.

This is like a breath of fresh air. He's mentioned the basics of the hysteria running the legislators afraid to admit that they don't understand the science of man-made global warming. The news report adds the fact of the reduction of sun spot activity which prior to global warming hysteria was thought to be the major climactic force on earth.

Doherty highlights the fact that this legislation is causing immediate economic hardship.

One can only hope that this is a harbinger of things to come.

For The Children

Derica Lorraine — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:01:00 GMT

New legislation is being proposed that would requires stores that sell food such as grapes to post warnings about the choking hazard for children, because one constituent's child choked to death on a grape last year.

First, we have so many government-mandated warnings and labels that none are being read. It's a waste of time and money.

Second, small foods such as grapes and popcorn is the least of the problem for small children. The will put anything in their mouths and ears and nose. Next step would be signs in shops that sell buttons and nails and beads and everything else.

Third, is that a hot dog, for example, which is too big for a toddler to choke on is cut into bite-sized pieces. Would that also be choke-sized pieces? Wait until the government discovers that threat to children. We will need signs in all homes and establishments that feed children.

I'm shocked that they didn't come right out and ban grapes... for the sake of the children.

Hounded To Death

Derica Lorraine — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:39:00 GMT

Apparently, Bruce Ivins committed suicide after being under scrutiny from the FBI for the anthrax killings. The implication is that only the guilty commit suicide. The conclusion is that the case is solved, because the FBI cannot prosecute a dead man.

This comes on the heels of a multi-million dollar lawsuit won by Steven Hatfill who not only was scrutinized by the FBI but flagrantly targeted as the anthrax killer.

Ivins was also under a restraining order from his therapist (how unsuccessful was she), because she thought he was homicidal. She thought he was going to kill his co-workers and so she got a restraining order. Am I the only one that doesn't see any link here? And she was the only one. His colleagues and friends thought he was kind of quiet. But of course that is seen as a typical personality trait of the killer. It is also the personality trait of a gentle man who wouldn't harm a flea. The therapist claimed that he was going to shoot or knife people. Just how homicidal could he be, if he takes his life with a bottle of Tylenol?

When you're dealing with a government entity, that can lie (as approved by the courts) and ignore contradictory evidence and scrutinize your every move from your entire history, you will lose. The only thing they will gather up is the "evidence" that supports their theory. I submit that these techniques could be applied to any one and the evidence would mount that the any one targeted was guilty.

Apparently the FBI have found evidence that links a flask in Ivins' laboratory to the anthrax used in the attacks. Is that a new science we haven't heard about or just another lie? I will buy the theory that they can link the DNA signature of the anthrax to the anthrax in his lab. I think the basic, forensic theory here is that you take something away and leave something behind with every crime. Since anthrax was not found on his flask, this means that the flask was linked to the anthrax. To spell it out, some flask molecule, glass molecule, matched up completely or near completely to the glass molecule in the anthrax delivered to its victims. That would be like saying you could determine which bowl was used to mix up a cake.

I've found that suicides are usually the victim of a miserable life. They see the future as hopeless and that they cannot make a change in the future that they perceive. Bruce Ivins saw the FBI closing in on him as a heinous criminal. The rest of his life would be spent trying to prove his innocence, which cannot be done. No one can prove a negative. He was hounded to death by our justice system. The killers in this story are the FBI. The victim is Bruce Ivins and justice.

We are no closer to finding the anthrax killer than if we had made a random selection from the phone book.

Maybe This

Derica Lorraine — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:40:00 GMT

" Prepare for Extinction" blares another global warming alarmist news report. Instead of maybe another degree of global warming, the threat has been escalated to possibly 4 degrees Celsius. Instead of seas rising 20 meters, now they're rising maybe 70 - 80 meters. Instead of natural disasters, we are going to get more frequent and more severe weather events. Instead of millions dying, maybe billions would die.

To global warming alarmists: Maybe this.

Maybe your facts are wrong in the first place. Maybe your hypothesis is just a hypothesis. Maybe everything you predict will never see the light of day. Maybe your motivation is not to save the planet or insects, but to kill your fellow man. Since you can't kill him outright, maybe your satisfaction comes from strangling his every living moment with your self-righteous motives to reign and to control every single thing another human being does that raises his life up from the insects and the animals. Maybe your desire to rule others with your cockamamie theory comes from the fear that you can't achieve what your average hard-working counterpart can achieve in a free, civilized society.

Just maybe.

How To Encourage Violence

Derica Lorraine — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:57:00 GMT

Graffiti vandals have turned violent. Why wouldn't they? Our laws charge the property owner for not cleaning up the property in the government-allotted time period.

Our legislators used psychological jargon to impose fines on home owners. The rationale was that graffiti vandals would be discouraged from their crimes. Jail might be more discouraging. $30 million per year was spent in Los Angeles alone just cleaning up city property. At no point, have the legislators rethought their strategy. They can't catch the vandals but they know where the property owners are. Property owners are easy to catch and fine.

Now property owners are targeted violently for phoning the police or trying to stop the vandals. The vandals have taken the high moral position by explaining that "we are not going to let no one get in the way." That beats "if we paint over the graffiti, the crime will be discouraged."

We cannot stop vandalism, but we can do more than discourage it. We can punish the perpetrators instead of the victims, at the very least.

All U.S. Adults Could Be Overweight

Derica Lorraine — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:20:00 GMT

Another government-funded study has reached the conclusion that " All U.S. Adults Could Be Overweight in 40 years."

First, since the study is government-funded, it is biased. No scientist could get funds for reasonable or rational research. Second the conclusion is ridiculous. If I could be overweight next year, then it stands to reason that I could be underweight next year. It's a statement that says nothing under rational scrutiny.

The methods used in this study are lacking in all scientific standards. The conclusion is based on the trends of the last 30 years, and predicts the outcome over the next 40. First the trends of the last 30 years are an observation. This observation takes place in a "closed" model, if you will. It is closed because it looks only at the numbers not at various mitigating factors. There is no reason to suppose that the next 40 years will see this trend continue because the factors (which haven't been enumerated) will change because the model (U.S. adults) is open and the time period is longer.

And then, of course, there is the simple fact that "genetically and physiologically", it is impossible for all U.S. adults to be overweight. Genetics and physiology play a part in weight. Imagine that!

However, the politicians will jump on this as another motive for legislating food and restaurants.

If this trend in reporting and research continues, all U.S. adults will be regulated from birth to death. Then I guess we'll have to work on the children.

A Scientist?

Derica Lorraine — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:12:00 GMT

If one needs medical advice, one heads for the doctor. Financial planning? How about a banker? Yet to learn about the state of the climate, many people have flocked to a movie by a has-been politician.

Launch magazine has a great article on the global warming myth written by a physicist and astronaut. Amongst the many things he points out is that without the "greenhouse" atmosphere, earth would be a chilly 4 below zero (Fahrenheit). He also points out that the "link" between CO₂ and temperature does not show which is the cause and which is the effect.

Our reporters were supposed to be bastions of the truth. But instead they have been the front-runners for environmentalists and fear-mongers. The internet bloggers are the ones reporting on the Oregon petition and scientists with facts.

How difficult is it for this scientist and others to get the facts published? How hard is it for the reader to find information and facts?

Thanks for reading this blog and I hope you find the article all that I said it was and more.

Punish The Victim

Derica Lorraine — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:50:00 GMT

Houston Police are trying to get the word out about new regulations to improve convenience store safety. What do store owners need to do to improve their safety from armed robbers? They need to register with police and give their employees safety training, and install drop safes, video and panic buttons. Otherwise, they will be fined $500.

I guess no one bothered to ask the convenience stores. They have been busy installing bullet-proof glass which is not in the regulation. They are paying a small fortune to keep their clerks safe. And what does Houston do? If they don't register with the police, they get a fine.

Convenience stores want increased police patrols in their neighborhoods and the city of Houston has decided to fine these hard-working, honest citizens for not following the city's new, unknown regulations.

They can't catch robbers, but city fathers have the property owners in their clutches. They expect the ~~victim~~ store owner to give safety training to their employees. Gee, who pays for that? What would the training consist of? Put your hands up? Wear a bullet-proof vest? Duck? I know what it wouldn't consist of. Don't count on the police. They're there to make sure you register, or collect the fines.

This is the same kind of regulation that fines home-owners for graffiti on their property.

I guess if the police can't do their job and catch vandals and robbers, then city council just has to fine the victims for not doing enough to protect themselves. This isn't justice. This is legislators gone wild.

Border Security and Grandma's Purse

Derica Lorraine — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:17:00 GMT

Border security may take travelers' laptops, electronic devices, iPods, legal and medical files, and papers of any sort to examine and forward to other departments for decryption and translation. They don't need to return any of it until they are done with it... at the speed of bureaucracy. They may keep copies and notes of everything they find for future reference. They can do this without suspicion of any sort, let alone reasonable search guidelines and all in the name of fighting terrorism.

Let me make an analogy. Suppose I wanted to bake a cake. I put some wieners in a bowl, added some flour, orange juice and ice cream, and mixed it all up. Then I baked it for a while. (Don't try this at home.) Would I have a cake? Not in a million years.

Obviously, the Department of Homeland Security is busy trying to look busy. They have no idea what they are looking for, they have no constraints against improper search and seizure of citizens of this country. Do they have any hope of catching a terrorist? Even if one came through their station, the backlog of work would prevent them from recognizing him or her for months because they are so busy analyzing pocket trash and beepers.

In order to accomplish anything at all, one must have a specific goal and an plan to get there. If we want to catch terrorists, rooting through grandma's purse will not accomplish this.

They are not finding terrorists. They are turning our country into a bureaucratic nightmare. The terrorists can waltz in at anytime and memorize their plans, meet with their cohorts and perpetrate any act they can imagine. We need to be looking for who, not what.

Legislators Gone Wild

Derica Lorraine — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:16:00 GMT

Apparently, Clay County in Kansas has been assessing interests and penalties that are due even when Clay County was responsible for the error. So now State Rep. Ryan Silvey has sponsored legislation that refunds interests and penalties in these cases.

Imagine if you will, that a bank made an error in your account and as a result you were overdrawn. Then the bank assessed charges and fees for the shortfall. When the problem was corrected, however, you still owed the bank the charges and fees. How long would this bank stay in business when the legislators and reporters found out? They would be eliminated by all the state and federal agencies that abound, not to mention vilified in every newspaper.

And yet this miserable county has been perpetrating this theft and getting away with it.

Why is the only remedy another act of legislation? I would have thought that the legislation imposing the interests and penalties would have been repealed at the least, if not completely rewritten so that this injustice never happens again.

This is a clear-cut case of having more laws than we need and a perfect example of how legislators' mind work: let's make a law. Our legislators have gone wild.

I've suggested before that 10 laws should be our maximum. It wouldn't eliminate this nonsense, but it would go a long way to upholding our constitution which is rife with "shall make no law." If we've passed a law that imposes hardships, we really don't need another law that fixes those hardships. We need a repeal of the laws.

Make Up Numbers - Make Up News

Derica Lorraine — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:25:00 GMT

Another headline bombards us with a record drop in home prices.

Now this particular index was started in 2000. So it's not too unusual for records to be "made" in a short, less-than-10-year analysis. However, Houston, Philadelphia, San Antonio and San Jose and are missing from the index even though they are among the top 10 cities by population in the U.S. So what do these numbers mean?

Absolutely nothing. The headline is scare-mongering and the data is based on selected cities and the time period is far too short. I would also say that we don't have to worry about inflation-adjusted figures, since the time period is so small.

This is news today. Don't bother to check the facts that a schoolboy could determine with 10 minutes on the computer. Could this be one of the reasons why newspapers are closing their doors?

Boxers - Our Symbol of Freedom

Derica Lorraine — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:06:00 GMT

Another city, in New Jersey, is thinking about proposing a "baggy pants" ban.

To me, it's absolutely un-American to propose a law telling others what to wear and how to wear it. The reason for the law is that the councilman doesn't need to see someone else' boxers. I guess bras and panties are okay as displayed in billboards and advertisements and beaches all over this country, or are they next on this councilman's agenda?

This country was built on freedom. And that does mean the freedom to wear your clothes inside out or upside down. I think as long as the decency laws aren't breached, one just has to try not to laugh out loud at this fashion travesty. No more needs to be done. It's a fad and will suffer a naturally occurring death as has other fads have throughout the generations. We need freedom from politician's need to dictate what we do, when we do it, how we do it and where we do it.

We may not need to see someone's underwear. There's a lot of things we don't need. We absolutely do not need any more laws, let alone laws governing what we wear. In America, this proposal should be laughed off the agenda.

Another Useless Law

Derica Lorraine — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:24:00 GMT

An LA city council committee has decided to place a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in South LA because its citizens have a high rate of obesity and diabetes.

This committee decision presumes that its citizens are stupid. They imply that a person goes to a fast-food restaurant because it's there.

This committee decision is unjust because the ban will affect all the citizens, most of whom are not obese or diabetic according to their own study.

This committee decision will not work because people think and act on their own. If there is no new fast-food restaurant on this block, the fast-food restaurant down the road will have to do.

But this will be just one more law that affects the economy in the name of bettering citizen's health.

Each person's health is his own decision and needs to be handled by himself and a doctor, not some committee. People are not stupid. They are busy trying to live and making the best decisions from what is available to them. And one law that proposes to improve some people's health at the expense of the economy and the majority of the citizens is socialist.

We don't need to get rid of the excess fat as much as we need to get rid of the excess, useless laws.