chemical_sam's blog http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:09:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 en Let’s hope my vote in NJ counts this one time. http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/11/03/lets-hope-my-vote-in-nj-counts-this-one-time/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/11/03/lets-hope-my-vote-in-nj-counts-this-one-time/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:09:35 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=41 I voted early this morning, and if you don’t know how I voted, then you haven’t been paying attention to New Jersey politics, possibly the most corrupt in the country, even beyond the filth that they moved into the White House from Chicago.  Either that, or you were born yesterday.

I live in arguably the reddest county in the state of New Jersey (that’d be Morris).  Up until two days ago, there were almost no Corzine banners up around here.  A few have popped up in the home stretch.  A misplaced fear of retribution, I imagine.  I’ve been fooled before.  McCain/Palin had the same kind of banner showing here before the end.  This time there are lots of people angry at Corzine and Obama, for good, real reasons, and I’m willing to bet that Christie can pull it out.

Importantly, I have my laboratory in Newark, NJ near NJIT.  Only now is my business beginning to pick up.  But that’s because people are looking for chemists that can actually do chemistry, and they aren’t finding them in labs around New Jersey.  (Reuters writes just today that J&J are laying off over 7000).  That’s not an uptick in the economy, that’s a downtick in local talent.   The numbers in New Jersey lie.  Things are worse than people claim them to be.  I’m going to have to change my name to John Galt and move to Wyoming, and can vegetables and extract aspirin from willow bark if this crap keeps up.

For my part, I’m kind of locked in right now.  It would run counter to my contractual obligations (don’t ask) to even suggest that I would take my business and my business models out of the state.  I have a nice home here.  My wife has a good job here, and until I was laid off in 2007, so did I.  (My layoff was due to a lack of foreign interest and had nothing at all to do with the impeding and current economic situation.)  But now it’s damn near impossible to find a job that is more than half of my salary since that time.   I want to stay put.  I’ve moved enough in my time, and have small children to consider.  And I did manage to get the company started, and have the lab ready for any actual upswing. 

It’s worth it for me to stay, for now.  I’m lucky, in a sense, but it didn’t have to be like this.  It’s too bad really, New Jersey was for a long stretch, THE place to build a company.   Now, I fear for the suburban and rural families of this State  who, should Christie fail to win today, will have to seriously consider moving from otherwise perfectly good homes in order to make lives for themselves. 

The complexion of the political landscape in Newark is quite different.  There, in the last week of campaigning, some very pointed signs reflecting a visceral guilt-by-association sentiment sprang up overnight.  “Similar values, Same results” in big red letters.  In the dark posters are in the foreground Chris Christie, with George Bush standing over one shoulder.  I’m curious..is it at all accurate to say that George Bush did any campaigning for the Republican party in 2009, never mind any contributions to Christie?  I wonder…have these two men even met?  Does it matter to the people that the Corzine administration is targeting, that there is no connection, even a philosophical one between the two men?

Still, for that segment of the population that likes its lifestyle (such as it is) handed to them, so they can complain and demand more, and vote to get it, this association can only be seen as a threat.   And so the machine that grinds away to keep itself in more and more power, and keeps them satisfied, simultaneously grinds them under its wheels.   But not nearly fast enough to favor those that want to improve their lot.  The rest of us will be voting with our feet I imagine, as it has been happening for a decade, but I think it will accelerate, should Corzine win.

So here’s hoping that Christie fights corruption, takes on the special interest, cut taxes, limits government, all that groovy stuff that Republicans say they’ll do.    Because NJ can expect to be squeezed and squelched into oblivion. 

It’s that important this time.  Vote Christie.

]]> I voted early this morning, and if you don’t know how I voted, then you haven’t been paying attention to New Jersey politics, possibly the most corrupt in the country, even beyond the filth that they moved into the White House from Chicago.  Either that, or you were born yesterday.

I live in arguably the reddest county in the state of New Jersey (that’d be Morris).  Up until two days ago, there were almost no Corzine banners up around here.  A few have popped up in the home stretch.  A misplaced fear of retribution, I imagine.  I’ve been fooled before.  McCain/Palin had the same kind of banner showing here before the end.  This time there are lots of people angry at Corzine and Obama, for good, real reasons, and I’m willing to bet that Christie can pull it out.

Importantly, I have my laboratory in Newark, NJ near NJIT.  Only now is my business beginning to pick up.  But that’s because people are looking for chemists that can actually do chemistry, and they aren’t finding them in labs around New Jersey.  (Reuters writes just today that J&J are laying off over 7000).  That’s not an uptick in the economy, that’s a downtick in local talent.   The numbers in New Jersey lie.  Things are worse than people claim them to be.  I’m going to have to change my name to John Galt and move to Wyoming, and can vegetables and extract aspirin from willow bark if this crap keeps up.

For my part, I’m kind of locked in right now.  It would run counter to my contractual obligations (don’t ask) to even suggest that I would take my business and my business models out of the state.  I have a nice home here.  My wife has a good job here, and until I was laid off in 2007, so did I.  (My layoff was due to a lack of foreign interest and had nothing at all to do with the impeding and current economic situation.)  But now it’s damn near impossible to find a job that is more than half of my salary since that time.   I want to stay put.  I’ve moved enough in my time, and have small children to consider.  And I did manage to get the company started, and have the lab ready for any actual upswing. 

It’s worth it for me to stay, for now.  I’m lucky, in a sense, but it didn’t have to be like this.  It’s too bad really, New Jersey was for a long stretch, THE place to build a company.   Now, I fear for the suburban and rural families of this State  who, should Christie fail to win today, will have to seriously consider moving from otherwise perfectly good homes in order to make lives for themselves. 

The complexion of the political landscape in Newark is quite different.  There, in the last week of campaigning, some very pointed signs reflecting a visceral guilt-by-association sentiment sprang up overnight.  “Similar values, Same results” in big red letters.  In the dark posters are in the foreground Chris Christie, with George Bush standing over one shoulder.  I’m curious..is it at all accurate to say that George Bush did any campaigning for the Republican party in 2009, never mind any contributions to Christie?  I wonder…have these two men even met?  Does it matter to the people that the Corzine administration is targeting, that there is no connection, even a philosophical one between the two men?

Still, for that segment of the population that likes its lifestyle (such as it is) handed to them, so they can complain and demand more, and vote to get it, this association can only be seen as a threat.   And so the machine that grinds away to keep itself in more and more power, and keeps them satisfied, simultaneously grinds them under its wheels.   But not nearly fast enough to favor those that want to improve their lot.  The rest of us will be voting with our feet I imagine, as it has been happening for a decade, but I think it will accelerate, should Corzine win.

So here’s hoping that Christie fights corruption, takes on the special interest, cut taxes, limits government, all that groovy stuff that Republicans say they’ll do.    Because NJ can expect to be squeezed and squelched into oblivion. 

It’s that important this time.  Vote Christie.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/11/03/lets-hope-my-vote-in-nj-counts-this-one-time/feed/ How I’m going to play Indoctrination Tuesday. http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/09/07/how-im-going-to-play-indoctrination-tuesday/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/09/07/how-im-going-to-play-indoctrination-tuesday/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:04:01 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=39 Because I have my own company, my very impressionable elder daughter, 6, will officially be going on a “Take Your Daughter To Work Day”, started by yours truly as a work holiday, which may very well come up every time something like an Obama indoctrination speech happens.    She is old enough to understand the President’s speech, but she is not old enough to say no to an “authority figure” like her teacher or the President, and does not have the sharpened tools to employ critical thinking processes (but soon, now that I see what’s coming), should she need them, in order to deconstruct a series of statements to determine whether or not they ring true.  She is OUT Tuesday.

My younger daughter, 2 1/2, goes to a private daycare chain, and is pre-K.  I do not know if they plan on spending the day with our President, but I suspect that even if they do drill her for a day it will go in one ear and out the other.  She cannot write, or spell, and she doesn’t like watching anything that isn’t a cartoon.   She may even think that Barack Obama is D.J.Lance, from Yo Gabba Gabba (A Noggin show we don’t let our children watch, because it’s poorly written), without the orange jump suit.  She is IN Tuesday. 

Admittedly, I’m looking for an opportunity to jump down the throat of these people if they do try to push the speech.  Children not yet old enough to to effectively question a series of statements shouldn’t be exposed to politics.  Children not yet old enough to produce a counter-argument should be prepped in advance, ready to openly criticize the President’s speech the moment it’s over.  Unfortunately I don’t have a child onl enough to do that yet.  But I’ll be damned if my first-grader’s first homework assignment is written by our current President.  If I wanted that, I’d move to Venezuela.

And by the way, here’s the ultimate tell that this is a liberal agenda that’s being pushed, for those of you who say this is no biggie.  Parents were deliberately circumvented.  A speech given by a politician, complete with a lesson plan designed to ensure that the message sticks, is what’s being provided here, all coordinated with public educators, active members of their Union, one of the largest Democrat voting blocs in History. 

If Barack Obama simply wanted to encourage children to do well in school (for their own individual sake, not the government’s) he would have pre-recorded the speech, he would have made it available to children through their parents before the school year started, he would have dispensed with the “captive audience” tactics, and he would have left the “lesson plan” out entirely.  Period.

]]> Because I have my own company, my very impressionable elder daughter, 6, will officially be going on a “Take Your Daughter To Work Day”, started by yours truly as a work holiday, which may very well come up every time something like an Obama indoctrination speech happens.    She is old enough to understand the President’s speech, but she is not old enough to say no to an “authority figure” like her teacher or the President, and does not have the sharpened tools to employ critical thinking processes (but soon, now that I see what’s coming), should she need them, in order to deconstruct a series of statements to determine whether or not they ring true.  She is OUT Tuesday.

My younger daughter, 2 1/2, goes to a private daycare chain, and is pre-K.  I do not know if they plan on spending the day with our President, but I suspect that even if they do drill her for a day it will go in one ear and out the other.  She cannot write, or spell, and she doesn’t like watching anything that isn’t a cartoon.   She may even think that Barack Obama is D.J.Lance, from Yo Gabba Gabba (A Noggin show we don’t let our children watch, because it’s poorly written), without the orange jump suit.  She is IN Tuesday. 

Admittedly, I’m looking for an opportunity to jump down the throat of these people if they do try to push the speech.  Children not yet old enough to to effectively question a series of statements shouldn’t be exposed to politics.  Children not yet old enough to produce a counter-argument should be prepped in advance, ready to openly criticize the President’s speech the moment it’s over.  Unfortunately I don’t have a child onl enough to do that yet.  But I’ll be damned if my first-grader’s first homework assignment is written by our current President.  If I wanted that, I’d move to Venezuela.

And by the way, here’s the ultimate tell that this is a liberal agenda that’s being pushed, for those of you who say this is no biggie.  Parents were deliberately circumvented.  A speech given by a politician, complete with a lesson plan designed to ensure that the message sticks, is what’s being provided here, all coordinated with public educators, active members of their Union, one of the largest Democrat voting blocs in History. 

If Barack Obama simply wanted to encourage children to do well in school (for their own individual sake, not the government’s) he would have pre-recorded the speech, he would have made it available to children through their parents before the school year started, he would have dispensed with the “captive audience” tactics, and he would have left the “lesson plan” out entirely.  Period.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/09/07/how-im-going-to-play-indoctrination-tuesday/feed/ A big Government Thumb on my Scale, and also in my Eye. http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/08/11/a-big-government-thumb-on-my-scale-and-also-in-my-eye/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/08/11/a-big-government-thumb-on-my-scale-and-also-in-my-eye/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:51:21 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=36 From this Fox News article:  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538902,00.html

comes the amazing News that an (essentially all-)electric car is going to be receiving a fuel economy rating of 230 MPG.

You read it right, two hundred thirty.  Two. Three. Zero.  An amazing order-of-magnitude leap in fuel efficiency, from fossil fuel to electric power, if you ask me.   Almost makes a man wonder why this nation didn’t start with electric cars in the first place, eh?

Well, the article itself gives away its first tell (and sorry to quote so heavily from such a short article, but there’s just so much cracked crab in this dish), the car in question:  

runs purely on electricity for the first 40 miles of driving

and then in the next breath goes on to mention something critical to the rating itself, the dead giveaway:

The EPA is currently developing a special methodology to calculate fuel efficiency for vehicles that work in this fashion

Is that a fact?  Why would MPG (miles per gallon), a simple unit of distance per fuel consumed, require any special consideration by the EPA?  Wouldn’t it be more consistent (read: accurate, truthful, not a weasel) to account for the fuel consumed in creating the electricity needed to run the car on the first 40 miles in the first place?  Or, would that accidentally pull the curtains back a little too far on the outrageously huge whopper that a 230 MPH would be to anyone with a brain?

Another indication that this number is flatly fictitious is the fact that the fuel efficiency of the vehicle in question is expected to drop to about 100 MPH in the highway mileage, that’s right 230 city, 100 highway, quite a loss on the smooth, open road, hmmm?

Here’s what’s really happening.  The EPA is doing its best to get people to buy electric cars.  Car companies that are heavily invested in selling their electric car tech are only to happy to look the other way when it comes to a ridiculously high mileage rating.  It means bigger sales, no doubt.  Finally, the appearance, at least, of cars that helps Americans wrest themselves free from fossil fuel and all the consequences, real or imagined, of their use.

The methodology the EPA wants to use can only start from this:  treating mileage in the first forty miles as consuming no fossil fuel.  Of course, if you’re somebody from the isle of Manhattan that couldn’t survive outside their idiom, the car in question would NEVER require pumping fuel into the tank.  The problem is of course is that results in an infinite gas mileage, something neither a complete moron nor a modern environmentalist can accept without balking.

So the EPA figures to run the test using a standard method for something like a 50-mile commute, 40 miles on electric, 10 on gasoline, and, voila!  Five times better gas mileage than a hybrid than runs just on gasoline.  It’s a freaking miracle!

Of course, then we get to the highway mileage.  Just create a 75-mile standard test method, running 40 miles on the electric (that’s all you get), and 35 miles on the gas.   One and a half times the distance on three and a half times the gasoline. 

That gets you 230 city and 98 highway.  Well, no kidding.  Hidden costs, hidden facts, hidden truth, ladies and gentlemen.  Redefine the measurements to get attractive enough numbers to claim something that people might be willing to accept.

What do you think’s going to happen when people start getting their electric bill, especially if that electric bill is cancerously large because of a cap-and-trade scheme?  You think people have buyers remorse now…

What do you think’s going to happen when people start plugging in overnight at the hotel, or plugging in at work instead of at home, so you have enough power to commute, and you aren’t directly paying for the electricity because they can’t afford their own electric bill?  

What do you think’s going to happen when people start plugging into the neighbors’ or strangers’ homes, when they think nobody is looking?

Here’s what’s going to happen, they are all going to find a way to make you pay for the electricity which they are supplying.  And when I say pay, I mean in ways that make a gallon of gasoline look cheap. 

EPA, Mr. President, all the President’s little con artist friends, you ain’t fooling me, and I’ll make sure you ain’t fooling anybody.  Get your thumb of my scale.

]]> From this Fox News article:  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538902,00.html

comes the amazing News that an (essentially all-)electric car is going to be receiving a fuel economy rating of 230 MPG.

You read it right, two hundred thirty.  Two. Three. Zero.  An amazing order-of-magnitude leap in fuel efficiency, from fossil fuel to electric power, if you ask me.   Almost makes a man wonder why this nation didn’t start with electric cars in the first place, eh?

Well, the article itself gives away its first tell (and sorry to quote so heavily from such a short article, but there’s just so much cracked crab in this dish), the car in question:  

runs purely on electricity for the first 40 miles of driving

and then in the next breath goes on to mention something critical to the rating itself, the dead giveaway:

The EPA is currently developing a special methodology to calculate fuel efficiency for vehicles that work in this fashion

Is that a fact?  Why would MPG (miles per gallon), a simple unit of distance per fuel consumed, require any special consideration by the EPA?  Wouldn’t it be more consistent (read: accurate, truthful, not a weasel) to account for the fuel consumed in creating the electricity needed to run the car on the first 40 miles in the first place?  Or, would that accidentally pull the curtains back a little too far on the outrageously huge whopper that a 230 MPH would be to anyone with a brain?

Another indication that this number is flatly fictitious is the fact that the fuel efficiency of the vehicle in question is expected to drop to about 100 MPH in the highway mileage, that’s right 230 city, 100 highway, quite a loss on the smooth, open road, hmmm?

Here’s what’s really happening.  The EPA is doing its best to get people to buy electric cars.  Car companies that are heavily invested in selling their electric car tech are only to happy to look the other way when it comes to a ridiculously high mileage rating.  It means bigger sales, no doubt.  Finally, the appearance, at least, of cars that helps Americans wrest themselves free from fossil fuel and all the consequences, real or imagined, of their use.

The methodology the EPA wants to use can only start from this:  treating mileage in the first forty miles as consuming no fossil fuel.  Of course, if you’re somebody from the isle of Manhattan that couldn’t survive outside their idiom, the car in question would NEVER require pumping fuel into the tank.  The problem is of course is that results in an infinite gas mileage, something neither a complete moron nor a modern environmentalist can accept without balking.

So the EPA figures to run the test using a standard method for something like a 50-mile commute, 40 miles on electric, 10 on gasoline, and, voila!  Five times better gas mileage than a hybrid than runs just on gasoline.  It’s a freaking miracle!

Of course, then we get to the highway mileage.  Just create a 75-mile standard test method, running 40 miles on the electric (that’s all you get), and 35 miles on the gas.   One and a half times the distance on three and a half times the gasoline. 

That gets you 230 city and 98 highway.  Well, no kidding.  Hidden costs, hidden facts, hidden truth, ladies and gentlemen.  Redefine the measurements to get attractive enough numbers to claim something that people might be willing to accept.

What do you think’s going to happen when people start getting their electric bill, especially if that electric bill is cancerously large because of a cap-and-trade scheme?  You think people have buyers remorse now…

What do you think’s going to happen when people start plugging in overnight at the hotel, or plugging in at work instead of at home, so you have enough power to commute, and you aren’t directly paying for the electricity because they can’t afford their own electric bill?  

What do you think’s going to happen when people start plugging into the neighbors’ or strangers’ homes, when they think nobody is looking?

Here’s what’s going to happen, they are all going to find a way to make you pay for the electricity which they are supplying.  And when I say pay, I mean in ways that make a gallon of gasoline look cheap. 

EPA, Mr. President, all the President’s little con artist friends, you ain’t fooling me, and I’ll make sure you ain’t fooling anybody.  Get your thumb of my scale.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/08/11/a-big-government-thumb-on-my-scale-and-also-in-my-eye/feed/ So I’m the Nazi now…eh? http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/07/so-im-the-nazi-noweh/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/07/so-im-the-nazi-noweh/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:18:32 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=34 I’d like to address, point by point, the latest Times (o’London) article concerning Al Gore’s comparison of AGW non-believers to Nazis.  I cannot let this article go unanswered. 

Please, this is important.  It is this kind of comparison that engenders the true imprisonment of the Human mind.  It must be stopped, fought, tooth and nail, or I fear that we will all fall into a period of zealotry that hasn’t destroyed a people since the time religious fundamentalism permanently crippled Middle Eastern science, mathematics, art and literature.  Literally, 1000 years of darkness.  And yeah, I’m sticking with that statement.

I’ll have to quote heavily from the article, because so many chilling things were said.  I don’t at all suspect Mr. Gore was misquoted here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6658672.ece

He just loves to preach to the choir in Europe, and they are happy to publish his words as if they were from on high.

He [Gore] also accused politicians around the world of exploiting ignorance about the dangers of global warming to avoid difficult decisions.

Indeed, “exploiting ignorance” is a problem.    Here’s an example: concluding that weather changes of any kind are due to human activity is “exploiting ignorance” about the long, extreme history of weather both in the 20th century, and on a geological timescale.    On rare occasions on earth have temperatures even been so steady.  Trends categorically “exploit ignorance” about weather.  Trends assume a fictitious baseline.  Weather, even weather under some sort of stress doesn’t follow trends; it is periodic in nature, with events of several different magnitudes and time scales interwoven, and that has always been the case.   Mr. Gore and his AGW proponents use trends, the grandest trend of all being an overall warming trend, to make his case.  Problem is, all these trends are now failing, (including the biggie, because of the cooling which occurred over the last decade), which flies in the face of the underlying assumptions about the connection (the trend) of excess CO2 (still rising), with rising absolute temperature.

This cannot be dismissed.  When the underlying connection fails, the conclusions that arise from that connection fail.    I am not a Nazi for pointing that out.  I am a responsible scientist for pointing that out.

He added: “We have everything we need except political will but political will is a renewable resource.”

Well that’s a cute line.  By “everything we need…” Mr. Gore means a preponderance of data, the appearance of consensus, and the moral high ground, I’m sure. 

Problem is, mountains of data may be statistically correlated, but the cause-and-effect, the connection between human activity and a warming Earth may yet be coincidental.  I have also noticed that quite a bit of data has been coming in a massaged form, or has been treat statistically in a way that is improper.  Filling in arctic temperature data in polar Russia is always fun.  Statistically deriving an average hurricane number is meaningless; hurricanes are discreet phenomena, they vary in size shape intensity over varying time periods in a variable season.  No sufficient tacking program yet exists.  They are wildly unpredictable, and yet are totally natural objects absolutely following physical law.  This lends strength to the notion that our quantification is poor.  Further examples of data manipulation and mistreatment are replete.  It’s hard to build anything useful from such statistical neglect.

The appearance of consensus, even consensus itself is meaningless in science.  I don’t care how many people shout 2 + 2 = 5 from the rooftops, it’s still incorrect.  And the loner that whispers 2 + 2 = 4 from the street below isn’t the Nazi in this scene.

If the effects of human activity on climate are to be held true, they must be distinct (isolable) from natural weather phenomena, quantifiable, verifiable, non-falsifiable by unbiased observations, and the mechanism that connects the cause and effect must engender all the data, not some of the data.  Finally, a good explanation doesn’t shift with incoming data, it should predict it.

Your friends-for-hire in the business of assembling a fine consensus are 0 for 5 on those counts.  Color me unimpressed. 

Mr. Gore’s ”moral superiority” arises from the assumption that people are deleteriously affecting the planet, and that he alone is the man with the answers.  That it’s naturally a position of moral high ground to claim that people are evil, simply by virtue of the fact that they have an impact on the world outside his purview, and must change their behavior. 

 

He [Gore] said skeptics who refused to believe dramatic cuts in carbon emissions could be delivered should consider the example of the young scientists in the NASA team which put a man on the moon on 1969.

“The average age of scientists in the space centre control room was 26, which means they were 18 when they heard President Kennedy say he wanted to put a man on the moon in 10 years. Neil Armstrong did it eight years and two months later.”

First of all I DO believe that carbon emissions can be cut, drastically.  All we have to do is go back to living like we did 100 years ago, or even further back we could take the lesson of the American Indian, and live in teepees.  I simply submit that is not desirable, it may not even be necessary, and that Mr. Gore’s assertion that it is rings hollow to say the least, thanks to a complete lack of evidence that what is happening is 1) due to people, or 2) a bad thing.  Such actions may even cause more problems than not.

And to take the lesson from those young men of average age 26 who wrought the Apollo lunar missions.  The first thing they did was KILL THREE ASTRONAUTS by assuming that it would be a great way to save mass if they used pure oxygen in the capsule, neglecting the FACT that aluminum combusts in pure oxygen.  One spark and the mission was doomed on the launching pad.  This is what you get when you leave out people who know the physics and the chemistry of an atmosphere.  After that, they didn’t make a move until every last detail about the mission was worked out, complete with EXACTING MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS, and LOGISTICS.  

We WANT number-Nazis on the job.   We don’t want people who can’t do math, and find their only option is politics and government funding to run those numbers.  We’re dealing with the entire world’s economy, here.  Action can wait for a well-laid plan.

 

Again, quoth Gore:

“It will either be ’what were you thinking, didn’t you see the North Pole melting before your eyes, didn’t you hear what the scientists were saying?’  Or they will ask ’how is it you were able to find the moral courage to solve the crisis which so many said couldn’t be solved?’.”

This is a false choice.  I did see the North Pole losing ice over a number a years.  I also see it coming back.  I also see the South Pole gaining ice some years.  Show me that this natural, seasonal process has something to do with human activity.  I am asking that as a scientist that requires things like evidence and a traceable mechanism of action.  No, simply claiming that rising CO2 is the source of our woes is not enough. 

Moral courage, sir, is standing athwart a legion of well-funded, biased researchers, full presumption of a guilty Humankind tattooed across their forehead, demanding you bring something more than a weak claim from incomplete, poorly treated data, before you take possession of the world’s assets and functions.

I am not a Nazi, I am a scientist, and I do not have a following, but then again I don’t need one.  You do.  You, Mr. Gore, and your followers bear all those characteristics of fascism, not I.   You silence intellectuals and other people, not I.  You demand money, action and power by right of claim.  It’s only a matter of time before your cronies wrest these things from others by brute force.  You demand that certain people be marginalized.  All the while, you claim righteousness and moral superiority as did Hitler and Mussolini.  You spread your poison over Europe and threaten to do so everywhere else, not I. 

You have become the enemy of America and the rest of the world, not its savior.  The world should see what you have become, rise up and defeat you, for once and for good. 

 

]]> I’d like to address, point by point, the latest Times (o’London) article concerning Al Gore’s comparison of AGW non-believers to Nazis.  I cannot let this article go unanswered. 

Please, this is important.  It is this kind of comparison that engenders the true imprisonment of the Human mind.  It must be stopped, fought, tooth and nail, or I fear that we will all fall into a period of zealotry that hasn’t destroyed a people since the time religious fundamentalism permanently crippled Middle Eastern science, mathematics, art and literature.  Literally, 1000 years of darkness.  And yeah, I’m sticking with that statement.

I’ll have to quote heavily from the article, because so many chilling things were said.  I don’t at all suspect Mr. Gore was misquoted here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6658672.ece

He just loves to preach to the choir in Europe, and they are happy to publish his words as if they were from on high.

He [Gore] also accused politicians around the world of exploiting ignorance about the dangers of global warming to avoid difficult decisions.

Indeed, “exploiting ignorance” is a problem.    Here’s an example: concluding that weather changes of any kind are due to human activity is “exploiting ignorance” about the long, extreme history of weather both in the 20th century, and on a geological timescale.    On rare occasions on earth have temperatures even been so steady.  Trends categorically “exploit ignorance” about weather.  Trends assume a fictitious baseline.  Weather, even weather under some sort of stress doesn’t follow trends; it is periodic in nature, with events of several different magnitudes and time scales interwoven, and that has always been the case.   Mr. Gore and his AGW proponents use trends, the grandest trend of all being an overall warming trend, to make his case.  Problem is, all these trends are now failing, (including the biggie, because of the cooling which occurred over the last decade), which flies in the face of the underlying assumptions about the connection (the trend) of excess CO2 (still rising), with rising absolute temperature.

This cannot be dismissed.  When the underlying connection fails, the conclusions that arise from that connection fail.    I am not a Nazi for pointing that out.  I am a responsible scientist for pointing that out.

He added: “We have everything we need except political will but political will is a renewable resource.”

Well that’s a cute line.  By “everything we need…” Mr. Gore means a preponderance of data, the appearance of consensus, and the moral high ground, I’m sure. 

Problem is, mountains of data may be statistically correlated, but the cause-and-effect, the connection between human activity and a warming Earth may yet be coincidental.  I have also noticed that quite a bit of data has been coming in a massaged form, or has been treat statistically in a way that is improper.  Filling in arctic temperature data in polar Russia is always fun.  Statistically deriving an average hurricane number is meaningless; hurricanes are discreet phenomena, they vary in size shape intensity over varying time periods in a variable season.  No sufficient tacking program yet exists.  They are wildly unpredictable, and yet are totally natural objects absolutely following physical law.  This lends strength to the notion that our quantification is poor.  Further examples of data manipulation and mistreatment are replete.  It’s hard to build anything useful from such statistical neglect.

The appearance of consensus, even consensus itself is meaningless in science.  I don’t care how many people shout 2 + 2 = 5 from the rooftops, it’s still incorrect.  And the loner that whispers 2 + 2 = 4 from the street below isn’t the Nazi in this scene.

If the effects of human activity on climate are to be held true, they must be distinct (isolable) from natural weather phenomena, quantifiable, verifiable, non-falsifiable by unbiased observations, and the mechanism that connects the cause and effect must engender all the data, not some of the data.  Finally, a good explanation doesn’t shift with incoming data, it should predict it.

Your friends-for-hire in the business of assembling a fine consensus are 0 for 5 on those counts.  Color me unimpressed. 

Mr. Gore’s ”moral superiority” arises from the assumption that people are deleteriously affecting the planet, and that he alone is the man with the answers.  That it’s naturally a position of moral high ground to claim that people are evil, simply by virtue of the fact that they have an impact on the world outside his purview, and must change their behavior. 

 

He [Gore] said skeptics who refused to believe dramatic cuts in carbon emissions could be delivered should consider the example of the young scientists in the NASA team which put a man on the moon on 1969.

“The average age of scientists in the space centre control room was 26, which means they were 18 when they heard President Kennedy say he wanted to put a man on the moon in 10 years. Neil Armstrong did it eight years and two months later.”

First of all I DO believe that carbon emissions can be cut, drastically.  All we have to do is go back to living like we did 100 years ago, or even further back we could take the lesson of the American Indian, and live in teepees.  I simply submit that is not desirable, it may not even be necessary, and that Mr. Gore’s assertion that it is rings hollow to say the least, thanks to a complete lack of evidence that what is happening is 1) due to people, or 2) a bad thing.  Such actions may even cause more problems than not.

And to take the lesson from those young men of average age 26 who wrought the Apollo lunar missions.  The first thing they did was KILL THREE ASTRONAUTS by assuming that it would be a great way to save mass if they used pure oxygen in the capsule, neglecting the FACT that aluminum combusts in pure oxygen.  One spark and the mission was doomed on the launching pad.  This is what you get when you leave out people who know the physics and the chemistry of an atmosphere.  After that, they didn’t make a move until every last detail about the mission was worked out, complete with EXACTING MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS, and LOGISTICS.  

We WANT number-Nazis on the job.   We don’t want people who can’t do math, and find their only option is politics and government funding to run those numbers.  We’re dealing with the entire world’s economy, here.  Action can wait for a well-laid plan.

 

Again, quoth Gore:

“It will either be ’what were you thinking, didn’t you see the North Pole melting before your eyes, didn’t you hear what the scientists were saying?’  Or they will ask ’how is it you were able to find the moral courage to solve the crisis which so many said couldn’t be solved?’.”

This is a false choice.  I did see the North Pole losing ice over a number a years.  I also see it coming back.  I also see the South Pole gaining ice some years.  Show me that this natural, seasonal process has something to do with human activity.  I am asking that as a scientist that requires things like evidence and a traceable mechanism of action.  No, simply claiming that rising CO2 is the source of our woes is not enough. 

Moral courage, sir, is standing athwart a legion of well-funded, biased researchers, full presumption of a guilty Humankind tattooed across their forehead, demanding you bring something more than a weak claim from incomplete, poorly treated data, before you take possession of the world’s assets and functions.

I am not a Nazi, I am a scientist, and I do not have a following, but then again I don’t need one.  You do.  You, Mr. Gore, and your followers bear all those characteristics of fascism, not I.   You silence intellectuals and other people, not I.  You demand money, action and power by right of claim.  It’s only a matter of time before your cronies wrest these things from others by brute force.  You demand that certain people be marginalized.  All the while, you claim righteousness and moral superiority as did Hitler and Mussolini.  You spread your poison over Europe and threaten to do so everywhere else, not I. 

You have become the enemy of America and the rest of the world, not its savior.  The world should see what you have become, rise up and defeat you, for once and for good. 

 

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/07/so-im-the-nazi-noweh/feed/ TEA Party, Morristown NJ ~ 1500 strong same as last time. http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/04/tea-party-morristown-nj-1500-strong-same-as-last-time/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/04/tea-party-morristown-nj-1500-strong-same-as-last-time/#comments Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:16:00 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=32 About 1500 in Morristown, NJ, same as last time.  Better than expected, I’d say.  A much broader spectrum of race and age this time.  It may be because this particular event was held on a Saturday, not on a weekday, like April 15 when everyone was working for fighting to get their taxes in.  Let’s not minimize the gravity of that.

Neither the Republican nor the Democratic candidate for governor of NJ showed up.  The Libertarian candidate did.  Score for him.

We’ll see how much media coverage it gets in the wake of Sarah Palin’s decision to step down.   Payne from FOX gave a rousing speech!  Matt Perez, the Cuban immigrant, who has been on the Glenn Beck show on the citizen shows gave another fantastic speech. 

Enjoy fireworks tonight.

Sam

]]> About 1500 in Morristown, NJ, same as last time.  Better than expected, I’d say.  A much broader spectrum of race and age this time.  It may be because this particular event was held on a Saturday, not on a weekday, like April 15 when everyone was working for fighting to get their taxes in.  Let’s not minimize the gravity of that.

Neither the Republican nor the Democratic candidate for governor of NJ showed up.  The Libertarian candidate did.  Score for him.

We’ll see how much media coverage it gets in the wake of Sarah Palin’s decision to step down.   Payne from FOX gave a rousing speech!  Matt Perez, the Cuban immigrant, who has been on the Glenn Beck show on the citizen shows gave another fantastic speech. 

Enjoy fireworks tonight.

Sam

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/04/tea-party-morristown-nj-1500-strong-same-as-last-time/feed/ Gavin Schmidt write a AGW hit piece…on his own side! http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/03/gavin-schmidt-write-a-agw-hit-pieceon-his-own-side/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/03/gavin-schmidt-write-a-agw-hit-pieceon-his-own-side/#comments Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:13:23 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=30 The Fox News article is found here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529953,00.html

And I quote:

Sometimes researchers are citing a potential connection to global warming to get noticed, he says, and sometimes journalists are focusing on that connection to make the story more compelling. “There’s a bit of a backlash amid people who have a brain,” says Schmidt.

You know, those crazy people they call deniers, like me.  Now, Dr. Schmidt makes a point to say that as a climate modeler he believes that the Earth is indeed warming, and it is doing so specifically because of human activity.  But then he happily goes on to knock down five of the most poorly constructed arguments that might lead to a claim a person might hear to suggest that AGW is real.    You’ll all recognize most of them as the main cudgels in the silencing of AGW critics, and the basis for the.

 

By the way, one example of studies NOT mentioned is the increasing CO2 levels over Mauna Kea, HI.  He doesn’t mention it because like me, I believe to be sound work.  It’s the journalistic hype and the political agendizing that is the current problem.  What remains to be seen is the underlying cause of that increase, and also what impact that increase really has.  I maintain that, the reasons, the mechanism and the total impact have never truly been approached. 

Thanks to people like Al Gore, and the media that love them so, that careful scientific investigation was stopped at a critical time, in a way policitally advantageous to people who seek undue control over other people.  There was just enough information out there, all ominous, to shift policital power.  I believe that will change when scientists start taking back their science.

]]> The Fox News article is found here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529953,00.html

And I quote:

Sometimes researchers are citing a potential connection to global warming to get noticed, he says, and sometimes journalists are focusing on that connection to make the story more compelling. “There’s a bit of a backlash amid people who have a brain,” says Schmidt.

You know, those crazy people they call deniers, like me.  Now, Dr. Schmidt makes a point to say that as a climate modeler he believes that the Earth is indeed warming, and it is doing so specifically because of human activity.  But then he happily goes on to knock down five of the most poorly constructed arguments that might lead to a claim a person might hear to suggest that AGW is real.    You’ll all recognize most of them as the main cudgels in the silencing of AGW critics, and the basis for the.

 

By the way, one example of studies NOT mentioned is the increasing CO2 levels over Mauna Kea, HI.  He doesn’t mention it because like me, I believe to be sound work.  It’s the journalistic hype and the political agendizing that is the current problem.  What remains to be seen is the underlying cause of that increase, and also what impact that increase really has.  I maintain that, the reasons, the mechanism and the total impact have never truly been approached. 

Thanks to people like Al Gore, and the media that love them so, that careful scientific investigation was stopped at a critical time, in a way policitally advantageous to people who seek undue control over other people.  There was just enough information out there, all ominous, to shift policital power.  I believe that will change when scientists start taking back their science.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/03/gavin-schmidt-write-a-agw-hit-pieceon-his-own-side/feed/ Happy 4th of July to everyone! / Time for TEA! / Thank you, REDSTATE. http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/03/happy-4th-of-july-to-everyone-time-for-tea-thank-you-redstate/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/03/happy-4th-of-july-to-everyone-time-for-tea-thank-you-redstate/#comments Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:22:44 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=28 I’ll be going to the Tea Party in Morristown, NJ from 11 AM to 1 PM on the 4th.    I think the event wisely chose short hours because of the traveling and family event-related nature of this long weekend.  Last time, it lingered until 3 PM and the crowd began to dissipate earlier than that.  I expect the turnout to be excellent, especially considering the recent behavior of the Democrat-controlled house, and the three (count ‘em, THREE) NJ House republicans that voted for the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill.  To his great credit, my representative, Rodney Frelinghuysen, was the only House Repubican in NJ that did not vote yea.

I’ll be speaking to as many people as I can about finding an effective, legitimate way to make NJ House Republicans, and US Senators Lautenberg and Menendez, understand that there are going to be political repercussions for voting aye on the latest mockery on human freedom in living memory.   I suspect neither of them will bow to pressure from the populace under any circumstances, but it’s worth a shot at saving this country.

Nevertheless, I will find a way to enjoy the weekend, and I hope all of you do to.  I’m particularly appreciative about this blogsite, Redstate.  It has been just about the only place where my voice as a professional scientist and a concerned citizen has been heard

Enjoy your 4th.  Make some noise.  Thank you all.

Sam

]]> I’ll be going to the Tea Party in Morristown, NJ from 11 AM to 1 PM on the 4th.    I think the event wisely chose short hours because of the traveling and family event-related nature of this long weekend.  Last time, it lingered until 3 PM and the crowd began to dissipate earlier than that.  I expect the turnout to be excellent, especially considering the recent behavior of the Democrat-controlled house, and the three (count ‘em, THREE) NJ House republicans that voted for the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill.  To his great credit, my representative, Rodney Frelinghuysen, was the only House Repubican in NJ that did not vote yea.

I’ll be speaking to as many people as I can about finding an effective, legitimate way to make NJ House Republicans, and US Senators Lautenberg and Menendez, understand that there are going to be political repercussions for voting aye on the latest mockery on human freedom in living memory.   I suspect neither of them will bow to pressure from the populace under any circumstances, but it’s worth a shot at saving this country.

Nevertheless, I will find a way to enjoy the weekend, and I hope all of you do to.  I’m particularly appreciative about this blogsite, Redstate.  It has been just about the only place where my voice as a professional scientist and a concerned citizen has been heard

Enjoy your 4th.  Make some noise.  Thank you all.

Sam

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/07/03/happy-4th-of-july-to-everyone-time-for-tea-thank-you-redstate/feed/ Freak Hail Storm in NJ - Do Not Adjust Your Set http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/15/freak-hail-storm-in-nj-do-not-adjust-your-set/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/15/freak-hail-storm-in-nj-do-not-adjust-your-set/#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:31:21 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=26 (I think the phrase, common in the analog world, is appropriate considering the entire country just went digital over the weekend)

This happened just this afternoon.

http://wcbstv.com/local/washington.township.hail.2.1045714.html

Something for the recordbooks, ladies and gentlemen, and wonderfully amusing in June, but it comes with a caveat from me. 

Please, don’t fall into the trap of ascribing today’s event as further proof that AGW is bogus.  There are better reasons.  This isn’t directly related.  Hail, despite the fact that it is made of ice, is strictly a warm weather phenomenon, associated with thunderstorms.  Liquid water must travel with storm updrafts to the ice anvil above the storm.  The drop freezes, and falls, and iteratively gets pushed back up to gather another layer of ice on its surface.  Seriously strong updrafts from seriously energetic storms allow more layers.  Eventually the mass of the hail wins and it falls through the rain.  Imagine how big the hail had to be before melting on the way down.  Dime-sized hail is somewhat respectible.  Enough to cover the ground in NJ in 70 degree weather is most impressive.

I have seen this happen precisely twice in my life (enough dime-sized hail to cover a few inches on the ground), as a teenager in Texas.  And then fifteen minutes later, not a cloud in the sky.  I’ve described it people up here who thought I was making it up.  Well, at least I know everyone else is hallucinating now…

Enjoy!

Sam

]]> (I think the phrase, common in the analog world, is appropriate considering the entire country just went digital over the weekend)

This happened just this afternoon.

http://wcbstv.com/local/washington.township.hail.2.1045714.html

Something for the recordbooks, ladies and gentlemen, and wonderfully amusing in June, but it comes with a caveat from me. 

Please, don’t fall into the trap of ascribing today’s event as further proof that AGW is bogus.  There are better reasons.  This isn’t directly related.  Hail, despite the fact that it is made of ice, is strictly a warm weather phenomenon, associated with thunderstorms.  Liquid water must travel with storm updrafts to the ice anvil above the storm.  The drop freezes, and falls, and iteratively gets pushed back up to gather another layer of ice on its surface.  Seriously strong updrafts from seriously energetic storms allow more layers.  Eventually the mass of the hail wins and it falls through the rain.  Imagine how big the hail had to be before melting on the way down.  Dime-sized hail is somewhat respectible.  Enough to cover the ground in NJ in 70 degree weather is most impressive.

I have seen this happen precisely twice in my life (enough dime-sized hail to cover a few inches on the ground), as a teenager in Texas.  And then fifteen minutes later, not a cloud in the sky.  I’ve described it people up here who thought I was making it up.  Well, at least I know everyone else is hallucinating now…

Enjoy!

Sam

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/15/freak-hail-storm-in-nj-do-not-adjust-your-set/feed/ A Modest (non-Swiftian) Proposal concerning passing of a bill. http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/04/a-modest-non-swiftian-proposal-concerning-passing-of-a-bill/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/04/a-modest-non-swiftian-proposal-concerning-passing-of-a-bill/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:52:04 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=24 Why not simply have it written into the Congressional rules the manditory reading of a bill by a voting Congressional member personally, before PASSing (but not REJECTing) that bill?

Imagine how much less seriously the Declaration of Independence would have been taken if Delegates from all over the colonies hadn’t put their “John Hancock” on it.  Or, if some of the delegates could later claim that they never acutally saw or read the document.  It’s kinda tough to do that when you sign something.

I suggest PASS only, not REJECT, for a number of reasons.

Passing bills would be hard work.  Rejecting bills would be a snap.  There’s a check right there.

Minority parties would be able to avoid beng saddled by the overwheming flurry of paperwork, generated by a party with a voting majority.  They could spend time on bills that they could circulate to the majority, if they wanted.

Congressional members would not be able to claim that they didn’t know what was in a bill they helped pass.  Members would be able to reject a bill on the grounds of any part of the bill that they read.  In both instances, Congressmen could be held to account for their decision.

Bills would tend to be reasonably concise if a sponsoring member of Congress wished to have it read, and passed.

Bills would become less likely to be stuffed with earmarks. 

Line-item vetos would become less necessary (and less of a coveted power by the President) where bills, in order to keep unrelated subjects concise and separate, were broken down into unique, individual, but whole concepts.

Bills would have to be more holistically constructed from the onset of the debate process.  Members would have to really debate its construction long before a draft was issued for consideration.

Minority parties could sign and reject a bill, and then issue a well-formed critique for the public about why a bill they couldn’t stop from being passed stunk.  Voters would respond well to such a critique from signatories, I think.

I believe a lot of this nonsense with rubber-stamping huge, unread bills would go away if this type of reform were made law in Congress.

]]> Why not simply have it written into the Congressional rules the manditory reading of a bill by a voting Congressional member personally, before PASSing (but not REJECTing) that bill?

Imagine how much less seriously the Declaration of Independence would have been taken if Delegates from all over the colonies hadn’t put their “John Hancock” on it.  Or, if some of the delegates could later claim that they never acutally saw or read the document.  It’s kinda tough to do that when you sign something.

I suggest PASS only, not REJECT, for a number of reasons.

Passing bills would be hard work.  Rejecting bills would be a snap.  There’s a check right there.

Minority parties would be able to avoid beng saddled by the overwheming flurry of paperwork, generated by a party with a voting majority.  They could spend time on bills that they could circulate to the majority, if they wanted.

Congressional members would not be able to claim that they didn’t know what was in a bill they helped pass.  Members would be able to reject a bill on the grounds of any part of the bill that they read.  In both instances, Congressmen could be held to account for their decision.

Bills would tend to be reasonably concise if a sponsoring member of Congress wished to have it read, and passed.

Bills would become less likely to be stuffed with earmarks. 

Line-item vetos would become less necessary (and less of a coveted power by the President) where bills, in order to keep unrelated subjects concise and separate, were broken down into unique, individual, but whole concepts.

Bills would have to be more holistically constructed from the onset of the debate process.  Members would have to really debate its construction long before a draft was issued for consideration.

Minority parties could sign and reject a bill, and then issue a well-formed critique for the public about why a bill they couldn’t stop from being passed stunk.  Voters would respond well to such a critique from signatories, I think.

I believe a lot of this nonsense with rubber-stamping huge, unread bills would go away if this type of reform were made law in Congress.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/04/a-modest-non-swiftian-proposal-concerning-passing-of-a-bill/feed/ Skanderbeg at the ICCC http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/02/skanderbeg-at-the-iccc/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/02/skanderbeg-at-the-iccc/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:39:59 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=22 First let me point out the Global Warming Petition, which I and my wife have signed.   (You’ll find my wife Alexandra and I on the first and second line of the names under D.)  We are a professional chemist and biochemist, respectively.  If you think I’m pissed off about the AGW, stay away from the Doctress, she’ll rip out make you eat your own liver!  If you have any qualifications at all to sign this petition as a scientist of any kind at all, please find the petition at:

http://www.petitionproject.org/

I can’t overstress the potential of the work that could come out of this conference.  Lavish the goods on us, Skanderbeg!  

I’m looking for more juicy tidbits in the way of photochemistry, lightning-induced chemistry, and chemical/biochemical rate kinetics this time around.  Looking for a good model on the evolution/de-devolution of clouds (very difficult, but all important).  Well defined chemistry and physics of the atmosphere and biosphere.  Red meat!

For laypeople, I say take the plunge and dig in!  I recommend the website from the March conference,

http://www.heartland.org/events/NewYork09/proceedings.html

which is still evolving, apparently.  A website for today’s conference doesn’t seem to be up yet.

 

There are more videos and Powerpoint presentations and *.pdf files than the last time I looked.   Great scientists have great integrity and are extremely careful about what they say and the manner in which they say it.  The telltale sign of good work here is that they are taking the time to check every last detail and ensure its veracity before making it available to their community and the interested public.

It’s a real disadvantage against people like Al Gore, who spend their efforts “getting ahead of an issue” and “framing the argument”, “establishing a consensus opinion” or “declaring the issue closed” thereby capturing an early propganda advantage.  That sort of despicable tactic doesn’t register in the mind of true scientist.  It’s all meaningless in the face of what actually is.  Of course the true scientist has time, truth, and physical reality on his side…  the Sound versus the Strong. 

Do the homework, struggle through the math, demonstrate in your own mind that it’s accurate, see what it might be lacking.  You’ll find there are many branches of science and math that are brough to bear on the website.  Help yourselves understand.  And speak up if you see an error.  Or can’t follow a train of thought.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  Unlike the IPCC, and Al Gore, we/they won’t mind.  And you’re more likely to get a rational, enthusiastic response.

Remember, the slow blade penetrates the shield. 

(I think the Dune ref is particularly fitting when it comes to the environment, nicht wahr?)

]]> First let me point out the Global Warming Petition, which I and my wife have signed.   (You’ll find my wife Alexandra and I on the first and second line of the names under D.)  We are a professional chemist and biochemist, respectively.  If you think I’m pissed off about the AGW, stay away from the Doctress, she’ll rip out make you eat your own liver!  If you have any qualifications at all to sign this petition as a scientist of any kind at all, please find the petition at:

http://www.petitionproject.org/

I can’t overstress the potential of the work that could come out of this conference.  Lavish the goods on us, Skanderbeg!  

I’m looking for more juicy tidbits in the way of photochemistry, lightning-induced chemistry, and chemical/biochemical rate kinetics this time around.  Looking for a good model on the evolution/de-devolution of clouds (very difficult, but all important).  Well defined chemistry and physics of the atmosphere and biosphere.  Red meat!

For laypeople, I say take the plunge and dig in!  I recommend the website from the March conference,

http://www.heartland.org/events/NewYork09/proceedings.html

which is still evolving, apparently.  A website for today’s conference doesn’t seem to be up yet.

 

There are more videos and Powerpoint presentations and *.pdf files than the last time I looked.   Great scientists have great integrity and are extremely careful about what they say and the manner in which they say it.  The telltale sign of good work here is that they are taking the time to check every last detail and ensure its veracity before making it available to their community and the interested public.

It’s a real disadvantage against people like Al Gore, who spend their efforts “getting ahead of an issue” and “framing the argument”, “establishing a consensus opinion” or “declaring the issue closed” thereby capturing an early propganda advantage.  That sort of despicable tactic doesn’t register in the mind of true scientist.  It’s all meaningless in the face of what actually is.  Of course the true scientist has time, truth, and physical reality on his side…  the Sound versus the Strong. 

Do the homework, struggle through the math, demonstrate in your own mind that it’s accurate, see what it might be lacking.  You’ll find there are many branches of science and math that are brough to bear on the website.  Help yourselves understand.  And speak up if you see an error.  Or can’t follow a train of thought.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  Unlike the IPCC, and Al Gore, we/they won’t mind.  And you’re more likely to get a rational, enthusiastic response.

Remember, the slow blade penetrates the shield. 

(I think the Dune ref is particularly fitting when it comes to the environment, nicht wahr?)

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/02/skanderbeg-at-the-iccc/feed/ New Jersey Gubernatorial Primary Today! - Christie, Lonegan, Merkt http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/02/new-jersey-gubernatorial-primary-today-christie-lonegan-merkt/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/02/new-jersey-gubernatorial-primary-today-christie-lonegan-merkt/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:00:21 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=20 You’re all welcome to compare and contrast the leading candidates for today’s Republican Primary for the upcoming election of Governor of New Jersey.    If you live in New Jersey, vote!  

http://lonegan.com/Home.aspx

http://www.christiefornj.com/

Personally, I’m on board with just about everything I see on the Republican websites.  Steve Lonegan is Mayor of Bogota, (surrounded by Hackensack, Teaneck, and the Ridgefields) Chris Christie is former US District Attorney for the district of New Jersey.  Rick Merkt is a current State Assemblyman, and bills himself as the only condidate with State level experience.  All have real NJ-level experience although it’s from different directions.  I think Lonegan’s a little more clear on specific issues, like Kelo v. New London, but I also think his attack ads are more negative.   Accordingly, it seems to be a bit of a horse race between Christie and Lonegan.  

I haven’t seen much of Merkt on any front on the TV, and there appears to be no direct website, although one can Google “Merkt Governor NJ”, or something similar, and get decent infomation on the current NJ Assemblyman.  Despite whatever differences, I think most people in the state would be happy to have first and second place run as Gov. /Lt Gov. rather than losing their man in this primary.  I’d vote for any Republican ticket in the state of New Jersey if it means we can “Dump the Democrats” as my late Uncle Pat would write on a big sign in front of his house every four years. 

I get the sensation that Republican involvement will greatly outpace Democrats today, but only because Jon Corzine is going up against three apparently very minor players, and therefore goes unchallanged, typical for a rich Democratic incumbent.  There’s no room for complacency here.

Pick a Republican, and back the winner!

Let the litmus test for 2010 begin!

]]> You’re all welcome to compare and contrast the leading candidates for today’s Republican Primary for the upcoming election of Governor of New Jersey.    If you live in New Jersey, vote!  

http://lonegan.com/Home.aspx

http://www.christiefornj.com/

Personally, I’m on board with just about everything I see on the Republican websites.  Steve Lonegan is Mayor of Bogota, (surrounded by Hackensack, Teaneck, and the Ridgefields) Chris Christie is former US District Attorney for the district of New Jersey.  Rick Merkt is a current State Assemblyman, and bills himself as the only condidate with State level experience.  All have real NJ-level experience although it’s from different directions.  I think Lonegan’s a little more clear on specific issues, like Kelo v. New London, but I also think his attack ads are more negative.   Accordingly, it seems to be a bit of a horse race between Christie and Lonegan.  

I haven’t seen much of Merkt on any front on the TV, and there appears to be no direct website, although one can Google “Merkt Governor NJ”, or something similar, and get decent infomation on the current NJ Assemblyman.  Despite whatever differences, I think most people in the state would be happy to have first and second place run as Gov. /Lt Gov. rather than losing their man in this primary.  I’d vote for any Republican ticket in the state of New Jersey if it means we can “Dump the Democrats” as my late Uncle Pat would write on a big sign in front of his house every four years. 

I get the sensation that Republican involvement will greatly outpace Democrats today, but only because Jon Corzine is going up against three apparently very minor players, and therefore goes unchallanged, typical for a rich Democratic incumbent.  There’s no room for complacency here.

Pick a Republican, and back the winner!

Let the litmus test for 2010 begin!

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/06/02/new-jersey-gubernatorial-primary-today-christie-lonegan-merkt/feed/ So, pink boxers are like corduroy pillows… http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/05/22/so-pink-boxers-are-like-corduroy-pillows/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/05/22/so-pink-boxers-are-like-corduroy-pillows/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 07:52:00 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=17 They’re making headlines.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521138,00.html

Do I recall the image attracting some mockery a day or so ago among the more cynical ranks of our country?

Well, The Republican holdover Mr. Robert (”William”) Gates appreicates the image before us.   “…special kind of courage”, and “innovative psychological warfare” for fighting Taliban in pink boxers, indeed!  I’ll go further and say that a teen from Texas wearing “I love NY” on his tuckus must bespeak a love of the whole of the USA, not just his own home state.   I see a new regimental flag in the making, a Code Pink I can live with!

I’d also like to point out a more pertinent observation of the photo, namely the incredibly rough terrain laid out before these men on the line of defense in Eastern Afghanistan.  I’ll bet it’s like that everywhere in the region.  If you ever wondered why the war in Iraq went so much more quickly on the Mesopotamian plain, and why terrorists are so elusive in Afghanistan, now you imagine why.

Unlike Mr. Gates I don’t ever expect to be going to Afghanistan.  I would however be happy to treat Specialist Boyd to a drink of his choice, and shake the hand of the man, if he comes through New York City.  Dressed any way he wants.

]]> They’re making headlines.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521138,00.html

Do I recall the image attracting some mockery a day or so ago among the more cynical ranks of our country?

Well, The Republican holdover Mr. Robert (”William”) Gates appreicates the image before us.   “…special kind of courage”, and “innovative psychological warfare” for fighting Taliban in pink boxers, indeed!  I’ll go further and say that a teen from Texas wearing “I love NY” on his tuckus must bespeak a love of the whole of the USA, not just his own home state.   I see a new regimental flag in the making, a Code Pink I can live with!

I’d also like to point out a more pertinent observation of the photo, namely the incredibly rough terrain laid out before these men on the line of defense in Eastern Afghanistan.  I’ll bet it’s like that everywhere in the region.  If you ever wondered why the war in Iraq went so much more quickly on the Mesopotamian plain, and why terrorists are so elusive in Afghanistan, now you imagine why.

Unlike Mr. Gates I don’t ever expect to be going to Afghanistan.  I would however be happy to treat Specialist Boyd to a drink of his choice, and shake the hand of the man, if he comes through New York City.  Dressed any way he wants.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/05/22/so-pink-boxers-are-like-corduroy-pillows/feed/ A 90% tax on bonuses is a horrible precedent! http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/03/19/a-90-tax-on-bonuses-is-a-horrible-precedent/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/03/19/a-90-tax-on-bonuses-is-a-horrible-precedent/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:02:06 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=15 The House just passed a bill taxing 90% of the bonuses given specifically to certain executives of AIG

Congress (Democrats, mostly), if you are going to bail out a company, you must understand that said company is still required by law to fulfill contractual obligations, including those with its own employees (something that wouldn’t necessarily have been true if AIG had filed for bankruptcy).

The outrage is false.  You knew that it was going to happen. 

You had the opportunity to put limits on executive compensation before you handed over the money, as a condition of the bailout.  You didn’t.

You can’t take it back, because Constitutionally you are forbidden from breaking legal contracts or writing laws to tax disbursements after the fact, so says Article 1 Section 10 of the Constitution.   The recipients will fight you and win, because you are breaking contract with the people that you took the money to pay those executives with in the first place.  Which you shouldn’t have done.  That makes you morons, twice!

 

And the third moronic thing you did was open a real can of worms, because the precedent you set for taxing people you don’t think give enough of their money back voluntarily, is a job killer.  Besides, the ultimate loophole is that companies won’t give bonuses anymore.  Nice going, Congress.

]]> The House just passed a bill taxing 90% of the bonuses given specifically to certain executives of AIG

Congress (Democrats, mostly), if you are going to bail out a company, you must understand that said company is still required by law to fulfill contractual obligations, including those with its own employees (something that wouldn’t necessarily have been true if AIG had filed for bankruptcy).

The outrage is false.  You knew that it was going to happen. 

You had the opportunity to put limits on executive compensation before you handed over the money, as a condition of the bailout.  You didn’t.

You can’t take it back, because Constitutionally you are forbidden from breaking legal contracts or writing laws to tax disbursements after the fact, so says Article 1 Section 10 of the Constitution.   The recipients will fight you and win, because you are breaking contract with the people that you took the money to pay those executives with in the first place.  Which you shouldn’t have done.  That makes you morons, twice!

 

And the third moronic thing you did was open a real can of worms, because the precedent you set for taxing people you don’t think give enough of their money back voluntarily, is a job killer.  Besides, the ultimate loophole is that companies won’t give bonuses anymore.  Nice going, Congress.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/03/19/a-90-tax-on-bonuses-is-a-horrible-precedent/feed/ Re: Johns Hopkins Engineering Goes All In http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/03/19/re-johns-hopkins-engineering-goes-all-in/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/03/19/re-johns-hopkins-engineering-goes-all-in/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:09:28 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=13 I know the comments section is closed for RedHot entries, but I have a special qualification for commenting here.  I received my Ph.D. in Chemistry at Johns Hopkins in 1994.  While I was looking for gainful employment, and waiting for the erstwhile wife to graduate with her Ph.D. in Biochemistry (same department, really), I did a short post-doc for Gerald Meyer (profiled in the pamphlet Kowalski linked) in 1995.  I spent that time synthesizing some of those photosensitizing molecules that he mentions in the Terawatt Challenge pamphlet, earning secondary authorship in a peer-reviewed paper (see:  “An Acetylacetonate-Based Semiconductor-Sensitizer Linkage”, Heimer, T.; D’Arcangelis, S. T.; Farzad, F., Stipkala, J.M; Meyer, G. J. Inorg. Chem. 1996, 35, 5319-5324.   It’s an excellent read.  I highly recommend it.  I built those molecules, did I mention that?)

I still think that brand of photovoltaic technologies has great potential, and it already works to a certain degree, but it is slow in coming, and for good reasons, which I won’t go into here.  Very few people are at the forefront such completely new technology.  Not to mention the fact that this tech ain’t easy.  Jerry Meyer has been singing the same tune since before 1994.  I can’t tell you how much further that his research has progressed.  I haven’t been keeping tabs on his, and others’ work.  I’m sure they are inching along, even though the government is throwing money at the problem (which it has been doing by the way since 1994).  But the classic “throwing money at a problem works here, because the real problems are understanding the chemistry and physics better, and money really never helps that. 

So don’t let the Terawatt pamphet fool you.  It’s a completely rosy picture of stuff that has been going on at Hopkins for many years now.   No fault on Jerry, he’s got an uphill battle on physical law and practicality to fight.  

Two orders of magnitude are what’s required of windmills (not the one claimed by the pamphlet) in order to double what we have now.   Plus the construction, the copper, the maintenance (especially the ravages on Nature on maritime construction),

Besides, any engineer can build a windmill.  ET used wind power to “phone home” for God’s sake.  Any moron can claim that they need to be built.  Except for the fact that wind power doesn’t produce nearly enough electricity to be worth the effort in building and maintenance costs, windmills are just fine.  I mena it’s good for some things.  They use mehcanical windmills all over Texas to pump water out of the ground for the cattle.  Or they used to, anyway.  It works, it’s just not going to be enough.

Nuclear power WOULD be enough.  Even the pamphlet describes nuclear power as the source of 21% of the electricity we currently use.  That’s a big chunk!  An order of magnitude change there would feed this nation more than 100% of the electricity it needs.    Possibly even enough to charge up those stupid electric cars everyone claims we should have.  Too bad the battery tech isn’t even close yet.

]]> I know the comments section is closed for RedHot entries, but I have a special qualification for commenting here.  I received my Ph.D. in Chemistry at Johns Hopkins in 1994.  While I was looking for gainful employment, and waiting for the erstwhile wife to graduate with her Ph.D. in Biochemistry (same department, really), I did a short post-doc for Gerald Meyer (profiled in the pamphlet Kowalski linked) in 1995.  I spent that time synthesizing some of those photosensitizing molecules that he mentions in the Terawatt Challenge pamphlet, earning secondary authorship in a peer-reviewed paper (see:  “An Acetylacetonate-Based Semiconductor-Sensitizer Linkage”, Heimer, T.; D’Arcangelis, S. T.; Farzad, F., Stipkala, J.M; Meyer, G. J. Inorg. Chem. 1996, 35, 5319-5324.   It’s an excellent read.  I highly recommend it.  I built those molecules, did I mention that?)

I still think that brand of photovoltaic technologies has great potential, and it already works to a certain degree, but it is slow in coming, and for good reasons, which I won’t go into here.  Very few people are at the forefront such completely new technology.  Not to mention the fact that this tech ain’t easy.  Jerry Meyer has been singing the same tune since before 1994.  I can’t tell you how much further that his research has progressed.  I haven’t been keeping tabs on his, and others’ work.  I’m sure they are inching along, even though the government is throwing money at the problem (which it has been doing by the way since 1994).  But the classic “throwing money at a problem works here, because the real problems are understanding the chemistry and physics better, and money really never helps that. 

So don’t let the Terawatt pamphet fool you.  It’s a completely rosy picture of stuff that has been going on at Hopkins for many years now.   No fault on Jerry, he’s got an uphill battle on physical law and practicality to fight.  

Two orders of magnitude are what’s required of windmills (not the one claimed by the pamphlet) in order to double what we have now.   Plus the construction, the copper, the maintenance (especially the ravages on Nature on maritime construction),

Besides, any engineer can build a windmill.  ET used wind power to “phone home” for God’s sake.  Any moron can claim that they need to be built.  Except for the fact that wind power doesn’t produce nearly enough electricity to be worth the effort in building and maintenance costs, windmills are just fine.  I mena it’s good for some things.  They use mehcanical windmills all over Texas to pump water out of the ground for the cattle.  Or they used to, anyway.  It works, it’s just not going to be enough.

Nuclear power WOULD be enough.  Even the pamphlet describes nuclear power as the source of 21% of the electricity we currently use.  That’s a big chunk!  An order of magnitude change there would feed this nation more than 100% of the electricity it needs.    Possibly even enough to charge up those stupid electric cars everyone claims we should have.  Too bad the battery tech isn’t even close yet.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/03/19/re-johns-hopkins-engineering-goes-all-in/feed/ The recent collapse of Tropical Storm activity. http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/03/13/the-recent-collapse-of-tropical-storm-activity/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/03/13/the-recent-collapse-of-tropical-storm-activity/#comments Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:04:47 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=11 http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical/

I’ll wager the irony is not lost on the doctoral student in meteorolgy from Florida, the erstwhile Dr. Maue.  Tropical storm activity worldwide has completely collapsed, by any measure, although his statistics bear some semblence of mathematical rigor.   He bothers to gauge cumulative cyclone energy rather than rely on the digital staccato of the annual named-storms lists. 

A more layman-friendly illustration of Altantic hurricane seasons, and how they have been fading fast since Katrina, can be found in the internet weather websites.  Sites like intellicast.com and weather.com have hurricane summaries spanning several years, and they have reluctantly been putting up their data these last few years, as late as possible because they ain’t jiving with the apocolyptic messages from Hansen (of NASA) and Gore (of the UN).

Because it’s a particular pet peeve of mine that I’ve stated in the past (like, Redstate 2.0 and earlier, sorry no link, although the authors might have an archive), one should go on a website and see the dramatic downturn in activity and peak storm energies in the last three years, and remember that the practice of assigning names to the “Subtropical Storm” began just then.  I’ll go ahead and reiterate my original claim that this was “moving the goalposts”, with a view to padding the named-storm list for those particularly bad statisticians that love to lump Cat1 (yes, and now Sub-Cat1) and Cat5 hurricanes together.  All for the purpose of “proving” the link between CO2 levels, hurricanes, and human actiivity.  Now there isn’t even a weak correlation between increasing hurricane activity and rising CO2 levels.

The upstart from Florida makes a better case for relating this activity collapse to La Nina, an altogether non-AGW function of normal weather cycles.  Our higher educational systems are not yet dead!

 I believe Al Gore knows his “indisputable facts” are a house of cards (well-shielded still, with his fat behind and a legion of well-funded liars), and yet he continues a push for legislation to satisfy a far left agenda, based on this and related notions…and that’s what constitutes this as fraud… 

Once again I call fraud on Al Gore, I call those who are funded by him and the IPCC, complicit in the fraud, and those who blindly follow them as useful idiots.

]]> http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical/

I’ll wager the irony is not lost on the doctoral student in meteorolgy from Florida, the erstwhile Dr. Maue.  Tropical storm activity worldwide has completely collapsed, by any measure, although his statistics bear some semblence of mathematical rigor.   He bothers to gauge cumulative cyclone energy rather than rely on the digital staccato of the annual named-storms lists. 

A more layman-friendly illustration of Altantic hurricane seasons, and how they have been fading fast since Katrina, can be found in the internet weather websites.  Sites like intellicast.com and weather.com have hurricane summaries spanning several years, and they have reluctantly been putting up their data these last few years, as late as possible because they ain’t jiving with the apocolyptic messages from Hansen (of NASA) and Gore (of the UN).

Because it’s a particular pet peeve of mine that I’ve stated in the past (like, Redstate 2.0 and earlier, sorry no link, although the authors might have an archive), one should go on a website and see the dramatic downturn in activity and peak storm energies in the last three years, and remember that the practice of assigning names to the “Subtropical Storm” began just then.  I’ll go ahead and reiterate my original claim that this was “moving the goalposts”, with a view to padding the named-storm list for those particularly bad statisticians that love to lump Cat1 (yes, and now Sub-Cat1) and Cat5 hurricanes together.  All for the purpose of “proving” the link between CO2 levels, hurricanes, and human actiivity.  Now there isn’t even a weak correlation between increasing hurricane activity and rising CO2 levels.

The upstart from Florida makes a better case for relating this activity collapse to La Nina, an altogether non-AGW function of normal weather cycles.  Our higher educational systems are not yet dead!

 I believe Al Gore knows his “indisputable facts” are a house of cards (well-shielded still, with his fat behind and a legion of well-funded liars), and yet he continues a push for legislation to satisfy a far left agenda, based on this and related notions…and that’s what constitutes this as fraud… 

Once again I call fraud on Al Gore, I call those who are funded by him and the IPCC, complicit in the fraud, and those who blindly follow them as useful idiots.

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/03/13/the-recent-collapse-of-tropical-storm-activity/feed/ This is Sumo the Maltese Poodle on drugs. Any Questions? http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/01/22/this-is-sumo-the-maltese-poodle-on-drugs-any-questions/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/01/22/this-is-sumo-the-maltese-poodle-on-drugs-any-questions/#comments Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:34:24 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=9 Where to begin… 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,481426,00.html

I just want to be perfectly clear on this.  The Democrats may very well have had their chuckles when a pretzel nearly KO’d our President, but they can’t escape some payback for their shameless Francophilia now.

This little episode begs the question on how one goes about discovering clinical depression in poodles (read: Parisian rodents).  Was the little vermin depressed before–or because–of the bite? 

And never mind Chirac, what about the dog?

]]> Where to begin… 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,481426,00.html

I just want to be perfectly clear on this.  The Democrats may very well have had their chuckles when a pretzel nearly KO’d our President, but they can’t escape some payback for their shameless Francophilia now.

This little episode begs the question on how one goes about discovering clinical depression in poodles (read: Parisian rodents).  Was the little vermin depressed before–or because–of the bite? 

And never mind Chirac, what about the dog?

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2009/01/22/this-is-sumo-the-maltese-poodle-on-drugs-any-questions/feed/ Eminent domain should be employed near Shanksville, PA http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/12/28/eminent-domain-should-be-employed-near-shanksville-pa/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/12/28/eminent-domain-should-be-employed-near-shanksville-pa/#comments Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:47:17 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/?p=5 Quoth the relevant phrase of Amendment V:

…nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The Constitution specifically allows for the taking of land from private ownership for public use, with the essential condition that the private owner be fairly compensated. 

The private property in question is that part of farmland near Shanksville, PA where Flight 93 fell from the sky on September 11, 2001. 

The public use of that land would naturally be a National Monument, a site associated with the tragedies and heroism of that day, open to all who wish to mourn or otherwise observe there.  The precedent has been set in what was ostensibly much more commerically valuable property at the Twin Towers monument site in Manhattan, NY.  (As I understand it, that land has been set aside in perpetuity in rememberance.)

Fair compensation would be at the very least the value of the land.  I would even go so far as to ensure that the owner(s) are fairly compensated by offering the value of the land as if it were fully developed. 

 

It all seems like a no-brainer to me, and it seems like just the kind of siezure that the Framers intended to make exceptions for.  Actually, I’m surprised that the land wasn’t already set aside.  Now I hear that the surviving families of the heroes of Flight 93 are petitioning President Bush directly to take that land for public use.

My only questions are these:  Why wasn’t this done earlier?  Is it the President himself that actually makes these decisions?  Would he have to go through legal means (through Congress)?  Is the State of Pennsylvania involved, and should it be?

]]> Quoth the relevant phrase of Amendment V:

…nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The Constitution specifically allows for the taking of land from private ownership for public use, with the essential condition that the private owner be fairly compensated. 

The private property in question is that part of farmland near Shanksville, PA where Flight 93 fell from the sky on September 11, 2001. 

The public use of that land would naturally be a National Monument, a site associated with the tragedies and heroism of that day, open to all who wish to mourn or otherwise observe there.  The precedent has been set in what was ostensibly much more commerically valuable property at the Twin Towers monument site in Manhattan, NY.  (As I understand it, that land has been set aside in perpetuity in rememberance.)

Fair compensation would be at the very least the value of the land.  I would even go so far as to ensure that the owner(s) are fairly compensated by offering the value of the land as if it were fully developed. 

 

It all seems like a no-brainer to me, and it seems like just the kind of siezure that the Framers intended to make exceptions for.  Actually, I’m surprised that the land wasn’t already set aside.  Now I hear that the surviving families of the heroes of Flight 93 are petitioning President Bush directly to take that land for public use.

My only questions are these:  Why wasn’t this done earlier?  Is it the President himself that actually makes these decisions?  Would he have to go through legal means (through Congress)?  Is the State of Pennsylvania involved, and should it be?

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/12/28/eminent-domain-should-be-employed-near-shanksville-pa/feed/ Hey Al, the Committee called. http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/10/28/hey-al-the-committee-called/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/10/28/hey-al-the-committee-called/#comments Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:42:53 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) Today is the 28th of October, 2008. I have 3 inches of snow on the ground and the roads where I live in north New Jersey, and I am scarely more than an hour west from NYC andless than 1000 ft above sea level. My inlaws live 20 minutes south of me. They had two inches of snow by time the heavy rain we were getting converted to 100% snow by 10 AM.

We have never seen pre-November snow here in the past eight years that I have lived here. I think once we might have had freezing rain, an altogether different phenomenon.

The snow was wet, especially because it came after a rain. The snow has become completely dry, by now. The weight of the wet snow, and the dry snow sticking to it now is considerable. The leaves are not yet off the trees in many cases around here. Many of the shrubs in my front yard are completely bowed to the ground. I have several branches as big as my leg coming down because of the collective weight of the snow. The breaks are wind-aided and the winds will reach 25 mph here today. There’s going to be trouble on the road when I go to get the kids, that’s for sure. I’ll probably get them early.

I called my mother in Gulfport MS, to tell her about the snow. She hails from upstate NY. I thought she might get a kick out of it. Little did I know that the MS coast got down to 38 last night, and they’re doing it again tonight. Apparently the MS natives are brusquely walking around in the mid 60s during the day like theres a frost warning in effect. Poor slobs. That global warming is really beating them like a rented mule.

Here’s to one more pendulum swing on the fourth of November!

thus spake Sam

]]> Today is the 28th of October, 2008. I have 3 inches of snow on the ground and the roads where I live in north New Jersey, and I am scarely more than an hour west from NYC andless than 1000 ft above sea level. My inlaws live 20 minutes south of me. They had two inches of snow by time the heavy rain we were getting converted to 100% snow by 10 AM.

We have never seen pre-November snow here in the past eight years that I have lived here. I think once we might have had freezing rain, an altogether different phenomenon.

The snow was wet, especially because it came after a rain. The snow has become completely dry, by now. The weight of the wet snow, and the dry snow sticking to it now is considerable. The leaves are not yet off the trees in many cases around here. Many of the shrubs in my front yard are completely bowed to the ground. I have several branches as big as my leg coming down because of the collective weight of the snow. The breaks are wind-aided and the winds will reach 25 mph here today. There’s going to be trouble on the road when I go to get the kids, that’s for sure. I’ll probably get them early.

I called my mother in Gulfport MS, to tell her about the snow. She hails from upstate NY. I thought she might get a kick out of it. Little did I know that the MS coast got down to 38 last night, and they’re doing it again tonight. Apparently the MS natives are brusquely walking around in the mid 60s during the day like theres a frost warning in effect. Poor slobs. That global warming is really beating them like a rented mule.

Here’s to one more pendulum swing on the fourth of November!

thus spake Sam

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/10/28/hey-al-the-committee-called/feed/ A Poem - by Chemical Sam http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/10/19/a-poem-by-chemical-sam/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/10/19/a-poem-by-chemical-sam/#comments Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:08:25 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) No birds

No bees

No flowers

No trees

No wonder…

No vember…

No bama!

]]> No birds

No bees

No flowers

No trees

No wonder…

No vember…

No bama!

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/10/19/a-poem-by-chemical-sam/feed/ What about two hearts away? http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/09/15/what-about-two-hearts-away/ http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/09/15/what-about-two-hearts-away/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:19:57 +0000 Chemical Sam (Profile) Somehow, the Democratic party and its constituents and enablers (read: the mainstream media) have managed to make an issue out of the notion that, should our magnificent Sarah Palin become Vice President of the United States, she would thenceforth be “a heartbeat away from the Presidency”. This is supposed to elicit a visceral doubt, to give pause in the minds of the American people.

Frankly, I’m all for it. I fully expect a person of Ms. Palin’s caliber to appropriately handle any situation placing her in the Big Chair with all the confidence and poise she has shown thus far.

But this shouldn’t be a particularly troubling scenario to the Democrats.


You see (and I can’t believe I’m the first to bring it up, but it seems like I am), for the past two years, Nancy Pelosi has been two heartbeats away from the Presidency. Some more cynical Democrats would argue that she has been one heartbeat and a stent away all that time. Nobody on the left has been particularly troubled about the state of health of the Vice President in the past eight years, so far as I can tell. Why now the would-be 72 year-old President, supported by a female Vice President in her forties, except to combine sexism and ageism in one nifty package?

Speaker Pelosi has other characteristics that should be pointed out, that make Ms. Palin a better choice:

–I’ll concede the strong probability that she, like Ms. Palin, has no Y-chromosome.

–At the tender age of 68, three years younger than John McCain, she ain’t no Spring Chicken herself.

–She has been a state or national legislator since 1987, with precisely zero executive or foreign policy experience, outside of a rather contemptible dealing in Syria, and some uninspiring fingerpointing at other countries here and there.

–Her ability to form a consensus, or reach across the aisle, or perform any useful duty, even as a legislator, is reflected in the current do-nothing Congress approval rating, grasping at straws and hanging tough, in the lower teens.

–And worst of all, she is the most powerful woman in America without ever having been elected to that station, not by anyone in her own constituency, but by a couple hundred fellow House Democrats. Her last Ascension wasn’t even a matter of voting, but a change in party control of the House. Under any other circumstances, she would be simply be the US Representative for the 8th district of California, a position that should hold sway nowhere outside the den of iniquity called San Francisco, one among several hundred fighting to be heard above the din.

These facts should cause the argument –that Sarah Palin is somehow a dubious choice for first in line of succession to the presidency– to fall flat on its face, and Ms. Palins percieved disqualifications should be actively shouted down by the McCain-Pain campaign, for all of the reasons I’ve stated above, and more.

How far on the argument of “heartbeat away” the Democrats have gotten without anyone holding a mirror up to their current hypocritical condition!

Thus spake Sam

]]> Somehow, the Democratic party and its constituents and enablers (read: the mainstream media) have managed to make an issue out of the notion that, should our magnificent Sarah Palin become Vice President of the United States, she would thenceforth be “a heartbeat away from the Presidency”. This is supposed to elicit a visceral doubt, to give pause in the minds of the American people.

Frankly, I’m all for it. I fully expect a person of Ms. Palin’s caliber to appropriately handle any situation placing her in the Big Chair with all the confidence and poise she has shown thus far.

But this shouldn’t be a particularly troubling scenario to the Democrats.


You see (and I can’t believe I’m the first to bring it up, but it seems like I am), for the past two years, Nancy Pelosi has been two heartbeats away from the Presidency. Some more cynical Democrats would argue that she has been one heartbeat and a stent away all that time. Nobody on the left has been particularly troubled about the state of health of the Vice President in the past eight years, so far as I can tell. Why now the would-be 72 year-old President, supported by a female Vice President in her forties, except to combine sexism and ageism in one nifty package?

Speaker Pelosi has other characteristics that should be pointed out, that make Ms. Palin a better choice:

–I’ll concede the strong probability that she, like Ms. Palin, has no Y-chromosome.

–At the tender age of 68, three years younger than John McCain, she ain’t no Spring Chicken herself.

–She has been a state or national legislator since 1987, with precisely zero executive or foreign policy experience, outside of a rather contemptible dealing in Syria, and some uninspiring fingerpointing at other countries here and there.

–Her ability to form a consensus, or reach across the aisle, or perform any useful duty, even as a legislator, is reflected in the current do-nothing Congress approval rating, grasping at straws and hanging tough, in the lower teens.

–And worst of all, she is the most powerful woman in America without ever having been elected to that station, not by anyone in her own constituency, but by a couple hundred fellow House Democrats. Her last Ascension wasn’t even a matter of voting, but a change in party control of the House. Under any other circumstances, she would be simply be the US Representative for the 8th district of California, a position that should hold sway nowhere outside the den of iniquity called San Francisco, one among several hundred fighting to be heard above the din.

These facts should cause the argument –that Sarah Palin is somehow a dubious choice for first in line of succession to the presidency– to fall flat on its face, and Ms. Palins percieved disqualifications should be actively shouted down by the McCain-Pain campaign, for all of the reasons I’ve stated above, and more.

How far on the argument of “heartbeat away” the Democrats have gotten without anyone holding a mirror up to their current hypocritical condition!

Thus spake Sam

]]> http://www.redstate.com/chemical_sam/2008/09/15/what-about-two-hearts-away/feed/