C.O.P.S.: January 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Federal Times gets it partly right on CFLs

That’s the question one insightful Pennsylvania resident posed to the Environmental Protection Agency recently. The spiral-shaped CFLs contain the toxic chemical mercury, which makes them dangerous to land, water and animals if not disposed of properly. “Should we be more concerned with energy saving or mercury hazards?” the woman asked.

Still, safely disposing of the bulbs is important — especially as federal agencies and other energy-conscious businesses and consumers begin buying more CFLs to reduce their electricity use. Several national retailers accept the bulbs for recycling, including Ace Hardware, IKEA and Home Depot. Most local landfills also accept the bulbs as part of their hazardous waste disposal programs.

In a pinch, EPA says you can place the fluorescent light bulb in two plastic bags and seal it before putting it into the outside trash. Just don’t tell the plastic bag recycling advocates.
Source:Federal Times If you get switched to a different article, enter CLFs in the search box in the upper right.

Tim Kauffman has it mostly right in his Federal Times post called "The light bulb dilemma: Save energy or save the planet?".
I don't think CFLs should be mandated. Mr. Kauffman correctly points out the potential environmental disposal issues but, like most, hasn't looked at the energy cost of making a compact fluorescent bulb.
How much energy is used mining the mercury?
How much energy is used to make the transistors in the CFLs?
How much energy is used to make the resistors in the CFLs?
Does making a curly glass part take more energy to make than the glass part of a regular bulb?
And how much more energy is used to assembling the completed CFL vs a completed regular bulb?

And some articles recommend you cut out the section of your carpeting where the CFL bulb broke.

Promise Keepers vs. Promise Breakers

Obama Inauguration Jan. 20, 2009 - click on picture to enlarge

Promise Keepers Stand in the Gap Rally Oct. 3, 1997

The partisan press and the socialist democrats say the Obama inauguration was the largest crowd ever. To be on the mall in January, it could be. More people watched the Reagan inauguration on TV. And the Promise Keeper rally clearly had more people.

Friday, January 30, 2009

California withholds state tax refunds

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been warning for months that California's budget is hurtling toward the proverbial cliff — the point at which the state, which boasts a $100 billion operating fund, runs short of money to pay its bills.

That time is about to arrive. While the scenario is less like a suicidal jump than a long debilitating tumble — Californians won't wake up one day to find state government has gone belly up — the fallout could be severe and far-reaching. And the pain will only multiply the longer the legislative budget stalemate lasts.

Starting in February, state Controller John Chiang plans to suspend some $3.7 billion in scheduled payments for at least 30 days. Among those not getting paid: taxpayers who file early awaiting their refunds, programs that help the poor and disabled and college students who rely on grants for tuition, housing and textbooks.
Source: San Jose Mercury News

Think you are getting a tax refund, think again. So you have too much taxes taken from your pockets, instead of returning it as a refund governments are now going to say “Thanks we needed the money”.

President Obama says he will cut out government waste (except if it is for a socialist program). Watch your wallets.

Day 1: Obama proves why America will have to be forced to be “green”

The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”

Thus did an ironclad rule of the George W. Bush administration — coat and tie in the Oval Office at all times — fall by the wayside, only the first of many signs that a more informal culture is growing up in the White House under new management. Mr. Obama promised to bring change to Washington and he has — not just in substance, but in presidential style.

Although his presidency is barely a week old, some of Mr. Obama’s work habits are already becoming clear. He shows up at the Oval Office shortly before 9 in the morning, roughly two hours later than his early-to-bed, early-to-rise predecessor. Mr. Obama likes to have his workout — weights and cardio — first thing in the morning, at 6:45. (Mr. Bush slipped away to exercise midday.)

He reads several papers, eats breakfast with his family and helps pack his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, off to school before making the 30-second commute downstairs — a definite perk for a man trying to balance work and family life. He eats dinner with his family, then often returns to work; aides have seen him in the Oval Office as late as 10 p.m., reading briefing papers for the next day.
Source: New York Times

We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen. --- Barack Obama Berlin speech

If even a president can’t be “green” about saving energy with their thermostat, how does the Obama regime expect America to meet any bogus Global Warming standards? Since most of America doesn’t really believe in Global Warming, they will have to be forced to meet any GW standards.

President Bush had an ironclad rule of a coat and tie in the Oval Office at all times because he respected the history and importance of the Oval Office. And President Bush put the country first before his family when it came to his daily schedule.

Here comes socialized healthcare (part. 1)

The Senate passed legislation Thursday that would provide federal health benefits to millions of children, setting the stage for President Obama to notch an early victory on a major priority.

The chamber voted 66-32 to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Republicans who crossed the aisle to support the Democratic-written bill were Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Susan Collins (Maine), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas), Richard Lugar (Ind.), Mel Martinez (Fla.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Arlen Specter (Pa.).

The House passed similar legislation two weeks ago. Though the chambers will have to reconcile some differences between their respective versions of the measure, congressional Democratic leaders are eager to get the bill on to Obama’s desk.

SCHIP already covers 6.7 million children and the $31.5 billion bill would bring the total to nearly 11 million, according to Democrats. The new spending on children’s healthcare would be financed by higher taxes on tobacco products.
Source: The Hill (the newspaper of the US Congress)

Will 30 year olds really be children in this bill so they can be included in the socialized healthcare?

And as I said a previous post, the nanny state tells you not to smoke so you don’t then despite lower tobacco tax revenue the socialist democrats tell you their new socialist program is going to be paid with tobacco tax revenue.

Day 11: Obama nationalizing private companies

One point I want to make is that all of us are going to have responsibilities to get this economy moving again. And when I saw an article today indicating that Wall Street bankers had given themselves $20 billion worth of bonuses -- the same amount of bonuses as they gave themselves in 2004 -- at a time when most of these institutions were teetering on collapse and they are asking for taxpayers to help sustain them, and when taxpayers find themselves in the difficult position that if they don't provide help that the entire system could come down on top of our heads -- that is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful.

And part of what we're going to need is for folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint and show some discipline and show some sense of responsibility. The American people understand that we've got a big hole that we've got to dig ourselves out of -- but they don't like the idea that people are digging a bigger hole even as they're being asked to fill it up.
Source: Whitehouse Blog post “Shameful”

Only the stockholders should tell private companies whether bonuses are shameful. We don’t need the Obama regime nationalizing private companies by using federal money as a threat to get the companies what Obama wants.

It's not just stock brokers and the people selling them luxury goods getting whacked by a sharp decline in Wall Street's traditional six-figure bonuses. New York state alone will lose nearly $1 billion in revenue because of the 44 percent drop, and the economic effects are rippling nationwide.

After months of dire predictions, New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli put hard numbers to the pain on Wednesday: Wall Street bonuses totaled $18.4 billion in 2008, down from almost $33 billion in 2007.

The drop will hit the state and New York City the hardest, costing the city $275 million in tax revenue, DiNapoli said.

But other states like New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts that have concentrations of financial workers will feel the pinch, too.

The average bonus dropped 36.7 percent to $112,000 in 2008. The decline in the average was smaller than the drop in the bonus pool because the pool was shared among fewer workers as the industry shed jobs.
Source: Business Week

The governments depend on the taxes they get from the bonuses. It is like tobacco. The nanny state does everything it can to get people to stop using tobacco then the socialist democrats whine when the tobacco tax revenue declines and they can’t use the money on their socialist programs.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Inside Gitmo: The True Story behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay

Much of my motivation for producing the book Inside Gitmo: The True Story behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay was a need to inform the American public of what exactly is happening to their sons and daughters as they walk the blocks of the Gitmo detention facility daily.

You’ll find these stories and more in the book:

- A young female Navy medic who was asked to approach a detainee she had treated in the past. The man grabbed her head, smashed her face against the bars, and inflicted such damage that she has had 16 reconstructive plastic surgeries on her face.

- A female nurse who while treating a detainee in the hospital was punched so hard that it fractured her nose. The detainee then shouted that “this infidel whore’s blood has defiled me. Bring me fresh clothes!”

- Guards who have a noxious “cocktail” of feces, urine, semen, spit, and vomit flung into their faces and who then clean themselves, change into fresh uniforms, and resume their duties rather than let their buddies down by taking time off.
Source: Inside Gitmo Blog

If the Obama regime doesn’t actually release all of the dangerous Islamic extremists from Gitmo, watch for the detainees ask to be spent back to Gitmo.

The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and the post-9/11 world

As senior U.S. defense officials prepare for a meeting this week on the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review to shape spending priorities, the Obama White House is backing the acquisition of more C-17 transports, UAVs, and small warships and prepositioning vessels.

These systems were listed in a fact sheet that appeared on the White House Web site in the days after Barack Obama was sworn in Jan. 20.
“We must preserve our unparalleled airpower capabilities to deter and defeat any conventional competitors, swiftly respond to crises across the globe, and support our ground forces,” the fact sheet said.

During the Bush administration, the Air Force said it did not need additional C-17s, forcing prime contractor Boeing to end production in 2010. Congress has kept the program alive by annually inserting funds in the defense spending bills.

The sheet said more “Maritime Pre-Positioning Force squadrons to support operations ashore” would be needed, as well as investment “in smaller, more capable ships, providing the agility to operate close to shore and the reach to rapidly deploy Marines to global crises.”
“We must rebalance our capabilities to ensure that our forces can succeed in both conventional wars and in stabilization and counter-insurgency operations,” the fact sheet said. The administration is “committed to a review of each major defense program in light of current needs, gaps in the field, and likely future threat scenarios in the post-9/11 world.”

Sources said the new administration will move quickly to shrink defense spending, including paring back the 2010 spending plan left behind by the Bush administration.
Source: Federal Times

What about funding for the F-22 Raptor rather than the C-17s?
The Air Force said it didn’t want the C-17.
The F-22 Raptor will allow the US to maintain air superiority when we respond to global crises. Russia has a new jet that may be equal or better than our current jets.
And of course the Obama regime would like to shrink defense spending so the money can be spent on their socialist programs instead. On the other hand, some want the defense spending done sooner so it can "stimulate" the economy. They want to replace older vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan since they are built in the US.

Day 10: Obama regime already worried about it’s legacy

President Barack Obama told Republicans behind closed doors Tuesday that he worried about the soaring US debt because "I will be judged by the legacy I leave behind" on the economy, a source said.

Wooing lawmakers openly hostile to his stimulus plan, Obama also warned that the current recession was "different, deeper, and global," and that inaction could cause "irreparable" economic damage, said a Republican participant.

But "nobody is more worried about the deficit and the debt than me," he told Republicans who charge the 825-billion-dollar stimulus plan is far too large and packs far too little economic punch, the source told AFP.

"I will be judged by the legacy I have left behind. I don't want to leave our children with a legacy of debt. I am inheriting an annual yearly debt of over one trillion," the official quoted Obama as saying.
Source: AFP

President Obama has been trying to appear “bipartisan” because he knows the “stimulus” spending bill won’t work. He and his fellow socialist don’t want sole blame. Well in the US House, they will have the blame.

Day 10: Obama's “cut and run” Iraq policy

Once again the Iraqi people raise their purple stained fingers in a sign of peace and a sign of democracy as they vote in truly free elections. The Bush administration and the Iraqi government worked out a timeline for US troops leaving Iraq. We should follow that timeline. But the Obama regime and the socialist Congressional democrats want us to “cut and run” threatening our having a friend and an Arab ally in the Middle East.

PRESS BRIEFING
BY PRESS SECRETARY ROBERT GIBBS
AND SECRETARY OF INTERIOR KEN SALAZAR

The President committed, as a part of this process, to speak with commanders both on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as region-wide commanders, to get their perspective as he laid out a new mission for Iraq. I think everybody understands that the developments over the past few months in Iraq, with the status of forces agreement that puts an end date on our involvement there -- we're no longer involved in a debate about whether, but how and when. That's a process the President wants to take seriously; wants to ensure the safety of our troops as we remove our combat brigades; wants to, as I've said repeatedly, provide the responsibility and the opportunity for the Iraqis to do more in governing their own country; and as I said, to do this in a way that seeks the consultation of all those leaders.

The process began on the 21st, as you guys know, in the Situation Room, continues today at the Pentagon. I think there will be at least one more meeting that will involve General McKiernan to discuss specifically Afghanistan.

I don't anticipate the process will take an inordinate amount of time. I think one of the things the President expects to hear today, and one of the -- what we all heard yesterday in the testimony from Secretary Gates is how important improving our position in Afghanistan is, and secondly, how we are at a point now where many of our forces are stretched very, very thin, and the burden that we put on not just the soldiers every day, but on the many family members that stay here and pray for their loved ones and care for their children.

So I think we've got a deliberate process that the President will be able to receive that information and make some key determinations as we change that mission in Iraq.
Source: Whitehouse Blog

Mr. Obama, follow the desires of the Iraq people. Don’t abandon them.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Day 9: Obama meets with CEOs in latest snow job

Iconic American companies like IBM, Jet Blue, and Honeywell sent their leadership to meet with the President this morning to discuss how they can get the economy moving again.

And the President made clear that the majority of money in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will go out quickly, and most of it will go to create jobs in the private sector.

We will launch a sweeping effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars by going to a new website called recovery.gov -- because I firmly believe what Justice Louis Brandeis once said, that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and I know that restoring transparency is not only the surest way to achieve results, but also to earn back the trust in government without which we cannot deliver the changes the American people sent us here to make.

In the end, the answer to our economic troubles rests less in my hands, or in the hands of our legislators, than it does with America's workers and the businesses that employ them. They are the ones whose efforts and ideas will determine our economic destiny, just as they always have. For in the end, it's businesses -- large and small -- that generate the jobs, provide the salaries, and serve as the foundation on which the American people's lives and dreams depend. All we can do, those of us here in Washington, is help create a favorable climate in which workers can prosper, businesses can thrive, and our economy can grow. And that is exactly what the recovery plan I've proposed is intended to do. And that's exactly what I intend to achieve soon.
Source: Whitehouse Blog

If Obama wants transparency, recovery.gov should not be limited to the Stimulus Spending bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan). It should have at least a summary of what each agency spends for the entire reign of the Obama regime.

Day 9: The Obama regime's Middle East Envoy goes to Egypt first

George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, has arrived in Israel as part of his tour of the region aimed at promoting what he said would be a "lasting peace" between Israel and the Palestinians.
Mitchell flew into Israel from Egypt on Wednesday on the second leg of his trip, under instructions from Barack Obama, the US president, to "engage vigorously" in an effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

He met with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, ahead of talks with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and security officials in Jerusalem.

Mitchell’s arrival in the region coincided with Israeli bombing raids on Gaza early on Wednesday and the killing of an Israeli soldier near the border a day earlier.

'Deteriorating situation'

Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, reporting from Jerusalem, said: "The original intention, as US president Barack Obama said yesterday, was that Mitchell would go to the Middle East to 'listen and to learn' - to show that the United States is not going to dictate terms in the Middle East.

"Having said that, the situation on the ground here has deteriorated in the past 24 hours.

"Mitchell has had to turn into a little bit more of a firefighter than he originally thought when he scheduled this tour."

Mitchell earlier discussed with Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, an Egyptian initiative aimed at restoring relative calm between Israel and the Palestinians and the re-opening of Gaza's border points.

"The United States is grateful to Egypt for its leadership in bringing about a ceasefire. It is of critical importance that the ceasefire be extended and consolidated," Mitchell said afterwards.

"The United States is committed to vigorously pursuing a lasting peace and stability in the region.

"The decision by President Obama to dispatch me to this region less than one week after his inauguration is clear and tangible evidence of this commitment."
Source: Al Jazeera

Was Israel second because Obama is afraid of offending Arabs (Muslims)?

No US Mail deliveries on Saturdays

Top U.S. Postal Service officials Wednesday afternoon are expected to ask legislators to remove the Saturday delivery requirement.

Sources say Postmaster General John Potter will make that request in his opening statement to a Senate subcommittee.

The Postal Service isn’t looking to immediately drop Saturday delivery; it will likely study the issue first. And it could take a lesser action, such as temporarily suspending Saturday delivery during periods of low mail volume.

A 1980 report found that ending Saturday delivery would save about $1 billion annually. That’s about $2.5 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars, and experts say that estimate still might be low because of today’s higher fuel costs and the larger delivery network.

Potter — who will testify alongside Dan Blair, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission —also is expected to field questions about the Postal Service’s deteriorating fiscal condition. It lost $2.8 billion last year, and mail volumes continue to decline.

Senators likely will ask about rumors circulating among postal workers and supervisors that the Postal Service will have trouble meeting its payroll this year.

One of the biggest problems is a postal reform law passed by Congress two years ago that requires the Postal Service to fully fund its retiree health care accounts within 10 years. That means the Postal Service owes $7.7 billion this fiscal year toward health benefits. Most of the money, $5.4 billion, goes into a trust fund that’s used to pay future benefits; the other $2.3 billion pays the Postal Service’s contribution toward insurance premiums for current retirees.

The Postal Service asked Congress in November to suspend that requirement. It wants to waive the $2.3 billion contribution and pay this year’s health care premiums out of the trust fund — a short-term savings, but one that leaves potential risk for future retirees.
Source: Federal Times

While some look at the US Postal Service like it is a private company, It is part of the government and it of course is losing money so no more Saturday deliveries. At least, they aren’t asking for a bailout (yet).

Day 9: Exceptions to Obama’s absolutes

Obama made an impromptu visit to the White House press corps Thursday night but got agitated when reporters did their job by asking the new president questions. When Politico’s Jonathan Martin asked about Pentagon nominee, William J. Lynn III. Lynn’s past lobbying, Obama became agitated, and tried to stare down the reporter:

Source: The Right Perspective

I thought there were going to be absolutely no lobbyists hired by the executive branch.
I thought this administration was going to be the most ethical and open administration.

C.O.P.S.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Federal Times gets it partly right on CFLs

Promise Keepers vs. Promise Breakers

Friday, January 30, 2009

California withholds state tax refunds

Day 1: Obama proves why America will have to be forced to be “green”

Here comes socialized healthcare (part. 1)

Day 11: Obama nationalizing private companies

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Inside Gitmo: The True Story behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay

The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and the post-9/11 world

Day 10: Obama regime already worried about it’s legacy

Day 10: Obama's “cut and run” Iraq policy

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Day 9: Obama meets with CEOs in latest snow job

Day 9: The Obama regime's Middle East Envoy goes to Egypt first

No US Mail deliveries on Saturdays

Day 9: Exceptions to Obama’s absolutes

Blog Archive

About Me

My Blog List

Counter

Followers

Technorati

Bloghub

BlogCatalog

Blogged

Bloggers against the Obama Nation