Al Gore’s next Disneyland!

Time for a Saturday respite. Al Gore’s next Disneyland. Note the easy exit from the ride!

Video of the day: The human powered Ferris wheel

It’s a totally “green” Ferris wheel… but on the other hand, what would OSHA say?

H/T: AEI

DOT and HHS conspire to ‘reduce’ driving

Update:  looks like this was written as of April 1 apparently a joke but who would know?

but here we go. I guess we could say we knew this was coming. All of the LaHood’s previous statements would lead us to this. The mandate for those new Black Box requirement sure should have given us a heads up. But to put this together with DHS? They want us to “narrow our streets”?? Not one new road will be funded. Not one. Back in May, 2010 I posted: LaHood: “We are going to coerce people out of their cars”

On May 21, 2010 LaHood told reporters at the National Press Club that the “Partnership for Sustainable Communities’ his department had formed with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing—sometimes known as the “livability initiative”–was designed to “coerce” people out of their cars.

The moderator later asked: “Some conservative groups are wary of the livable communities program, saying it’s an example of government intrusion into people’s lives. How do you respond?”

“About everything we do around here is government intrusion in people’s lives,” said LaHood. “So have at it.” -(an honest man).

As we know, elections have consequences, the wish now comes true. Withholding funds to States until they come under the boot of our infamous leader. Here we go:

LaHood and Sebelius used the press conference to release a proposed set of actions their agencies and Congress can take to advance the health initiative. Congress could withhold federal transportation funds until states develop and implement aggressive vehicle miles traveled reduction goals and public engagement campaigns highlighting the health impacts of automobile use. State DOTs and legislatures could also levy a health excise fee on auto purchases to fund cycling, walking and transit infrastructure. As the nation’s largest insurer, HHS would revise underwriting standards to reflect the risks of high-mileage communities, and pair medical treatment with interventions to introduce customers and communities to non-auto transportation. Tax benefits for automobile parking would be rescinded, and the NHTSA would move immediately to require automakers to install ignition interlocks on all new vehicles.

Ignition interlocks? We are all going to have to breath into a machine before we can drive. Are you nuts? The cost of this? Use a treadmill for 30 minutes before the lock opens? Where does this end?

Standing side by side with many state DOT heads, US DOT Secretary Ray La Hood and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced a new public safety campaign to encourage less driving, lower speeds, and encourage more cycling and walking to meet the nation’s transportation needs.

“The use of motor vehicles, like smoking, heart disease and other public health threats, pose a grave risk to our children, friends and neighbors,” said Secretary Sebelius.

“For too long, the assumption has been that the negative impacts of auto travel are just the price we must pay for modern life”, said Secretary LaHood, “Well, no longer. It’s time to build a people-centered transportation system. We have the tools and policies to make change now, and we need to get to work.” LaHood urged DOTs and municipalities to begin immediately by reducing speed limits on residential streets, narrowing streets, and installing protected cycling facilities. LaHood also pointed to the benefits of the change, citing the continuing decline in vehicle travel nationwide. “Cities, counties and states no longer need to pour money into new infrastructure that will serve fewer and fewer drivers while their existing roads crumble. We’ll be doing our pocketbooks and the climate a favor while we reactivate our streets and improve public health”.

Secretarys LaHood and Sebelius tour a road ready to be retrofitted with a cycletrack

H/T: Streets.Mn and  News Alert

Obama’s High-Speed Rail Debacle

We hear a great deal about the solar energy debacle and waste of our dollars. One of the little reported stories has been the even more wasteful allocations regarding the high-speed rail lines. I caught this, and if  we are upset about the waste with the Solyndras, this is even more disturbing. It doesn’t hurt that Senator Patty Murray chairs the Senate panel that funds Transportation.

From Whitehouse Dossier :

I thought you might want to see this report by America’s original cable news outlet on the $12 billion has been spent by Obama on his high-speed rail pipe dream.

You guessed it. Not a single piece of track for high-speed rail has been laid down yet. Some trains have been made a little bit faster.

As this report notes, $800 million of federal money was sent to Washington State to reduce the train ride between Seattle and Portland by ten minutes.

I don’t think you have to be a Jeffersonian advocate of states rights to wonder WHY IN THE WORLD THE REST OF THE UNITED STATES IS PAYING TO MAKE TRAINS A LITTLE FASTER IN WASHINGTON STATE.

On CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Drew Griffin profiles the unmet promises of the Obama stimulus high-speed rail spending.

Agenda 21 alive and well in New Zealand

If we think that we here in the U.S. are the only ones who are under the United Nations, this post from New Zealand sets us straight. The Demise of Christchurch City New Zealand blog gives us a glimpse into how this malevolent plan is taking place throughout the world.  Here we go:

Are we experiencing a communist infiltration sponsored by the United Nations?

New Zealand has United Nations Agenda 21 inserted into key legislation such as the Resource Management Act and the Local Government Act.

Here is a page from the Ministry for the Environment Website. Read it carefully!www_mfe_govt_nz_laws_meas

These look horrifying green to me, but they only border on communism.

You must check out this exam script exemplar from the NCEA course “Education in Sustainability” Exemplar 3 2008 exam else you will miss the point of this blog! Remember that this examination candidate was between 16 and 17 years old. Behind him or her are teachers, heads of department, headmasters, curriculum creators, government officials, Minister of Education and ultimately the Prime Minister himself. All responsible for the repugnant things this candidate is regurgitating and eventually going through life thinking what he or she has “learned” at school is and reasonable.

I found these on the governments NZQA website. http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/assessment/view-detailed.do?standardNumber=90812

What is perhaps more shocking are the examiner’s comments which are in red over each page.

This is only one of a number in a similar vein.

Yes- The base authorities for the course “Education in Sustainability” are Agenda 21 and the Brundtland Report!

If this is not an attempt to breed little communists at high school and send them out into the community armed with very little understanding of the consequences of what they have learned, then will someone enlighten me as to what it is.

Conversely, if you have any civic responsibility, perhaps you should email the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education ask for an explanation.

Please feel welcome to comment.

What do you think of the views expressed in this exam paper and more important, the views of his instructor. Here is the link again (Exemplar 3 2008 exam)

Roger 13/03/13

Soviet born Boris Bershteyn, Cass Sunstein’s replacement a sleeper cell

Recall my post Cass Sunstein replaced by Soros’s Soviet born Boris Bershteyn? He never got brought forward for a Senate confirmation hearing as required apparently. Or so we thought. But Obama seems to have managed a round about way of letting him slip by without one. First a bit of the back story, then the update. Just where are our GOPers on this? His position more powerful than the EPA. This sure will put energy on a fast track now won’t it?

Boris Bershteyn, the budget office’s general counsel, will replace Sunstein as acting director. Bershteyn is a natural choice. He was born in the Soviet Union, earned his law degree at Yale, and was selected as a 2001 “fellow” by the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Paul Soros is the elder brother of the notorious globalist and darling of the financial class, George Soros.

Boris Bershteyn

Between his tours at OMB, he served as Special Assistant to the President and Associate White House Counsel, with responsibility for legal issues in regulatory, economic, health, and environmental policy.ACUS Gov

 The new Administrator of OIRA will have powerful influence on any proposed energy and environmental policies, in addition to proposals or new regulations in any other sector. The OIRA has already exercised plenty of revisions to Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency proposals involving issues such as coal mining, fracking, energy exports and renewable energy sources. The Administration’s proposed new regulations involving air quality, emissions controls on power plants, and regulations addressing climate change increase pressure on Obama to choose a new administrator as these issues need to be addressed quickly

President Obama is now under pressure to appoint a new administrator at the OIRA. The position of OIRA administrator has been unfilled since August, when Cass Sunstein stepped down after serving for three years. A lawyer named Boris Bershteyn has been serving as Acting Administrator in the interim, but there is a time limit on how long the position can remain vacant. Bershteyn is approaching his limit of 210 days as acting Administrator, and Obama must soon appoint someone to the position permanently. The appointment also needs to be approved by the Senate. Because Bershteyn’s 210 days will be up sometime next week and no successor has been named, the White House may simply remove his “Acting Administrator” title.

.More at The energy collective

Obama’s EPA Nominee Not ‘To Sit Around and Wait for Congressional Action’

If we thought that Lisa Jackson was bad, we have another one that is sure one crackerjack of a nut case. Let’s hope before she is confirmed we get all of the Jackson alias ”Richard Windsor” faux e-mails she wrote. Check out the video, and slide over for the short version:  Here at News Alert.

President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Gina McCarthy to replace Lisa Jackson as Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

McCarthy, who currently heads the EPA’s air and radiation office, has vowed “not to sit around and wait for congressional action” when issuing environmental regulations.

On May 1, 2010, in the keynote address for the Green Education Celebration at University of Massachusetts in Boston, McCarthy said she did not go to Washington to wait for congressional action and she said she did not intend to do so in the future.

“I love listening to Sen. Kerry. I love listening to Congressman Markey, because they talk funny and they talk real,” said McCarthy. “They tell it like it is and they make things happen. I am so proud that we have them in office so they can push us to face reality that one needs to face and to move forward with legislation that is absolutely essential.

“But I will tell you that I didn’t go to Washington to sit around and wait for Congressional action. Never done that before, and don’t plan to in the future,” said McCarthy.

“EPA’s Administrator Lisa Jackson didn’t sit around so that she could look at the law and decide it was inconvenient to follow it. Or listen to the science and say, ‘You know, that might get me into trouble, so I ain’t going where the science tells me,’” said McCarthy. “What she actually said when she got there is that I’m going to listen to the law and I’m going where science is driving us, and that is why the EPA put forward just last December what we call the endangerment finding.”

McCarthy suggested that the volume of lawsuits against the move is a sign that the EPA is on the right track. And, she said the EPA has a legal mandate to regulate – and it’ll do so with, or without, Congress:

“Now, it doesn’t sound that exciting. But I will tell you that 320,000 people felt the need to comment at the time, and since we passed it, 15 entities have decided they want to sue us about it, so it must be pretty cool. It actually is a statement the administrator made that said, ‘You know, carbon dioxide and all these greenhouse gasses actually do pose a danger to public health and welfare under the Clean Air Act,’ and lo and behold, we’re required under law to regulate it. That is, indeed, what we are going to do whether Congress moves forward or -and- whether it doesn’t.”

Continue at and a H/T:CNS  Shorter version link of video: Here at News Alert.

 

D.O.E. to recycle nuclear waste into consumer products.

Put this in the unbelievable column. I have researched this extensively.This must be the hoax of the century. Please tell me I am wrong about this. So this is Secretary Chu’s farewell gift to us? All that talk about saving our environment and keeping Mother Earth safe and sound? But wait, in 2000 Energy Secretary Richardson tried to do this once before.It gives new meaning to Obama and his so called “all of the above” plan regarding energy.

In an article entitled “Nuclear weapons waste in your hip replacement?”, John LaForge of Nukewatch reports, U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) — who is now running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John Kerry as he becomes Secretary of State — has sent a strongly worded letter to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, expressing opposition to the so-called “recycling” scheme. The full letter can be found HERE.

DOE made the proposal to rescind its earlier moratorium on radioactive scrap metal recycling in December, 2012.

The letter notes that in 2000, then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson first suspended DOE’s radioactive recycling efforts in response to concerns raised by Rep. Markey and others that DOE would not be able to assure public safety as radioactively contaminated metals could have been turned into everything from baby spoons to jewelry to medical devices that are implanted into the human body

Rep. Markey serves as Ranking Member of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, and as a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

On Jan. 11th, Markey wrote to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu — and his office issued a press release — expressing deep concerns and asking pointed questions about the U.S. Department of Energy’s proposals to “recycle” large quantities of radioactive scrap metal into consumer products.

On Jan. 14th, Rep. Markey again wrote Secretary Chu, questioning the wisdom of DOE’s dirty, dangerous, and expensive proposal to “recycle” surplus weapons plutonium into MOX (Mixed-Oxide, uranium-plutonium) reactor fuel.

The proposal follows an incident from 2012 involving Bed, Bath & Beyond stores in America recalling tissue holders made in India that were contaminated with the radio-isotope cobalt-60. Those products were shipped to 200 stores in 20 states. In response to that incident, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesperson advised members of the public to return the products even though the amount of contamination was not considered to be a health risk.

“The public concerns associated with such a proposal cannot be understated,” writes Rep. Markey to Secretary Chu. “If these metals are being released to companies who will subsequently manufacture new consumer products from them, DOE simply has no way to ensure that different samples are not aggregated into more highly radioactive products.”

On a vital radioactive waste battlefront, NIRS has put out an alert against a scheme to “recycle” vast quantities of radioactive metal from across the nuclear weapons complex into the consumer product recycling stream.

NIRS asks, “Will the next zipper on your pants be radioactive? How about your silverware?”, and explains:

“The Department of Energy wants to mix radioactive metal from nuclear weapons factories with clean recycled metal and let it enter into general commerce–where it could be used for any purpose.

It’s a foot in the door for revival of a vast–and discredited–radioactive waste deregulation plan defeated in 1992.

. H/T: Beyond Nuclear

Navy: Lincoln Refueling Delayed because of funding, yet pays $16 bucks a gallon

During the hearing with Panetta last week, I was ready to jump out of my chair as I watched the ignorance regarding the statement by Panetta that he cancelled the deployment of the Navy Carrier USS Truman because of budget concerns, no doubt, because of the GOP. Wink Wink. Now we learn we cannot fuel the USS Lincoln. So the truth of the matter is they can’t find biofuel and the Navy has wasted so much money going green. Of course delaying the retrofit of the ship should put more pressure on the GOP so the plan goes. I was waiting, waiting waiting for someone to ask about this idiotic behavior. Better yet would have been to question the Charmian of the Armed Services. So here we go, first the back story.

Navy buys biofuel for $16 a gallon

This is going to help the Defense Department weather looming budget cuts, for sure. Teaming up with the Department of Agriculture (which has a cheery Rotary Club ring to it), the Navy has purchased 450,000 gallons of biofuel for about $16 a gallon, or about 4 times the price of its standard marine fuel, JP-5, which has been going for under $4 a gallon.The why and more at Hot Air 

U.S. Navy going Green

By 2020, the Navy must learn to get at least 50 percent of energy from alternative sources, and 50 percent of the military vessels will have to try hard to zero out- that is to spend no more energy than they can produce. In other words, the sailors themselves have expressed doubts as to how efficient the vessels will be after the replacement of traditional fuels with alternative ones

The U.S. Navy will delay the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for an unknown period because of the uncertain fiscal environment due to the ongoing legislative struggle, the service told Congress in a Friday message obtained by USNI News.

Lincoln was scheduled to be moved to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipyard later this month to begin the 4-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the ship.

“This delay is due to uncertainty in the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bill, both in the timing and funding level available for the first full year of the contract,” the message said.
“CVN-72 will remain at Norfolk Naval Base where the ships force personnel will continue to conduct routine maintenance until sufficient funding is received for the initial execution of the RCOH.”

The move by the navy is the second this week involving funding for carriers. On Wednesday it announced it would delay the deployment of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) to the Middle East do to the ongoing budget strife bringing the total number of carriers in U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to one until funding normalizes. Ful story USNI

New Interior pick: Global warming hurt profits- UPDATE

No surprise here now is there? Did we think we would get anyone better than cowboy Salazar? How many more thousands of acres will she sock away for the government? Kiss energy goodbye.

UPDATE: Comrade Matrix sends us this via comment:

REI CEO Sally Jewell, President Obama’s nominee for Interior Secretary, received an Obamacare waiver in 2011 for her company’s health care coverage for 1,180 employees. As Michelle Malkin noted in her May 2011 column, Jewell participated in an Obama administration roundtable in 2009 to talk about the benefits of health care reform

Via Washington Secrets:

REI, the popular outfitter run by President Obama’s choice to head the Interior Department, cited the impact of global warming as a reason for poor profits in its most recent annual report. [...]

Obama’s pick is REI CEO Sally Jewell, who has run the firm since 2005. Under Jewell, REI has blossomed while pursuing a green agenda aimed at cutting carbon emissions and dressing shoppers in environmentally-sensitive gear and clothing.

In a 2007 interview with the enviro-website Grist, she bemoaned REI’s carbon footprint, especially from employees commuting to work and even the companies travel program. “One of the shockers to me is 26 percent of REI’s greenhouse-gas footprint is REI Adventure travel trips, like the one I’m about to take. It’s almost as much as — or maybe it’s equal to — all of the electricity generated by all of our facilities. And that is, like, stunning,” she said.

EPA defies court order- increases ethanol mandate

Totally lawless. Totally. We knew it was coming. Was this Lisa Jackson’s swan song as going out the door. We can only hope the court imposes consequences. Anarchy begins. This blend can be only used in cars 2002 and newer and harms smaller engines such as lawn mowers.  Americans can go to H*ll as far as this President is concerned. And corn prices skyrocket.

Officials at the Renewable Fuels Association, representing the ethanol industry, said ethanol fuels can be safely used in old cars if owners adapt the fuel systems with new parts. Thanks a bunch guys!

Just one week after a federal court rebuked the Environmental Protection Agency for mandating biofuel standards based on “wishful thinking,” the EPA responded by raising those standards to even more unattainable levels.

The EPA called for refiners and importers to mix 14 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels (ethanol) into fuel in 2013. “EPA calculates a percentage-based standard for the following year,” the agency explained in an announcement today. “Based on the standard, each refiner and importer determines the minimum volume of renewable fuel that it must ensure is used in its transportation fuel.”

This projection ignores last week’s ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down a rule requiring gasoline blenders to use 8.65 million gallons of the cellulosic biofuel because the mandate “was based on wishful thinking rather than realistic estimates of what could be achieved,” as The New York Times explained. Per Consumer Energy Report notes, the fuel isn’t commercially available.

The judges faulted the EPA for effectively saying, “Do a good job, cellulosic fuel producers. If you fail, we’ll fine your customers.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., faulted the EPA for ignoring last week’s ruling. “The EPA continues to make up unicorn-like standards in this area of renewable fuels production, as emphasized by last week’s appellate court ruling,” Vitter said in a statement this afternoon. “Increasing the standard after their 2012 requirements were vacated is beyond ludicrous, and they continue to force refiners to either purchase even more gallons of product that doesn’t exist or pay a fine.” Washington Examiner

From am earlier post Recall this? EPA expected to OK more ethanol ? It will destroy many older engines.

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to raise the maximum amount of ethanol that can be blended with gasoline for vehicles manufactured since 2007.

According to people with knowledge of the announcement, the EPA may say as soon as Wednesday that the newer vehicles are able to handle 15 percent ethanol, up from the current maximum of 10 percent for the corn-based fuel.

But the auto industry, environmentalists and a broad coalition of other groups have argued against an increase and called for more testing.

Opponents argue that the increase in production of corn and its diversion into ethanol is making animal feed more expensive, raising prices at the grocery store and tearing up the land.

Manufacturers of smaller engines – used in everything from lawn mowers to boats – also oppose increasing the use of the fuel, saying those engines are not designed for the higher concentrations.

Then there is this Lahood: ‘We are going to coerce people out of their cars - apparently after they destroy our cars or make them prohibitively expensive to drive.