Roaming Gangs Start to Loot in Haiti: A Nostradamus Connection?

This has to be some scary news for all the aid groups pouring into the country.

Pockets of looting flared across the capital. Small bands of young men and teenagers with machetes roaming downtown streets helped themselves to whatever they could find in wrecked homes.

"They are scavenging everything. What can you do?" said Michel Legros, 53, as he waited for help to search for seven relatives buried in his collapsed house. A Russian search-and-rescue team said the general insecurity was forcing them to suspend their efforts after nightfall.

I'm afraid that once the wrecked homes are cleaned out they will go after the survivors. Once the survivors are picked clean they will then go after the aid workers. That is a bad situation that might get even worse depending on how wide spread these gangs are.

This statement from Ban-Ki-moon set off my fear meter:

"Obviously, that is only a drop in the bucket in the face of the massive need, but the agency will be scaling up to feed approximately 1 million people within 15 days and 2 million people within a month," he said. The U.N. would set up 15 food-distribution centers, he said.

The WFP already had food warehoused in Haiti before the quake, and would be flying in much more. Spokeswoman Emilia Casella noted the regular food stores in the city had been emptied by looters.

I really hope they actually have 15 days to start feeding a large number of the people because I don't think this situation will keep until then. Most people have lost everything and maybe haven't eaten in 50 hours. For some reason this Ban Ki-Moon comment got me to think about Nostradamus and this quatrain:

Quatrain 2.75
The voice of the insolent bird,
Above the respirator pipe from the floor:
So high will the wheat come to rise,
That man towards men shall become a Man-eater.

The insolent bird could mean that weird near earth object that passed on Wednesday. It is described as a "mystery object" in this article.

Asteroid 2010 AL30, discovered by the LINEAR survey of MIT's Lincoln Laboratories on Jan. 10, will make a close approach to the Earth's surface to within 76,000 miles on Wednesday January 13 at 12:46 pm Greenwich time (7:46 EST, 4:46 PST).

This is the weird object AL30.


The Haiti Earthquake happened fairly close to the time that this object passed the earth.

M7.0 - Haiti region - 2010 January 12 21:53:10 UTC
Nostradamus
The "respirator pipe from the floor" could be the earthquake itself if you think about it. I mean the earthquake did happen below the earths surface and the destruction was above the sea floor.

The "so high the wheat come to rise" could be a vision of the destruction of the white buildings and rubble of Port-Au-Prince that in Nostradamus' dark water could easily look like piles of threshed wheat.

The last part of the quatrain is what I hope does not come to pass from this prophesy. But 15 days is an awfully long time when so many people will soon be starving and looking for food. I am afraid that things could get far worse in the next few days.

Coakley Says: No Cathloics in the ER

This woman can't do anything right.

Ken Pittman: Right, if you are a Catholic, and believe what the Pope teaches that any form of birth control is a sin. ah you don’t want to do that.

Martha Coakley: No we have a separation of church and state Ken, lets be clear.

Ken Pittman: In the emergency room you still have your religious freedom.

Martha Coakley: (……uh, eh…um..) The law says that people are allowed to have that. You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.

Wow, in other words Coakley just said that Papists need not apply. I though anti-Catholicism went out in the 30s but it seems that it is alive and well in Massachusetts.

Also how is the subject of contraception coming up in the emergency room anyway? Maybe on ER or Grey's Anatomy but not in the real world. I have never seen a campaign burst into flames like this a mere week before an election.

Union Sweet Heart Health Care Deal a Mistake

I have to agree with this article saying the deal that the White House had to cut with unions on the health care monstrosity will hurt them even more.

This may backfire. If you think that the Nebraska deal was unpopular, just wait until the administration announces higher taxes on everyone but its friends in the labor movement. We may see if the popularity of the health care bill still has room to fall.

Update: The more I think about this, the more I think it's a huge mistake. Support for unions is at a record low, and the GM deal has already made people think that the Democrats are doing sweetheart deals for Big Labor with our money. Republicans will have a field day.

I have to agree that many Americans view the GM deal as a strait union pay-off and as a result will probably only buy Fords from here on in. Any way you look at this deal is that the unions will just lean on the President whenever they don't like something and the offending legislation will be fixed.

Wow, Brown Now Ahead of Coakley by 15%?

It seems that negative campaigning, reporter smack-down, and spelling the name of the state wrong may be costing her. A 15% move in a few weeks should have the Dems running scared.

A new poll taken Thursday evening for Pajamas Media by CrossTarget – an Alexandria VA survey research firm – shows Scott Brown, a Republican, leading Martha Coakley, a Democrat, by 15.4% in Tuesday’s special election for the open Massachusetts US Senate seat. The poll of 946 likely voters was conducted by telephone using interactive voice technology (IVR) and has a margin of error of +/- 3.19%.

Union Deal Reached! Health Care can Proceed

I'm glad that unelected union heads get to give their nod of approval. Forget Putin or Ahmadinijoke the only people that can get the White House to quake with fear is the SEIU and and the AFL-CIO. The new Obama motto "Hope the Union Approves of our Change!"

In a major breakthrough, union leaders bowed Thursday to White House demands for a new tax on high-cost insurance plans as part of landmark health care legislation taking final shape in intensive negotiations. "We are on the doorstep" of success, President Barack Obama said.

The tentative agreement on the tax, which included significant concessions by the administration, was disclosed as leading lawmakers set an informal timetable of Friday for a compromise on the health care bill that Obama made a top priority in taking office a year ago.

Coakley Calls out the Big Guns

This was supposed to be an open and shut race but now Obama has to be called in to save the day.

"They believe that by defeating Martha, and replacing Ted Kennedy with her Republican opponent, they'll be in a position to tie up the Senate and prevent a vote on health insurance reform, financial reform and other issues so important to working families in Massachusetts and the nation," Obama said. "The outcome of these fights will probably rest on one vote in the Senate."

That shows how tenuous their advantage is. It sure sounds like a fear-based message as well. If you don't vote for Coakley then the "evil Republicans" will stop all of our failed and yet-to fail reforms. I can understand why Healthcare reform is such a rush job.

Davy Jones Prospect Yields Massive Potential

It seems that Davy Jones Locker might be full of oil according to this.

Shares of oil companies McMoran Exploration, Energy XXI and Plains Exploration & Production are jumping this morning amid news that the trio has made a nice oil discovery at its Davy Jones prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. Drilling logs on the 28,000-foot-deep well (that's 5 miles down!) show a likely prize of as much as 165 million barrels of oil and natural gas.

The well seems to be in a relativity shallow area in 20 feet of water. Which means you can get at it with jack-up rigs and don't need those expensive deep water rigs. Jack-up rigs have been in a kind of slump recently so this should be good news for companies like Rowan (RDC) that own them.

I looked at the financials for McMoRan (MMR) seem okay for the most part with a large nonrecurring entry due to derivative accounting. Their annual revenue is about $1 billion so this find could easily ramp up that number by several billion. The only problem is that they have all sorts of dilutive ways to get capital on their books so any slip up might be costly.

The next few weeks will be crucial according to this Forbes piece.

McMoRan is holding its quarterly conference call on January 19. I am sure the company would love to have more news for shareholders by then. It is more likely that it will take two to four more weeks to complete this work. What is really the key here is that the 150 feet of pay dirt already announced was found in sands not expected to bear hydrocarbons because in other wells they held nothing. It seems that the targeted sands which have resulted in very rich discoveries offshore in several very big wells drilled by others are just below the drill bit.

They already have 150 feet of oil but this number could go way higher depending on their findings. They might also drill a deeper well in their other finding called Blackbeard West. If that guy has oil in the same amount as Davy Jones this company might suddenly become a big player overnight.

John Kerry Asks Donots for money. Does he mean Donuts?

I'm not sure how much John Kerry thinks that donuts have so I think he is going after the tasty pastry looking for money. I would target cupcakes if I were him because they are the new "In" baked good right now.

Hello Donot,

Not a lot of time left, so here are the three quick reasons why I need you to dig deep and help Martha Coakley in these final crucial days in her slugfest down to the wire battle against the national Republican Party and the powerful special interest bankrolling his campaign:

Maybe he wants people to give donuts to the Coakley campaign. You would think that dollars would be better since you can buy TV ads with that. Perhaps Homer Simpson is running the show down there in "Massachusettes."

Coakley Goon roughs up Reporter at Fundraiser

Wow now this is a pretty high stakes campaign when they start to litterly push around reporters.

As I walked down the street, a man who appeared to be associated with the Coakley campaign pushed me into a freestanding metal railing. I ended up on the sidewalk. I was fine. He helped me up from the ground, but kept pushing up against me, blocking my path toward Coakley down the street.

He asked if I was with the media, and I told him I work for THE WEEKLY STANDARD. When I asked him who he worked for he replied, "I work for me." He demanded to see my credentials, and even though it was a public street, I showed them to him.

I thought it was SEIU goons up to their old tricks but it seems that this guy is some kind of image consultant to Democratic causes named Michael Meehan. Well he just gave an image that the Coakley campaign likes to rough up reporters that they don't agree with. Luckily the reporter just suffered some torn pants and not a head injury from being pushed into a metal railing.

December Deficit Hits Record

Well at least Obama is setting some kind of record. Too bad it is in the debt category and not some other place.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the deficit last month totaled $91.85 billion, the largest December deficit on record. The figure was in line with economists' expectations.

For the first three months of the current budget year, which began on Oct. 1, the deficit totaled $388.51 billion, 16.8 percent higher than the $332.49 billion imbalance recorded during the same period a year ago.

Last year's deficit surged to $1.42 trillion, more than three times the record of the previous year, an imbalance of $454.8 billion set in 2008.

President Thune?

Hmm I think the GOP might have a true contender to pit against Obama in 2012.

Tall, handsome, not yet 50 and with the sort of sunny demeanor that winning national Republicans usually possess, the former high school hoops star looks the part.

He’s also something of a national party favorite for slaying a political giant — then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004.

I think some midwestern charm and a platform of fiscal discipline that rails against bailouts and the failed stimulus could get him pretty far. However, this trait could take him all the way:

A former aide recalled that when the then-candidate greeted scores of fans by name at a 2002 South Dakota State football game, a national TV crew got angry, thinking the campaign had planted a group of supporters to come through the gate while Thune was working the crowd.

“I told them, ‘John is just amazing at remembering people’s names,’” said the former aide. “He proved it when he later remembered the entire four-person TV crew’s names two hours after he met them while walking in.”

I think this alone might win him the Iowa Caucus. Imagine giving a shout out to a few people in a crowd that he recently met at a diner in Ceder Rapids or at speaking engagement at the American Legion Hall in Des Moines. A handshake and an "I'm glad you can make it to this event, Joe" can easily swing a dozen votes his way.

Plus he was a star high school basketball player and could do a one-on-one event with Obama instead of a debate. I could see him crossing-over and then dunking on Obama in a pick-up game then helping him up.

The affable Midwesterner mold gave us both Lincoln and Reagan and they were pretty good Presidents to say the very least.

Massachusetts Senate Race Tied

Who would have thought that one of the bluest of blue states would have a tied race like this?

Can Republican Scott Brown really win? If you look at just those who say they are the most interested in voting on Jan. 19, the answer is yes. Among those in the recent Boston Globe poll who said they were "extremely interested" in the race, Coakley and Brown were tied at 47 percent.

I just gave a $100 to the Brown campaign on their online giving site. A 60 Democratic votes in the Senate is already going to doom us to ObamaCare and I am convinced that Cap-and-Tax is going to take us into a second recession. Even one vote will be enough to reign in these abuses. I read his platform and he more-or-less matches my stance on issues even Israel.

It also has to help him when his opponent cannot even spell the name of the state correctly in her campaign ad.

Paid for by Massachusettes Democratic Party and Authorized by Martha Coakley for Senate. Approved by Martha Coakley.

Close observers will notice that there is an extra 'E' tacked onto the end of 'Massachusetts. It's a trivial oversight, for sure, but you can bet that the jokes and jabs the typo will inspire will blunt at least some of the impact of the ad.

Maybe she is running to be the Senator form one of those fake stimulus districts.

It's Almost Official; Conan Out at NBC

It seems that Conan is going to leave NBC judging by his statements.

"Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years, the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show.

"Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy."

I think NBC should just live with their mistake and let Conan go to Fox ASAP. I watched the Tonight Show last night and it was as anti-NBC as you could get. Imagine that sort of thing continuing until the Olympics. A three way race for the late night crown will be interesting to watch and I can't wait to see how it spools out.

Goalposts Moved on Stimulus "Jobs" Created

Well, it seems that all those errors and fake congressional districts are not enough to inflate the jobs "created or saved" to a high enough level.

Despite mounting a vigorous defense of its earlier count of more than 640,000 jobs credited to the stimulus, even after numerous errors were identified, the Obama administration now is making it easier to give the stimulus credit for hiring. It's no longer about counting a job as saved or created; now it's a matter of counting jobs funded by the stimulus.

That means that any stimulus money used to cover payroll will be included in the jobs credited to the program, including pay raises for existing employees and pay for people who never were in jeopardy of losing their positions.

In other words now every construction firm that even gets a dime of stimulus money no matter how well they were doing before just got "created or saved." That also goes for every weather-proofer or broadband installer as well.

They should just count all the unemployed as "saved jobs" since they will be getting stimulus money in the form of extended unemployment benefits. I think the White House needs to come to the conclusion that the stimulus was a dismal failure and start working on a "jobs bill" with the leftover stimulus money. Maybe that might actually lower the unemployment rate.

Unions Say Jump, White House says How High

I thought we are supposed to be bending the cost curve downwards but it seems that organized labor still controls everything like this was still Chicago.

Underscoring the stakes in the dispute, Obama met with about a dozen heads of the country's biggest unions Monday evening at the White House, after a day when labor leaders fired broadsides at the president over the insurance tax.

The president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, warned that Democrats risk catastrophic election defeats similar to those in 1994 if they fail to come up with a health bill labor likes. Disillusioned union members might just not show up to vote, he said.

"A bad bill could have that kind of effect ... where people sit at home," as happened in 1994, when Democrats lost control of Congress, Trumka told reporters.

Wow a direct threat to the White House from organized labor. I wonder if SEIU goons will be "visiting" voters to make sure they "sit at home" if the union doesn't get what it wants? I mean the unions already got partial ownership of two of the three American car makers.

Too bad Obama couldn't just tell them "this is how it is going to be, if you don't like it who are you going to support? Republicans?" and laugh in their faces. Too bad the Dems are in the pocket of organized labor and are going to cave no matter what.

Harry Reid Bitterly Clings to Post Despite Racist Remarks

How this idiot still has the Majority Leader post is totally beyond me.

Reid apologized to Obama and a handful of black political leaders after a new book reported that he was favorably impressed by Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign and, in a private conversation, described the Illinois senator as a "light-skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

The way that the black Dems closed ranks on what is a pretty racist remark is even more telling. I guess it is racist only when a Republican says something like that. If it was Mitch McConnell saying something like that then every member of the Black Caucus would do everything they could to get him ousted. But all Reid has to do is apologize and that is that. It doesn't matter because Reid won't win in Nevada no matter what he does.

White House Seeking a "Bank Fee" in 2010 Budget

I think these people just don't understand what imposing a fee on a business means.

The Obama administration is considering imposing a fee on banks to help recover some of taxpayers' costs of bailing banks out from the financial crisis, according to multiple reports on Monday.

The White House said President Barack Obama wants to ensure that taxpayers are paid in full. "That's the president's goal," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. He declined to provide details on how that might be done.

Um, we were paid in full with interest on the bailout funds. But this fee will just be passed right along to depositors and borrowers in the form of a government surcharge without impacting the banks bottom lines in the slightest. This is just like the "windfall profits tax" that they tried to stick to oil companies. You can tell these guys have never actually run a business that had to turn a profit.

The Government is Finally Letting Second Mortgages Die

It was a bad idea from the very beginning but it seems that the government is just going to let these things go into default and not try to bail them out anymore.

These arguments are getting less traction as time goes by. The destination media have lately begun taking an interest in HAMP's counterproductive results. The HAMP's underwhelming numbers, ineffectiveness, and costly efforts to limit redefaults (which have met with limited success) have been well documented. And the public, which never even wanted to bail out responsible homeowners, can't get excited about saving somebody's cigarette-boat-financing HELOC. If the Treasury Department is looking at that grim battlefield and putting up a white flag, that's the better part of valor.

This might be another shoe to drop for smaller lenders who might have to write off even more HELOCs. Perhaps the Fed is finally understanding that some people should just not be bailed out especially if they refinance for like $200 less a month and then lose their jobs and end up defaulting anyway. Maybe sometimes people just need to lose their houses and end up just renting instead.

Conan Might Move to Fox?

It seems that we might get a three man race when it comes to Late Night.

Comedian Conan O'Brien is mulling his options, including moving to a rival television network, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday in its online edition, citing people familiar with the matter. A person familiar with O'Brien's camp said other networks had approached the comedian since reports emerged that NBC may return Jay Leno to his old timeslot of 11:35 p.m., which would displace O'Brien. One potential suitor is News Corp.'s (NWS 16.34, -0.09, -0.52%) Fox network, which has held discussions with O'Brien's team about the possibility of hosting a late-night show, the newspaper said.

Now this would be interesting to see only of Conan can get a little edgier at Fox. If he is doing the same thing as he does on the Tonight Show (generally stink up the joint) then it might not work. Although Fox might just go "all in" to try to siphon late night advertisers away from CBS and NBC. I mean Conan O'Brien would be much more lucrative to affiliates then reruns of some syndicated crap any day.

The Reason Why Someone Needs to Be Fired as a Result of the Christmas Day Bombing Attempt

I think this statement sums up the outrage that many Americans feel about this whole mess.

Most grating in the White House report is the repeated notion that Abdulmutallab's plot failed. It didn't. Nine years after 9/11, and after billions of spent dollars in needless security, confiscated fingernail clippers, and dumped breast milk, he succeeded in smuggling explosives onto an airliner destined for American soil. He succeeded in igniting the explosive. If not for dumb luck involving bad chemistry and a brave Dutch film director, there might today be a smoldering crater in Detroit.

Yup, luck saved the day this one time. I'm pretty sure that we cannot have another try at this. The Bush people were right when they said: the terrorists have unlimited tries at this and we have to be right 100% of the time. It is just that simple. Luck should not be involved.

45% of Americans Would Rather Vote For a Random Name from the Phone Book

I mean a random person out of the phone book might actually say "how much is this thing going to cost" every now and again.

“More voters have greater confidence in the telephone book these days than in the current Congress, and most think their national legislators are paid too much to boot,” Rasmussen reported.

45% of voters would rather pick names randomly from the phone book to run Congress than to have Nancy Pelosi, et al, in charge, a Rasmussen Poll found.

Only 36% disagree.

Maybe it is time to switch to the Athenian System where everyone serves in the Congress by random pick just like Jury Duty.

Jay Leno Show to be Cancelled? Jay to Move Back to Tonight Show?

Wow, now these are just rumors but too bad for Conan O'Brien.

An industry Web site called FTV declared that Leno's show would be cancelled as soon as the Winter Olympics begin next month, when much of the regular programming on NBC will be pre-empted for Olympics coverage.

Then the TMZ Web site, citing undisclosed sources, said Leno's show would go on hiatus Feb.1. Following the Olympics (which take place in Vancouver from Feb. 12-28), Leno will take back the 11:30 p.m. EST time slot he occupied for 17 years that ended last May.

This would make Leno's successor at "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien, "the odd man out," TMZ said.

Hmm, maybe Conan could jump ship to ABC or Fox and make his show a little edgier like his show was before. I mean the Tonight Show might frown on Triumph the Insult Comic Dog but Fox would love it. I know Conan on the Tonight Show has been pretty lame for the most part so a move might do him good.

Obama Backs Taxing "Cadillac" Health Insurance Plans

He is really anti-union when it comes to rushing the legislation out as fast as they possibly can.

In a meeting at the White House, Obama expressed his preference for the insurance tax contained in the Senate's health overhaul bill, but largely opposed by House Democrats and organized labor, Democratic aides said. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.

Although they need to call these "Mercedes" Health Insurance Plans because Cadillac which is part of GM is now owned by the government. I guess you can call the failed "government option" the "Cadillac plan" (although Gremlin plan is more apt.)

Obama's Oval Office Makerover

This is an interesting article on how Obama has remade the Oval Office in his image. This part was kind of neat:

Also new to the Obama bookshelves are three mechanical devices on loan from the National Museum of American History's patent collection: models for Samuel Morse's 1849 telegraph register, John Peer's 1874 gear-cutting machine and Henry Williams' 1877 feathering paddlewheel for steamboats.

It kind of speaks to his technocrat roots. Too bad the White House has been so boneheaded when it has come to technology as all the mistakes on the Recovery.gov site showed. It is kind of cool that he keeps fresh apples at the ready as well:

Could the US Government Have Sparked the 2009 Rally?

Well at least some players have said so.

"We know that the U.S. government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to support the auto industry, the housing market, and the banks and brokers. Why not support the stock market as well?"

The Federal Reserve or the Treasury, Biderman said, could have easily manipulated the stock market by purchasing $60 to $70 billion worth of futures of the S&P 500 Index (SPX 1,137, +3.53, +0.31%) on a monthly basis.

$60 - $70 billion is walking around money when it comes to government spending so it is somewhat plausible to say the least. It makes sense from a social engineering point of view. A sustained downward stock market would destroy quite a few 401Ks and thus create quite a few angry voters. Investors are the kind of people that give to financial campaigns and could make or break a candidate.

Consumer sentiment and reelection chances seem tied quite well to stock market gains and losses for the most part. I remember there was quite a bit of blame that there was an "Obama Crash" right before the market turned around.

"It bobs up and down from day to day," the president said Tuesday. "And if you spend all your time worrying about that, you're probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong."

Most of the bobbing lately has been in one direction, relentlessly down. But Obama suggested that now is a good time for investors with "a long-term perspective" to buy stocks.

This was said on March 4th and the S&P 500 hit bottom on March 9th at 676.53. The S&P 500 is now at 1136.52 which is nearly a double. So the conspiracy theorist in me has Obama telling Treasury to peel off a few billion from the TARP money and then go out and buy some S&P 500 futures.

If it is true then I commend Obama for making me a pile of money that I probably wouldn't have right now. It might be illegal as hell but the government usually makes their own rules when it comes to this kind of stuff. I mean who would have thought the American people would own 2 mortgage buyers(with unlimited, uncapped losses,) an insurance company, and 2 car makers right now?

The Final HealthCare Debate to be Held in Smoke-Filled Back Room

I love "transparency" from the Dems.

Democrats reacted defensively to criticism that they are taking the final, most crucial stage of the debate behind closed doors. "We will continue to keep the American people informed, as we have in the earlier stages," Van Hollen said, noting that hundreds of hearings and town hall meetings have been held.

But Obama as a candidate pledged during a presidential debate in January 2008 that he would be "bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are."

Thanks for "keeping us informed." I know they are afraid to have the light of day shined on this whole mess.

Clinton Slams "ruthless" Iranian Government

Finally, someone associated with the White House tells it like it is.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday slammed what she called the "ruthless repression" of demonstrators against the Iranian regime.

"We have deep concerns about their behavior, we have concerns about their intentions and we are deeply disturbed by the mounting signs of ruthless repression that they are exercising against those who assemble and express viewpoints that are at variance with what the leadership of Iran wants to hear," Clinton said.

Too bad she didn't beat Obama in the Democratic Primary. I think the Iranian government would be sliding into the dustbin of history that much faster with her at the helm.

2010 Predicions: Economy and the Stock Market

Economy:

1. The economy will recover for the most part but GDP growth will remain sluggish and will stay at about 1% for most of the year.

2. Housing prices improve very slowly and much of the toxic assets have been flushed out of the system. There is no substantive financial reform of any kind. There is much talk of Glass-Stegall being reinstated but it does not come to pass. Wall Street continues to own Washington.

3. Oil Prices will spike as the Iranian crisis spirals out of control. It will again peak above $150 and will stay above $100 for much of the year. Oil will close at $98 by the end of 2010.

4. Unemployment will stay at about 10% for the whole of 2010 but Americans will slow their spending considerably due to high energy prices. There will be a jobs bill passed in early 2010 that will slowly drop the unemployment rate. Democrats will crow that they saved the economy with this measure.

5. Interest rates will creep up and be several points higher by this time next year. Large deficits will dog the economy for years to come.


Stock Market:

1. S&P: 1100, Dow: 10,500, NASDAQ: 2500
2. The Top 3 Industries: Technology, Oil and Natural Gas, Hospitals
3. Bottom 3 Industries: Steel, Consumer Goods, Gold

2010 Predictions: Politics and Foreign Affairs

Well it is time again to make some wild predictions about what will happen in 2010.

Politics:

1. The Democrats will be ushered out of office in large numbers but it will not be as bad as the Contract With America Rout in 1994. Harry Reid will lose in Nevada but Dodds will still stay on in Connecticut. Although ill-health will have him retire in the next few years and a special election will be held. Blanche Lincoln will also lose her job as well. Democrats will also lose Obama and Biden's old seats.

2. Health Insurance Reform passes but is widely hated by many Americans. It will be an albatross around the Democratic neck for decades. The insurance mandate will be struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. Insurance will become even more pricey then before.

3. Cap and Trade will be a spectacular failure with coal state Democrats coming out against it. Climate Change will start to recede from national consciousness and the Mexico climate conference will be a back page story that mostly mentions protester violence.

4. Much of the bloom will be off of the Obama rose as he is considered even more Carter-like by the day. The press will talk openly about his "failed promise" and "rhetoric without substance." Obama will be angered by this and have an unscripted and public tantrum sometime during the year. His approval ratings remain dismal throughout 2010.


Foreign Affairs:

1. Iran's government will fall into chaos and there will be a civil war as the military turns against the Republican Guard. Much of it will be out of the world's eye but there will be desperate, pitched battles fought all throughout Iran. UN peacekeepers will have to be called in to prevent large scale killings as the hard-liners become more and more brutal. Fighter jets will be used against Tehran University students and it will shock the entire world.

2. The US will continue to distance themselves from Israel and Netanyahu will start a large-scale building plan in the West Bank. The Palestinian government will be a total shambles with Hamas losing their funding from Iran and Fatah being paralyzed by a search for a successor to Abbas. Peace will look like a distant memory with Obama unable to do anything.

3. North Korea comes back to the bargaining table with Kim's health starting to decline. China will force their client state into more openness but negotiations will get nowhere.

4. Afghanistan will be a major hotspot where US casualties start to mount. However, a joint US and Pakistani presence will cripple the Taliban and Al-Quida in the region by the end of the year. The new battleground will switch to Yemen and Somalia and other failed states with a strong fundamentalist prescience. Al-Quida will be successful in committing a terrorist act in 2010 but it will not be on the same level as 9/11.

A 3rd Person Made it Past White House Security?

Why don't they just do away with security all together because this is getting stupid already.

As the Secret Service was reviewing how an attention-hungry couple — Tareq and Michaele Salahi — got into the dinner without being on the guest list, officials discovered that a third person made it through security without an invitation as well. The Secret Service said the man — whom they would not identify — did not get close to the president or the first lady.

Good thing these guys were just inept attention seekers and Indian businessmen who didn't have ill attentions toward the White House.

Obama Blasts Intelligence Communtiy for Christmas Bomber

Here we go again blaming the intel people.

Obama has demanded answers on why the U.S. intelligence community never pieced together information that could have prevented Abdulmutallab, charged with trying to destroy a Detroit-bound airliner, from ever getting on the plane. Obama called the situation "totally unacceptable" when he met with reporters Tuesday and put his top intelligence officials on notice that he wanted changes.

Administration officials have spent the last week poring over reams of data, looking for failings that allowed Abdulmutallab to board the Northwest Airlines flight from Nigeria by way of Amsterdam. Officials have been sending details to Brennan, who has emerged at the center of the review.

In other words the Obama people are again checking the work of the CIA and other assets when it might be the fault of bureaucracy and turf-protection. If they come to the conclusion that our intelligence operations is just a big mess and try to change that then I hope they succeed. If it is just a "blame the CIA" sort of thing then it is yet another failure of the White House. Especially when CIA guys are now dying in foreign wars.

Politico Carries Obama's Water by Comparing Shoe Bomber to Christmas Day Bomber

This is the kind of slanted reporting that the MSM loves to put out to defend the guy that they got elected to office.

Eight years ago, a terrorist bomber’s attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner was thwarted by a group of passengers, an incident that revealed some gaping holes in airline security just a few months after the attacks of Sept. 11. But it was six days before President George W. Bush, then on vacation, made any public remarks about the so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, and there were virtually no complaints from the press or any opposition Democrats that his response was sluggish or inadequate.

The problem is that it was just a few months after 9/11 and no one expected intelligence gathering and enhanced airport security to have improved so quickly. It has now been 8 years since the Shoe Bomber and we still need blind luck to thwart a terrorist attack. It is such a scary proposition and opens those same old wounds people had in the past. After all, if the true hero of this affair, Jasper Schuringa, was just a few minutes too late that plane could have blown up over Detroit.

So Americans want Obama to call a press conference the next day just to calm people down. A "be vigilant" speech where he implores Americans to keep their eyes open and remember that Al-Quida still wants to kill them would have been perfect. I mean if Obama showed even a little bit of the fire that he showed the Cambridge, Mass. Police Department people would have cheered him.

The problem is that Obama has a credibility gap when it comes to terrorism. I mean he has called them "man-caused disasters." He has his AG trying to try them in a federal court a few blocks away from where they killed so many people. He is also stupidly pushing to convict the CIA interrogators that may have successfully prevented future 9/11s.

The bad thing is that Obama doesn't seem soft of terror because he is still serving up Hellfire missiles in Pakistan to any Al-Quida scumbag that shows his face. But America just doesn't trust him to keep them safe in the same way they trusted Bush a few months after 9/11 it is just that simple.

Captain Picard now a Knight

It will be Sir Patrick Stewart to those trekkies out there.

"This is an honor that embraces those actors, directors and creative teams who have in these recent years helped fill my life with inspiration, companionship and sheer fun," said 69-year-old Stewart, who recently returned to the British stage following a long career in Hollywood that included playing Professor Charles Xavier in three "X-Men" films.

Another Terror Plot? Thanks for Telling Us Homeland Security Department

Why wasn't there a terrorist alert issued on this kind of stuff.

A man tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused an explosion in a case bearing chilling similarities to the terrorist plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Wow, that kind of sounds like this thwarted terrorist attack on Christmas doesn't it? Maybe it was a dry run? Who knows? I'm glad we have Homeland Security on this with their so-called "clockwork execution."

Weird Vehicle Spotted at the NASDAQ

It seems that the threat of terrorism has crept back into America. It seems that this was just a false alarm but maybe we need a little more Bush era scare tactics to prevent another tragedy.

The Nasdaq building in Times Square has been evacuated due to a suspicious vehicle parked outside, according to the New York Police Department. The whole area in Times Square area was cordoned off but the Nasdaq building was the only one evacuated, NYPD Detective Gina Sarubbi told MarketWatch.

Dave Barry is Still the King!

This has to be one of the funniest 2009 recaps I have ever read. This part was especially funny:

In other economic news, the CEO of GM resigns under pressure from the White House, which notes that it inherited the automobile crisis from the Bush administration. GM is now essentially a subsidiary of the federal government, which promises to use its legendary business and marketing savvy to get the crippled auto giant back on its feet, starting with an exciting new lineup of cars such as the Chevrolet Consensus, a ``green'' car featuring a compressed-soybean chassis, the world's first engine powered entirely by dew, and a 14,500-page owner's manual, accompanied by nearly 6,000 pages of amendments.

He forgot to write that the Chevy Consensus also costs $ 1 billion dollars and must be built entirely in Nebraska where it will be free to Nebraskans. That was all there just to get that all important Ben Nelson patronage vote.

Could Iran Go the Way of East Germany?

It sure seems that way according to this report.

Then there is the boycott of goods advertised on state-controlled television. People in line at markets whisper to other shoppers not to buy certain products that help to subsidise the Government’s broadcasting monopoly — and its version of events. The opposition has also called for boycotts on mobile phone companies that provide technology to the Government. It is impossible to assess the impact but it adds a critical economic component to the political confrontation.

They are even doing a pretty interesting twist on social networking by putting slogans on currency that denounces the regime. So anytime a person gets change you might get a cartoon picture of Ahmadinejoke or a "death to the dictator" scrawled on it in green pen. It is kind of like a friend request sent to everyone that receives a few bills in change for a purchase. That boycott thing needs to expand outwards as well.

If these kids can somehow turn the army then you will see the fall of the regime in just a short 30 years. It would be so nice to see the nuclear issue solved by the rise of a democratic Persian nation.

Top Climate Official Has some Questionable Ties

It seems that not even the UN's "top climate official" Dr Rajendra Pachauri is without some questionable ties to the whole "climate change industry."

He and Teri insist, however, that all the money he receives for his services, such as 100,000 euros from Deutsche Bank and $80,000 from Toyota Motors are paid not to him personally but to his institute (and that he receives no fee from the Chicago Climate Exchange). Teri denies that it does not publish its accounts simply by stating that its accounts are supplied to the relevant tax authorities.

I wonder how much this Teri group is paying this guy for his "services." I bet he would fire back the same thing that Gore did that he has some skin in the climate game. In other words if the world adopts the whole GDP smashing "climate change" agenda people like Pachauri and Al Gore might become quite rich.

The problem is that this whole set of data and UN people are now tainted. They look like guys who spin a bunch of scary stories about burglars in the neighborhood so that they can sell more alarm systems.

Losses at Freddie and Fannie Uncapped

I guess they have a direct lifeline to our wallets now. I would be willing to bet that the total amount sunk into these companies will never be known.

The Obama administration, which has been using the GSEs to stabilize the housing market by reducing their underwriting standards, upped the ante to $200 billion each. Now the administration has thrown in the towel completely, and dropped a large lump of coal in each taxpayer’s stocking—it won’t even try to estimate the total losses of Fannie and Freddie.

This is Not How You Talk to the Owner of Our Money: Obama Shouts at Wen Jiabao at Copenhagen

I'm not sure how correct this Die Welt article is but if true it shows that Obama really needs to get some sleep. The last thing in the world we want to do now is to be shouting at the Red Chinese. I mean they are holding the deed to our entire economy and could cripple us financially if they want to.

According to rumors in the Bella Center, US President Barack Obama at about 11 PM, had impatiently asked to speak with Wen Jiabao in order to advance the discussion. But Obama had to wait. Wen, who, it was rumored, had rarely left his hotel room, could not be found. Finally, the US delegation located him in a room set aside for negotiations. A visibly furious Obama, according to reports, stormed into the room. “Are you now ready to talk with me, Premier Wen?” he was reported to have shouted. “Are you now ready? Premier Wen, are you now ready to talk with me?” What a scene for a US president.

Wen was not alone in the room at the time when Obama quite literally burst into the room, according to participants. At the time, the Premier was in a conversation with India’s head of state, Mammohan Singh and South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma. Suddenly the group saw itself forced into a conversation with the US president.

At the insistence of the impatient Obama, this unplanned and coincidentally-assembled negotiating round and participants, agreed on a minimal compromise.

The first time I saw South Africa mentioned as a part of this wishy-washy accord I did a double take. You would figure it would be a statement given by the G8 nations with maybe Brazil thrown in for good measure. So South Africa was puzzling until I read this. I think President Zuma was just within shouting distance of Obama and got sucked into the accord as a seemingly innocent bystander.

I would be willing to bet that this meeting between India, China and South Africa was regarding mining or some other non-climate change matter and Obama just burst into room shouting "Where is Wen!!! Bring me Wen!!! When Wen? Wen now!!!" It's like a scene out of a movie.

Uh Oh, It Seems that Cosmic Rays and CFCs may Cause Global Warming and Not Carbon

This must be hell on earth for the whole Climate Change crowd. First the leaked emails showing that they have been cooking the data and now a paper saying that CFCs and Cosmic Rays might be the cause of warming and not CO2.

In his paper, Qing-Bin Lu, a professor of physics and astronomy, shows how CFCs - compounds once widely used as refrigerants - and cosmic rays - energy particles originating in outer space - are mostly to blame for climate change, rather than carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. His paper, derived from observations of satellite, ground-based and balloon measurements as well as an innovative use of an established mechanism, was published online in the prestigious journal Physics Reports.

I wonder if the Climate Research scientists are going to ostracize Physics Reports because they dared to introduce this apostasy? I guess we have to blame the imminent death of polar bears on cosmic rays shooting toward the planet and from old refrigerators since carbon might not be the cause:

His conclusions are based on observations that from 1950 up to now, the climate in the Arctic and Antarctic atmospheres has been completely controlled by CFCs and cosmic rays, with no CO2 impact.

"Most remarkably, the total amount of CFCs, ozone-depleting molecules that are well-known greenhouse gases, has decreased around 2000," Lu said. "Correspondingly, the global surface temperature has also dropped. In striking contrast, the CO2 level has kept rising since 1850 and now is at its largest growth rate."

I think we should give trillions of dollars to the Third World right now so they can build a still to be invented cosmic ray blocker module at once. I mean think of the polar bears and those massive tidal waves swamping all coastal cities at the same time. What will Al Gore do with all those carbon offsets?

What the Hell is the CER Market?

This is probably the best primer I have ever read on the whole certificate of emission reduction (CER) market and how the money moves.

The Kyoto Protocol establishes a mechanism to certify these emission reductions called the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which establishes a bureaucratic process under the supervision of the UN to do this certification. The purpose of the CDM is to keep the process honest. Only certify emission reductions for projects that would have been built anyway and that would have had a greater carbon footprint if they had been built the way they would have been built.

Got that? You have a CER, with real cash value, as long as a UN organization will certify what you might have done, and the way you might have done it, if you had done it, and done it that way.

An interesting point brought up in the comments section is that this entire market is based off of the ability for the UN to certify these things. In other words they are the ones creating the demand and also taking care of the supply as well. They aren't backed with gold or the full faith and credit of the United States, or even a liar loan mortgage. They are backed with UN bureaucratic assumptions.

These UN assumptions are based on hypothetical dream world scenarios. For instance, if you wanted to build a steel mill in China you first think about how much carbon the thing would spew out if it were built on Narnia, Oz, Middle Earth, or Earth 1 and then you get a credit by reducing that amount in the real world.

So a Steel Mill built in Oz next to the Munchkinland staffed by the Lollipop Guild would spew out 1000 tons of CO2. Instead this Chinese businessman will build a steel mill in the real world that spews out 500 Tons of CO2 and get a credit for the difference. All he needs to do is bribe the right UN official and he can then sell 500 Tons of CO2 offsets for big cash.

Also Goldman Sachs or whomever will get a piece of both sides of the trade. Sounds like a good deal for everyone involved except for the tax payer that gets to pay a higher price for their government's participation in the scheme.

Build-A-Bear Joins the Global Warming Church: Aims Salvo Right at your Kids

It seems that Build-A-Bear Workshop is taking the climate change scare tactics and aims it directly at the tiny tots with their eyes all aglow.

Children of the world can look forward to priceless exchanges such as, “Oh my! Where will the polar bears live?” and my personal fave: “Where will the elves live?”

I suspect you’d like to think it can’t get any worse than that. Thus, it pains me to tell you that animated characters actually break into a discussion of satellite photos and that Mrs. Claus conducts a rather unscientific experiment involving ice cubes.

Needless-to-say, this constitutes brainwashing on the sleaziest and most sinister level. The good news is that this nonsense isn’t coming from our government this time and the rocky economy is our friend here. People, we have the means, if we have the will, to topple these charlatans who shamelessly prey on little children. So boycott Build-A-Bear. And, more importantly, tell the world why.

Yup, the warming scare mongers are aiming their propaganda directly at your kids. If these church of warming members want to get more Americans on board they need to talk up safe nuclear power like France and Japan have. Their goal should be to turn every coal power plant into a nuclear plant and lobby the EPA to change their permitting rules. Anything else is just advocating people to go back to living in the Middle Ages.

Instead they are trying the propaganda machine tactics by aiming it directly at kids. I can see little Jimmy saying "will all the elves drown?" The correct answer to that is "yes Jimmy, they will all drown because the Red Chinese hate pointy-eared people."

Law of Unintended Consequences: Health Care Edition

Now this would be an interesting thing to come to pass as a result of ObamaCare.

The insurance lobby is already so powerful that Democrats couldn't get the public option through now - what makes them think they'll be able to later, after they've given insurers 30 million additional customers, and required every last American to do business with them? The insurance companies are going to be to the 21st century what Standard Oil was to the 19th.

I can't think of a single thing in American History that 100% of Americans must buy or they will face a fine. Suddenly health insurance becomes one of those things. There will be a scramble to qualify so you don't get fined and end up going to jail for being a "non insurance buyer/tax evader."

I'm sure the insurance companies will make that point abundantly clear. I can picture the ad copy "Buy UnitedHealth's New Catastrophic Plus with optional Snowboarding rider or Uncle Sam will send you to Jail!" with a picture of a young guy in prison khaki's looking fearfully at a huge prison inmate intent on no-good.

The more I look at this ObamaCare bill the more I think Big Health Insurance will be the biggest beneficiary. That is why I have been long United Health since the public option was killed. It is a case of buying health insurance or ending up shanked in the prison library by an Aryan Nation member. (Well, more like trading tax advice with Bernie Maddoff but you never know.) Now that should be "accretive to earnings" to say the very least. The 2% bump and a 52 week high on UNH today just proves this point in spades.

I think Lots of People Will Stay Uninsured by Choice

Now this is not much of a choice for a young person just starting work.

Under the Senate bill, people who don't buy coverage would face a maximum penalty of $95 beginning in 2014. That would jump in 2016 to $750 or 2% of their annual income up to the cost of the cheapest health plan, whichever is greater. In the House bill, violators would pay as much as 2.5% of their annual income up to the cost of the cheapest plan beginning in 2013.

When people buy health insurance on their own rather than through employers, the average cost in 2016 is projected to be $5,500 for an individual policy and $13,100 for family coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

So the choice is whether to pay a $95 - $750 fine or $5,500 - $13,000 for insurance. I can see many young people choosing to pay the fine instead of shelling out the big money. The problem is that these young people paying into the plan are what is supposed to "bend the cost curve." Also what will happen if you don't pay the fine? Will you be sent to jail as a tax cheat?

Obama Dubs Copenhagen Pact "unprecedented breakthrough" (for Third World Kleptocrats)

I guess they had to salvage Copenhagen with some kind of pact even if it is unclear on the details and is not binding at all.

The deal reiterates a goal that eight leading industrialized nations set earlier this year on long-term emission cuts and provides a mechanism to help poor countries prepare for climate change, the official said.

But it falls far short of committing any nation to emissions reductions beyond a general acknowledgment that the effort should contain global temperatures along the lines agreed to by the leading economic nations in July.

In other words despite all that carbon was spewed from all those airplanes and limos and the world pretty much ran in place. They should have done this whole thing via teleconference and put it on CSPAN. I guess you can count the days until that "mechanism to help poor countries" is:

1. Stolen by sticky fingered UN diplomats like Oil For Food. I bet Kofi Annan's son has already applied for a job with this group.

2. Misappropriated by Third World kleptocrats. I wonder if the Sudan already has this money earmarked for for "cleansing the carbon signatures" of various ethnic groups in Darfur? I'm sure the money will be used for hundreds of "moving windmills." IE Mi-24 Hind Helicopter Gunships. The new Sudanese "Miniguns for the Earth" program.

3. Disappear into "The President for Life's Special Governmental Fund" located in a Swiss Bank. I mean what Third World dictator wouldn't want a few extra billion to reduce his countries carbon footprint by buying a Swiss Chalet instead of yet another massive palace? Well most dictators will probably buy both so luckily we we are giving them enough money so that they can reach those goals. You no longer need oil wealth to raise giant statues of yourself anymore. The UN "climate change" reparations will do that for you.

Green Jobs Might be a Rip-Off?

At least that seems to be the case according to this German study pointed out in this article.

In the end, Germany’s PV promotion has become a subsidization regime that, on a per-worker basis, has reached a level that far exceeds average wages, with per worker subsidies as high as 175,000 € (US $ 240,000). …

Although Germany’s promotion of renewable energies is commonly portrayed in the media as setting a “shining example in providing a harvest for the world” (The Guardian 2007), we would instead regard the country’s experience as a cautionary tale of massively expensive environmental and energy policy that is devoid of economic and environmental benefits.

You have to be kidding. $240,000 per job in subsidies? That sounds like one of those stimulus jobs "created or saved." The more I look into this the bigger this Climate Change thing is just a big mess. I was an early convert to this "green jobs" plan but only if it involves nuclear plants and lots of them. I hate oil plants and using oil because it enriches the people that want to kill us. I can care less about carbon footprints now.

Russians Claim that Their Climate Data Cherrypicked

It seems like ClimateGate just gets worse and worse.

The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory. Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations.

Is any of this Climate data pure? It seems that these CRU guys just did whatever they wanted to with this data and just picked whatever data supported their thesis.

Super Water World Found

This could be a big discovery depending on what sort of atmosphere it has.

Its density suggests however it "is composed of about three-fourths water and other ices and one fourth-rock," it said. "There are also tantalising hints that the planet has a gaseous atmosphere."

Its temperature is estimated at between 280 and 120 degrees Celsius (536 and 248 degrees Fahrenheit) with its host star about one-fifth the size of the Sun, according to the scientists.

"Despite its hot temperature, this appears to be a waterworld," says Zachory Berta, a graduate student who first spotted hints of the planet's presence.

I wonder if that is the surface temperature or not? You figure if that was just the surface temperature you might find life deeper in its ocean where it would be colder.

Plus the gravity on the planet would be pretty high being so close to its sun so any creatures would be super strong. Could it be a world of giant, super-strong, water beasts? I'm talking sharks the size of apartment buildings and octopi the size of city blocks. I think it is time to send a probe since this planet is only 42 light years away.

The Banana War is Over: European Union Agrees to Terms

Well a 16 year old trade war between who will import bananas into Europe has finally come to an end.

The settlement, which national lawmakers are expected to ratify within four months, trade officials say, means less-expensive bananas for Europeans, more profit for U.S. fruit companies and lower revenue for some former EU colonies. It ends a 16-year-old trade dispute over access to the EU's $6.7 billion banana market, the world's largest.

Who knew the EU had the world's largest banana market? I hate bananas so I am akin to Switzerland in this whole Banana War. But this may interest investors in the reviled yellow fruit:

Banana imports from the former colonies will fall 14%, costing them $40 million a year, and imports from other countries will increase 17%, according to a study by the Geneva-based International Centre for Sustainable Trade and Development. Banana prices in Europe will fall 12%, the study added.

Ed Loyd, a Chiquita spokesman, said the agreement would save Chiquita about $12 million a year for every €10 reduction in the tariff. He said the ruling would benefit the Cincinnati company more than most of its competitors because it is the market leader in Europe and sources nearly all of the bananas it sells in Europe from Latin America.

Of course you would think that the so-called "Banana Industrial Complex" would make out at the expense of these African banana nations. In any case it boosted Chiquita stock (CQB) a cool 3.9% and might make it go higher depending on what percentage of the European market will be eating cheaper South American bananas rather than already fairly cheap African bananas.

Copenhagen Brings to the Surface some Scary Thinking

Here is more evidence that some "climate advocates" might be the scariest people since the Nazis.

Dennis Meadows, one of the authors of the Malthusian 1972 classic "The Limits to Growth," also served up some climate honesty in a recent interview with Der Spiegel. "I lived long enough in a country like Afghanistan to know that I don't want us to have to live like that in the future. But we have to learn to live a life that allows for fulfillment and development, with the CO2 emissions of Afghanistan." Mr. Meadows's chilling corollary: "If you want everyone to have the full potential of mobility, adequate food and self-development, then . . . one or two billion" people is about all the population the planet can sustain.

Wait there are 6.8 billion people currently living on the earth. In other words this Dennis Meadows just talked about the potential genocide of nearly 5 billion people. He did it so breezily that it might have been Dr. Mengele saying it about Jews and Gypsies. That is about the most chilling thing I have read by someone that is "here to save us."

This guy is actually a professor and is President of the Laboratory for Interactive Learning whatever the hell that is. Of course he also does not say anything about getting to that magic 1-2 billion number. That is one question that he needs to answer to put his money where is Malthusian mouth is.

Also I wonder if Dr. Meadows will be a member of those 1 -2 billion saved people? I mean he is a trained systems manager and the UN Climate Genocide Board will probably figure he is worth at least 1000+ uneducated Chinese villagers or Brazilian Favela dwellers. The elites like Dr. Meadows will never have to face the genetically tailored super-germs or the forced abortions and sterilizations it would need to wipe out 5 billion people.

More Environmental Control: No Hamburger for You!

I wonder how long it will be until this kind of thing is written into some UN edict?

“If the world sharply reduced its meat consumption, we would significantly reduce the amount of methane,” said Mr. Lux outside the main conference hall here on a snowy morning.

Reducing meat demand would shrink the cattle-raising industry and, therefore, the amount of bovine emissions, a methane goldmine, he says.

Copenhagen Conference Descends into Chaos

I knew it would happen eventually.

Police fired tear gas, brandished batons and detained more than 200 protesters who tried to push through the security cordon around the Bella Center, as negotiations inside bogged down, for the second time this week, over differences between China and the West over emissions, funding issues and transparency.

Why should the Red Chinese slow their growth for any reason? They would not mind if other economies knee-capped themselves by 1 -2 % GDP because it put them that much ahead. Mark my words: A Cap-and-Trade Bill imposed on us by the UN will send us into a double dip recession. I don't think Americans can afford a massive tax whenever they turn on a light switch. Especially if this tax mostly goes to buying mansions for dictators in Third World countries.

What is the significance of 515?

Now this is one weird theory that was recently proven true:

Efimov had calculated that the triplet of bound particles was possible, and that it was repeating: New bound states could be achieved at higher and higher energy levels in an infinite progression. All of the bound states would occur at energy levels that were multiples of 515.

To prove that they had really created the trios, called Efimov trimers, the researchers produced one set of three lithium atoms bound together, and then reproduced it with a binding energy 515 times the first one. (Essentially, binding energy indicates how tightly the particles hold onto one another and how much energy it would take to pull them apart.)

The researchers used a setup called a Feshbach resonance that allowed them to tweak the energy levels of their atoms. They found that when they hit multiples of 515, the particles would bind, but at other energies they wouldn't, proving that the trios really were Efimov trimers.

I wonder why 515 was so significant? Hmm, I wonder if that is some sort of magical golden mean number or something. It might be something for a mathematician to take a look at.

Climate Research Unit Takes Down their Webpage

I guess they are "hiding the decline" in their credibility by hiding from public view.

The news page that you get redirected to hasn’t much to say, and has not been updated since December 3rd.

And it’s not just subfolders with data, it is the entire Climate Research Unit website that is shielded from public view. Try the main link which has been functional for years:

http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk

If I was a climate scientist I would not want to hear about the Climate Research Unit ever again.

Exploding Deficits? We go 4 entire NFL Franchises Deeper in Debt Each Day

Now this is some sobering news if you are a deficit hawk.

Speaking of the federal deficit, latest figures out before any healthcare legislation reveal that in the first two months of its first full fiscal year in office, the Obama administration spent $292 billion more than it took in.

That's $11 billion worse than the deficit in the last two months of the previous demon administration with eight years of failed policies headed by you-know-who.

That works out to $4.78 billion of spending in the hole for each of the 61 days in that period. Looks like Washington might be learning the wrong lessons from its close association with American automakers.

But that was all "stimulus" that saved what could be billions (maybe trillions) of imaginary jobs. The idea that we go $4.78 billion in the hole every day is crazy. That is equal to 4 entire NFL franchises per day. I hope the Red Chinese don't send us a margin call.

Insane Canadian Environmentalist Advocates the Slaughtering of Third World Children

Now this is exactly why people are deathly afraid of environmentalists getting any modicum of real power.

The "inconvenient truth" overhanging the UN's Copenhagen conference is not that the climate is warming or cooling, but that humans are overpopulating the world.

A planetary law, such as China's one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate currently, which is one million births every four days.

Okay, this was not cut and pasted from an old copy of Der Sturmer from the 1930s. This is a mainstream Canadian Financial paper. However, it does look like it came out of some Nazi tract with Jews changed to third world peoples and racial purity changed to environmental sustainability.

What makes this suggestion by this monster Diane Francis so sickening is what she implies. I mean most of the countries in the developed West are coping with negative reproduction rates. So Europe and the US (and Canada) could easily comply with this edict because we have access to birth control and abortions on demand.

It is the second and third world who will have the forced abortions, mass sterilizations, and female child abandonment that would come out of this global one child policy. I wonder just how many "Green" death camps for "excess" children this Francis would be satisfied with in South America, the Middle East, Africa, and India? Does she actually want a UN abortion clinic to be set up in every third world nation?

I'm sure that wasn't her intention but that is exactly what she advocates. She wants the children of the poor third world ground up so the environment can be saved.

She also mixes in a little anti-religion with her eugenics as well

Unfortunately, there are powerful opponents. Leaders of the world's big fundamentalist religions preach in favor of procreation and fiercely oppose birth control. And most political leaders in emerging economies perpetuate a disastrous Catch-22: Many children (i. e. sons) stave off hardship in the absence of a social safety net or economic development, which, in turn, prevents protections or development.

You thought the Muslim world hated the West before? Wait until people like Ms. Francis are trying to force birth control and abortions on them in order to "save the planet." They will be literally bombing these people to keep their unborn children alive.

I really think that this attitude that environmentalists have that they can impose totalitarian control to prevent something that might happen in 2050 is despicable. Think about how much more advanced we are from the 1950s. Who's to say that by 2050 we won't have vat grown beef and super foods that can be grown on half the land and yield 10 times the calories that they do now? The idea that technology would not change in 50 years is ludicrous.

In any case, people like Ms. Francis should keep writing op-ed pieces and we should pray that she never becomes Prime Minister or holds any kind of policy making job. That would be far more dangerous to third world children then any famine or war.