Thankfully, NOAA (parent agency of the National Weather Service) keeps track of sunspot activity and provides us hams with useful information that allows us to predict just where in the world we might be able to talk. As I was researching the current cycle (now at solar minimum – very few, if any, sunspots) I stumbled across an interesting paragraph…

“May 8, 2009 — The Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Panel has reached a consensus decision on the prediction of the next solar cycle (Cycle 24). First, the panel has agreed that solar minimum occurred in December, 2008. This still qualifies as a prediction since the smoothed sunspot number is only valid through September, 2008. The panel has decided that the next solar cycle will be below average in intensity, with a maximum sunspot number of 90. Given the predicted date of solar minimum and the predicted maximum intensity, solar maximum is now expected to occur in May, 2013. Note, this is a consensus opinion, not a unanimous decision. A supermajority of the panel did agree to this prediction.”

[Bold added by your's truly. Source: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle]

Notice how they make it clear that this opinion is only a “consensus” and not “unanimous”. The inference is that while I may use it as a rough guide, the opinion is not meant, in any way, to be scientific evidence. In other words, NOAA is telling us hams to take their prediction with a grain of salt.

Now isn’t THAT interesting? A scientific consensus is not to be taken as seriously as any kind of evidence. This, from the same agency  that’s more than happy to go along with the global warming alarmists in their consensus.

The MC: Local talk show host and occasional Limbaugh fill-in Mark Davis.

This is a great example of our current tax code. Over 78,000 pages tall!

The crowd.

I’d paste his whole piece here, but of course that wouldn’t be kosher. I encourage my friends at Redstate to read it and comment. Here’s a little teaser:

“Reform of health care, environmental policy, education, energy, banking, regulation — every nook and cranny of the U.S. economy has been put on alert for major change. Expansion of government spending, plunging the U.S. into unprecedented deficits, is without parallel. In economic policy, through regulation and control of energy output, financial services and monetary expansion, the U.S. government has embarked on a fundamental reshaping of America. It is designed, in short, to bring on the end of America.”

You can read the entire article here: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2009/03/19/terence-corcoran-is-this-the-end-of-america.aspx

I can just hear the Republican theme for 2010 or 2012, “It’s the economy, stupid!”

I cannot log in to gop.com. I’ve been trying for WEEKS. From different computers even, at home and at work. I enter my email address and password, click “Go” and nothing happens. And I mean NOTHING. The page just sits there like I had first loaded it.

I’m using IE6 (I refuse to ‘upgrade’ to 7) and Win XP Pro SP2. But even that shouldn’t matter. Someone still using Windows 95 should be able to at least log in.

At first, I thought that perhaps it didn’t like my password so I went through the routine to reset it but never I got the email the site told me to watch for.

I sent an email to the link at the bottom of the page, info@gop.com, describing my problem. This was TWO WEEKS AGO!

I don’t know where else to turn besides calling my Congressman. Help!

This past summer, Obama and McCain were pretty much neck-and-neck in the polls. Then in the fall, just in time for the election, Wall Street hands Obama a gift with a 700 point drop in September and a massive 1500 point drop in October. All of this seemed to give Obama the boost he needed to win the trust of the American people. After all, they wanted change!”

Congress has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out our banking system (which seems to be at the heart of this crisis) yet the market hasn’t even budged. In fact, since election day, the Dow has lost an additional 1800 points. So what will Congress do next? Spend hundreds of billions more, of course! After all, according to The One, only government can save us now.

Such news doesn’t even seem to faze the market though. Stocks keep going down, unemployement keeps going up. Obama even promises us that “it’s going to get worse.” So what is it with these pesky investors? Why isn’t the market falling into line like Uncle Sam Barack has told it to? So much for “hope” and “change”.

President Obama, if you really care about the financial well-being of our country, a country you claim to love so much, please take a note from one of the (few) truly great Democrat presidents, President Kennedy. He knew that in order to truly “lift everyone up”, to grow the economy, there must be TAX CUTS.

Yes, yes, you’re promising “tax cuts” but we all know that a good portion of those “tax cuts” are really just more handouts to people who don’t pay taxes (EITC). The market called BS on this one because since you made that promise a week or two ago, nothing has changed. The market continues to drop like my paycheck. No, I’m talking real, ACROSS THE BOARD tax cuts. Yes, even for those evil rich people.

What do you think rich people do with their money, Mr. President? Do they stuff it in mattresses? No, they SPEND it (which boosts demand). They INVEST it (which creates jobs). They SAVE it in banks (banks that will invest that money to make it grow). And here’s the real kicker: All that growth results in more tax revenue into the treasury! Now remember Mr. President, Kennedy’s tax cuts weren’t very popular with the liberals in his party (it never is!). He took some heat for it. But it was THE RIGHT THING TO DO. And by golly, it worked!

You have a choice Mr. President. You can either save our economy from sinking even further into a depression, or you can just tax and spend your heart out for the next 4 years while the market continues to lose value. Everyone knows the “New Deal” spending didn’t get us out of the depression. What makes you think your spending will be any different?

You made history today, President Obama. You’re the first black president of the United States of America. This truly does give hope to people all over our country who reflect on the historical tragedies of slavery, raciscm, and the segregated South. Don’t let history remember the first black president as being a failure because he refused to make the tough decisions that you spoke about today. Sometimes tough decisions are unpopular in the short run, but they lend to greatness in the long run. Just ask President Kennedy.

[Shhhhh.... just between you and me..... Part of me hopes Obama doesn't do anything of the sort. He should go ahead and raise taxes on those who create jobs & spend my money like there's no tomorrow. Come 2012, we'll have Bobby & Sarah ready to take his place. I can see the bumber stickers now: "So How's That 'Change' Working For Ya?"]

So anyway, I thought this essay was such a masterpiece that it must be published online. I’ve been “slacking it” in maintaining my own website since I stumbled upon Redstate a couple years ago so it will go here first. Enjoy!

Freedom for Americans has been perhaps the greatest force that has allowed our country to grow to become the most prosperous, most powerful nation on Earth. Our very founding was based on the yearning for freedom from a self-serving tyrannical regime.

Of course complete, unrestricted freedom is anarchy. Our founders were wise enough to recognize that pure democracy would foster mob-rule tyranny. Therefore, the founders created for us a Constitution that has guided the decision making process of government ever since. Countless acts of Congress and presidents have been put to the test to ensure that the freedoms of some do not unfairly restrict the freedoms of others. The definition of what is “fair” is often at the root of most political controversy.

Fortunately, our nation has survived these challenges and continues to serve as a positive example to the rest of the world. After all, most civilized nations have adopted forms of government based on the similar principles of freedom & democracy. As an interesting side effect, democratic countries do not wage war against each other.

The very spirit of our democratic, republican, constitutional government has enabled people of all races, creeds, and ethnic backgrounds to live in a society where they enjoy more freedoms than they would in most other countries. While not everyone has enjoyed these same freedoms to the same extent throughout the course of our national history, they have made fantastic gains which has fostered greater equality for all.

One idea that I keep hearing about in this class is that freedom and equality are diametrically opposed. In my opinion, they are not. In fact, I believe freedom BREEDS equality. To illustrate this belief, consider the African American. Originally brought to the colonies in bondage, the slaves of early America enjoyed virtually no freedoms. However, thank to the freedoms of speech, religion, and assembly, the American people began to protest the established tyranny of slavery. Eventually, the idea that slavery was an evil, oppressive institution that should be abolished grew to a point where it had to be abolished in order to save our very republic from disintegration.

Of course the African American struggle for freedom didn’t stop there. Free blacks became citizens but in most of America, they were still oppressed in other ways that limited their freedom. During the 20th century, the same freedoms that freed the slaves led to the reforms of the Civil Rights Act. Blacks and sympathetic whites exercised their right to petition government for equal treatment and protections under the law. They demanded that the government live up to it’s ideal that “all men are created equal”.

Today all Americans, regardless of sex, race, color, creed, or national origin enjoy the right to vote, assemble, petition government, worship as they choose, etc. Laws are in place to prevent unfair discrimination in the workplace and other venues. This enables everyone (except the unborn) to enjoy the same freedoms as everyone else: the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As human beings, we have faults. No one is perfect and no nation is perfect. Our system of government isn’t perfect and it never will be. There will always be people who will try to oppress others. There will always be criminals. There will always be poor people and there will always be rich people. These facts have remained true throughout human history and they’re not going to change. Virtue, piety, sin, and vice are all a part of human nature. However, a society that embraces freedom will fight to the death to preserve that freedom because without it, no one has the opportunity to change their lives for the better. In America, a child born in poverty is not guaranteed to die in poverty. Not every nation can say that and no other nation in the world has given it’s people as many opportunities to achieve prosperity. And so I say, God bless America!

I recently wrote a short essay on the subject of history. I’ve aced all my essays so far, so I hope the prof. is fair in judging this one. I thought it was fairly brilliant so I figured I’d share it with my Redstate friends. The assigned subject is “favorite aspect of American history”. I’m afraid I may have gone off-topic somewhat, but I hope it gets me at least a B. Of course, I think it deserves an A!

To quote George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.”

National as well as world history is critical knowledge for the citizens of any nation. We can learn a lot from the achievements and mistakes of our ancestors. The history of the printed word is relatively short compared to the history of man, yet it contains critical lessons that help us to make informed decisions regarding current events.

One must also draw on many sources of historical records to gain well-rounded knowledge. Critical thinking is crucial because along with plenty of good information, there is no shortage of bad information and outright lies regarding history and historical figures.

A good example of such distortions can be made regarding the Civil Rights Act. It was the Republican party that pushed for the Act and it was the Democrats who opposed it, even to the point of filibuster. Yet somehow, a large number of people believe the Republican party stands for racism when nothing could be further from the truth. [It will be interesting to see if this legislative fact is mentioned in the text.]

Our text is a good source of basic historical knowledge, but it’s lacking in details and filled with liberal bias and I think that’s unfortunate. As a conservative Republican who studies politics and history as a pastime, I’m often amazed by the language that’s disparaging of capitalism and takes what I would consider a soft view on communism/socialism. In all fairness, I admit there is at least some criticism of the Democratic party. I’m only on chapter 27 so my opinion of the text may change, but I doubt it.

Regardless of my annoyances, there are many things I’m learning that I didn’t know before so I’m enjoying the class overall.

So some banks wrote some mortgages to people with bad credit or insufficient income. But I’ve also heard that the vast majority of these are being paid – 96% of them if I’m not mistaken. Am I to believe that the 4% that aren’t being paid are worth $700 billion? And besides, these houses will eventually be re-sold. These are real assets that hold value. I understand there will be some loss as the houses may be sold for less than the banks paid for them but even then I fail to see how the difference adds up to hundreds of billions of dollars.

Please, help a layman understand what’s going on here.

I heard the offensive parts of the skit on Rush’s show. I swear, the National Barack Channel has NO morals. NO shame. Disgusting. I wrote them a little letter, thanking them for reminding me why I never watch their channel.

As if they care, I know. But still, I implore the reader to join me and fill the inbox at Saturday Night Live. Click here.

www.scottbomb.com

The loose nut goes on to say,

“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face,” he said.

That’s right, Barry! Antagonize as many people as possible! That will REALLY win you some votes. Keep it up!!

Someone in his audience says,

“I think he needs to keep doing exactly what he’s doing, which is speak softly, show it through,” said Paul Barnhart, a retired real estate appraiser. “I think most Americans are pretty fed up and sick and tired of the bickering and the battling back and forth. I am.”

Cognitive dissonance, anyone?

Experience – The most obvious reason why he shouldn’t be anywhere NEAR the White House. I need not elaborate on this one, everyone knows he can’t hold a candle to McCain on experience. I’m dumbfounded that Hillary! lost the nomination of her party. Frankly, I’d feel much better having her as president than Obama.

Abortion – According to every poll I’ve ever read, most Americans think abortion (especially abortion-on-demand and late-term abortions) are an abomination. And yet the majority of Americans appear to be ready to elect this lunatic who openly supports the infanticide of babies born alive as the result of a botched abortion.

Taxes – Obama promises to raise taxes like a good liberal. So what else is new? I have a friend who supports Obama and he thinks that raising taxes is a good idea. It seems to me, that if you want more money to enter the US treasury, then you lower taxes which increases productivity. This is something both Ronald Reagan and John Kennedy understood. So what’s the point in raising taxes if it results in lower productivity and thus lower revenue for the government to waste? McCain wants to lower taxes, and yet some idiots want to pay more. Here’s an idea – do it voluntarily and leave MY wallet alone!

Government Waste – Speaking of the devil, government waste will only increase with Obama. Liberals want to enact legislation that will create more gov’t programs (see health care) and there will be no end to voter bribary such as earmarks and $1000 checks for everyone – “paid for by oil companies”. McCain wants to cut gov’t waste. And yet people want more.

Energy Policy – McCain wants to drill. Obama wants everyone to use their tire guages (as if they don’t already). I can’t believe people take him seriously. Democrats don’t want us to drill our own oil while at the same time whining about how we’re dependant on foreign oil.

Iraq – Obama was against the surge. McCain was for it. The surge worked. This should be a no-brainer.

The ecoonomy – We are NOT in a recession. We haven’t been in one in years. But of course, it’s an election year so here come the commercials featuring the poor and “downtrodden” among us. Jesus said we will always have the poor among us. Even still, unemployment and poverty are BOTH lower than when Clinton was president. America’s poorest are considered wealthy compared to wealthy compared to Obama’s own brother who lives on $12 a year. $12!! If brother Barack were to send his own brother $20, it would more than DOUBLE his income.

Friends and Family – Obama’s communist dad, his angry wife, his crazy preachers (3 of them!!), Tony Rezko, William Ayers.

Biden!! He said Obama is NOT READY TO LEAD!! Obama’s OWN VEEP said the presidency is not for “on the job training” – referring to Obama!!

And yet, he continues to lead in all the polls and brings in money hand over fist. I simply do not understand this.

Ah, but the people want “change”. I asked my friend, an Obama supporter, just what he would like changed. He couldn’t answer the question. Neither can I.

www.scottbomb.com

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Something tells me we’ve already had this dance. Can these guys get any crazier? Trashing Sarah Palin’s family didn’t work. In fact, I reckon it may just backfire on ‘em. Even the Obamassiah, Most Merciful, said that went too far. So what’s a loon to do? Well of course, another old play from the old playbook – attack President Bush. How predictable. Perhaps Joe forgot that Barry has already addressed this:

“You’re also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt, because I think we’ve got too many problems we’ve got to solve.”

Will the Obamassiah, Most Merciful, flip on this one too?

This server is V E R Y S L O W . . .

The main page is not showing correctly. Everything is in one column.

It seems harder to navigate. Maybe that’s just the learning curve.

Has such a thread already been written? I don’t know but if there has, I can’t find it.

Sorry to complain, but this new version is buggy. I know you guys spent a lot of money on it (I chipped in what I could).