Bad science, worse policy


Fossil-fuel emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, will result in "severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people, species and 27 ecosystems," warns a new report from the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. World leaders, therefore, must take immediate action to decarbonize the economy, even at significant cost.

But a growing body of evidence suggests that the human influence is far more benign, and the climate much less fragile, than climate campaigners and taxpayer-dependent scientists contend.

This matters because false science translates into bad policy, which takes a tangible toll on an already struggling American economy.

The UN has specifically concluded that "dangerous human interference" would occur if the global temperature rose 3.6 degrees above pre-industrial (and Little Ice Age) levels, which could happen by 2040.

But leading climate scientist Judith Curry, pointing to "more than a dozen other observation-based studies," in addition to her own research, disagrees. The climate is much less sensitive to carbon dioxide emissions than once assumed, she recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

Tweaking the sensitivity assumption, UN-defined "dangerous" climate change would be a century away, she found. Or later.

Bad climate science spills over to economic models that calculate a "social cost of carbon" to justify pernicious regulation. Exaggerated cost, coupled with a failure to assign benefits to the human influence on climate, inflates the energy mission of the Obama bureaucracies, beginning with the Environmental Protection Agency and continuing with the Department of Energy and the Department of Interior.

In particular, the Obama administration has proposed regulations to reduce power plant emissions by 30 percent by 2030 from their 2005 levels, which many states are now fighting.

"As currently drafted," stated the Virginia State Corporation Commission, "the carbon emission rates that EPA proposes for Virginia are arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful." The nine-state Southwest Power Pool warned EPA about "voltage collapse and blackout conditions" from premature capacity retirements.

A study by the National Economic Research Associates concluded that the private sector could see annual compliance costs around $73 billion, while utility bills in all but 7 states would rise by double-digits.

Such sweeping regulation would also deter investment in energy exploration and production, hindering the industry at exactly the time it shows the most potential. With falling prices for oil and gas, new, unfounded burdens are particularly inopportune.

Energy is one of the top three sectors in the entire country, and the potential for growth is even greater, as long as overregulation doesn't hold back progress. The current energy boom is expected to last at least a generation, and oil and gas could pay more than $125 billion in taxes by 2020. Meanwhile, unconventional oil and gas production alone could easily support an additional million jobs in the next five years.

Parenthetically, American companies have been the world leader in reducing CO2 emissions and methane releases into the atmosphere. Such emissions have fallen to their lowest level since 1994. Even the Energy Information Administration has noted that this development is directly related to the way in which natural gas is crowding out dirtier alternatives.

It's sweet, clean science that's making these gains possible -- and it's that same sweet, clean science that should be informing our environmental policy. Groundless alarmism from faulty assumptions poses a demonstrable risk to our economic climate. And the climate risks of carbon grow more questionable by the day.

Robert L. Bradley Jr.

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Barack Obama just tore up the U.S. Constitution

Barack Obama just tore up the U.S. Constitution and granted amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.

We are now facing a grave Constitutional crisis.  Barack Obama is completely out of control. 

Our ONLY hope to stop him is to force Congress to DEFUND Barack Obama’s ability to issue legal immigrant green cards. But we must move fast.

The Tea Party must demand action from Washington.  We must flood Congress with our demands to stop Obama. We must be prepared to march if they do not listen.

This is an emergency.

Our closest allies, like Senator Mike Lee from Utah, have been formulating a plan to strike back if Obama took this unprecedented action.

He’s going to try to ban Obama from spending any money to implement this amnesty. He’s going to try to prevent the White House from printing and distributing the documents the illegal aliens need if Obama’s scheme is going to work.

However, this is going to be a brutal, brutal battle.  And our allies like Senator Lee need all the Tea Party help they can get.

Obama’s actions are not only unconstitutional; they are dangerous.

Millions and millions more illegal aliens will now come pouring across the border.

They understand that Obama will grant them amnesty, too.  Some will bring diseases and all will demand welfare benefits we can’t afford.

It’s even been suggested that some of them might be terrorists if not terrorist sympathizers.

Our legislative team is right now meeting with our conservative allies on Capitol Hill.  They are promising that Tea Party volunteers will come out of the woodwork to help stop Obama’s Executive Amnesty.

So, now we must make good on that promise.

We need to set up phone banks so people can easily call every member of Congress.

We need to run ads.  We need to hold rallies and media events.

We must run a full-scale, no-holds barred national campaign to defund Obama’s illegal amnesty order.

We may even need to gather once again in Washington, D.C.

If we don’t stop Obama now, just imagine all the other illegal executive orders he could issue over the next two years!

We are not just fighting for national security anymore. Now, we are fighting for our Constitution.  This is a lawless Administration intent on ruining America.

And please pray for America.

Thank you so much for your support.

For Liberty,
Tea Party Patriots National Support Team 

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Bringing home the bacon the FairTax way

“Bringing home the bacon” is 32 percent more expensive than five years ago. For the same period, inflation hit the following: unleaded regular gas (95.56 percent), outpatient hospital services (30.71 percent), inpatient hospital services (35.82 percent) fuel (96 percent), educational supplies and books (30.85 percent) (zerohedge.com 3/06/14 quoting Consumer Price Index). Just from March to September 2014 the cost of shelter increased 3 percent, electrical services 2.8 percent and gas utilities 5.8 percent.

Have your wages increased to meet your rising costs of living?

Can your boss afford to give you a raise? Maybe not if you work for one of the 28 million small businesses in the U.S. Tom McCracken, President of National Small Business Association, said small businesses identified administration of the tax system as the biggest burden they face: matching the employees FICA tax, paying in dollars or time to administer the tax and correcting errors made. Those costs often mean less pay and fewer raises to employees.

Congressman Woodall (FairTax sponsor) said, “Payroll tax is the largest tax 80 percent of American families pay.” Passing FairTaxHR25 ends income taxation. You take home 100 percent of your paycheck. Employers have more money for raises and expansion. Learn more at www.fairtax.org. Contact your Congressman and demand support of FairTaxHR25/S122.

Beverly Martin
Fulton, Missouri

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Join the momentum

Did you make it to the Convention of States Live Streaming event? If you didn’t get to hang out with Mark Meckler, no worries – you can still check out the recording.

Read why Michael Farris says getting the government back within its Constitutional bounds will take more than elections. Nothing else could get an IRS under control that won’t even do one backup search in 5 months!

In South Carolina, the COS Project is gaining momentum one county at a time.

Join the movement – Learn more, sign the petition, and volunteer in your state!

Thank you,
The Convention of States Team

P.S. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to keep up on the latest news!

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SOS Operation 2016

With the midterm elections behind us, it is time to focus our full attention on 2016 …

As you well know, the next presidential election will have enormous impact upon our nation’s future, which is why we need to start taking action now.

Special Operations Speaks launched our newest campaign this week (and probably will be our biggest campaign ever): selecting the next Commander-in-Chief.

After two terms of easily the worst U.S. President in history, we at SOS are excited to aggressively push this vital campaign – the strength of our military and the sustenance of our liberties depend on who is seated next in the Oval Office.

This is why I am asking you to give to Special Operations Speaks today and help us reach our goal of electing the next Commander-in-Chief.

We need a fully-funded war chest for what we are planning to roll out – in Phase One we plan to run a variety of hard-hitting digital, print, and radio ads nationwide.

And that is just the beginning …

As a Political Action Committee representing over 1,000 U.S. veterans, we are committed to restoring credibility, integrity and honor to the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America.

What Obama has done to the Office he holds is totally unacceptable, and we know whoever is to replace him will have to clean up the extraordinary mess he has made – at home and abroad.

This is why we at SOS are in the early stages of our multi-phased campaign plan to help America wisely replace Barack Obama in 2016.

Special Operations Speaks recognizes America’s need for real, principled leadership at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – someone who has pledged fealty to the Constitution and will defend our nation at all costs in this very dangerous world.

But we need your assistance to keep this moving now and in the future.

With the help of committed donors, we’ve won many battles in the past – in fact, we helped seat Senators-elect Tom Cotton and Joni Ernst, and Representative-elect Brian Babin, just this past week.

Were confident about what we have planned in the pipeline, and are grateful for every patriotic American assisting us in this cause –

Thanks for standing with us.

Sincerely,

Larry Bailey
CAPT (SEAL), USN (Ret.)
Co-Founder, Special Operations Speaks

P.S. As a veteran-backed Political Action Committee, we are committed to protecting the rights, benefits and privileges earned by active-duty personnel and veterans for their honorable service to and sacrifice for our nation. Help us fight for our heroes and support Special Operations Speak today.

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Obama is right

President Obama is right in his recent immigration action. As a libertarian by philosophy and Republican by registration it is a pleasure for me to say this because there has been very little to celebrate in Obama’s first six years in office. My expectations were low because Obama is basically a socialist by philosophy but I thought that he might actually do the right thing in two important areas; ending the War on Drugs and getting our military out of the Middle East. Since he failed miserably on these two issues there has been little to celebrate. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I commend his action in his immigration decision.

Roy Miller
Phoenix

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Now you know

Now you know why they call them anchor babies.

Millions of migrants here illegally just became eligible for deferred deportation because they broke the law and had children here in the U.S.

Hopefully the power of the purse will trump the power of the pen so that the President’s actions will be reversed.  If not we face more immigration anarchy from a broken system with built in incentives.

Rusty Childress 
Phoenix

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Pleasant surprise!  

While obtaining my Colorado driver's license and auto plates, I have been in three government offices. Each had a sign prohibiting OPEN CARRY of weapons. Is this an enlightened state or what? On the other hand, pot is available everywhere, so Libertarianism has its limits. My friends in gun-friendly Arizona should get in touch with their legislators, so the state may get its head out of its ____and enact similar standards...even though my preference would be no prohibition at all on open carry. When my permanent driver's license arrives, I plan to go to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office to get my CCW permit, too, even though my Arizona permit is valid until 2018.

J-P A. Maldonado (NRA Life Member)
Lafayette, Colorado

Unprecedented assault on the Constitution

The time for action has come. In a recent statement, Tea Party Patriot's co-founder Jenny Beth Martin said: "This is an unprecedented assault on the Constitution, the separation of powers, and the rule of law in the United States. President Obama today told millions of people, 'If you broke our laws to enter this country, we will not prosecute you. We will not deport you.' Despite the President’s assurance that he is 'not an emperor,' that’s exactly what he’s acting like. He’s a former law professor. He knows the Constitution vests Congress (not the Executive branch) with authority over immigration and naturalization. He just doesn’t care. This is a thumb in the eye to the American people."

To make sure that you are informed on the border issues visit borderstatesofamerica.com to watch the Tea Party Patriots documentary, The Border States of America. 

Rep. Matt Salmon has started an effort in the House to push the Appropriations Committee to not include funding for executive amnesty in the spending bill. WE NEED YOUR HELP! Call, tweet and email your Congressmen and women to stop the funding from being included!

In Liberty,
Tea Party Patriots National Support Team

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