Spitting on Warm Linoleum

WorldNetDaily reports on a new climate study which will soon appear in the peer-reviewed Journal of Geophysical Research.

The study finds that Al Gore, um, overstates global warming just by a teensy bit:

A major new scientific study concludes the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on worldwide temperatures is largely irrelevant, prompting one veteran meteorologist to quip, "You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide.

I've long said that it boggles the mind how liberals can claim our SUVs are burning up the planet, yet completely discount the sun as a cause of temperature change on our world.

To put human contributions to "greenhouse gasses" into perspective so that even liberals should be able to understand it...

"Only 2.75 percent of atmospheric CO2 is anthropogenic in origin. The amount we emit is said to be up from 1 percent a decade ago. Despite the increase in emissions, the rate of change of atmospheric carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa remains the same as the long term average (plus 0.45 percent per year)," he said. "We are responsible for just 0.001 percent of this atmosphere. If the atmosphere was a 100-story building, our anthropogenic CO2 contribution today would be equivalent to the linoleum on the first floor."

Al Gore must have some mighty impressive linoleum in his house.

Interview with Senate Candidate Sam Kephart

My column in the Rapid City Journal today is on Sam Kephart, the Spearfish businessman who is running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Senator Tim Johnson.

I interviewed Kephart over lunch a few weeks back, but because several column topics arose that I didn't think had as long of a "shelf life" as Kephart's comments, I ended up running those first. I hope Sam hadn't given up on me running this piece.

What does Kephart think of Johnson? Though I'm sure in someone's definition it's an "attack," here's what Kephart had to say:

While he says Johnson is a “nice guy,” Kephart believes Johnson is a “status quo” politician who isn’t willing to display the assertive leadership necessary to fix our most pressing problems.

“We’re at a time when we need someone a little more ‘Janklow-esque’ and a little less ‘hail fellow well met,’” Kephart told me.

Sam is a little "moderate" for my political preferences, but I found him to be a very likable guy. If I had to characterize his personality with one word, it would be "positive." He's a very upbeat, optimistic, hopeful man with an infectious good nature.

He's not nearly as conservative as I'd like on things like abortion, but he is very much in favor of a strong, no-nonsense defense of our country.

You can read today's issues-oriented column here, and hopefully as I have time, I'll share more details of the interview that I didn't have room for in the column in future postings.

'Seeing South Dakota' column has had a lot of stuff in it over the years

By Gordon Garnos

AT ISSUE: The letter started, "Dear Mr. Garnos, I have been reading your column for quite a while in my hometown newspaper and have never understood where the title comes from. You seldom write much about actually seeing South Dakota. I'm always expecting you to write about some places in the state that would be interesting to visit..." It was back in '02 when the column was started. It was right after I retired after nearly 40 years with the Watertown Public Opinion. A weekly newspaper publisher, a good friend, asked me to write a column on South Dakota issues. In other words, "take a good, hard look at our state," and, thus the title, "Seeing South Dakota." The column is now in several weekly papers across the state. By the way, the letter was from California. (Full Article)

Why Libs Hate Talk Radio

Here's an illustration of why liberals (in both parties) would like to bring back the "Fairness Doctrine" to emasculate talk radio.

From the Politico:

“What listeners of the conservative talk radio media were hearing, in large part, was that the legislation itself was little more than an ‘amnesty bill’ for illegal immigrants, a phrase loaded with political baggage,” it says.

The study by the nonpartisan Project for Excellence in Journalism quantifies what White House and Capitol Hill phone lines and e-mail inboxes already indicated: Talk radio focused on the immigration debate more intensely than the mainstream media did from April to June.

Talk radio is being credited with bringing down the amnesty bill...and I would have to concur. The "mainstream" media certainly wasn't doing it's job; it was too busy using its stories to shelter illegal aliens.

Montana is Canada's Health Care Backup

The Calgary Herald has a story about the birth of quadruplets that the model socialist health care system in Canada just couldn't handle.

There was no room at any other Canadian neonatal intensive care unit, forcing CHR officials to look south of the border.

Jepp was transported to Benefis hospital in Great Falls last Friday -- making her the fifth Alberta woman to be transferred south of the border this year because of neonatal shortages in Calgary.

The Daily Mail blog has this observation from Don Surber:

There is a difference between health care and health insurance. In capitalistic America, the concentration is on health. In socialistic Canada, the emphasis is on paying the bills. The story ended with how much the American hospital charged. Looks like a quarter-million bucks for a 5-day stay. Given that it was the quadruple birth of 2-pound babies two months premature, I’d say it was a bargain.

Just remember, though, that Canada’s backup system is in Montana. Americans spend 15% of their income on health care. That’s why Great Falls has enough neo-natal units to handle quadruple births — and a “universal health” nation doesn’t.

After all, they didn’t fly Mrs. Jepp to Cuba, did they?

HT to World Magazine blog.