Senators Inhofe and Barrasso tagteam EPA Director Lisa Jackson

This was one Committee hearing of the Environmental and Public Works Committee chaired by Senator Boxer (D-CA) that I would have paid money to attend.  Seeing Senators Inhofe (R-OK) and Barrasso (R-WY) going after EPA Director Lisa Jackson would have been priceless.

Senate Democrats still don't get it yet when it comes to the environment. In the 70's it was the 'Ice Age' is coming and now for the last decade or so it is 'Global Warming' is going to destroy the world even to the point of blaming all the cold temperatures and blizzards with record snowfalls on 'Global Warming.' Makes you wonder how much money was put in the pockets of people like Al Gore who supported Global Warming as much as anyone while continuing to fly his private plane everywhere and using more electricity in his home in TN that any other homeowner by far. Typical Democrat hypocrite. By all accounts Gore made millions off his 'Global Warming' hoax. "There's a sucker born every minute" comes to mind.

Senator John Barrasso’s reminded everyone of the consensus in the 1970s that the climate had begun to cool so significantly that the world needed massive government interventions in energy production and consumption to survive it. Barrasso quotes from Newsweek and Time articles of the period. Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) attempts to ride to EPW Chair Barbara Boxer’s rescue by introducing an article that claims the global-cooling consensus of the 1970s was a “myth,” and Boxer urges Udall to add it to the record. But that’s just the set-up Jim Inhofe needed to complete this two-man demolition of “consensus” and to expose the main White House adviser on climate change as a chronic crank, as the Daily Caller reports:

The exchange started with Barrasso addressing the committee’s witness, Environmental Protection Agency Director Lisa Jackson.

“Forty years ago, the same scientists that are predicting the end of the world now from global warming were predicting the end of the world from global cooling,” said Barrasso. “So if we had committed the same amount of taxpayer resources and government manpower that the administration now wants us to commit to prevent global warming — if we’d done that prevent global cooling, we wouldn’t be the most prosperous nation on earth.” …

Still later, Inhofe got into the science debate by citing a 1971 study by Dr. John Holdren, who just so happens to be President Obama’s advisor on science technology. In that study Holdren wrote, “The effects of a new ice age on agriculture and the supportability of large human populations scarcely need elaboration here.” Holdren went on to write that the effects could “generate a tidal wave of proportions unprecedented in recorded history.”

A visibly satisfied Inhofe then turned to Boxer, and stated, “So even the president’s people are agreed with me, Madam Chairwoman!”

NOTE:  Remember — Holdren is one of the leading voice in the US on global warming now.  He’s also Obama’s climate-change czar. (Source:  Hot Air)

One of the first statewide events I attended after we were transferred to Oklahoma had Senator Jim Inhofe as one of the Speakers. Always remember how he called Global Warming 'junk science' and I burst out laughing -- now he has been proven right. Since the Democrats took over the Senate, he has been a thorn in Sen Boxer's side the whole time. It is rumored if she is on an elevator and he gets on, she gets off.

Looking forward to 2012 when Republicans take back the Senate and Senator Inhofe is once again in charge of the Environmental and Public Works Committee. The big question is 'Will Barbara Boxer stay a member of this Committee if she is no longer Chairman?' I am betting she will NEVER be the head of the Minority with Senator Inhofe as Chair.

Think the first order of business in 2013 should be to put the EPA back under a cabinet secretary so all these regulations they instituted for years that have been hurting our economy are brought under control with some common sense instead of hysterics of 'the sky is falling.' Making the EPA a separate entity was one of the worst mistakes ever that goes back to President Nixon. Senator Boxer has been pushing for the EPA to be a cabinet position and President George W. Bush agreed. Why would he agree? EPA does not need to be given more control in our opinion.

The final word from Ed Morrisey at Hot Air:

I haven’t seen that kind of a setup and payoff since Bob Hope and Bing Crosby made movies with Dorothy Lamour. That was during the period when American industry and economic expansion held the national consensus rather than Chicken Little hypotheses with chronically faulty models and contradictory results. Man, I guess I am getting old.

THE HILL: Democrat Baucus joins GOP in blasting Obama recess appointment

First the Democrats rammed through the Obamacare bill without bothering to read it and now Obama makes a recess appointment for Berwick to head this monstrosity. It isn't like this appointment was held up in Committee as he was being vetted and Sen Grassley had asked for hearings. No one had put a hold on the nomination which once again means the dictator has spoken and facts make no difference. We don't know what else to call Obama because he is not acting Presidential as he demands he gets his way and if not he will do it anyway. Obama has brought Chicago Thug politics to the White House and more and more Americans are getting fed up with this entire Obama Administration and the way they want to run Government.

As for the recess appointment of Joshua Gotbaum, now the director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which had been held up, Obama failed to mention the senator who had put a hold on Gotbaum’s nomination in May was Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, because of the way Gotbaum’s former employer Delphi Corp. dealt with pensioned former employees.

Obama's mantra now seems to be "Blame in on Republicans" even when he knows it is a lie.

This is just the latest this week after the next frontier in space is outreach to the Muslims, suing Arizona over a law that mirrors federal law and now this. What will tomorrow bring?

THE HILL: Democrat Baucus joins GOP in blasting Obama recess appointment

THE HILL By: Mike Lillis

Echoing Republicans, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Wednesday blasted the Obama administration for sidestepping Congress to install Donald Berwick atop the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

"Senate confirmation of presidential appointees is an essential process prescribed by the Constitution that serves as a check on executive power and protects Montanans and all Americans by ensuring that crucial questions are asked of the nominee — and answered,"
Baucus said in a statement.

Berwick had not been vetted by the Finance panel, nor had Baucus scheduled a hearing to examine the nominee.

Baucus's office did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Baucus is the first Democrat to criticize the recess appointment, which Republicans have blasted.
“As if shoving a trillion-dollar government takeover of healthcare down the throat of a disapproving American public wasn't enough, apparently the Obama administration intends to arrogantly circumvent the American people yet again by recess-appointing one of the most prominent advocates of rationed healthcare to implement their national plan," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement.

McConnell criticized Democrats for not holding a confirmation hearing for Berwick, and suggested the party was trying to avoid tough questions about the healthcare reform law.

"Democrats haven't scheduled so much as a committee hearing for Donald Berwick, but the mere possibility of allowing the American people the opportunity to hear what he intends to do with their healthcare is evidently reason enough for this administration to sneak him through without public scrutiny."

Berwick, a Harvard pediatrician and founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, is a revered figure within the healthcare community, winning the endorsement of a long list of stakeholders, including providers, insurers, patient advocates, labor groups and businesses. But his 2008 praise of Britain's nationalized healthcare system has riled a number of Senate Republicans in opposition to his nomination. The critics say that he would ration care in the name of cutting costs — and threaten the well-being of seniors as a result.

In a statement released Wednesday morning, President Barack Obama blamed Republicans for holding up the appointment of Berwick and two others filled as recess appointments. Obama did not offer a direct comment on Berwick.

“It’s unfortunate that at a time when our nation is facing enormous challenges, many in Congress have decided to delay critical nominations for political purposes,” Obama said. “These recess appointments will allow three extremely qualified candidates to get to work on behalf of the American people right away. With more than 180 nominees still pending before the Senate, it’s my hope that my colleagues in Congress will agree to put politics aside and move forward on these vitally important positions.”

Berwick will be able to lead CMS until the end of 2011 under the recess appointment, which negates the need for a Senate confirmation vote.

Use of recess-appointment powers is hardly unheard of; Obama filled 15 administration posts via their use in March, including Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. Becker's nomination was strongly opposed by business groups upset he would shift power to unions on the NLRB.

Republican Sens. John Barrasso (Wyo), Pat Roberts (Kan.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) have led the movement to block Berwick's appointment — with the blessing of GOP leaders. That entrenched opposition would have made it extremely difficult for Democrats to rally the 60 votes needed to push Berwick through the Senate.

Recognizing the impasse — and still stinging from the loss of Dawn Johnsen, a Justice Department nominee who removed herself from consideration in April in the face of unyielding GOP opposition — the White House on Tuesday night announced that it would appoint Berwick without Congress's input.

With the new health reform law in need of implementation, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said, someone needs to be at the helm of CMS, which has been without a permanent chief since 2006.

"There’s no question that Don Berwick is the right choice to be our next CMS administrator," Pfeiffer wrote in a blog. "He’s dedicated his career to finding ways to make our healthcare system work better for patients and cost less for taxpayers."

The Republicans have another take, with Barrasso calling the move "an insult to the American people" that makes "a mockery of [Obama's] pledge to be accountable and transparent."

McConnell agreed, saying that "Americans' worst fears" about health reform are "being realized every day." "The fact that this administration won't allow the man charged with implementing the president's plan to cut $500 billion out of Medicare to testify about his plans for the care of our nation's seniors is truly outrageous,” he said.

To view this article, click here.

Senate energy bill faces job-creation doubts

After months, Senators Kerry and Lieberman submit their energy bill and the first thing we learn is that they have overstated the amount of jobs created according to the CBO.

But a recent CBO study casts doubt on the measure's job-creating potential. The May 5 report, which analyzed how policies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions could affect employment, concluded that total employment during the next few decades "would be slightly lower than would be the case in the absence of such policies."

There is something about John Kerry being involved in an energy bill that automatically throws up red flags that just maybe this bill is more about new regulations than anything else. What was once a bi-partisan bill with Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on board as Graham pulled out several weeks ago from this bill over immigration? Something is missing from that statement but we still don't know what it is because the two are not tied together from what we can tell.

We decided to look at who are members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and Environment and Public Works Committee and discovered that neither Senator Kerry or Senator Lieberman are members of either committee. Senator Graham was not as well so originally we had three Senators not even on these committees who wrote the bill.

The timing of the BP oil spill just happens to coincide with the tightening of off shore drilling by the Kerry and Lieberman in this bill not even recognizing that BP didn't follow standard procedure. Now this group and Obama have a bully pulpit they are using against big oil in this so-called 'energy bill' they have introduced.

Since BP sold out to the environmentalist years ago, the American people deserve answers on why they changed drilling procedures on the last stages of the drilling that led to the blowout and death of 11 men. Is it possible this was supposed to be a small spill to highlight the dangers of off shore oil drilling that got out of hand completely? We hate to think so but something smells about this whole deal. First thing that Obama mentioned about this bill was the oil spill and yet some wonder why many of us are questioning what happened and why.

President Obama praised the bill, saying the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico underlined the need for energy reform.

"For too long, Washington has kicked this challenge to the next generation," Mr. Obama said in a prepared statement. "This time, the status quo is no longer acceptable to Americans."

Then Kerry weighed in as well:

Mr. Kerry said the so-called "American Power Act" would convert the nation's energy policy "from a national weakness into a national strength."

"We can finally tell the world that America is ready to take back our role as the world's clean-energy leader," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "This is a bill for energy independence after a devastating oil spill."

This bill also goes after coal once again by putting a price on carbon emissions used by coal powered plants. It is more of the cap and trade nonsense we have been hearing about for months that essentially is dead on arrival in the Senate no matter how much fanfare that Kerry and Lieberman want to trot out.

We wish someone would clue us in about this $6B annually to improve mass transportation throughout the Country. That seems such a small amount when you have such wide open spaces once you leave the east coast states. On the west coast you only have to drive 60-75 miles inland to be in fairly wide open country even in California. Is $6B a year is going to make a difference? The way government at all levels waste money we say it will make little difference if any and put the states more in debt as they will probably have to spend some of their own resources they don't have in today's economy of cut-backs.

Senator Barrasso (R-WY) is the lone Republican to serve on both the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and Environment and Public Works Committee, said the bill was deeply flawed.

"Families in Wyoming and across America have made it clear: They want more jobs, cheaper energy and lower taxes. This bill doesn't reflect these important priorities, [and] in fact it does exactly the opposite," he said.

Our money is on the side of Sen Barrasso whose comments hit at the core of the problem with the Kerry/Lieberman bill. Unlike Kerry and Lieberman, Barrasso is a member of both committees while they are a member of neither Committee. We are waiting for Senator Inhofe to weigh in on this next which should provide some interesting soundbites.

Senate energy bill faces job-creation doubts
CBO study questions predictions of a boost to the economy
May 13, 2010
By Sean Lengell

Long-awaited legislation designed to reduce fossil-fuel use, curb carbon emissions and impose tighter restrictions on offshore drilling was introduced in the Senate on Wednesday, although the bill faces scrutiny from Republicans and moderate Democrats concerned about its economic impact.

Promises that the bill — authored by Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman — would add a significant number of energy-related jobs also has come under question, most notably by the independent Congressional Budget Office.

(snip)

The Senate bill, which had been months in the making and involved hundreds of meetings, aims to cut by 2020 carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 17 percent below 2005 levels, and more than 80 percent by 2050. It also would set a price on carbon emissions for large polluters such as coal-fired power plants.

The bill calls for a single set of rules for achieving greenhouse-gas-emissions reductions instead of a patchwork of state and federal regulations. States wouldn't be allowed to operate their own "cap and trade" emissions-trading programs.

It would allow coastal states to opt out of federal drilling up to 75 miles from their shores — a concession to lawmakers worried about offshore drilling accidents in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

States could veto drilling plans of neighboring states if the Interior Department determined that a leak could cause a significant economical and environmental negative impact.

Those states that go ahead with offshore drilling would retain 37.5 percent of the federal revenue generated. Currently, royalty revenue goes to the Treasury Department, with states getting nothing.

(snip)

Excerpt: Read more at Washington Times

Senators Demand Explanation of NASA's Flawed Climate Data and the Relation to Offshore Drilling

"We shouldn't make decisions affecting millions of American jobs when the data isn't credible," Barrasso told FoxNews.com.

That quote by Senator Barrasso says it all and why there should be no Cap and Trade legislation this year or next year. It should be dead and buried and any Republican jumping on board to try and pass an energy bill on flawed data needs to see the door. No decision can be made on a bill like cap and trade or any other energy bill without validation of the data. In this case it seems all the data is pretty well junk as the some of the climate scientists at NASA tweaked some numbers to fit their political agenda.

Every person involved in this flawed data fiasco at NASA needs FIRED! Their data could cost the American people huge dollars especially with the Democrats, one independent, and one Republican trying to continue Cap and Trade legislation. Someone needs to tell Lindsey Graham to stop this nonsense now and help block the bill instead of trying to get it passed for Obama.

If you are asking why we are comparing what is going on with the flawed data being used to push Cap and Trade and Offshore Drilling, we are about to answer that question as we believe it is related.

This idea that Obama is going to open the Virginia coast and other coastal areas to possible drilling we believe is nothing more then a ruse to bring in Republicans to vote for Cap and Trade. It takes many months to years to explore, find the oil/natural gas and set up the oil platform before drilling brings in the oil or natural gas. It is not a simple build a platform and start drilling as you have to locate the source before you build the platform and go into operation of drilling and producing from an offshore well. By that time Obama can change his mind 100 times or give the oil lease to CITGO which we think is a distinct possibility since it would make Chavez very happy and then he would allow drilling. Call us very suspicious about this whole deal.

Why did the Democrats in Congress allow the offshore oil ban expire which stood for 30 years? Who was behind allowing the ban to expire in Congress? Answer that question and you will discover who is set to make millions and probably billions off the operation. Our guess is George Soros who funds a lot of Democrat activities and expects paybacks with their votes.

Remember Obama "loaning" money to Brazil's Petrobras to drill off their coast and then discovering that George Soros is a huge investor in Petrobras (Aug 19, 2009 ... Billionaire George Soros bought $811 million stake in Petrobras in the second quarter).

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars ($10B) to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan. Excerpt: Read More at Wall Street Journal

Interior Secretary Salazar has already said no offshore drilling until 2013 so what gives?

The Obama administration’s six-month delay in approving new offshore drilling leases in federal waters will become a new three-year ban, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar quietly told reporters last Friday. Which means that no new oil and gas leases will be approved during President Obama’s term even though two –thirds of the American public supports such activity, according to a December 2009 Rasmussen poll. Read more at the Washington Examiner

We suspect this offshore drilling is another phony statement by Obama to garner votes like the Executive Order on Abortion he signed which is worthless. Maybe he will prove us wrong, but we doubt that. No way is this President going to stick with drilling off Virginia when his environmentalist base gets done with him.

We believe that Obama is saying one thing to lure in Republicans while his Interior Secretary Salazar follows up with his comments. Perfect example was Obama announcement on offshore possibly being opened and the March 31st statement by Salazar:

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said Wednesday that the U.S. will not achieve energy independence through offshore drilling alone.

“We don’t believe that we are ever going to drill our way to energy independence,” said Salazar in a conference call with reporters. Source: AP

Another question that is not being answered in the current discussion is how much will the Federal Government charge for the oil leases and then tax the companies that do win the leases and drill? Does this Administration want to make the price of American crude oil sold higher then what we can import from the Middle East or Venezuela?

The last thing this economy needs is Cap and Trade. We have three Senators out in front on this fight against cap and trade -- Senators Jim Inofe (R-OK), David Vitter (R-LA), and John Barrasso (R-WY). We have to believe there are some sensible Democrats from oil/gas states like Mary Landrieu that can see through this smoke and mirrors and will join Republicans minus Lindsey Graham in defeating Cap and Trade.

If Obama truly believes that planes leave a carbon footprint then why does he fly on Air Force One so much? Why did his family fly on the taxpayer's nickle for spring break in New York? We have a recommendation: "Stay in the White House and save on the carbon footprints if you believe they are hurting the environment."

Updated March 31, 2010
Senators Demand Explanation of NASA's Flawed Climate Data
By Jeremy A. Kaplan
- FOXNews.com

Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and David Vitter (R-La.) have written a letter to NASA chief Charles Bolden demanding answers to questions surrounding newly uncovered irregularities in the space agency's climate data.



Maps from NASA's GISS reveal temperatures where no data exist, thanks to mathematical extrapolation of data.
____________________________________________________

Not everyone is sipping the global warming Kool-Aid.

Concerns about the validity of NASA's climate research are being raised following revelations that the space agency admitted its data was less accurate than other weather trackers'. Disturbed by these reports, as well as the growing Climate-gate scandal that has left global-warming theorists reeling, Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and David Vitter (R-La.) have written a letter to space agency chief Charles Bolden demanding answers.
"The American people deserve to learn the truth about the data," Barrasso told FoxNews.com, stressing the risks of basing public policy on science that remains largely undecided.

FoxNews.com has obtained an advance copy of the letter -- the third that Barrasso, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Vitter, ranking member of the Committee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, have written in the months following the Climate-gate scandal.
Writing that "American data is partially derived from the corrupted data set that has been criticized as too political and unscientific as a result of the Climate-gate scandal," the senators have invited Bolden to testify before the Senate on the credibility of NASA's data.

"Their efforts to attack the science of climate change may be politically motivated. I see nothing in the NASA/GISS data that suggests anything other than an honest effort to discover the scientific truth about the Earth's temperature record," Barrasso says.

When contacted for comment, NASA had still not received the letter, but a spokesman for the space agency was awaiting to the Senators' comments. "NASA has not received the letter," NASA spokesman Michael Cabbage said. "We look forward to working with the senators to respond to their concerns."
Read Senator Barrasso's letter to NASA

Excerpt: Read More at Fox News

related links
Achtung! Germans Giving Up on Global Warming
Embattled U.N. Climate Chief Apologizes Again, Won't Resign
NASA Data Worse Than Climate-Gate Data, Space Agency Admits