NYC Summer Very Cool

The New York Times reports that New York City has had a very cold summer. They say:

For just the second time in 140 years of record keeping, the temperature failed to reach 90 in either June or July. The daily average last month was at or below normal every day but two. The temperature broke 80 on 16 days in New York — one more day than in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Imagine that - fifteen July days that did not exceed 80 degrees. A chilly summer makes 'global warming' solutions a very difficult sell.

Quote of the Day

Car salesman Rob Bojaryn, upon hearing that the government's "cash for clunkers" program was being shut down after only 6 days, for lack of money:

If they can't administer a program like this, I'd be a little concerned about my health insurance.

Who says car salesmen never tell the truth? You can find the CBS News story here.

Dems Form Circular Firing Squad

Democrats developed an interesting strategy in the last couple of election cycles. They ran relatively conservative candidates in districts where Republicans had held sway for a decade or more. The strategy "worked" in the sense that they elected more Democrats. These conservative Democrats are known as the Blue Dog Democrats.

Now, however, Democrats are discovering the downside of this big tent strategy. The new conservative Democrats, understanding what it will take to be reelected in districts that lean to the right, sometimes refuse to go along with the rest of the party.

Intra-party conflict infuriates the more liberal elements of the Democratic party. It also provides an opportunity for minority Republicans to have some power, by allying with the Blue Dogs.

Here we see the downside of pursuing a "big tent" philosophy: it includes in the party people with whom we do not agree. The Republicans have experienced this phenomenon with the two Senators from Maine, who call themselves Republicans but often vote with the Democrats.

Isn't politics fun?

Headed Down

Rasmussen Reports' Presidential Approval Index for President Obama has hit a new low of -12. As Scott Rasmussen concludes:

That’s the lowest rating yet recorded for President Obama.

The Presidential Approval Index is computed by subtracting the percentage of likely voters Strongly Disapproving (40%) from the percentage Strongly Approving (28%).

Go here to see the graph reflecting the trend in this statistic since the January 20 inauguration. The Index has dropped from +28 to -12 in just over 6 months.

Organic Foods Not Healthier

A study commissioned by the British government's Food Standards Agency, which systematically reviewed the findings of 162 scientific studies, finds organic foods are not healthier. Reuters indicates the meta-analytic study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The Reuters article summarizing the findings can be found in the Ottawa Citizen. The article doesn't indicate whether organic foods taste better; I'd like to see the results of a double-blind study of that question.

Go Figure....

One result of a New York Times/CBS News poll, reported in The New York Times, has got me shaking my head:

In one finding, 75 percent of respondents said they were concerned that the cost of their own health care cost would go up if the government did not create a system of providing health care for all Americans. But 77 percent said they were concerned the cost of health care would go up if the government did create such a system.

In other words, people believe health care is a "lose/lose" proposition; costs will go up regardless. On the other hand, for most of us with health care we like, we understand quality will go down if we get a single payer (i.e., government) system.

Support Declining for Obama Health Plan

The Wall Street Journal reports the results of a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll focused on the Obama health care plan:

In mid-June, the public was evenly divided when asked whether it thought Mr. Obama's health plan was a good idea or bad idea. The new poll, conducted July 24-27, found 42% calling it a bad idea versus 36% who said it was a good idea. Among those with insurance, the portion calling the plan a bad idea rose to 47% from 37%.

People are starting to focus on what the Obama plan will do to their own health care, and the results are poor:

Only two in 10 people predicted the quality of their own care would improve under the Obama plan, and just 15% of those with private insurance thought it would. Twice as many overall, and three times as many with private coverage, predicted their own care would get worse.

As the economy starts to pull out of the recession, people will become less concerned about losing their health care in a layoff or reduction in force. Go see the WSJ article, there is more good stuff there.

Quote of the Day

Australian geologist Ian Plimer, author of Heaven and Earth -- Global Warming: The Missing Science, quoted in The Vancouver Sun, on the topic of global warming:

Purging humankind of its supposed sins of environmental degradation has become a religion with a fanatical and often intolerant priesthood, especially among the First World urban elites.

That explains why I'm not a global warming true believer. I'm certainly First World, and possibly elite, but definitely not urban. Living in the country makes clear to me how little lasting impact on nature we really have.

Quote of the Day

Columnist and political advisor Dick Morris, recently speaking to Sean Hannity on the latter's Fox News program, concerning what Morris learned about Obama from Obama's comments about the Cambridge police. Morris' words, as reported on the blog newsrealblog.com:

Before the election, I came on this show when you kept talking about Rev. Wright, and I kept saying he and Obama were two different people.

I think I was wrong.

That calls for a rim shot, mister drummer.

Chicago Has Cold Summer

See this CBS News item about Chicago's cold summer.

The National Weather Service says 2009 has seen the coldest July since the official recording station was moved away from the lakefront in 1942. (snip) There have also been far more days than usual with high temperatures less than 80 degrees this year. (snip) We have also failed to reach 90 degrees at any time this month.

There you go, global warming true believers, another scorcher in the record books. Tell me again why we aren't worrying about global cooling?

Fox: Congress Disliked

Fox News reports that Congress isn't very popular:

A FOX News poll released Monday shows that 30 percent of voters say they approve of the job Congress is doing, while twice as many -- 60 percent -- disapprove. In May, 41 percent approved and 49 percent disapproved.

Note which groups are responsible for the change.

The drop in Congress' approval rating comes almost entirely from Democrats and independents. (snip) Disapproval among Republicans is essentially unchanged at 76 percent.

Last time I checked the Congress was controlled by Democrats.

CBO: Health Plan Won't Save

First, know that Politico.com is a very professional website that tries to be non-partisan but, if anything, leans slightly left. Second, know that the CBO or Congressional Budget Office is non-partisan but responsive to a Democrat-controlled Congress.

Knowing those two things, see this Politico.com piece that reports the CBO's analysis of the part of the President's health care plan that is designed to save money to pay for insuring the uninsured. Politico summarizes:

For the second time this month, congressional budget analysts have dealt a blow to the Democrat's health reform efforts, this time by saying a plan touted by the White House as crucial to paying for the bill would actually save almost no money over 10 years.

In other words, those of us who have income or savings will pay for the health care of those who, through improvidence, misfortune or sloth, have neither. Did anybody seriously think it could be otherwise in the redistributive world of Obama?

Obama's Negative Double Digits

The Rasmussen Report Presidential Approval Index, a statistic with which our readers are familiar, just hit negative double digits. It stands at -11. The poll is calculated by subtracting the percentage of likely voters who Strongly Disapprove of the President's performance from the percentage who Strongly Approve. The most recent calculation is based on findings of Strongly Approve = 29% and Strongly Disapprove = 40%. Go here to consult the most recent Rasmussen results.

Rasmussen believes the sharp increase in Strongly Disapprove is tied to the President's recent televised press conference. That's the press conference in which Obama characterized the Cambridge, MA, police as acting stupidly.

Criticizing our police may be popular with certain segments of the population, but isn't at all popular with most of us. Yesterday we commented in more detail on the difficult role of the police.

A Cold July

Most of the United States is having a cold July, the exceptions are AZ, NM, and TX. The weather bloggers at AccuWeather.com report lots of new low highs for July. It is hard to sell 'global warming' when the summers are cold.

L'Affaire Gates

Being a police officer is one tough job. I'm using the term "police" here to include the entire law enforcement community: several kinds of feds, state troopers, as well as county sheriffs and city police too.

Imagine a life in which you deal daily with society's violent misfits and losers, and the upstanding people you meet at work are mostly victims and other police. Add to this the complication of being on round-the-clock shift work, which makes maintaining relationships with 8-to-5 'civilians' difficult. For these and other reasons, sociologists tell us police mostly have other police as friends.

So, these men and women have a hard and somewhat isolating job, keeping society safe for the rest of us. Our police sure as heck don't need the President making that job harder; something that just happened with l'affaire Gates.

We need to cut the police some slack, instead of the other way 'round.

Steyn on Climate Change

Go see this quite short Mark Steyn piece on climate change, in the National Review's The Corner column for July 25, 2009. He pretty much destroys the Algore global warming true believer viewpoint. I like his conclusion:

In the mid-nineties, which climatologist and which model predicted the cooling trend of the turn of the century and the oughts? And, if they didn't, on what basis do you trust their claims for 2050 or 2100?

'Nuff said.

Obama Index Free Fall

The Rasmussen Report Presidential Approval Index continues to fall. The most recent report finds the Index at -9. Strongly Approve continues at 30% while Strongly Disapprove has climbed to 39%. As Rasmussen says:

That figure—39%--is now at the highest level yet recorded. As a result, the overall Approval Index has fallen to the lowest level yet recorded for this President.

Can you say the words "empty suit?"

Quote of the Day

John Hinderaker, one of the three authors of the PowerLineBlog, musing about Obama's declining popularity:

Having seen Obama in action for six months, the judgment top Republicans are making is that he is likely to be a one-termer.

COTTonLINE drew the same conclusion, and then wondered to what extent it reflected our wishful thinking.

Travel Blogging XV

Dateline: Great Falls, Montana. A quick amendment to my comment about there being few mobile homes in Alberta. Leaving Lethbridge this morning we passed one active mobile home lot and another that may still be semi-active. So, if people are selling them somebody must be buying them. However, driving south from Calgary to Lethbridge I saw very few. For whatever reason they are less popular in Alberta than in the States.

Once again we had a trouble-free passage through customs. I hear horror stories but they haven't happened to us, I am pleased to say. Unlike when we crossed this border a few years ago, there was no concern about our having meat carrying "mad cow" disease.

You may remember that on our way north I reported seeing a thousand or more empty flatcars designed to carry shipping containers parked on the tracks between Great Falls and Helena. Today, on the rail line which parallels the Canadian road we drove south from Lethbridge we saw an engine pulling a whole line of such empties north. I wonder if this means the economy is picking up?

Just because the economy is doing better doesn't mean unemployment will drop anytime soon. The economics boffins say it will be another year or more before employment rises, employment being what they call a "lagging indicator." Firms put existing workers on overtime for some months before finally hiring new workers.

Krauthammer on Health Care

Go see this RealClearPolitics article by Dr. Charles Krauthammer, a physician in his former life, about the patent phoniness of the Obama health care proposals. His basic point: you cannot deliver more health care for less money, particularly if you do nothing about malpractice lawsuit reform.