Month: May 2015

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How to lose a nation

The United States is not a nation based on a common ethnicity. With citizens from across the globe, its people are united not by race by a devotion to values and laws deriving from a history of a struggle for freedom and the fulfillment of the principles of the Constitution.  But what if knowledge of that history was lost or distorted? What if the citizens lacked accurate knowledge of their Constitution?

That may well be occurring. According to the Nations Report Card.Gov Proficiency in US history among America’s eighth graders is a dismal 18%. Civics knowledge is a horrendous 23%.  Geography is not far behind at 27%.

It’s not just ignorance of the facts as a whole.  There is disturbing evidence that outright lies defaming America are being taught in our schools.

In a Wall Street Journal article,  Lynn Cheney describes a New Advanced Placement History Exam that describes President Reagan’s “tear Down that wall” speech, in which he urged the Soviet Union to remove the Berlin Wall, as evidence of “increased assertiveness and bellicosity” on the part of the US.

Eagle Forum reports that:  “The most widely used history textbook in U.S. public schools is A People’s History of the United States by the late Howard Zinn. It has sold a million and a half copies since it was published in 1980. It is required reading in many high schools and colleges…

“This history textbook by Howard Zinn is a very leftwing version of U.S. history, full of … propaganda. It is based on the thesis that America is not a republic but an empire controlled by a few white men. Its heroes are anti-establishment protestors…

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Deeply biased views against the American experience are widespread in U.S. schools. The Blaze reports that “In many Texas public schools, the Boston Tea Party is now being taught as an example of an act of terrorism.

“Here’s an excerpt from a Texas school system’s World History / Social Studies lesson plan. It purports to be helping teachers become more efficient, but many people are upset with the content of the lesson and the lack of parental review. In this specific instance, teachers are instructed to read the story to their classes as if it were a news report that had just happened within the past hour:

“News report: New Act of Terrorism: A local militia, believed to be a terrorist organization, attacked the property of private citizens today at our nation’s busiest port. Although no one was injured in the attack, a large quantity of merchandise, considered to be valuable to its owners and loathsome to the perpetrators, was destroyed. The terrorists, dressed in disguise and apparently intoxicated, were able to escape into the night with the help of local citizens who harbor these fugitives and conceal their identities from the authorities. It is believed that the terrorist attack was a response to the policies enacted by the occupying country’s government. Even stronger policies are anticipated by the local citizens.”

There is some push back against this disturbing trend. In one Midwestern state, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice  Sandra Day O’Connor and former Senator John Glenn are working together to launch iCivics Ohio  to provide an accurate understanding of the American experience.

But institutional efforts will be insufficient.  This is a task that should, indeed, must be undertaken by every parent concerned for the future of the nation. Reviewing the textbooks, lessons and other material provided to their children to uncover anti-American bias, politically motivated lies about U.S. history, and blatant propaganda is an essential endeavor.

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Progressive Mayors, Decaying Cities

New York City Mayor Michael de Blasio travels from the confines of the Big Apple and his duties as chief executive of America’s largest city to advocate for a nationwide progressive agenda.

As outlined in the Huffington Post, his priorities are:

  1. Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
  2. Reform the National Labor Relations Act to enhance workers’ rights.
  3. Pass comprehensive immigration reform.
  4. Oppose trade deals that “move power to corporations at the expense of American jobs, workers’ rights, and the environment.”
  5. Pass national paid sick leave
  6. Pass national paid family leave.
  7. Make pre-K, after-school programs and child care universal
  8. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit.
  9. Allow students to refinance student loan debt.
  10. Close the carried interest loophole.She has said she wants to close it.
  11. End tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas
  12. Implement the “Buffett Rule” so millionaires pay their fair share.
  13. Closing the CEO tax loophole that allows corporations to take advantage of “performance pay” write-offs.

Noticeably absent in that list are key topics that should be the concern of a big city mayor, such as combating local crime, reducing unemployment, and easing traffic, all significant problems that should command his attention.

Murders in New York City are up 20% in 2015, according to the New York City Police Department.  

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Two-thirds of student test-takers in grades 3–8 didn’t meet state standards on the English language arts (ELA) and math tests,

New York ranks among the worst U.S. cities in traffic congestion .

And then there is the issue of taxes.  In addition to New York State’s already high taxes, the city itself imposes a personal income tax. As noted in Forbes,  “Very few other U.S. cities assess individual income taxes and/or business income taxes. (Pennsylvania and Ohio have local school taxes on earned income but the rates are fairly low, except in Philadelphia.) Many investment advisers and professionals moved their residences and businesses to Connecticut where the top tax rate is 6.5%, saving 10% of their highest-marginal income.” If you own an unincorporated business, there is a special tax on that, too.

Some of the Mayor’s national ideas are harmful to his constituents. Allowing more illegal immigrants into the nation at time of high unemployment places downward pressure on wages. Increasing the minimum wage encourages companies to move their operations overseas.

Emphasizing spending on “progressive” issues at the expense of basic services such as having a sufficient number of police on patrol threatens to make municipalities unsafe. The residents of cities run by “progressive” mayors are noticing.

Joel Gilbert, who researched cities run by progressives, described what he found in a WND interview: “In my journey through America …I met a lot of people living in horrible conditions, particularly African Americans, who I was surprised to learn were now staunch conservatives as a result of living in progressive-controlled cities like Detroit, Chicago and Newark,” Gilbert said…After 60 years of progressive politics in their cities, they understood very clearly that they had not been progressing but rather regressing all this time, and they were mad.”

Indeed, a recent Quinnipiac poll notes that de Blasio’s overall approval ratings have dropped to 44%, a particularly low number considering his landslide victory in the last election.

Here is a breakdown of the ten cities with populations above 250,000 that have borne the brunt of long-term rule by progressives, as outlined by Frontpage:

St. Louis’s poverty rate is 26 percent overall; Newark, New Jersey’s poverty rate is 26.1; The residents of Cincinnati, OH are afflicted by a poverty rate of 27.4 percent overall; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 28 percent of city residents overall live in poverty; Milwaukee, Wisconsin sports a poverty rate of 29.9 percent overall; In Buffalo, New York, 29.9 percent of residents overall are living below the poverty level; El Paso, Texas, one-in-four live in poverty;  In Cleveland, Ohio, 36 percent of its residents live in poverty; And then, there is Detroit, Michigan, in a class by itself, with 36.2 percent of residents living in poverty; Camden, New Jersey rounds out the top ten, with a poverty rate of 42.5 percent.

The National Review notes that American cities “are by and large …monopolies generally dominated by the so-called progressive wing of the [Democrat] party. The results have been catastrophic, and not only in poor black cities such as Baltimore and Detroit. Money can paper over some of the defects of progressivism in rich, white cities such as Portland and San Francisco, but those are pretty awful places to be non-white and non-rich, too: Blacks make up barely 9 percent of the population in San Francisco, but they represent 40 percent of those arrested for murder, and they are arrested for drug offenses at ten times their share of the population.”

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Kerry fails in Russian visit

Secretary Kerry met with President Putin, Foreign Minister Lavrov, and other Russian officials in Sochi on May 12. The tenor of his statements about the meeting tells much about what is wrong in the way the White House views relations with Moscow.

Regarding Iran, Secretary Kerry said, “Russia and the United States and our other P5+1 partners are working very hard through the nuclear negotiations with Iran. We are now coming into the last six weeks of those negotiations. And we all understand that unity has been key to bringing us where we are today. It is also going to be the key to completing a good deal and to our being confident that that deal will be able to be well-implemented. The United States and Russia remain closely aligned in this effort, as do the rest of our P5+1 allies and friends, EU partners.”

The reality is, Russia has been a major problem, not a partner for peace, in this effort, and for Secretary Kerry to say otherwise is ludicrous. Moscow has provided Tehran with nuclear technology. It is in discussions to provide anti-aircraft weaponry to Iran to prevent any military move to eliminate nuclear weaponry when Iran, almost inevitably, gains atomic weaponry.

The leaders also discussed regional issues including the situation in Ukraine, where Secretary Kerry reiterated the United States’ view that the Minsk agreements are “absolutely, in our judgment, by far the best path, the principal path, to peace, and those agreements must be fully implemented, the sooner the better.” Secretary Kerry underscored, “If and when Minsk is fully implemented, it is clear the U.S. and EU sanctions can begin to be rolled back.”
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The Minsk agreements essentially formalizes the Russian invasion of Ukraine and does nothing to restore Ukraine’s lost territory.  This failure only encourages future invasions of other nations by Moscow.  Russia’s intentions to do are evidenced by their increased air and submarine incursions onto European territory. Many have compared the Minsk accords with the Munich agreement which gave Hitler the confidence to commence the Second World War.

Secretary Kerry concluded, “This was an important visit at an important time, and we didn’t come here with an expectation that we were going to define a specific path forward with respect to one crisis or another, or have a major breakthrough. We came here purposefully to have a very full and open dialogue with Russia’s leaders, the kind of dialogue that is absolutely essential in making progress on the many challenges that we face today.”

Not mentioned by Secretary Kerry were the growing patrols of nuclear bombers into Alaskan airspace, the patrols by Russian submarines along the U.S. Gulf Coast, or President Putin’s massive arms buildup. Moscow’s reopening of cold war bases in Cuba, along with its growing military ties with Venezuela and Nicaragua was also apparently ignored.

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Unprecedented Reductions to National Security

Although Republicans have added dollars to the President’s defense budget proposal,it still represents a 2016 defense  budget that has been slashed by over $100 billion under his administration.

It comes at a time when Russia has dramatically ramped up its military spending, for both conventional and nuclear weapons.  Indeed, Moscow, for the first time in history, now leads America in strategic nuclear weapons, and maintains a ten to one advantage in tactical nuclear weapons. It has returned to cold war bases, including those in the Western Hemisphere.

Additionally, China has become a military superpower, equalling American technology on land, sea, and space, and with growing numbers.

Asymmetric challenges from terrorists and the growing military power of Iran and North Korea add to the threat level.

Contrary to popular belief, only about one-sixth of  federal spending is military related. As noted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities  “18 percent of the budget, or $615 billion, paid for defense and security-related international activities. The bulk of the spending in this category reflects the underlying costs of the Defense Department. The total also includes the cost of supporting operations in Afghanistan and other related activities, described as Overseas Contingency Operations in the budget, funding for which totaled $92 billion in 2014.”

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Those seeking to reduce the defense budget, despite the threats, maintain that the U.S. spends more than its adversaries.   However, the comparison is inaccurate. As a democracy with an open press, American defense spending is widely and fairly accurately reported.  In nations such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, the publicly stated military budgets substantially understate actual spending. In China, for example, the People’s Liberation Army receives vast sums from profits from interests it holds in allegedly private companies.

Comparative cost factors also come into play. The Council on Foreign Relations  notes that “If military budgets were compared in a way that reflected varying personnel costs, U.S. military preeminence would appear smaller than it does using straightforward comparisons based on market exchange rates.”

As the nuclear threat to the American homeland has increased dramatically, programs to protect from an atomic assault have been cut or eliminated.  According to the Heritage Foundation, “President Obama has cancelled some of the most promising missile defense programs, including the Multiple Kill Airborne Laser, and Kinetic Energy Interceptor…the Administration cancelled  the SM-3 Block IIB interceptor that was supposed to protect the U.S. from a long range ballistic missile threat…”

Defense spending should be grounded on real need based on the actual threat level, not on competing political considerations or ideology. Unfortunately, that is not how the current White House has proceeded.

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Left, Right unite to oppose TPP

An unusual alliance of progressives and conservatives, consumer advocates, unions and small businesses successfully sounded an alarm about the Trans Pacific Partnership legislation [TPP] so vigorously advocated by the White House. Members of the President’s own party were instrumental in at least temporarily stopping passage of the measure.

A particular sore point has been the secretiveness surrounding the proposed law, with the precise language of the legislation kept from the public and even staff members of the elected officials who are asked to vote on it.

The White House maintains that:

“TPP will be the greenest trade agreement in history — protecting oceans and combating wildlife trafficking, illegal fishing, and illegal logging across a vast swath of the globe. The countries in the agreement produce $2 out of every $5 of global economic output. And big economies have big impacts on the environment, so this standard really matters.

“TPP will also raise labor standards across our trading partners and help raise wages here at home. That’s because enforceable requirements on minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health are at the center of the agreement. And that’s because trade jobs are good jobs, paying up to 18 percent more on average than non-trade jobs.

“TPP will be good for our national security, too — increasing America’s presence in the fastest-growing region of the world and bolstering the economic vitality at home that underpins our military strength. Failure to get TPP over the finish line could relegate us to a future where we sit on the sidelines, letting China write rules with lower standards that diminish our relevance in Asia.”

Senator Jeff Sessions  (R-Alabama) states that “The White House still refuses to answer even the most basic questions about [the TPP].

“These are the questions the White House will not answer:

  • Will it increase or reduce the trade deficit, and by how much?
  • Will it increase or reduce employment and wages, and by how much?
  • Will you make the “living agreement” section public and explain fully its implications?
  • Will China be added to the TPP?
  • Will you pledge not to issue any executive actions, or enter into any future agreements, impacting the flow of foreign workers into the United States?

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“Proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership want us to fast-track it before we know what’s in it. They want us to trust that enforcement will occur, even though it has not in the past. They want us to trust that the President won’t utilize this broad new avenue to expand foreign worker programs, even though his record demonstrates that he will. They want us to trust that this time is different.

“One of the most important areas TPP proponents ignore is the issue of non-tariff barriers. The barriers to U.S. exports in this century are increasingly not conventional tariffs, but non-tariff barriers like currency manipulation, backdoor taxes, and a variety of state-sanctioned obstacles to market entry. Under the TPP, the U.S. will lower its tariffs but competitor industries will retain their substantial non-tariff barriers. This is what Nucor Steel’s Chairman Emeritus, Daniel DiMicco, means when he talks about “unilateral American trade disarmament” and the “enablement of foreign mercantilism.” In other words, poorly-negotiated trade deals, instead of opening new markets for our industries, tilt the playing field even further in their competitors’ direction. The result is not freer global trade, but more mercantilist market domination.

“Millions of Americans, and their communities, have lost good-paying jobs because of our government’s chronic failure to confront currency manipulation and a variety of other illicit trading practices. Perhaps that is why Americans, by a 70-30 margin, say the last two decades of trade deals have benefitted other countries rather than our own. What message should that send Washington?…

“The recent trade deal with our strong ally South Korea, we were told, would boost our exports to them by more than $10 billion, but in reality increased them by less than $1 billion—while South Korea’s imports to us soared more than $12 billion, widening our trade gap with them considerably.

“While fast-track provides negotiating objectives, they are not enforceable in any meaningful way: if the Trans-Pacific Partnership or any future trade deal ignores those objectives, it is unlikely Congress will do anything about it. Practically speaking, the negotiating objectives operate as mere suggestions. And, as the Congressional Research Service explains, the fast-tracked deal “would supersede existing U.S. law” and result in the U.S. being “bound by international law,” arbitrated by a global tribunal.

The rare agreement between groups supporting nearly polar opposite perspectives highlights the numerous concerns and unanswered questions about Mr. Obama’s trade goals.  Extensive inquiries have been raised by many about the reality behind the President’s descriptions.

Salon points out:

“Saying, as the White House has, that the deal would support ‘an additional 650,000 jobs’ is not true. This figure came from a hypothetical calculation of a report by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, which the Institute itself said was an incorrect way to use their data. ‘We don’t believe that trade agreements change the labor force in the long run,’ said Peter Petri, author of the report, in a fact check of the claim…

“Recent trade deals have in fact increased the trade deficit…

“On the controversial topic of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), where corporations can sue sovereign governments for monetary damages for violating trade agreements that hurt the company’s “expected future profits,” the White House has engaged in a shell game. They say, “No trade agreement is going to force us to change our laws.” But the point of a corporation suing the United States or any trade partner is to put enough financial pressure on a government to force them to alter the law themselves. So ISDS doesn’t “cause” a change in law only in the narrowest sense. Even third-party countries have curtailed regulations in reaction to ISDS rulings, as New Zealand did with their cigarette packaging law, awaiting the outcome of a dispute between the tobacco industry and Australia (a suit that continues despite an initial victory for Australia)…

“The White House assumes that the only thing America cares about with ISDS is the upsetting of our own laws. So they’ve stressed that the U.S. has never lost an ISDS case. This is irrelevant. What ISDS does is offer bailout insurance policy to multinational corporations. If they run into discrimination or regulatory squeezing by a foreign government, they can use an extra-judicial process to recoup their investment. Workers screwed over by trade agreements have no ability to sue governments; only corporations get this privilege…

“Weak ‘rule of origin’ guidelines could allow China to import goods into TPP member countries without any tariffs, while freed from following any TPP regulations…”

Public Citizen believes the measure would encourage an exodus of American jobs, undermine food safety by requiring the import of products that don’t meet U.S. safety standards and impose limits on food labeling, undermine efforts to contain medicine costs, undermine Wall Street regulation, curtail internet freedom, and provide more power to international corporations.

Phyllis Schlafly, writing in WND  worries that “TPP will betray us….The text of TPP emphasizes that it is a “living agreement.” Translated out of bureaucratese code language, that means the text of TPP can be changed in major and minor ways by executive action after Congress OKs the document. …TPP will facilitate the expanded movement of foreign workers into the United States. TPP opens the door to more waves of illegal immigrants and allows Obama to make future changes without any congressional oversight or expiration date. Kevin L. Kearns of the U.S. Business and Industry Council calls this “another power grab” that will let Obama and his employees rule by executive action. By not calling TPP a treaty (even though it involves 12 countries on three continents), the globalists induce the Senate to abandon the 67-vote threshold for treaty ratification …

“Fast track turns over some of our authority as a sovereign nation to international authorities, which is a major longtime goal of the internationalists, the so-called kingmakers, and big business lobbyists. The code language that hides this in TPP is the statement that calls it a “living agreement.” This means Obama and his executive-branch pals can take all kinds of actions Article I of the U.S. Constitution reserves to the legislative branch, such as ratifying or changing a treaty and controlling immigration…”

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Coal question reviewed

The NY Analysis of Policy & Government reviews the questions surrounding This viagra sale canada curative agent is not an aphrodisiac. In my career span of 25 years as NLP trainer, I have observed several mistakes being made by NLP students which have given viagra no doctor them repeated failures and not gaining their full potential. Often an autistic child has problems in learning in normal ways viagra ordering and has problems in articulation. Obesity Affects the Uterine cialis tadalafil canada Lining: An obese woman is at a greater risk of developing abnormal thickening of the uterus lining. the future use of coal.  Read the report, below.

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The cost of cutting coal

On April 8,  Bloomberg Philanthropies announced that  it will invest an additional $30 million in the Sierra Club to secure the replacement of half the nation’s coal fleet by 2017 with clean energy.

How feasible is the goal of replacing coal with renewable energy?  How necessary is the move?

John Miller, writing in The Energy Collective notes that “Coal electric power generation is under enormous regulatory pressure to substantially reduce stack emissions.  The EPA requires huge reductions in most coal plant emissions including carbon dioxide (CO2).  As a result, most new coal power plant projects are being cancelled and many existing coal plants are expected to shutdown prematurely… Analysis of DOE/EIA evaluations of proposed Clean Energy regulations find extremely complex solutions involving expansion of all types of clean energy.  In addition, the Federal solutions to replacing coal include very complex systems of emissions/clean energy credits, establishing a carbon credit system (cap-and-trade) and purchasing substantial world market carbon credits.  My personal review and analysis of these proposed Clean Energy regulations and Government Agency’s evaluations finds the claimed compliance costs to be significantly underestimated.”

Armond Cohen, Executive Director of the Clean Air Task Force, wrote on the Penn energy site:  “Coal will be central to economic modernization in the developing world, where most energy supply will be built in the next three decades. Coal will also have a significant residual role in much of the OECD. Coal is not going away. We need to begin to use it without emitting significant carbon dioxide, and quickly. If we don’t, the risk to global climate is immense, and likely irreversible. It’s that straightforward. People who wish otherwise, and simply hope for the demise of coal, are not facing the facts.”

Can coal be replaced by renewables?

Christopher Helman, writing in Forbes, points out the challenges: “ Even after a decade of rampant growth solar energy still barely moves the needle in the U.S. energy mix. In fact, solar merely equals the amount of electricity that the nation generates by burning natural gas captured from landfills. And it’s only slightly more meaningful than the 7.3 million Mwh we get from burning human waste strained out of municipal sewer systems.

“Indeed, when you factor in all the sources of energy consumed in this country, captured solar power amounts to well less than 1 quadrillion Btu out of an annual total of 96.5 quadrillion.

“The biggest sources are the old standbys. Oil still reigns supreme at 36 quadrillion Btu, natural gas at 26 quads, nuclear 8. Hydropower and biomass bring up the rear at 2.6 and 2.7 quads. Wind is just 1.5 quads. And coal — the great carbon-belching demon of the global energy mix — its contribution is 19 quads. That’s nearly 8 times all the nation’s wind and solar generation combined.

“The assumption, by policy makers like President Obama, is that the country can cut carbon emissions by closing coal plants, while making up for the lost electricity by burning more natural gas and building more solar and wind. Indeed, natural gas has taken a bite out of coal. In 2013,coal production from U.S. mines fell to 995.8 million short tons. The last time it was that low was in the late 1980s. Coal production peaked in 2008 at 1.17 billion short tons…

“Natural gas prices have already jumped three-fold in two years. And coal-to-gas switching has already reversed. From making up 40% of the national electricity mix in the first quarter of 2013, coal’s share rose to 41.4% in the first quarter of 2014. Natural gas dipped from 25.6% of total power generation a year ago, to 23.8% in the first quarter of 2014.

Alyson Kenward, writing in climatecentral.org, Notes that “Ignoring the costs, here are some of the ways the U.S. could replace enough coal power to meet an 80 percent clean energy sources target by 2035.

“Build 243 hydroelectric dams that have Hoover Dam’s generating capacity(that’s 10 new dams a year, on average). Mind you, that means we would also need 243 mighty rivers like the Colorado that don’t already have dams on them. There aren’t enough rivers left in the U.S. to support that number of large dams, and smaller dams alone can’t generate enough electricity to replace coal power plants.

  • We could build 194,900 wind turbines, each having 2 megawatts (MW) of capacity (a typical size). That would mean building more than 8,000 new turbines each year, or 22 turbines a day, every day, for 24 years. Even if this is doable, we’d also have to overhaul the U.S. electrical grid, and add a way to store electricity, in order to safely and reliably use the intermittent flow of electricity that comes from wind turbines.
  • We could build 64 new nuclear power plants the size of New York’s Indian Pointpower station. Since theFukushima disaster in Japan last spring, however, that kind of construction rate, with nearly four nuclear plants being built each year, no longer seems realistic. And keep in mind, the U.S. hasn’t built a new nuclear plant in over 20 years.
  • We could build 10,200 solar energy farms — but each one would have to be the size of Nevada’s Copper Mountain solar array, which is currently the country’s largest. The amount of space needed for this number of solar panels: an area about three times the size of Delaware.”

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How urgent is the problem?  A study by the Competitive Enterprise Institute earlier this year questions the depths of the issue:

“In the 1970s and 1980s, expert commentary often depicted air pollution as an ever-worsening problem that could be solved only by replacing carbon fuels with nonemitting alternatives. Technology falsified that narrative as well. Since 1980, U.S. consumption of coal has increased 31.6 percent; oil, 10.6 percent; and natural gas, 32.3 percent—even as emissions of the six most common air pollutants have decreased by 62 percent, according to EIA and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. Even without additional regulation, U.S. air quality would keep improving as newer vehicles and capital stock replace older models and equipment.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration describes how coal can be made cleaner:

“Industry has found several ways to reduce sulfur, NOx, and other impurities from coal. They have found more effective ways of cleaning coal after it is mined, and coal consumers have shifted toward greater use of low sulfur coal.

Power plants use flue gas desulfurization equipment, also known as scrubbers, to clean sulfur from the smoke before it leaves their smokestacks. In addition, industry and the U.S. government have cooperated to develop technologies that can remove impurities from coal or that can make coal more energy-efficient so less needs to be burned.

Equipment intended mainly to reduce SO2, NOx, and particulate matter can also be used to reduce mercury emissions from some types of coal. Scientists are also working on new ways to reduce mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants.

Research is underway to address emissions of carbon dioxide from coal combustion. Carbon capture separates CO2from emissions sources and recovers it in a concentrated stream. The CO2 can then be sequestered, which puts CO2into storage, possibly underground, where it will remain permanently.

Reuse and recycling can also reduce coal’s environmental impact. Land that was previously used for coal mining can be reclaimed and used for airports, landfills, and golf courses. Waste products captured by scrubbers can be used to produce products like cement and synthetic gypsum for wallboard.”

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China’s Military Threat

For a number of years, China’s military has increased its military spending by higher annual percentages than either the USA or the USSR at the height of the Cold War.  It now must be considered a military and economic superpower with aggressive tendencies that threaten not only its neighbors but the interests of peace throughout the globe.

Beijing’s forces have nearly twice the manpower of the U.S. (2,285,000 vs. 1,429,995). It will have more ships than the U.S. navy by 2020 (351 vs. 250) and more tanks than the U.S. (9,000 vs. 8,725.) The U.S. has a two to one lead in aircraft. However, that lead in quality and quantity may shrink rapidly as budget cuts in the U.S. and continued double digit increases in the PLA budget come to fruition.

According to the U.S-China Security Review Commission’s 2014 report,

“With the exception of 2010, China’s official defense budget has increased in nominal terms by double-digits every year since 1989. China’s actual aggregate defense spending is higher than the officially announced budget due to Beijing’s omission of major defense-related expenditures—such as purchases of advanced weapons, research and development programs, and local government support to the PLA—from its official figures…

“China has made progress in its missile sector and now is able to rapidly develop and produce a diverse array of advanced ballistic and cruise missiles. China maintains the largest and most lethal short-range ballistic missile force in the world; fielded the world’s first antiship ballistic missile in 2010; deployed its military’s first long-range, air-launched land-attack cruise missile in 2012; and will widely deploy its military’s first indigenous advanced, long range submarine-launched antiship missile in the next few years, if it has not already.

“In 2014, China conducted its first test of a new hypersonic missile vehicle, which can conduct kinetic strikes anywhere in the world within minutes to hours, and performed its second flight test of a new road-mobile intercontinental missile that will be able to strike the entire continental United States and could carry up to 10 independently maneuverable warheads.

“In the maritime domain, China in 2014 continued its transformation from a coastal force into a technologically advanced navy capable of projecting power throughout the Asia Pacific. Since the Commission’s 2013 Annual Report, the PLA Navy has expanded its presence in the East and South China Seas and for the first time begun combat patrols in the Indian Ocean. Additionally, China’s first aircraft carrier in January conducted its first long-distance training deployment. The nature of the deployment suggests China is experimenting with multiple types of carrier formations, including those resembling U.S. combined expeditionary groups.

“Regarding China’s nuclear forces, high-confidence assessments of the numbers of Chinese nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads are not possible due to China’s lack of transparency about its nuclear program. The Department of Defense (DoD) has not released detailed information on China’s nuclear program, only noting in 2013 that “China’s nuclear arsenal currently consists of approximately 50‒75 intercontinental ballistic missiles,” and that “the number of Chinese intercontinental missile nuclear warheads capable of reaching the United States could expand to well over 100 within the next 15 years.

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“In space, China in 2014 continued to pursue a broad counterspace program to challenge U.S. information superiority in a conflict and disrupt or destroy U.S. satellites if necessary. Beijing also likely calculates its growing space warfare capabilities will enhance its strategic deterrent as well as allow China to coerce the United States and other countries into not interfering with China militarily. Based on the number and diversity of China’s existing and developmental counterspace capabilities, China probably will be able to hold at risk U.S. national security satellites in every orbital regime in the next five to ten years…

“Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, testified to the House Armed Services Committee in January 2014 that concerning “technological superiority, DoD is being challenged in ways that I have not seen for decades, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. … Technological superiority is not assured and we cannot be complacent about our posture.” China’s rise as a major military power challenges decades of air and naval dominance by the United States in a region in which Washington has substantial economic and security interests…

“As a result of China’s comprehensive and rapid military modernization, the regional balance of power between China, on the one hand, and the United States and its allies and associates on the other, is shifting in China’s direction.  China’s accelerated military modernization program has been enabled by China’s rapid economic growth; reliable and generous increases to the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) budget; gradual improvements to China’s defense industrial base; and China’s acquisition and assimilation of foreign technologies—especially from Russia, Europe, and the United States—through both purchase and theft.”

Some studies, such as that recently released by the Rand corporation,    have noted that “The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Is Becoming More Professional and More Capable.” And its “capabilities aimed at deterring or, if necessary, countering U.S. military intervention in the Asia-Pacific region, including systems designed to hold U.S. military bases, aircraft carriers, space systems, and computer networks at risk have improved markedly.” The Rand study does outline organizational challenges Beijing faces in wielding its vast new military.

Another key study, The Department of Defense’s 2014 Annual Report on China’s Military Power  noted China’s military investments provide it with a growing ability to project power at increasingly longer ranges. In 2013, this included at-sea testing of China’s first aircraft carrier and continued development of fifth generation fighter aircraft.

Equally worrisomely in the Defense Department’s report was the description of China’s growing cooperation, evidenced by significant joint training and exercises, between China and Russia.

Politicians interested in continuing to borrow funds to hide excess federal spending, as well as those who seek commercial relations Beijing, continue to downplay the dramatic danger of China’s vast new military strength and its growing relationship with Putin government.

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NY Analysis reviews China’s growing military power

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Lower gas prices vital for families, U.S. trade

Even though gas prices are increasing for the summer driving season, some politicians and big government advocates continue to allege that lower gas prices are a bad thing. Many elected officials are trying to capitalize on the reduced prices by raising fuel taxes.

The voters disagree. One example was Michigan’s Proposition 1, which was soundly defeated on May 5. Lawmakers supporting the measure claimed it was essential to repair transportation infrastructure; opponents pointed to the harm it would do to the economy.

Those supporting the concept that high prices encourage investment say decreased prices at the pump will hurt the stock market, but opponents point to the harm it does to middle class Americans.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal noted that “American families are enjoying a level of economic relief they haven’t experienced in six years—and it is largely attributable to the recent slide in gasoline prices… Families are saving … at the pump and are paying less for groceries and everyday goods thanks to lower transportation costs. Considering that median family incomes are 3% lower than they were six years ago, this is a welcome reprieve for the middle class. Politicians, on the other hand, see an opportunity to ask Americans for more of their paychecks. On Feb. 4 Democrats in the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D., Ore.), introduced a bill that would raise the federal gas tax by 15 cents—nearly doubling the current 18.4-cent-per-gallon tax. Meanwhile, legislators and governors in more than 15 states are pursuing gas-tax hikes of their own…While the various proposals differ, one thing is the same: None should be passed into law.”
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The CATO Institute reports that “we cannot say that the drop in oil prices is bad for the economy. We could unambiguously say that it is good if we knew that all individuals are participating in the gains—or, at least, that no individual experiences a loss. An alternative way to say that the price drop cannot be bad is to say that it is potentially good. If there is more of all goods, everyone can potentially benefit.”

Increasing energy production, which would support lower prices, is not only advantageous for American families, but vital for the suffering U.S. trade imbalance.

According to Trading Economics.com  “The United States recorded a trade deficit of 51367 USD Million in March of 2015. It is the biggest trade deficit since October 2008…The United States has been running consistent trade deficits since 1976 due to high imports of oil and consumer products…”