Public Thugs Mug Facebook – Could Kill Jobs?

Russ Steele

I often read the Coyote Blog, Dispatches from a Small Business. Here is some interesting insight as to why job creation in CA is static.

Wow, I Wonder Why Job Creation Isn’t Occurring in California?

I wonder if its because companies have to beg for government permission, and then pay a hefty bribe, to get permission to hire more employees:

The city council in Menlo Park, Calif., is set to approve a deal that will let Facebook employ thousands more people at its headquarters there.

Mayor Kirsten Keith says officials are expected to green light the environmental impact report and the development agreement at a meeting Tuesday night. City staff has recommended the city approve the deal.

That means Facebook employees, currently numbering about 2,200 in Menlo Park, will soon be able to stretch out. If the deal is approved, Facebook will be able to employ about 6,600 workers in Menlo Park, up from its current limit of 3,600. That was the constraint on Sun Microsystems, which previously occupied the campus.

Facebook will pay Menlo Park an average of $850,000 a year over 10 years to compensate for the additional load on the city. It will also make a one-time payment of more than $1 million for capital improvements and set up community services such as high school internship and job training programs. Facebook is also creating a $500,000 local community fund that will dole out grants and charitable contributions to communities surrounding Facebook’s campus.

Facebook is making the payments because Menlo Park can’t collect sales taxes from Facebook.

The last is a dodge – this is a protection racket, pure and simple.  Presumably Facebook pays property taxes on its corporate offices, as do its employees who live nearby.  Also, these new employees will all spend money in the local economy that will generate sales taxes.  Facebook presumably pays for water, sewer, trash and other utilities, and their employees are paying gas taxes as they drive that pay for the roads.  Facebook pays California income taxes, as do their employees.  What are these mystery costs that are not getting covered?  The community services bit is a hint that this is a stick-up, with Menlo Park demanding its cut of the recent IPO.

The truth is that cities and counties in California see business expansion plans the same way that Tony Soprano looks at the Museum of Science and Trucking — as a way to maximize their skim.  I operate a campground in Ventura County that DOES pay sales taxes the County so far will not let me increase my live-in staff without making a big payment.  Even the remodeling of our store required 7 separate checks written to Ventura County agencies.

You can read the rest HERE. Reason Magazine has another story about killing jobs in Ventura County.

Western Streams Resisting Non-existing Climate Change

Russ Steele

I love to read the KQED Climate Change blog, that is were I go to get my daily chuckles on what our lefty environmentalist wackos are up to this week. And, this week they did not disappoint with this study of western streams that are resisting climate change by not following the computer models.

Study: Western Streams Resist Influence of a Warming Climate

Hot Creek, near Mammoth Lakes, was one of 20 streams in the Western U.S. examined in a study by Oregon State researchers who found no clear relationship between increasing air temperatures and stream temperatures.

Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, intensifying storm events – evidence is mounting that the effects of a warming planet will be far-reaching and potentially catastrophic. But one natural system may be more resilient than others when it comes to global warming: mountain streams.

Researchers from Oregon State University report in the journal Geophysical Research Letters that small streams in the western United States have not heated up in response to the region’s warming air temperatures.

You can read the rest of this academic non-sense HERE. First, lets dispel the non-sense about rising sea levels, melting glaciers and intensifying storms.  Check out the charts HERE. Sea levels have been rising at regular rate since the Little Ice Age, in Africa, Asia, New Zealand,  South America and California glaciers are growing, and there has been no increase in storm intensity, and we are now at record levels for no hurricanes striking the US.  Where do these people get their scientific information, the New York Times?

Now lets get to those stream that are resisting the rise in Sierra temperatures. What if the real reason they have avoided any climate change influence is that there has not been any climate change?  Temperatures have been essential flat for more than ten years globally.

The following figure shows the annual mean temperature anomalies for the two 5×5 degree grids covering the Pacific Northwest coast of the U.S. — western Oregon and Washington from 1900 to 2007. This data is from the Hadley Climatic Research Unit (HadCRU) as used by the IPCC.

The following figure shows the average annual temperature anomalies for the average of the four 5×5 degree grids covering California for 1930 – 2009 (indicated in yellow on the map).

Two grid charts above are from Global Warming Science

The report rattles on:

“It is a small set and we are trying not to extrapolate too much from this data. But some streams in our study seem to be getting warmer,” lead author Ivan Arismendi told me. “Others are getting cooler and some have not changed much at all. But our data suggests that warming air temperatures are not having a corresponding effect on streams.”

It just could be that there has been no significant warming in the Sierra for over 80 years.  I wonder if these academic idiots thought of that as a solution and not have assumed that the there has been significant warming just because the computer models indicated there should have been warming, where in reality none existed.

 . . . the research will continue, focusing on current computer models used to predict how streams will respond to a warming climate.  “Most of the predictions in the models are based on a correlation [between air and stream temperature],” says Arismendi. “So we are trying to test how good those models are for specific sites.”

I think it would help if these folks got out of the computer modeling labs and took a look at some real world temperatures before they embarrass themselves some more.  If there was no warming, there would be no response from the streams.

Climate mania impoverishes electricity customers here and abroad

Russ Steele

Several readers have forward the Financial Post article below on how climate mania is impoverishing citizens ad alternative energy schemes are used to drive up the cost of energy.  Even though this is a world wide impact,  there is also a connection to California.  First this from the Financial Post: Lawrence Solomon: Green power failure

The North American exemplar of acting on the perceived threat of global warming is Ontario, which dismantled one of the continent’s finest fleets of coal plants in pursuit of becoming a green leader. Then, to induce developers to build uneconomic renewable energy facilities, the Ontario government paid them as much as 80 times the market rate for power. The result is power prices that rose rapidly (about 50% since 2005) and will continue to do so: Ontarians can expect power prices that are 46% higher over the next five years, according to a 2010 Ontario government estimate, and more than 100% higher according to independent estimates. The rest of Canada may not fare much better — the National Energy Board forecasts power prices 42% higher by 2035, while some estimates have Canadian power prices 50% higher by 2020.

Another reader saw the California connection on the CARB website:

If you go to the CARB web site, http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/capandtrade.htm, you’ll find this sentence, “California is working closely with British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba through the Western Climate Initiative to develop harmonized cap and trade programs that will deliver cost-effective emission reductions.”

The question is if Canadian Provinces are going to harmonize Cap and Trade programs, that will also result in the harmonization of energy costs. We can also expect our power prices to go up 45 to 50 percent as well. However, the Financial Post article points out that the rest of the US is seeing stable or slight declines in the price of electricity. As energy prices rise in California, they will be  declining in the rest of the US as power companies adopt more cheap natural gas. As fracking produces more gas the price continues to drop.

The question one reader asks is:

Will the abundant supply of cheap natural gas overcome the renewable mandates to keep California’s rates from rising or will California’s rate payers see price rises like they did in Ontario?

Given what we know about CARB’s single minded focus on creating a Cap and Trade slush fund and the environmental wacko legislators in Sacramento, who are taking big time political donations from all the “go green” VCs, I have serious doubts that California will ever take full advantage of cheap natural gas and move away form the more expensive alternative energy schemes, there is just too much money involved, and too little political power in the hands of rate payers.

“Can-Do California” Lefty View of Economic Development

Russ Steele

When ever I see the word “smart” in a report my BS detector goes off. You can imagine what happened when I read the following description of an Southern CA economic summit. [My emphasis added.]

We branded the summit “Thriving Regions Lead to a Thriving State” and the theme of this summit, which will address actionable priorities in five areas, is “Can-Do California.”

Smart workforce: Despite out-of-work Californians, there are not enough qualified workers, even for middle-class manufacturing jobs. We must strengthen the talent pipeline, short-term and long-term, to meet the skill needs of our ever-changing economy. California can do that.

Smart infrastructure: The bill for California’s infrastructure neglect is $765 billion, including transportation, water and public facilities. We need world-class infrastructure. The summit will identify ways to improve our existing infrastructure and map out innovative financing for new infrastructure, and it will focus on water, a top San Diego priority. California can solve its infrastructure problem.

Smart innovation: Californians still lead the world in technology, agriculture and entertainment, but we’re complacent. Other regions and other nations are closing the gap. With our world-class universities, there is more we can do to move ideas from the lab to the market and to help entrepreneurs succeed. Policies that foster innovation across all industries are critical to regional economies, so the summit will identify the next best ways to connect, feed and entertain the world. California can remain the leader in innovation.

Smart capital: Creating jobs takes money. At every regional forum, entrepreneurs implored: Help us find the money! We can leverage existing resources, identify ways to invest locally, including a California version of crowdfunding, and expand on the linkages that help ensure young businesses succeed. Californians want to invest in and buy from Californians, given the chance. California can connect entrepreneurs with capital.

Smart regulations: California is said to be a tough place to do business. Regional forum participants said “more red carpet and less red tape,” and offered ideas that protect the intent of California’s key environmental regulation, CEQA – high environmental standards – but limit the actions of those who use CEQA for non-environmental reasons. The regional forums also explored ways to streamline permitting of all kinds. California can maintain the highest environmental standards and be streamlined, certain and business-friendly.

In short, thanks to the regions and the many Californians who participated in regional forums, we can become a “Can-Do” state once again.

Huh?  Switch your BS detector on as there are still more details HERE.

I Wonder Why Nevada City has Not Jointed this Foolishness?

Russ Steele

Let the Carbon Games begin, writes KQED’s Climate Watch as cities compete to cut carbon emissions.  

Ten California cities are competing over the next year to reduce their carbon emissions.

Individuals, local governments and businesses will all be involved in the project, called the Cool California Challenge. The Cool California website has a carbon calculator, tips on reducing your footprint and links to rebates. Plus there’s a social media element, so you can envy, goad or cooperate with your neighbors as you see fit.

The competing cities are Chula Vista, Citrus Heights, Davis, Gonzales, Pittsburg, Pleasanton, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, San Jose and Tracy. Participants — whether they’re individuals, companies or other types of organizations — earn points by being more carbon-conscious.

Citrus Heights, Davis, Sacramento, Santa Cruz San Jose and Tracy are the only ones with Cooperative Weather Stations. It might be fund to plot their climate history and then see of this foolishness has any significance. How every with natural cooling forecast it will be hard to tell what is real and what is carbon cooling. According to he Weather Guy on Ch-13 last night Sacramento was cooler than average in March, as were several other cities in the valley.

With all the lefty warmers in Nevada City, I was sure they would be on the list of competitors. I guess they are too buy taking the happiness survey to be worrying about the carbon games.

It was also be interesting to see if any of these cities file for bankruptcy in the competition year, this competition seems just the thing to distract the city staffs from focusing on real world issues.

It looks like Davis had has some smal warming over the last 99 years, with some cooling starting a about 2000 and declining sharply over the last ten years.

Tomorrow Is Loony Earth Hour (Updated)

Russ Steele

On Saturday, 8:30 PM local time, environmental wackos have invited everyone in California to turn off all their electrical devices and sit in the dark. According to the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is intended to “encourage American cities to prepare for the costly impacts of climate-related extreme weather and reduce their carbon footprint.”

As we have done every year, we plan to turn on all our lights at 8:30 PM Local.  Join us in this small protest. You can see the results at the California ISO  Here is a 2009 CISO plot.

Update (o3-31-12, 1025) Here is the daily plot. it look a lot like the 2009 plot. No change.

In 2009 observers of the electrical load at the CISO saw no decrease in the load:

There was no apparent decrease in the power load throughout the state, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.  No step changes, nothing, nada, zip, zilch.

I posted on the issue HERE. My original post ended up as Guest Post at Watts Up With That, which was eventually mentioned by Rush Limbaugh.  Let see what happens this year.

Why Should We Believe Anything Obama’s Agencies Say?

Russ Steele

The EPA has been lying to us over global warming according to Dr. Alan Carlin, now retired, a career environmental economist at EPA.  Attorney General Holder has been lying about Fast and Furious, Hansen at GISS has been adjusting the historic raw data to prove his AGW theory, and now we learn the government lying is a little closer to home.

The Record-Searchlight has the story of a fired federal advisor who is reporting that the Department of Interior manipulated data supporting removal of the Klamath River dams.

A federal agency’s former scientific integrity adviser has filed a whistle-blower complaint saying he was fired from his job after he began questioning top officials about “spinning” evidence to tout the removal of Klamath River dams.

“The bottom line is they need to be honest about the science and the decision making,” Paul R. Houser, an associate hydrology professor at George Mason University, told the Record Searchlight on Tuesday, in his first remarks to the media about his whistle-blower complaint.

He says there have been a number of scientific studies that showed dam removal comes with some risks or wouldn’t be nearly as beneficial to threatened coho salmon habitat as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s staff made it seem.

Salazar, appointed to the post by President Barack Obama in 2009, has made clear the issue is a high personal priority for him.

You can read the rest of the story HERE. Stay Tuned, as U.S. Reps. Wally Herger, R-Chico, and Tom McClintock, R-Granite Bay, are investigating. Other House committees have expressed interest.

One more of Obama’s Agencies caught with there hand in the cooky jar.  When will these people learn that the truth will always win the day.

There is More Than One Reason to Move to Wyoming

Russ Steele

I lived in Wyoming for a couple of summers between College semesters, and worked in the oil and gas fields. Made good money for being just a laborer. Ellen and I have visited Wyoming multiple times in our RV and plan to return when ever possible. There are some great people in Wyoming.  And, according to this report some thinkers as well:

State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States.

House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It would create a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a complete meltdown of the federal government.

One of the triggers to a potential meltdown could be an extreme food shortage caused by the onset of the next mini ice age.  Growing season will become shorter and the bread basket of the norther hemisphere in the Canada and the US will move farther and farther south, resulting in less productivity during the transition. It was the bread riots that brought down the French Kings during the last mini-ice age.

Ann Althouse has some more thoughts on being prepared here. She thinks that every state should have a plan to operate should the US government collapse.

Do you think the liberal/progressive in Sacramento would even give a passing thought to the idea that California should have a plan like Wyoming?

 

 

KQED’s Climate Watch Reacts to Gleickgate

Russ Steele

Peter Gleick was one of KQED Climate Watch’s go to guys when it came to climate change issues.  The would report on all of Gleick Climate Change Reports that he wrote for California government agencies. When ever I would comment on flaws in those reports, Peter Gleick was quick to respond on the Climate Watch Blog. It was almost like Climate Watch and the Pacific Institute was joined at the hip.

It will interesting to see how Climate Watch reports the story, including the future of Dr Gleick, who appears to have severely damaged the global warming movement and put himself in legal jeopardy. He has admitted to obtaining the Heartland documents by fraud, and releasing them to warmer web sites. He has yet to admit to writing the “smoking gun” fake memo, but there are multiple bloggers on the trail of the writer.

It will be interesting to see how this episode plays out on National Public Radio in San Francisco. Stay Tuned.

I do not listen to NPR in Sacramento. Have they report and comment on the Heartland ethic challenge by Dr. Gleick?

KQED Honored for Report on Rising Sea Levels in San Francisco Bay

Russ Steele

HERE is the report on rising sea levels in San Francisco Bay:

A team of producers and editors at KQED was honored this weekend with a prestigious Kavli Science Journalism Award. Only a few projects are selected each year by the Washington-based American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The KQED team, a collaboration of the QUEST and Climate Watch science reporting units, was recognized in the Television Spot News/Feature Reporting category for its segment on rising sea levels in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This report is based on an IPCC Report of 20 inches or 55 inches sea levels rise by 2100. We know from details analysis of the UN IPCC AR-4 report it is seriously flawed, by scientist and investigative reporters like Donna Laframboise.  and the Climategate I and II e-mails.

Here are the facts on the rising sea levels in San Francisco Bay.

Here are the facts on current sea level rise around the globe. (Steve Goddard – Real Science)

It appears to me the folks at KQED should have received an award for science fiction. Sea Level are not rising, they stopped rising and started declining in 2009.

Oh! Wait the Tea Party’s 15 Minutes of Fame Is Over?

Russ Steele

Our local left keeps telling us that the Tea Party is over!  Their 15 minutes was spend in November 2010.  Oh, yea and global warming is going to destroy planet.

But, then there is reality.

I had an hour this morning to read the Tea Party Patriots — The Second American Revolution and found it very readable and very informative on the long term plans for the Tea Party. All those complaining on local conservative blogs about the Tea Party being part of the Republican Party should read this book. Mark and Jenny Beth are just as hard on Republicans as Democrats.

We missed Mark Meckler on Fox News this morning, but he reports that it was a great session with the Happening Now Team.

Obama as in San Francisco at a fund raiser and the Tea Party was there to let him know how America feels about his lack of leadership. You can see all the pictures HERE and HERE.  A press report I read on the Droid this morning down played the number of people at the Tea Party Rally. Check out the pictures, they add a little reality.

Oh, yes the Occupy Crowd and Pro-Marijuana Crowd was there also, but it looks like they were out numbered by the Tea Party.

They all did have on thing in common, they were all upset with Obama’s lack of leadership on their favorite issues. He is a failed leader on all counts.

Gap in the Gulf – Drilling in the Gulf Down 54%

Russ Steele

The Power Line Blog has the story this morning, Obama’s administration is telling the world that things are back to normal in the Gulf of Mexico and that Obama is a friend to the people of the Gulf Region. But friends do not lie to friends, except in the Obama administration.  All the details are HERE, but this is the telling graphic:

From the Power Line Report “Regardless of the Obama administration’s claims that they aren’t hindering oil exploration and development in the Gulf, a few minutes of looking at their own data tells the real story: they’re both cutting it down, and stretching it out.”

Now you know why the price of gas and diesel keeps climbing, and it is going to get worse in CA as CARB starts collecting carbon taxes.

#greenfail: Only 1 in10 find green jobs after extensive training

Russ Steele

The USA Today has the story:

House Republicans are expanding their probe into the Obama administration’s energy programs, investigating $500 million in green job training grants that placed just 10% of trainees in jobs, according to a government report.

The program’s goal was to train 124,893 people and put 79,854 in jobs. But 17 months later, 52,762 were trained and 8,035, or roughly 1 in 10, had jobs. Those numbers come from an audit by the Department of Labor‘s inspector general, which recommended that the administration end the program and return unspent money.

President Obama has made green jobs a cornerstone of his economic agenda. In his first 2012 campaign ad this month, he said clean energy industries created 2.7 million jobs and were “expanding rapidly.” 

If these jobs are expanding rapidly, why are only one in ten finding green jobs?

Mayor Kevin Johnson in his state of Sacramento address outlined ways to bring 1,500 new green jobs to the city by retrofitting schools with clean infrastructure.  Maybe he can put some of these folks to work. But,  what will they do when the green refurbishing of city schools is done?

 

Sacramento, Slowest Growing City in North America

Russ Steele

Brookings Institute’s Global Metro Monitor 2011 rated the recovery of the 200 largest metropolitan regions in the world. The rankings are based on a combination of the change in income and employment in each city between 2010 and 2011. According to the report, the fastest-growing cities are located outside North America and Western Europe, while all the slowest-growing ones are within those continents.

5. Sacramento, U.S.
> Change in employment (2010-2011): -1%
> Change in income (2010-2011): -0.8%
> Population: 2.18 million
> Income per capita: $42,283
> GDP: $92 billion

Is the Roseville Economy in Recovery?

Russ Steele

The Governor told us the states economy is recovering and we are on the economic mend. On the other hand the economist are saying the it will be a very slow recovery. I have been looking for signs of recovery and may have found one today.

Ellen and I were at the Roseville Galleria Mall today and I had to circle the parking lost for 15 minutes to find a parking space. It would have been longer if I had not found a disability parking space (diabetic feet). I would have sworn it was Christmas. The parking was full and all the shops had people shopping. There were over 15 people in William-Sonoma,  with three cash registers active and a line of customers at each.

The Governor maybe right the economy is recovering, at least there were positive signs in Roseville.  Stay tuned!