Global Warming or Pseudo-science?

Energy Secretary's White-Paint Proposal Puzzles Climate-Change Experts

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,522411,00.html?test=latestnews

I gotta laugh! These "scientists", and the accents are intentional, are just baffling. I just love the opening:

Energy Secretary Steven Chu stunned the audience at a London scientific conference Tuesday with a radical but simple proposal to combat global warming: Paint all the roofs of all the buildings in the world white.

Granted, the simplest things are usually the best solution, but this goes way, WAY beyond simple. First of all, I believe the well-known heat island effect is very valid...to a point. It does raise temperatures some, but not like it has been proposed. In fact, consider this: the highest temperature recorded in Phoenix was 122 degrees on Jun 26, 1990. In second place was 121 degrees on July 28, 1995. If we are to believe that the ever-expanding heat island has a dramatic effect, then it would be safe to assume as more buildings are constructed, more people gather, and more vehicles traverse the inner city, then there should be a natural and systematic increase in the overall highes each year. Further, if the heat island were to have as significant an impact as the "scientists" say, then the astronomical increase in urban sprawl would actually made the heat island bigger, creating an even hotter environment. However, that does not seem to be the case. If you travel outside of the outskirts of Phoenix, the temperature dips a few degrees within minutes. What does that mean? Simple: the effect of a heat island is transitory and short reaching. Okay, in simple terms...It doesn't last long or go far. I don't see it.

Now lets consider global warming in general. There was an episode of MythBusters that did their study on global warming gases and the effects they have on the environment. They compared several gases and arrived a one conclusion. In the carbon dioxide chamber, the temperature did increase in a set period of time. That increase? Oh, it was one degree. That is where they left it. Now I ask the question, "so does that mean that an increase in global warming gases will only increase the temperature world-wide by one degree or is it exponential?" Of course, no one will address that in a provable method.

Finally, while the world "scientists" are speculating, debating and otherwise wasting everyone's time and money to prove that it exists, it probably doesn't even matter. The actual "spike" actually occurred in the 1990s and is now starting to trend down. You can see the graph here: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.D.lrg.gif. Also notice that we spiked in the 1920s and 1930s and almost the same or higher then the 1990s. As they say in the court room, this is all circumstantial evidence. It doesn't actually prove anything except that it gets hot once in a while.

So all this hooping and hollering is for something else. Can you guess what that might be? Of course you can! Somebody wants more MONEY! Now they can get it by taxing for it, charging for the "repair", and my all time favorite, banning it so that other product prices increase and are taxed. What rocket "scientist" thought this up? A politician.

Glendale Charges the Little Guy, Gives the Big Guy a Pass

http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2009/03/04/20090304gl-coyotes0304-ON.html

Headline: No penalty for Coyotes' missing payments to Glendale

The Phoenix Coyotes won't have to pay any penalties to Glendale for missing eight months of rent and other charges at Jobing.com Arena. Glendale's contract with the team doesn't stipulate any fines for late payments. The Coyotes have an "unlimited" amount of time to repay or rectify any missed payments, the contract reads, as long as the team "commences to cure such breach within 30 days after the team's receipt of such notice."

So what does 8 months of payments look like? The NHL team shells out $42,708 each month to Glendale for rent at the city-owned ice hockey arena, as well as a percentage of parking fees, sales taxes, security costs and repairs. That's $341,664.00 in rent alone, not counting the "other fees" Glendale is not getting. Mind you, this total continues to increase when another month is not paid.

So what happens when you or I miss our monthly water payment, that is around $75.00? We get disconnected! Let's look at this. We'll assume 1,000 Glendale utility customers don't pay their monthly bill of $75.00 and they get disconnected two weeks later. That comes to: $75,000.00 due. Now factor in that an employee of Glendale must make physical contact with each address to disconnect the water, so now we're adding in gas, trip time, employee wages, printing of the little piece of paper they hang on the door to say your service was disconnected, and finally, maintenance on a fleet of vehicles to do all of this. And let's not forget the multiple mailers with paper, envelopes, postage, and the person who now assembles everything. Now they are losing money. Have no fear, if they can't get YOUR money for the $75.00 bill, which now adds a disconnect/reconnect fee, adding another what, $50.00, they go after the rental landlords (see http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2009/01/30/20090130gl-rental0130-ON.html, "Glendale wants landlords to pay tenants' overdue utility bills"), if there is one, now incurring legal and court fees, attorney's fees, and who knows what else. Now the deficit is probably hovering over $140,000.00, or more, to collect those 1,000 customer's due.

Wow! That's amazing! All that for a thousand customers in default. For the Coyotes, they send a well-worded letter that costs maybe a buck total to produce and then just wait...and wait....and wait...and WAIT.

Have no fear, though, if the Coyotes ever leave Glendale "early" we are entitled to a $750 million penalty. Of course, if the Coyotes ever leave, it'll probably be because no one is attending their games and they are bankrupt. You see, those same 1,000 customers who can't pay their measly $75.00 water bill can't afford the $15.00 to $300.00 dollar tickets, plus parking, plus the heavily taxed food and beverages, and any memorabilia, that, oh wait, the Coyotes aren't giving to Glendale anyways.

Explain to me again how Glendale made a good choice to bring the Coyotes here.