Though Mark Twain originally provided Rudyard Kipling with the advice to “get your facts first, and then you can distort ‘em as much as you please,” it appears as if some modern day writers have adopted the mantra. In a chapter of the newly released book entitled “The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society,” [...]  More »

The first oil well in the United States was drilled in Titusville Pennsylvania in 1859.  In 1901, there was an oil boom in East Texas which is what most Americans recognize from movies. That boom changed our way of life by giving us unrestricted mobility. Ever since the discovery of oil, there have been predictions [...]  More »

In 1917, Albert Einstein plugged what he dubbed the “cosmological constant” into his equations explaining why the universe didn’t collapse under its own gravity. He later abandoned the concept, calling it his “biggest blunder.” Today, three astronomers won the Nobel prize for proving Einstein’s original theory correct. It’s no surprise that modern scientists are still [...]  More »

If Mark Twain was alive today, he surely would have been referring to President Obama when saying: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” The President’s latest stimulus plan hinges on the faulty belief that if the federal government is able [...]  More »

When rolling out his deficit plan this week, President Obama went on the defensive. Twice denying his new tax proposals count as class warfare, his behavior called to mind Queen Gertrude’s response to Hamlet: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Of course, it’s class warfare. The White House is gunning for “millionaires,” aircraft manufacturers, [...]  More »

Most presidential administrations assert that they will be guided by facts when making decisions which science can inform. At the time they’re given, those pronouncements are no doubt sincere. But in light of today’s congressional hearing on detailing “How a Broken Process Leads to Flawed Regulations,” it’s worth reviewing how such claims have withstood the [...]  More »

Two pieces from today’s Wall Street Journal opinion page make excellent points independently as well as together. Former Reagan economic advisor Arthur Laffer makes the case that government officials impose a tax on an activity or product (speeding, smoking, etc.) when they want to discourage not incentivize it: And yet contrary to common sense, it [...]  More »

A critique of President Obama’s new jobs plan can be summed up in a Rob Reiner-esque headline: “Clueless in Washington.” His proposals to extend the holiday on the payroll tax, reduce taxes on small businesses, provide incentives for hiring the unemployed, and provide infrastructure funding aren’t necessarily bad. Some or all may be necessary. But [...]  More »

President Obama’s request for another $450 billion in stimulus funds is just another example of his administration drilling an expensive dry hole while leaving potential job growth free of a taxpayer price tag on the table. Earlier this week, Woods Mackenzie analysts found that developing our country’s vast offshore oil and shale gas resources could [...]  More »

Though we’re still several hours away from hearing President Obama layout his jobs plan in tonight’s speech, White House sources have leaked some key details to the press. Consequently, we already know his announcement will detail a $300 billion jobs package. Based on the advance figures, the President’s “new” plan sounds an awful lot like [...]  More »

As President Clinton famously once observed, politics is a contact sport. And the politics surrounding climate science is no exception. The latest example stems from the climate establishment’s reaction to a research paper by University of Alabama climatologist Roy Spencer published in the geography journal, Remote Sensing. (Dr. Spencer, who also happens to be on [...]  More »

Presidential politics have given media a new reason to cover climate change. By focusing on perceived differences on the issue among Republican candidates (ie Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, etc.), the most recent surge in news coverage misses a very important distinction. The question at hand is not what role human activity plays in [...]  More »