Global Warming, eh?

According to many in the worlds of Science and Politics (or, political Science), the Earth is on a dangerous global warming global cooling global warming, no, climate change trend.

Oh really? Explain this.

From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admintration (NOAA) (emphasis mine):

The October 2009 average temperature for the contiguous United States was the third coolest on record for that month according to NOAA’s State of the Climate report issued today. Based on data going back to 1895, the monthly National Climatic Data Center analysis is part of the suite of climate services provided by NOAA.

The average October temperature of 50.8 degrees F was 4.0 degrees F below the 20th Century average. Preliminary data also reveals this was the wettest October on record with average precipitation across the contiguous United States reaching 4.15 inches, 2.04 inches above the 1901-2000 average.

Also from NOAA:

Oklahoma recorded its coldest October on record while the month ranked in the top five for Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Not only was it one of the coldest Octobers on record, it was also the wettest. Combined with the recently released Climategate emails, things are starting to look bad for the global cooling global warming climate change, or whatever the latest politically-correct term is, crowd.

Happy Thanksgiving!

President George Washington's first Thanksgiving Address, 1789.

City of New York, October 3, 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

George Washington

I hope that you have a very happy Thanksgiving holiday, remembering to count your blessings, and thank Him for them!

The Conservative View: The Future Costs

Better late than never... this week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner Russell Turner.

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

The Future Costs

A couple of nights ago I watched The History Channel documentary about World War 2. Most of the people today do not appreciate the sacrifice that our parents and grandparents made to protect this nation and our way of life. Our way of life was paid for with the blood of that generation. With hard work and good fiscal policies the United States became the dominate power on the earth militarily and economically. It is sad that today many Americans do not understand the meaning of sacrifice and the duty that we adults of today have for future generations. We Americans had better start to wake up and see that our stature as a nation is shifting away from us because of our poor, or lack of, spending discipline.

We're in hock as a nation like never before. Neither the current administration nor Congress has any viable plan to change that fact. And both the actual and hidden costs of our debt are rising every day. Our public debt can boggle the mind, currently it is over 12 trillion dollars. In 2009 alone we have added an additional 1.4 trillion debt. Even with the cheap interest rates we have now, the interest on the debt is 202 billion dollars. If that 202 billion was divided up to the entire population of the United States, every man, woman and child would receive a check of $656.00. While there are some people who are obsessed with the health care legislation, they need to realize that if we don’t get a handle on our spending problem all of the taxes we pay will go just to pay the interest on the debt. In a very short period of time we can forget about defense, health care, Social Security or anything else. We will experience the biggest shift of the balance of power that the world has ever seen.

Today we have an unhealthy reliance upon the nation of China; already they are the largest owner of U.S. debt. If the Chinese ceased to buy any more of our debt it would send our economy into a tailspin. We won the cold war with the former Soviet Union, but I have found that the bigger enemy can be the country that controls the purse strings. If we don’t learn some spending discipline the legacy that we leave future generations will be a nation that has lost its world influence not because of losses on the battlefield but because of poor finances.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.

Comparing Oklahoma Politicians/Candidates on Facebook

The McCarville Report Online reported this morning that 5th District Congressional Candidate James Lankford recently surpassed the 10,000 Facebook supporters mark, making him the first Oklahoma candidate or politician to reach that milestone.

Admittedly, I was in some disbelief that Lankford, a newcomer to politics, could have more Facebook fans than every other major politician in Oklahoma. So, I logged into Facebook, and conducted a very thorough search of politicians and candidates in Oklahoma, and the number of fans they had.

The results stunned me.

Not only does Lankford have the most Facebook support, he has over 2 1/2 times more fans than the nearest competitor. Ironically, that person is the incumbent of the office Lankford seeks - Mary Fallin (who is running for Governor).

For those political junkies out there, here is the list of politicians and candidates that I compiled, with a few notes. There may have been a few who slipped between the cracks, but not many could have. I compiled this between 2pm-3pm today.

Name / Current Office / Office Sought / Facebook Fans

James Lankford.... n/a............ Cong Dist. 5..... 10,069
Mary Fallin........... CD5........... Gov.................. 3,833
Tom Coburn......... US Sen....... US Sen............. 3,351
Brad Henry.......... Governor..... n/a.................. 2,008
Andrew Rice......... State Sen... State Sen......... 1,830 *
Drew Edmondson.. Atty Gen..... Gov................. 1,739
Jim Inhofe........... US Sen....... US Sen............. 1,654
Randy Brogdon..... State Sen...Gov................... 1,534
RJ Harris.............. n/a........... CD4.................. 1,514
Brittany Novotny... n/a........... State House....... 1,294 **
Dewey Bartlett..... Tulsa Mayor.... (just won)..... 1,158
Jari Askins........... Lt Gov......... Gov................. 1,116
Kenneth Corn....... State Sen.... LtG................... 978
John Sullivan....... CD1............. CD1.................. 960
Al McAffrey.......... State House... State House.... 940 ***
Tom Adelson....... State Sen..... State Sen.......... 935
Rob Johnson........ n/a.............. State Sen......... 760
Todd Lamb.......... State Sen..... LtG.................. 726
Ryan Leonard...... n/a.............. AG................... 692
Shawn Hime........ n/a.............. State Super....... 653
Charles Key........ State House... State House..... 633
Steve Gallo......... n/a............... State House..... 609
John T. Hammons. Muskogee Mayor..... Mayor?.... 573 ****
David Holt.......... n/a............... State Senate..... 560
Dan Boren.......... CD2.............. CD2................. 541
Frank Lucas........ CD3.............. CD3................. 527
Tom Cole........... CD4............... CD4................ 499
David Hogan....... n/a................ State House.... 494
Mike Sanders...... State House.... State House.... 483
Randall Gorman.. n/a................ State Super..... 414
Jay Paul Gumm... State Sen....... State Sen........ 410
Kevin Calvey........ n/a............. CD5.................. 392
Dan Arnett......... n/a................ CD2................ 370
Susan Paddack.... State Sen....... State Super..... 360
Seneca Scott...... State House.... State House..... 291
Nathan Dahm..... n/a................ CD1................. 279
Janet Barresi...... n/a................ State Super...... 241
Jason Reese....... n/a................ Labor Comm..... 232
Mick Cornett...... OKC Mayor....... OKC Mayor....... 230
Johnny Roy........ n/a................. CD5................ 221
Shawnnessy Murphy.. n/a........... State Sen........ 205
Lee Denney........ State House.... State House.... 191
Clark Jolley......... State Sen........ Atty Gen........ 187
Kathy Taylor....... Tulsa Mayor.... n/a................. 183
Mark McCullough.. State House.... State House.... 178
Scott Martin........ State House.... State House.... 164
Sean Burrage....... State Sen...... State Sen........ 158
Dan Newberry..... State Sen....... State Sen........ 152
Jeff Cloud........... Corp Com....... CD5................ 151
Steve Burrage..... State Auditor... State Aud....... 139
Mike Thompson... State House.... CD5............... 129
George Faught.... State House.... State House.... 119
Charles Thompson.. n/a............ CD2................ 100
Owen Laughlin.... n/a............. State Treasurer.. 100
John Wright........ State House... LtG.................. 96
Howard Houchen.... n/a............ CD2.................. 94
Cory Williams...... State House... State House..... 92
Shane Jett.......... State House.... State House.... 58
John Sparks........ State Sen....... State Sen......... 55
Daniel Edmonds... n/a............... CD2................. 44
Sally Kern........... State House... State House..... 32
Oden Grube........ n/a............... State House...... 28
Chris Pierce......... n/a............... State House..... 22
Anthony Sykes.... State Sen...... State Sen.......... 20
Doug Cox........... State House.... State House..... 18
Gary Stanislawski.. State Sen.... State Sen.......... 12
Mike Mazzei........ State Sen..... State Sen............ 1

Notes

* - 2008 Democrat Senate nominee ** - Bisexual, and running against controversial conservative Rep. Sally Kern. Most of Novotny's numbers are likely from the homosexual/etc. community across the nation. *** - Homosexual. See final point above. **** - Famous as the youngest mayor in America, hence high figure.

As you can see, Lankford has a very high amount of Facebook support. There are several other interesting notes in the list, if you look at it enough (for instance, the difference between congressional candidates' figures).

UPDATE: I only used figures from fan pages and groups, not personal profiles. In instances of multiple groups, I picked the one with the most members, except in one instance (Kenneth Corn has several groups, but has discontinued all but one, and directed the members to join his newest group, which had slightly fewer members to date).

If you run across someone I missed, I would appreciate the notice! You can email me at muskogeepolitico@gmail.com.

Terry Harrison to Run for DA, Forgo 5th House Term

State Rep. Terry Harrison (D, McAlester) has announced his intention to run for District Attorney in 2010, rather than run for a fifth term in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

Harrison represents House District 18, which covers portions of McIntosh and Pittsburg counties, including the cities of Eufaula and McAlester. The District Attorney seat he will be running for is District 18, which covers Pittsburg and Haskell counties.

He will not be facing an incumbent in 2010, for reasons expound on by the McAlester News-Capitol:

Incumbent District 18 District Attorney Jim Bob Miller has been prohibited from running for election in 2010 through a deferred prosecution agreement Miller made with state Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s office.

Miller agreed not to run for another term and the attorney general agreed not to prosecute him. The agreement did not require Miller to resign.

The agreement became known in early September after a state Multicounty Grand Jury completed its probe into allegations of misconduct by Miller’s office.

Allegations against Miller concerned his attempts to subpoena identifying records of up to 35 bloggers who had posted comments critical of him on the McAlester Watercooler Web site.

Harrison gave some reasons for his decision; also from the McAlester News-Capitol.

Harrison also referred to his perception of the current situation in the state legislature.

“I am so tired of party politics,” said Harrison, who is the minority whip in the House.

“When I was first elected as a state legislator, you never heard me say ‘Democrat’ or ‘Republican.’ Right was right and wrong was wrong.”

The Democratic Party is now in the minority in the state House.

“The last legislative sessions have been brutal — having the Republican agenda pushed down our throat,” Harrison said.

With the Democrats now only holding 39 of 101 seats in the State House, I think we will see more sitting Democrat representatives bail out as well. This presents an opportunity for the GOP, particularly in the heavily-Democratic 2nd Congressional District, to pick up seats that otherwise would have been nearly impossible to win.