Mott's Blog

I have been involved in hazardous material and waste matters for thirty-years. Usually on the side of giving advice to the companies with the problems. So I will do a very brief synopsis. Obama was told early on that the chances of capping the broken wellhead were not good. Estimates of oil volumes privately provided were also much highly that the public heard in the first weeks. With that set of facts, the first order of the day should have been mitigation measures. That means destruction of the oil while far at sea (fire booms or maybe even military means to ignite it), sand berms and other containment means, and rounding up all of the equipment possible to remove as much as possible before it hit sensitive areas. None of that happened. Obama played golf and then lectured us. The federal alphabet agencies did what they do best, used red tape to frustrate people who have to deal with the real world. Democrat politicians ought to demonize the oil industry, at the expense of worse...

It is no accident, I am sure, that the world seems far less predictable and safe in the last few months. After alienating most of our allies, bowing to foreign dignitaries, and trying to appease our avowed enemies, the Obama Administration is starting to reap the harvest of American contraction. We have emboldened enemies on almost all fronts. A defiant Iran is now supported in its nuclear ambitions, not only by Russia and China, but by Turkey, a NATO member. Israel is more isolated than anytime since the 1973 war, with its Muslim adversaries feeling a new sense of boldness in their actions. North Korea has engaged in open acts of war with the South and has suffered no adverse consequences or reactions from the global community. America itself has been subject to an increased number of near misses in terrorist attacks. We have dodged the bullets largely out of luck and human errors on the other side. Our international popularity has only grown among the Leftist politicians in som...

I have an unusual hypothesis that may explain a lot about the attempted Times Square terrorist attack. Other than remotely triggered IEDs in Iraq, it seems that the specialty of Jihadists is suicide bombers, trained to self-destruct in ways that grossly simply fuse and trigger schemes. Just about all of the information coming out about Shahzad shows that he was hanging around with the varsity of suicide bombers in Pakistan. So what happened in New York City?  I think that Shahzad was supposed to be a suicide bomber and got a change of heart and improvised the trigger mechanism (which is why it was sloppy). It also explains his rather ad hoc escape plan. His apparent willingness to talk about the whole scheme when he was arrested also fits with the reluctant bomber motif. That the Pakistani Taliban would fund him and send him on this attack also may say a lot about how short of willing and quasi-rational suicide bombers they really are.  We had been told by the Left that ...

The above chart was used in the healthcare debate to illustrate the bureaucracy that the bill would introduce. Apparently nothing relevant has changed and 159 new agencies and bureaus will be created. It completely defies logic and history that this complex set of regulatory, personnel and factual decisions will produce a rational, intended outcome. Those banking on the implementation of the healthcare take-over to increase its public support are betting on a lottery ticket in a rigged drawing. Many discretionary decisions must be made under the new law by people that are yet to be appointed, trained, or identified. One of the first "Polish jokes" I learned in Poland was the tale of the new potato inspector. The young man was briefed on what are good and bad potatoes and given a pile of several hundred by his supervisor. He was told to sort them as instructed. Hours later the supervisor returns and see that only eleven potatoes have been sorted. He demands to know why. The...

As I watch the agony of the House Democrats telling their sob stories to try to justify the greatest legislative mistake in modern times, I cannot imagine the incredible stupidity and arrogance that is driving their suicide pact. To think that this vote will somehow put these issues behind us is one of the most naive political hypotheses ever espoused. This issue will dominate the next two election cycles and will create a giant scythe that cuts down hundreds of Democrats at all levels of government. We have come to accept that only about half of the public votes, but conservative voters are significantly more likely to vote even in normal times (hence the inevitable 6-8 point difference in polls of "adults" versus polls of "likely voters"). But now we will see a growing disparity, with conservative voters making the elections a crusade against evil. There may be no counterpart to what is happening in our political history. Congressman Stupak's opponent, just ...

Dr. Phil Jones of East Anglia University was leading the charge by Michael Mann et al. to deny the existence of the Medieval Warming Period for years. This was important because many, many scientists report that it appears to have been warmer that today's climate, making the "unprecedented" recent warming not "unprecedented." In his recent interview, Dr. Jones still tries to do the alarmist dance by arguing that there is insufficient evidence of the MWP in non-North America data. Coming from the cherry-picking crew of tree-ring data fame, this is a pretty outlandish claim. First, the IPPC thought that there was a MWP, before they became so thoroughly politically-indoctrinated that science was sacrificed on the altar of grant money:   Second, the Idso website ( CO2 Magazine ) has a compilation of over 800 studies that support the MWP, including many from outside the Northern Hemisphere. (Note: if Northern Hemispere data is inadequate to generalize from, why...

Below from Democraticstuff.com The stimulus is a bust ( as anyone with a handle on economics would have expected )(see Hot Air graphic comparing self-recovery of prior recessions with prolonged current recession), the healthcare bill is DOA, Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts have swung over 20 points toward Republicans in about one year's time, rhetorically embracing with our most avowed enemies abroad has only empowered them to be more intractable, this President's popularity has dropped more in the first twelve months than in any other first term, and the 2010-2012 polls look like the word "Democrat" on a ballot may be as popular as the ex-spouse at a second wedding. Der Spiegel has a January headline "The world says goodbye to Obama." Time to sell off all of your Obama promo butons and tee-shirts at a discount? Yes, literally it is! There is an official campaign liquidation sale!!!