The Cato Institute bought a full page ad today in The Washington Post, one of those ads that features a long list of signatories, in this case scientists. The text:

“Few challenges facing America and

 the world are more urgent than combating

 climate change.The science is beyond

 dispute and the facts are clear.”

— PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA, NOVEMBER 19 , 2008

With all due respect

Mr. President, that is not true.

We, the undersigned scientists, maintain that the case for alarm regarding climate change is grossly overstated. Surface temperature changes over the past century have been episodic and modest and there has been no net global warming for over a decade now.^1,2 After controlling for population growth and property values, there has been no increase in damages from severe weather-related events.³ The computer models forecasting rapid temperature change abjectly fail to explain recent climate behavior.⁴ Mr. President, your characterization of the scientific facts regarding climate change and the degree of certainty informing the scientific debate is simply incorrect.

Here’s the PDF version, with the names.

From The Detroit News:

Editorial: Rick Wagoner’s ousting had more to do with politics than his ability to revive GM

Well, at least now we know who’s running General Motors. The Obama White House, in an extraordinary expansion of the government’s reach, Sunday demanded and got the head of Rick Wagoner, the automaker’s embattled chief executive. In doing so, the president brushed aside GM’s board of directors, selected by shareholders and entrusted with the power to hire and fire executives, and assumed that role for himself.

While GM’s board had been often restless with the transformation of GM under Wagoner’s leadership, it maintained its confidence in his ability to get done a very tough job.

Shareholders can read the handwriting on the wall — this isn’t their company anymore.

That’s the risk you take when you go hat in hand to Washington. It ought to be a red flag for other companies and industries that might be thinking a federal bailout is the answer for surviving the recession.

From The Detroit Free Press:

U.S. can’t run auto companies

The risk was there from the start.

The federal money flowing to Detroit to help struggling automakers was always going to come with strings.

But there’s a fine line between holding General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC accountable for a pile of taxpayer cash and inappropriate government efforts to actually run the companies.

President Barack Obama’s Auto Task Force may have crossed that line over the weekend, when it asked for GM Chairman Rick Wagoner’s resignation and demanded that Chrysler link up with Fiat in 30 days, or give up on any more government aid.

It’s hard to see how either move is far shy of actually running the businesses. And if that’s the case, if the auto companies’ federal overseers have decided they’ll make managerial as well as financial decisions, this sets an awful precedent, both on general principle and in these particular instances.

The Detroit Free Press covers the White House’s instructions to General Motors and Chrylser, including the forced departure of GM’s CEO, Rick Wagoner.

U.S. shreds auto plans

Obama gives Chrysler 30 days to join Fiat, forces Wagoner out at GM

President Barack Obama will give General Motors 60 days to craft a new survival plan without Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, and set a 30-day deadline for Chrysler to either partner with Fiat SpA or shut down.

Granholm: Wagoner ‘sacrificial lamb’

WASHINGTON — Gov. Jennifer Granholm says Rick Wagoner, the General Motors chairman and CEO forced out of his job in the Obama administration’s final effort to revive the ailing U.S. auto industry, is a “sacrificial lamb.”

• Wagoner’s fast rise, hard fall
• GM: 60 days to find fix
• Industry reactions to Wagoner’s ouster
• Ford execs: We want to steer clear of any aid
• Statements from Wagoner, GM board
• Henderson to lead overhaul of GM

Commentary:

• Tom Walsh: It’s been time for Wagoner to leave
• Mark Phelan: Fiat won’t cure Chrysler’s ills
• Susan Tompor: GM investors could see even more turmoil today
• Editorial: U.S. can’t run auto companies

Detroit News:

Obama forces Wagoner out at GM

Wall Street Journal’s lead editorial today is on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, “Pelosi’s Library Quarantine“:

It looks like “Jumanji” in local libraries these days, after the classic children’s book about chaos unleashed by the failure to heed warnings. In February, an overzealous law governing lead in products resulted in toys going from store shelves to the trash heap. Now, confusion over how the rules affect children’s books has led some libraries to rope off kids’ sections.

And the conclusion,

Nancy Pelosi boasted last summer that the toy safety law would mean products weren’t merely made differently in the future but would be removed from the shelves today. That’s the real source of this mayhem, as she was amply warned at the time by Democrat John Dingell, among others. Ms. Pelosi prevailed, and now the harm to thousands of businesses, charities and even public libraries is manifest. Since the House Speaker won’t admit a mistake and fix the law, the CPSC must do what it can to prevent more damage to the already challenging economy.

H.R. 4040 passed the House last year with just one no vote and three nays in the Senate. So let’s concede that passage of this extreme, unclear and economy-damaging legislation was a bipartisan mistake. And then let’s fix it.

Walter Olson at Overlawyered.com notes that while ATVs have drawn the most notice, kids bikes are also affected by the CPSIA’s inflexible, unreasonable lead standards.  And in the Bookroom Blog entry he links to, “Bikes and Kids,” the writer Valerie makes an important point about who’s being hurt by the CPSIA:

This wouldn’t occur to many in Washington, but in America the wide and ready availability of all kinds of used children’s products–books, educational supplies, clothing, toys, bikes and more–really is a mercy to low income families. Low-cost, minimally used children’s products can go a long way toward closing the gap between the wealthy and poor, in terms of childhood experience. CPSIA directly attacks one of the greatest blessings that disadvantaged families now enjoy in our advantaged country. Please, think about it.

Budget week on the Hill, President Obama addresses aid to automakers this morning and on Tuesday travels to the G20 Summit in London and to other points European. A special House election in New York state on Tuesday is being closely watched by political watchers. And the public tells Congress to fix the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. No fools, they, the public.

NAM President John Engler will speak at the CPSIA rally on April 1st on Capitol Hill, emphasizing the economic damage the law’s overreach has inflicted upon manufacturers while noting its harm to retailers, consumers, home-based businesses, libraries, etc., etc., etc. For more on this event, go to www.amendthecpsia.com and for background on the issue, the Shopfloor.org coverage.

The Senate convenes at 11 a.m. today and goes into consideration of the budget resolution, a five-year plan for federal spending. The budget should dominate the week unless something unhappy happens with the economy.

The House convenes at 12:30 p.m. today and has the usual rich array of suspensions on the schedule, including the federal media shield bill on Tuesday, H.R. 985, the Free Flow of Information Act. The rest of the week will be taken up by the budget resolution. For the House’s floor schedule for the week, see the Majority Leader’s report.

Both the House and Senate adjourn Friday for the two-week spring recess. For a full list of committee hearings for the week, see the last Congressional Digest.

House Hearings: Appropriations’ ag subcommittee on Thursday reviews federal food safety systems. The Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Homeland Security on Wednesday holds a hearing on cargo and container security. On Thursday, the subcommittee considers immigration enforcement and citizenship verification. Ed&Labor on Tuesday, “Green Jobs and their Role in our Economic Recovery.” Judiciary considers a long slate of punitive measures for fraud, housing finance commercial activity on Wednesday, including the False Claims Correction Act. Active week at Energy and Commerce, including a subcommittee hearing on Tuesday on generic drugs; on Thursday, the communications subcommittee reviews the broadband elements of the stimulus bill. Oversight and Government Reform on Thursday, on AIG’s collapse and rescue (denial, anger, acceptance to follow). A Science and Technology subcommittee on Tuesday marks up science education bills, including H.R. 1709, STEM Education Coordination Act. A separate subcommittee considers research, climate change and transportation infrastructure.

Senate Hearings: The Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy on Tuesday hears from White House economic adviser Christine Rohmer and other economists in a hearing on lessons from the New Deal. (Details.) Keynes was unavailable, having met the long run. Energy and Natural Resources on Tuesday marks up numerous energy-related bills, including S. 661, to strengthen American manufacturing through improved industrial energy efficiency. (The NAM strongly supports S. 661.) An EPW subcommittee on Tuesday examines EPA’s renewable fuels standard, with testimony from Charles T. Drevna of the National Petroleum Refiners Association. Senate Finance reviews TARP six months on, a Tuesday hearing. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, nominee to be Secretary of HHS, appears before two confirmation hearings: Tuesday before the Senate HELP Committee and on Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate Small Business Committee — with a fresh website now featuring the chairman, Sen. Landrieu — holds a confirmation hearing Wednesday for SBA nominee Karen Gordon Mills.

Executive Branch: On the President’s agenda today is aid to the auto manufacturers (including the government’s dismissal of a corporate executive) and a visit to Capitol Hill to lobby House Democrats for his budget. The President leaves for the G20 conclave in London on Tuesday, with stimulus, financial regulation, and fiscal responsibility on the agenda.  Also from AP: “Obama’s jam-packed agenda includes a speech in France on the U.S. trans-Atlantic relationship. He’ll deliver another one in the Czech Republic on proliferation. Then he’s off to hold a roundtable in Turkey with students. He also has plans to meet with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, as well as a slew of other heads of state as part of a rigorous schedule.” (The White House doesn’t release a public schedule, so we crib and crab.)

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is at the Port of Newark today with New Jersey political leaders to “announce proposal to slash harmful ship emissions.”

Economic Reports: Two closely watched reports scheduled for the week: The ISM manufacturing index for March on Wednesday; on Friday from the BLS, the March unemployment report. For more, see Briefing.com.

Remember this?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Now reconcile that with this:

(d) An executive department or agency official may communicate orally with registered lobbyists concerning general Recovery Act policy issues; provided, however, that such oral communications shall not extend to or touch upon particular projects, applications, or applicants for funding, and further that the official must contemporaneously or immediately thereafter document in writing: (i) the date and time of the contact on policy issues; (ii) the names of the registered lobbyists and the official(s) between whom the contact took place; and (iii) a short description of the substance of the communication. This writing must be posted publicly by the executive department or agency on its recovery website within 3 business days of the communication.

(e) Upon the scheduling of, and again at the outset of, any oral communications with any person or entity concerning general Recovery Act policy issues, an executive department or agency official shall inquire whether any of the individuals or parties appearing or communicating concerning such issues is a lobbyist registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. If so, the official shall comply with paragraph (d) above.

The provisions are part of President Obama’s March 20th directive to heads of executive departments and agencies with the subject, “Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds.”

The memorandum contains numerous restrictions on contacts between registered lobbyists and executive branch officials on the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with an emphasis on transparency, speedy reporting of contacts, etc. The requirements are burdensome, will discourage legitimate communications, and one expects they will be inadvertently breached many times. Still, they would seem to pass constitutional muster.

But the restrictions on speaking to public officials about specific projects are an afront to the First Amendment’s protections of speech and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. Registered lobbyists live under the same Constitution as the rest of America, and prohibiting one class of people from talking to the executive branch on projects financed by the taxpayers runs counter to this nation’s founding principles and current law.

Politico reports the ACLU, the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and American League of Lobbyists will send a letter to the White House protesting the restrictions. More…

• Associated Press, “THE INFLUENCE GAME: Obama limits stimulus lobbying”
• Marketplace, “Lobbyists fight stimulus talk ban”
• Covington and Burling E-mail alert, “New Presidential Guidance Restricts Lobbyist Communications Regarding Stimulus Funds“

From a post-CPSIA toy catalog from Rick Woldenberg, Learning Resources, Inc.

Rick Woldenberg, chairman of Learning Resources Inc., provides the latest update on the April 1 rally on Capitol Hill to urge Congress to fix the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act:

The April 1 Fly-In, Rally and Congressional Briefing:

When/Where: The Rally is set for Wednesday, April 1 at 10 AM EST at the Capitol Visitors Center in Rooms HVC201 A&B. Details on how to get there are found at http://amendthecpsia.com/2009/03/maps-directions-capitol-complex-and-event-room/. The Rally will last 1.5 – 2 hours, and afterwards many of us will go on legislative visits.

Who Will Be There? We have invited all 535 Congressmen and Senators, the CPSC, media and the public. At the moment, we have confirmed that five Representatives (Barton, Blackburn, Gingrey, Stearns and Whitfield), one Senator (DeMint) and Governor John Engler (CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers) will address the Rally. We are in discussions with others members of Congress, as well. The line-up of speakers is extensive, from many industries and will include scientists, as well. The list of Sponsors is growing every day – check the website for regular updates: http://amendthecpsia.com/2009/03/event-sponsors/.

Website: I urge you to explore our exciting Rally website, http://www.amendthecpsia.com/. This brand new, content-packed website is constantly being updated and has wonderful resources, blogs and links to put you in contact with the community of CPSIA protestors. You will be amazed at how diverse and committed the community is – explore and learn!

For a detailed and mind-boggling critique of the law and the difficulties the Consumer Product Safety Commission has in implementing it, see this 21-page response from the CPSC’s professional to a Congressional inquiry.

From something called the Sofia News Agency, “500 000 Sofia Light Bulbs Go off during Earth Hour”

Twenty-two Bulgarian cities took part in the “Earth Hour”, the campaign to raise awareness about global warming, Saturday night.

45 emblematic public buildings in downtown Sofia went dark as did, for the first time in its history, the medieval Bulgarian fortress of Tsarevets in the city of Veliko Turnovo.

According to the head of the electricity monitoring center in Sofia, the capital saved some 20 MW of electricity during the Earth Hour, which amounted to the turning off of 500 000 light bulbs.

Just guessing from personal experience, having visited East Germany before and after Communism, we’d bet that Sofia used to go dark every evening: No light bulbs, energy rationing, rampant poverty — that’s the way they used to achieve “Earth Hour” savings in Bulgaria’s planned economy.

The floods of ’09 near their peak along the Red River and its tributaries in Minnesota and North Dakota, and the good people of the region have pulled together to minimize the damage, human and material. As President Obama noted in his radio address today…

In the Fargodome, thousands of people gathered not to watch a football game or a rodeo, but to fill sandbags. Volunteers filled 2.5 million of them in just five days, working against the clock, day and night, with tired arms and aching backs. Others braved freezing temperatures, gusting winds, and falling snow to build levees along the river’s banks to help protect against waters that have exceeded record levels.

Well, if a picture is worth a thousands words, this video must be worth a billion. From Minnesota Public Radio:

We don’t know the trucks, but there appear to be a lot of Bobcats at work there on the floor of the Fargodome. (And alas, the PRCA Rodeo has been cancelled.)

The Fargo Forum reports that the Red may have crested in Fargo, but there’s plenty of river north before you get to Lake Winnipeg.

The Boston Globe has a very well presented collection of flood photos, not just from the Red but also from the Missouri flood. Ah, a Fargodome photo shows a Case IH front-end loader at work, too. And there’s a John Deere front-end loader further down in useful deployment. And a Hyster. Thank goodness for farm and construction equipment.