THE US REPORT

A huge conflict over global warming has erupted, with experts saying there is no consensus and that man-made emissions are not doing the harm some experts claim. Daily Tech broke the story today. Read my post about this at Red State. Enjoy the video below produced by Americans for Prosperity. I discovered the video at The Washington Examiner.

I've written a number of stories here at The US Report about global warming/climate change, with some recent ones in the Environment category.

I do believe America should develop alternative forms of energy. I do not believe we can do that overnight; politicians have put this off for the last 16 years. It will take time to reduce our use of oil. But the insane political frenzy about this subject is costing people in our country ridiculous amounts of money. In other countries where there are internal conflicts and corrupt leadership, food donations people depend on from us are being diverted for fuel. We have to do something, but it cannot be done overnight.

In the video below, the young man who says he advocates $8 a gallon gasoline took a cab to see  Al Gore who arrived with a motorcade. Gore's driver idled the engine for 20 minutes so the car would be cool.

Neither that young man nor Gore can begin to imagine what it is like for a senior living on a small fixed income or a single mother trying to keep a roof over her children's heads. I know what that is like because I have delivered food to people like that. In person.

Since the mortgage crisis broke, I’ve wondered if fraud figures into the losses and I’ve made a point to ask people if they know a person who lost their home. I haven’t met a single person who has, and I've talked to a broad variety of people. The FBI announced this  week the sentencing of a woman for mortgage fraud and identity theft. The case was prosecuted in the US Court for the Western District of Missouri. Kimberly M. Davis, 43, of Lee’s Summit (Mo.) was sentenced to four years in federal prison without parole. The FBI investigated and solved the case. The court also ordered Davis to pay $191,000 in restitution. Davis used stolen identities to purchase homes. Davis tied up more than $1,000,000 in mortgage loans.

On Dec. 9, 2007, Davis pleaded guilty to using the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of three separate victims, without their permission, to purchase two homes in Lee's Summit. Davis worked as a mortgage broker at firms in Liberty and Gladstone from November 2003 through January 2005.  Between Nov. 19 and 25, 2003, Davis used a stolen identity to obtain a $317,894 loan from Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., for the purchase of a Lee's Summit residence at 704 S.W. Winterstar Dr. Between July 2 and Sept. 17, 2004, Davis used another stolen identity to obtain a $347,438 loan from Countrywide for the purchase of another Lee's Summit residence at 2520 Wintercreek Dr. Between Dec. 31, 2004, and Jan. 7, 2005, Davis used a third stolen identity to obtain a $362,424 loan from Accredited Home Lenders, Inc., for the purchase of the second Lee's Summit residence (at 2520 Wintercreek Dr.), ostensibly by the third identity theft victim.

So I wonder how much of this “mortgage crisis” is really a crisis. Congress spent tons of time investigating allegations of steroids in baseball players, an act that really cost me nothing even if the players had used steroids. But the mortgage crisis which will definitely cost taxpayers money received little attention in the way of investigations, at least until now at a point when it's basically too late. And you wonder why this Congress has such low approval ratings.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) addressed, among other issues,  what many believe is the primary issue for black Americans—education—when he spoke at the NAACP convention this morning.  McCain doesn’t rely on theatrics—he stands with posture similar to many who have served in the military and he basically shoots it to you straight. That’s one of the characteristics I like most about him. And he called attention to an issue I believe is a critical component in addressing drop-out rates among black students—charter schools.

McCain said, “In Washington, D.C., the Opportunity Scholarship program serves more than 1,900 boys and girls from families with an average income of 23,000 dollars a year. And more than 7,000 more families have applied for that program. What they all have in common is the desire to get their kids into a better school. []Democrats in Congress, including my opponent, oppose the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. In remarks to the American Federation of Teachers last weekend, Senator Obama dismissed public support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans as, 'tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice.' "

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Leftistas have traditionally blasted Matt Drudge for favoring conservative politicians with benevolent links on his news plaza website, but there’s a new question simmering in the pundit and strategist stew. Is Matt Drudge, icon of Web media, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama for president? Politico did a story in June, quoting none other than Arianna Huffington who predictably believes the entire country including Drudge can now be safely categorized and filed under the label (I know this term is quirky but I’m tired of the phrase ‘left-wing’) Leftista.

Huffington, who has her own leftista website, spoke to Politico about Drudge:  “He does have a great grasp of the zeitgeist, and the zeitgeist has shifted. What used to be left-wing positions are now solidly mainstream and supported by the majority of the American people.”

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Ed. Note: I met Bryan Del Monte through Blog Catalog as he was establishing the conservative site Right Commentary. Bryan is a senior policy and strategy consultant to government agencies on a wide range of defense issues. He worked for the US Government for four years in the Pentagon. A Republican since Reagan defeated Carter in 1980, Bryan is a former Bush Administration political appointee.  I blog at Right Commentary when time permits, and what strikes me about Bryan’s content is the lack of vitriol common to many other political blogs whether they’re conservative or liberal. He agreed to an email interview with The US Report after I asked him why people like us spend time blogging.—Kay B. Day

Day: Why does a busy person like you decide to spend time blogging?
Del Monte: I started blogging in a way before blogs became popular. In graduate school, I used to have an email list of news stories with commentary that I would write weekly. It was a combination of bizarre stories and comment - some political - mostly current events. I had about 100 people a week at my university who used to get it. When I stopped being on campus all the time, I didn't write as much, so eventually it collapsed.

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