Apparently we are all gonna die, nothing to worry about

This is an idea of where the certain death zone is if the Yellowstone Caldera blows it's top. Everyone in the zone will die at once. Then the rest of us in a few weeks.

Very discouraging.


Apparently if you are outside of this area you can book yourself a flight to Mexico. I don't think that'll be cheap either.

I have taken the Alfred E Newman Posture on this:



There are few other options if you think about it.

There's a lot of THIS going round.....I knew it all along

I added more Channels and there's STILL nothing on....

I had a bit of a run in with our Sat TV service. I hollered, They responded.

So, I ended up with a dozen free movie channels for a few months.

WHOO HOOO.

Nothing there.

How can people make such drivel??

Now I know why I don't go to the movies anymore. Why fill your mind with crap? (That's a biblical word)

Skuvbalon

Look it up...

Men of God at Lord of Life

For the Umpteenth time we had our once a month men of God meeting at the Church. Lots of men saw fit to get up and come out at 8AM. A big circle of them.

We shared the rescues of God in our lives. The pain of being up against the wall.

We sang and prayed for each other and the mission we have been given as Men of God.

When it comes together like it did this morning as whole and beautiful as it did, I love these men more than I ever thought possible.

I'm thankful for them all, and particularly thankful that they accept this wounded broken man for who he is.

It was a wonderful way to start the new year.

The Perfect BAD Example

I read the blogs compiled at Crosswalk.com.

Most of the contributors are thoughtful, wise, clever and demonstrate spiritual depth.

One of those who writes and is none of the above is a man by the name of John Shore. Who, in my estimation must be someone's brother in law otherwise how could such a shallow man be allowed to write in the same company as the others. I'm not certain he's a Christian. At least as I would know one. If he is, he needs serious discipleship. Of course, having read his "Profundity" he wouldn't think of being open to correction. He thinks he's funny and a bit irreligious. But, when I read what he writes I get a twist in my spirit. He's one of those who likes to push the envelope of open minded evangelicalism that is a deception of the Devil. Mark him well. He is not to be trusted. I am judging him as you should.

There are biblical passages that require men and women of God to Judge one another in spirituals. (Charismata)

1 Corinthians 14
29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

Romans 16
17Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

18For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Romans 8
12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.^[g] And by him we cry, "Abba,^[h] Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

He will never read this and if he did would not heed it. My warning is to those who might follow his path of insulting the Spirit of Grace and treating the things of God with soft contempt. It is the sin of Nadab and Abiu who offering strange fire, are burnt by fire.

Hebrews 10
29How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Mark him well.

I called - You Answered - And you came to my rescue

I am as impacted by what the Lord says to me as others are. It is not a neutral experience. As I was receiving the revelation about the Call on 7-7-07 and the 777 tearing down of Baal this song began to go thru my head. Hillsong United. If we call out, he answers.

You gotta see this, One YEAR in 40 Seconds

31 Questions for the New Year

The first day of a new year is a good time to stop, reflect, refocus and consider where we are going. The question for today is not, “Where are you going?” but rather, “Where will you be when you get there?” This morning all of us are taking the first steps on a 365-day journey. Where will you be when you arrive at December 31? What will you do with the gift of a new beginning that God has given you? In order to help us think about this in a practical way, Don Whitney has put together 31 questions. There are 10 basic questions and then 21 more–one for each day of the month.

If you are married, I urge you to discuss these questions with your spouse. If you are in a small group, take your first session this year to go over these questions. Thinking through these questions together will help make 2009 truly life-changing for you.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

In addition to these ten questions, here are twenty-one more to help you “Consider your ways.” Think on the entire list at one sitting, or answer one question each day for a month.

11. What’s the most important decision you need to make this year?

12. What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way you could simplify in that area?

13. What’s the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year?

14. What habit would you most like to establish this year?

15. Who do you most want to encourage this year?

16. What is your most important financial goal this year, and what is the most important step you can take toward achieving it?

17. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work life this year?

18. What’s one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?

19. What’s one thing you could do this year to enrich the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children and grandchildren?

20. What book, in addition to the Bible, do you most want to read this year?

21. What one thing do you most regret about last year, and what will you do about it this year?

22. What single blessing from God do you want to seek most earnestly this year?

23. In what area of your life do you most need growth, and what will you do about it this year?

24. What’s the most important trip you want to take this year?

25. What skill do you most want to learn or improve this year?

26. To what need or ministry will you try to give an unprecedented amount this year?

27. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your commute this year?

28. What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better this year, and what will you do about it?

29. If those who know you best gave you one piece of advice, what would they say? Would they be right? What will you do about it?

30. What’s the most important new item you want to buy this year?

31. In what area of your life do you most need change, and what will you do about it this year?

From Ray Prichard

Admirable People

Eight People I Admired Most in 2008

By Steve Strang

As we end this year I want to reflect on eight individuals—seven of whom I know personally—whom I greatly admire. These are the people who inspired me most in 2008:

1. Rick Warren has used his considerable influence more responsibly than almost anyone I've met. For example, in August he was able to get John McCain and Barack Obama together on the same stage for the first time. Each had received enough votes to win his party's nomination (even though the nominating conventions had not yet been held). In what Warren called a Civil Forum, he asked each of them the same questions about faith and values. It became quickly apparent that the candidates had major philosophical differences, although each presented his views articulately. Warren was very civil toward them, and his gracious tone broke the stereotypical image of conservative Christian leaders who get mean and nasty when it comes to politics. If you missed my Strang Report about this event, click here to read it.

Later in the year I had the privilege of attending a Civil Forum that Warren held with President George W. Bush in which the pastor gave an award to the president for the considerable work he's done to help AIDS victims in Africa. If you missed my report on this a couple of weeks ago, click here.

2. Mike Huckabee dared to run for president even though his campaign was under-financed and his conservative values are often considered an anathema by the media and political elite in our country. It's well known that I endorsed Huckabee early in the 2008 presidential race. I personally raised money for him. A year ago this week he was just a few days from winning the Iowa primary—a huge upset. The other upset in Iowa was Barack Obama's win. Of course, we know the rest of the story on his campaign. Mike Huckabee went on to win 7 more states and glean 4 million votes. Had he won South Carolina instead of falling short by a couple of percentage points, he might have gained momentum, won the GOP nomination and won the presidency.

I was around Huckabee enough in various situations to see that he was always consistent behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera. He now has a very interesting program on Fox News Channel on which he continues to champion causes that I believe are important. I hope we have not heard the last of Mike Huckabee in the political process.

3. Sarah Palin. Of all the people on my list, Palin is the only one I don't know personally. I first heard of her in June 2007 while on a cruise to Alaska with Texas pastor John Hagee. He had a meeting with her while we were docked in Juneau. He came back to the ship raving about this sharp, young, female governor. He mentioned her name, but I didn't remember it. So, like many others, I was surprised when McCain picked her as his running mate. But I became a strong Palin supporter just a few moments after I'd learned of her very strong stand on pro-life and other moral principles.

I learned later that Palin has a Pentecostal background, as I do. The January issue of Charisma features a cover story on Palin's faith. I wrote about her in October and so far have received more than 1,450 reader posts, the biggest response ever to my blog. You can read what I wrote by clicking here.

4. Kim Daniels is a speaker, author, pastor and "apostle" in Jacksonville, Florida. Her husband, Ardell, and I have become very close friends. We've also published several of her books as well as many magazine articles. I admire the way she stands strong for what she believes and how she speaks the truth even when it's not popular. In the recent presidential election she took a lot of flak as an African-American because she opposed Barack Obama's pro-abortion views.

I know that she has a remarkably accurate prophetic gift and operates in a powerful anointing when she opposes demonic powers, both in individual lives as well over nations. If you missed what she wrote in my blog a couple weeks ago, you can click here.

5. Scott Plakon is my longtime friend and golfing buddy who was recently elected to the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 37 where I live. When I knew he was going to run for office, I asked him if I could have the privilege of being the first to donate to his campaign. Of all the people I admire, Scott is—unlike most on this list—not known nationally. Yet he is the one I know the best. As a friend he's stood with me during some difficult times; I too have stood by him.

I've known for a long time that he had a dream of becoming a public servant by age 50, after he had established a successful business. In March, when the Florida legislature convenes, he will be a week away from his 50th birthday (even though he looks much younger). Because I'm his close friend I have seen that he did not compromise during his campaign—even though there were opportunities to compromise, and even though there were major compromises on the part of others in local political races.

Scott is a strong pro-life advocate. Part of the reason is that his mother became pregnant with him when she was unwed at age 17. Some encouraged her to have an abortion even though it was not legal at the time. Scott also stands strongly on the other moral values and will do a great job in the Florida legislature. I hope he is a prototype for many other believers who will enter the political process.

6. Jim Garlow pastors Skyline Church in San Diego, the church formerly pastored by John Maxwell. I got to know Garlow through pastor Jack Hayford probably 15 years ago and have watched his life and career. He has done a great job as a pastor. But this year he became a real leader in getting Proposition 8 passed in California. He was able to mobilize pastors who, in turn, mobilized their congregations to pass the amendment—which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Garlow and his army of volunteers overcame what they thought were overwhelming odds to get Proposition 8 passed by 52 percent. However, he has come under intense criticism by the radical left.

While Jim was undergoing enormous pressure regarding Proposition 8 and providing outstanding leadership, he was dealing with intense pressures in his personal life. His wife, Carol, learned two years ago that she had more than 100 cancerous tumors and was given a 5 percent chance to live. However, she is doing great today. I admire the way Jim has stood strong with Carol during this difficult period.

7. John Stemberger is an Orlando, Florida, attorney who is president of the Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC). He also led the fight to get the Marriage Amendment on the ballot in Florida. After the FFPC collected 611,009 names on a petition to get the amendment on the ballot, many of the names were disqualified. I was told this was merely a political ploy to keep it off the ballot. Yet under these extraordinary circumstances John got the necessary signatures in an incredibly short period of time.

The battle really began at that point because Florida law requires 60 percent voter support to pass a constitutional amendment. This is the highest standard in any state. John worked tirelessly, crisscrossing the state and brilliantly strategizing to involve African-American and Hispanic pastors, many of whom voted for Barack Obama but who also voted for the Marriage Amendment. It ended up passing by 62 percent. I admire his tireless effort, his strategic brilliance, and his absolute commitment, both to preserving traditional marriage as well as to saving the life of the unborn.

8. Stephen Strader. Last but not least is my long-time friend Stephen Strader, whom I've known since 1967. His father, Karl Strader, was my pastor until I went to college and we've remained close friends over the years. Now Stephen pastors Ignite Church in Lakeland, Florida, my hometown. Over the years Stephen has always had a heart for revival. He was quick to agree to allow Todd Bentley to use his church for revival meetings beginning in early April of this year (even though Bentley had admitted to moral shortcomings in the last couple of years, although he had supposedly been restored to the ministry).

Within days it was obvious that this was no usual revival meeting. The services lasted for hours, with many miracles being reported. The services were first broadcast on the Internet and then by God TV, and people came from around the world. I first visited the services in early May and wrote about my experiences. If you missed it you can click here.

There were things that concerned me about the Lakeland Revival from the beginning, including the fact that Bentley was ministering for many hours a day seven days a week. That inevitably leads to a crash, which happened only a few months later.

In addition, Bentley invited Paul Cain to the platform even though Cain's ministry has been discredited. Bentley also claimed to communicate with the same angel that reportedly appeared to evangelist William Branham. However, Bentley did seem to modify some of his statements when others challenged him, and he took references about the angel off his Web site. Throughout all of this, Stephen was loyal to Todd because he wanted the revival to expand. He also reached out to spiritual fathers to help him "shepherd the revival." His plea convinced C. Peter Wagner and others to bring Bentley into "spiritual alignment" at a widely publicized service in late June. There are those who believe the service was inappropriate, partly because prophetic words spoken over Bentley indicated that the revival would continue. As it turned out, that very week revelations began surfacing about Bentley that resulted in him leaving the revival. In July Bentley announced he was divorcing his wife. You can click here to read more about this.

I admire the grace Stephen demonstrated while he handled enormous pressure and intense criticism. He pastored his church in such a way that it emerged from this revival stronger than it was before. He also kept a humble spirit and a passion for revival even though Bentley left in disgrace. This had to be a huge disappointment to Stephen. I also admire the fact that he was teachable and open to constructive criticism from those in ministry who had concerns about Bentley's theology and practices.

On a personal note, I want to add to this list my immense admiration for Dr. J. Howard Ridings, who passed from this life on April 17. He was my brother-in-law. I actually met him and his wife, Rosella, in 1969—several years before I met Rosella's sister Joy, whom I later married. Howard and Rosella have been very close friends, and Howard in many ways was like a spiritual father to me, especially after my own father died 12 years ago. Howard had a successful ministry as a pastor and missionary for four years in both Singapore and Hong Kong. For the last 10 years I had the privilege of having him on my staff at Strang Communications. For the last 18 months of his life he battled cancer. Several times it appeared to be in remission. But his body finally wore out, mainly from some of the treatments he was undergoing.

At 2 a.m. on Wednesday, April 17, Howard breathed his last and was ushered to the other side. Standing around his bed were Rosella, his son Dean, daughter Denae and their spouses; as well as me and Joy; our sons Cameron and Chandler; and my daughter-in-law, Maya. I loved Howard deeply. I had opportunities to eulogize him both in print and verbally in many ways. But for me this was the single-most difficult and traumatic event in 2008. While my admiration for Howard was not due to anything he did during this year, I wanted to take this opportunity to once again publicly say how much I loved him and miss him.

I invite you to post your comments on my blog. Tell me whom you admired most in 2008 or let me know what you think of The Strang Report, which I launched one year ago.

Happy new year.

Steve Strang

Haikus for the new administration and inauguration day

Emperor Zero
Cold, so bitter and clinging
Temperature zero

Two Thousand and Nine
The Year When Everything Changed
Obamassiah!

Healing, wealth for all
Tax cuts, chiseled pecs, world peace
Lightworker, The One

From DUmmieFUnnies

The Word of the Lord for 2009 - A Year of Judgment

I just posted the Word of the Lord for 2009 as I have for several years. Find it HERE.

Reviewing the prophetic word for 2008 I am astonished.

A few things the Lord is Saying:

• Judgment of the Whore Church
• Economic restoration beginning in spring
• Judgment of unjust balances and rulers
  
• An uncertain future for President Obama
• The most important of all.... The BAALS torn down in response to the Prayers of the Saints
• 2009 holds great promise for those who love God and are the Called
  

Why Blacks aren't Republicans even though they are conservative

The awkward co-dependence of blacks and liberal Democrats
Star Parker
Monday, December 29, 2008

What does Caroline Kennedy have in common with black America? If your answer is not much, I'd tend to agree with you.

When I think of Caroline, I think of Manhattan and Park Avenue, not the Bronx and Brooklyn. I think of Brentwood and Beverly Hills, not Watts and South Central Los Angeles.

But there is something that Caroline and black America do have in common. The Democratic Party.

Whether Kennedy succeeds in her effo rt to slide into Hillary Clinton's soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat will have little to do with her Democratic Party bona fides. Per her policy positions ticked off the other day, she is in perfect and predictable liberal alignment with party boilerplate. If she fails, it will be for reasons other than her views.

So what exactly is the common political ground that Kennedy bluebloods share with the 90 percent of America's blacks who vote for Democrats?

A careful look shows the deep internal contradictions of the Democratic Party and the complexity of the political psyche of black Americans.

Ironically, despite Democratic Party rhetoric about economic inequities and wealth and income gaps in America, those gaps are more pronounced inside the Democratic tent than inside the Republican one.

According to exit polls from November's election, Barack Obama captured the vote of America' richest and America's poorest. Fifty-two percent of those with incomes over $200,000 voted for Obama and more than 60 percent of those earning under $30,000 did.

Our wealthiest senator, John Kerry, is a Democrat, as is our wealthiest House member, Jane Harman.

The nation's two wealthiest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are both, by all indication, Democrats.

What political aspirations can black Americans, whose median income lags the nation's share with these multimillionaires and billionaires?

There is little common ground regarding values.

Church attendance correlates reliably over time with party affiliation, and this remained true in this last election. Those who attend church frequently vote Republican. Those who don't usually vote Democratic. Except blacks.

Blacks, in fact, have the highest church attendance in the country. Seventy-six percent of black Democrats attend church at least monthly. Sixty-seven perce nt of Republicans do and 50 percent of white Democrats do.

A recent Gallup poll shows blacks more aligned with Republicans than Democrats on social issues -- moral acceptability of homosexuality, abortion, and sexual promiscuity.

On energy and environmental issues, blacks poll more closely with conservatives than with liberals. It's because these are pocketbook issues. Working blacks have little interest in paying the higher taxes and bearing the higher costs that will result from chasing global warming windmills and displacing cheap hydrocarbon energy with exotic government-subsidized alternatives. Lower energy costs also put blacks on the side of offshore drilling for oil and gas.

How about education? Wealthy liberals, despite having their own kids in private schools, oppose school choice. When a black family is given the opportunity to pull its child out of a failing public school and send him or her to a church school or another alternative, they are grateful.

So where's the common ground? Income redistribution. A recent Zogby poll shows 80 percent of Democrats, 90 percent of liberals, and 76 percent of blacks supporting taxing the weal thy to give money back to low-income Americans.

Despite everything else, blacks vote to stay on the liberal plantation. Pop psychologists would call the relationship between wealthy liberals and blacks co-dependence.

Republicans are wrong if they think they'll win blacks on social issues alone. They need to help blacks understand that lim ited government provides the economic mobility and opportunity they need and that the welfare, redistribution state does the opposite. They must help blacks gain self-confidence so that they can enjoy the benefits that can only come from freedom.

So far, Republicans have failed to do this. Which is another reason why they now sit on the outside looking in.

Copyright © 2008 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.

Email Change

I have been asked for a correct email.

I won't tell you what it WAS. It is generedlin at att.net

Please add that to your address book if you care.

Thanks

Mystical MANA of Obama

From Dummie Funnies:
"Does Obama have MANA???" I thought it was referring to Biblical manna as "Manna from heaven." However this mana being being referred to is the mystical Polynesian Mana which gives him supernatural power. You think I'm kidding. Look at this thread that worships the mystical power of MANA that Obama has according to those deists over at Democratic Underground.

If this weren't so sad it would be funny. Or as Julie wants us to say.....

God Help Us. Or in Democrat talk, that would be Obama Help Us.

I have no recommendation or opinon on some things

I was asked by a good friend about a ministry I am marginally familiar with.

The Exodus Project.

I know almost nothing about it. I am asked often to give a "review" or Evaluation of various ministries local and national. It's a problem.

My problem is, ministry would be easy if it weren't for all the people. People being ministered to and people leading the ministry. It's a mess. Yet, it's the Mess God Uses.

My ultimate test for a ministry is simple, does it have the net effect of causing the hearts of those who come in contact to beat faster for Jesus?

If it doesn't draw people to the MAN Christ Jesus then I am not certain it will do much good. If a person connects intimately with the Living Christ he or she will change in ways that no ministry can replicate with a formal program.

So, about Exodus, I suppose it's well intentioned. What is more important than trying to change people is changing the heart of those who come for help, that is a sovereign action of the Holy Spirit. Nothing else matters.

If we want to change homelessness, divorce, adultery, gang banging, murder, poverty, and all the other ills confronting urban Chicago, first people must encounter Jesus one on one, so their heart is changed. A changed heart will change all those other things.

That is my single evaluation of an effective ministry. Most don't pass muster I'm afraid.

Even Eve Needs a Savior

No story, it just touched me. Reconciliation!

We all need to come just as we are.....Like Eve.

10,000 Hours or Ten Years - There is NO SUCH THING as an Instant Success

Malcom Gladwell has written a new book, number three of a series. First was The Tipping Point. Second was Blink.

Now he has written one called Outliers. It is in my opinion the most interesting of the three. It may not be the big success but it has some premises that are really critical if you or someone you know and love want to become accomplished and successful in life:

• It takes preparation, intense practice to become good at anything. 10,000 hours or ten years.
• You must have the opportunity. Luck does play a part. Being in the right place at the right time.
• Passion for doing or becoming something will drive someone to pay the price.
• Talent is far less important than most people think.
• Education while important is a smaller component than we be live.

I think these are important concepts because most people, particularly young people think there are short cuts to success. That being bright gets you somewhere. The reality is that to become accomplished and fluid in anything takes time, passion and experience.

I don't think the people who really need to see this will watch the half hour video. This is really bad karma for those who suffer from attention deficit disorder. They won't become accomplished without a passion and focus.

It's bad news. But if you want the whole story, watch the whole video interview and get a grip. You can become accomplished, but it takes time. Lots of time. 10,000 hours.

New York Times Hall of Shame 2008

Just so you know for sure that real journalism is dead and buried, there is a blogger who keeps an eye on the idiocy that passes for objectivity in journalism.

The TOP TEN dumbest things that the NYT did in the last year.

We must Apologize to Bernie Madoff

Paul Mulshine:

A lot of people have been comparing the Ponzi scheme allegedly run by Madoff to the Ponzi scheme run by the U.S. government, also known as Social Security.

That’s entirely unfair.

To Madoff.

From what I can gather, Madoff at least made an attempt to invest the money he got from early investors to give them the returns he promised. Those investments failed to bring in enough money and the scheme was doomed to fail sooner or later. But if Madoff had been a more brilliant investor, it might have worked.

The federal government, on the other hand, never tried to make the Social Security system work. The feds didn’t invest the money in the market. They took the money that we gave them and lent it to themselves, promising themselves interest. To be paid by themselves.

This scheme is even more crooked than Madoff’s.

John Langbein speaking at the law school a few years ago, said that if Wall Street tried to do what Social Security does they’d all be in jail.

Common Sense on Alternative Energy from the Wall Street Journal Opinon Page

Carbon Limits, Yes; Energy Subsidies, No

Wind and biofuel could become the next subprime mortgage fiasco.

By WILLIAM TUCKER

There isn't much doubt that Congress and incoming President Barack Obama will try to impose some kind of limits on carbon emissions. The Republicans, girding in opposition, are denouncing global warming as a fraud, and claiming that either a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system will impose an unacceptable burden on the economy.

Their strategy of stonewalling cedes the game in what will be the most dangerous aspect of carbon legislation -- the effort to use the proceeds of an emissions tax to subsidize a dead-end expedition into "renewable" energy.

Whether global warming is real will probably not be known for another 50 years. There are signs, in the melting of the Arctic ice cap and warming in Alaska, that something unusual is happening to the climate. But skeptics note that world temperatures haven't risen since 1998 and that, if anything, recent weather has been unseasonably cold. Still, that doesn't mean we can dump billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year without eventual consequences.

A $50 per ton carbon tax would raise gasoline prices about 25 cents per gallon -- nothing we haven't experienced in the last two years -- and accelerate a move toward electric hybrids, weaning us away from foreign oil. Nothing catastrophic there. The same levy would raise electric rates about 10%, which would encourage conservation while pushing us away from fossil fuels.

The real danger is that, instead of refunding the tax to consumers, Congress will grab the money to subsidize the current craze for specific forms of energy, particularly wind or biofuels.

Wind generation is the prime example of what can go wrong when the government decides to pick winners. The idea that it can replace significant quantities of coal or natural gas in electrical generation is a fantasy.

Windmills generate power only 25% of the time and can change output minute-to-minute. A contemporary electric grid is a highly tuned instrument that cannot vary in voltage by more than a few percentage points without causing brownouts or damaging electric equipment. Under these circumstances, wind is more of a nuisance than a source of power.

Nonetheless, wind is our fastest growing form of electrical generation, due entirely to federal and state subsidies and "renewable portfolios," in which the government tells utility companies what to build. In a few years we could find ourselves in the position of Denmark -- which has built thousands of windmills without closing a single fossil-fuel plant.

Biofuels have already proven to be an even bigger disaster. They've gobbled up 30% of our corn crop and have leveled tropical forests, while replacing less than 3% of our oil.

Solar energy, on the other hand, has distinct advantages that will emerge from limiting carbon emissions without any additional subsidies. Besides being carbon-free, solar electricity is at a maximum when it's needed most -- on hot summer afternoons. This is when the utilities need "peaking power," usually provided by expensive gas turbines. Rooftop solar collectors could provide ample peaking electricity, particularly in southern climates where air conditioning is a way of life.

The real beneficiary of a carbon-emissions regimen, however, is likely to be nuclear power. Already anticipating this revival, the nuclear industry has submitted 18 proposals for 28 new reactors before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Granted, many of Mr. Obama's environmental allies seem ready to lie down in front of bulldozers before allowing a nuclear revival to take place. But the president-elect's position seems more nuanced. His home state of Illinois, after all, gets 45% of its electricity from nuclear reactors.

A prudent position for Republicans should be: "Carbon limits, yes, subsidies, no." If a carbon tax or cap-and-trade auction is imposed, use the revenues to reduce other taxes so it won't cripple the economy. The thing to avoid is a wild, congressionally driven speculative boom in alternative energy. As Jesse Ausubel, director of the Program for the Human Environment at Rockefeller University, puts it: "Renewable energy could be the next subprime mortgage meltdown."

Mr. Tucker is author of "Terrestrial Energy: How Nuclear Power Will Lead the Green Revolution and End America's Long Energy Odyssey," published in October by Bartleby Press.

The Death of Global Warming

I just wanted to publish the Obituary of the greater than Madoff Scam, The Idea that Man causes Global Warming.

The Wicked Green Witch is Dead. Ding Dong.

This article from the Daily Telegraph in England is worth Reading:

Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed,