I am linking yet another article demonstrating the climate change on Mars and the ensuing melting of its ice caps. I do this not to once again point out the affect that the Sun has on the -- apparently to alarmists, inappropriately named -- Solar System, but to expose the paranoia and desperation of the alarmist crowd.
Case in point, allow me to present exhibit A.... Lori Fenton, one of the researchers in the following article I am citing. To distinguish that Mars warming is nothing like that which Earth is currently experiencing she makes the compelling argument that the temperature change on Mars causes windstorms that then go on to create temperature change which then goes on to melt the caps...huh?
Mars frightens the alarmists because melting caps and rising temperature are two of the biggest points they have to sell anthropogenic warming on Earth. They ignore and dismiss Mars warming cycle as inconsequential and coincidental because if man is not the cause for Earth's current warming cycle then they fear that their American Idol moment will be over and the eco-socialism movement will have been thwarted.
Obviously on the surface one could make the argument that it is all about money, which to a large degree it is. Grant monies have skyrocketed, end of the world climate Armageddon books/movies/concerts are selling like hot cakes, and a billion dollar imaginary trading market in the name of offsetting our collective eco-conscience has been created.
but....
I think it also comes down to basic human emotion, and that for the most part these scientists just want to be loved. Why risk being labelled a skeptic when the warm embrace of consensus is calling on line one and The Today Show is on line two.
What I'm getting at is that if it turns out that anthropogenic warming is as authentic as a Monday morning shift stripper's mammalian protruberances then their fifteen minutes will be up. They will once again be relegated to labs in the University's basement and the corner of cocktail party conversations. They will go back to being the anonymous nobodies that they once were, and I say that not as a slight, but as a fact, as there is perhaps no greater fan of the lost Age of American Anonymity than I.
The Age of Lights Camera Action is ever corrupting as can be evidenced, for example from any televised court case or the plethora of books by former members of the intelligence community (who had signed non-disclosure and confidentiality contracts) and the scientific community is not immune.
Fame is the bastard of accomplishment and today glaciologists and climatologists are frickin rock stars... yesterdays brain surgeons and rocket scientists if you will, and if it turns out that AGW is a fraud it will all be gone in an instant. I think that makes their judgement extremely suspect, more so then a check from Greenpeace or ExxonMobil.
EE-Aw!!!
Climate change hits Mars
Mars is being hit by rapid climate change and it is happening so fast that the red planet could lose its southern ice cap, writes Jonathan Leake. Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period. Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena. cont'd
Monday, April 30, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Let's Do This!
Trust me on this one. Be patient pay attention and listen closely. This is just about the funniest thing Ive seen in some time and now has me annoying the hell out of my friends family and co-workers with the now immortal war cry. If you do not laugh you are a no good god damn traitor.
Do as I say.....
Not as I do.......?
April 26, 2007, 6:44 PM EDTWASHINGTON -- A flock of small jets took flight from Washington Thursday, each carrying a Democratic presidential candidate to South Carolina for the first debate of the political season.For Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, it was wheels up shortly after they voted in favor of legislation requiring that U.S. troops begin returning home from Iraq in the fall.No one jet pooled, no one took commercial flights to save money, fuel or emissions.------- continued
April 26, 2007, 6:44 PM EDTWASHINGTON -- A flock of small jets took flight from Washington Thursday, each carrying a Democratic presidential candidate to South Carolina for the first debate of the political season.For Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, it was wheels up shortly after they voted in favor of legislation requiring that U.S. troops begin returning home from Iraq in the fall.No one jet pooled, no one took commercial flights to save money, fuel or emissions.------- continued
Quote
"And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we imagine we no longer need its assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this Truth, that God governs in the Affairs of Men. And if a Sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid?"
-- Benjamin Franklin (Motion for Prayers in the Constitutional Convention, 28 June 1787)
-- Benjamin Franklin (Motion for Prayers in the Constitutional Convention, 28 June 1787)
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Tellin it Like it Is
Surrender or redeployment?
Illegal or undocumented
The thing I like best about being a conservative is that I don't have to lie. I don't have to pretend that men and women are the same. I don't have to declare that failed or oppressive cultures are as good as mine.
Nor do I have to say that everyone's special or that the rich cause poverty or that all religions are a path to God. I don't have to claim that a bad writer like Alice Walker is a good one or that a good writer like Toni Morrison is a great one. I don't have to pretend that Islam means peace. Continued
Illegal or undocumented
The thing I like best about being a conservative is that I don't have to lie. I don't have to pretend that men and women are the same. I don't have to declare that failed or oppressive cultures are as good as mine.
Nor do I have to say that everyone's special or that the rich cause poverty or that all religions are a path to God. I don't have to claim that a bad writer like Alice Walker is a good one or that a good writer like Toni Morrison is a great one. I don't have to pretend that Islam means peace. Continued
Duncan On Dollars
courtesy of Porkbusters
Duncan Hunter on Fiscal Conservatism
"First of all, I think Ronald Reagan spoke for all of us in the conservative movement when he said,
"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much."
With that in mind, I want to let you know that I supported George Bush's tax cuts, voted for them, and strongly believe that they should be made permanent. Additionally, I support reform of the alternative minimum tax, believe that it's vitally important that we simplify our tax code, and think it should require a 2/3rds majority in Congress to raise taxes. If you leave money in the pockets of American businesses and taxpayers, the tax base will increase and it will bring in more revenue for the government. That's exactly what happened with the Bush tax cuts, which proved to be extremely beneficial to the economy.
Next, let me talk about area that I think we conservatives often overlook; that's trade. We simply should not stand by and take it when nations like China place a 17% penalty on our imports and de-value their currency by 40%, through currency manipulation, in order to take jobs from American workers. How fair is it for Americans to work hard, play by the rules, be considerably more efficient than workers overseas, and then be put out of a job because their government won't stand up demand that the products they produce be given a fair chance to compete in foreign markets? As President of the United States, I would do something about that." cont'd
Duncan Hunter on Fiscal Conservatism
"First of all, I think Ronald Reagan spoke for all of us in the conservative movement when he said,
"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much."
With that in mind, I want to let you know that I supported George Bush's tax cuts, voted for them, and strongly believe that they should be made permanent. Additionally, I support reform of the alternative minimum tax, believe that it's vitally important that we simplify our tax code, and think it should require a 2/3rds majority in Congress to raise taxes. If you leave money in the pockets of American businesses and taxpayers, the tax base will increase and it will bring in more revenue for the government. That's exactly what happened with the Bush tax cuts, which proved to be extremely beneficial to the economy.
Next, let me talk about area that I think we conservatives often overlook; that's trade. We simply should not stand by and take it when nations like China place a 17% penalty on our imports and de-value their currency by 40%, through currency manipulation, in order to take jobs from American workers. How fair is it for Americans to work hard, play by the rules, be considerably more efficient than workers overseas, and then be put out of a job because their government won't stand up demand that the products they produce be given a fair chance to compete in foreign markets? As President of the United States, I would do something about that." cont'd
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Duncan On The Democrat Party
Obstructionist Democrats
by Rep. Duncan Hunter (More by this author)
"While they wrangle over the terms of their surrender legislation, the Democrat leadership has sent the worst of messages to the world. Speaker Pelosi struck the first wedge into what should be a united American foreign policy on Iraq by introducing a defense bill, which would effectively move the position of Commander in Chief to the U.S. Congress. Along with timetables for withdrawal from Iraq, the Pelosi bill, on page 72, mandates a 15 day waiting period before an American unit can be moved into the Iraq war theater. This incredibly obstructive provision would have profound negative effects on our forces’ abilities to fight.
For example, should US hostages be taken and a Delta Force team moved from outside the theater to attempt a rescue, Pelosi’s provision would require a fifteen-day waiting period and a report to Congress before the rescue could be attempted. Should a Zarqawi level target be located and U.S. fighter aircraft be deployed from outside Iraq, the same fifteen days would elapse before a strike could be executed. The very nature of the “notice and wait” requirement illustrates how unfamiliar Democrats are with the war against terrorists. This is a new era involving rapid movement of specialized personnel and equipment across theater boundaries. “Notice and wait for two weeks” reflects an ultimate misunderstanding of U.S. military operations." cont'd
by Rep. Duncan Hunter (More by this author)
"While they wrangle over the terms of their surrender legislation, the Democrat leadership has sent the worst of messages to the world. Speaker Pelosi struck the first wedge into what should be a united American foreign policy on Iraq by introducing a defense bill, which would effectively move the position of Commander in Chief to the U.S. Congress. Along with timetables for withdrawal from Iraq, the Pelosi bill, on page 72, mandates a 15 day waiting period before an American unit can be moved into the Iraq war theater. This incredibly obstructive provision would have profound negative effects on our forces’ abilities to fight.
For example, should US hostages be taken and a Delta Force team moved from outside the theater to attempt a rescue, Pelosi’s provision would require a fifteen-day waiting period and a report to Congress before the rescue could be attempted. Should a Zarqawi level target be located and U.S. fighter aircraft be deployed from outside Iraq, the same fifteen days would elapse before a strike could be executed. The very nature of the “notice and wait” requirement illustrates how unfamiliar Democrats are with the war against terrorists. This is a new era involving rapid movement of specialized personnel and equipment across theater boundaries. “Notice and wait for two weeks” reflects an ultimate misunderstanding of U.S. military operations." cont'd
Donk And Balanced
I really like the tone of the following article. Putting aside our obvious policy disagreements, the ludicrous comparison of an above average (Jackson) and average (Kennedy) President to two outright commies, and the fact that Ford is essentially only mimicking and mirroring what Newt Gingrich has been saying for the past year, this is what political discourse should be like, an exchange and debate of {gasp}...... ideas.
Ford seems like a decent guy, and that's probably why he didn't get elected. Or was it because he was a black guy banging Bunnies? I forget, but the fact is I almost even believe him and I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
EE-Aw!
It's Time for an Ideas Primary
By Harold Ford Jr.
"It is time to put the New back in New Democrat. It is time to put new ideas back at the heart of American politics. And it is time to make clear the mission of our party and the purpose of America: to give everyone the opportunity to get ahead, demand a new responsibility from every American, and have America lead the world through the power of our example and our ideals.
The New Democratic movement's quest has been to find new means to advance enduring values, and new ideas to advance the credo that a Tennessean, Andrew Jackson, gave our party and our country: "equal opportunity for all, special privilege for none."
From Andrew Jackson to FDR, from JFK to Bill Clinton, the great tradition of the Democratic Party has been to recognize that new challenges demand new answers. In the words of Franklin Roosevelt, "New conditions impose new requirements on government and those who conduct government." cont'd
Ford seems like a decent guy, and that's probably why he didn't get elected. Or was it because he was a black guy banging Bunnies? I forget, but the fact is I almost even believe him and I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
EE-Aw!
It's Time for an Ideas Primary
By Harold Ford Jr.
"It is time to put the New back in New Democrat. It is time to put new ideas back at the heart of American politics. And it is time to make clear the mission of our party and the purpose of America: to give everyone the opportunity to get ahead, demand a new responsibility from every American, and have America lead the world through the power of our example and our ideals.
The New Democratic movement's quest has been to find new means to advance enduring values, and new ideas to advance the credo that a Tennessean, Andrew Jackson, gave our party and our country: "equal opportunity for all, special privilege for none."
From Andrew Jackson to FDR, from JFK to Bill Clinton, the great tradition of the Democratic Party has been to recognize that new challenges demand new answers. In the words of Franklin Roosevelt, "New conditions impose new requirements on government and those who conduct government." cont'd
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Americans First
New Awakening About Free Trade
by Phyllis Schlafly
On the first day that H-1B visas became available, the corporations snapped up all that are allowed. Our government received 150,000 applications for the 85,000 slots set aside to bring in foreign skilled workers.
The corporations whine that H-1Bs are needed because of a shortage of Americans with skills, but major studies at UC-Davis and Duke universities conclusively prove we have thousands of unemployed or underemployed Americans with all needed technical skills. Nobel economist Milton Friedman accurately labeled H-1Bs a government "subsidy" to enable employers to get workers at a lower wage.
The best way to deal with the demand for a limited number of H-1Bs would be to auction them off, so then we would find out if they are really needed and how much they are worth. An auction would enable the taxpayers to get some return on the H-1B subsidy instead of the current system which allows corporations to influence Congressmen with campaign contributions and pay high-priced lobbyists to get legislation to increase the number." cont'd
by Phyllis Schlafly
On the first day that H-1B visas became available, the corporations snapped up all that are allowed. Our government received 150,000 applications for the 85,000 slots set aside to bring in foreign skilled workers.
The corporations whine that H-1Bs are needed because of a shortage of Americans with skills, but major studies at UC-Davis and Duke universities conclusively prove we have thousands of unemployed or underemployed Americans with all needed technical skills. Nobel economist Milton Friedman accurately labeled H-1Bs a government "subsidy" to enable employers to get workers at a lower wage.
The best way to deal with the demand for a limited number of H-1Bs would be to auction them off, so then we would find out if they are really needed and how much they are worth. An auction would enable the taxpayers to get some return on the H-1B subsidy instead of the current system which allows corporations to influence Congressmen with campaign contributions and pay high-priced lobbyists to get legislation to increase the number." cont'd
Why Did The Chickenshits Not Cross The Road?
Question: Why didn't the dems want to meet with Commanding General David Petraeus, the man in charge of "the single mostest importantest issue ever ever" and only begrudgingly agreed (but still no Nancy) when polling indicated that not being briefed on their entire party platform by the man most knowledgeable on the situation didn't track very well (almost as bad as throwing up the white flag in a time of war) with the American people?
Answer: Because Iraq has nothing do with Iraq (in their eyes).
source
Answer: Because Iraq has nothing do with Iraq (in their eyes).
source
Harry Reid, Loser
by Jed Babbin
"The Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, believes the war in Iraq is lost. There is nothing about that conclusion that bothers Reid: He is as blasé as he is certain, as resolute in pursuit of defeat as Churchill was in pursuit of victory. Last November, the Democrats seized control of Congress on the pretense that they wanted to change our policy regarding Iraq but not -- as they, to a man (and a woman) insisted -- to merely cut and run. We knew they weren’t being truthful then, but too many people were taken in. Now all pretense is dispensed with: we can see the man behind the curtain." cont'd
"The Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, believes the war in Iraq is lost. There is nothing about that conclusion that bothers Reid: He is as blasé as he is certain, as resolute in pursuit of defeat as Churchill was in pursuit of victory. Last November, the Democrats seized control of Congress on the pretense that they wanted to change our policy regarding Iraq but not -- as they, to a man (and a woman) insisted -- to merely cut and run. We knew they weren’t being truthful then, but too many people were taken in. Now all pretense is dispensed with: we can see the man behind the curtain." cont'd
Some Things Never Change
Latter-Day Copperhead
"I believe . . . that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week."--Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, April 19, 2007
"Resolved, that this convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the American people, that after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretence of military necessity, or war power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States or other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the federal Union of the States."--1864 Democratic platform
from Jimmy Taranto's... Best of The Web
"I believe . . . that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week."--Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, April 19, 2007
"Resolved, that this convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the American people, that after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretence of military necessity, or war power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States or other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the federal Union of the States."--1864 Democratic platform
from Jimmy Taranto's... Best of The Web
Quote
"I had always hoped that the younger generation receiving their early impressions after the flame of liberty had been kindled in every breast...would have sympathized with oppression wherever found, and proved their love of liberty beyond their own share of it."
-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to Edward Coles, 25 August 1814
-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to Edward Coles, 25 August 1814
Monday, April 23, 2007
Tonight We Do Not Bowl
Just got back from a bike ride on the Hudson River (well not on the river, Im not the God although I may be a god) and along the way I passed by a Hillary event at Pier 94. Well I think it was, cuz I ain't got time to bleed or stop, but from all the Hillary buttons I'd say it was probably likely.
However....
That is neither here nor there and politics aside, I have got to tell ya.... I have never seen a homelier bunch of women than those in Code Pink. God bless their heathen souls, they believe what they believe (I think) and get out there at every event, but hell.... if you wanted to punish the ugly stick, you'd hit it with their face.
Good thing I didn't have my camera on me like Miss C's recent encounter, because if I break another camera, I am going back to cave paintings.
EE-Aw!!!
However....
That is neither here nor there and politics aside, I have got to tell ya.... I have never seen a homelier bunch of women than those in Code Pink. God bless their heathen souls, they believe what they believe (I think) and get out there at every event, but hell.... if you wanted to punish the ugly stick, you'd hit it with their face.
Good thing I didn't have my camera on me like Miss C's recent encounter, because if I break another camera, I am going back to cave paintings.
EE-Aw!!!
It Aint Easy Being Greenland
"Richard Alley discovered something 10 years ago that made him worry the Earth's climate could suddenly shift, and it changed his life. It was a two-mile long ice core, pulled up from the center of Greenland. It contained bubbles of air that reveal what the Earth's atmosphere was like over a period of 100,000 years. The ice core showed that at one point, in as little as 10 years, the global climate had drastically changed. Soon after that discovery, climate change became a personal crusade for Alley." source
Life changing experience? Personal crusade? Sounds almost religious to me. However there can be no discrediting of Alley's credentials and for his research he has become a poster boy of sorts for the alarmists, as he is frequently cited for his work in Greenland as proof of man made global warming, and in fact gave testimony before the House of Rep's Committee on Science, saying as much.
What is not as widely reported is his recent admission to The Economist that his Greenland studies may very well have been flawed, or in other words.... full of shit, wrong and erroneous on all counts.
"Hitherto, the best records have come mostly from Greenland, but according to Richard Alley, a climatologist at Pennsylvania State University who works on the WAIS Divide project, cores from Greenland contain too much dust to provide a truly accurate record. The dust includes chemicals that can react with the trapped gases, changing their composition." source
All the alarmists are constantly pointing to Greenland as proof, but what does it say when the lead scientist calls into the question the very accuracy of his own work that is so often referenced as proof of anthropogenic warming. Exactly... not a whole hell of a lot, and that is why it is paramount to their cause to stifle dissent and quash debate.
The more I read of this Alley, the more I actually like him, even though we may disagree on this issue, as he seems to be of high integrity and truly concerned with the honesty of scientific discovery. Although I can say with almost 100% certainty after watching him on a recent Nat'l Geographic program that he is completely insane, not that that is necessarily a bad thing.
"Richard Alley, a Pennsylvania State University glaciologist who has studied the Antarctic ice sheet but was not involved in the new research, said more research is needed to determine if the shrinkage is a long-term trend, because the new report is based on just three years of data. "One person's trend is another person's fluctuation," he said." source
and from his book...
"ALL scientific ideas are subject to revision; we should never be absolutely sure that the truth has been reached. Old ideas should be tested continually, in an effort to tear them down and replace them with better ones. Ideas that survive this constant attack will be especially robust. Experience shows that if we behave as if these surviving ideas are true, we will succeed.... But, on the other hand, the ideas may be true, they may be reasonable approximations of the truth, or we may just be lucky.In science, no idea, be it speculation, hypothesis, theory, law, model, or FACT, is ever considered to be the final answer. That's the way science works. We ALWAYS act on uncertain answers; we never know if something is the truth with a capital T." source
That's science -- not this putting the policy cart before the scientific horse malarkey. Well said Dr. Alley, but I still think his belief that man is the cause for the current warming cycle is wrong, and I give him credit for agreeing with me that he might be.
EE-Aw!!!
Life changing experience? Personal crusade? Sounds almost religious to me. However there can be no discrediting of Alley's credentials and for his research he has become a poster boy of sorts for the alarmists, as he is frequently cited for his work in Greenland as proof of man made global warming, and in fact gave testimony before the House of Rep's Committee on Science, saying as much.
What is not as widely reported is his recent admission to The Economist that his Greenland studies may very well have been flawed, or in other words.... full of shit, wrong and erroneous on all counts.
"Hitherto, the best records have come mostly from Greenland, but according to Richard Alley, a climatologist at Pennsylvania State University who works on the WAIS Divide project, cores from Greenland contain too much dust to provide a truly accurate record. The dust includes chemicals that can react with the trapped gases, changing their composition." source
All the alarmists are constantly pointing to Greenland as proof, but what does it say when the lead scientist calls into the question the very accuracy of his own work that is so often referenced as proof of anthropogenic warming. Exactly... not a whole hell of a lot, and that is why it is paramount to their cause to stifle dissent and quash debate.
The more I read of this Alley, the more I actually like him, even though we may disagree on this issue, as he seems to be of high integrity and truly concerned with the honesty of scientific discovery. Although I can say with almost 100% certainty after watching him on a recent Nat'l Geographic program that he is completely insane, not that that is necessarily a bad thing.
"Richard Alley, a Pennsylvania State University glaciologist who has studied the Antarctic ice sheet but was not involved in the new research, said more research is needed to determine if the shrinkage is a long-term trend, because the new report is based on just three years of data. "One person's trend is another person's fluctuation," he said." source
and from his book...
"ALL scientific ideas are subject to revision; we should never be absolutely sure that the truth has been reached. Old ideas should be tested continually, in an effort to tear them down and replace them with better ones. Ideas that survive this constant attack will be especially robust. Experience shows that if we behave as if these surviving ideas are true, we will succeed.... But, on the other hand, the ideas may be true, they may be reasonable approximations of the truth, or we may just be lucky.In science, no idea, be it speculation, hypothesis, theory, law, model, or FACT, is ever considered to be the final answer. That's the way science works. We ALWAYS act on uncertain answers; we never know if something is the truth with a capital T." source
That's science -- not this putting the policy cart before the scientific horse malarkey. Well said Dr. Alley, but I still think his belief that man is the cause for the current warming cycle is wrong, and I give him credit for agreeing with me that he might be.
EE-Aw!!!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
This Day In Earth Day History
"On the original Earth Day in 1970 -- when the world was going to end from overcrowding instead of overheating -- the best-selling author of The Population Bomb, by Dr. Paul Ehrlich, was making dire predictions as fast as his earnestly frowning mouth could move. Dr. Ehrlich predicted that Americans would have water rationing by 1974 and food rationing by 1980, that hepatitis and dysentery rates in the U.S. would increase by 500 percent due to population density and that the oceans could be as dead as Lake Erie by 1979. Today Lake Erie is palatable, and Dr. Ehrlich is not."
P.J. O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores
Who is Dr Paul Ehrlich you ask, must be some quack hack sci-fi writer. Well actually he is an extremely well respected {chortle} member of the scientific consensus on climate alarmism despite being wrong on every major prediction he has ever made. I suppose incompetency loves company in the scientific community. From his bio...
"Professor Ehrlich is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Ehrlich has received several honorary degrees, the John Muir Award of the Sierra Club, the Gold Medal Award of the World Wildlife Fund International, a MacArthur Prize Fellowship, the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (given in lieu of a Nobel Prize in areas where the Nobel is not given), in 1993 the Volvo Environmental Prize, in 1994 the United Nations' Sasakawa Environment Prize, in 1995 the Heinz Award for the Environment, in 1998 the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and the Dr. A. H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences, in 1999 the Blue Planet Prize, in 2001 the Eminent Ecologist Award of the Ecological Society of America and the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Institute of Biological Sciences." source
What I'm trying to say is that most scientists don't know shit, and I will continue to expose fear-mongering one world legislation based on, at best a guess, and by those unwilling to have honest debate about the environment. You don't have to hate/blame mankind to love the earth. She's a big girl and can take it. She was here long before and will be here long after we are but a distant memory of Dr. Zaius, Minister of Science.
....and don't forget to wish Vladimir Lenin a happy birthday when you're celebrating eco-socialism today you god damn pinko hippies.
P.J. O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores
Who is Dr Paul Ehrlich you ask, must be some quack hack sci-fi writer. Well actually he is an extremely well respected {chortle} member of the scientific consensus on climate alarmism despite being wrong on every major prediction he has ever made. I suppose incompetency loves company in the scientific community. From his bio...
"Professor Ehrlich is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Ehrlich has received several honorary degrees, the John Muir Award of the Sierra Club, the Gold Medal Award of the World Wildlife Fund International, a MacArthur Prize Fellowship, the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (given in lieu of a Nobel Prize in areas where the Nobel is not given), in 1993 the Volvo Environmental Prize, in 1994 the United Nations' Sasakawa Environment Prize, in 1995 the Heinz Award for the Environment, in 1998 the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and the Dr. A. H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences, in 1999 the Blue Planet Prize, in 2001 the Eminent Ecologist Award of the Ecological Society of America and the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Institute of Biological Sciences." source
What I'm trying to say is that most scientists don't know shit, and I will continue to expose fear-mongering one world legislation based on, at best a guess, and by those unwilling to have honest debate about the environment. You don't have to hate/blame mankind to love the earth. She's a big girl and can take it. She was here long before and will be here long after we are but a distant memory of Dr. Zaius, Minister of Science.
....and don't forget to wish Vladimir Lenin a happy birthday when you're celebrating eco-socialism today you god damn pinko hippies.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Consensus 2
Because I wanted to remind you that there is no consensus, so if your argument is that it must be true because there's a consensus, then your argument is wrong, and you should now re evaluate and maybe even try to think for yourself.
Explanation
Listed below are 17,200 of the initial signers
During the past several years, more than 17,100 basic and applied American scientists, two-thirds with advanced degrees, have signed the Global Warming Petition.
Signers of this petition so far include 2,660 physicists, geophysicists, climatologists, meteorologists, oceanographers, and environmental scientists (select this link for a listing of these individuals) who are especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide on the Earth's atmosphere and climate.
Signers of this petition also include 5,017 scientists whose fields of specialization in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and other life sciences (select this link for a listing of these individuals) make them especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide upon the Earth's plant and animal life.
Nearly all of the initial 17,100 scientist signers have technical training suitable for the evaluation of the relevant research data, and many are trained in related fields. In addition to these 17,100, approximately 2,400 individuals have signed the petition who are trained in fields other than science or whose field of specialization was not specified on their returned petition.
Of the 19,700 signatures that the project has received in total so far, 17,800 have been independently verified and the other 1,900 have not yet been independently verified. Of those signers holding the degree of PhD, 95% have now been independently verified. One name that was sent in by enviro pranksters, Geri Halliwell, PhD, has been eliminated. Several names, such as Perry Mason and Robert Byrd are still on the list even though enviro press reports have ridiculed their identity with the names of famous personalities. They are actual signers. Perry Mason, for example, is a PhD Chemist.
The costs of this petition project have been paid entirely by private donations. No industrial funding or money from sources within the coal, oil, natural gas or related industries has been utilized. The petition's organizers, who include some faculty members and staff of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, do not otherwise receive funds from such sources. The Institute itself has no such funding. Also, no funds of tax-exempt organizations have been used for this project.
The signatures and the text of the petition stand alone and speak for themselves. These scientists have signed this specific document. They are not associated with any particular organization. Their signatures represent a strong statement about this important issue by many of the best scientific minds in the United States.
Explanation
Listed below are 17,200 of the initial signers
During the past several years, more than 17,100 basic and applied American scientists, two-thirds with advanced degrees, have signed the Global Warming Petition.
Signers of this petition so far include 2,660 physicists, geophysicists, climatologists, meteorologists, oceanographers, and environmental scientists (select this link for a listing of these individuals) who are especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide on the Earth's atmosphere and climate.
Signers of this petition also include 5,017 scientists whose fields of specialization in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and other life sciences (select this link for a listing of these individuals) make them especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide upon the Earth's plant and animal life.
Nearly all of the initial 17,100 scientist signers have technical training suitable for the evaluation of the relevant research data, and many are trained in related fields. In addition to these 17,100, approximately 2,400 individuals have signed the petition who are trained in fields other than science or whose field of specialization was not specified on their returned petition.
Of the 19,700 signatures that the project has received in total so far, 17,800 have been independently verified and the other 1,900 have not yet been independently verified. Of those signers holding the degree of PhD, 95% have now been independently verified. One name that was sent in by enviro pranksters, Geri Halliwell, PhD, has been eliminated. Several names, such as Perry Mason and Robert Byrd are still on the list even though enviro press reports have ridiculed their identity with the names of famous personalities. They are actual signers. Perry Mason, for example, is a PhD Chemist.
The costs of this petition project have been paid entirely by private donations. No industrial funding or money from sources within the coal, oil, natural gas or related industries has been utilized. The petition's organizers, who include some faculty members and staff of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, do not otherwise receive funds from such sources. The Institute itself has no such funding. Also, no funds of tax-exempt organizations have been used for this project.
The signatures and the text of the petition stand alone and speak for themselves. These scientists have signed this specific document. They are not associated with any particular organization. Their signatures represent a strong statement about this important issue by many of the best scientific minds in the United States.
Friday, April 20, 2007
I Like This Baldwin Guy
"You are a rude, thoughtless little pig."
Excellent...It kind of makes you want to run out and have children, eh?
When the Baldwins were attacked by the Canadians in South Park:Bigger,Longer,Uncut, most Americans were outraged. But I sort of sympathised with Canada, especially since they had apologized for Brian Adams (and that bitch Anne Murray too).
But after his performance in the Departed (he was the best in that movie), 30 Rock, and now this...well, I gotta take back everything bad I have said about the Baldwin's. Well, I can't forgive Billy just yet but this has opened my mind to continuing dialogue.
Excellent...It kind of makes you want to run out and have children, eh?
When the Baldwins were attacked by the Canadians in South Park:Bigger,Longer,Uncut, most Americans were outraged. But I sort of sympathised with Canada, especially since they had apologized for Brian Adams (and that bitch Anne Murray too).
But after his performance in the Departed (he was the best in that movie), 30 Rock, and now this...well, I gotta take back everything bad I have said about the Baldwin's. Well, I can't forgive Billy just yet but this has opened my mind to continuing dialogue.
The Dawning Of The Age Of Aquarius?
Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says
Kate Ravilious
for National Geographic News
Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.
Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. (Get an overview: "Global Warming Fast Facts".)
Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.
In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.
Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.
continued
Kate Ravilious
for National Geographic News
Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.
Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. (Get an overview: "Global Warming Fast Facts".)
Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.
In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.
Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.
continued
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Traitor
Added Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.: "We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war." 1
"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid said 2
Nice priorities Harold. Second only to holding a bake sale for the terrorists, this last statement is the very definition of "giving aid and comfort" to the enemy. If it isn't, someone please tell me what is.
Imagine if a football coach were to say that the game was lost at half time, he would be fired on the spot that day.... and that is just a game played with pigskin, forgive the analogy.
We are talking about men and women with boots on the ground in harms way for fucks sake. This is indefensible. Somebody anybody on the right needs to grow a sack now!
Sen. Harry should be brought up on treason immediately.
I don't even care if he's convicted, but this sorry excuse for an American needs to be arrested and hauled before a court of law and made to defend these statements. Since he is ashamed of his country he needs to be shamed before his Country.
"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid said 2
Nice priorities Harold. Second only to holding a bake sale for the terrorists, this last statement is the very definition of "giving aid and comfort" to the enemy. If it isn't, someone please tell me what is.
Imagine if a football coach were to say that the game was lost at half time, he would be fired on the spot that day.... and that is just a game played with pigskin, forgive the analogy.
We are talking about men and women with boots on the ground in harms way for fucks sake. This is indefensible. Somebody anybody on the right needs to grow a sack now!
Sen. Harry should be brought up on treason immediately.
I don't even care if he's convicted, but this sorry excuse for an American needs to be arrested and hauled before a court of law and made to defend these statements. Since he is ashamed of his country he needs to be shamed before his Country.
The Nappy Headed Whoring Of A Tragedy
The Single Worst Editorial Decision In The History Of Broadcast News?
Posted by Hugh Hewitt
Soon after the press conference at which it was disclosed that NBC had received a package of print, photos and video materials from the Virginia Tech murderer, I interviewed Howard Kurtz about how NBC should handle it. (The transcript will be here later this evening.) We quickly agreed that any video should not be shown, and while I think that Howard thought perhaps a picture could be aired, I and the live audience I was broadcasting in front of disagreed. I would have published --instantly-- the text of the killer's statement's for the public to read, but I would have denied the killer the instant video glorification he so obviously desired, an immortalization which other deranged killers of the future will almost certainly seek to emulate. NBC decided differently.
continued
Showing Video Is 'Social Catastrophe'
ABC News
The videos of Seung-hui Cho, the man who fatally shot 32 people at Virginia Tech on Monday and then killed himself, shouldn't have been released because they don't offer the public any greater understanding of the gruesome crime, said Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist and ABC News consultant, on "Good Morning America" today.
"If anybody cares about the victims in Blacksburg and if anybody cares about their children, stop showing this video now. Take it off the Internet. Let it be relegated to YouTube," Welner said. "This is a social catastrophe. Showing the video is a social catastrophe."
continued
donkey adds...
I understand the desire in news to be the one that "breaks" and "owns" the story, but not only do I find the fact that they are airing these videos in the first place to be sickening, but I find the need to "stamp" the NBC news logo in the corner in poor taste and even poorer judgement. Ok we get it, the killer was apparently a fan of NBC.... is that what they want to be known for, is this what "if it bleeds it leads" has brought us to?
Just spare us the excuse (that every channel is using) that you are only airing the videos in an attempt to learn something in the hopes of preventing future incidents, and having Cliff Van Sant or Dr Drew Pinsky on air every five minutes doesn't justify it either. It's bullshit. You know it, I know it. Here's the lesson, he was a sick fuck who slipped through the cracks and murdered innocents. His "illness" didn't murder people. The "system" didn't murder anyone. This sick fuck did. End of story, now let the Hokie community mourn without having to see or hear this punk every five seconds. Leave the psycho-babble for the experts and enough with the glorification of a criminal.
...and one more thing, and I realize that I am nitpicking about semantics, but seriously... manifesto? It almost gives an air of legitimacy to the diarrrheic diatribe coming out of this murderer's mouth, and in my eyes acts as a positive reinforcement for future murderous losers contemplating similar actions. Enough!
That's that.
Posted by Hugh Hewitt
Soon after the press conference at which it was disclosed that NBC had received a package of print, photos and video materials from the Virginia Tech murderer, I interviewed Howard Kurtz about how NBC should handle it. (The transcript will be here later this evening.) We quickly agreed that any video should not be shown, and while I think that Howard thought perhaps a picture could be aired, I and the live audience I was broadcasting in front of disagreed. I would have published --instantly-- the text of the killer's statement's for the public to read, but I would have denied the killer the instant video glorification he so obviously desired, an immortalization which other deranged killers of the future will almost certainly seek to emulate. NBC decided differently.
continued
Showing Video Is 'Social Catastrophe'
ABC News
The videos of Seung-hui Cho, the man who fatally shot 32 people at Virginia Tech on Monday and then killed himself, shouldn't have been released because they don't offer the public any greater understanding of the gruesome crime, said Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist and ABC News consultant, on "Good Morning America" today.
"If anybody cares about the victims in Blacksburg and if anybody cares about their children, stop showing this video now. Take it off the Internet. Let it be relegated to YouTube," Welner said. "This is a social catastrophe. Showing the video is a social catastrophe."
continued
donkey adds...
I understand the desire in news to be the one that "breaks" and "owns" the story, but not only do I find the fact that they are airing these videos in the first place to be sickening, but I find the need to "stamp" the NBC news logo in the corner in poor taste and even poorer judgement. Ok we get it, the killer was apparently a fan of NBC.... is that what they want to be known for, is this what "if it bleeds it leads" has brought us to?
Just spare us the excuse (that every channel is using) that you are only airing the videos in an attempt to learn something in the hopes of preventing future incidents, and having Cliff Van Sant or Dr Drew Pinsky on air every five minutes doesn't justify it either. It's bullshit. You know it, I know it. Here's the lesson, he was a sick fuck who slipped through the cracks and murdered innocents. His "illness" didn't murder people. The "system" didn't murder anyone. This sick fuck did. End of story, now let the Hokie community mourn without having to see or hear this punk every five seconds. Leave the psycho-babble for the experts and enough with the glorification of a criminal.
...and one more thing, and I realize that I am nitpicking about semantics, but seriously... manifesto? It almost gives an air of legitimacy to the diarrrheic diatribe coming out of this murderer's mouth, and in my eyes acts as a positive reinforcement for future murderous losers contemplating similar actions. Enough!
That's that.
Springtime for Taxes
By John Stossel
Spring is here, but you may have been too busy filling out tax forms to enjoy it. The unpaid job of gathering W-2 and 1099s, sorting through receipts, and tabulating deductions, credits, and exemptions takes a lot of time.
Americans spent 6.4 billion hours complying with the tax code in 2005 -- a chunk of time worth $265 billion, according to the Tax Foundation. That's more than the 2006 federal budget deficit.
Those of you who do your taxes yourselves spend an average of eight to 27 hours toiling for the U.S. government.
What a waste.
continued
Spring is here, but you may have been too busy filling out tax forms to enjoy it. The unpaid job of gathering W-2 and 1099s, sorting through receipts, and tabulating deductions, credits, and exemptions takes a lot of time.
Americans spent 6.4 billion hours complying with the tax code in 2005 -- a chunk of time worth $265 billion, according to the Tax Foundation. That's more than the 2006 federal budget deficit.
Those of you who do your taxes yourselves spend an average of eight to 27 hours toiling for the U.S. government.
What a waste.
continued
Our Right to Kill?
Some of the most severe critics of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that not only legalized abortion, but placed it among the unenumerated rights in the Constitution, are supporters of abortion rights.
None other than Harvard law professor and liberal legal guru Laurence Tribe, for instance, admitted in the Harvard Law Review shortly after Roe that "behind its own verbal smokescreen, the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found."
William Saletan, the Slate.com writer and harsh critic of President Bush, concedes the private files of Roe's author, Justice Harry Blackmun, made available in 2005, "vindicate every indictment of Roe: invention, overreach, arbitrariness, textual indifference."
Liberal Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, in a 2005 article, wrote that "the very basis of the Roe v. Wade decision — the one that grounds abortion rights in the Constitution — strikes many people now as faintly ridiculous."
Continued
None other than Harvard law professor and liberal legal guru Laurence Tribe, for instance, admitted in the Harvard Law Review shortly after Roe that "behind its own verbal smokescreen, the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found."
William Saletan, the Slate.com writer and harsh critic of President Bush, concedes the private files of Roe's author, Justice Harry Blackmun, made available in 2005, "vindicate every indictment of Roe: invention, overreach, arbitrariness, textual indifference."
Liberal Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, in a 2005 article, wrote that "the very basis of the Roe v. Wade decision — the one that grounds abortion rights in the Constitution — strikes many people now as faintly ridiculous."
Continued
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Move Farms Off The Dole
Christian Science Monitor
"Subsidies are going to large, wealthy farms and distorting global markets. Congress can change that.
Every five years, Congress must reconsider billions of dollars in farm subsidies. This is one of those years. Perhaps this time, though, it will realize that what began as a New Deal program has since become an old deal that needs an overhaul.
continued
donkey adds....
I would recommend reading P.J. O'Rourke's book "Parliament Of Whores" and specifically the revealing yet humorous chapter on the socialist sham which is farm subsidies. Its around twenty years old but I have recently just re-read it and although some of the names faces and dollar amounts have changed the message still holds true today..... fuck the government and fuck the farmers.
On another note, it reminds me of the classic Irish Rovers song, "Goodbye Mrs Durkin" and it seems to me that Barney had it all wrong. He should have stuck to farming.
"So, it's goodbye Mrs. Durkin, I'm sick and tired of workin'.
No more I'll dig your praties, no longer I'll be poor.
As sure as my name is Barney, I'm off to Califarny.
Instead of digging praties, I'll be digging lumps of gold"
"Subsidies are going to large, wealthy farms and distorting global markets. Congress can change that.
Every five years, Congress must reconsider billions of dollars in farm subsidies. This is one of those years. Perhaps this time, though, it will realize that what began as a New Deal program has since become an old deal that needs an overhaul.
continued
donkey adds....
I would recommend reading P.J. O'Rourke's book "Parliament Of Whores" and specifically the revealing yet humorous chapter on the socialist sham which is farm subsidies. Its around twenty years old but I have recently just re-read it and although some of the names faces and dollar amounts have changed the message still holds true today..... fuck the government and fuck the farmers.
On another note, it reminds me of the classic Irish Rovers song, "Goodbye Mrs Durkin" and it seems to me that Barney had it all wrong. He should have stuck to farming.
"So, it's goodbye Mrs. Durkin, I'm sick and tired of workin'.
No more I'll dig your praties, no longer I'll be poor.
As sure as my name is Barney, I'm off to Califarny.
Instead of digging praties, I'll be digging lumps of gold"
A Dangerous Climate
By Bob Carter
"The latest IPCC report, published on Friday, is the most alarming yet: not for its claims of human-caused global warming, writes the leading environmental scientist Bob Carter, but for its lack of scientific rigour.
Yet we do not read about natural climate change in the everyday news. Instead, newspapers, radio and television stations bludgeon us with a merciless stream of human-caused global-warming alarmism, egged on by a self-interested gaggle of journalists, environmental lobbyists, scientific and business groups, church leaders and politicians, all of whom preach that we must "stop climate change" by reducing human CO2 emissions."
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Fuzzy Climate Math
By George Will
In a campaign without peacetime precedent, the media-entertainment-environmental complex is warning about global warming. Never, other than during the two world wars, has there been such a concerted effort by opinion-forming institutions to indoctrinate Americans, 83 percent of whom now call global warming a "serious problem.'' Indoctrination is supposed to be a predicate for action commensurate with professions of seriousness.
For example, Democrats could demand that the president send the Kyoto Protocol to the Senate so they can embrace it. In 1997, the Senate voted 95-0 in opposition to any agreement which would, like the protocol, require significant reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in America and some other developed nations but would involve no "specific scheduled commitments'' for 129 "developing'' countries, including the second, fourth, 10th, 11th, 13th and 15th largest economies (China, India, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico and Indonesia). Forty-two of the senators serving in 1997 are gone. Let's find out if the new senators disagree with the 1997 vote.
continued
In a campaign without peacetime precedent, the media-entertainment-environmental complex is warning about global warming. Never, other than during the two world wars, has there been such a concerted effort by opinion-forming institutions to indoctrinate Americans, 83 percent of whom now call global warming a "serious problem.'' Indoctrination is supposed to be a predicate for action commensurate with professions of seriousness.
For example, Democrats could demand that the president send the Kyoto Protocol to the Senate so they can embrace it. In 1997, the Senate voted 95-0 in opposition to any agreement which would, like the protocol, require significant reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in America and some other developed nations but would involve no "specific scheduled commitments'' for 129 "developing'' countries, including the second, fourth, 10th, 11th, 13th and 15th largest economies (China, India, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico and Indonesia). Forty-two of the senators serving in 1997 are gone. Let's find out if the new senators disagree with the 1997 vote.
continued
Monday, April 16, 2007
Daniel LaRusso Is Going To What?
Bush slams plan for Iraq pullout date
By Jennifer Loven
"President Bush said Saturday that a Democratic plan to set an end date for the war gives "our enemies the victory they desperately want."
Bush and Democratic congressional leaders are trying to bolster their positions on the Iraq war before a scheduled White House meeting.
At Bush's invitation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are due at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the war, particularly a bill funding the military mission through September.
In both the House and Senate, Democrats have attached timelines for withdrawing troops to the bill containing $96 billion in military funding.
Bush says the meeting will be about his nonnegotiable stance on a timeline.
"Instead of approving this funding, Democrats in Congress have spent the past 68 days pushing legislation that would undercut our troops," he said in his weekly radio address. "They passed bills that would impose restrictions on our military commanders and set an arbitrary date for withdrawal from Iraq, giving our enemies the victory they desperately want."
continued
To answer the question in the title, if the Karate Kid were The United States of America, he would fight.... Daniel LaRusso is going to fight.
--donk.
By Jennifer Loven
"President Bush said Saturday that a Democratic plan to set an end date for the war gives "our enemies the victory they desperately want."
Bush and Democratic congressional leaders are trying to bolster their positions on the Iraq war before a scheduled White House meeting.
At Bush's invitation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are due at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the war, particularly a bill funding the military mission through September.
In both the House and Senate, Democrats have attached timelines for withdrawing troops to the bill containing $96 billion in military funding.
Bush says the meeting will be about his nonnegotiable stance on a timeline.
"Instead of approving this funding, Democrats in Congress have spent the past 68 days pushing legislation that would undercut our troops," he said in his weekly radio address. "They passed bills that would impose restrictions on our military commanders and set an arbitrary date for withdrawal from Iraq, giving our enemies the victory they desperately want."
continued
To answer the question in the title, if the Karate Kid were The United States of America, he would fight.... Daniel LaRusso is going to fight.
--donk.
Is Climatology a Science?
By Robert Tracinski
I was very surprised to wake up a few days ago to discover three inches of snow on the ground -- in Virginia, in April, while our lilacs were blooming.
Must be that global warming.
It was a perfect concretization of a wisecrack that's been going around for years: we're supposed to believe that climatologists can predict the weather for the whole globe a century from now -- when they still can't predict the local weather for tomorrow.
Behind that wisecrack is a more serious and profound point about the status of climatology as a science. Last year, for example, advertisements for Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth featured a hurricane emerging from an industrial smokestack. It was an attempt to cash in on predictions of an unusually heavy hurricane season, allegedly caused by global warming. Yet last summer, hurricane activity precipitously dropped, and not a single hurricane made landfall in the United States.
continued
I was very surprised to wake up a few days ago to discover three inches of snow on the ground -- in Virginia, in April, while our lilacs were blooming.
Must be that global warming.
It was a perfect concretization of a wisecrack that's been going around for years: we're supposed to believe that climatologists can predict the weather for the whole globe a century from now -- when they still can't predict the local weather for tomorrow.
Behind that wisecrack is a more serious and profound point about the status of climatology as a science. Last year, for example, advertisements for Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth featured a hurricane emerging from an industrial smokestack. It was an attempt to cash in on predictions of an unusually heavy hurricane season, allegedly caused by global warming. Yet last summer, hurricane activity precipitously dropped, and not a single hurricane made landfall in the United States.
continued
Surge Results are Visible
By Charles Krauthammer
"By the day, the debate at home about Iraq becomes increasingly disconnected from the realities of the actual war on the ground. The Democrats in Congress are so consumed with negotiating among their factions the most clever linguistic device to legislatively ensure the failure of the administration's current military strategy -- while not appearing to do so -- that they speak almost not at all about the first visible results of that strategy.
And preliminary results are visible. The landscape is shifting in the two fronts of the current troop surge: Anbar province and Baghdad.
The news from Anbar is the most promising. Only last fall, the Marines' leading intelligence officer there concluded that the U.S. had essentially lost the fight to al-Qaeda. Yet, just this week, the marine commandant, Gen. James Conway, returned from a four-day visit to the province and reported that we "have turned the corner.''
continued
"By the day, the debate at home about Iraq becomes increasingly disconnected from the realities of the actual war on the ground. The Democrats in Congress are so consumed with negotiating among their factions the most clever linguistic device to legislatively ensure the failure of the administration's current military strategy -- while not appearing to do so -- that they speak almost not at all about the first visible results of that strategy.
And preliminary results are visible. The landscape is shifting in the two fronts of the current troop surge: Anbar province and Baghdad.
The news from Anbar is the most promising. Only last fall, the Marines' leading intelligence officer there concluded that the U.S. had essentially lost the fight to al-Qaeda. Yet, just this week, the marine commandant, Gen. James Conway, returned from a four-day visit to the province and reported that we "have turned the corner.''
continued
Sunday, April 15, 2007
In Memoriam
I figured this would make
a fitting tribute to Don Ho.
A hui hou brah.
The artist is Jake Shimabukuro and will be playing at Joes Pub NYC next Friday.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Promises Ain't Enough
Says Pelosi....
"The first 100 hours was just a beginning. In the first 100 days, we addressed the most pressing issue of our time – the war in Iraq. And on other immediate challenges, where there had been a failure to act, this Congress stood up for the American people." 1
Says Reid.....
"The American people called for us to put partisanship aside in pursuit of common ground, to bring accountability back to government and most importantly to change course in Iraq. This Congress has heard that call. We are well on our way to delivering a government as good and honest as the people it serves." 2
Says Donkey.....
Really????
Well first of all Nancy, if Iraq was the most "pressing" matter, then why was it not addressed in the first 100 hours? Huh. And why is the legislation that you finally got around to passing still sitting on the to do pile while you are on vacation. Exactly. Harry, "good and honest"? Thanks for the laugh.
"As congressional Democrats prepare to celebrate their first 100 days in the majority, they boast that they have worked more hours, passed more bills and held more oversight hearings than Republicans did when they were in charge.
But when it comes to how many of their top legislative priorities have become law, a different number stands out: 0. None of the six bills that House Democrats passed in their initial legislative juggernaut have made it to the president's desk." 3
Says Hall and Oates.....
"But words can only prove so much. If a promise ain't enough." 4
1 speaker.com
2 democrats.senate.gov
3 latimes.com
4 hallandoates.com
"The first 100 hours was just a beginning. In the first 100 days, we addressed the most pressing issue of our time – the war in Iraq. And on other immediate challenges, where there had been a failure to act, this Congress stood up for the American people." 1
Says Reid.....
"The American people called for us to put partisanship aside in pursuit of common ground, to bring accountability back to government and most importantly to change course in Iraq. This Congress has heard that call. We are well on our way to delivering a government as good and honest as the people it serves." 2
Says Donkey.....
Really????
Well first of all Nancy, if Iraq was the most "pressing" matter, then why was it not addressed in the first 100 hours? Huh. And why is the legislation that you finally got around to passing still sitting on the to do pile while you are on vacation. Exactly. Harry, "good and honest"? Thanks for the laugh.
"As congressional Democrats prepare to celebrate their first 100 days in the majority, they boast that they have worked more hours, passed more bills and held more oversight hearings than Republicans did when they were in charge.
But when it comes to how many of their top legislative priorities have become law, a different number stands out: 0. None of the six bills that House Democrats passed in their initial legislative juggernaut have made it to the president's desk." 3
Says Hall and Oates.....
"But words can only prove so much. If a promise ain't enough." 4
1 speaker.com
2 democrats.senate.gov
3 latimes.com
4 hallandoates.com
Friday, April 13, 2007
Death To Trees
Seriously folks, grab an axe and gets to chopping -- trees that is, not broccoli. -- donk.
"TREES are good. Good enough to hug. Trees have a nifty biochemical strategy called photosynthesis that enables them to take carbon dioxide in through their leaves, and swap that nasty gas for oxygen, a nice one. They use the carbon thus sequestered to make molecules like cellulose, and thus more tree.
That is why some rich people who love to burn things containing carbon, such as petrol and aircraft fuel, have recently started paying others to plant trees on their behalf. Burning adds oxygen to carbon, making carbon dioxide. And carbon dioxide makes the world warmer. A warmer world will mean higher sea levels. So if people burn things without offsetting the carbon dioxide thus produced, their holidays in the Maldive islands will disappear, along with the islands themselves.
This chattering-class environmental picture is not necessarily wrong, but it does include many assumptions. One of them, that planting trees will make the world cooler than it would otherwise be, is the subject of a newly published study by Govindasamy Bala, of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California, and his colleagues. Dr Bala has found, rather counter-intuitively, that removing all of the world's trees might actually cool the planet down. Conversely, adding trees everywhere might warm it up."
economist.com
"TREES are good. Good enough to hug. Trees have a nifty biochemical strategy called photosynthesis that enables them to take carbon dioxide in through their leaves, and swap that nasty gas for oxygen, a nice one. They use the carbon thus sequestered to make molecules like cellulose, and thus more tree.
That is why some rich people who love to burn things containing carbon, such as petrol and aircraft fuel, have recently started paying others to plant trees on their behalf. Burning adds oxygen to carbon, making carbon dioxide. And carbon dioxide makes the world warmer. A warmer world will mean higher sea levels. So if people burn things without offsetting the carbon dioxide thus produced, their holidays in the Maldive islands will disappear, along with the islands themselves.
This chattering-class environmental picture is not necessarily wrong, but it does include many assumptions. One of them, that planting trees will make the world cooler than it would otherwise be, is the subject of a newly published study by Govindasamy Bala, of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California, and his colleagues. Dr Bala has found, rather counter-intuitively, that removing all of the world's trees might actually cool the planet down. Conversely, adding trees everywhere might warm it up."
economist.com
Scary Thought Of The Day
"It is our feeling that this is only the beginning. We must have a broad discussion on what is permitted and not permitted in terms of the airwaves," -- Al Sharpton
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Katie Couric Is A Nappy Headed Ho
Do not misconstrue this as misogyny for if I had my druthers it would be women that I conduct my daily dealings with almost exclusively. Whether it be giving me a massage, banking, shining my shoes, cleaning my apartment (she has a green card... I think), making my coffee, and most importantly -- pulling me a pint after work to name just a few of the activities that I prefer performed by women in a G rated environment, and if I watched network news and was a heathen hippie.... I am sure Katie would be my gal.
In fact two of our most loyal readers, Anita and Gary are chicks -- heck the only two blogs, Miss C and Jane, that I still read with any regularity are obviously written by ladies. Hey ladies in the place Im callin out to ya.....
But Katie has got to go....
It matters naught if the library story was plagiarized or written by a staffer, the fact remains she knowingly lied to the American public about a meaningless fluff piece told in the first person. What other more important issues has she reported without first fact checking I wonder?
Now the spin is on that she did not know that the story was stolen from the Journal, okay Ill buy the plausible deniability excuse, but she knew for a fact that she did not write it and that is all that matters.
Obviously Dan Rather before her set the bar pretty low, but network broadcasters are supposed to be above reproach, they are supposed to have integrity, they are not some hack opinion circus barkers like a Hannity or Olbermann. They are supposed to be journalists and they damn well better tell the truth and when they are caught violating the two sacred cows of journalistic ethics -- lying and stealing (or is it rhyming and stealing?) .....
They has gots to go.....
story from wapo
In fact two of our most loyal readers, Anita and Gary are chicks -- heck the only two blogs, Miss C and Jane, that I still read with any regularity are obviously written by ladies. Hey ladies in the place Im callin out to ya.....
But Katie has got to go....
It matters naught if the library story was plagiarized or written by a staffer, the fact remains she knowingly lied to the American public about a meaningless fluff piece told in the first person. What other more important issues has she reported without first fact checking I wonder?
Now the spin is on that she did not know that the story was stolen from the Journal, okay Ill buy the plausible deniability excuse, but she knew for a fact that she did not write it and that is all that matters.
Obviously Dan Rather before her set the bar pretty low, but network broadcasters are supposed to be above reproach, they are supposed to have integrity, they are not some hack opinion circus barkers like a Hannity or Olbermann. They are supposed to be journalists and they damn well better tell the truth and when they are caught violating the two sacred cows of journalistic ethics -- lying and stealing (or is it rhyming and stealing?) .....
They has gots to go.....
story from wapo
Whats Good For The Gore Is Good For Gander
Where Has All the Carbon Gone?
Steven C. Wofsy
The combustion of fossil fuels continues to rise, but the amount of CO2 accumulating in the atmosphere has not increased accordingly. As Wofsy explains in his Perspective, this discrepancy is explained by the ability of trees and organic matter in forests to sequester carbon (Pacala et al., Fang et al.). Those making land use decisions should factor into their calculations the enormous benefits of forests as carbon sinks for removing anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere. 1
Well I am awfully glad you asked Steve. You see Steven, besides all of our other many blessings as a nation, The United States of America has been doubly blessed -- Ain't no doubt about it baby got to go and shout it ain't no doubt about it we are doubly blessed -- by geographical graces. Hooray for Manifest Destiny! (and boobies!) Actually now that I mention it, topographically speaking with the Rockies to the west and the Appalachians to the east they do form one hell of a nice rack with middle America representing killer cleavage. If I was a continent, I would throw America a bang.
Steven C. Wofsy
The combustion of fossil fuels continues to rise, but the amount of CO2 accumulating in the atmosphere has not increased accordingly. As Wofsy explains in his Perspective, this discrepancy is explained by the ability of trees and organic matter in forests to sequester carbon (Pacala et al., Fang et al.). Those making land use decisions should factor into their calculations the enormous benefits of forests as carbon sinks for removing anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere. 1
Well I am awfully glad you asked Steve. You see Steven, besides all of our other many blessings as a nation, The United States of America has been doubly blessed -- Ain't no doubt about it baby got to go and shout it ain't no doubt about it we are doubly blessed -- by geographical graces. Hooray for Manifest Destiny! (and boobies!) Actually now that I mention it, topographically speaking with the Rockies to the west and the Appalachians to the east they do form one hell of a nice rack with middle America representing killer cleavage. If I was a continent, I would throw America a bang.
Where was I again? Right. Geography.
As I was saying, like most things American, our landscape kicks ass too.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.
America's geography rules. We have got HUGE tracks of land. It seems that the North American eco-system soaks up carbon like a donkey drinks Tullamore Dew. In other words...a lot, more so than any other land mass in the world, with the noticeably non-industrialized Siberian peat marshes coming a distant second.
Interesting this is. I wonder why most people have never heard of it, a case of actual scientific discovery that sheds a positive light on the great eco-satan America. Oh yeah, that is why.
Scientists Find Evidence of Large Carbon Sink over North America
Princeton, N.J. -- Researchers from Princeton University, with collaborators from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and Columbia University, have found evidence of higher-than-expected absorption of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by ecosystems in North America.
The findings of the research team, the Carbon Modeling Consortium, are published today in the journal Science. The carbon-absorbing zone, known to geoscientists as a carbon "sink," soaked up high amounts of carbon dioxide during the period studied, from 1988 to 1992, confirming earlier studies. Evidence has been accumulating in recent years that a large component of this sink must be on land. Today's findings suggest that the North American continent plays a much larger role than what would be proportional to its size.2
Consistent Land- and Atmosphere-Based U.S. Carbon Sink Estimates
For the period 1980-89, we estimate a carbon sink in the coterminous United States between 0.30 and 0.58 petagrams of carbon per year (petagrams of carbon = 1015 grams of carbon). The net carbon flux from the atmosphere to the land was higher, 0.37 to 0.71 petagrams of carbon per year, because a net flux of 0.07 to 0.13 petagrams of carbon per year was exported by rivers and commerce and returned to the atmosphere elsewhere. 3
Now these findings are about a decade old and to this date have yet to be disproved. The only argument is crunching the numbers of the net result. Some studies have suggested that the carbon entering the west coast is greater than that which leaves the east coast, in which case we are the planet's filter so a thank you from the world would be in order -- and others have it slightly lower but still a significant net result for The United States of America's carbon contribution to the climate in which case we are the only country in the world that even comes close to the Kyoto reduction targets so a big piss off to the world would be in order.
In other words, if for arguments sake let us assume that the alarmists are not full of shit and that it is only man's and man's alone carbon contribution and not all the other natural occurrences of carbon being released into the atmosphere that is to blame for the as yet unproven anthropogenic global warming calamity, then following the Algorian lead -- the USA has got it covered, we do not need to buy no stinkin' carbon offsets.....we are a carbon offset.
Now all you limo lib hollywood algore indulgence apologists can put that in your smokestack and uh um smoke it, and since its apparent that the cutting down and replanting of forests is far better for the environment than actually hugging trees... dont forget to support your local logger.
EE-Aw!!!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Hop On The Bus Disgust, But Not In The Back Blacks
I am disgusted by this entire n(appy) word fiasco.
I am disgusted at Imus for being a white milk toast jackass and at his weak attempts at penance by casting himself as a do-gooder liberal with “black friends” and not some “raving right wing racist” (his words).
I am disgusted at the likes of Sharpton and Jackson and their selective moral outrage and making this a condemnation of a racist white America that only exists in their fundraising pamphlets.
I am disgusted by, as reader Anita pointed out, the celebrity gossip culture that we live in.
I am disgusted by all the comedians weighing in that everything would have been fine if only the joke was funny.
I am disgusted with the liberal Paul Begala, who has always been quick with the accusation of racism against a Republican, yet now with Oliphant is showing “solidarity forever” with good friend and fellow lib Imus.
I am disgusted with conservatives such as Michelle Malkin who are using this as an excuse to condemn the entire hip hop "gangsta" community. Free speech is free speech is free speech.
I am disgusted by the insinuation that only the white man can be racist.
I am disgusted by this entire nappy headed ho fiasco.
But I will add one more thing….
What about the Lady Vols?
For my money they suffered the worse of the insult - if there was any at all - of the joke. As the line from the Spike Lee joint goes...
“Wannabees…
....wanna be white”
Or something like that, its been a long time since I saw that movie.
In essence they were called Uncle Toms and house slaves, which once again for my money, as a white man can only imagine, would be the more vile indignation (it is the favorite insult of Harry Belafonte) being called a race traitor and a phony. But that is just me.
My opinion aside, at the very least it was as insulting as being called a ho, and yet nary a word has been said about the slight suffered by the Tennessee players.
I have my theory - only a theory, and do not claim to know the actual reasoning behind this non coverage, but I think that the absence of outrage over one insult in overwhelming favor of the other is perhaps more telling of the current politicized racial situation in this country than the cable news uproar would lead us to believe.
Now I see the importance of history
Why people be in the mess that they be
Many journeys to freedom made in vain
By brothers on the corner playin ghetto games
I ask you lord why you enlightened me
Without the enlightment of all my folks
He said cuz I set myself on a quest for truth
And he was there to quench my thirst
But I am still thirsty...
-- Arrested Development, Tennessee
Then again I think this whole thing is bullshit. Just because a white person hurts a black person's feelings does not necessarily mean it is racism. It just doesn't. We do not live in a black and white world and the sooner we understand that the better off everyone will be.
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don't we.....
But why do the white keys get to be up front.....
EE-Aw!!!
I am disgusted at Imus for being a white milk toast jackass and at his weak attempts at penance by casting himself as a do-gooder liberal with “black friends” and not some “raving right wing racist” (his words).
I am disgusted at the likes of Sharpton and Jackson and their selective moral outrage and making this a condemnation of a racist white America that only exists in their fundraising pamphlets.
I am disgusted by, as reader Anita pointed out, the celebrity gossip culture that we live in.
I am disgusted by all the comedians weighing in that everything would have been fine if only the joke was funny.
I am disgusted with the liberal Paul Begala, who has always been quick with the accusation of racism against a Republican, yet now with Oliphant is showing “solidarity forever” with good friend and fellow lib Imus.
I am disgusted with conservatives such as Michelle Malkin who are using this as an excuse to condemn the entire hip hop "gangsta" community. Free speech is free speech is free speech.
I am disgusted by the insinuation that only the white man can be racist.
I am disgusted by this entire nappy headed ho fiasco.
But I will add one more thing….
What about the Lady Vols?
For my money they suffered the worse of the insult - if there was any at all - of the joke. As the line from the Spike Lee joint goes...
“Wannabees…
....wanna be white”
Or something like that, its been a long time since I saw that movie.
In essence they were called Uncle Toms and house slaves, which once again for my money, as a white man can only imagine, would be the more vile indignation (it is the favorite insult of Harry Belafonte) being called a race traitor and a phony. But that is just me.
My opinion aside, at the very least it was as insulting as being called a ho, and yet nary a word has been said about the slight suffered by the Tennessee players.
I have my theory - only a theory, and do not claim to know the actual reasoning behind this non coverage, but I think that the absence of outrage over one insult in overwhelming favor of the other is perhaps more telling of the current politicized racial situation in this country than the cable news uproar would lead us to believe.
Now I see the importance of history
Why people be in the mess that they be
Many journeys to freedom made in vain
By brothers on the corner playin ghetto games
I ask you lord why you enlightened me
Without the enlightment of all my folks
He said cuz I set myself on a quest for truth
And he was there to quench my thirst
But I am still thirsty...
-- Arrested Development, Tennessee
Then again I think this whole thing is bullshit. Just because a white person hurts a black person's feelings does not necessarily mean it is racism. It just doesn't. We do not live in a black and white world and the sooner we understand that the better off everyone will be.
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don't we.....
But why do the white keys get to be up front.....
EE-Aw!!!
The Debate Is Over?
"Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
Why So Gloomy?
By Richard S. Lindzen
April 16, 2007 issue - "Judging from the media in recent months, the debate over global warming is now over. There has been a net warming of the earth over the last century and a half, and our greenhouse gas emissions are contributing at some level. Both of these statements are almost certainly true. What of it?
Many of the most alarming studies rely on long-range predictions using inherently untrustworthy climate models, similar to those that cannot accurately forecast the weather a week from now."
1 msnbc
Chill out over global warming
By David Harsanyi
The only inconvenient truth about global warming, contends Colorado State University's Bill Gray, is that a genuine debate has never actually taken place. Hundreds of scientists, many of them prominent in the field, agree.
Gray is perhaps the world's foremost hurricane expert. His Tropical Storm Forecast sets the standard. Yet, his criticism of the global warming "hoax" makes him an outcast.
"They've been brainwashing us for 20 years," Gray says. "Starting with the nuclear winter and now with the global warming. This scare will also run its course. In 15-20 years, we'll look back and see what a hoax this was."
2 denverpost.com
A Skeptical View of Climate Models
By Hendrik Tennekes
Here in the Netherlands, many people have ranked me as a climate skeptic. It did not help much that I called myself a protestant recently. I protest against overwhelming pressure to adhere to the climate change dogma promoted by the adherents of IPCC. I was brought up in a fundamentalist protestant environment, and have become very sensitive to everything that smells like an orthodox belief system.
The advantages of accepting a dogma or paradigm are only too clear. One no longer has to query the foundations of one's convictions, one enjoys the many advantages of belonging to a group that enjoys political power, one can participate in the benefits that the group provides, and one can delegate questions of responsibility and accountability to the leadership. In brief, the moment one accepts a dogma, one stops being an independent scientist.
3 sepp.com
Why So Gloomy?
By Richard S. Lindzen
April 16, 2007 issue - "Judging from the media in recent months, the debate over global warming is now over. There has been a net warming of the earth over the last century and a half, and our greenhouse gas emissions are contributing at some level. Both of these statements are almost certainly true. What of it?
Many of the most alarming studies rely on long-range predictions using inherently untrustworthy climate models, similar to those that cannot accurately forecast the weather a week from now."
1 msnbc
Chill out over global warming
By David Harsanyi
The only inconvenient truth about global warming, contends Colorado State University's Bill Gray, is that a genuine debate has never actually taken place. Hundreds of scientists, many of them prominent in the field, agree.
Gray is perhaps the world's foremost hurricane expert. His Tropical Storm Forecast sets the standard. Yet, his criticism of the global warming "hoax" makes him an outcast.
"They've been brainwashing us for 20 years," Gray says. "Starting with the nuclear winter and now with the global warming. This scare will also run its course. In 15-20 years, we'll look back and see what a hoax this was."
2 denverpost.com
A Skeptical View of Climate Models
By Hendrik Tennekes
Here in the Netherlands, many people have ranked me as a climate skeptic. It did not help much that I called myself a protestant recently. I protest against overwhelming pressure to adhere to the climate change dogma promoted by the adherents of IPCC. I was brought up in a fundamentalist protestant environment, and have become very sensitive to everything that smells like an orthodox belief system.
The advantages of accepting a dogma or paradigm are only too clear. One no longer has to query the foundations of one's convictions, one enjoys the many advantages of belonging to a group that enjoys political power, one can participate in the benefits that the group provides, and one can delegate questions of responsibility and accountability to the leadership. In brief, the moment one accepts a dogma, one stops being an independent scientist.
3 sepp.com
Climate For Dummies
Reprinted with permission from The Science & Environmental Policy Project.....
Frequently Asked Questions About Climate Change
With all the hype about global warming and climate disasters filling the journals and air waves, here are some facts that need to be more widely known:
1)Is the climate stable or is it changing?
The climate is never just "average"; it changes all the time, from season to season, year to year, and over the millennia. And that includes not only temperature, but rain, snow, droughts, storms, and every conceivable feature of the weather. It is a well-known fact of statistics that the longer you take observatioins, the greater the chance of finding some kind of extreme event -- sometime, somewhere. So watch out when you read about the "hottest year", "longest drought", or "biggest hurricane."
2) But are there long-term climate trends? Is it getting warmer or is it getting colder?
The only correct answer is: Yes. It all depends on the time scale you choose. The global climate has warmed over the last 100 years, but not appreciably over the last 50 years. And it is colder now than it was 1000 years ago. And did you know that over the last 50 years the frequency of hurricanes has been dropping?
3) Are human activities influencing climate?
Yes, of course. The rise of agriculture and the growth of cities have changed the local climate significantly. With rising populations and rising industrial activity there have also been some worldwide changes: Temperature extremes have softened, the stratosphere is cooling, and atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases are rising. But this does not mean that there will be a catastrophic or even a substantial warming of the climate in the next century.
4) But isn't there climate warming already because of the increased burning of fossil fuels--oil, gas, and coal--that creates more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
True, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are rising, but the climate seems not to be warming as a result. It did warm greatly between 1880 and 1940--long before CO2 increased significantly. But since 1940, weather satellites, tree ring data, and corrected thermometer readings all agree that climate has not warmed as much--even though CO2 levels rose.
5) And why hasn't climate warmed, when theory clearly expects this to happen?
The answer must be that even our best current models of the atmosphere are incomplete and leave out important features. Only in the last few years have modelers started to include ocean currents, atmospheric aerosol particles and dust into climate models. Most now suspect that clouds are the reason why models and observations do not agree. Models still cannot include solar influences properly.
6) What about climate calamities, like sea-level rise and the spread of tropical diseases?
Well, since the climate is not warming significantly, there is no immediate reason for concern. Diseases are not just spread by mosquitoes, but nowadays more by human contacts--which have been increasing markedly with the tremendous rise in global transportation.
Many scientists predict that sea level will drop slightly if oceans warm; the evaporated moisture may simply turn to snow and increase the thickness of the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps.
7) So, would a global warming be good or bad?
Probably both, but warming is definitely better than cooling. It is certainly better for agriculture and therefore for basic human existence. All historical evidence shows that during the warm periods of the Middle Ages people were better off than during the hard times of the "Little Ice Age" (1650-1850) when crops failed and people starved.
8) When it comes to it, what can we do about climate warming?
We can do little about the climate itself, but we could try to stop the increase of atmospheric CO2. Even that task is daunting; it requires that we cut emissions--worldwide--by 60 to 80 percent. In effect, this means cutting energy consumption by comparable amounts--including all transportation, heating, air conditioning, and electricity use. It would have an enormous negative impact on people's welfare--particularly for the poor and those in developing countries.
9) How would one reduce energy consumption by 60 to 80 percent?
There are basically two ways, short of drastically reducing population itself: energy rationing or energy taxes. Rationing means a political allocation, with governments and bureaucrats deciding who may use energy and who may not. Energy taxes are almost as unpalatable; just try to picture $5-per-gallon gasoline.
10) Should we ruin our economies and cause tremendous hardship for people to counter a phantom threat?
That's a leading question, of course; climate warming does indeed seem far away and a minor problem at that. There is a sure threat to human existence, however, and that is the near-certainty of a coming ice age. Geologists tell us that the present interglacial warm period will soon come to an end. Perhaps greenhouse warming can save us from an icy fate.
Frequently Asked Questions About Climate Change
With all the hype about global warming and climate disasters filling the journals and air waves, here are some facts that need to be more widely known:
1)Is the climate stable or is it changing?
The climate is never just "average"; it changes all the time, from season to season, year to year, and over the millennia. And that includes not only temperature, but rain, snow, droughts, storms, and every conceivable feature of the weather. It is a well-known fact of statistics that the longer you take observatioins, the greater the chance of finding some kind of extreme event -- sometime, somewhere. So watch out when you read about the "hottest year", "longest drought", or "biggest hurricane."
2) But are there long-term climate trends? Is it getting warmer or is it getting colder?
The only correct answer is: Yes. It all depends on the time scale you choose. The global climate has warmed over the last 100 years, but not appreciably over the last 50 years. And it is colder now than it was 1000 years ago. And did you know that over the last 50 years the frequency of hurricanes has been dropping?
3) Are human activities influencing climate?
Yes, of course. The rise of agriculture and the growth of cities have changed the local climate significantly. With rising populations and rising industrial activity there have also been some worldwide changes: Temperature extremes have softened, the stratosphere is cooling, and atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases are rising. But this does not mean that there will be a catastrophic or even a substantial warming of the climate in the next century.
4) But isn't there climate warming already because of the increased burning of fossil fuels--oil, gas, and coal--that creates more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
True, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are rising, but the climate seems not to be warming as a result. It did warm greatly between 1880 and 1940--long before CO2 increased significantly. But since 1940, weather satellites, tree ring data, and corrected thermometer readings all agree that climate has not warmed as much--even though CO2 levels rose.
5) And why hasn't climate warmed, when theory clearly expects this to happen?
The answer must be that even our best current models of the atmosphere are incomplete and leave out important features. Only in the last few years have modelers started to include ocean currents, atmospheric aerosol particles and dust into climate models. Most now suspect that clouds are the reason why models and observations do not agree. Models still cannot include solar influences properly.
6) What about climate calamities, like sea-level rise and the spread of tropical diseases?
Well, since the climate is not warming significantly, there is no immediate reason for concern. Diseases are not just spread by mosquitoes, but nowadays more by human contacts--which have been increasing markedly with the tremendous rise in global transportation.
Many scientists predict that sea level will drop slightly if oceans warm; the evaporated moisture may simply turn to snow and increase the thickness of the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps.
7) So, would a global warming be good or bad?
Probably both, but warming is definitely better than cooling. It is certainly better for agriculture and therefore for basic human existence. All historical evidence shows that during the warm periods of the Middle Ages people were better off than during the hard times of the "Little Ice Age" (1650-1850) when crops failed and people starved.
8) When it comes to it, what can we do about climate warming?
We can do little about the climate itself, but we could try to stop the increase of atmospheric CO2. Even that task is daunting; it requires that we cut emissions--worldwide--by 60 to 80 percent. In effect, this means cutting energy consumption by comparable amounts--including all transportation, heating, air conditioning, and electricity use. It would have an enormous negative impact on people's welfare--particularly for the poor and those in developing countries.
9) How would one reduce energy consumption by 60 to 80 percent?
There are basically two ways, short of drastically reducing population itself: energy rationing or energy taxes. Rationing means a political allocation, with governments and bureaucrats deciding who may use energy and who may not. Energy taxes are almost as unpalatable; just try to picture $5-per-gallon gasoline.
10) Should we ruin our economies and cause tremendous hardship for people to counter a phantom threat?
That's a leading question, of course; climate warming does indeed seem far away and a minor problem at that. There is a sure threat to human existence, however, and that is the near-certainty of a coming ice age. Geologists tell us that the present interglacial warm period will soon come to an end. Perhaps greenhouse warming can save us from an icy fate.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Kill All The Trees
Or at least just the Canadian ones....
SHOCKING NEW GLOBAL WARMING STUDY! NORTHERN FORESTS MAY INCREASE TEMPERATURES BY 10 DEGREES BY 2100, NEW STUDY SAYS; DEFORESTATION COULD COOL THE PLANET - Forests on certain parts of the planet may actually warm the Earth, according to researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
According to the new study, forests in mid- to high-latitude locations – such as boreal forests of Canada, Scandinavia and Siberia -- may actually create a net warming. The study concludes that by the year 2100, these mid- and high-latitude forests may make some places up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than would have occurred if the forests did not exist. 1
1 junkscience.com
SHOCKING NEW GLOBAL WARMING STUDY! NORTHERN FORESTS MAY INCREASE TEMPERATURES BY 10 DEGREES BY 2100, NEW STUDY SAYS; DEFORESTATION COULD COOL THE PLANET - Forests on certain parts of the planet may actually warm the Earth, according to researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
According to the new study, forests in mid- to high-latitude locations – such as boreal forests of Canada, Scandinavia and Siberia -- may actually create a net warming. The study concludes that by the year 2100, these mid- and high-latitude forests may make some places up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than would have occurred if the forests did not exist. 1
1 junkscience.com
Make Up Your Mind
LAST WEEK’s WEATHER TREND (1-7 APR): Temperatures plummeted as a strong Arctic cold front dove deep into the South late in the week. There were 100s of record low temperatures across the U.S. with the Southwest being the one exception. Hard freezes most likely did 10s of millions of dollars damage to trees and crops in the Southeast over the Easter weekend. Snowfall was also the most in at least 14 years with dozens of record snowfall totals from Texas to the Middle Atlantic and throughout the interior Northeast and Great Lakes. Even Dallas had a trace of snow which was the latest snowfall in 69 years. 1
1 agweb.com
map vortex.plymouth.edu
1 agweb.com
map vortex.plymouth.edu
Monday, April 09, 2007
Opus Donk
Once again I must place the onus on myself to debunk a great junk science fraud that has been committed upon the ignorant populace.
Neither the Vernal Equinox nor March 21st is the first day of spring. Huh? They are the same thing? Exactly! That is my point, neither of them signal the first day of spring.
That is just a myth perpetuated by the Secret Society of the St Patrick's Day Revelers Quattuor Dies Flecto Order. And that is all I can say about that, I fear I have already said too much.
The first day of spring is today. I may be accused of donkiocentrism, but it is not spring time until it is the Home Opener at Shea Stadium and I am chilling (thanks for nothing global warming) with a beer in one hand and a hot sausage sandwich in the other root root rooting for the Mets.
So bring on the Spring biotches, but more importantly....
Let's Go Mets!!!
Neither the Vernal Equinox nor March 21st is the first day of spring. Huh? They are the same thing? Exactly! That is my point, neither of them signal the first day of spring.
That is just a myth perpetuated by the Secret Society of the St Patrick's Day Revelers Quattuor Dies Flecto Order. And that is all I can say about that, I fear I have already said too much.
The first day of spring is today. I may be accused of donkiocentrism, but it is not spring time until it is the Home Opener at Shea Stadium and I am chilling (thanks for nothing global warming) with a beer in one hand and a hot sausage sandwich in the other root root rooting for the Mets.
So bring on the Spring biotches, but more importantly....
Let's Go Mets!!!
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Green Eggs And Ham Yosemite Sam
Apparently every year the 50 States will eggtravagantly (sorry) decorate an Easter Egg to send to The White House representin'. I learned this from two regulars of the Tucker Carlson show on MSNBC, Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts 1, authors of the The Reliable Source for the Wapo. Both pretty hot in their own way and with great senses of humor (usually a code word for not very hot at all). Check out your State by clicking on New York's egg and pay close attention Wyoming in comparison to the others.Egg-Aw!!!
You're Dead To Me Boy
Chris Rock does a bit in one of his comedy routines about the Michael Jackson and Prince rivalry. He goes on to state the obvious that Prince has in fact won, all things considering with Michael Jackson being an insane child molester and all.
I was in high school during the eighties, but besides the fact that I owned a cassette copy of Prince's Purple Rain -- that is right I admit it, like I said I was a teen aged guy during the eighties and since Darling Nikki was the equivalent of modern day internet porn I do not apologize -- I had no interest in that debate as I was not a fan of either.
My quarrel was with Cash. Not in the sense that I grew up dirt poor on skid row eating sugar n butter sandwiches, but rather with Johnny Cash. See I was a Merle Haggard fan, but truth be told have come to appreciate both Johnny Cash, and Prince for that matter. But that is neither here nor there.
At that place and at that time in my life there were two camps and there was no in between.... Cash or Haggard (which was then further subdivided by the Molly Hatchet/Lynyrd Skynyrd feud to be discussed another day) Maybe its because I turned twenty one in prison or my lifelong hate of hippies, but Merle was my guy. However......
It is time for me to concede...
... Johnny Cash won.
See, it has come to my attention that Merle recently penned a song for Hillary Clinton. Suffice to say that I will immediately commence removing any and all quotes references (this post notwithstanding) lyrics and tributes to the Okie that shall forever remain nameless on this blog. I do not disagree with the sentiment of the song that maybe it is time to give a broad a shot at The White House, but not her Merle, not her.
I understand that sometimes with celebrity combined with great wealth comes a detachment from reality that fries and liberalizes a mans brain, heck they even got to Clint, and I am fine with that, I do not like it, but I understand. Actually I am not fine with it, and would give him a straight shot to the jowls given the chance.
This is no sudden turn of events for Merle, but I was even able to overlook his defense of The Dixie Chicks, as once again, it was certainly their right to say what they did. But, this love song to Hillary has crossed the line. Mermaid or merman you are dead to me Merle, as dead to me as your dead mother.
I have said my peace, and that is that.
EE-Aw!!!
I was in high school during the eighties, but besides the fact that I owned a cassette copy of Prince's Purple Rain -- that is right I admit it, like I said I was a teen aged guy during the eighties and since Darling Nikki was the equivalent of modern day internet porn I do not apologize -- I had no interest in that debate as I was not a fan of either.
My quarrel was with Cash. Not in the sense that I grew up dirt poor on skid row eating sugar n butter sandwiches, but rather with Johnny Cash. See I was a Merle Haggard fan, but truth be told have come to appreciate both Johnny Cash, and Prince for that matter. But that is neither here nor there.
At that place and at that time in my life there were two camps and there was no in between.... Cash or Haggard (which was then further subdivided by the Molly Hatchet/Lynyrd Skynyrd feud to be discussed another day) Maybe its because I turned twenty one in prison or my lifelong hate of hippies, but Merle was my guy. However......
It is time for me to concede...
... Johnny Cash won.
See, it has come to my attention that Merle recently penned a song for Hillary Clinton. Suffice to say that I will immediately commence removing any and all quotes references (this post notwithstanding) lyrics and tributes to the Okie that shall forever remain nameless on this blog. I do not disagree with the sentiment of the song that maybe it is time to give a broad a shot at The White House, but not her Merle, not her.
I understand that sometimes with celebrity combined with great wealth comes a detachment from reality that fries and liberalizes a mans brain, heck they even got to Clint, and I am fine with that, I do not like it, but I understand. Actually I am not fine with it, and would give him a straight shot to the jowls given the chance.
This is no sudden turn of events for Merle, but I was even able to overlook his defense of The Dixie Chicks, as once again, it was certainly their right to say what they did. But, this love song to Hillary has crossed the line. Mermaid or merman you are dead to me Merle, as dead to me as your dead mother.
I have said my peace, and that is that.
EE-Aw!!!
Run Away! Run Away!
Now I can see being fearful of a killer rabbit, but FOX News? Silly Edwards, cowardice is for kids. In my mind only the intellectually weak and those who are untruthful in their convictions would run away from public debate."We believe there's just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they're objective," said Jonathan Prince, Edwards' deputy campaign manager. 1
Forget the pusillanimousity of this bush league move for a moment, does it not dawn on the Edwards campaign that part of the job description of President is dealing with folks that you may not see eye to eye with. How is John Edwards expected to deal with a Republican Congress, China, or Russia for example, if he does not have the sack to sit down with Brit Hume? He can not, that is how.
Then again I suspect that he has already come to the realization he will not be the next President of The United States of America, and if being the token left wing attack dog punk is the only way to stay in the news, then such will be his lot, and his only shot at the veepee slot.
I was originally going to title this Bawk Bawk Easter Bunny from the classic Cadbury Eggs commercials considering that it is Easter and that Edwards is a chickenshit, but since I had already used that title over at the Mets 3X Blog, and that I have been watching a lot of Python lately, I figured the current title would be apt.
Now take your ball and run home Johnny.
EE-Aw!!!
...be sure to click above picture and goto silly game for some hot killer rabbit action
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Mr. Donkstone
It is funny how the small details can have such a large impact on our daily lives. Like most people I have a morning routine. Rather uneventful, once again like most people. I get up around seven, get out of bed around nine, and I don't worry about nothing no, cause worrying is a waste of my...time.
After shit showering and shaving, I throw some clean clothes on and the dead hooker out. Since I care more about the environment than Al Gore does but yet abhor public transportation, weather permitting I always walk to work. Total elapsed time is roughly forty minutes from exiting my bed to entering my office.
Now everything has changed. Okay, maybe not everything, but everything pertaining to my morning commute once I leave home.
See, I have recently accepted a very generous offer from The New York Sun of free home delivery for a year. I love free stuff and it is a paper I read; one I highly recommend by the way, for what it lacks in page quantity as a new paper, it makes up for in its resolute bull dog attacks of the thug Elliot Spitzer and their recent call for Vice President Cheney to run in '08 gives them some serious street conservative cred in my book.
So what is the problem?
Well, I am glad you asked.
Picking up the paper has always been the last thing I do before heading into my office, and now it is the first thing waiting for me as I leave my apartment. Worlds are colliding Jerry. I never liked the phrase "walk and chew gum", maybe because I am missing the point, but any imbecile can manage that task, even me. However drinking coffee, walking, Heismanin' tourists, smoking AND carrying a paper is a whole 'nother ball game.
I would not go so far as to say that I am a klutz, which I am not, but suffice to say that it is a well known fact that my ties and coffee do not get along all that well.
It vexes me. I am terribly vexed.
Do I leave the paper at home? Go ten minutes without a nicotine fix? Find a new coffee cart closer to work? Dare consider carrying a briefcase (nothing gay mind you, something european)? Take the bus? Start rocking the folded paper in my back pocket look as I did a comb in the eighties?
I just do not know.
In the one week since I started receiving the paper I have tried all of the above options (I said consider carrying a man-bag) and to be honest none of them felt right, something was amiss and caused me to run amuck.
As a change fearing conservative I can not have this chaos in my life. I must preserve the status quo, and am thinking about just canceling this whole damn welfare subscription affair and as a tax paying conservative think fifty cents a day is a small price to pay to restore order.
Or maybe I will start chewing gum.
EE-Aw!!!
After shit showering and shaving, I throw some clean clothes on and the dead hooker out. Since I care more about the environment than Al Gore does but yet abhor public transportation, weather permitting I always walk to work. Total elapsed time is roughly forty minutes from exiting my bed to entering my office.
Now everything has changed. Okay, maybe not everything, but everything pertaining to my morning commute once I leave home.
See, I have recently accepted a very generous offer from The New York Sun of free home delivery for a year. I love free stuff and it is a paper I read; one I highly recommend by the way, for what it lacks in page quantity as a new paper, it makes up for in its resolute bull dog attacks of the thug Elliot Spitzer and their recent call for Vice President Cheney to run in '08 gives them some serious street conservative cred in my book.
So what is the problem?
Well, I am glad you asked.
Picking up the paper has always been the last thing I do before heading into my office, and now it is the first thing waiting for me as I leave my apartment. Worlds are colliding Jerry. I never liked the phrase "walk and chew gum", maybe because I am missing the point, but any imbecile can manage that task, even me. However drinking coffee, walking, Heismanin' tourists, smoking AND carrying a paper is a whole 'nother ball game.
I would not go so far as to say that I am a klutz, which I am not, but suffice to say that it is a well known fact that my ties and coffee do not get along all that well.
It vexes me. I am terribly vexed.
Do I leave the paper at home? Go ten minutes without a nicotine fix? Find a new coffee cart closer to work? Dare consider carrying a briefcase (nothing gay mind you, something european)? Take the bus? Start rocking the folded paper in my back pocket look as I did a comb in the eighties?
I just do not know.
In the one week since I started receiving the paper I have tried all of the above options (I said consider carrying a man-bag) and to be honest none of them felt right, something was amiss and caused me to run amuck.
As a change fearing conservative I can not have this chaos in my life. I must preserve the status quo, and am thinking about just canceling this whole damn welfare subscription affair and as a tax paying conservative think fifty cents a day is a small price to pay to restore order.
Or maybe I will start chewing gum.
EE-Aw!!!
Friday, April 06, 2007
Congratulations Aurora
1,000 Posts and Counting...
Back in 2005, the Rhino and the Donkey started a blog. They wanted to mold it in the image of the original Aurora which was a newspaper founded by Benjamin Franklin Bache. To their credit they have stayed the course, gone above and beyond, become two very poignant writers, and managed to cover not only politics but also economic, social, and other lighter issues (my favorite!). In a blogosphere dominated by liberal counterparts they have never wavered from their conservative values despite much animosity. They have raised awareness on issues that I was less than cognisant of, they have made me laugh and they have made me cry...not real tears mind you but I have occasionally cried out loud because of them!
All joking aside we have had our disagreements but I do have a tremendous amount of respect for their values & opinions. Values & opinions which they are willing to fight for...like I said previously, in this forum, they do not have a lot supporters willing to carry the flag. They are the true gadflies, making us think of things from a different perspective not usually given to us.
I like the fact that we have them on that fence...thanks guys.
Slainte!
And to everyone else...
Happy Easter, Happy Passover or simply Happy Weekend (you godless heathens)!
Back in 2005, the Rhino and the Donkey started a blog. They wanted to mold it in the image of the original Aurora which was a newspaper founded by Benjamin Franklin Bache. To their credit they have stayed the course, gone above and beyond, become two very poignant writers, and managed to cover not only politics but also economic, social, and other lighter issues (my favorite!). In a blogosphere dominated by liberal counterparts they have never wavered from their conservative values despite much animosity. They have raised awareness on issues that I was less than cognisant of, they have made me laugh and they have made me cry...not real tears mind you but I have occasionally cried out loud because of them!
All joking aside we have had our disagreements but I do have a tremendous amount of respect for their values & opinions. Values & opinions which they are willing to fight for...like I said previously, in this forum, they do not have a lot supporters willing to carry the flag. They are the true gadflies, making us think of things from a different perspective not usually given to us.
I like the fact that we have them on that fence...thanks guys.
Slainte!
And to everyone else...
Happy Easter, Happy Passover or simply Happy Weekend (you godless heathens)!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
C and C and The Jackass Factory
Now this is just flat out funny. The Global War on Terror is over. Did the terrorists surrender? No, just a name change like Prince. Apparently unicorns flew planes into the WTC and the Pentagon.
A memo for the committee staff, circulated March 27, says the 2008 bill and its accompanying explanatory report that will set defense policy should be specific about military operations and “avoid using colloquialisms.” 1
and this is even funnier....
“There was no political intent in doing this,” said a Democratic aide who asked not to be identified. “We were just trying to avoid catch phrases.” 1
Now mind you, this from the same Dem party whose ideology is nothing but catchphrases. Don't get me wrong, Ive long said that Bush's cowboy hyperbole is harmful, accurate and appropriate, but harmful none the less, as it gives the dems home field advantage -- for that is their forte and the way they play the game.
I'm going to have a field day with this one going forward. No more catch phrases or colloquialisms. Ill remember that.
1 militarytimes.com
A memo for the committee staff, circulated March 27, says the 2008 bill and its accompanying explanatory report that will set defense policy should be specific about military operations and “avoid using colloquialisms.” 1
and this is even funnier....
“There was no political intent in doing this,” said a Democratic aide who asked not to be identified. “We were just trying to avoid catch phrases.” 1
Now mind you, this from the same Dem party whose ideology is nothing but catchphrases. Don't get me wrong, Ive long said that Bush's cowboy hyperbole is harmful, accurate and appropriate, but harmful none the less, as it gives the dems home field advantage -- for that is their forte and the way they play the game.
I'm going to have a field day with this one going forward. No more catch phrases or colloquialisms. Ill remember that.
1 militarytimes.com
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