Monday, June 30, 2008
Climate Change - FAQS and Myths
This website seems to cover them all...
The website is: ICECAP.us
Some Gun Rules We Can All Agree On - WSJ.com
I'm pleased that our 2nd Amendment rights have been upheld.
That being said, I think the proposals mentioned here are good ones.
And I have to wonder why these common sense items haven't already been implemented...
That being said, I think the proposals mentioned here are good ones.
And I have to wonder why these common sense items haven't already been implemented...
Big city mayors Michael R. Bloomberg and Thomas M. Menino collaborated on this opinion column:
"Our bipartisan coalition of mayors has identified four key reforms that would fix the federal government's primary tool for preventing illegal gun sales: the background check system."
Replacement windows - $6,300 each!
Government, school districts, whatever. They all seem to be cut from the same high priced cloth.
I guess there aren't any Home Depot's or Lowe's nearby...
I guess there aren't any Home Depot's or Lowe's nearby...
At Examiner.com, Michael Neibauer tells about it:
"Nearly 150 windows installed last year in Northwest’s Shepherd Elementary School will be replaced this summer at a cost of roughly $6,300 each, and parents are hopeful the District’s new contractor will be an improvement over the last “catastrophe.”
Roughly 140 rotting wooden windows at Shepherd, located on 14th Street just north of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, were replaced in 2007 at a cost of $4,042 per window under a contract awarded by the D.C. Public Schools to the Timonium-based Orlando J. Sales Painting Co."
ANWR - Are these pictures worth a thousand words?
A few pictures to further your understanding of A.N.W.R...
Mark J. Perry has them posted on his "Carpe Diem" blog:
In Our Schools - Have they gone astray?
This writer seems to know what's going on...
Peter Berger discusses today's world of education in the Rutland (Vermont) Herald:
"It's been decades since schools first outlawed failure and adopted the false mantra that all students are guaranteed success. Our national education law, No Child Left Behind, rests on two mutually exclusive wishful absurdities embraced by politicians and education experts. First, schools have to raise standards so they reflect world-class college expectations, or else the school is in trouble. At the same time, every student, including those with learning handicaps or simply less than average ability, has to meet those elevated standards, or else the school is in trouble.
There's no such thing as high standards that everybody can meet. That's why we can't all make it as major league ballplayers or Marines.
The one essential for success that does lie within each student's control is the one essential we don't talk about. You'll rarely hear much about diligence and perseverance in today's scholastic master plans. Instead of effort, we talk about fun. Instead of extolling self-discipline and the personal and societal benefits of self-improvement, we bribe kids with cash and MP3 players."
Nanosolar Blog
I've said it before and I'll say it again.
I'm convinced that ingenuity, science, and technology, will fix this energy crisis if the politicians would only stay out of the way...
I'm convinced that ingenuity, science, and technology, will fix this energy crisis if the politicians would only stay out of the way...
Martin Roscheisen, NanoSolar's CEO, reports:
"As we are busy ramping our operation, we almost forgot to recognize achieving a major milestone in solar technology: The solar industry’s first 1GW production tool. Here it is:
Most production tools in the solar industry tend to have 10-30MW in annual production capacity. How is it possible to have a single tool with Gigawatt throughput?
This feat is fundamentally enabled through the proprietary nanoparticle ink we have invested so many years developing. It allows us to deliver efficient solar cells (presently up to more than 14%) that are simply printed.
Printing is a simple, fast, and robust coating process that in particular eliminates the need for expensive high-vacuum chambers and the kinds of high-vacuum based deposition techniques from industries where there’s a lot more $/sqm available for competitive manufacturing cost.
Our 1GW CIGS coater cost $1.65 million. At the 100 feet-per-minute speed shown in the video, that’s an astonishing two orders of magnitude more capital efficient than a high-vacuum process: a twenty times slower high-vacuum tool would have cost about ten times as much per tool.
Plus if we cared to run it even faster, we could. (The same coating technique works in principle for speeds up to 2000 feet-per-minute too. In fact, it turns out the faster we run, the better the coating!)"
Sunday, June 29, 2008
FactCheck.org: 99% Fact-Free
I thought ALL political ads were powered this way.
I saved this from late last year.
I'm sure the premise still has not changed...
I saved this from late last year.
I'm sure the premise still has not changed...
Brooks Jackson and Jessica Henig posted this at FactCheck.org:
"In this article we examine two examples of what we call 'fact-free' advertising, which we see in abundance. These ads seek to associate the candidate with a string of positive words and images but are void of specifics. Voters should beware."
Money for Nothing - WSJ.com
As the author says, "plenty of brainpower" but "short on common sense"...
In the Wall Street Journal, James R. Hagerty discusses a new book:
"Not everyone in the business was corrupt, of course. But too many were. After giving a concise overview of how mortgage loans are made and sold, Mr. Bitner exposes some of the industry's dirty little secrets for making borrowers look more creditworthy than they are:
- A large car payment keeps a couple from qualifying for a loan. But, in a fluke, car debt is recorded by only one credit bureau; the loan officer simply 'drops that bureau from the borrower's credit report and the debt disappears.'
- If a borrower's credit score is too low, it can be manipulated. 'A person with good credit is paid a fee for each account they let someone else use. The person with the challenged credit doesn't get access to the account, just the benefit of the performance history that comes with it.' (A spokesman for Fair Isaac Corp., a provider of technology for credit scoring, says that a new formula, being adopted this year, will thwart such abuses.)
- Does the borrower's bank statements show bounced checks? Never mind. Just give the underwriters copies of the first page from each month's statement, leaving out the grisly details.
- Is the borrower's income too low? 'Desktop publishing programs allow for near-perfect replication of pay stubs and W-2s.'"
Aviation Week : Ultra Stealth
And a stealth budget item, too...
At AviationWeek.com, Bill Sweetman questions:
"Is Northrop Grumman building a secret bomber prototype? In late April, the company revealed first-quarter financial results. Data indicated $2 billion in new 'restricted programs' contract awards at Integrated Systems, the aircraft division. This almost certainly confirms what DTI first reported earlier this year: Northrop Grumman has a classified, sole-source contract to build a demonstrator for the U.S. Air Force's Next-Generation Bomber (DTI March, p. 30)."
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Vitamin D - To your good health
Here are some questions and answers about Vitamin D...
Here, at the Harvard Public Health Review is information about Vitamin D:
"While vitamin D’s role in strengthening bones is well established, its links to cancer and immune-system malfunctions have only recently emerged. At the Harvard School of Public Health, nutrition experts say large segments of the population don’t get enough vitamin D and are urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to raise the daily recommended dose, from 400 international units to 800. For an update on what’s known so far about this important nutrient, the Harvard Public Health Review spoke with HSPH Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology Edward Giovannucci."
Keeping Food For Years
Just in case, you know...
This is from ScienceDaily.com:
"The next time you find forgotten food in the pantry, don't just toss it. Keeping food past its expiration date may not seem like a good idea, but certain foods last a lot longer than you think -- years longer.
Food scientists now know that, when properly sealed, some dried food that's been sitting on shelves for years, could still be OK to eat.
'It lasts a lot longer than we thought,' Oscar Pike a food scientist at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, tells DBIS."
Friday, June 27, 2008
Obama's Social Security Fine Print - WSJ.com
I think this is another "say anything to get elected" item.
Apparently, they didn't even do any analysis!
Something to consider when you vote in November...
Apparently, they didn't even do any analysis!
Something to consider when you vote in November...
In the Wall Street Journal, Donald L. Luskin writes:
"According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Mr. Obama's new tax would siphon off 0.4% of gross domestic product annually. Combined with Mr. Obama's other tax-hike initiatives, 'the total tax on labor would be close to 60 percent. In high-tax states like California and New York, the top rate would be even higher.'
Would it help Social Security's financing problems? Mr. Obama has no idea. One of his senior economic advisers admitted to me that no one on the campaign has run any detailed models or performed any rigorous analysis. When one proposes an enormous tax increase, shouldn't there at least be a spreadsheet somewhere?
But the most alarming thing about Mr. Obama's proposal is that the $250,000 threshold, above which the payroll tax would be applied, refers to household income, not individual income. So it's quite deceptive when he claims that the $250,000 threshold will 'ensure that lifting the payroll tax cap does not ensnare any middle class Americans.'"
Energy - More from the sun
I'm still convinced that science will eventually overcome the world's energy problems...
At PsyOrg.com they discuss a recent breakthrough:
"IBM today announced a research breakthrough in photovoltaics technology that could significantly reduce the cost of harnessing the Sun's power for electricity.
By mimicking the antics of a child using a magnifying glass to burn a leaf or a camper to start a fire, IBM scientists are using a large lens to concentrate the Sun’s power, capturing a record 230 watts onto a centimeter square solar cell, in a technology known as concentrator photovoltaics, or CPV. That energy is then converted into 70 watts of usable electrical power, about five times the electrical power density generated by typical cells using CPV technology in solar farms.
If it can overcome additional challenges to move this project from the lab to the fab, IBM believes it can significantly reduce the cost of a typical CPV based system. By using a much lower number of photovoltaic cells in a solar farm and concentrating more light onto each cell using larger lenses, IBM’s system enables a significant cost advantage in terms of a lesser number of total components. "
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Times, It Ain’t a-Changin’ - Bruce Bawer
Good or Evil?
I've made my decision. Now, you may consider yours...
I've made my decision. Now, you may consider yours...
At PajamasMedia.com, Bruce Bawer writes about the history of the New York Times and comes to the following conclusion:
"The Times should have learned a valuable lesson or two from its past. But it’s making exactly the same mistakes today with Islam in the West that it did with Stalinism and Hitlerism, ignoring and discrediting the testimony of honest observers while giving legitimacy to tyranny’s sympathizers and apologists. The Times’s power is such that it might play an immensely positive role in educating its readers about the situation before them and helping them to recognize where their own responsibilities lie. Instead it’s pursuing an editorial policy that bids fair to be every bit as disastrous as was its approach to Stalin, the Holocaust, and Castro. And a large segment of the mainstream Western media is following its example."
Oil derricks - and their footprints
Things may not be what they appear to be.
Did you ever wonder what's in that building near you?...
Did you ever wonder what's in that building near you?...
These pictures might surprise you:
Beverly Hills Oil Rig 3
Oil Derrick at Beverly Center Mall
Pico Oil Derrick
Oil derrick along Pico Blvd.
War on Terror - and the "Art" of War
I think Tim Wilson has this right.
Unfortunately, I can't imagine any groundswell of support until something really bad happens to awaken us again...
Unfortunately, I can't imagine any groundswell of support until something really bad happens to awaken us again...
At FamilySecurityMatter.org, Tim Wilson makes these points and others:
"Any reasonable assessment of the current situation in the WoT shows that the enemy is 'inside' our decision cycle instead of vice versa, setting the agenda and attacking on many fronts: informational, judicial and political as well as physical. This is a highly unusual situation for our military commanders and politicians, and one for which they have no training or preparation since all previous experience has been based on conventional warfare. It will take innovation, determination and decisive action to correct the problem. It is also likely to take a considerable amount of time.
Our leaders should certainly be conducting counter-operations, especially in the informational arena, including explanations to the US public of the problems caused by the methods of the enemy, in order to change the equations of the decision cycle. Perhaps then they could turn the tide of bad publicity which has accompanied much of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan which is so contrary to the perceptions of our soldiers in the field. If the public understands that much of the 'bad news' from these battlefields is actually enemy propaganda, they, and in turn our politicians, will become much less susceptible to adverse stories. This should not be hard to achieve, after all, the American public are more patriotic than the inhabitants of most other nations, and for good reason as they live in the greatest nation in history."
Oil - and offshore drilling
This interview seems to cover this issue as well as any I've seen...
In an recent interview with Larry Kudlow Anadarko Petroleum CEO James Hackett said this:
"As I mentioned, we’ve got a world class project that is the deepest producing well in the history of the world. It’s providing clean, natural gas to America, about 1.5 percent of all of our gas supply. Everyday it’s being provided from a football field and a half sized environmental footprint, a two-hour flight away from the shoreline. So it’s not in any visual contact with any human being. These platforms have gone through 200-year hurricanes, back in 2005, without any environmental consequences. It’s a bit of a fiction hoisted on us by people who don’t know better."
Breakthrough VeinViewer Imaging System
This is pretty impressive...
I found this at GizMag.com under Health and Wellbeing:
"VeinViewer is a vein-contrast enhancement device that uses an infra-red camera to highlight blood (the underlying vasculature) and projects the image in real time onto the skin. With this device, physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals can find veins easily and avoid multiple needle sticks to patients."
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
"Boarding the Impeachment Train
I'll tell you up front that this article contains a "setup"; however, the writer does it very well [smile]...
Michael P. Tremoglie writes in the Philadelphia Bulletin:
"Maybe the president should be impeached. Undoubtedly, if the president lied to the American public about Iraq's WMD threat, simply to start a war with Iraq for oil, as many Democrats claim, it is worthy of impeachment.
So, to find evidence of such lies, I did some research, found, and have listed here, various statements made by the president - and others allied with him - that Iraq possessed WMDs. These quotes constitute evidence for impeachment, and as such, are listed as 'exhibits.' They are damning proof that the White House lied to the American people. Here is what the president, members of his administration, and members of his political party said that made the American people think that Iraq had WMDs and to justify going to war with Iraq:"
Brown Ran Race With Dislodged Shoe
Photography seems to have solved this mystery...
Steve Haskin reports on it at news.BloodHorse.com:
"The latest photos from the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) reveal Big Brown was stepped on by Guadalcanal leaving the gate, and that the shoe did not re-set itself during the race as previously thought; the colt ran the entire way with the shoe dislodged and the nail protruding from it.
Even trainer Rick Dutrow, who had a hard time accepting the possibility that the incident hampered the colt, now believes after seeing the photos that it could have been an issue."
Notable & Quotable - WSJ.com
This explanation is both understandable AND reasonable.
People seem to have forgotten that these terrorists ARE trying to KILL us...
People seem to have forgotten that these terrorists ARE trying to KILL us...
The reports Wall Street Journal on CIA Director Michael Hayden's message to his employees:
"The Agency's decision to employ waterboarding in the wake of 9/11 was not only lawful, it reflected the circumstances of the time. In reply to a question at the Senate hearing, I said: 'Very critical to those circumstances was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were imminent. In addition to that, my Agency and our Community writ large had limited knowledge about al-Qa'ida and its workings...'"
Meanwhile - in the United Kingdom
This article may make you think that the world has gone crazy; or at least, the United Kingdom...
Tom Kelly reports in the U.K. Daily Mail Online:
"Fanatical cleric Abu Qatada is to receive almost £8,000 a year in benefits because he has a bad back.
The suspected Al Qaeda leader, described as Osama bin Laden's ambassador in Europe, will get £150 a week of taxpayer's cash after being released from jail last week.
Astonishingly, he was granted the incapacity benefit because his back condition makes him unfit to work, even though he is only allowed out of his home for two hours a day, meaning it would be almost impossible for him to get a job.
Qatada left Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire after the Appeal Court blocked his deportation to Jordan, where he is wanted on terror charges.
He is now living in an £800,000 four bedroom Edwardian semi in a tree lined suburban street in West London."
The Trillion-Dollar Bank Shakedown
This was apparently written in 2000.
If anybody has the right to day "I told you so", this is THE guy.
P.S. - It's not entirely "politically correct"...
If anybody has the right to day "I told you so", this is THE guy.
P.S. - It's not entirely "politically correct"...
In the Winter 2000 issue of Atlanta's City Journal, Howard Husock criticized the Clinton Administration and predicts some outcomes:
"The Clinton administration has turned the Community Reinvestment Act, a once-obscure and lightly enforced banking regulation law, into one of the most powerful mandates shaping American cities—and, as Senate Banking Committee chairman Phil Gramm memorably put it, 'a vast extortion scheme against the nation's banks.'
Looking into the future gives further cause for concern: 'The bulk of these loans,' notes a Federal Reserve economist, 'have been made during a period in which we have not experienced an economic downturn.' The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America's own success stories make you wonder how much CRA-related carnage will result when the economy cools. The group likes to promote, for instance, the story of Renea Swain-Price, grateful for NACA's negotiating on her behalf with Fleet Bank to prevent foreclosure when she fell behind on a $1,400 monthly mortgage payment on her three-family house in Dorchester. Yet NACA had no qualms about arranging the $137,500 mortgage in the first place, notwithstanding the fact that Swain-Price's husband was in prison, that she'd had previous credit problems, and that the monthly mortgage payment constituted more than half her monthly salary. The fact that NACA has arranged an agreement to forestall foreclosure does not inspire confidence that she will have the resources required to maintain her aging frame house: her new monthly payment, in recognition of previously missed payments, is $1,879."
Where the Stars are
To be fair, I guess it's possible that they and/or their booking agents don't know about these "charities"; but, ...
Debbie Schlussel has this and more on her website:
"The Hoping foundation is a virulently anti-Israel charity, which funds programs throughout Gaza and Palestinian refugee camps, including Ein Al-Hilweh, Burj Al-Barajneh, and Nahr Al-Bared, which are hotbeds of Al-Qaeda and HAMAS activity. The Chair of its Board of Trustees is Karma Nabulsi, PLO representative from 1977-90 to the UN, Beirut, Tunis, and the UK, who wrote a column defending PFLP terrorist chief George Habash's hijackings as 'an inspiration to secular democracy.'
The Hoping Foundation camouflages the programs as 'art' and 'creative writing,' claiming they spread peace. But, in fact, the programs are administered by members of HAMAS. The Hoping Foundation joins UNRWA (the UN Refugee agency for Palestinians) in using HAMAS officials and supporters to help spread the hate. The Hoping Foundation website's description of who the Palestinians are is filled with anti-Israel disinformation and propaganda. The Foundation's site does not disclose the identities of its trustees, but they include Hugh Grant's girlfriend, Ms. Khan."
Border Security - and the National Guard
It's seems funny that we heard so much about this "bad" idea when it was implemented; and now, we have this (and NO publicity!)...
I found this at NewsMax.com:
"The thousands of National Guardsmen sent to reinforce the U.S.-Mexican border two years ago have almost completely withdrawn, despite pleas from border-state governors once skeptical of using soldiers to catch illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.
When the Guard was posted along the southern frontier in 2006 to help the strapped Border Patrol, critics warned that sending soldiers would be an insult to Mexico and that innocents could get shot by troops trained for combat, not law enforcement.
But none of that happened, and now those worries have given way to fears that a bloody drug-cartel war on the Mexican side will spill into the U.S. and overwhelm the Border Patrol.
The four border-state governors who contributed the bulk of the troops have tried in vain to persuade Congress and the White House to extend the Guard's presence, which will end as scheduled on July 15."
RSOE EDIS
If you'd like to keep a eye on Emergencies and Disasters, here's the web site for you. There's far more than just the opening map...
Emergency and Disaster Information Service:
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Barack Obama - False Advertising?
Yep! That's apparently what it is...
At FamilySecurityMatters.org, Cliff Kincaid asks:
"What happens when the 'fact-checkers' don't check facts and the "watchdogs" don't watch? Consider the case of those who claim to be watching politicians for lies and deceptions and pretend to analyze Senator Barack Obama's new patriotic 'Country I Love' television ad, airing in 18 states.
The Annenberg Political Fact Check, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, and Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz have written analyses of the Obama ad. But they are as flawed as the ad itself."
Bill Clinton - Oh Well!
Just a little gossip...
The Edmonton Sun had this on Monday:
"An Edmonton Sun picture of former U.S. president Bill Clinton, holding hands in Edmonton with an unidentified woman, is getting international attention.
Entertainment website TMZ.com picked the picture up with headline 'Bill Clinton: Hands-On Experience.'"
Oil - BP’s Thunder Horse goes online - June 22, 2008 - Petroleum News
Every little bit helps...
At PetroleumNews.com, Ray Tyson reports:
"The BP-operated Thunder Horse field, the largest-ever oil discovery in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, is finally onstream and headed toward higher production following repeated startup delays dating back to 2005. First oil was achieved June 14 from a single well, BP confirmed.
“We have a lot yet to do as we prepare other wells for production and continue to drill and complete other wells,” BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell told Petroleum News June 17.
The Thunder Horse platform, on a multitract development in the vicinity of Mississippi Canyon Block 822 in water depths of up to 6,050 feet, is capable of producing 250,000 barrels of oil per day and 200 million cubic feet of gas per day."
The Firm - WSJ.com
This is just a bad scene, from the dishonest lawyers to our politicians who protect them...
This is from a Wall Street Journal editorial about tort-lawyer corruption:
"The defense by the rest of the tort bar is that these are exceptions who shouldn't tar an entire industry. And of course not all tort lawyers are crooks. But it's worth noting that no less an authority than Bill Lerach continues to assert, even from his jail cell, that what Milberg and his partners did was merely standard 'industry practice.'
He has a point. One problem is the practice of mass-tort claims, which give an incentive for settlements divorced from actual justice. They are a form of extortion. For further evidence, we recommend Peter Boyer's recent New Yorker profile of Dickie Scruggs, the Mississippi tort king who has also copped to a felony. As one of Scruggs's admirers told Mr. Boyer, 'The risk to a defendant of having liability imposed on several hundred cases was a risk that was more than that defendant wanted to reasonably bear. It created an atmosphere to settle the cases.'
In a better world, our politicians would attempt to prevent such legal abuse. But Democrats in Congress have yet to hold a single hearing on tort-lawyer corruption. They are instead working hard to create more opportunities for mass-tort extortion by adding more causes of action to every bill they pass.
Milberg, Lerach and Scruggs are industry leaders. Add the evidence of legal fraud in asbestos and silicosis cases, and the Justice Department has every reason to continue cleaning up a tort bar that Congress refuses to police."
Congress and the Countrywide Scandal - WSJ.com
Politicians get "sweetheart" loans for themselves and then legislate bailouts for the "sweetheart" companies.
Isn't that admirable?...
Isn't that admirable?...
Former congressman Dick Armey writes in the Wall Street Journal:
"Countrywide Financial Corp.'s "friends of Angelo" program provided sweetheart loans to key banking players in Washington, D.C. They included former Fannie Mae chief executive Jim Johnson, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.).
The growing scandal surrounding the "friends of Angelo" loans (so-called by company employees, referring to Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo) should serve as a political wake-up call. Yet the Senate appears intent on pushing forward legislation, co-authored by Sen. Dodd, that would bail out the worst actors in the subprime mortgage banking industry."
Talk Like an Egyptian - WSJ.com
Even though it's in Egypt, this looks like an obvious version of "say anything to get elected" to me...
This one is described on the Wall Street Journal editorial page:
"Like the Saudi royals, the House of Mubarak tries to keep both its Islamists and the West happy. It's not easy to have it both ways. Just ask Farouk Hosni.
Egypt's culture minister finds himself in a revealingly knotty predicament. "
"Blacks slaves again … to the Democratic Party"
I keep seeing articles like this.
They seem to be supported by strong facts...
They seem to be supported by strong facts...
Earlier this year, Ellis Washington wrote at WorldNetDaily.com:
"Rev. Preacher, this is sadness. Stop the madness. Stop selling our people out year after year to curry favor with the Clintons and the Democrat machine. They have enslaved us long enough. Even Old Testament Israel, when they had backslidden, was usually under the tyranny of another nation for 40 years until 'God raised up Judges to deliver them.'"
Interesting customs - proposing marriage
Orango Island, Guinea-Bissau
You know this place, don't you?...
You know this place, don't you?...
I found this Associated Press story at cbsnews.com earlier this year:
"He was 14 when the girl entered his grass-covered hut and placed a plate in front of him containing an ancient recipe.
Like all men on this African isle, Carvadju Jose Nananghe knew exactly what it meant. Refusing was not an option. His heart pounding, he lifted the steaming fish to his lips, agreeing in one bite to marry the girl.
'I had no feelings for her,' said Nananghe, now 65. 'Then when I ate this meal, it was like lightning. I wanted only her.'
In this archipelago of 50 islands of pale blue water off the western rim of Africa, it's women, not men, who choose. They make their proposals public by offering their grooms-to-be a dish of distinctively prepared fish, marinated in red palm oil.
It's the equivalent of a man bending on one knee and offering a woman a diamond ring, except that in one of the world's matriarchal cultures, it's women who do the asking, and once they have, men are powerless to say no."
Monday, June 23, 2008
Oil - and the speculators
This article seems to exonerate the speculators...
Alan Reynolds writes in the New York Post:
"There is no mystery behind the rise in oil prices. They rose too high too fast because of booming demand for oil for petrochemical products, electric power and shipping from many emerging economies (particularly China, India and the Middle East). Meanwhile, the supply of oil slipped in the US, Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria and Russia.
But now JPMorgan analysts estimate that oil will drop to $85 a barrel from 2009 to 2011. Even Goldman Sachs analyst Arjun Murti, who recently guessed oil might reach $200, later told Barron's that oil will likely drop to $75 or less in the long run.
The urge to blame speculators is as big a waste of time as blaming oil companies. Americans want more oil and gas - not more hot air from politicians."
Politicians - Sen. Christopher Dodd
Smokescreen or distraction. It's all the same.
Hiding the facts...
Hiding the facts...
The Prowler has this posted at Spectator.org:
"Dodd, according to a Democratic leadership aide, went to Senate majority leader Harry Reid and asked to be placed front and center in opposition to the bill, in part, so that he could build vocal support for himself on the far left in the face of what should be a mounting scandal related to his pursuing and receiving a sweetheart mortgage deal.
'If all [Dodd] is doing is sitting back and taking it on the chin for the mortgage, he becomes an albatross politically. But now he gets the ACLU crowd all excited and supporting him, and Obama and others can associate with him because he appears to have strong public support,' says the Democrat aide."
Politicians - Sen. Christopher Dodd
These bozos make laws for everyone; but, somehow, they find ways to except themselves.
I'll remind you of that glaring example: politicians are EXCLUDED from "Do Not Call" lists...
I'll remind you of that glaring example: politicians are EXCLUDED from "Do Not Call" lists...
In Connecticut's Journal Inquirer, Don Michak reports:
"Sen. Christopher J. Dodd didn’t have to disclose the two controversial mortgages he obtained in 2003 through a “VIP” program at Countrywide Financial Corp. because of a loophole in the Senate’s ethics rules, a Washington-based campaign finance watchdog group charged Wednesday.
The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics also reported that the five-term Democrat collected more than a tenth of the subprime lender’s campaign contributions this year — $15,000 — and that he had collected a total of $25,000 from Countrywide’s political action committee during his career.
It said that was more than any other senator got from Countrywide and suggested that the campaign contributions were 'investments.'"
Politicians - Sen. Christopher Dodd
I think Sen. Dodd should have decided long ago that the cost of the appearance of impropriety far exceeds any mortgage savings he might have realized...
At courant.com, Kevin Rennie describes his behavior(s):
"This is murkier than it ought to be more than a week after Dodd's deals became news. Thirty-four years in the House and Senate dull the instinct for candor. We've been through this before with Dodd. In 1997, the fundraising practices of the Democratic National Committee during Dodd's tenure as its chairman came under close scrutiny. Dodd maintained that he had nothing to do with the money. Dodd denied he'd attended a White House coffee that featured Democratic fundraisers and big donors. But a Connecticut resident, who gave $50,000 to the DNC the day he attended a White House coffee, revealed that Dodd was there, too. Then, Dodd needed to find a way to admit the truth without acknowledging his insistent lies. Dodd declared, 'I would not argue I was there, and I would not argue I was not there. I wouldn't deny I was there now.'"
A MoveOn.org Political Ad
Maybe you've seen it; or maybe you will...
In the New York Times, William Kristol discusses it, and offers some counterpoints:
"The people at MoveOn.org have a new Iraq ad that is, if they do say so themselves, their most effective ever. Then again, for the group that brought us the 'General Petraeus or General Betray Us?' ad last September, that might not be saying much.
Nevertheless, the organization boasts on its Web site, 'This isn’t your average political ad — it lays out the truth about McCain’s Iraq policy in a personal and compelling way.' MoveOn also claims, 'We just got the results back and polling shows that voters found it to be more persuasive than any other ad we’ve tested before.'
I’m not persuaded. Having slandered a distinguished general officer, MoveOn has now moved on to express contempt for all who might choose to serve their country in uniform."
Obama Turns FDR Upside Down - WSJ.com
O.K. I just have to say it.
It seems that everything Barack Obama says sounds reasonable and logical at first take; however, "upon further review", a lot of it either makes no sense, doesn't work mathematically, or gets changed or modifed shortly thereafter.
I think he missed his real calling. He should be in advertising...
It seems that everything Barack Obama says sounds reasonable and logical at first take; however, "upon further review", a lot of it either makes no sense, doesn't work mathematically, or gets changed or modifed shortly thereafter.
I think he missed his real calling. He should be in advertising...
Lawrence B. Lindsey writes in the Wall Street Journal:
"Sen. Barack Obama has a bad idea for 'extending the life of Social Security.' He has proposed applying the Social Security tax to incomes above $250,000, in addition to the current tax on incomes up to $102,000. It's unfair, he explained, for middle-class earners to pay Social Security tax on 'every dime they make' while the very rich pay on 'only a very small percentage of their income.'
Reporters cited the Obama statement without asking for the logic behind having someone making $100,000 pay on every dime and someone making $250,000 pay on just 41% of income, while someone making $10,000,000 would pay on 98.5% of income. There is no economic principle or theory of tax law that would endorse such a result."
Immigration - Illegals deport themselves
This seems to be first hand visible proof that this issue is fixable/solvable by enforcing existing laws...
Bobby Eberle recently posted this at GOPUSA.com:
"As Rachel Alexander noted in a recent posting in The Loft, 'Since Arizona's local law enforcement began enforcing illegal immigration laws and an employer sanctions law went into effect, illegal immigrants have been fleeing the state in large numbers.'
Fewer illegal immigrants are using hospital emergency rooms, so waiting times have decreased. Although the rest of the country is in an economic slump, unemployment is going down in Arizona, from 4.5% in January to 4.1% in March. Day laborers loitering outside of Home Depot and other stores have mostly disappeared, ending months of confrontation between illegal immigrant sympathizers and protesters. Desert lands near the border are returning to their pristine condition and the wildlife is coming back. Identity theft and car thefts are decreasing."
Science - Covert iris scanner
The operative word is: covert...
This is from an article by Barry Fox at New Scientist Tech:
"Sarnoff Labs in New Jersey, US, has been working on a clever homeland security system for the US government. It scans people's irises as they walk towards a checkpoint, without them even knowing it."
Sunday, June 22, 2008
A Partnership With Iraq
It sounds like things are looking up.
I guess that's why it's not making much news...
I guess that's why it's not making much news...
This was in the Washington Post:
"THOUGH IT was hardly noticed in Washington, Iraq's Shiite-led government sent a powerful message to Iran and to the Middle East last week. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose coalition is often portrayed as an Iranian client, traveled to Tehran for a meeting with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The ayatollah bluntly declared that Iraq's 'most important problem' was the continuing presence of U.S. troops. He pressured Mr. Maliki to stop negotiating a package of agreements with the Bush administration that would delineate a 'strategic framework' between Iraq and the United States and provide for the deployment of U.S. forces beyond the expiration of a U.N. mandate at the end of this year.
Mr. Maliki refused. He assured his Iranian hosts that Iraq would not be a launching pad for an American attack on Iran. But he pointedly told a press briefing that negotiations on the strategic partnership would continue. He repeated that commitment on Friday, even after warning that the talks had 'reached a dead end.' In effect, the Iraqi prime minister was saying that his country does not want to become an Iranian satellite but an independent Arab state that would look to the United States to ensure its security."
Canada - and free speech
I always consider Canada to be very much like the United States.
That's why this "free speech" issue that they are currently involved in, interests me so much.
It's doesn't sound good...
That's why this "free speech" issue that they are currently involved in, interests me so much.
It's doesn't sound good...
At RealClearPolitics.com, David Warren writes about it:
"Fr de Valk has written a lead editorial in the June number of Catholic Insight that should be read not only from the pulpit to every practising Catholic in Canada, but by every concerned Canadian regardless of his religious or political affiliations. It is entitled, 'Fascism has come to Canada,' and mentions several other major cases in which Christians have been hauled before the country's 'human rights' tribunals, and ordered to abandon their beliefs, pay out to complainants, stage public recantations, submit to indoctrination, etc. -- with little to no media coverage. Alas, there are more cases (they are multiplying quickly), and the 'human rights' commissars are not the only source of state persecution."
Science - auxetics
Science can be really neat....
In the U.K.'s Manchester Evening News, Yakub Qureshi reported this some time ago:
"A WONDER material which seems to defy the laws of physics has been developed at Bolton University.
The fabric - which gets thicker the more it is stretched - could be used to create an aeroplane wing that could change shape in mid-flight.
It could also be used for bullet-proof vests which expand to absorb the blow of a bullet, or a range of super-responsive mattresses capable of stopping bedsores in hospital patients."
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Politicians - Barack Obama
Another case of "say anything to get elected".
Don't hold your breath waiting for the mainstream media to call him out on this...
Don't hold your breath waiting for the mainstream media to call him out on this...
On the PowerLine Blog, John Hinderaker posted this:
"In the ad, Obama also claims that 'I…extended health care for wounded troops who had been neglected.' Wow, that's quite an accomplishment for a single Senator. The ad cites Public Law 110-181, the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. Funny thing, though: Obama didn't show up to vote on that bill in the Senate. So it's hard to see how Obama can take credit for having personally 'extended health care for wounded troops.'
But that's Obamaworld--the facts are optional."
The Torture Gambit - WSJ.com
The Torture Gambit - WSJ.com
The point made here seems valid...
The point made here seems valid...
The Wall Street Journal editorializes about the Democrats and interrogation techniques:
"Instead, in an election year and with political hindsight, anti-antiterror Democrats want to criminalize these policies. Their goal is to so tar anyone associated with those policies that no American official would dare to do anything similar ever again. In addition to smearing these loyal public servants, Democrats want to change U.S. interrogation policy without having to take responsibility for passing a law to do it.
When the threat seemed imminent after 9/11, Democrats were only too happy to keep quiet and let the Bush Administration and CIA do whatever it took to prevent another attack. But in the seemingly safer present, they want to subject every one of those decisions to the political retribution of MoveOn.org. If this is how Democrats intend to govern if they run the entire government next year, we are in for a very rough ride."
Peek-A-Boo!
The world of sci-fi gadgets appears to be much closer that we think...
Luke Baker reports at Reuters.com:
"LONDON (Reuters) - A British company has developed a camera that can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people's clothes from up to 25 meters away in what could be a breakthrough for the security industry."
Lots of spys - but on whose side?
Well, we've all read our share of spy novels.
That being said, this idea is certainly plausible...
That being said, this idea is certainly plausible...
I saw this in a Washington Post article by Joseph Weisberg late last year:
"Intelligence from almost all CIA assets is unreliable for the simple reason that so many of them are double agents, meaning that the CIA recruited them but that they are being controlled by their own countries' intelligence services. When I worked at CIA headquarters in the early 1990s, I once suggested to a friend who worked in counterintelligence that up to a third of all CIA agents could be doubles. He said the number was probably much higher."
Friday, June 20, 2008
The 'Idle' Oil Field Fallacy - WSJ.com
This article is about oil leases on federal lands.
It does a good job explaining how they work...
It does a good job explaining how they work...
The article is by Red Cavaney in the Wall Street Journal:
"These lawmakers ask why oil and gas companies want more access to federal lands to drill if they aren't using all of the 68 million acres they already have? Anyone with even the most basic understanding of how oil and natural gas are produced – and this should include many members of Congress – knows that claims of "idle" leases are a diversionary feint."
Future Power Supplies
It looks like the Brits are going the way of the French.
Dependency for oil from the Middle East vs. the potential hazards of a nuclear plant mishap, seems to be a Catch-22; however, history does seem to indicate that we are resourceful enough to survive in either case...
Dependency for oil from the Middle East vs. the potential hazards of a nuclear plant mishap, seems to be a Catch-22; however, history does seem to indicate that we are resourceful enough to survive in either case...
George Pascoe-Watson reported this in The Sun earlier this year:
"BRITAIN is to build a new generation of nuclear power stations with NO LIMITS to the amount of energy they supply.
At least 40 per cent of our energy will come from state-of-the-art plants.
That is twice current output – and ministers will confirm that new suppliers could ultimately provide ALL our energy needs.
The revelation will infuriate environmental campaigners.
Britain now gets just 20 per cent of its power from nuclear plants. France gets 80 per cent – and the UK is set to follow suit.
PM Gordon Brown has overruled objections, with the decision set to be announced on Thursday.
A Whitehall official said last night: 'Nuclear power is the only realistic option for our future. We must not rely on other nations.'
Trade secretary John Hutton will tell MPs on Thursday that the UK must be self-sufficient.
Britain’s security will be in peril if we continue to rely on Russian despot Vladimir Putin or Middle Eastern states for our gas and oil."
Batteries are getting better
This sounds promising.
It seems to me that, given enough time, human ingenuity almost always rises to the occasion, and overcomes the "impossible"...
It seems to me that, given enough time, human ingenuity almost always rises to the occasion, and overcomes the "impossible"...
I found this at GizMag.com late last year:
"December 13, 2007 Toshiba have stunned the world with their announcement of what's pretty much the holy grail in Lithium battery technology – the Super Charge ion Battery, which recharges up to 90% of its energy in just five minutes, and has a lifespan of over 10 years."
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Bakken Oil Field - "a Myth'"
This appears to put the Bakken Formation oil reserves to sleep...
At CNSnews.com, Keriann Hopkins reports:
"Reports circulating on the Internet tell of an oil field spanning parts of western North Dakota and eastern Montana where 400 billion barrels of oil supposedly are just waiting to be tapped. However, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) tells Cybercast News Service that those huge estimates are 'a myth.'
A USGS report issued in April estimates that there are between 3 billion to 4.3 billion barrels of oil in what is referred to as 'the Bakken Formation' -- well below the 400 billion barrels discussed on the Web, but up from the previous estimate of 151 million barrels made in 1995."
New Evidence on Government and Growth - WSJ.com
This is another one of those history lessons that no one wants to pay attention to...
In the Wall Street Journal, Keith Marsden discusses his study and his findings:
"My study, 'Big, Not Better?' (Centre for Policy Studies, 2008), looks at the performance of 20 countries over the past two decades. The first 10 have slimmer governments with revenue and expenditure levels below 40% of GDP. This group includes Australia, Canada, Estonia, Hong Kong, Ireland, South Korea, Latvia, Singapore, the Slovak Republic and the U.S.
I compared their records to the 10 higher-taxed, bigger-government economies: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Both groups cover a representative range of large, medium and small economies measured by their gross national incomes. The average incomes per capita of the two groups are similar ($27,046 and $30,426 respectively in 2005)."
Incarceration prevents crimes - Duh!
But, some have additional thoughts about that...
Earlier this year, at Investors Business Daily, Thomas Sowell wrote this and more:
"For more than two centuries, the political left has been preoccupied with the fate of criminals, often while ignoring or downplaying the fate of the victims of those criminals.
So it is hardly surprising that a recent New York Times editorial has returned to a familiar theme among those on the left, on both sides of the Atlantic, with its lament that 'incarceration rates have continued to rise while crime rates have fallen.'
Back in 1997, New York Times writer Fox Butterfield expressed the same lament under the headline 'Crime Keeps on Falling, but Prisons Keep on Filling.' Then, as now, liberals seemed to find it puzzling that crime rates go down when more criminals are put behind bars."
Technology - Light Source Lasts 12 Years
Science marches on.
I'm not quite sure about the radioactive part.
I guess we'll have to wait and see...
I'm not quite sure about the radioactive part.
I guess we'll have to wait and see...
Lisa Zyga reported this at physorg.com late last year:
"A company called MPK is designing a light source that will glow continuously for more than 12 years without any additional energy.
The material, dubbed 'Litrosphere,' can cover a standard sheet of paper for a cost of about 35 cents, and comes in a variety of colors. It's also flexible, and can take the form of either paint or injection-molded plastic. The material is not affected by the heat or cold, can withstand 5,000 pounds, and stays on constantly.
According to the company's patent, the material is based on betavoltaics and uses the radioactive gas tritium as the power source. The beta particles from the tritium radiation can be safely contained by phosphor-coated microspheres. Tritium has a half-life of about 12 years."
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
American Thinker: Thank you, Big Oil
We really should think about this...
Todd Keister writes at The American Thinker:
"Well before you get all excited about tearing down the energy industry, stop and think for a moment about what makes your comfortable life possible. Your heat and most of your electricity are provided through the burning of oil and natural gas. The thousands of plastic items in your home, car and office are all made from crude oil. Much of your clothing is woven of fibers made from petroleum.
Without the hard work and ingenuity of the men and women who work for the energy companies, we would be living in the 17th century - no electricity, running water, cars, trucks, airplanes, ships, factories, waterproof clothing, soda bottles, safety glass, sterile food and medical containers, air conditioners, televisions, microwave ovens, X-Boxes, I-Pods, or any of the millions of other products made using power generated from the burning of fossil fuels.
You would have to grow your own food, or ride your donkey to a nearby market, where there would be no refrigerators or electric lights. You'd have to kill and clean your own meat and cook it over an open fire. You'd have to chop down the trees for your home, and provide your own light by making candles from the fat of animals. Every single thing in your modern life is utterly and completely dependent upon a steady supply of oil. Without it, the entire Western world would collapse completely in a matter of weeks; tens of millions would perish from starvation, exposure, and disease."
Peak Oil News - How large is Prudhoe Bay?
Considering the circumstances we are dealing with today, you really have to wonder about this...
It's posted at PeakOil.com:
"In 1975, an anonymous ARCO official told Hugh M. Chance, a former State Senator from Colorado, that the Government had allowed only one pool of oil in a 100 square mile area on Alaska's North Slope to be developed, even though the entire area north of Brooks Range has so much oil, that if it were drilled, "in five years the United States could be totally energy free, and totally independent from the rest of the world as far as energy is concerned." The Prudhoe Bay oil field is one of the richest oil fields on earth, able to produce an oil flow for at least 20 years, without the need of a pump; and a natural gas supply which could supply the entire country for 200 years. However, the Government wouldn't allow it to be pumped out, and it is funneled back into the ground. The Gull Island field had a different chemical structure, as did the Kuparuk oil field, west of there, which meant that the three different chemical compositions indicated the existence of separate pools of oil on the North Slope in an area of 50,000 square miles. Needless to say, this seems to be an almost unlimited supply of domestic oil."
Gull Island Oil
This was written in 2006.
The article discusses Lindsey Williams and I've posted his video in an adjacent post...
The article discusses Lindsey Williams and I've posted his video in an adjacent post...
It was written by Mark Anderson at AmericanFreePress.net:
"'Crude oil is the real ‘currency’ of the world,' said Lindsey Williams at a gathering of the Midwest Concerned Citizens group in Kansas City on July 22. But Americans will never hear about huge oil and gas reserves in the United States, which, if ever tapped, would bring today’s fuel prices at least as low as $1.50 per gallon and make America more energy independent.
As a Baptist missionary in the 1970s, Williams said he rubbed elbows with members of the world’s power elite—who boasted of detailed 30-year and 50-year plans to control the flow of oil and information.
A huge quantity of crude oil and natural gas exists under Gull Island, located in the waters of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, says Williams."
Gull Island - and "The Energy Non-Crisis"
After you watch this, you may actually find yourself believing in conspiracies...
Here is the Lindsey Williams video I mentioned in another post:
P.S.- It's long.
Meanwhile - in Norway
They have no energy crises; so, one might conclude that they are smarter than Americans.
Or maybe, their politicians just have their priorities right...
Or maybe, their politicians just have their priorities right...
At FamilySecurityMatters.org, Newt Gingrich reports from Norway:
"The United States was a leader in the creation of the offshore drilling industry in the 1950s and early 1960s, but today it's countries like Norway that are leaders in the field.
Norway's annual output of 1.6 billion barrels of oil comes exclusively from offshore drilling. Oil and natural gas are transported through a network of sub seafloor pipelines. Norway is the home to the world's largest natural gas drilling platform.
And the truly remarkable fact is that Norway has built this robust offshore oil and gas drilling industry alongside large and thriving fishing and tourism industries."
A Fine Place to Drill - New York Post
Read this article and then try your hardest to figure out why we don't drill in ANWR...
In the N.Y. Post, Jonah Goldberg writes:
"Indeed, if Americans could visit the north coast of Alaska, as I have, as easily as they can visit the Grand Canyon, the oil would be flowing by now.
ANWR is roughly the size of South Carolina, and it is spectacular. However, the area where, according to Department of Interior estimates, some 5.7 billion to 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil reside is much smaller and not necessarily as awe-inspiring. It would amount to the size of Dulles airport."
Oil Drilling - No time like the present
The comments to this article are quite interesting.
The one about putting bumper stickers on every gas pump struck me as a reasonable idea, except for security cameras and defacing laws...
The one about putting bumper stickers on every gas pump struck me as a reasonable idea, except for security cameras and defacing laws...
Patrick J. Casey writes at the American Thinker:
"Blame for the rise of gasoline prices (and everything else dependent on petroleum) is a political commodity right now, with each side seeking to hold the other culpable. The Democrats are avoiding their traditional environmental arguments for good reason.
If the voters see environmentalists, tree-huggers, and their Democratic political minions as causing $4 or $5 dollar a gallon gasoline, along with the rise in consumer prices across the board because of the increase of the cost of oil used as an ingredient in many products, they will blame the Democrats.
And frustration with environmentalism is starting to show up in the polls, which are indicating an increasing call for domestic drilling from the American public."
$4 Gasbags - WSJ.com
This fits very well into my "Government at Work" category; however, I don't want to deny the WSJ's it's article title...
This is from a recent Wall Street Journal opinion column:
"Anyone wondering why U.S. energy policy is so dysfunctional need only review Congress's recent antics. Members have debated ideas ranging from suing OPEC to the Senate's carbon tax-and-regulation monstrosity, to a windfall profits tax on oil companies, to new punishments for 'price gouging' – everything except expanding domestic energy supplies.
Amid $135 oil, it ought to be an easy, bipartisan victory to lift the political restrictions on energy exploration and production. Record-high fuel costs are hitting consumers and business like a huge tax increase. Yet the U.S. remains one of the only countries in the world that chooses as a matter of policy to lock up its natural resources. The Chinese think we're insane and self-destructive, while the Saudis laugh all the way to the bank.
[$4 Gasbags]
There are two separate moratoria on offshore drilling: One is a ban that Congress has attached to every budget since 1982, and the other is a 1990 executive order that President Bush has waived in only a few cases."
The Energy Crises - Some seem to want it to last
I don't always agree with this Senator, but I think she has it right on this issue.
Secondly, how about we fix the problem first, and then argue about whether it was right or wrong later?...
Secondly, how about we fix the problem first, and then argue about whether it was right or wrong later?...
At TownHall.com, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison writes:
"President Reagan liked to say, 'There are no easy answers, but there are simple ones.' This principle applies to America's energy woes. Since the Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007, the price of a gallon of gas has soared from $2.33 per gallon to over $4. Furthermore, over the next two decades, global demand for oil is expected to rise by 50%, meaning that further price escalation is almost inevitable. When confronted by these facts, the energy solution - as President Reagan would say - is simple. We need more energy! We should be increasing our production of oil, natural gas, clean coal, and nuclear power – and those resources should come from America, instead of foreign dictatorships. Unfortunately, enacting this agenda won't be easy. The Democratic Leadership in Congress is determined to 'punish' energy companies with new taxes, even if the greatest victim of those taxes is the American consumer."
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Global Warming - and it's Marxist roots
The tactics described in this article seem to be working.
I don't think that's such a good thing...
I don't think that's such a good thing...
At RenewAmerica.us, Wes Vernon discusses the insidious tactics of communism:
"The late Natalie Grant Wraga once wrote, 'Protection of the environment has become the principal tool for attack against the West and all it stands for. Protection of the environment may be used as a pretext to adopt a series of measures designed to undermine the industrial base of developed nations. It may also serve to introduce malaise by lowering their standard of living and implanting communist values.'
And who was this person?
Natalie Grant Wraga (who died in 2002 at age 101) was an internationally-recognized expert on the art of disinformation. In her Washington Post obituary, Herbert Romerstein — veteran intelligence expert in the legislative and executive branches of government — described Grant/Wraga as 'one of our leading authorities' on Soviet deceit."
Global Warming - "Follow the money"
They say that "money is the root of all evil", so I guess this shouldn't surprise us.
On the other hand, I'd like to think that scientists were above all that.
I figure that each individual is protecting their own interest; however, there are so many "individuals" that their cumulative behavior has created a distorted "consensus"...
On the other hand, I'd like to think that scientists were above all that.
I figure that each individual is protecting their own interest; however, there are so many "individuals" that their cumulative behavior has created a distorted "consensus"...
Jeff Poor writes at BusinessAndMedia.org:
"Spann explained it wasn’t his belief that carbon dioxide was a pollutant, but he told Perkins to understand the motivation of those who say it is – they should follow the grant money.
'Of course, the root of this whole thing is money,' Spann said. 'And, there is a vast amount of wealth being generated by this whole issue. And I always recommend to folks – if anyone speaks on the subject, get a disclosure and find out their financial interests in it.'"
Politicians - Al Gore
What is it with this guy?
He must know that everything he does is being watched.
I'm of the opinion that he is arrogant, and thinks the majority of us are too stupid for him to to care about...
He must know that everything he does is being watched.
I'm of the opinion that he is arrogant, and thinks the majority of us are too stupid for him to to care about...
Adam King has been closely watching Al Gore's energy use:
"NASHVILLE - In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research."
The Senate Intelligence Committee?
This is pretty ugly.
Can the Senate Intelligence Committee be for real?
Is it an oxymoron?...
Can the Senate Intelligence Committee be for real?
Is it an oxymoron?...
At FloppingAces.net, Scott has this, AND many of the missing statements:
"The Senate Intelligence Committee finally released it’s long-awaited/overdue report on their investigation into pre-war intelligence on Saddam’s Iraq. This final report was supposed to look at statements made by government officials in the run up to war from 1991-2003. It was supposed to examine the pre-war marketing or threat assessment and descriptions to the public about the intelligence regarding the threat posed by Saddam’s regime. Instead, the report looked at just 5 Bush Administration speeches. It completely left out any and all comments from Pres Bush Sr, Pres Clinton, anyone in his administration, and every member of the House and Senate over a twelve year period. The Committee determined that nothing any of those people ever said was as important and moving to the American people as 5 speechifications from President Bush and his administration. "
The AIDS scare - Apparently NOT!
Another reminder that "pandemic" and "catastrophic" are government and media sales words.
Someday, there may be a "boy that cried wolf" situation; but, considering historical perspectives, that's probably unlikely...
Someday, there may be a "boy that cried wolf" situation; but, considering historical perspectives, that's probably unlikely...
In the U.K.'s Guardian, Brendan O'Neill discusses the AIDS issue:
"Finally we have a high-level admission that there is no threat of a global Aids pandemic among heterosexuals. After 25 years of official scaremongering about western societies being ravaged by the disease – with salacious, tombstone-illustrated government propaganda warning people to wear a condom or "die of ignorance" – the head of the World Health Organisation's HIV/Aids department says there is no need for heterosexuals to fret."
"Apocalyptic Global Warming"?
I think this writer has it exactly right.
And I think H. L. Mencken had it exactly right.
And what do you think?...
And I think H. L. Mencken had it exactly right.
And what do you think?...
At FrontPageMag.com, Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson explains the methodology:
"The challenge for Gore was the inconvenient truth that, in a democracy, a would-be central planner needs to get the masses on his side, too. To do that, he borrowed a strategy encapsulated in H.L. Mencken’s statement, 'The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.' Apocalyptic GW became Al Gore’s hobgoblin of choice.
Gore needed the scientific community to back up his assertions and the media to spread the word. Enlisting the help of the media was easy (apocalyptic fantasies are sure ratings winners), but getting enough scientists on board was trickier. When Gore started his GW campaign in the early 1990s, a contemporary Gallup poll of scientists showed that only 18 percent thought there was any evidence to support Gore’s theory. Even a survey conducted by Greenpeace found only 13 percent of climatologists willing to declare GW 'probable.'
Nevertheless, Gore repeatedly claimed that (literally) 98 percent of scientists agreed with him, and he exhorted reporters to ignore skeptics. Right from the outset, the GW cult (like other illiberal movements, such as communism and fascism) had to resort to the 'big lie' technique to make it appear that the science of GW was settled"
Wonder Land - WSJ.com
I wonder what part of this scenario is so difficult for our politicians to understand?...
Daniel Henninger writes in the Wall Street Journal:
"One thing Brazil and the U.S. have in common is the price of oil: It is priced in dollars, and everyone in the world now knows what the price is. Another commonality is that each country has vast oil reserves in waters off their coastlines.
Here we may draw a line in the waves between the serious and the unserious.
Brazil discovered only yesterday (November) that billions of barrels of oil sit in difficult water beneath a swath of the Santos Basin, 180 miles offshore from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The U.S. has known for decades that at least 8.5 billion proven barrels of oil sit off its Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts, with the Interior Department estimating 86 billion barrels of undiscovered oil resources."
The Media - Unbalanced to a fault
This survey (in 2007) highlights the sad state of the media in America.
I doubt that much has changed recently.
Not only is it sad, it is demonstrably unfair...
I doubt that much has changed recently.
Not only is it sad, it is demonstrably unfair...
The results of a Harvard survey on media bias is discussed at Investors Business Daily:
"Democrats are not only favored in the tone of the coverage. They get more coverage period. This is particularly evident on morning news shows, which "produced almost twice as many stories (51% to 27%) focused on Democratic candidates than on Republicans."
The most flagrant bias, however, was found in newspapers. In reviewing front-page coverage in 11 newspapers, the study found the tone positive in nearly six times as many stories about Democrats as it was negative."
X-Rays are getting better
This appears to be a dramatic improvement.
And the pictures within this article are quite impressive...
And the pictures within this article are quite impressive...
This was in an article by Tom Simonite at NewScientist.com earlier this year:
"The resulting images reveal physical details that would normally be invisible. For example, since soft tissue and bone differ strongly in their ability to scatter X-ray, the dark-field technique could help a doctor spot small splinters of bone or cartilage after a bad fracture."
Monday, June 16, 2008
Meanwhile - in Ohio
No one wants to be in this kind of situation.
However, it seems like it SHOULD be lawful to protect your "castle".
It would be interesting to document how we got so far away from that that we need laws to restablish what should always be our "right"...
However, it seems like it SHOULD be lawful to protect your "castle".
It would be interesting to document how we got so far away from that that we need laws to restablish what should always be our "right"...
Mark Niquette reports in the Columbus Dispatch:
"Over the objections of law enforcement groups, Gov. Ted Strickland today signed into law a bill that relaxes certain gun restrictions and establishes a new “castle doctrine” for shooting an intruder in self-defense.
The legislation, Senate Bill 184, takes effect in 90 days."
