Thursday, July 31, 2008
Islamist bombers target Olympics
A MILITANT Islamic group has threatened to attack the Beijing Olympics with suicide bombers and biological weapons and has claimed responsibility for a string of fatal bombings and explosions in China over recent weeks.
In a video released by IntelCenter, a terrorism monitoring group, a bearded man identified as “Commander Seyfullah” is seen reading a declaration of jihad against the Olympics and warns athletes and spectators, “especially Muslims”, to stay away.
It was issued by a group calling itself the Turkestan Islamic party.
[GWOT]
READ MORE
Taliban winning propaganda battle in Afghanistan
Canada, the United States and other countries with military forces in Afghanistan are losing a propaganda battle to a resurgent Taliban movement, a respected international think tank says.
The Afghan insurgency's military capabilities are often overestimated, but a sophisticated multi-media propaganda campaign is projecting a Taliban movement that is increasingly confident of its ability to exploit opponents' weaknesses.
The insurgency is also gaining support among Afghan people who once rejected it... [snip]
"Using the full range of media, [the Taliban] is successfully tapping into strains of Afghan nationalism and exploiting policy failures by the Kabul government and its international backers, ..."[Q: how in the world do Taliban tribesmen beat the West at modern-media campaigns? A: political correctness.]
READ MORE
NYT Reporter Hammers Bush's 'Rigid,' 'With-Us-Or-Against-Us Presidency'
[HT:DS]
New York Times reporter Patrick Healy's lead story in the Week in Review, "An Exclusive Club Gets Included," posed the question: Why, after a long spell of senators trying and failing to win high office, are two senators now in line for the presidency? Healy's short answer: It's all Bush's fault, for his "go-it-alone strategy in Iraq" and his "with-us-or-against-us presidency."
The Times is quite fond of the "go-it-alone" myth, having cited it several times. For the record, the United States actually led a 30-nation coalition in Iraq (35 countries joined the fight in Afghanistan).
READ MORE
The Myth of U.S. Isolation: Why America Is Not Alone in the War on Terror > HERE
Essay: It’s the Media, Stupid
The networks suggest Obama is driving the narrative, but it's the liberal press themselves doing the driving for Obama
The Big Three networks just foisted a week long Obamathon upon the American people, a political, "journalistic" perversion of Jerry Lewis's annual televised good deed. Mr. Lewis raises money for a very worthy cause. CBS' Katie Couric, NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Charlie Gibson attempted to raise the Presidential credibility of an inexperienced candidate by dutifully following Illinois Senator Barack Obama to the Middle East and Europe for six days and five nights of wall-to-wall slavish and adoring reporting.
This was an unprecedented media extravaganza. Never before have all three evening news anchors been drawn out of their chairs and all over the world together and on behalf of a candidate. Their coverage of Sen. Obama was as glitteringly positive as it was all-encompassing: the primary season without the Clinton distraction.
By week's end, the voters back here Stateside could well have forgotten that Senator Obama has an opponent.
READ MORE
Networks Tilted 10-to-1 In Favor of Obama World Tour
The Big Three broadcast networks lavished an incredible amount of attention on Barack Obama's tour of the Middle East and Europe last week. Compared to a very similar trip by John McCain last March, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts gave Obama more than ten times the coverage — 92 minutes for the Democrat's eight-day trip, compared to just eight and a half minutes for the Republican's seven-day tour.
A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted during the trip found 67% of voters think the media want Obama to win. Are the other 33% blind?
READ MORE
'Nightly News' Anchor: Pro-Obama Bias is 'In the Eye of the Beholder'
[HT:BN]
Is there a pro-Obama bias in the media? Only if you at it from a certain point-of-view according to "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams.
Despite allegations of just the opposite, the wall-to-wall coverage of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama's trip to the Middle East then to Europe wasn't a sign of bias - it was just the media attempting to "educate" according to Williams.
READ MORE
China Overtakes U.S. In Worldwide Web Population
China has overtaken the United States in online presence as more Chinese citizens use the worldwide web. The largest country in terms of population is now also world's largest Internet population.
The China Internet Network Information Centre reported Friday that the country had 253 million netizens as of end of June, up by 56 percent from last year.
In comparison, research company Nielsen Online reported 223.1 million Internet users in the U.S. in June.
[with the help of US companies {because European ones wouldn't hesitate}, China has managed to turn the most liberating development of our {and possibly any} time into a massive propaganda tool]
READ MORE
IOC agrees to Internet blocking at the Games
BEIJING: The Chinese government confirmed Wednesday what journalists arriving at the lavishly outfitted media center here had suspected: Contrary to previous assurances by Olympic and government officials, the Internet would be censored during the upcoming games.
On Wednesday - two weeks after its most recent proclamation of an uncensored Internet during the Summer Games - the International Olympic Committee quietly agreed to the limitations, according to Kevan Gosper, chairman of the IOC press commission,
[all that is required for evil to succeed is for good to 'acquiesce'. why are we there again? A: moral equivalence: who are we to say a totalitarian oligarchy is 'bad' ]
READ MORE
Never forget
Nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe, five nations remain "captive" to communism -- China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Laos.
Amid all the hoopla about the Beijing Olympics and the "ohs" and "ahs" over the dozens of skyscrapers soaring above the Chinese capital, we must keep in mind that China is also a land of forced labor camps...
READ MORE
U.N. 'Good Governance' Official May Escape
A top "good governance" official at the United Nations accused of dishonest practices may escape penalties despite a scathing internal report that faulted his "gross negligence" and mishandling of a $2.8 million trust fund donated by the Greek government.
The United Nations' own report, issued by its Office of Internal Oversight Services following an 18-month investigation, recommended that the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, or DESA, which controls Bertucci’s office, repay $34,000 in wrongly awarded contracts.
The report lies in limbo in the hands of Sha Zukang, the undersecretary-general for DESA and Bertucci’s boss.
"That is where it now sits," said Inga-Britt Ahlenius, undersecretary-general in charge of OIOS, in an e-mail to FOXNews.com. So long as Sha does not rule on the findings of the OIOS, investigation of the report may go unconsidered until Bertucci’s retirement.
The United Nations does not customarily pursue actions against employees who have left its service. With a little stalling, neither the requests of the Greek government nor the recommendations of the United Nations' own investigators will likely be considered.
READ MORE
World Citizen
World citizens embrace the idea that the United Nations and other multinational organizations are imbued with a moral authority not found in nation-states like ours. When he was the Democratic Party standard-bearer, Senator John Kerry famously described American foreign and defense policy as only being legitimate when it passed a “global test” – in other words, approval by the international community. [snip]
To further such a subordination of American power, the transnationalists have enmesh the United States in a web of treaties: the World Trade Organization (which now routinely rules against U.S. companies and economic interests while giving a pass to Communist China’s); the International Criminal Court (which has just established an ominous precedent for U.S. officials by indicting the sitting president of Sudan); and the Law of the Sea Treaty (which assigns unprecedented responsibilities for control of the oceans to international organs). [snip]
A riveting insight into this reality was provided a few months back when the National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre addressed a meeting in New Orleans, the scene following Hurricane Katrina of the forceful disarmament of law-abiding U.S. citizens. Mr. LaPierre showed a video which included a chilling statement from a senior UN official to the effect that, while she understood Americans were reluctant to part with their firearms, they had better get used to being citizens of the world just like everybody else...
[this is another creeping vine issue: it's their day-job, week in, week out, to work on suborning national sovereignties - the {short term} holey grail? LOST: Law Of the Sea Treaty, which, if we're foolish enough to sign, will allow the UN to tax US companies directly, removing {in time} any need to worry about being given member dues...]
READ MORE
When green was easy
... now that the Soviet Union has collapsed and socialism in general has miserably failed, the left has been reenergized by New Age environmentalism, like Marxism a quasi-religion that provides an even more comprehensive justification for restricting individual freedom and its economic expression in the form of market capitalism.
The leftist project of replacing socialism with environmentalism as an ideological organizing principle has culminated with global warming theory, an apocalyptic scenario that has proved much more salable than anything Karl Marx could come up with.
Global warming was the perfect expression of environmentalism as ideology and religion because it went farther than Marxism to discredit not just capitalism but industrialism and consumerism as well. Communism appealed to people’s hopes, environmentalism more generally and global warming more specifically to their darkest fears...
[short, Highly Recommended > ]
READ MORE
Pelosi's Planet
"I'm trying to save the planet; I'm trying to save the planet,"declares House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which is a lot for one person. Maybe she should just try to save herself from the embarrassment that comes with spouting such inanities.
When challenged in an interview with Politico.com about her bullheaded refusal to let Republicans submit energy policies for a vote, Pelosi resorted to risible hyperbole to justify her iron-fisted rule of the House parliamentary process.
"I will not have this debate trivialized by their
excuse for their failed policy."
excuse for their failed policy."
If the San Francisco Democrat's magisterial narcissism isn't off-putting enough, her intent should be. She's saying that her personal importance to the survival of Earth transcends our system of open government, elections and power-sharing. Because she's trying to save the world, she can't be challenged and dissent will not be tolerated...
[three heartbeats from the big job. marvelous]
READ MORE
.
“Every other country in the world looks at its natural resources and sees them as an economic asset. Too many people in Washington for too long looked at our natural resources and saw them as a potential environmental hazard. Nobody else does that.
It’s a foolish position to take and it’s done a lot to get us into the position of dependency we have now on people who don’t like us. We have to change that. One of the big elements of changing that is looking for our own American energy resources in a significant way. “
It’s a foolish position to take and it’s done a lot to get us into the position of dependency we have now on people who don’t like us. We have to change that. One of the big elements of changing that is looking for our own American energy resources in a significant way. “
— Congressman Roy Blunt (R- MO)
.
HEADLINES FROM THE YEAR: 2059
[HT:DT]
Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in the seventh largest country in the world, Mexifornia, formerly known as California.
White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia's third language.
Spotted Owl plague threatens northwestern United States crops and livestock.
Baby conceived naturally. Scientists stumped.
Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.
Last remaining Fundamentalist Muslim dies in the American Territory of the Middle East (formerly known as Iraq , Afghanistan , Syria and Lebanon ).
Iran still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least 10 more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels.
France pleads for global help after being taken over by Jamaica
Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.
85-year $75.8 billion study: Diet and Exercise is the key to weight loss.
Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.
Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.
New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2060.
Congress authorizes direct deposit of formerly illegal political contributions to campaign accounts.
IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75 percent.
Florida voters still having trouble with voting machines.
.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Missing from that Berlin speech
BARACK OBAMA had ample reason to recall the Berlin Airlift of 1948 during his dramatic speech in the German capital last week. The airlift was an early and critical success for the West in the Cold War, with clear relevance to our own time, the war in Iraq, and the free world's conflict with radical Islam. But having reached back 60 years to that pivotal hour of American leadership, Obama proceeded to draw from it exactly the wrong lessons. [snip]
Yet the pressure to abandon Berlin persisted. The CIA argued that the airlift had worsened matters by "making Berlin a major test of US-Soviet strength" and affirming "direct US responsibility" for West Berlin. The airlift was bound to fail, the intelligence analysts warned. Truman didn't waver. "We'll stay in Berlin - come what may," he wrote in his diary on July 19. [snip]
Obama's speech was a paean to international cooperation. "Now is the time to join together," he said. "It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads."
No - it was an American president named Truman, who had the audacity to order an airlift when others counseled retreat, and the grit to see it through when others were ready to withdraw...
[Recommended > ]
READ MORE
A Truman for our times
[HT:GP]
Until 9/11, Islamic militants, including violent jihadists of every sort, from al Qaeda to purely local outfits, enjoyed much public support—either overt or tacit—across most of the Muslim world. From Morocco to Indonesia, governments appeased militants at home while encouraging them to focus their violent activities abroad. Some, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) funded both militant preachers and armed jihadists... [snip]
All this came to an abrupt end after 9/11. Sophisticates everywhere ridiculed the uncompromising Bush stance, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists," as a cowboy stunt, but it was swiftly successful. Governments across the Muslim world quickly changed their conduct. Some moved energetically to close down local jihadist groups they had long tolerated, others were initially in denial... [snip]
Denial did not last. As they saw American special forces and long-range bombers smashing the Taliban, the Saudis began to admit responsibility for having spread extremism through the thousands of schools and academies they financed at home and abroad. ... More than a thousand Saudis have been arrested, dozens have been killed while resisting arrest, and Saudi banks must now check if wire transfers are being sent to Muslim organizations on the terrorist list...
[Recommended > ]
READ MORE
The Goodwill of Nancy Pelosi
For all appearances, Nancy Pelosi is establishing herself as a bona fide advocate of Iran’s terrorist regime. This is not to say that the Speaker of the House endorses Khomeinist terrorism, but rather that she is among those who believe the mullahs to be “saber rattlers,” not saber users. Nevermind that the saber has been dripping blood for thirty years.
This morning, NBC aired footage of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during which the president of Iran claimed to see “new behavior shown by the United States and the officials of the United States,” and stated “if the [American] approach changes, we will be facing a new situation, and the response by the Iranian people will be a positive one.”
Soon afterward, Pelosi appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” and said Ahmadinejad’s comments “represent an opening in terms of him saying he’ll try to find common ground.” Pelosi’s statement reveals nothing less than a humiliating level of gullibility in a public servant of her stature.
Ahmadinejad’s remarks are merely the most recent offering in the mullahs’ ongoing strategy of alternating apocalyptic threats with fake diplomatic overtures so they can buy time to develop weapons. But taken in concert with her full-throated appreciation of the Islamic Republic’s kindly actions in Iraq, today’s sunny review necessarily raises questions about Pelosi’s fundamental understanding of the Iranian threat...
[this is how Iran succeeds - via 'useful idiots' - at the highest levels]
READ MORE
'Secret Nuclear Weapons Plant Reported in Iran'
A secret nuclear bomb manufacturing center at Al-Zarqan Area in Al-Ahwaziya Region, which was first established in 2000, was discovered recently, highly reliable sources told Al-Seyassah. Sources from Al-Ahwaziya claimed Tehran has started building a secret nuclear plant for manufacturing atomic bombs in Al-Zarqan Area near Al-Ahwaz City in southwest Iran and its border with Iraq.
Sources said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is not aware of this plant since it was not included in negotiations with Iran held in Geneva at the beginning of this month.
Sources revealed Iran started implementing the project some time between 2000 and 2003, which led to the evacuation of a large number of Arab tribes from the area to Al-Zarqan. Sources added the Tehran administration vacated the location, destroyed all the houses, wells and farms, and started full implementation of the project in 2007...
[they're playing the West for fools - as the clock ticks...]
READ MORE
Breeding Evil: Hezb'allah's Children
The malignancy of Hezb'allah has finally destroyed any hope for a Lebanese democracy; each negotiation was a tool, every cease-fire, all the feigned diplomacy mere opportunity to maneuver... playing the UN for the fools they are, and the US for time.
There is no elected government. The Associated Press misrepresents Hezb'allah as a "militia and political force," unable to label them the terrorist organization they are, and as they steal the legitimacy their crimes should deny them, the AP codifies it and millions in the West are duped.
UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said he was encouraged by the "prisoner swap" and hoped it was the first of many more. As only the Hezb'allah prisoners happened to be alive, I'm sure he does. UN troops saluted the terrorist remains as they passed into Southern Lebanon; it was a minor appeasement in all that the UN does to undermine lasting peace, but a horrible foretelling...
READ MORE
Venezuela's Chavez seeks arms deals in Russia
[HT:MD]
MOSCOW: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez will seek to buy Russian diesel submarines, mobile missile systems and tanks, this week during a trip aimed at boosting 'trade'.
A self-styled socialist revolutionary who frequently baits the United States, Chavez has made regular visits to Russia, the world's second biggest oil exporter, and praised Moscow for standing up to Washington.
READ MORE
PetroChina taps into Chavez's rage at U.S.
A little-noticed piece of news: A few weeks ago, Venezuela announced an agreement with PetroChina to build a large refinery in Guangdong province capable of refining Venezuela's unique heavy oil. At first glance that looks like very bad news for the United States.
Right now, Venezuela refines nearly all of its oil in the United States, about 1.2 million barrels a day, and then sells it here. What would happen if, one day down the road, Venezuela simply cut off the supply? At the very least, that would cause severe market disruptions, leading to a large jump in the price of gas.
That's the stated aim of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president.
[what need for more domestic oil resources?]
READ MORE
Our Earth cools slowly while professor babbles
Global warming theory is that the 25 years of warming to around 1998 was almost all caused by man's greenhouse gases, and the more gases we pump out, the more the world must warm.
Well, we've kept pumping out more gases faster than ever - 3 per cent more every year so far this century, thanks mainly to booming China and India - and here's the odd thing. The world hasn't warmed for a decade.
That contradicts the predictions of the influential International Panel on Climate Change, as well as of Professor James Hansen, Al Gore's climate change guru. (To see how their predictions failed to match the real weather, see my blog [Recommended] for graphs.)
But the point remains that all the models were supposed to have factored in such natural variables, yet couldn't predict the world's temperature a few years out while claiming to predict frighteningly high temperatures as far out as 2100.
So the question isn't why I won't put faith in the man-made global warming theory, but why Brook still does...
READ MORE
A Country At Mercy Of Environmentalists
[HT:GS]
... There's a hateful side to cap and trade that's revealed by asking the question: How will it be decided who received how much allowance to emit greenhouse gases? Congress could sell the allowances and/or give them away to favorite constituents. You can bet the rent money that a new army of lobbyists, with special pleadings, will descend on Washington to lobby Congress.
And you can be sure that campaign contributions and favoritism will play an important role in the decision of who receives what allowances. Much worse than that is the massive control government would have over our economy and lives. Congress might decide that since tobacco use is unhealthy, it might not issue allowances to tobacco companies.
While many Americans might applaud that, how many would like Congress to refuse to issue allowances to companies that produce food that some people deem unhealthy such as french fries, sodas, canned soups and potato chips? Congress might deny, or threaten to deny, allowances to companies that in its opinion didn't hire enough women and minorities.
The possibilities for control over our lives would be endless and could include nuisance-type edicts such a requiring us to buy a permit to barbecue in our backyard. The thirst to wield massive control over our economy helps explain the near religious belief in man-made global warming and the attacks on scientists and others who offer contradictory evidence...
READ MORE
Report: Arctic Has 90 Billion Barrels of Oil
The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, says the U.S. government.
There's also 1,670 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of technically recoverable natural gas liquids in 25 geologically defined areas thought to have potential for petroleum. [snip]
"Before we can make decisions about our future use of oil and gas and related decisions about protecting endangered species and the health of our planet [?], we need to know what's out there. With this assessment, we're providing the same information to everyone in the world so that the global community can make those difficult decisions." [snip]
In August 2007, Russian divers in a mini-sub planted a titanium flag of their country under the North Pole, on a seabed 14,000 feet down. Canada immediately criticized the implied claim of control...
[looks like Russia's already made its 'difficult decisions'. Does anyone really believe that the US's declining to exploit energy resources leads to more responsible development by those who will in our absence? Like Russia? China?]
READ MORE
Majority of Congress wants to drill
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Congress is ready to lift the ban on offshore drilling but is being blocked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The Ohio Republican argued that lawmakers are ready to sign off on lifting the ban in order to increase fuel supplies to lower record high gas prices.
“There’s a majority of the House and Senate who are for more drilling. We have to produce more supply if we’re going to bring down the price,” Boehner said, but “Nancy Pelosi and the liberals here in the Congress, they worship at the altar radical environmentalism...
READ MORE
Pelosi: 'I'm trying to save the planet'
With fewer than 20 legislative days before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1, the entire appropriations process has largely ground to a halt because of the ham-handed fighting that followed Republican attempts to lift the moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration.
“I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet,” she says impatiently when questioned. “I will not have this debate trivialized by their excuse for their failed policy.”
“when you win the election, you win the majority, and what is the power of the speaker? To set the agenda, the power of recognition, and I am not giving the gavel away to anyone.” [I.e., no voting]
And after promising fairness and open debate, Pelosi has resorted to hard-nosed parliamentary devices that effectively bar any chance of allowing a vote on lifting drilling restrictions...
READ MORE
Governor vetoes climate change curriculum
California public students will stick to reading, writing and arithmetic, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decided as he vetoed a bill late Friday that would have required climate change be added to schools' curriculum.
The measure, sponsored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, also would have required future science textbooks to include climate change as a subject.
In January, the state Senate approved the bill, SB 908, by a 26-13 vote. Only two Republicans supported the proposal.
In his veto statement, Schwarzenegger said he supported education that spotlights the dangers of climate change. However, the Republican governor said he was opposed to educational mandates from Sacramento.
[really. He mandates everything else. Could it be that adding it to textbooks would require an above-board review of their content? after all, this blog has had numerous briefs detailing how teachers are already indoctrinated their students with alarmists theory - why risk a good thing? {do you know what your child is being 'taught'? ask them...}]
READ MORE
the good, bad, funny...
.
House Majority Whip: Climate Change Hurts Blacks More
Climate change is no longer just an environmental issue. It’s now an issue of race, according to global warming activists and policy makers. “It is critical our community be an integral and active part of the debate because African-Americans are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change economically, socially and through our health and well-being,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said July 29.
[with the unraveling of this scam accelerating, the scamists evidently are adding a second front to keep the emotional fires burning hot]
READ MORE
CARBON HOOFPRINT
Producing milk uses large quantities of land, energy and feed, but rbST -- the first biotech product used on American farms -- has been in agricultural use for nearly 15 years. Now it is found to reduce the carbon hoofprint by easing energy, land and nutritional inputs necessary to sustain milk production at levels sufficient to meet demand, according to a Cornell University study.
• Compared to a non-supplemented population, giving rbST to one million cows would enable the same amount of milk to be produced using 157,000 fewer cows.For every one million cows supplemented with rbST, the reduction in the carbon footprint is equivalent to removing approximately 400,000 family cars from the road or planting 300 million trees.
• The nutrient savings would be 491,000 metric tons of corn, 158,000 metric tons of soybeans, and total feedstuffs would be reduced by 2,300,000 metric tons.
[this will be entertaining: watch the environmoralists in Europe completely squash the idea, as bio-engineering is generally considered evil by the chattering classes. Their only solution will be 'conservation' - never mind that we're talking about our food.]
READ MORE
An e-mail from Ireland
[HT:GC]
An email from Ireland to all of their brethren in the States...a
point to ponder despite your political affiliation:
'We, in Ireland, can't figure out why you people are even
bothering to hold an election in the United States.
On one side, you had a pants wearing female lawyer, married to
another lawyer who can't seem to keep his
pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a
lawyer, who goes to the wrong church, who is
married to yet another lawyer, who doesn't even like the country
her husband wants to run !
Now...On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name
starts with the appropriate 'Mc' terminology,
married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer
distributorship !!
What in God's name are ya lads thinkin over in the colonies.....
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
America's Energy Held Hostage
Enter now a properly scientific study by Dr Bob Shipp, professor at the Marine Sciences department of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama, and currently, the vice-chair of the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council. “The Red snapper catch changed radically in the 1950s, (when the first offshore oil platforms went up off Louisiana). More recently, the red snapper catch from the northwestern Gulf (Louisiana, with it's oil platforms) is currently estimated 6 to 7 times greater than the catch from the eastern Gulf (Florida, without oil platforms.)"
It gets better: “oil platforms as artificial reefs....support fish densities 10 to 1000 times that of adjacent sand and mud bottom, and almost always exceed fish densities found at adjacent natural hard bottom. Evidence indicates that massive areas of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico were essentially empty of snapper stocks for the first hundred years of the fishery. Subsequently, areas in the western Gulf have become the major source of red snapper, concurrent with the appearance of thousands of petroleum platforms”... [snip]
A recent CNN poll showed more than 73 percent of Americans in favor of offshore drilling. But the House Speaker can keep the issue from even reaching a vote, and Pelosi seems bent on just that...
READ MORE
An Energy Sarbox
The political class needed to blame somebody for the run-up in energy prices, and settled on "speculators" as the designated villains.(Snip) While some kind of crackdown on the U.S. oil futures market is inevitable after so much political agitation, Congress has begun to believe its own demagoguery. The Senate may vote on a bill this week that will drive commodities trading overseas and decrease oversight and market transparency. Call it a Sarbanes-Oxley for energy...
READ MORE
U.S. and Canada split over Lake Erie drilling
Washington - Offshore drilling has become one of the hot political issues in a new era of $4-a-gallon gasoline. But no one is pushing for drilling off the north shore of the United States — except the Canadians. As it has for many years, a Canadian oil and gas company is pumping natural gas out of 480 wells in Lake Erie, most of them toward the eastern end of the lake...
[everyone but us]
READ MORE
Kicking the Tires of T. Boone's Natural-Gas Car
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman Sunday pines for billionaire-friendly central planning on energy so that his green dreams might be forced down our collective throats:
“If only we had a Congress and president who. . . just sat down with Boone (Pickens). . . and asked one question: 'What laws do we need to enact to foster 1,000 more like you?' Then just do it, and get out of the way.”
Laws mandating “green” schemes? Just do it. Market economics? Get out of the way.
[consumer choice? forgetaboutit][snip]
Automakers have been trying to get the public to buy natural gas vehicles since the 1970s. Yet, despite millions in tax subsidies, today there is only one — count them: one — -compressed-natural-gas (CNG) product in America’s showrooms. It’s the Honda Civic GX and it ain’t exactly flying off the shelves.
No wonder. The CNG-powered Civic GX sells at a whopping $8,780 over the price of a comparable gas-powered Civic DX, yet has 24 percent less horsepower, has half the trunk size (due to the huge CNG tank behind the back seats), and only goes 250 miles on a tank of natural gas vs. 400 for its petrol-powered sister...
[all for only 9000$ more - what's not to like?]
READ MORE
Developing oil shale is best choice
Democrats control Congress, so Americans ought to be asking about their plan to lower gas prices. Let's hope their plan doesn't rest on solar, wind and geothermal, because planes, trains and automobiles don't run on electricity. They run on oil — mostly foreign oil — 97 percent of the time. Let's also hope the Democrats' plan doesn't rest on ethanol to break our dependence on foreign oil, because it can't. More on that later.
Americans ship about $700 billion - annually - to foreign oil traffickers, and Democrats respond by shutting down America's own energy supplies. Now at the mercy of foreign governments smart enough to produce their own energy, we are selling away our nation's place in the world and funding our aggressive competitors — and even our enemies. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah have more oil in oil shale than OPEC. Everyone seems to know that by now, but here are four things you probably did not know about oil shale...
1. Oil shale has a smaller carbon footprint than ethanol...[snip]
2. Oil shale uses less water than ethanol and no more than gasoline...[snip]
3. Oil shale uses much less land than either ethanol or gasoline...[snip]
4. Oil shale has been commercially produced in Estonia for 80 years
READ MORE
Don’t panic: the economy is still growing
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke pulled no punches when he gave his semi-annual report to Congress. “Sizeable losses at financial institutions . . . inflation has remained elevated . . . declining house prices... There’s more, but you get the idea. [snip]
Not that we will soon see the boom times that investors remember so fondly, or that homeowners can soon look forward to double-digit annual increases in the value of their homes - but it is possible that the woes that have beset the housing and financial sectors are about to be contained and mitigated...
Perhaps most important, the flexible American economy so far — and the “so far” is important — seems to be doing better than the troubled housing and financial sectors.
“The economy has continued to expand . . . Growth is expected to pick up gradually over the next two years..."[Recommended > ]
READ MORE
MSNBC Taps Nation of Whiners
Earlier this month, former senator and John McCain economic advisor Phil Gramm was widely excoriated for his remarks about America being a "nation of whiners," -- discouraged by negative media reports fueling fears of recession.
As my colleague Nathan Burchfiel noted, the context of Gramm's remarks were the media's role in accentuating the negative in economic news and hence ginning up the public's economic fears and complaints. Of course, the media has done little to prove Gramm wrong.
Take, for instance MSNBC.com's "My Miserable Summer" series, which, among other things, takes tales of woe from readers and publishes them on the Web site ...
[complete with series logo and everything...
Where do people get their pessimism]
READ MORE
AS ARIZONA GOES, SO GOES THE NATION: HOW MEDICAID RUINED THE STATES' FISCAL HEALTH
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a bleak report on the long-term financial prospects of state and local governments. Their fiscal balances, GAO's simulations show, will rapidly deteriorate in less than a decade. GAO identifies Medicaid as the primary culprit for these bleak trends, In some states, the crisis has already arrived.
Arizona provides an early and stark illustration of Medicaid's ruinous effects. Arizona's fiscal crisis is due chiefly to the state's expansion of its Medicaid programs. Unsurprisingly, Medicaid expenditures constitute an ever-growing share of state expenditures:
• In 1987, that share amounted to slightly more than 10 percent.No state can avoid the choice between more debt or rip-roaring tax hikes, combined in some way. However, genuine reform of Medicaid must take place in Washington and so is an unlikely scenario.
• By 1992, the number was 17.8 percent; in 2006, it was 22.2 percent.
• Arizona general fund spending on Medicaid was $463 million in 2000.
• That figure is projected to grow to $1.5 billion in FY 2009, representing a threefold increase in less than a decade.
Medicaid is designed to be fiscally unsustainable -- but politically self-sustaining.
[scary? just wait until our health care system is Nationalized]
READ MORE
THE REAL COST OF IMMIGRATION
A new study by Edwin S. Rubenstein, a Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow, looks at the myriad ways immigration increases the cost of government and how government policies increase immigration.
For example:
• Rubenstein found that each immigrant costs taxpayers more than $9,000, while every immigrant household of four costs $36,000 in taxes.
• That's far more than the $3,408 in 2007 dollars the National Research Council's 1997 "New Americans" study of federal, state and local government expenditures found immigrants to cost.
Looking at education alone, Rubenstein found:
• Rand Corp. researchers discovered back in 1981 that added costs for language assistance instruction ranged from $100 to $500 per pupil.
• The total cost of providing English Language Learning instruction to the 3.8 million students enrolled in those programs is about $3.9 billion.
Turning to the Department of Justice, Rubenstein found criminal aliens to be an increasing burden on U.S. prison systems:
• In 1980, federal and state facilities held fewer than 9,000 criminal aliens, but at the end of 2004, about 267,000 noncitizens were incarcerated in U.S. correctional facilities.According to a 2003 Government Accountability Office (GAO) survey, the average criminal alien was arrested for 13 prior offenses, 12 percent of which were cases of murder, robbery, assault and sexually related crimes...
• Of all prisoners in federal prisons, 27 percent are criminal aliens, he found, with a total cost of $1.5 billion.
READ MORE
The Anti-Smoking Tag Team
... Gates would contribute $125 million to the effort from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Bloomberg would chip in $375 million. What they want to do is “pressure” governments to hike tobacco taxes, prohibit smoking in public areas and curtail tobacco advertising...
READ MORE
[I.e., the assault on choice continues. Don't care? ok.]
Cell phones—The new cigarettes
There has been a raging debate over whether cell phones—or more specifically electromagnetic radiation that they emit—up a person's cancer risk. The latest chapter: Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, this week warned consumers to limit exposure to cell phone radiation—and alerted parents to beware of possible effects on their kids...
[sound familiar?]
READ MORE
Wikipedia Disallows Any Mention of Alleged John Edwards Scandal
[HT:JF]
Wikipedia, which allowed verb tenses for their Tim Russert entry to be changed from present to past tense about a half hour before the official announcement of his death, is suddenly going ultra legal in its refusal to allow their John Edwards entry to be updated with mention of the alleged scandal which was reported in the National Enquirer with many of the details confirmed by Fox News.
READ MORE
DOCKING PAYCHECKS FOR POLITICS
The mighty Service Employees International Union (SEIU) plans to spend some $150 million in this year's election, most of it to get Barack Obama and other Democrats elected. Where'd they get that much money?
That's a question the Departments of Labor and Justice are being asked to investigate by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Specifically, the labor watchdog group wants Justice to query a new SEIU policy that appears to coerce local workers into funding the parent union's national political priorities:
- The union adopted a new amendment to its constitution at last month's SEIU convention, requiring that every local contribute an amount equal to $6 per member per year to the union's national political action committee; this is in addition to regular union dues.
- Unions that fail to meet the requirement must contribute an amount in "local union funds" equal to the "deficiency," plus a 50 percent penalty.
It's hard to see that an SEIU mandate enforced by financial penalties of 50 percent isn't a "threat" or would qualify under any definition of "voluntary,"
READ MORE
Will Republicans Tap a Gusher of Support Off the California Coast
California's 's senior Senator Dianne Feinstein has joined the battle by writing an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times opposing efforts to increase offshore oil production. The Senator, unfortunately, promotes a myth that offshore drilling and production will not help our economy in either the short run or the long run.
Both suppositions are wrong, and dangerous to boot. Sanford Bernstein (one of the most respected research groups) has produced an analysis noting how quickly the offshore resources off the coast of California - to quote the Wall Street Journal:
"California could actually start producing new oil within a year if the moratorium were lifted," the Sanford C. Bernstein report said, because the oil is under shallow water, has been explored and drilling platforms have been there since before the moratoria.
This would also send a message to the world's petrocrats that America has begun to realize that we are tiring of our fate resting in the hands of nations that wish us harm. The fate of our economy should not be controlled by the whims of the very nations that sponsor terrorism and hate around the world.
READ MORE
Islam to become Russia’s predominant religion by 2050?
Islam is likely to become the primary religion in the Russian Federation by 2050 due to the high birth rate in Muslim republics. The current Chinese-led conquest of Russia’s Far East already seems to be a matter of immediate concern for the Kremlin. The ethnic birth rate disproportion in different regions of the country is another problem. The Muslim community may become the largest community by the middle of the current century.
READ MORE
Detroit Mayor Allegedly Commits Assault; What Party?
The Associated Press's Ed White used almost 700 words in his story (link is dynamic; story in form found at 5:04 p.m. is also here) about the latest developments relating to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit, and failed to name his party affiliation even once.
READ MORE
The problem of Obama's moral relativism
... But the crux of the problem is that Barack Obama has blinders on. He doesn't comment on the failure of the Palestinians to prepare themselves and their children for peace and for compromise. He fails to express concern -- or even recognition -- about the rife and rank anti-Semitism that is pervasive in the West Bank, in schools, mosques, in the media, and from the mouths of its leaders.
This is a core problem which Obama completely ignores (notably, his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton was in the forefront of efforts begun years ago to cleanse Palestinian textbooks of anti-Semitism). Anti-Israel lessons and terminology is force-fed to Palestinian children. Mosques have become breeding grounds for hate. Does Barack Obama care about this form of prejudice?
There is one other little noticed problem with Obama's statement: His view that terrorism make the Israelis want
"to dig in and simply think about their own security regardless of what's going on beyond their borders. "How can this be interpreted?
[Recommended > ]
READ MORE
Democrat Senate Passed 94% of Bills without Debate or Roll Call Vote
Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) dismissed Democratic claims of obstructionism and expressed outrage last week over a government report that shows the majority of bills that have passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate of the 110th Congress have done so without any debate or even a vote.
“This report shows that the reality is worse than the public’s fears. Instead of encouraging open debate, I’m disappointed that Majority Leader Reid often chooses secrecy or demagoguery,”
Coburn was referring to a non-partisan study released on June 10 by the government’s Congressional Research Service (CRS), which indicates that 855 of the 911 bills passed by the Senate of the 110th Congress have been streamlined by Democratic Party leadership with a procedural tactic known as Unanimous Consent (UC), which requires no debate or vote...
READ MORE
California Legislature: More Uninsured, Please
ACTION
California has imposed so many regulations on the group market that its premiums are often twice as expensive as those of individual plans. For families, group plans now average nearly $12,000 per year, compared with about $3,900 for families buying coverage on the individual market.
In contrast, individual plans in California are far less regulated and -not surprisingly- far more affordable. As of March 2008, individual health plans in California are among the least expensive in the U.S.
That difference in affordability may be disappearing.
AB 1962 would impose a mandate for every individual health insurance policy to cover maternity benefits regardless of whether the person needs, wants or can afford this coverage...
[this is how government involvement bankrupts systems: group premiums should be lower than individual premiums - until you add regulation...]
READ MORE
AB1962, De La Torre.Maternity services.
CA Assembly members email >> http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
Monday, July 28, 2008
Twofer: the whole world?
.
Obama, "The Vast Majority Of Muslims," And The Rest Of Us
So now that you know that the rest of the world loves Obama, how about you?
I raised that question last Thursday night on my radio talk show at Washington, DC’s 630 WMAL, albeit rather facetiously.
Despite what the forces at CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, Rueters, The New York Times, and “CNN International” may want me to believe, I don’t assume that “the world loves Obama,” anymore than I assume that “the world hates Bush.”
READ MORE
Obamamania Not a Worldwide Phenomenon
WASHINGTON -- John McCain's prisoner-of-war experience is a strong selling point for him in this American election. But it is a powerful drag on his popularity in Europe, where past U.S. involvement in Vietnam still generates intensely negative feelings. Barack Obama's flirtation with protectionism similarly divides opinion at home and abroad. His attacks on NAFTA (Snip) cause important foreign partners like Mexico, China and Japan to wonder if an Obama presidency would be good for them...
READ MORE
Senior Taliban leader killed in Afghanistan
KABUL - A senior Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan surrendered to Pakistani authorities and British forces killed another leader, dealing a "shattering blow" to the militant group's leadership, the British army said on Tuesday. Mullah Rahim, the top commander for southern Helmand province, gave himself up after British forces had killed two other Taliban leaders in little over three weeks...
READ MORE
Iran Main Entry Route For Militants: Afghan Paper
KABUL - Iran has become the main transit route for militants trying to join insurgents in Afghanistan, an Afghan government daily said on Sunday. Some Western nations with troops in Afghanistan have said that Iranian weapons destined for the Taliban have been seized in Afghanistan...
READ MORE
Former CIA Agent in Iran Comes In from the Heat
After the Iranian Revolution, I was an officer in the Revolutionary Guards. I was also a spy working for the CIA, code name Wally. My position in the Guards gave me access to the Khomeini regime’s deep secrets and a firsthand look at the unfolding horror: torture, rapes, executions, assassinations, suicide bombers, training of terrorists, and the transfer of arms and explosives to other countries to support terrorist attacks. I risked my life and my family’s trying to expose this regime because I believed it should be stopped. Once again I incur such risks to bring awareness that lack of action endangers the world.
The men who ordered the destruction of the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie and the bombings of the Marine Corps barracks in Lebanon, the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, and the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia are pursuing the nuclear program in Iran and with one goal in mind:
to obtain The Bomb...
READ MORE
U.S. lawyer urges Iran to sue over nukes
TEHRAN -- A University of Illinois law professor says he has offered to represent Iran if it decides to sue the United States over threatened nuclear program sanctions. Iran's Press TV reported Tuesday that Francis Boyle, an international law expert, is urging Iranian leaders to sue Israel and the U.S. through the International Court of Justice in The Hague over their ultimatum that Iran freeze its nuclear enrichment program in a matter of weeks...
[a university professor - how surprising. we need an internet alternative to 'higher learning', they're little more than far-left indoctrination centers...]
READ MORE
Eye on the dragon
WASHINGTON -- Senior members of China's Ministry of State Security once again are delving into the 4th-century B.C. writings of Sun Zhu and his book, "The Art of War." Our courts have exposed a gradual change in Chinese spies and their tradecraft. Rather than rely on usually ensnared ethnic Chinese, they are recruiting Americans who want to be traitors. [snip]
It is apparent from these cases that Chinese intelligence likes killing a number of birds with one stone by acquiring top classified military intelligence from the United States to scare our regional allies. Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Japan are specific targets.
With this massive hemorrhaging of secrets, one could give credence to the rumors, which continue to come out of China, that the DF-21 ballistic missile is being equipped with a high-explosive warhead and a guidance system that can find and hit our aircraft carriers at sea... [snip]
Some of us seek closer ties with China. But we must remember that Madeleine Albright may soon be back in the U.S. administration. And her policy in 1999 was a brilliant mantra of real politiks:
"I would not let any single issue, such as trade or human rights, get in the way of our friendship policy towards China."READ MORE
Russia plans new carriers to boost navy
[HT:SR]
Moscow - Russia announced plans on Sunday to revive its once-mighty navy by building several aircraft carriers and upgrading its fleet of nuclear submarines in the coming years. Russia's power at sea is a shadow of the formidable Soviet navy which challenged U.S. military dominance in the Cold War. (Snip) Russia will build five or six aircraft carrier battle groups in the near future, RIA news agency quoted Navy Commander Vladimir Vysotsky...
[so it can project its ambitions globally - all paid for by your gas dollars]
READ MORE
Europe's continuing conservative swing
"The Labour Party has lost Glasgow East, a tribal stronghold. The equivalent of a Kennedy losing in Massachusetts."Labour lost one of its safest parliamentary seats on Friday, deepening doubts in its own ranks about Prime Minister Gordon Brown's ability to win the next election. [....] In more bad news for Brown, a poll for The Independent on Saturday showed the Conservatives opening a 22-point lead over Labour.
[I.e., more tangible evidence that what we're told by the old media re: Bush's having done 'damage' in Europe doesn't match what European voters are increasingly saying]
READ MORE
France Steps Back From 35-Hour Work Week
French lawmakers took a step toward ending the country's decade-long experiment with a 35-hour work week, passing a bill that gives companies greater latitude to extend working hours. The new law, approved late Wednesday, retains the legal limit on working hours but allows companies to negotiate opt-outs with employees. It also lets companies increase the maximum number of working days for white-collar workers to 235 per year from 218 currently.
Reforming the 35-hour law was one of President Nicolas Sarkozy's headline pledges during last year's presidential campaign. Sarkozy says the 35-hour law was an economic mistake that did not create jobs as it was intended to do. Waving banners with slogans like "There is life after work" and "I refuse to give my life to shareholders," members of two white collar unions protested the new law Wednesday in Paris.
"If I'm forced to work 235 days, my personal life will suffer," said demonstrator Arnaud de la Bergerie, a 27-year-old mechanical engineer.READ MORE
How the Greens Captured Energy Policy
.
U.S. energy policy -- to stretch the meaning of the term - is appalling. It has been thrown together piece by piece over the decades to create a system that is dysfunctional, over complex, and internally contradictory. It is a system that victimizes American citizens, cripples the U.S. economy, makes the government a laughingstock, and empowers our enemies worldwide.
While it's conceivable that somebody could actually design a policy that would do worse, they'd really have to work at it. The only group in American that sees energy policy achieving some of their goals are the ones who oversaw its implementation from the beginning: the environmentalist Greens. [snip]
One thing consistently overlooked is that American energy policy is literally the result of a series of accidents. Each of these incidents set off a blizzard of activity intended to "rationalize" the energy industry and its practices, prevent further mishaps, increase government control, and not the least, usher in the new Green Age. [snip]
Through its influence in the media and government (both bureaucracy and congress), the Greens effectively abolished nuclear power, curtailed domestic oil production, and left the American energy industry in the comatose state in which it abides to this day. Nor was this an error or overreaction - it was a deliberate effort to fulfill the 'Green agenda'. [snip]
Current energy policy -- or non-policy, however you wish -- lies at the very center of the Green agenda. First, we need to rid ourselves of our "addiction" to nukes and oil. Then we adapt to solar and wind, and.... Here it peters off into silence. Because no such second step has ever, or will ever be made. Solar, wind, alcohol, ethanol... all these are single-digit energy sources... [snip]
It has gone almost completely unacknowledged that with oil shale, offshore deposits, and new resources such as the hydrocarbon sludge deposits off B.C. and Alaska, the OPEC of the late 21st century is going to be right here. [snip]
Environmentalism is a luxury, and like all such, is best taken in moderation. The environment requires protection, but that's all. Primitive panthiesm has no place in this millennium. Nature is not an utterly benign continuum, and human beings are not a disease. Pseudo-religious environmentalism has long outlived its welcome. It's time to bring down the curtain.
[full histories and references, long, but as a pretty good 'full story' of how we got in this mess Highly Recommended > ]
READ MORE
Misplaced Priorities
While the top priority of most Americans — including a growing number of moderate Congressional Democrats — is legislative action on domestic oil exploration, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) wants the world’s greatest deliberative body to set aside concerns over skyrocketing energy prices to deal with such pressing issues as interstate pet-monkey sales, a botanical garden in Maryland, and the establishment of a committee to encourage celebration of the War of 1812 bicentennial.
Reid’s cloture motion on a 35-bill package called the“Advancing America’s Priorities Act” (AAPA) which authorizes over $11 billion in new spending, is currently scheduled for a Saturday vote.
None of the 35 bills in this omnibus have anything to do with domestic oil recovery or energy production of any kind.
[it matters who you vote for]
READ MORE
Ignored Economic News of the Week: YTD Surplus with Free-Trade Countries
On Wednesday, the Department of Commerce issued a press release, the kind of thing you would hope business journalists get in their e-mail boxes. But I found no coverage of this news in a Google News Search on [commerce "free trade'] (typed as indicated inside brackets).
Here is that news:
U.S. Manufacturing Exports Swing from Deficit to Surplus with Free Trade Agreement Countries
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez announced new U.S. Commerce Department data showing that the United States is running a trade surplus in manufactured exports with our 14 free trade agreement (FTA) partners. In the first five months of 2008, the trade balance in manufactured goods rose to a $2.7 billion surplus with our FTA partners from a $12.3 billion deficit during the same period last year. The U.S. manufactured goods trade balance improved 122 percent with our FTA partners, but only six percent with non-FTA partners in the first five months of 2008. [snip]
Since 2002, FTAs have helped U.S. manufactured exports grow steadily and at a faster rate than imports — 63 percent compared to only 42 percent, respectively, year-to-date through May 2008
“Americans need more trade, not less,” Gutierrez said. “It’s clear FTAs make us more competitive and contribute to the health of the U.S. economy. Now it’s time for Congress to approve the pending FTAs with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. U.S. manufactured exports and local economies depend on free markets for jobs and prosperity.” [Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez]
READ MORE [DoC press release]
READ MORE [fact sheet]
Bush urges Congress to OK Colombia trade pact
President Bush and Congress have been in lock-horn mode on the Colombia free trade pact since April. (Snip) Speaker Nancy Pelosi changed the rules, saying that Congress needs more time to consider the pact "in light of the economic uncertainty in our country." The speaker has it backwards. The economic uncertainly is the reason why Congress should approve the Colombia free trade agreement. The pact is far more advantageous for us than it is for Colombia...
[but our labor unions are against it...]
READ MORE
California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Takes Down Trans Fats
By Alex Garrel On Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill according to which trans fats are to be banned in all the state’s restaurants; unsurprisingly, this is the first US state to apply such a law.
[the nanny state grows]
READ MORE
AP's 'US Now Winning Iraq War' Analysis Getting Light Exposure
Robert Burns and Robert H. Reid created quite a stir in the blogosphere yesterday with their dispatch from Baghdad, "Analysis: US now winning Iraq war that seemed lost." NewsBusters colleague Noel Sheppard accurately called it a "stop the presses" story, and ended his post with an important perspective that you really must read if you haven't already...
READ MORE
New sport combines boxing and chess
BERLIN - Nikolay Sazhin almost knocked out his opponent with a blow to the chin in the second round. But he had to take the queen to win the match. In front of 1,000 cheering fans one recent Saturday night, Sazhin moved his bishop to go in for the kill and won the world championship of chess boxing, a weird hybrid sport that combines as many as five rounds of pugilism with a game of chess...
[no, I didn't make this up]
READ MORE
Friday, July 25, 2008
Obama's Berlin Speech & Three Views...
.
No. 44 Has Spoken
Europe is witnessing the 44th president of the United States during this trip.
George W. Bush is yesterday, the Texas version of the arrogant world power. Obama is all about today: the "everybody really just wants to be brothers and save the world" utopia. As for us, we who sometimes admire and sometimes curse this somewhat anemic, pragmatic democracy, we will have to quickly get used to Barack Obama, the new leader of a lofty democracy that loves those big nice words -- words that warm our hearts and alarm our minds.
Let's allow ourselves to be warmed today, by this man at the Victory Column.
[this is Spiegel {Germany's largest paper}]
READ MORE
Barack Obama - the world can expect better of America
Berlin - Barack Obama, already hailed as a political Messiah by the German press, tonight took the US presidential campaign to Europe with a thunderously applauded speech promising a better, more sensitive America and urging a new global partnership...
[better of America, more sensitive America. Promised to the country that didn't stand with us in Iraq, and who's pitifully few 'troops' in Afghanistan are explicitly prohibited from fighting (or even entering 'contested areas')]
READ MORE
Obama's Berlin Subtext
[HT:HR]
Obama gave his long awaited speech in Berlin today. With classic Obama arrogance, he appropriated Ronald Reagan's rhetoric seeming to think that he was being original. The walls that must come down, according to Obama, are racial and religious walls. The theological differences between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, must become nothing.
Had Obama made that speech in Gaza, Jordan, or Saudi Arabia, then his speech would have been courageous and there would have been some merit to it. For, the Islamic countries of the mid-East are hotbeds of racial and religious intolerance, hellholes in which torture is par for the course, in which Jews are as cattle for slaughter and blacks are "abd." [snip]
Instead, Obama tossed the entire United States under the bus and played the race card before an America-hating international audience and accused it of torture, of racial discrimination against non-European type immigrants, of religious discrimination. There was no acknowledgment that the U.S. has a right to self-defense or that U.S. law should be upheld and not infringed by illegals who boldly violate our immigration policy.
Thus, we Americans have discovered, irrefutably, that Obama has a Eurocentric view of the U.S. and its people, and he will not defend her staunchly against condemnation by outsiders. In fact, he will join them in hurling the first stone...
READ MORE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
