When Political Correctness Becomes Conventional Wisdom

... Climate change scientists have no evidence for their theories that cannot be refuted by experts of equal or greater stature. Bill Gray, for example, is the world's most famous authority on hurricanes. Working in the atmospheric science department of Colorado State University, he predicts the number of hurricanes each tropical storm season will produce. A towering figure in his field, he has trained dozens of scientists over the years.

Gray has testified on global warming before Congress. He has given speeches, written articles and done all he can think of to get his message out. Yet, he has been ostracized by his colleagues, cut off from government funding and invested more than $100,000 of his own money to keep his research going — all because he contends that global warming is a fraud.

“I am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people,” he says. “I've been in meteorology over 50 years. I've worked damn hard, and I've been around. My feeling is some of us older guys who've been around have not been asked about this. It's sort of a baby boomer, yuppie thing.”

Unfortunately, it appears that the yuppies have won and their political correctness has now become conventional wisdom. Welcome to the 19th Century.

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Senate Keeps Focus on Polar Bear

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said the Department of Interior has been "foot-dragging" on listing the polar bear as an endangered species and has asked the department's secretary to appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.[snip]

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the committee, however, said, "Unfortunately, the polar bear is simply a pawn in a much bigger game of chess.

"It has become clear that listing the bear as a threatened species is not about protecting the bear but about using the ESA to achieve global warming policy that special interest groups cannot otherwise achieve through the legislative process,"

"Implementation of ESA should be driven by science, not litigation," Inhofe said. "As we have heard in testimony before the committee, all too often the act's strict timelines make it nearly impossible for the scientists to do their job."

Dale Hall, director of FWS, recently testified before the Committee that he needed extra time to review additional science before making the final decision on the listing of the polar bear.

[have you thought through how much this political subterfuge is going to cost you at the pump?

Pelosi > http://speaker.house.gov/contact/ (202) 225-0100

YOUR Senator http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

President > president@whitehouse.gov


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empty/embedded image test

EARTH DAY 2008: PREDICTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER WERE WRONG

Another Earth Day has passed, so this is a good time to look back at predictions made on the original Earth Day about environmental disasters that were about to hit the planet, says the Washington Policy Center (WPC). Most Earth Day predictions turned out to be stunningly wrong.

In 1970, environmentalists said there would soon be a new ice age and massive deaths from air pollution. The New York Times foresaw the extinction of the human race. Widely-quoted biologist Paul Ehrlich predicted worldwide starvation by 1975. More predictions of impending disaster:

• "...civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind," biologist George Wald, Harvard University, April 19, 1970.
• By 1995, "...somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct." Sen. Gaylord Nelson, quoting Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, Look magazine, April 1970.
• Because of increased dust, cloud cover and water vapor "...the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born," Newsweek magazine, January 26, 1970.
• "We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation," biologist Barry Commoner, University of Washington, writing in the journal Environment, April 1970.
• "By 1985, air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half..." Life magazine, January 1970.
• "Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make," Paul Ehrlich, interview in Mademoiselle magazine, April 1970.

[and on & on...]

Source: Press Release, "Earth Day 2008: Predictions of Environmental Disaster Were Wrong," Washington Policy Center, April 22, 2008.

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“What is at risk is not the climate but freedom. I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central (now global) planning.”

—Czech president Vaclav Klaus

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Why We Serve: Sailor Shares Deployment Experiences

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Emily K. Klinefelter said she volunteered for the deployment because, as a leader, she knew she would have to one day ask her sailors to deploy, and she wanted to have the experience first. “It was really not a hard decision for me to make,” she said.

Klinefelter re-enlisted for another six years while she was in Iraq, and she hopes to become a warrant officer shortly after being promoted to chief petty officer next year, she said. For now, her goal is to spread the message that the Navy is involved in the war on terror right alongside its fellow services, and that troops around the world are proud to serve their country.

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The Afghanistan success story

... I have shown that statements from NATO leaders have gone almost completely ignored when they do not sustain the "losing in Afghanistan" narrative. I remember one article in which the writer declared that the Taliban had "vast swaths of unchallenged territory, including rural areas." The truth of the matter was that NATO forces had pushed the Taliban out of the towns and villages and into the wastelands...

Last week at a NATO/International Security Assistance Force summit in Bucharest, ISAF leaders reaffirmed their commitment to Afghanistan and released a report which supports my argument. The report, Progress in Afghanistan, belies the current media dictum in its' very name. But the revelations in the report shred the media template to the point of making it incontestable that the American public is the victim of journalistic malpractice concerning Afghanistan.

The report begins with this salient foreword:

The conclusion we draw from this report is simple: this broad international effort to help Afghanistan build a more stable and secure future is achievable, and it is being achieved. Of course, real challenges remain, and this will be a long-term effort; but the information contained in this report gives reason for optimism.

Yet all of this good news goes nearly unreported in the American media in favor of a "resurgent Taliban" narrative. At some point, media consumers must not only question the media narrative but the cause of this distorted reporting. We can only conclude that the disparate nature of the facts from the reporting points to nothing less than purposely biased reporting at America's journalistic institutions.

We are now experiencing another Tet Offensive in Afghanistan, not from the enemy forces, but from an enemy media that seeks to put a Democrat in the White House by discrediting anything our military has accomplished, as long as the Commander-in-Chief is a Republican.

[Recommended >]

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Attack Wing: Glider Makes Waves With Stealth and Speed

It weighs only 30 pounds and can be fully weaponized for assault and rescue. It has a 6-foot jet-wing that is steered with handheld rotary controls connected to its rudder. And it can hide more than 100 pounds of combat gear in a built-in compartment. The Gryphon attack glider, designed to penetrate combat zones at 135 miles per hour, could revolutionize the art of parachuting. (Snip) A vision straight out of "Batman," the carbon-fiber stealth glider quadruples the speed of similar craft...


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Palestinian 'Moderates' Ensure Extremism

“Rice Wins Concessions from Israel,” read the Washington Post headline after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent visit. Rice herself told reporters her goal was to further Israel-Palestinian Authority (PA) talks by getting Israeli concessions to “improve the quality of life” for Palestinians. She listed ten different Israeli concessions including: removing 50 roadblocks, easing checkpoint procedures, increasing travel and work permits, backing economic projects, letting 700 U.S.-trained PA security men deploy, and giving the PA armored vehicles and night-vision goggles. Rice claimed success, saying talks are now "moving in the right direction."

Are they? Will these concessions make the PA more stable or moderate? No. One wonders if we’ll ever see the headline: “Rice Wins Concessions from Palestinians.” I doubt it...

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Hamas rejects Israeli recognition

[now who could have seen that coming...]
Mr Carter had said Hamas was prepared to accept the right of Israel to "live as a neighbour next door in peace".
[...everybody but Jimmy...]
Speaking in Syria, where he lives in exile, Khaled Meshaal said that this did not mean recognising Israel, but he said: "We have offered a truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, a truce of 10 years as an alternative to recognition."
[...after which they'll resume the war - just closer and better entrenched]
"The problem is that Israel and the United States refuse to meet with someone who must be involved," - said Carter.
[right: Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and it's... Israel and America's fault.]

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Report: Russian bombers intercepted off Alaska

Moscow - NATO forces sent jets to escort two Russian long-range air force bombers patrolling neutral skies near Alaska on Wednesday, Russian news agencies quoted the defense ministry as saying. (Snip) Accompanied by two Il-78 refueling tankers, the two Tu-95 Bear bombers flew for 15 hours over the Arctic and Pacific oceans, Interfax news agency quoted Russian Air Force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky as saying.

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Bush a Master Diplomat Strengthening U.S. Relations All Over

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"The world owes President Bush a debt of gratitude in leading the world in our determination to root out terrorism," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a man whose recent elevation to office was supposed to denote a "cooling" of relations with the U.S. and a tilt toward Europe. But Europe isn't really "cooling," either.

France is now led by a man elected as "le Americain." Like Brown, President Nicolas Sarkozy had nothing but good things to say about Bush. [...]

In Italy, all we can find is another enthusiastically pro-Bush prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who won high office this week in a landslide. "What I did counted in my relationship with Bush," he said this month in his campaign.

In Germany, led by conservative and U.S.-friendly Chancellor Angela Merkel, the sentiment has also gone pro-American, as it has in the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Canada.

Outside of Western Europe, the reviews are even warmer because there's a focus not just on terror-fighting but standing up for democracy— as ties with Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Albania show. [...]

Bush has also boosted ties with strategic Asian countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, and broken new ground with some very big players globally, like Brazil and India, both of whose leaders have the most cordial of relations. [...]

So what was that again about Bush alienating 'the world'?

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Financial markets global-tax could aid world’s poor

A tax of one-hundredth of a percentage point on global financial transactions could provide hundreds of billions of dollars for developing countries facing the challenges of soaring commodity prices and climate change, the United Nations heard this week. The food price crisis that has sparked unrest in some of the world’s poorest countries.

[one-hundredth of a percent - for now - are we really foolish enough to allow the one-world-government folks to take what funds they deem 'necessary'?]

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Climate change claims exaggerated: Minchin

A KEY federal opposition frontbencher has voiced his skepticism about climate change. Opposition defense spokesman, and leader of the opposition in the Senate Nick Minchin said there were still doubts on the science used to back up claims about climate change.

"I do think that the claims being made in relation to climate change generally are often very exaggerated," he told ABC Television.

"And even Ross Garnaut in his report makes it clear that there are many, many scientists who doubt the voracity of the IPCC's (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) findings, and he called for greater debate about the scientific evidence...

[greater what? whatzat - 'debate'? {it's still occurring in other countries}]

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Global Warming Petition Project

More than 19,000 scientists have signed a petition which 'urges':

"The United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind. "

And states:

"There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."

The complete of signatories can be seen at www.oism.org/pproject.

[that's 19K scientists in addition to the over 4000 from 106 countries which signed the Heidelberg Appeal in 1992, those that signed the Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change in response to Kyoto's drafting {forgot count, apologies}, and the meticulously vetted Oregon Petition begun in 1998 that now has in excess of 20K signatories itself. Ok, suspect there's some overlap in signatories and no, I'm not going to parse 'em - point is it's yet another association of predominantly climate related scientists that dwarfs the few thousand of the IPCC and else where - but which is routinely ignored by the MSM - why?]

BACK TO THE '70S?

Wasn't it two years ago that then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi vowed, if her party took over Congress, to cut energy prices -- especially gasoline? Since then the cost of energy is up more than 70 percent. Under Pelosi's "common-sense plan," Congress has achieved nothing. Actually, less than nothing, considering that what little has been done has hurt, rather than helped the United States to become more energy self-sufficient:

• This year alone, we'll spend $431 billion to buy 3.7 billion barrels of imported oil to run our economy.
• And in so doing, we are enriching some of the world's most unsavory regimes.

Ironically, we have plenty of oil:

• At least 10 billion barrels in Alaska's National Wildlife Reserve. [Caribou could trip on a rig; off limits]
• 30 billion or so offshore. [not in sight of my beach house; off limits]
• 1.2 trillion in Rocky Mountain oil-shale. [classified 'alternative' fuel, carbon footprint must be less than liquid oil, isn't; off limits]

Unfortunately, Democrats' extreme green ideology keeps us from drilling for it. Clean coal technologies likewise have been put out of bounds. So has the most logical answer to our energy problem -- nuclear power plants that can be run safely with spent rods reprocessed. France already does this to meet 80 percent of its energy needs.

Democrats have focused instead on a global warming plan that would cost $1.2 trillion. Meanwhile, subsidies and other breaks for biofuels have helped send food prices soaring. As in the 1970s, this is a human-made crisis -- one that has solutions. But it's the Democrats, along with a few equally misguided Republicans, who steadfastly refuse to implement them.

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Nixon's daughter supports Obama

Julie Nixon Eisenhower, a daughter of former Republican president Richard Nixon, is supporting Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential bid.

[quite the scoop CNN. {what bias?}]

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Soldiers Re-enlist to Commemorate 100th Army Reserve Anniversary

“In places like Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, the Philippines and Latin America, Army reservists are bringing their warrior skills and their civilian trades to the fight,” Petraeus said.

“As everyone here knows,” Petraeus told the citizen-soldiers, “that combination is particularly effective in the exceedingly complex environments we face today -- environments that require our troopers to be not just warriors but also diplomats, builders, trainers, advisors, intelligence gatherers, service providers, economic developers and mediators.”

“Citizen-soldiers perform these diverse roles expertly, and in so doing, they demonstrate the critical role members of the Army Reserve play in safeguarding freedom at home and defending it abroad,” the general added.

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America Supports You: Community Sends Girl Scout Cookies to Troops

“Our U.S. troops in Iraq have sacrificed so much for our country's freedom so it was a wonderful feeling for me to have the opportunity to be able to give back to them,” said Marisa Pike, one of the seventh-graders who participated. “It's great to be part of a school that encourages students to serve others in their need.”

[In addition, the foundation has focused efforts on providing financial support for the families of wounded and disabled soldiers in Cincinnati and across the country - please visit >

http://www.thethankyoufoundation.org/

>'Contribute' right end of banner bar]

Gen. Petraeus is garnering a place in history

There he was, this generation's equivalent of George Marshall, the brilliant proconsul testifying before Congress to underline the improbable but now indisputable victory over al Qaida. In military history, the turn-around David Petraeus has commanded in Iraq rivals MacArthur's surprise landing at Inchon... [snip]

An earlier and more attentive generation might have idolized Petraeus. This one barely grasps his victory and has no idea who he is. The Pew Research Center reports that 55 percent of the public cannot even recognize his name — roughly the same percentage as those who wish the war would just fade away... [snip]

Petraeus may eventually take his place in history as neither a Marshall nor a MacArthur but instead as an Eisenhower. However that may turn out, it was embarrassing this week to see just how profoundly the military institution outclasses and outperforms its political masters...

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IRAN'S BUSTED IRAQ BID

BASRA 'RISING' WAS TEHRAN'S OP

That's how analysts in Tehran describe events last month in Basra. Iran's state-run media have de facto confirmed that this was no spontaneous "uprising." Rather, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tried to seize control of Iraq's second-largest city using local Shiite militias as a Trojan horse. [snip]

The Iranian plan - developed by Revolutionary Guard's Quds (Jerusalem) unit, which is in charge of "exporting the Islamic Revolution" - aimed at a quick victory. To achieve that, Tehran spent vast sums persuading local Iraqi security personnel to switch sides or to remain neutral. [snip]

Initially, Quds commanders appeared to have won their bet. Their Special Groups and Mahdi Army allies easily seized control of key areas of Basra when more than 500 Iraqi security personnel abandoned their positions and disappeared into the woodwork. Soon, however, the tide turned. Maliki proved that he had the courage to use the new Iraqi Security Force, even if that meant confronting Iran...[snip]

The Iran-backed side lost more than 600 men, with more than 1,000 injured. The ISF lost 88 dead and 122 wounded.

Some analysts suggest this was the first war between new Iraq and the Islamic Republic. If so, the Iraqis won.

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“Tehran tried to test the waters in Basra and, as an opportunist power, would've annexed southern Iraq under a quisling administration had that been attainable at a low cost. Once it became clear that the cost might be higher than the Quds force expected, Tehran opted to back down.

“Yet this was just the first round. The struggle for Iraq isn't over.”

— Amir Taheri, New York Post

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Intercepted al-Qaida Letter Reveals Tactics, Strategy

"Use silenced guns to kill coalition forces at Iraqi security checkpoints, smuggle weapons in gradual shipments to reduce the risk of detection, and poison Iraq’s water supply with nitric acid to spread disease and death."

Such tactics were fleshed out in a terrorist letter intended for Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the foreign-born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. But the document never reached Masri. Instead, coalition forces lifted it from the body of a terrorist they killed last month during an operation 30 miles northwest of Baghdad.

In addition to outlining extremist combat methods, Safyan advocated waging economic and psychological warfare, and his roadmap for success hinged on “continuous conflict” between Iraq’s Shiite government, Sunni members of “Awakening Movements” and Kurdish nationalists.

[like Tet, expect a terror surge as we lead up to the election - also like Tet, it could be the terrorists swan song: they're paying more dearly for every attack with each passing day, to win we need only stand firm in our commitment to do so]

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Twofer...

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Muslim Groups Take Issue With McCain's Vocabulary

A coalition of American Muslim groups is demanding that presumptive Republican nominee John McCain stop using the word "Islamic" to describe terrorists. The Washington Times reports Islamic Society of North America's secretary general wants McCain to use something he calls "more acceptable to the Muslim community." (Snip)

[McCain spokeman:] "The reality is, the hateful ideology which underpins bin Ladenism is properly described as radical Islamic extremism. Senator McCain refers to it that way because that is what it is."

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“______” Terrorism

Yesterday, Muneer Fareed, head of the Islamic Society of North America, called for John McCain to cease using the terms Muslim or Islamic in describing–Mohammedan?–terrorism. Here’s Fareed, as quoted in the Washington Times:

"You want to call them terrorist criminals, fine. But adding the word ‘Muslim’ or ‘Islamic’ certainly doesn’t help our cause as Americans . . . It paints an entire community of believers, 1.2 billion in total, in a very negative way."

In fact, it does no such thing. The modifiers “Islamic” and “Muslim” are critical in helping to identify the methodology, motivation, and personnel working against us. What does paint the moderate Muslim community “in a very negative way” is Fareed’s evident refusal to face up to a blunt fact: people calling themselves Muslims have waged a war against people they’ve labeled infidels...

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A FOOLISH OVERREACTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Over the past five years the scaremongering of the climate alarmists has led the governments of Europe to commit themselves to a drastic reduction in carbon emissions, regardless of the economic cost of doing so, says Lord Nigel Lawson former British Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In fact, given that warming produces benefits as well as costs, it is far from clear that for the people of the world as a whole, the currently projected warming, even if it were to occur, would cause any net harm at all. By contrast, slowing down world economic growth, by shifting to much more expensive non-carbon sources of energy, would be massively costly and by extension do great harm - especially to the world's poor.

That is one good reason why the sought-after global agreement to cut back drastically on carbon dioxide emissions, embracing China, India and the other major developing countries, is not going to happen.

But a very real danger remains: Europe's intention to start a global trade war by imposing trade barriers against countries that don't accept a mandatory cut in their emissions, as President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and others are already urging...

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Europe Turns to Coal

At a time when some are crying that carbon emissions must be rapidly reduced to hold down global warming, Italy’s major electricity producer, Enel, is converting its massive power plant here from oil to coal, what we're told is the dirtiest fuel on earth.

Over the next five years, Italy will increase its reliance on coal to 33 percent from 14 percent. Power generated by Enel from coal will rise to 50 percent.

And Italy is not alone in its return to coal. Driven by rising demand, record high oil and natural gas prices, concerns over energy security and an aversion to nuclear energy, European countries are slated to build about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years...

[How very interesting. Of course the US, as the "Saudi Arabia of coal", Has naturally all but put the resource off limits for any expanded role as an energy source - to the contrary, congress is busy drafting additional punitive legislation against its use. Are you ready to mine yet?]

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Increasing demand for biofuels could be detrimental for women

Increasing demand for liquid biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, the conversion of agricultural land for their production and increased use of natural resources could be detrimental to women in rural areas, a new United Nations study warns.

The study, released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), calls on the member States to adopt measures to ensure that women have the same opportunities as men to benefit from the increased production of biofuels.

"Unless policies are adopted in developing countries to strengthen the participation of small farmers, especially women in biofuel production by increasing their access to land, capital and technology, gender inequalities are likely to become more marked"...

[ Note that they're defining 'harm' to women not as their losing something, but in not gaining additional benefit in equal measure to men. The world is beginning to starve, and these idiots are lecturing on gender-farming-inequality. What could be more foolish? A: biofuels are causing the starvation. UNsalvageable.]

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Angry driver waves gun, shoots self, faces charges

TEMPE — A man accidentally shot himself in the stomach after waving his gun in anger at a fellow driver in Tempe, and police say he will face charges. Tempe police spokesman Brandon Banks said Monday that David Lopez, 33, is expected to survive and could face charges including disorderly conduct, reckless display of a firearm and felony flight from police in the Friday night incident.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/fromcomments/235425.php

The World Food Crisis

[brought to you by the war-on-warming]

Most Americans take food for granted. Even the poorest fifth of households in the United States spend only 16 percent of their budget on food. In many other countries, it is less of a given. Nigerian families spend 73 percent of their budgets to eat, Vietnamese 65 percent, Indonesians half. They are in trouble.

Last year, the food import bill of developing countries rose by 25 percent as food prices rose to levels not seen in a generation. Corn doubled in price over the last two years. Wheat reached its highest price in 28 years. The increases are already sparking unrest from Haiti to Egypt. Many countries have imposed price controls on food or taxes on agricultural exports.

Last week, the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, warned that 33 nations are at risk of social unrest because of the rising prices of food. “For countries where food comprises from half to three-quarters of consumption, there is no margin for survival,” he said.

The rich world is causing this situation by supporting the production of biofuels. The International Monetary Fund estimates that corn ethanol production in the United States accounted for at least half the rise in world corn demand in each of the past three years. This elevated corn prices. Feed prices rose. So did prices of other crops — mainly soybeans — as farmers switched their fields to corn, according to the Agriculture Department...

[again: dumbest idea in the history of this {or for all we know, any} planet - yet watch how long it takes our 'leaders' to admit it and undo it]

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Global Warming 101: Professor Carter Explains Climate Realism

For years the foreign press outlets have been doing a far better job of covering both sides of the manmade global warming debate than American media. Friday was a perfect example as New Zealand television's "Nzone Tonight" broadcast an interview with Professor Bob Carter of James Cook University, Queensland, Australia.

As you watch the video embedded to the right [follow link], notice the respect and courtesy Carter is given by host Allan Lee as he calmly and methodically explained the position of climate realists without being insulted or referred to as a "denier."

Compare that to the disgraceful job ABC's Dan Harris did last month when he interviewed Dr. S. Fred Singer on "World News" in a segment entitled "Welcome to 'The Denial Machine'" that actually began:

"One of the most influential scientists in what's been called "The Denial Machine," for decades, Fred Singer has argued loudly that global warming is not dangerous despite the vast majority of scientists who agree it is. His critics say Dr. Singer has helped create the mirage of a scientific debate which has preventing the American public and American politicians from taking action."

With this in mind, I challenge American television news outlets to reciprocate, and begin interviewing climate realists on the air, with courtesy and decorum, so that the citizenry can better understand all the intricate facets of the real science involved in this matter...

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Congress Picks a Loser

Congress doesn’t trust consumers to make the right decision when it comes to selecting the right source of energy. Congress knows better. That’s why legislation out of Capitol Hill is all about weaning us off oil and putting us directly on a “renewable energy” diet.

Witness the energy tax bill the House passed in February that slaps $18 billion in taxes on oil production to fund wind, solar, biofuels, and other “alternative” sources.

Witness the new energy law passed in December mandating that Americans increase the use of ethanol and other biofuels at the pump to 36 billion gallons by 2022, up from 7 billion gallons required now. And witness the new farm bill that gives corn growers $10.5 billion in subsidies over the next five years, no matter how fast the price of corn rises—which, incidentally, has gone from $3.50 a bushel to a record $5.50 over the past three months.

The problem is that Congress, unlike consumers who make decisions based on price and availability rather than political pressures, gets it egregiously – and damagingly – wrong...

[and then defends their ideas to death. a 57% increase to corn prices in three months, producing 7B gallons/yr. - what's it going to be like in 2022 at 36B gallons/yr.? this is insanity - which you are going to pay for ]

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COMPETITION SOLVES HEALTH CARE

For all the rhetoric of "change," this election is a contest between two very old, and very important, competing visions of government.

Free-market thinkers have a clear and compelling case that the problems in our health care system do not represent a failure of markets, but a failure of government. For example:

• While government's role in health care has expanded -- one out of two health care dollars is now spent by the government -- health care has become more expensive, less efficient, and less accessible.
• Health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000 while inflation grew at 18 percent and wages grew by 20 percent.

A market-based system that would unleash the power of innovation and competition in health care is within reach - a key reform would involve transferring health care tax benefits to individuals rather than employers:

• McCain's plan would do that by providing every American with a tax credit of $2,500 per individual ($5,000 per family) to buy their own insurance plan.
• Switzerland, hardly a bastion of conservatism, has used a similar individual-based model where costs are 50 percent less than in America, with better outcomes.

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The World Bank now believes that some 33 countries are in danger of being destabilised by food price inflation, while Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, said that higher food prices risked wiping out progress towards reducing poverty and could harm global growth and security. Why has this happened so quickly? What caused the prices to rise?

Bob Watson, the chief scientist at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, puts the rise in the price of commodity crops such as wheat down to a number of factors: higher demand for grain to feed livestock in China, where increasing affluence means more people want to eat meat; drought in Australia for three years, meaning it has had to import wheat; market jitters brought on by the sight of several countries stopping exporting grain; speculators seeing a chance to make money; and, of course, the sudden extra demand for food crops such as maize for use in biofuels, in both Europe and the United States.

A few years ago, he points out, no one could have predicted that we would be aiming to produce five to 10 per cent of our petrol and diesel from crops.

[note who's talking - chief scientist at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, yet what's missing from the list of causes? Global Warming (we had a heavy rainfall year except for Australia). Isn't that strange. Well - it's kind of there - our war on warming looks to have its first true casualties (and they aren't bears)...][BTW: genetically modified food holds the best promise to feeding the world, but alas, that's not allowed either - for equally scientific reasons {bad policies have bad consequences}]

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CNN: Media Deserve 'Shame' for 'Complicity' w/ Dems Ignoring Immigration

On Tuesday's Lou Dobbs Tonight, which was repeated on Sunday, CNN host Dobbs chided the media for not including illegal immigration in exit polls of Democratic voters simply because Democratic candidates have avoided discussing the issue. Dobbs:

"Would it surprise you if I were to tell you right here in front of God and everybody I had to convince CNN a couple of years ago to include illegal immigration in a poll because we didn't even in this organization believe it was an important issue, some of us didn't?"

He even got Schneider to agree with his contention that the media's "complicity with that motive" of the Democratic candidates in ignoring the issue should "bring a sense of shame to these [media] organizations."

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Firefighters fined for speeding to blazes

Firefighters are being issued speeding tickets by the NSW Government for rushing to life-threatening emergencies in fire engines. In an astounding case of bureaucracy gone mad, the Government is sending infringement notices to the homes of individual fire truck drivers. It is then left up to the officers to sign statutory declarations or take the matter to court to avoid paying fines.

[this is government, eventually, any country. Healthcare anyone?]

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Bullies

Our legal system invites lawyers to act like bullies. Only in America can I sue you for dubious reasons, force you to spend thousands of dollars on lawyers (not to mention the psychic costs -- the anxiety and lost sleep that lawsuits create), and when a judge rules that my claim is bunk, I don't even have to say "sorry." I can blithely move on to sue someone else. In other countries, I would have to pay your legal fees to at least compensate you for some of the financial damage I caused. "Loser pays," it's called.

The trial lawyers have even gamed the language. They call "loser pays" the "English Rule," as if it's some weird British law. But it's not. It's really the Rest of the World Rule. America is the odd man out because we rarely punish litigators who misuse force.

America needs judges willing to say no to the lawyer bullies. America also needs "loser pays." Otherwise, the parasites will bully away your money and your choices.

[we also need a law that requires lawyers who sue on their own behalf to also hire attorneys to do so - and so remove the nearly-free cost to them of perpetrating such legal extortion]

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The Washington Monument Strategy...

California

The Washington Monument Strategy is so named for a predictable bureaucratic reaction to any suggestion that a government budget should be reduced. Whenever a Congressman suggested that the National Parks Service budget could be trimmed, the standard bureaucratic response was always, “Well, then we’ll just have to close the Washington Monument.” [aka; 'fire house strategy' at the local level][snip]

“Across-the-board” cuts are the most stupid conceivable way to make budget reductions, because they treat the highest of state priorities the same as the lowest. Thus, instead of making 100 percent cuts in utterly indefensible expenditures like tuition subsidies for illegal aliens and a vast array of duplicative or obsolete state programs, the governor proposes throwing the prison doors open. The governor is obviously employing the Washington Monument Strategy when he proposes releasing 20,000 dangerous felons – including burglars – onto California streets and closing the most popular beaches in Southern California.

Yet he refuses even to consider the obvious question: why should it cost California $42,000 per year to house a prisoner when Florida does it for just $18,000? (When we recalled Davis, California’s cost was $32,000 per year). Last year, the governor had the opportunity to save $7 billion in construction costs and $1 billion in annual operating expenses by contracting out 50,000 prison beds – as many states already do. Instead, he approved a law that makes it impossible to do so. (Click here for my speech to the Senate last April)

So who does he think he’s kidding?

[A: all those who get their news from TV, which undoubtedly will focus on the pain and suffering such uncompassionate across-the-board-cuts will cause... [more, recommended >]

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THE HAZARDS OF TELLING THE TRUTH

Afrocentrism began on college campuses in the 1980s and gained astonishing momentum with the publication of Martin Bernal's "Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization" (1989). Though the arguments were contradictory and scattered, the point was that Western civilization had been founded on materials and discoveries borrowed or stolen from black Egyptians.

During this whirlwind of dubious scholarship, the academic world mostly remained silent, hiding behind the curtain of academic freedom and withholding its criticism lest a statement of simple truth be branded "racist". The scholar who did the most to break this silence was Mary Lefkowitz, a classicist at Wellesley College. Outraged by the nonscholarly approach of Afrocentric writers, she somewhat naïvely imagined that facts would put their extreme theories to rest. She noted, for instance:

• Socrates couldn't have been black, as alleged, because his parents were Athenian citizens and blacks, in classical Athens, were not eligible for citizenship.
• Aristotle would have had a tough time stealing his philosophy from the library at Alexandria, since he died before the library was built.

Such arguments went nowhere, Lefkowitz writes, with those who saw Greek philosophy "as yet another case of a colonialist European plundering of Africa."

[after universal vouchers for K-12 we need internet-based college to take professors as much out of the loop as possible]

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New class of campus police is bigger and better-armed

University police departments are bigger and more likely to arm their officers than a decade ago, according to a recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. In Texas, law enforcement departments on college campuses seem to be ahead of this trend, with nearly 94 percent
of surveyed universities arming their police and just as many employing sworn officers. "Texas is Texas: We are a state that has firearms," said Bill Taylor, chief of police at Rice University, which has sworn and armed officers.

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Gore's Alarmism Failing: Concern for Global Warming Same as 19 Years Ago!

Want to talk about really inconvenient truths?

Well, despite Nobel Laureate Al Gore's massive campaign to scare the world into thinking the planet is facing imminent doom at the hands of global warming, Americans don't seem to be buying it.

In fact, a new Gallup poll released moments ago revealed, "a little more than a third say they worry about [global warming] a great deal, a percentage that is roughly the same as the one Gallup measured 19 years ago."

[don't break out champagne yet: 300M$ a fair chunk of change to sound-bite American TV watchers...]

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Guns and God? Hell, yes

Sen. Obama's remarks about poor dumb, bitter rural losers "clinging to" guns and God certainly testify to the instinctive snobbery of a big segment of the political class. But we shouldn't let it go by merely deploring coastal condescension toward the knuckledraggers. It's an attack on two of the critical advantages the United States holds over most of the rest of the Western world.

In the other G7 developed nations, nobody clings to God 'n' guns. The guns got taken away, and the Europeans gave up on churchgoing once they embraced Big Government as the new religion.

How's that working out? Compared with America, France and Germany have been more or less economically stagnant for the past quarter-century, living permanently with unemployment rates significantly higher than in the United States. Has it made them any less "bitter," as Obama characterizes those Pennsylvanian crackers? No.

In my book "America Alone," I note a global survey on optimism: 61 percent of Americans were optimistic about the future, 29 percent of the French, 15 percent of Germans. Take it from a foreigner: In my experience, Americans are the least "bitter" people in the developed world. [snip]

I think a healthy society needs both God and guns: It benefits from a belief in some kind of higher purpose to life on Earth, and it requires a self-reliant citizenry. If you lack either of those twin props, you wind up with today's Europe – a present-tense Eutopia mired in fatalism...

[as usual, Mr. Steyn combines sophisticated insights with plain-talk translations, entertaining & Recommended > ]

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Heroes: Soldiers Bring Gifts to Iraqi School Children

“I just like seeing them smile,” he said. “That’s my thing. I love kids. We try to bring out snacks and toys and sometimes pens, we’re in an area where the kids don’t have access to the things they need. I think they truly appreciate it.”

While the soldiers will work on finding a way to supply the school with the services, they know it cannot be done overnight. “There is no quick fix,” the lieutenant said, “but we want (the villagers) to know that we are here to help.”

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Two Myths About Afghanistan

As Western leaders and Congress debate NATO's responsibilities in Afghanistan, it's time to dissolve two great American illusions about Afghanistan. The first is that Hamid Karzai is a good president who looks after American interests. The second is that the situation in Afghanistan is going from bad to worse. Both of these unchallenged "facts" are dangerous errors. [snip]

Karzai manages by panic, with massive corruption and an absence of vision. Karzai has sought to derail grass-roots efforts at building democracy and to stifle Afghanistan's nascent civil society, repeatedly siding with fundamentalists against progressives. [snip]

Today, most Afghans are living in the best conditions they have ever known, slowly growing their country out of poverty. Most of the north and west is peaceful. Much of the east is, too, except some areas that are very undeveloped and very remote or directly border Pakistan's lawless tribal belt. [snip]

Considering where it started, Afghanistan isn't doing too badly. It would be doing much better with a courageous, inspired president committed to honest and transparent government.

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Dots...

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British Muslims 'planned to kill thousands by bombing seven transatlantic airliners in one go'

A British terror gang plotted to use liquid explosives to blow up transatlantic passenger jets in mid-flight, a court heard today. Eight men planned to smuggle bombs disguised as soft drinks on to flights from Heathrow to the United States and Canada and detonate them on board, Woolwich crown court was told. It would have caused a civilian death toll on an "almost unprecedented scale" and a "global impact".

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Sanity has lost out to legal dogma [UK]

At the last roll of the dice, sanity has lost out to legal dogma. The Government's long-drawn-out battle to deport suspected foreign terrorists is effectively over. Yesterday's two judgments by the Court of Appeal make it extremely unlikely that Britain will ever manage to deport Abu Qatada and other foreign terror suspects, a point tacitly acknowledged by the Home Office's decision to drop its attempts to deport a further ten Libyans in addition to the two whose appeals were successful yesterday.

Abu Qatada, a radical Muslim cleric described as al-Qaeda's “ambassador in Europe”, is wanted in Jordan, where he has already been convicted of terrorism offences.

These people came in through Britain's leaky borders and were allowed to stay, in some cases, because of wilful sloppiness by the immigration authorities. Now our human rights laws mean that we are stuck with them. We cannot keep them under arrest much longer after these rulings. So they will soon be free to wreak what havoc they will...

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Darfur peacekeeping force at risk of failing, already

Abu Surouj, Sudan - As Darfur smolders in the aftermath of a new government offensive, a long-sought peacekeeping force, expected to be the world's largest, is in danger of failing even before it begins its mission because of bureaucratic delays, stonewalling by the Sudanese government and reluctance from troop-contributing countries to send peacekeeping forces into an active conflict...

[as usual, the 'peace keepers' only 'work' where it's peacful...]

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The Virtues of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

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George Washington was at Valley Forge during the coldest period in 1,500 years, with Earth average temperatures dipping as low as 1 degree centigrade below the 3,000-year average. Since then, temperatures have gradually recovered. If the current rate of increase continues, about two centuries from now the temperature of the Earth will be back to that of the medieval period 1,000 years ago -- when Greenland was green and warmer weather brought increased growing seasons and general rises in comfort and prosperity in many cooler climates.

Meanwhile, in the United States, rainfall is increasing, tornados are becoming less frequent, glaciers have been receding for 200 years -- back to their more normal average lengths, and hurricane frequency and severity has been unchanged for the past century.

Standing timber in U.S. forests has, however, increased by 40% since 1950*; 2,000-year-old pine trees are growing faster; and animal and plant quantity and diversity are sharply increasing. This is truly alarming! If current trends continue, we will be overrun by squirrels, deer, and foxes and fighting for our lives against aggressively growing orange and apple trees. A dire prediction was even published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences -- I am not making this up -- warning that poison ivy is also growing faster.

[* the US's massive reforestation program means it has literally done more to 'offset' carbon emissions than any other nation, and why North America is a net CO2 sink. Kyoto requires ignoring that fact in computing America's 'carbon footprint'. Why?]

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New Australian Prime Minister Flip-flops on Climate Change Pledge

American media gleefully reported Kevin Rudd's November 24 victory over Australian Prime Minister John Howard as a huge defeat for President Bush.


Stateside press representatives have also been enamored with Rudd's views concerning global warming, and his proposed deep cuts to Australia's carbon dioxide emissions.

In a truly stunning twist of fate, according to Friday's Herald Sun, Rudd, armed with new information from the electricity industry, has done a very serious greenhouse gas u-turn that will likely be met with silence from America's green press...

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May sun set on global warming frenzy

If you've wondered why there is increasing opposition to the popular notion of global warming, simply examine the actions being proposed and actually taken to "prevent global warming." Consider what those actions really have become and how effective they might be in actually achieving the intended change. (Snip) technological improvements in coal-fired power plants are rejected in favor of wishful thinking about forthcoming renewable energy sources, while here and now power needs are increasingly ignored.

[such as our recently passed 'comprehensive' energy bill containing nothing to develop our own vast petroleum deposits {you know, like the ones China is developing off Cuba}...]

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COMBINING GROCERY SHOPPING WITH DOCTORS' APPOINTMENTS

Some Britons can add a visit to the doctor to their shopping lists. J Sainsbury, one of Britain's largest supermarket chains, is to become the first in the country to offer a visit to a family doctor in one of its stores. To start, they will work in the evenings and on Saturdays in a fully equipped consultation room in one store in Manchester.

Overall, the supermarket doctors are expected not only to help patients but also the government. British authorities have struggled to improve their taxpayer-financed national health service and to make doctors more readily available to patients.

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BAD MEDICINE

The presidential candidates are grappling over the plight of the uninsured, yet you're five times more likely to die from visiting a hospital than from not having health insurance, according to the not-for-profit Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths:

• One in 200 patients who spends a night or more in a hospital will die from medical error.
• One in 16 will pick up an infection.
• Deaths from preventable hospital infections each year exceed 100,000, more than those from AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents combined.

Hospitals are still the heart of the health care industry, consuming a third of the $2 trillion U.S. health care bill. Because the hospital industry does all it can to thwart competition, many communities are stuck with the hospitals they have...

[go Wal-Mart]

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THE REAL STORY ON WORKER COMPENSATION

The next time you hear a U.S. politician or pundit lament that "average real hourly wages" have declined, don't be misled. The average real wage is a fundamentally flawed measure of the well-being and progress of American workers for three reasons:

• The real wage does not include benefits.
• It relies on cost-of-living estimates that have tended to systematically overstate inflation in recent decades and thus understate gains in real earnings.
• Real wage numbers are often compared to previous peak years, a practice that tends to minimize longer-term upward trends.

Although the average real hourly wage paid to American workers is lower today than in the 1970s, says Griswold, average real hourly compensation, which includes benefits such as health care and 401(k) contributions, has gone up. Since 1973, average real hourly compensation for American workers has increased 45 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[this is the perennial canard of 'wage stagnation' - the reason paycheck increases stagnate is because every year government adds to the cost of employing anyone, be it mandated benefits or an ever-growing host of regulations that must be paid for]

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Twofer...

U.S. mayors chide Washington for failing to tackle immigration issue

At a press conference, the visibly frustrated mayors of Albuquerque, Phoenix, Denver, and Richmond told of the immigration-related problems rending their cities. Public schools and medical services strained by unlawful residents who don't pay taxes. A serial rapist in the country illegally who was deported twice only to walk right back over the border to continue his crimes.

The mayors met recently with members of Congress and President Bush to make the case for swift action, but were told the issue was unlikely to come up again until 2009 or 2010.

``We can't wait another year,'' said Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. ``We can't wait another day.''

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Palomas police chief requests U.S. asylum

DEMING, N.M. - The police chief of Palomas, Mexico, has requested political asylum in the United States. The Luna County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Border Patrol say Emilio Perez came to the port of entry at Columbus late Tuesday night. He told authorities his two officers have fled and he does not know their whereabouts. The agent-in-charge of the Border Patrol station in Deming, Rick Moody, says Perez is in the protection of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

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Will MSM Cover U. of Maine U.S. Flag Desecration?

We have another incident of empty showboating by a college kid who imagines herself to be making "art" and a "statement" by placing American flags on the floor in hopes that people would disrespect them enough to walk upon them.

Here is a perfect example of what I am talking about. UMF's president, Theo Kalikow, issued a completely empty statement after word got out about this unpatriotic display of hate.

"Art in all its forms is important. The anger that was experienced today. Students push the boundary of what learning is. First Amendment rights, freedom of expression. We share in a state of expression."

Kalikow's empty moralizing shows that this display of hatred was meaningless in the end. It resulted in nothing but anger even as the unpatriotic president of UMF tries to see some good, ANY good, in it. (You can email president Kalikow with this address: kalikow@maine.edu.)

[we need universal vouchers]

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Face of Defense: Soldier ‘Pays It Forward’ to Help Others

“I’ve had some ups and downs being of Islam faith, especially during 9/11, because many people tried to categorize all Muslims with the ones who carried out those attacks,” said Atlas, who is now married with three children. “I think I’ve been able to change those beliefs in many of the people I have come across by giving Islamic cultural awareness classes and letting them know what we do and what we believe, as opposed to what they have seen on TV.”

The command sergeant major of Task Force 12 here saw the opportunity presented by Atlas’ willingness to explain his faith. The soldiers who attended that class got more information about Islamic cultures and now are able tell their friends the difference between a regular person of Islamic faith and an Islamic extremist...

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America Supports You: Actor Honored for Exceptional Public Service

For his contributions to the men and women of the armed forces, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England presented Ben Stein with the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Exceptional Public Service Award during a ceremony at the Pentagon. [snip]

“My work is incredibly trivial and unimportant compared with their work,” Stein said. “My whole 63 years, [what I’ve done is] not as important as what a man or a woman going out on patrol in Basra or Ar Ramadi or An Nasiriyah does in five minutes, maybe five seconds.”

One of his latest public acts of gratitude to the military is the book “The Real Stars.” It’s an answer to a question Stein, who has a home in Malibu, Calif., hears frequently regarding living among the real stars. His answer to askers is that he doesn’t live among the real stars, but highly paid entertainers.

[cool dude]

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[one good turn...][click banner for more info.]

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Summer Soldiers and Sunshine Patriots

For everyone who thinks the US foreign policy has had no effect, consider this: In the summerof 2003, prior to my posting to Iraq, I went to Kuwait to cover its national elections. The shorthand as I wrote on July 4, 2003, was this:

There are about 2.1 million people here, of whom about 1 million are citizens but only about 120,000 of those are permitted to vote. No women are among them. Got that? 2003. 2.1 million people. No women could vote. Pretty typical of the Persian Gulf States back in the day.

Since that time, women have been granted the right to vote in Kuwait (as well as most of the other countries) and, more that than, women have been appointed Ministers of Cabinet-level Departments. I bring this up because on Friday I was invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony of a career Foreign Service Officer to be the new US Ambassador to Kuwait.

The new Ambassador's name is: Deborah K. Jones.

Five years ago, the suggestion that the United States - or any other nation - would dare to send a female Ambassador to a Gulf State would have been laughable...

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Carter's confusion

When Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler in Munich, he no doubt believed he could reason with him because he also no doubt believed that the Fuhrer -- whatever his grievances or ambitions -- was a reasonable man like himself. What this leaves out is ideology. Hitler's ideas inspired millions to fight and die for the glory of the Third Reich. And Marxist/ Leninist/ Stalinist/Maoist ideology inspired millions to fight and die for the illusion of a communist utopia.

The ideology of Hamas derives from something more enduring than Mein Kampf, Das Kapital and the sayings of Chairman Mao. It is rooted in a 1,400-year-old religion. Hamas proudly proclaims that "the Koran is our constitution, Jihad is our way, and death for the sake of God is our highest aspiration." Hamas leaders promise their followers not just rewards here on Earth but in the next world as well -- a selling point neither Nazism nor communism could offer. [snip]

Does Carter sincerely think he can convince Mashaal to reject such ideas and embrace the Carter Center's kumbaya mission of "waging peace and building hope?'' Does he really believe he can change Mashaal's mind, much less open his heart?

If so, Carter is as clueless now as he was almost 30 years ago when, on his watch as president, the Ayatollah Khomeini took power in Iran, seized America's embassy, held our diplomats hostage and sat back to watch Carter do nothing effective in response.

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North American Union: Conspiracy or Cover-Up?

By definition, conspiracies are usually secret. There's nothing secret about right-wingers organizing to criticize the Clintons and their goals, and there's nothing secret about plans to morph the United States into a North American Union.

To see what the elites are planning, you don't have peek through keyholes or plant a spy under the table. Just read their published reports. The report explains that the three SPP amigos at Waco "committed their governments" to "Building a North American Community" by 2010 with a common "outer security perimeter," "the extension of full labor mobility to Mexico," allowing Mexican trucks "unlimited access," "totalization" of illegal immigrants into the U.S. Social Security system, and "a permanent tribunal for North American dispute resolution. [snip]

The elites, however, must be feeling the heat. Following the Hudson Institute's helpful suggestion to change the name of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the fourth annual SPP meeting to be held in New Orleans on April 21 will now be called the North American Leaders Summit, and the promoters of the TransTexas Corridor are trying to change its name to "regional loop."

The white paper explains that SPP's "design" is for the executive branch to exercise full "authority" to "enforce and execute" whatever is decided by a three-nation agreement of "civil service professionals" as though it were "law." That means evading treaty ratification and even congressional legislation and oversight...

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World's Oldest Tree Rewrites Climate History, Challenges Global Warming

The world's oldest tree has been found in Sweden, a tenacious spruce that first took root just after the end of the last ice age, more than 9,500 years ago.

The tree has rewritten the history of the climate in the region, revealing that it was much warmer at that time and the ice had disappeared earlier than thought. [...]

It had been thought that this region was still in the grip of the ice age but the tree shows it was much warmer, even than today, [Prof Leif Kullman at Umeå University] says.

“The summers 9,500 years ago were warmer than today...

So, as a result of this find, we now know that summers in Sweden were warmer than today...even after all that awful carbon dioxide that man has released into the atmosphere in the past couple of centuries.

Yes, I'm sure media will be all over this story in the coming days...

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Time Tramples Iwo Jima Image to Push 'War on Global Warming'

In our nation's history, there are few images more heroic, more sacred in a civil sense, than that of the Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima. Time has now twisted, and enlisted, that image for its "war on global warming."

"People trust us to make decisions. We're experts in what we do. So I thought, you know what, if we really feel strongly about something let's just say so."

Time editor Rick Stengel, making his regular Thursday appearance on Morning Joe to tout the week's cover story, naturally thought it was a wonderful idea. He also explained why Time decided to editorialize in favor of a "massive" effort to combat global warming.

View video here.

['tramples' strikes me as an overreaction, but the media war is certainly continuing - and I thought professional journalists were supposed to inform so that we could reach our own decisions. guess not]

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UPDATE:

Iwo Jima Veterans Blast Time's 'Special Environmental Issue' Cover
[ok, perhaps I was wrong on 'trampled' being excessive...]

The cover of the April 21 issue of Time took the famous Iwo Jima photograph by Joe Rosenthal of the Marines raising the American flag and replaced the flag with a tree. The cover story by Bryan Walsh calls green “the new red, white and blue.” [snip]

According to the American Veterans Center (AVC), Mates served in the 3rd Marine Division and fought in the battle of Iwo Jima, landing on Feb. 24, 1945. [snip]

“It’s an absolute disgrace,” Mates said. “Whoever did it is going to hell. Mates also said making the comparison of World War II to global warming was erroneous and disrespectful.

“The second world war we knew was there,” Mates said. “There’s a big discussion. Some say there is global warming, some say there isn’t. And to stick a tree in place of a flag on the Iwo Jima picture is just sacrilegious.”

Lt. John Keith Wells, the leader of the platoon that raised the flags on Mt. Suribachi and co-author of “Give Me Fifty Marines Not Afraid to Die: Iwo Jima” wasn’t impressed with Time’s efforts.

“That global warming is the biggest joke I’ve ever known,” Wells told the Business & Media Institute. “[W]e’ll stick a dadgum tree up somebody’s rear if they want that and think that’s going to cure something.”

[you have to admit 'the greatest generation' retains its eloquence... I stand corrected: those Time guys are weenies {green weenies?}]

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A Special Report from BMI: Global Warming Censored
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ECONOMIC HYSTERIA

The focus of the gloomy economic news is on a "credit crisis" or "financial crisis." Yet postwar U.S. financial crises have never resulted in economic disaster:

• Think of the savings & loan (S&L) crisis of 1986-1995 -- a period that also saw Black Monday (Oct. 19, 1987), when Dow stocks fell 22.6 percent.

• The S&L crisis lasted from 1986 to 1995, and was undoubtedly the worst U.S. financial crisis since World War II.

• Yet the real economy grew by 2.9 percent a year over that period.

An April 6 New York Times piece ("Almost as if The Sky Were Falling," on stock prices) claimed that the "focal point for the stock market's difficulties" is that "banks have been reluctant to lend money to one another, or to anyone else." However:

• If banks have been reluctant to lend money to one another, then interest rates on such loans wouldn't have fallen to 2.6 percent from 5.3 percent a year earlier.

• And if banks were reluctant to lend to "anyone else," then bank loans wouldn't have increased by 8 percent (as Fed data say they have) since last August, when the mortgage crisis first emerged.

Some papers can't get anything right, says Reynolds.

[some papers don't want to get it right]

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Back to the Future

March marked the 25th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s speech that launched the Strategic Defense Initiative program, one that hoped to create a defensive space shield from incoming nuclear missiles. From nearly the moment that President Reagan’s nationally televised speech ended that March 23rd night, he faced derision and ridicule from the left.

Like many visionaries, President Reagan had his detractors, especially in the press. Some referred to SDI as “fantasy,” the stuff of Buck Rogers. Some even began calling the president “Ray guns.” [snip]

Perhaps the most sublime weapon ever created by humankind, the Pentagon's ray gun featured on the March 2 episode of “60 Minutes” does not kill. Instead, the Active Denial System zaps humans with a 100,000-watt ray that, when used as intended, leaves its targets in retreat, unharmed, and in some instances laughing...

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If dogs scuba dived

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