``Productivity still looks pretty good,'' said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. ``It's encouraging on the inflation front. We are seeing good cost control from businesses. It's good news for the Fed.''
``Historically, productivity growth has tended to suffer during periods of energy-price shocks,'' David Greenlaw, chief U.S. fixed-income economist at Morgan Stanley in New York, said in a note to clients. ``The current year-over-year growth rate of just a shade under 3 percent demonstrates an impressive degree of resilience.''
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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
U.S. Productivity Increases 2.2%, Labor Costs Cool
BusinessWeek 'Recession in America' Blog Goes Belly-up
However, activity on the blog has been scarce of late. Nearly three months later, there are just 22 posts. Meanwhile, the nation's Gross Domestic Product grew at a 1.9 percent pace for the second quarter of 2008, according to government estimates announced July 31.
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Mexican soldiers enter U.S., hold agent
TUCSON, Arizona — Four Mexican soldiers crossed into a remote area of Arizona and briefly held a U.S. Border Patrol agent at gunpoint before realizing where they were and returning to Mexico, U.S. authorities said.
Border Patrol spokeswoman Dove Crawford said the incident early Sunday on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of Tucson, was in an area where the border likely was marked only with barbed wire...
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S.B. County seeks accountability from San Francisco on probationers
California
San Francisco was criticized again Tuesday by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors for failing to provide a 12-month tally of the juvenile offenders placed in the county's group homes. County authorities said they still hope San Francisco will cooperate but have decided to petition the state attorney general for assistance.
(Snip) The five originally were from Honduras and are believed to be undocumented immigrants.
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Keep the kids in school
That was big of Sen./ Rev. James Meeks to dare someone to arrest the kids he's leading out of the city's public schools in an ill-conceived protest, when he's the guy who should be pinched.
As for the students, truant officers ought to round them up and take them back to school where they belong. Of course, no one will do any of that because they don't want to appear mean, racist or elitist. And that's exactly the point of Meeks' plan to haul Chicago students out of the first week of school - to protest, at downtown offices and at Winnetka's New Trier Township High School, the "inequities" of the state education funding formula.
"I dare the business community [?] to arrest our children and send them to jail [?] because all they want is a quality education," Meeks said.
But if resource inequities account for the poor performance, why don't their white male, Hispanic and black female counterparts do as badly? After all, they are going to the same public schools in Chicago...
[we need independant, universal vouchers]
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EDUCATION FOR PROFIT
By many measures, the University of Phoenix is the most successful institution for higher education in American history, says Katherine Mangu-Ward, an associate editor at Reason. For example:
• The University of Phoenix has more than 325,000 students -- 22 times the number at the University of Chicago.In recent years, says Mangu-Ward, the University of Phoenix has become the poster child for everything the mainstream academic establishment thinks is wrong about for-profit higher education. But much of what academic traditionalists see as problems, Phoenix advertises proudly as solutions: The university aims to meet under-served demand for post-secondary education, tailor-made to fit the individual demands of busy adults...
• On campuses scattered across 39 states, and online as well, it offers everything from associate's degrees in sports management to a Spanish-language MBA.
• The University of Phoenix is now an educational and commercial powerhouse listed on NASDAQ with a market capitalization of $7.4 billion.
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Hitler Invaded Sudetenland, Now Putin Invades South Ossetia
On October 3, 1938, Adolf Hitler's armies marched into Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia. Germany said it was responding to separatist demands from the large German population that lived there and that she was merely honoring their desire for reunion with Germany. Hitler's tanks took over a vital part of an independent country that had largely rejected his overtures and allied itself with the West.
Neither Britain nor France nor the United States did a thing to stop him.
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[the most important thing for Americans to understand about this entire affair is that it was enabled by our suicidal energy policy: Europe gets most of its energy from Russia, it will do noting. And thanks to years of American created scarcity, Russia has gotten rich from its petro-dollars - and now owns our debt - we've no 'soft power' options.]
Georgia on our Conscience
Though the order ''Lights, camera, action!'' was given by Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili, the wartime drama now unfolding in the Caucasus was devised, scripted, directed, and produced in Moscow by Vladimir Putin and his fellow siloviki (or former KGB kleptocrats.) For almost two decades Russia has sought to divide and destabilize the new independent states in its former backyard by helping to establish, finance, and protect “breakaway” ethnic statelets
[you know, just like jihadists do....]
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Russia 'conducting cyber war'
Several Georgian state computer servers have been under external control since shortly before Russia's armed intervention into the state commenced on Friday, leaving its online presence in dissaray.
While the official website of Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian President, has become available again, the central government site, as well as the homepages for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence, remain down.
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Bill Richardson Self-Destructs on CNN [?]
Team Obama has GOT to get Bill Richardson away from cameras.
He's on CNN right now. He said that "a President Obama would have a good strong relationship with Russia, and this sort of thing wouldn't happen." (paraphrased; I'll check against the transcript when it's available.)
Richardson just said that McCain is "irrationally make threats" by urging the G8 to expel Russia, and "that's only gonna make matters worse."
Of course. Russia has killed thousands, turned tens of thousands into refugees, they're advancing on the capital, the airport's been bombed, the pipeline is endangered, and the Georgian navy vessels are sinking to the bottom of the Black Sea. But throwing Russia out of the G8 - that will be the true disaster.
He has once again called for going to the United Nations Security Council to get a ceasefire.
RUSSIA HAS VETO AUTHORITY ON THE UNSC.
Of course, if Russia wanted a ceasefire, they could just... cease firing. The Georgians are begging for a ceasefire.
[the question is did Richardson 'self destruct', or just tell it like a 'citizen of the world' sees things?]
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Jihad Comes to China
Muslim terrorists and their apologists insist that violent jihad is a justifiable reaction to their targets’ support of Israel. Since China is most definitely not an ally of the ''Zionist entity,'' how will Islamist apologists spin the jihadist attacks that have marred the Beijing Olympics? (Snip) Many of the area’s tens of thousands of mosques have been financed by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
[GWOT]
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No Women on Saudi Olympic Team
When the delegation of Tuvalu enters the Olympic stadium in Beijing on Friday evening for what will be its debut Games, the tiny Pacific island nation of just 11,000 people will be represented by two athletes and a weightlifter – two men and one woman. (Snip) Saudi Arabia, with a population of 28 million, will field a team – athletes, equestrians, swimmers, shooters and weightlifters – that doesn’t include a single woman.
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CNN Avoids Mentioning Islam in Segment on 'Honor Killings'
The network deserves some credit, I suppose, for airing the subject at all. But CNN's failure to mention by name the religion that lies at the root of the problem constitutes a particularly craven political correctness.
[in medicine it's called 'treating the symptoms', and never results in a cure - that requires addressing the cause...]
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Alarm on carbon trading scheme
ONE of the world's best-known economists, Jeffrey Sachs, has warned Australia against using an emissions trading scheme to tackle climate change, saying it would never win global support. On the eve of the Rudd Government releasing its blueprint for emissions trading, Professor Sachs said the concept was "highly disliked" by China and other developing countries, and they would never agree to it.
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Liberals to stall on carbon emissions trading scheme
[Australia]
KEVIN Rudd faces a delay in the introduction of his carbon emissions trading system until after the next election.
The Opposition Leader told The Australian that the Prime Minister's plan to begin emissions trading in July 2010 was a threat to the economy and the Coalition would reject legislation allowing trading until it was clear whether China, the US and India would join a global pact to reduce their emissions. [it already is clear: two of them are too smart to ever join it - snip]
A growing chorus of exposed industries - including airlines, petrol refiners, LNG exporters, cement manufacturers and aluminium smelters - has voiced concerns in recent days that billions of dollars of investment risk being lost overseas. Their concerns tally with AWU fears that thousands of jobs would be lost on the tide of outgoing investment... [snip]
Climate Change Minister [? and I thought having a Goracle was bad] Penny Wong said government assistance to industry would have to be gradually reduced over time. "To do otherwise would be economically irresponsible" [then why do it in the first place?][snip]
[BTW:] Government sources have made it clear Mr Rudd sees little chance of compromise with the Greens, who want his $500 million taxpayer-funded investment to research clean coal technologies scrapped...
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Where’s the Energy?
Locked up, thanks to Demacrat Speaker Pelosi.
We are the nation of Velcro, the light-bulb, the microwave, the Ford Model-T, and the Wright Brothers. We fought and defeated tyranny and fascism. We’ve walked on the moon. Where others see impossibility, our nation sees a challenge. Pessimism and hopelessness are not American characteristics. As the price of gas climbs higher and higher, doomsday scenarios are playing out in the media. Americans aren’t buying it, they’re demanding a solution.
But our can-do nation is suffering at the hands of “can’t-do” congressional leadership. After months of prohibiting a vote on increased domestic oil production, House Democrats have gone on summer vacation... [snip]
Energy solutions to provide relief at the pump cannot wait until September. Congress must repeal restrictions enacted, over the last two decades, placing our known domestic supplies off-limits. Energy producers can then increase supply and lower prices immediately while we take the necessary steps to make renewables and other alternatives commercially viable...
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Top Gas Exporters to Discuss Gas OPECin Moscow
MOSCOW —The world’s top gas-exporting countries will send ministers to a high-level forum in Moscow on Nov. 17 to discuss the possible creation of a gas charter, a source in the Energy Ministry said Friday. “The main issue of the forum is to steadily turn into an organization,”
(Snip) Russia has hinted at its interest in the creation of an OPEC-style gas group, working with Iran, Qatar, Venezuela, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia and Libya, who will meet at the forum...
[read that list of attendees again and ask: we don't need develop our own energy supplies?]
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A Nation of Thieves
Edgar K. Browning, professor of economics at Texas A&M University, has a new book aptly titled "Stealing from Each Other." Its subtitle, "How the Welfare State Robs Americans of Money and Spirit," goes to the heart of what the book is about.
The rise of equalitarian ideology has driven Americans to steal from one another.
Browning explains that certain kinds of equality have been a cherished value in America. Equality under the law and, within reason, equality of opportunity is consistent with a free society. Equality of results is an anathema to a free society and within it lie the seeds of tyranny... [snip]
Much of the justification for the welfare state is to reduce income inequality by making income transfers to the poor. Browning provides some statistics that might help us to evaluate the sincerity and truthfulness of this claim. In 2005, total federal, state and local government expenditures on 85 welfare programs were $620 billion. That's larger than national defense ($495 billion) or public education ($472 billion).
[i.e., the nanny state is already here. It's the 'entitlements', stupid. Highly Recommended > ]
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We have enough federal programs
Uncle Sam will take care of everything, right?
Which is why taxpayers are bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two anthropomorphic bureaucracies that were supposed to protect the nation from bad mortgages.
After 70-plus years, they did the opposite by making it easier for banks and other lenders to lend money to people who did not make mortgage payments.
Another example is the U.S. Department of Energy. It was created in the Carter administration to make the nation less dependent on foreign oil.
We have doubled our dependence since that time, and the nation actually produces less oil than it did 30 years ago.
This is called failure.
It now costs taxpayers $30 billion a year to keep this failure going. [not including the 700B$/yr. going to foreign oil companies]
Let's get rid of it...
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WaPo: 'Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit'
Sunday's Washington Post carried a story by reporter Lori Montgomery with a surprising headline: "Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit, Analysis Finds." The Post is highlighting research from the "nonpartisan" Tax Policy Center, a project of two liberal think tanks, the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute.
Measured against current law and against the promises of his fellow Democrats, Obama would rack up huge deficits. According to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Obama's tax plan would add $3.4 trillion to the national debt, including interest, by 2018.This is a challenge to the Obama-loving media. Network anchors like Matt Lauer and George Stephanopoulos have used the Tax Policy Center estimates against John McCain. Will they report these numbers and offer negative coverage to Obama? Will they ask him to rebut them?
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The Border Counterinsurgency
Soldiers patrolled in teams of four with weapons at the ready, wearing masks over their faces to conceal their identities from enemy surveillance. More than 40 checkpoints had been placed around the city; military forces took over for police, screening traffic and maintaining security. Occasionally, firefights broke out between various armed factions.
(Snip) I recently observed this scene unfold in Ciudad JuÁrez, Mexico, less than 50 yards from the United States...
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Perata says sales tax idea is only 'a start'
California
Democrat Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata today welcomed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed 1-cent sales tax hike as "a start," but declared budget negotiations are at an impasse and said he does not expect a quick resolution.
Perata's comments, following a Senate session, were his first since Schwarzenegger proposed the 'temporary' sales tax increase over the weekend in an effort to bridge the state's $15.2 billion deficit and bring an end to the 36-day budget standoff.
"I'm glad the governor has come around to saying publicly what we've known all along - that we have to have taxes in order to correct the problems we're in right now," said Perata, D-Oakland. "So I say it's a start."[it starts and ends with higher taxes. spending decreases? none.]
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THE BIGGEST ISSUE
Why did the United States become the leading economic power of the 20th century? As Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz describe in their book, "The Race Between Education and Technology," America's educational progress was amazingly steady over those decades, and the country opened up a gigantic global lead:
- Educational levels were rising across the industrialized world, but the United States had at least a 35-year advantage on most of Europe.
- In 1950, no European country enrolled 30 percent of its older teens in full-time secondary school.
- In the United States, 70 percent of older teens were in school.
[70's: when we expanded government's role in education. who could have guessed it? Health care anyone?]
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Home schooling grows by 80 percent in state in past decade
Sara Garman doesn't have to worry about a school dress code or the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. As one of the 2,000-plus students on the Treasure Coast who is home-schooled, the 14-year-old feels she has more of a say about what she studies. "I do think we learn more because we can do more things," Sara said. "It's not just about learning what's on a test."
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25 Hints You're Not Voting for Obama
Today's Rasmussen daily tracking poll has 80% of Democrats supporting Obama and 87% of Republicans supporting McCain. There are still a healthy number of undecideds. This conflicts with the stream of media reports that Obamacons, evangelicals, black conservatives and independents are flocking to Obama.
If you're an independent, moderate or conservative on the fence about whether to vote for McCain or Obama, here's a helpful guide...
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Monday, August 11, 2008
Conflict between Georgia and Russia expands
The war between Russia and Georgia expanded on Saturday, with fighting spilling outside the Caucasus province of Ossetia, both sides moving reinforcements into the region and Georgian President Mikheil Saakhashvili declaring martial law in the country.
Meanwhile the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia condemned in a joint statement the actions of Russian forces fighting in South Ossetia. South Ossetia and Abkhazia are part of the republic of Georgia and 'nothing can change this,' Polish President Lech Kaczynski told journalists in Warsaw.
Poland has been lobbying for Georgia's entry into NATO and the EU.
[of course not: Russia sits on the security council, with veto authority. And were Georgia admitted into NATO or the EU, one or both might actually have to do something. ]
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'Why Georgia Lost the War'
StrategyPage.Com weighs in with an excellent article on the conflict in Georgia where it appears the Russians have successfully kicked the Georgian army out of South Ossetia and is continuing its assault.
This is raising fears that Putin may undertake a full scale invasion and crush the little Georgian army while affecting political changes in Georgia more to Moscow's liking - like getting rid of its pro-western government and replacing it with a gang more amendable to Putin's ministrations...
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Russia warns Lithuania on US missile defense
Russian lawmakers warned Lithuania against agreeing to place U.S. missile defense sites in the Baltic country, saying Wednesday that such a move could trigger a Russian military buildup in the region.
Russia could deploy more troops to its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad if Lithuania offers its soil for the deployment of U.S. missile interceptors, said a statement approved unanimously by the Kremlin-controlled lower house, the State Duma.
Russia is fiercely against the U.S. plans to deploy components of a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying the move would undermine its nuclear deterrent.
[the 'shield' is only capable of defending against a few missiles - such as may some day come from the middle east - and they know it. More horse pucky grandstanding. The real questions is if Europe, who's being shielded (check the flight path) will have the grandes to tell Czar Putin where to get off... {my money's staying in my pocket}]
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Does O Understand Anything About Ballistic Missile Defense?
BMD is the only practical answer to the uncontrolled spread of nukes to mad regimes. We can make it all work, if and only if our leaders understand the urgency of the problem and its emerging technical solutions.
If the Middle East -- and the rest of the world -- survives the aggressive rise of Iranian nukes and missiles, it will be thanks to Ballistic Missile Defense -- a completely new technology that is just being put into place. The next ten years will tell the story. [snip]
It is crucial to keep pushing those weapon systems as fast as possible over the next decade, as high-powered laser defenses are brought from the lab to the field. In ten years we may finally be safe again, after a 70-year Age of Nuclear Anxiety.
This is all clearly understood by other threatened nations, like Japan, Israel, and India. They are jumping on BMD technology. They know their necks are on the line; so is ours. [snip]
That is why Obama has to get this one, and get it right --- unlike all the Leftist politicians who've fought against BMD since Ronald Reagan. The President and the Dems control Congress. They could still kill our last best hope for safety. Or they could just slow and sabotage our defense buildup, as they have consistently tried to do in the past. [snip]
So I come back to the biggest question: Does O understand anything about Ballistic Missile Defense? So far he hasn't shown any sign of it...
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[FLASHBACK: NNBrief June 19:
“I Will Slow Development of Future Combat Systems”
Among other things, Obama promises to “cut investments in unproven missile defense systems,” which in reality have already proven remarkably effective; [snip]
Most alarmingly, however, he literally promises to “slow development of future combat systems.”
Think about the frightening implications of this pledge for a moment.
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Among other things, Obama promises to “cut investments in unproven missile defense systems,” which in reality have already proven remarkably effective; [snip]
Most alarmingly, however, he literally promises to “slow development of future combat systems.”
Think about the frightening implications of this pledge for a moment.
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Cindy Sheehan qualifies for the ballot against Pelosi
California
Nancy Pelosi faces an unwelcome challenge from the left, as Cindy Sheehan qualifies for the November ballot for the California 8th District House seat held by the Speaker. John Wildemuth of the San Francisco Chronicle reports...
[Pelosi is almost single handedly running the country's economy into the ground by blocking any vote on increased domestic oil drilling - but watch her get re-elected... {ironic that a vote for Sheehan would actually be a good thing for the country as she'd replace Pelosi as a junior, and so doesn't inherit the speakership}]
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Again This Morning, No (D) for Incarcerated Detroit Mayor
The Big Three networks continued to ignore the party affiliation of the now-incarcerated Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Friday morning, just as they had done in their evening news programs the previous night.
The Early Show on CBS chose to ignore the story of Kilpatrick’s arrest on a bail violation entirely, while ABC’s Good Morning America devoted one 16-second news brief to the story near the beginning of its 7 am Eastern hour.
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What is Syria Hiding from the IAEA?
You will recall the spectacular raid by Israeli planes on what most are now calling a nuclear reactor in Syria that was built with the help of North Korean technicians and scientists.
At the time, we were assured by those in favor of engaging Syria that Baby Assad and his cutthroat regime had no intention of building weapons of mass destruction. Even after Syria was caught with its proverbial pants down, the call to "negotiate" with these thugs continued.
Now it appears that Assad has decided not to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to come into his country and sniff around for evidence the Syrian dictator is still trying to build nukes...
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CAIR Assassination Plot?
[HT:GT]
"In death there is something to celebrate..." - Affad Shaikh, ‘Celebrating Death,’ December 20, 2007
Last month, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents stationed at the U.S./Mexico border held the Civil Rights Coordinator of CAIR-California, Affad Shaikh, and others whom he was with for questioning. The agents suspected that the group had the intention of coming to the United States to assassinate President Bush.
The following will provide a detailed context for why the CBP would believe such a thing and will make the case as to why the U.S. government should not drop the issue.
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Olympic Pause
... However, the most compelling reason for freedom-loving Americans to turn our backs on these Olympics and its sponsors is the repressive, liberty-choking government of China. Many stories written and broadcast over the years have documented the imprisonment of Christians in China - notably the Falun Gong - the astonishingly brutal birth control policies, the silencing of critics - the list is seemingly inexhaustible.
Comparisons to the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin staged by you-know-who are quite apt.
McDonald's and Coke -- along with companies like Samsung and General Electric -- are "worldwide partners" of the Olympic Games, more specifically the International Olympic Committee, the rogue group that delivered the economic windfall that hosting an Olympics brings to the police state of China. GE, of course, is the parent company of NBC, the network broadcasting the Games.
Had these same CEOs simply declared that they would pull their sponsorship money from the IOC should they award the Games to such a government as China's, the normal blustering of IOC president Jacques Rogge would have become sputtering and he would have caved. China would have received its appropriate rebuke, the back of the hand from the civilized world.
McDonald's, Coke, and the other worldwide partners of these Olympic Games failed to take a principled stand on the basic freedoms no government should impede. They have decided to appease the reds in Beijing in the interest of winning an admittedly vast, untapped market. The least we can do is stand up to them. ... Such a protest is not boycotting capitalism. Capitalism is about choices. Certain companies made theirs. We should make ours.
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UW study examines snowpack
Maybe the snow in the Cascade Mountains isn't in such immediate peril from global warming after all. Despite previous studies suggesting a warmer climate is already taking a bite out of Washington's snowpack, there's no clear evidence that human-induced climate change has caused a drop in 20th century snow levels, according to a new study by University of Washington scientists...
[as time goes by... It's the theory that's melting.]
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Global Warming Did It! Well, Maybe Not.
We're heading into the heart of hurricane season, and any day now, a storm will barrel toward the United States, inspiring all the TV weather reporters to find a beach where they can lash themselves to a palm tree. We can be certain of two things: First, we'll be told that the wind is blowing very hard and the surf is up. Second, some expert will tell us that this storm might be a harbinger of global warming.
Somewhere along the line, global warming became the explanation for everything. Right-thinking people are not supposed to discuss any meteorological or geophysical event -- a hurricane, a wildfire, a heat wave, a drought, a flood, a blizzard, a tornado, a lightning strike, an unfamiliar breeze, a strange tingling on the neck -- without immediately invoking the climate crisis. It causes earthquakes, plagues and backyard gardening disappointments. Weird fungus on your tomato plants? Classic sign of global warming... [snip]
The message that needs to be communicated to these people is: "Your problem is not global warming. Your problem is that you're nuts."
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BTW...
Gore's call to replace America's electric plants with windmills and the like in the next 10 years is a lawyer's delight.
Billions would be spent on litigation and on public hearings. Eco-protesters would use every stalling tactic possible to fight the installation of each and every turbine.
I say that because that is what they are doing now...
Inconvenient truths, after it was revealed that Al Goreʼs energy consumption at his spacious Tennessee home rose 10 percent in 2007, despite the installation of solar panels and more efficient light bulbs. Gore still consumes 50 percent more electricity every month than the average American does in a year.[thanks PK, but doesn't matter: we little people should trade in our cars for bicycles...]
.
EPA rejects Perry plea on Ethanol
In a move that did little to quell the debate, the Environmental Protection Agency denied Perry's request to reduce by half this year's U.S. ethanol requirement — to 4.5 billion from 9 billion gallons.
Perry said the waiver was needed because rising U.S. ethanol output is inflating corn prices, wreaking havoc on the state's massive livestock industry and boosting grocery bills for American families.
But on Thursday, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said Perry's request had not proved the Renewable Fuel Standard, which sets ethanol quotas, is causing "severe economic harm," a requirement needed to justify a waiver.
[evidently we must be harmed 'severely' before anything can be done? government]
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“To the annals of market manias and regulatory follies, a new chapter is being added: The Great Ethanol Bubble of 2008. It is possible that someday a fuel made from a cheap, abundant, renewable crop may replace oil. But it won't be food-based ethanol. It’s time not only to stop subsidizing the stuff but to revamp the chaotic, politicized and wasteful system of subsidies for alternative energy."
— The Editors, The Los Angeles Times
[when the LA Times wants to stop a government program, you know it's a no brainer...]
.
[when the LA Times wants to stop a government program, you know it's a no brainer...]
.
Media Mostly MIA on Obama's Downer Delivered to 7 Year-Old
When presidential candidates answer questions from children about why they want the job, most will give an answer that uplifts the child and the candidate. Not Barack Obama. At a campaign stop in Elkhart, Indiana, a seven-year-old girl asked the Democrat why he wants to be President — and he told her that America has gone downhill:"America is …, uh, is no longer, uh … what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, I don’t want that future for my children."
Obama's media water-carriers have virtually ignored his very telling response, one that is reminiscent of Jimmy Carter's gloomiest, malaise-based assessments of America during his awful presidency.
Here is a rundown of what happened from Ed Morrissey of Hot Air (direct YouTube link to relevant video is here):
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Court reverses home-school decision
An appellate court on Friday said parents have the right to educate their children at home despite not having a teaching credential.
The 44-page decision by the Los Angeles Second District Court of Appeals declared that “California statutes permit home-schooling as a species of private-school education.”
It is a reversal of a March ruling by Justice H. Walter Croskey that parents without teaching credentials do not have a constitutional right to teach their children in a home-school setting. The ruling also jeopardized some independent-study programs.
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Saudi slams 'racist' Israeli Nissan ad
Gulf states may boycott the Nissan Motor Company as a result of an Israeli TV commercial that depicts Saudis angered by a fuel-efficient car, a Saudi official has said. The new campaign by Renault-Nissan caused an uproar in the Gulf when it showed a group of Saudi oil barons screaming and attacking the Renault-Nissan vehicle.
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Thursday, August 7, 2008
GOP rolls into Day 4 of gas-price revolt
House Republicans have begun Day 4 in their "Shadow Session" on gas prices, and former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is with them. Gingrich, who is pushing for more offshore drilling, said reliance on foreign oil imports is "bad national security policy, it's a bad economic policy and in the long run it's a bad environmental policy.."
[been watching this on TV? {yeah, my point. evidently the old media is selective re: the political stunts it will cover}]
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Moqtada al-Sadr Packs It In
Good news out of Iraq is becoming almost a daily event: In just the past week, we learned that U.S. combat fatalities (five) dropped in July to a low for the war, that key leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq have fled to the Pakistani hinterland, that troop deployments will soon be cut to 12 months from 15, and that Washington and Baghdad are close to concluding a status-of-forces agreement.
Now this: Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr plans to announce Friday that he will disarm his Mahdi Army, which was raining mortars on Baghdad's Green Zone as recently as April. Coupled with the near-total defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq, this means the U.S. no longer faces any significant organized military foe in the country. It also marks a major setback for Iran, which had used the Mahdi Army as one of its primary vehicles for extending its influence in Iraq. [snip]
As with so much in Iraq, Mr. Sadr's sudden turn to moderation remains reversible. That's all the more reason to regret the U.S. failure to arrest Mr. Sadr in 2004 - it can't be undone. But our recent and considerable successes can be, which is all the more reason to see our involvement in Iraq through to an irreversible victory. With Mr. Sadr's "retirement," we've taken another long stride in that direction...
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Bush Gets Tremendous Crowds in S. Korea, US Media Ignores Story
[HT:MS]
Over at Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft introduces us to Amy Proctor's report on the amazingly large crowd of South Koreans that came out to welcome George W. Bush to their country. It's a good thing that Amy clued us in here in America, because our media sure ignored the story of this large turnout.
Bush arrives in Seoul, faces large anti-US protest.
But once the truth started coming out, Reuters tried to cover its obvious mistake with this later headline:
Bush arrives in Seoul, anti-U.S. protest fizzles.
Amy also found some nice video of the pro-Bush rally. Great report Amy and good work.
[funny, I don't see the 'fizzle']
[videos not in English {imagine} but worth watching > ]
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Steps toward war...
A day after the US threatened to punish Iran with a fourth round of sanctions for its roundabout, unclear response to a recently offered package of incentives in return for halting uranium enrichment, Russia's insistence on diplomacy pushes the possibility of further sanctions against Teheran even further into the future.
(Snip) Russian envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, made it clear that Moscow has not set an ultimatum for Iran to respond...
[as predicted. and the centrifuges spin on...]
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Germany Presses Firms to Show ''Sensitivity'' on Iran Deals
Germany has called on its firms to show sensitivity in doing business with Iran following Israel's criticism of a German-Iranian gas deal, saying it violated the spirit of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. (Snip) ''We warn companies of the extremely sensitive nature'' of economic ties with Iran, Thomas Steg told a government news conference, adding that Berlin also expected firms to employ their ''moral sense'' if they invest there.
[translation: lip service before they invest there anyway]
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Israel mulls military option for Iran nukes
JERUSALEM - Israel is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Tehran's atomic program, even if it can't destroy it. Such talk could be more threat than reality. However, Iran's refusal to accept Western conditions is worrying Israel as is the perception that Washington now prefers diplomacy over action with Tehran...
[just doing our part]
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[and we'll all be shocked and outraged when Israel defends itself].
Speaking of 1936 all over again...
.....The crowds of families who had woken their children before 5am for the historic event were pushed out and replaced by bused-in groups of Communist Party members, loyal workers and model students dressed in the uniforms of the torch relay's sponsors, Coca-Cola, Lenovo and Bank of China.......
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China does not allow democracy
Taipei - A senior Taiwanese official said that Beijing's move to delay any direct election for Hong Kong's leader until 2017 underlined why Taiwan could not accept reunification with China.
Tung Chen-yuan, a deputy chief of Taiwan's China policy-making body, known as the Mainland Affairs Council, said the decision sent a clear signal ''that the Chinese Communist Party does not allow genuine democracy''
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Beijing Taxis Are Rigged for Eavesdropping
The tiny listening devices, which are connected to a global positioning system able to track a cab's location by satellite, have been installed in almost all of the city's 70,000 taxis...
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Outspoken '06 Medalist Cheek Has Visa Revoked
The Chinese government on Tuesday revoked the visa of 2006 Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek, effectively barring the speedskating champion and social activist from attending the 2008 Beijing Games. Cheek is co-founder of Team Darfur, an organization composed of athletes attempting to draw attention to human-rights violations in Darfur.
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[NBC and its multiple affiliates plan to give this totalitarian regime over six thousand hours of global propaganda. How proud. Do you plan to watch?]
.What bias?
Nets Lend Credibility to 'Bombshell' Iraq Deception Allegations
CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN all jumped Tuesday to publicize the claims in a new book by a left-wing journalist, Ron Suskind, that President Bush knew before the war Iraq had no WMD and that to justify the war the administration forged a letter to prove a connection between Saddam Hussein's regime and al-Qaeda.
The journalists were unfazed by denials from former CIA Director George Tenet, nor the fact the alleged letter couldn't have impacted the public before the war since it didn't become public until nine months into the war.
The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes undermined Suskind's allegations as he observed, on the magazine's blog:To believe Suskind's account...you would have to believe: 1) that the Bush administration ordered the CIA, in writing, to forge a letter that was a rather obvious hoax; 2) that the CIA, hostile to the Bush administration and leaking against it at every turn, eagerly complied.
If the Bush administration went to the trouble of manufacturing such evidence isn't it likely they would have used it?
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[nonetheless...]
CNN Highlights Viewer Who Wants Bush 'Executed for Treason'
Deciding to showcase the allegations in Ron Suskind's new book which “says President Bush committed an impeachable offense” by ordering “the CIA to forge a letter to bolster his case for the war in Iraq,” CNN's Jack Cafferty posed as one of his “Cafferty File” questions on Tuesday: “What does it mean, do you suppose, if the White House did, in fact, order the CIA to forge a letter in order to bolster its case for the war in Iraq?”"Bush, Cheney, et cetera deserved to be clapped in irons, held for trial and executed for treason."
Fellow anchor Wolf Blitzer marveled: “We're just hearing now, Jack, that there may be an effort in the Congress to now go ahead and have some hearings on this explosive, explosive charge.”
Both Cafferty and Blitzer's segments presumed the accuracy of Suskind's claims without question.
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Nannyism run amok
From the People's Republic of Cambridge to the west Texas town of El Paso, a paternalistic wave has been sweeping the country, says Reason.
To find the best and worst cities for exercising personal freedom, Reason ranked the 35 most populous municipalities in the United States in eight areas: alcohol, tobacco, sex, guns, gambling, drugs, freedom of movement, food and "other." The higher a city's score, the more restrictive it is. Here are the results:
• Chicago, ranked 35, is the most restrictive city in the United States; their litany of meddlesome laws include taxes on bottled water, a public smoking ban and a ban on serving foie gras in restaurants.
• Seattle, ranked 34, has long had an unhealthy strain of nannyism; smoking is banned in all public places.
• New York, ranked 33, is also heavily restrictive; the city has banned using trans fats in restaurant cooking oil, required fast food chains to show calorie content on their menus and fines citizens for trivial offenses such as sitting improperly on milk crates.
• San Francisco, ranked 20, has banned plastic bags in supermarkets, mandated the size of pets' water bowls and required psychics to obtain licenses. [er, what's the exam for that?]
Las Vegas, ranked 1, is the least-restrictive city in the United States' most tolerant state; alcohol restrictions are virtually nonexistent and prostitution is legalized. [Vivaaaaaa, Los- sorry]
[think there's a bottom to this slippery slope that magically flattens out? it won't stop until stopped]
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Los Angeles wants to take bite out of fast food
LOS ANGELES - In the impoverished neighborhood of South Los Angeles, fast food is the easiest cuisine to find — and that's a problem for elected officials who see it as an unhealthy source of calories and cholesterol. The City Council was poised to vote Tuesday on a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants...
[government {evidently at all levels} is becoming our parents - always at the cost of individual choice]
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Some good news...
.
Texas defies World Court with execution
DALLAS - Texas defied the World Court and executed a Mexican national by lethal injection on Tuesday over the objections of the international judicial body and neighboring Mexico. (snip) The World Court's jurisdiction also does not reach Texas, a state where authorities generally don't like outsiders telling them what to do.
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Dem and Dumber in Ohio
Democratic congressional candidate Mary Jo Kilroy sent a look-alike to rural parade. Much like Saddam Hussein, Ohio 15th congressional district Democratic candidate Mary Jo Kilroy uses body doubles when she tires of having to deal with all of the little people she intends to represent.
Such was the case last week when Kilroy sent her campaign body double to represent her at the Plain City Steam Thresher parade. Apparently the Amish-dominated city was too tough a crowd for Kilroy to handle.
The Ohio 15th district seat is one that Democrats are hoping to pick up this November from Republicans, with longtime incumbent Rep. Deborah Pryce retiring.
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Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Empty Promises Revealed
“This leadership team will create the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Nov. 16, 2006
That was then, in the wake of midterm elections, before $4-plus gasoline. It was before high energy costs helped drive our consumer-based economy into a tailspin. But most importantly, before the American people lifted their voices in outrage over the recklessness of an ironclad Democrat policy that willingly outsources our energy needs to the whims of foreign oil producers.
So what does “the most open” House majority of all time do when a fair and honest debate over drilling doesn’t exactly help their party ambitions?
They dodge the debate for weeks. They disingenuously lead the American people to believe that oil and gas won’t necessarily be a part of our energy needs in the future. They schedule votes on feckless energy legislation – see “use it or lose it” and oil speculation. They justify their stonewalling as an effort to “save the planet,” impervious to the fact that other countries with far worse environmental track records will only intensify their drilling efforts.
But worst of all, they skip out of town for five-weeks without allowing a single vote that would meaningfully alter the imbalance of supply and demand that has triggered the spike in oil prices. This is a dereliction of duty of the gravest magnitude...
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Enemy of the State
Since his Oscar-winning turn in the 1978 antiwar film "Coming Home," the venerable actor Jon Voight has come to the conclusion that he and many in the "so-called peace movement" were manipulated by Marxist propaganda.
"The radicals of that era were successful in giving the communists power to bring forth the killing fields and slaughter 2.5 million people in Cambodia and South Vietnam. Did they stop the war, or did they bring the war to those innocent people? In the end, they turned their backs on all the horror and suffering they helped create and walked away," he wrote in an article titled "My Concerns for America."Mr. Voight is not the first to connect these dots. But he is certainly the biggest Hollywood star associated with the anti-Vietnam War movement to do so. In his newfound voice, Mr. Voight also boldly warns of the consequences of electing the current antiwar candidate:
"If, God forbid, we live to see [Barack] Obama president, we will live through a socialist era that America has not seen before, and our country will be weakened in every way."[snip] The Los Angeles Times, the Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly and People magazine alum Jeffrey Wells led the charge. At his influential Web site Hollywood- Elsewhere .com, Mr. Wells wrote,
"If I were a producer and I had to make a casting decision about hiring Voight or some older actor who hadn't ticked me off with an idiotic Washington Times op-ed piece, I might very well say to myself, 'Voight? Let him eat cake."[liberal 'tolerance' - aka 'blue McCarthyism']
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Germany Still Won't Fight
Germany will deploy around 200 combat soldiers in northern Afghanistan, but will not move its 'troops' to the country's more violent south, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said on Wednesday, Feb. 6. German troops will be sent to replace the Norwegian contingent scheduled to leave Afghanistan this summer.
[with 'allies' like this...]
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Japan to Test Missile Interceptor in U.S.
Japan will conduct its first test-firing of a land-to-air missile interceptor in the United States in September to ensure that a missile shield for the Japanese capital will function properly if it falls under attack... [snip]
The planned test "aims to confirm the functions of the Patriot system that has been upgraded with ballistic missile defense capabilities," the ministry said.
The test comes as Japan and the U.S. accelerate their joint missile defense program following North Korea's missile and nuclear tests in 2006.
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The Third Lebanon War
There is something to be learned from the frenzied love-fest given in Beirut in mid-July to the most notorious of the Lebanese prisoners released by Israel. Samir Kuntar was sentenced to 542 years in prison for killing four people during a raid in 1979. Kuntar executed a father (Danny Haran) in front of his 4-year-old daughter, then killed the little girl by smashing her head against a rock with a rifle butt. But to the Lebanese, Kuntar is a returning hero... [snip]
Barry Rubin of the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Israel has observed:
"What horrifies me most are not radicals cheering terrorist Samir Kuntar, but that most relative moderates feel compelled to do so. At the airport to greet him were leaders of Lebanon's anti-Syrian, anti-Iranian Druze and Christian groups as well as the ambassadors from Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Morocco. To avoid being discredited, relative moderates must affirm that anyone who murders Israeli children is a hero."The massive support shown for Kuntar throughout Lebanon, if taken at face value, has effectively re-defined the status of the Lebanese government (and, by extension, the Lebanese people) as the enemy of Israel. Giora Eiland, the former chief of Israel's National Security Council noted in Ynet News:
"The only way to prevent another war is to make it clear that should war break out, Lebanon may be razed to the ground. Not only will the Lebanese government fear it, so would Hezb'allah . . . This will deter the group, if it realizes that aggression on its part would result in destruction that would outrage the population and turn it against Hezb'allah."In effect, in the event of a Third Lebanon War, a vast array of strategic targets throughout Lebanon would no longer be immune from Israeli retaliation. By making common cause with Hezb'allah, the Lebanese stand to reap the whirlwind.
[bit it's Israel which will be vilified in the press - despite the foreknowledge that it will be Lebanon-Hezballah which starts it - again]
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Venezuela's Chavez Makes More Anti-Democracy Moves
[HT:DG]
Caracas, Venezuela - Venezuela President Hugo Chavez plans to set up neighborhood-based militias, move toward a socialist economy, and increase state control over agriculture under a package of laws enacted by presidential decree.
Changes in areas from the military to small business loans were pushed through by the president in 26 laws released Monday in the official gazette. Chavez approved them on the final day of an 18-month period...
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Hawaii Man Accused of Helping China Design Missile
Prosecutors say Noshir Gowadia used Maui as a base to design a stealth cruise missile for China. He was indicted on 21 counts of conspiracy, money-laundering and falsifying tax returns. The case comes amid growing U.S. concern about Chinese spying and enhanced prosecution efforts across the country.
Last year, a jury convicted Chi Mak, an engineer for a California-based defense contractor, of conspiring to export U.S. submarine propulsion technology to China. He was sentenced to 24 1/2 years in prison. In June, a Chinese national with Canadian citizenship was sentenced to 24 months for selling fighter pilot training software to the Chinese navy.
Dan Blumenthal, a former China country director at the Pentagon and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said Beijing is after technologies that would help it 'counter' the U.S.
Despite the seriousness of the charges, the case has received scant public attention.
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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...
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The Post-National Candidate
Jeffrey Kuhner of the Washington Times has a particularly incisive op-ed in today's edition focusing on Obama's standing as a "post national" candidate for president.
In effect, Obama would be the first president ever elected who has championed the idea of subsuming American interests to the will of the international community - specifically, the Europeans who themselves are seeking to wipe out national boundaries in favor of a continental super state.
Indeed, Obama makes no bones about his agenda...
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Global Warming as Mass Neurosis
What, discredited? Thousands of scientists insist otherwise, none more noisily than NASA's Jim Hansen, who first banged the gong with his June 23, 1988, congressional testimony (delivered with all the modesty of "99% confidence").
But mother nature has opinions of her own.
NASA now begrudgingly confirms that the hottest year on record in the continental 48 was not 1998, as previously believed, but 1934, and that six of the 10 hottest years since 1880 antedate 1954. Data from 3,000 scientific robots in the world's oceans show there has been slight cooling in the past five years, never mind that "80% to 90% of global warming involves heating up ocean waters," according to a report by NPR's Richard Harris.
The Arctic ice cap may be thinning, but the extent of Antarctic sea ice has been expanding for years. At least as of February, last winter was the Northern Hemisphere's coldest in decades. In May, German climate modelers reported in the journal Nature that global warming is due for a decade-long vacation. But be not not-afraid, added the modelers: The inexorable march to apocalypse resumes in 2020.
This last item is, of course, a forecast, not an empirical observation. But it raises a useful question:
If even slight global cooling remains evidence of global warming, what isn't evidence of global warming?
What we have here is a nonfalsifiable hypothesis, logically indistinguishable from claims for the existence of God. This doesn't mean God doesn't exist, or that global warming isn't happening. It does mean it isn't science...
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Doctors: Third babies are the same as patio heaters
[UK]
A pair of doctors have said that British parents should have fewer children, because kids cause carbon emissions and climate change. The two medics suggest that choosing to have a third child is the same as buying a patio heater or driving a gas-guzzling car, and that GPs should advise their patients against it. Writing in the British Medical Journal, John Guillebaud (emeritus professor of of family planning at UCL)...
[another professor. When government 'pays' for health care, 'medicine' becomes politics]
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China Oilfield Plans $2.5 Billion Offer for Awilco
Hong Kong - China Oilfield Services Ltd., a unit of the nation's third-biggest oil producer, plans to offer $2.5 billion for Norwegian oil and gas drilling contractor Awilco Offshore ASA, said two people familiar with the matter.
The cash bid values Awilco at 81 percent more than its market value.
(Snip) China Oilfield is targeting acquisitions of overseas petroleum drillers as the world's second-biggest energy- consuming nation searches for oil and gas beneath its coastal waters...
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Iran discovers billion-barrel oil field
Tehran- Iran says it has discovered a new oil field containing more than one billion barrels of crude. Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said the oil field held 1.1 billion barrels of sweet crude oil, of which 233 million coudl be recovered...
[peanuts; we've over 7 Trillion barrels worth in Rocky's shale alone. Oops, forgot: Pelosi said no.]
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Nothing uncool about patriotism
A Dallas area columnist recently wrote that we should all just shut up about patriotism because it’s a word that’s overused and “kinda uncool.” She went on to add that patriotism
“is a kind of dusty holiday decoration that gets pulled out of the attic and displayed on the porch for the Fourth of July. It's a topic for kids' essay contests or the old codgers down at the VFW, not something you talk much about around the office.”It is very sad to read this ungrateful commentary from someone too young and too spoiled to recognize how effete and impudent she sounds with her juvenile criticism of the sacrifices made by millions. A line from King Lear comes to mind: “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.”
These are the same people who wake up every day in a comfortable home and sit down to a healthy, robust breakfast before enjoying a refreshing shower and a selection of smartly tailored clothing. They slide behind the wheel of their late model, shiny automobile and head for the steady job that keeps their families well-fed and secure. During the evenings and weekends they gather with friends over cocktails and hors de oeuvres as they pontificate about the evils of the country that provides their affluent lifestyle.
Compare that attitude with millions of immigrants, many of whom, when arriving on American soil, get down on their knees and tearfully kiss the ground to show their gratitude. The difference between them and the snooty native born malcontents is that the latter has no frame of reference... [snip]
Yet, I suppose it’s about what we can expect from a generation that has reached adulthood with an attitude that has been spoon-fed to them by liberal elitists [the highest concentration of which is in our school systems] who proudly put their hate-America slogans on parade...
[Recommended > ]
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Man calls 911 after Subway left sauce off sandwich
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Jacksonville police say Reginald Peterson needs to learn that 911 is not the appropriate place to complain that Subway left the sauce off a spicy Italian sandwich.
Police said the 42-year-old man dialed 911 twice last week so he could have his sub made correctly.
The second call was to complain that officers weren't arriving fast enough.
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