Al Franken, Democratic Senator, Minnesota:
Bringing new meaning to the concept "Time for a Change."
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Non Compos Mentis
In a sane world, one faced with a religious cult that has been responsible for countless incidents of brutality and monstrous assaults on innocent life all over the world, we might see that world unite to rid itself of those responsible for these atrocities. As in WWII or the Gulf War, the civilized nations would put aside their differences and come together in the name of decency to defend the decent.
But in a mad, mad world, the perpetrators are lauded as "freedom fighters" and defended by "human rights" groups. Now, with renewed hostilities in the Gaza Strip, much of the world has incredibly decided that the fault lies with Israel... [snip]
In a world that claims to defend the lives of the innocent, any culture that encourages its women to become suicide bombers and straps bombs to its children and the mentally ill would justly earn the scorn and contempt of good men everywhere. Yet, in a crazed world, this behavior is incredibly excused by blaming it on the victims of such ungodly acts.
In a world still capable of informed judgment, the true message of Islamist extremists -- worldwide conquest through jihad -- would be trumpeted across the globe, and all nations would be aware of Hamas's professed view of the "peace process":"There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are a waste of time and a farce. The Palestinian people is far too eminent to have its future, its rights and its destiny toyed with. As stated in the Hadith: "The hypocrites among them are not allowed to be superior to the believers among them, and they shall die in grief and distress."
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Hamas says no to permanent ceasefire
Despite mounting international pressure for an end to hostilities between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, Hamas declared on Wednesday that it would not accept any permanent cease-fire with Israel.
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Israel finds more sympathy in Europe
European Union leaders this week flanked Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as she told the world's news media, "We are all opposed to terrorism." For many observers in Europe, the moment underscored a little-noted but ongoing convergence between European and US-Israeli thinking – despite the tragedy and challenge that Gaza presents.
For decades, Europe was a Middle East counterbalance – generally sympathetic to Palestinians as the weaker party, critical of an unqualified US backing of Israel. The Palestine Liberation Organization had offices in Europe. France's Navy helped Yasser Arafat escape Tripoli in 1983. Europe backed the Oslo Accords, and saw the Palestinian cause as a fight for territory and statehood.
Yet Europe's traditional position on the Arab dispute has been quietly changing: It is gravitating closer to a US-Israeli framing of a war on terror, a "clash of civilizations," with a subtext of concern about the rise of Islam... [snip]
A Pew Global Attitudes poll in 2006 found that French sympathies were evenly divided (38 percent) between those sympathizing with the Palestinians and with Israel, marking a doubling of support for Israel, over the previous two years. In Germany, 37 percent sympathized with Israel – an increase of 13 points over 2004 and more than double those who supported the Palestinians...
[once again, what the EU media portrays as universal opinion and what Europeans think differs dramatically. {sound familiar?}]
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Bailing Out Shariah Law
Islamofascism: In bailing out AIG, Uncle Sam may have taken on more than he bargained for, including a constitutional fight over the promotion of religion. Earlier this month, as the New York-based insurance giant benefited from $153 billion in tax-supported bailout funds, it launched a business unit offering Shariah-compliant insurance products in the U.S.
For the first time, homeowners' insurance policies "compliant with key Islamic finance tenets" will be marketed to Muslims in America.
But there's little that is "socially responsible" about Shariah law, which regulates the "takaful" insurance AIG is selling, along with other Islamic finance.
Shariah law authorizes horrific human-rights abuses, including the kind of violence and oppression against women, homosexuals, apostates and non-Muslims seen in Saudi Arabia and earlier under the Taliban in Afghanistan. To fully comply with Shariah code, AIG has hired a "Shariah Supervisory Board" composed of "Shariah scholars." Who are these so-called scholars?
So it's not just AIG that's actively helping Shariah gain a foothold in America. It's also Washington. Financial crisis or not, it's hardly in the economic interest of taxpayers or the U.S. to own part of a business that supports a Stone Age legal code championed by the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.
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Boeing anti-missile laser passes test
An anti-missile airborne laser passed a critical ground test, the program's lead contractor, Boeing Co., said Monday.
Last week, the high-energy laser fired through the Airborne Laser's beam control/fire control system, which steered and focused the beam onto a simulated ballistic-missile target.
The procedure represented the first ground test of the entire weapon system integrated aboard a Boeing 747-400F aircraft.
The laser is scheduled to conduct a missile shootdown demonstration next year. Northrop Grumman Space Technology in Redondo Beach built the high-energy laser for the program
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New Delhi weighs up US missile shield
[HT:WP]
The US is in preliminary talks with India over the sale of missile shield systems to help New Delhi guard against nuclear threats. India’s need for greater protection against threats emanating from Pakistan and other volatile countries in the region was highlighted by an escalation in tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours following the Mumbai terror attacks in November last year. The two countries have fought three wars over the last 61 years.
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AP: No Experience in New CIA Chief Shows Obama's 'Clean Break from Bush Administration'
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Now, if George W. Bush had picked such an inexperienced man for any government position much less one at cabinet level, the media would have crucified him -- in fact, it did if you recount the Harriet Meyers for SCOTUS debacle.
So do they decry this pick of a man with not even the tiniest amount of experience for one of the most delicate and important positions of the day? Nope. In fact, the AP celebrates it as some sort of proof that Obama made this pick to show he is making a "clean break from Bush administration."
If the AP means that by picking Panetta, Obama is breaking with Bush because Bush actually picked qualified candidates for that position, well, then they have a point.
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Russia wants warships stationed around the world
[HT:DD]
Moscow - Russia's military leaders approved a plan by the navy on Sunday to station warships permanently in friendly ports across the globe. Underfunded since the 1991 break up of the Soviet Union, the Russian navy has been reasserting itself over the last year by steaming across the Atlantic to visit allies in South America...
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Cold war! EU gives Russia 24 hours to switch pipeline back on after 12 countries left without power
Russia today shut off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine, leaving 12 countries without fuel in freezing winter conditions. As millions of people struggled to cope in sub-zero temperatures, the European Union said the continent had effectively been 'taken hostage' by a trade dispute.
The cutoff has also showed the first signs of hitting the European economy as the Hungarian unit of the Japanese automaker Suzuki said it was halting production because of restrictions on industrial users of gas.
Ukraine's pro-West* President Viktor Yushchenko blamed Moscow for the supply disruptions, saying Moscow would continue to close the gas taps to Europe or stop them altogether.
The Commission subsequently issued an ultimatum giving Russia and Ukraine a 24-hour deadline to resolve the situation or 'face an intervention'. [?] Significantly, the EU failed to spell out what action it planned to take if its warning was ignored.
Europe receives about 20 per cent of its gas from Russia, via the Ukraine pipelines.
[* I fear this is a prelude to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Europe, having mortgaged its militaries for social programs, can't do anything about and which its signaled it will tolerate by not admitting Ukraine into NATO.]
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Japan will find it difficult to achieve Kyoto goals
Though work is already under way on setting midterm greenhouse gas reduction goals under a post-Kyoto Protocol framework, Japan may find it difficult to fulfill its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels under the treaty.
In fiscal 2007, the nation's greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high of 1.37 billion tons in preliminary figures--up 8.7 percent...
['difficult'?]
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Belgian Cartoon: It's So Cold People Are Burning Al Gore's Book
It's so cold that people in Belgium are burning copies of the print version of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."
Such was satirically presented in the Belgian newspaper De Standaard Wednesday (full-size cartoon below the fold courtesy Anthony Watts):
The cartoon was in De Standaard's opinion section Wednesday, page 21:
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The Plain Truth about Glorious Carbon Dioxide
Why do we need to know about CO2? Because the President-elect, several of his choices for environmental and energy agencies, the Supreme Court and much of the U.S. Congress has no idea what they are talking about and, worse, want to pass legislation and regulations that will further bankrupt the United States of America.
Do I have your attention now?
Here’s what you need to know; if an increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) is directly related, i.e. causes changes in the Earth’s temperature, there would be a direct correlation between the two. As CO2 rose, we would see a comparable rise in the Earth’s temperature.
This correlation does not exist... [snip]
Here, then, is a fundamental fact about CO2 you need to commit to memory.“Nature absorbs 98.5% of the CO2 that is emitted by nature and man.”
Nature is a totally self-regulating mechanism that dwarfs any mindless effort to “control” the amount of CO2 produced by coal-fired utilities, steel manufacturers, autos and trucks, and gasoline fueled lawn mowers, not to forget fireplaces where logs glow or just about any human activity you can name... including exhaling two pounds of the stuff every day... [snip]
It is time to rebuke everyone attempting to foist the global warming hoax and carbon taxes on the United States and the rest of the world. It is time let Congress and the White House know that Americans will not be ruled by laws that have no scientific merit.
[Highly Recommended > ]
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Environment minister: I think man-made climate change is a con
Spending billions on trying to reduce carbon emissions is one giant con that is depriving third world countries of vital funds to tackle famine, HIV and other diseases, Sammy Wilson said. The Environment minister has been heavily criticised by environmentalists for claiming that ongoing climatic shifts are down to nature and not mankind.
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Global warming: climate deal possible under Obama presidency says Lord Stern
An international deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could be struck under the presidency of Barack Obama, Lord Stern has said. (Snip)Lord Stern, who was being interviewed by the musician Jarvis Cocker, said that in recent months, governments had proved that when urgently called for, huge sums of public money could be devoted to tackling a 'crisis'...
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"STOP THE AGW SCAM NOW"
Whitehouse: mailto:president@whitehouse.gov
Obama Transition: http://change.gov/page/content/contact/
Senate-Reid: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
House-Pelosi: http://speaker.house.gov/contact/
YOUR Senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
YOUR Congressman: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
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A Global Warming Howler for the New Year
California
Move over city and highway MPG. Smog ratings - you're yesterday's news. Beginning today, those shopping a new ride in California will face a new standard in town -- something called a "Global Warming Score."
No kidding.
Pursuant to Assembly Bill 1229, a sticker displaying a rank comparing "the emissions of global warming gases from the vehicle with the average projected emissions of global warming gases from all vehicles of the same model year sold in the state" must be affixed to all motor vehicles henceforth sold in the state. These so-called "Global Warming Scores" range from 1 to 10, with 1 representing a vehicle selfishly emitting an excess of 520 "CO2 - equivalent Grams per mile" and 10 given to those altruistically checking in at under 200.
Well, so as not to burden its citizenry with potentially enlightening science, the Governator's State has conveniently lumped all "Greenhouse gases (ghg) emitted from vehicles includ[ing] carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (NO2), and hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) from air conditioner refrigerant" together into one "CO2 equivalent Value." Pretty slick move -- while CO2 is the least significant of all so-called "Greenhouse Gases," its unique status as chief byproduct of industrial progress makes it by far the most valuable to regulation-hungry eco-maniacs. [snip]
Considering that all three points are at the very least unproven and recently all but disproved alarmist propaganda, this new mandated metric is neither any less comical nor any more relevant than would be a Dragon Repellant Score.
But today's California milestone is a stark reminder that misplaced, even though hilarious, AGW legislation currently in the pipeline has taken on an impetus that even recent challenges to its very foundation will not easily redirect. And it may be years before misinformed Pols (including the President elect) realize they've been duped by self-serving and/or just plain wrong alarmists and manage a strategy reassessment.
[and that's the plan: just get the laws on the books and they're there to stay, regardless of subsequent scientific findings]
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Universal healthcare and the waistline police
Imagine a country where the government regularly checks the waistlines of citizens over age 40. Anyone deemed too fat would be required to undergo diet counseling. Those who fail to lose sufficient weight could face further "reeducation" and their communities subject to stiff fines. Is this some nightmarish dystopia?
No, this is contemporary Japan...
[this is government run healthcare - it's only a matter of time. Or do you really believe that government will control the purse strings and not allow politically correctness in? if so, read > ]
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The Fat Police are Coming...
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Vegemite, blue cheese, jams under threat due to salt, fat, sugar content
VEGEMITE, blue cheese and traditional jams and preserves could be forced off grocery shelves if a government taskforce wins Canberra's support for new limits on salt, fat and sugar content.
AFGC director for health, nutrition and scientific affairs Geoffrey Annison said food such as Vegemite, which is high in salt, could be among the casualties if food content were regulated. "Vegemite without salt is not Vegemite," he said.
Sugar-rich preserves and jams, and even high-fat products such as soft cheeses and cooking oils, could be banned for health reasons, Dr Annison warned.
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Obama's Gupta: A Surgeon General Who Backs an Obesity Tax
Media analyst Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post reported on Jan. 6 that President-elect Barack Obama has asked CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta to be the next surgeon general.
According to Kurtz’s column, Gupta, a neurosurgeon who has worked as a CNN and CBS medical correspondent, “told administration officials that he wants the job.”
A look into the Business & Media Institute archives revealed that Gupta thinks iPods are potentially dangerous to “breathe,” tax increases are okay for the sake of the war on obesity, and the federal food grant program WIC isn’t large enough.
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[They're already here, and we'll need decide: government as parent, or freedom of choice. Silence will be a vote for 'parent'.]
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New York May Require Longer Coverage for Family Health Plans
Group health insurers in New York would have to give parents the option to extend coverage to their children until age 30 under a proposal Governor David Paterson plans to introduce, state officials said.
[30?! more government as parent]
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