Posting will be lacking for a few days while the Chief assists with a group of Scouts doing their summer camp thing. Will be back after Monday.
Hopefully The world doesn’t blow up or anything until I’m back to post about it!
All posts by Chief
Chavez Wants Nukes?
Chávez hints at nuclear future for Venezuela
President Hugo Chávez yesterday hinted that Venezuela could try to become a nuclear power, during a visit to Russia apparently timed to antagonise the White House.
Here we go again.
ChiCom Product Recalls – Not Only Food
Company must recall faulty Chinese tires
Federal highway safety officials say the New Jersey company being ordered to recall as many as 450,000 faulty tires imported from China faces millions of dollars in fines if it fails to remedy the situation.
Most of this deals with business details of a possible recall, but the key point to the Chief is that the ChiComs are sticking us with more crappy product.
AGAIN: Get a clue and read the labels!
Bad ChiCom Food: A Continuing Story
U.S. bars China’s carcinogenic seafood
Shrimp, catfish and other seafood farmed in China will be banned immediately from entering the U.S. because they contain harmful chemicals, the Food and Drug Administration said today.
The agency stressed that the contaminated fish are not being viewed as an immediate health risk and said consumers should feel comfortable eating fish currently being served in restaurants, grocery stores or their homes.
However, a nationwide industry alert was issued over China’s seafood because the FDA continues to find traces of carcinogenic chemicals in fish imported from China.
This is turning into a running joke…enough to keep us running to the bathroom to offload – one way or another.
Immigration Bill Takes the Fall: Senate Clubbed by Cluebat!
IMMIGRATION BILL PENDING in SENATE (Liveblog)
The Chief hasn’t been TOTALLY glued to the tube this AM concerning the vote on the immigration bill, but he has seen part of Kennedy becoming exercised about his concern for illegals (which is evidently greater than his concern for the US). Of course this is predictable, since the bill has his fingerprints all over it (along with others, most notably John “Manchurian Candidate” McCainiac).
As noted in my previous posting prospects for the Kennedy-McCainiac Mexican Migration Promotion Act are pretty negative (this is good!) for cloture, which would allow the bill to procede.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, there are so many calls in opposition to the bill that we, the people, have crashed the Senate phone system! (Hint, hint! Come on guys, get a CLUE!)
1019 CDT – Reports that six votes have definitely switched from the vote earlier this week. By the Chief’s count, that does it – it’s all over but the Republocratic Demican weeping and wailing, knashing of teeth, etc.
1025 CDT – The vote process is still continuing, but Fox News has declared that the bill has been clearly and finally defeated.
1030 CDT – Roll call continuing, FNS now reporting 15 vote swing since Tuesday.
1031 CDT – FNS reporting end of roll call, final defeat for bill for this session of Congress.
1033 CDT – 18 vote swing, 64 supportive votes on Tuesday, 46 supportive votes today. Not even a majority, to say nothing of reaching the 60 votes needed to move the bill along at this point.
In spite of the “grand compromise” of our so-called leaders, the people sat up, took notice, and proclaimed “¡No way, José!”
Good riddence to bad rubbish!
A taste of things to come, if…
Forgery suspect seen exploiting ‘amnesty’
Another reason to oppose the Kennedy-McCainiac Mexican Migration Support Act currently flying the false colors of “immigration reform”.
Julio Leija-Sanchez, who ran a $3 million-a-year forgery operation before he was arrested in April, was expecting Congress to pass a legalization program, which he called “amnesty,” and said he could forge documents to fool the U.S. government into thinking illegal aliens were in the country in time to qualify for amnesty, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent said in the affidavit.
In recounting a wiretapped telephone conversation, ICE agent Jason E. Medica said he heard Mr. Leija-Sanchez tell an associate the forgery ring could “fix his papers” to meet the requirements of a legalization program such as the bill the Senate is debating this week.
This would only get worse and worse if this act is enacted.
A Positive Trend…
Illegals bill loses support in Senate
If this is true, it’s a definite movement in the right direction!
The Senate immigration bill lost supporters yesterday and hangs on by a thread heading into this morning’s showdown vote, after lawmakers voted down amendments making illegal aliens show roots to get legal status and cutting off their path to citizenship. This morning’s vote is on a parliamentary question about limiting debate, but it boils down to a vote to block the bill.
Just two days ago, 64 senators voted to revive the bill, with many saying they wanted to give the Senate a chance to improve the bill through amendments. But after a messy day in the chamber yesterday, with dozens of objections, arguments on the floor and five amendments defeated, at least a half-dozen senators said publicly or privately that their patience has run out.
Let’s see now…64, minus 6, leaves 58…ooops Harry, not enough for cloture, and then hopefully this turkey dies for good! Break out the wooden stake, garlic, and crucifix to ensure this thing can’t revive again.
ChiCom Space Militarization
China’s Space Threat: How Missiles Could Target U.S. Satellites
The Chief has noted these sorts of developments, very often from coverage by Bill Gertz in the Washington Times. Here’s some more from another source – Popular Mechanics, which has lately been covering some serious topics, such as debunking the 9-11 conspiracy theorists that think the buildings came down from internal explosives.
For China, a nation that has already sent humans into space and developed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the technology involved in the test was hardly remarkable. But as a demonstration of a rising military posture, it was a surprisingly aggressive act, especially since China has long pushed for an international treaty banning space weapons. “The move was a dangerous step toward the abyss of weaponizing space,” says Theresa Hitchens, director of the Center for Defense Information, an independent defense research group in Washington, D.C. “China held the moral high ground about space, and that test re-energized the China hawks in Congress. If we’re not careful, space could become the new Wild West. You don’t just go and blow things up there.” In fact, after the Chinese test, India publicly stepped up its development of antiÂÂsatellite technology. And some Israeli officials have argued that, given China’s record of selling missile technology to Iran, Israel should develop its own program.
As always, the ChiComs bear close watching.
Islamoterr Unhappy in Brit Jail
HAMZA’S GAY HATE
Cleric bans homosexual nurse from washing and dressing him in jail
This is pretty ironic. It’s an ill P.C. wind that blows no good!
HATE preacher Abu Hamza has refused any more treatment from his prison nurse after finding out the man is gay.
The nurse, nickname Queenie, has been helping to wash and dress the convicted terrorist for more than two years. A prison source told the Mirror the full-time staffer is openly gay and has a camp voice. Officers at Belmarsh jail are said to be surprised Hamza, 48, has not noticed before.
Now the cleric is claiming it is against his religion and human rights to be treated by a homosexual. The source said Hamza’s solicitor wrote to the governor demanding his client is given a new regular nurse. The prison service refused saying it does not discriminate on grounds of sexuality.
The source said: “The nurse is upset about it. He has spent the last couple of years doing everything for Hamza, even wiping his bottom. “It shows how little respect Hamza has for others. The nurse dresses him, washes him, cleans his teeth, cuts his toenails, trims his beard and applies ointment for his skin disorder.”
Egyptian-born Hamza, serving seven years for inciting murder and racial hatred, requires care because he is limited by his hook hands.
Can you say schadenfreude?
Thune: Immigration Reform? Not this bill!
Thune Comments on Immigration Vote
This comment by SD Sen. John Thune was issued after yesterdays vote.
Senator John Thune made the following comments today after voting no on a procedural vote on the proposed immigration reform legislation:
“The immigration reform legislation before the Senate is a flawed bill and I cannot support it. This bill would grant immediate legal status to over 12 million illegal immigrants before a single border security measure is implemented. By not taking the necessary steps to secure America’s porous border, this bill seriously undermines the security of our nation and the rule of law.“In addition to this being a flawed bill, the process to amend the legislation has been equally flawed. This bill was written behind closed doors by a small group of Senators, rather than going through the open committee process. Dozens of amendments to strengthen the bill have been blocked and the time for debate has been cut short. This kind of closed process does not do justice to the American people or the seriousness of this issue.”
A strong, and clearly stated position.
The Chief STRONGLY concurs!
Not so bon appetÃÂt
China shuts 180 food factories for using illegal chemicals
Yummie? NOT!
China has closed 180 food factories after inspectors found industrial chemicals being used in products from candy to seafood, state media said Wednesday. The closures came amid a nationwide crackdown on shoddy and dangerous products launched in December that also uncovered use of recycled or expired food, the China Daily said.
Formaldehyde, illegal dyes, and industrial wax were found being used to make candy, pickles, crackers and seafood, it said, citing Han Yi, an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, which is responsible for food safety. “These are not isolated cases,” Han, director of the administration’s quality control and inspection department, was quoted as saying.
As if we needed any more reasons to READ THE LABELS, and avoid supporting the ChiCom anti-US militarization by improving their trade balance at out expense.
UK Report: deFacto War With Iran
The Chief notes the following evidence of consciousness from Airstrip One (UK).
Iranian forces are being choppered over the Iraqi border to bomb Our Boys, intelligence chiefs say. Military experts claim this worrying move means we are at WAR with Iran in all but name.
Uh…this clearly fits into the “No shit, Sherlock!” category of knowledge.
Last night an intelligence source told The Sun: “It is an extremely alarming development and raises the stakes considerably. In effect, it means we are in a full on war with Iran  but nobody has officially declared it.
We have hard proof that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have crossed the border to attack us. It is very hard for us to strike back. All we can do is try to defend ourselves. We are badly on the back foot.â€Â
“…badly on the back foot” – must be an unfamiliar Britishism.
Our Boys picked up the Iranian helicopters on radar crossing into empty desert. The sightings have been confirmed to The Sun by very senior military sources.
McCainiac-Feingold Provision Nixed by Supremes
A good day for the Consatitution!
Court allows issue ads near elections
The court, split 5-4, upheld an appeals court ruling that an anti-abortion group should have been allowed to air ads during the final two months before the 2004 elections. The law unreasonably limits speech and violates the group’s First Amendment rights, the court said.
The Chief, not having had his brains sucked out by a law school, could never understand limiting political speech before an election….I mean, there IS the bit in the Constitution about “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech…”, although Sen. John (Manchurian Candidate)McCainiac seemed to forget this basic fact.
Predictably enough, he’s not especially a happy camper about this ruling.
McCain: ‘Regrettable’ decision
Sen. John McCain (
R-AZ.) (RINO-AZ)on Monday called the Supreme Court’s decision to weaken part of his campaign finance law “regrettable.â€Â
How cruel of the Supremes to remember the Constitution actually is still there in spite of McCain’s Olympian determination of what’s REALLY best for us.
Others (besides the Chief) do not share his view of this:
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one of McCain’s main rivals for the GOP nomination, was quick to seize on the decision and made sure that voters knew it was a provision in the Arizona senator’s law that was struck down.
“Score one for free speech,†Romney said. “Today the Supreme Court reaffirmed the First Amendment by rejecting a key feature of McCain-Feingold. The law trampled the basic right of the American people to participate in their democracy. It also purported to reduce the influence of money in politics, but we now know that influence is greater than ever.
“McCain-Feingold was a poorly crafted bill,†Romney added. “Today’s decision restores, in part, to the American people a right critical to their freedom of political participation and expression.â€Â
Hear, hear!
Good riddence!
‘Chemical Ali’ to hang for killing Kurds
Saddam Hussein’s cousin, known as “Chemical Ali,” and two other regime officials were sentenced yesterday to hang for slaughtering up to 180,000 Kurdish men, women and children with chemical weapons, artillery barrages and mass executions two decades ago.
A good saving of oxygen. Needless to say, the Kurds are happy campers about this verdict also.
Prospects for Iran War?
A couple of pretty good commentators have noted an increasing probability of war with the Iranians. Since they have apparently accumulated enough material to make nukes, this prospect should make one check to see that their powder is being kept dry.
Actual damage from a limited number of weapons would be minimal…but then again…what if they did an EMP attack designed to fry microchip electronics? Visualize no cars (control computers gone), no computers, no cell (or other modern phones), no radio/TV (all modern gear uses chips), etc. NOT a pretty picture.
“Classic” or other vehicles that lack computers, EFI, electronic ignition, etc. would still work, as would old “tube” based electronics.
Anyway…the first of these notes goes back a few weeks to May, from the inimitible Spengler in Asia Times. The other is more recent warning note from veteran commentator Arnaud de Borchgrave.
Why Iran will fight, not compromise
What can the West offer the Islamic Republic of Iran in return for giving up its nuclear ambitions and kenneling its puppies of war? The problem calls to mind the question regarding what to give a man who has everything: cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, kidney failure, and so forth. Iran’s economy is so damaged that it is impossible to tell how bad things are. Except perhaps for the oilfields of southern Iraq, and perhaps also northern Saudi Arabia, there is nothing the West can give Iran to forestall an internal breakdown….
What strategic consequences ensue from Iran’s economic misery? Broadly speaking, the choices are two. In the most benign scenario, Iran’s clerical establishment will emulate the Soviet Union of 1987, when then-prime minister Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledged that communism had led Russia to the brink of ruin in the face of vibrant economic growth among the United States and its allies. Russia no longer had the resources to sustain an arms race with the US, and broke down under the pressure of America’s military buildup.
The second choice is an imperial adventure. In fact, Iran is engaged in such an adventure, funding and arming Shi’ite allies from Basra to Beirut, and creating clients selectively among such Sunnis as Hamas in Palestine.
I continue to predict that Iran will gamble on adventure rather than go the way of Gorbachev….
Which leads to this rather unpleasant conclusion:
An old piece of diplomatic wisdom states that one always should give one’s enemy a way out. But I see no way out for the pocket empire of Persia. Ahmadinejad and his generation of Revolutionary Guards will fight, and cautious old men like Rafsanjani will not be able to stop them.
An impressive sampling of US establishmentarians seem to be salivating at the prospects of taking on, and presumably taking out Iran.
“The case for bombing Iran,” was the headline over Mr. (Norman) Podhoretz’s long piece in the June issue of Commentary, the magazine he edited for 35 years (until 1995) and where he serves as editor at large. “I hope and pray that President Bush will do it,” Mr. Podhoretz wrote. His son-in-law Elliott Abrams is deputy national security adviser to President Bush. His son John is a columnist for the New York Post.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Independent, added his powerful voice recently to the case for military action against Iran in response to its purported killings of U.S. troops inside Iraq. “I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq… and to me that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers,” he said.
Denials from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice notwithstanding, it is an open secret in Washington Vice President Dick Cheney does not believe diplomacy-cum-sanctions will persuade the mullahs to forgo their nuclear ambitions. David Wurmser, a former member of the Douglas Feith politico-military team at the Pentagon, is deputy assistant to Mr. Cheney for national security  and a hawk on Iran. A co-author, with Mr. Feith and Richard Perle, of the controversial 1996 White Paper “Saving the Realm,” which referred to Israel and advised then incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to repeal the Oslo agreements on a Palestinian solution, keep Gaza and the West Bank, and establish a democracy in Iraq by overthrowing Saddam Hussein.
The word among the neocon family is Mr. Cheney believes Mr. Bush will stick to his pledge not to leave office 16 months hence with Iran’s nuclear facilities unscathed. Either Iran comes clean and stops its nuclear fuel enrichment process under IAEA control, or Tehran faces Mr. Bush’s military option. Two U.S. aircraft carriers are now 30 miles off Iran’s coastline in the Persian Gulf.
Would this REALLY happen? The Chief would not bet against it, especially considering the demented state of mind of the Iranian “leadership”.
Border Speed Bumps for Mex Trucking
Full access for Mexican trucks hits rough road
Partisans from both sides of the political divide in Washington are getting fired up in opposition to the planned opening up of the US to Mexican long-haul trucking.
A Bush administration plan to proceed with a pilot program to give Mexican truckers full access of U.S. roads has caused a bipartisan uproar on Capitol Hill.
“The cross-border trucking program is bad for America,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and presidential candidate. “It appears, under the current program, that commercial interests are being pushed ahead of the safety and security interests of the American people.”
The Teamsters union and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, a trade association representing the independent truck owner-operators and professional drivers, also oppose the program, saying Mexican trucking companies have poor safety figures, do not keep reliable records on accidents, and do not dependably test drivers for drugs and alcohol.
To say the LEAST, the Chief is highly skeptical of assurances that the Mexican trucking will REALLY be in compliance to US standards. When drug smugglers buy armed protection and diversionary activities on the border from Mexican army and police (as has happened previously), why would anyone rationally expect the situation with truckers being certified by Mexico to meet US standards to be any different?
Deep History of SECDEF
THE GATES INHERITANCE, Part 1
The tortured world of US intelligence
Asia Times, has come out with with a very interesting and lengthy deep background on the US Intel establishment, and one of its leading lights, none other than our current post-Rummy SECDEF Gates:
Robert Gates has returned to Washington as secretary of defense with a quiet vengeance and with all the skills acquired in his rough-and-tumble years in the intelligence bureaucracy still intact. His laden resume, gathered over many decades, is evidence that Washington’s tortuous, often misguided foreign policies did not begin with the Bush administration, and will not end with it. In this three-part series, Roger Morris, formerly a senior staffer of the National Security Council, provides not just a portrait of the real Robert Gates, but a history of America’s global covert action and intervention.
Although this piece IS lengthy, it has a lot to show and tell about how we got to be where we are today. I’m not sure that I buy into the whole deal, but there’s enough substance there to bear some close thought.
This is only part I of 2 more to follow. The content does NOT fill the Chief with optimism concerning the conduct of US foreign policy. Maybe it really IS too late to work within the system any more, but I truly hope that’s an overly pessimistic assessment.
But still…what if it’s not?
Oil Refinery Possible
An area north of Elk Point is poised to be the home of a future oil refinery and energy complex that would create up to 1,800 permanent jobs and thousands more to build it, Gov. Mike Rounds said Thursday. “It appears we are the leading site,” Rounds said at a news briefing at the Dakota Dunes Country Club. Rounds said he hopes South Dakota lands the refinery, planned by Dallas-based Hyperion Resources, adding that “they have my support for this project.”
If it is built, the $8 billion project would be the first oil refinery built in the United States since 1976. It would refine 400,000 barrels of oil into low-sulfur gasoline and diesel fuel each day. Workers would earn $20 to $30 per hour, officials have said.
While there would be multiple benefits of this project coming in (which IMHO far outweigh the negatives), predictably enough the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) partisans are already sniping – you just know that would happen.
The Chief thinks that the positives of this project FAR outweigh the negatives, for the state, and for the nation as a whole, hopefully to break the logjam in the construction of needed refining capacity.
Calling Dr. Jones!
Archaeologist sparks hunt for Holy Grail
An archaeologist has sparked a Da Vinci Code-style hunt for the Holy Grail after claiming ancient records show it is buried under a 6th century church in Rome. The cup – said to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper – is the focus of countless legends and has been sought for centuries.
Alfredo Barbagallo, an Italian archaeologist, claims that it is buried in a chapel-like room underneath the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the seven churches which Christian pilgrims used to visit when they came to Rome.
Where’s Indiana Jones when we REALLY need him!
Well, he WAS last head of the KGB
Putin in call to ‘rescue’ Stalin
President Vladimir Putin has raised the prospect of a return to Soviet-style academic censorship after he accused the West of plotting to distort Russian history in an attempt to crush patriotic sentiment in schools. The Russian leader claimed that a generation of schoolchildren was learning a version of their past that had been deliberately skewed by historians in the pay of the West.
Putin is, what Putin is, so this should be no surprise. His natural instinct is to crack down
He was the last head of the KGB of the Soviet Union. One cannot have reached that post by being “Mr. Nice Guy”, rather, a resume as a Sopranos enforcer would be more likely.
BBC Posts Treasonous Request on Site
And we think that we have problems with “Public” Broadcasting over here! This is just nuts.
The BBC was accused last night of risking the safety of British forces in Iraq after trawling for information on troop movements in the war-torn country.
Encouraging that there is still something that can shock politicians, given the levels of anti-Iraq war rhetoric in the UK:
Politicians reacted in disbelief to the revelation that for over two hours yesterday, the BBC News website carried a request for people in Iraq to report on troop movements.
Sounds like somebody got hit by the ol’ cluebat in pretty short order:
The request was removed from the website after it sparked furious protests that the corporation was endangering the lives of British servicemen and women.
How so? Just by trying to blow OPSEC (operational security) all to hell.
But according to accounts last night, a story on a major operation by US and Iraqi troops against al-Qa’eda somewhere north of Baghdad contained an extraordinary request for information about the movement of troops.
Last night the BBC confirmed the wording of the request was: “Are you in Iraq? Have you seen any troop movements? If you have any information you would like to share with the BBC, you can do so using the form below.”
Does the phrase “aid and comfort to the enemy” bring anything to mind?
One seriously doubts that the perpetrators of this treason will be prosecuted in today’s UK, but the Chief would recommend the ultimate traditional Brit solution to the treason problem known as “hanged, drawn, and quartered”. (For a somewhat sanitized refresher on this go back and watch the end of Braveheart again.)
Then maybe the moonbats would think twice before they act to support and aid the enemy.
UK Opts Out of Suicide Pact – For Now
Euro entry ‘still not in Britain’s best interests': Brown
Incoming prime minister Gordon Brown on Friday said that it was still not in the country’s interests to join the eurozone, though he refused to rule out the possibility.
The chief supposes that any form of partial sanity from the Airstrip One’s EngSoc regime is better than none.
US Losses in Gaza, Says More Where that Came From
Hamas lists seized U.S. weapons
When the Chief hear that military supplies and equipment was being funneled to the Paleswinian Authority, there was a LOT of doubt in his mind that any good would come of it. My bet would have been THEN that this stuff could well end up being used against us. That sad prospect is even more likely to come to pass, since FAT-ah was too absent minded to keep HAM-ASS from getting its hands on whole piles of US weapons and other logistics.
Last week, Hamas took complete control of all Fatah positions and U.S.-backed security compounds in the Gaza Strip, including Fatah’s major Ansar complex – where American-provided weapons were delivered and stored – and Abbas’ presidential guard complex.
The U.S. in recent years reportedly transferred large quantities of weaponry to build up Fatah forces against rival Hamas. Hamas officials told WND in multiple interviews they would seize the American weapons.
Hamas’ Al Aqsa Television last week broadcast footage of Hamas gunmen brandishing American assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers and ammunition the U.S. reportedly provided to Fatah over the past few months.
We sow the wind and wonder why we reap the whirlwind. What makes the farce even more surreal is that Condie & the Foggy Bottom Boysâ„¢ plan on repeating the same non-strategy.
Rice said she will ask Congress to rework a previous $86 million aid package to Abbas that was lowered following concerns by some lawmakers some of the money would end up financing terrorism. Congress in April only approved about $59 million of the aid package and stipulated the money cannot be used to purchase weapons. Rice intends to request Congress now grant the full $86 million. Rice also said the U.S. would contribute an additional $40 million to the United Nations to help Palestinians, particularly in the Gaza Strip, which is now controlled by Hamas.
According to Palestinian and Israeli diplomatic sources, the bulk of the $86 million is slated to be used to fund Force 17, which serve as de facto police units in the West Bank and previously patrolled the Hamas-seized Gaza Strip. Many members of Force 17 are also openly members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, which took responsibility together with Islamic Jihad for every suicide bombing in Israel the last two years.
The hallucinatory nature of this policy beggars the imagination!
End Run Around Chavez’ Media Crackdown
Venezuelan TV chief eyes possible deals in Mexico
The head of an opposition-aligned Venezuelan television station that was forced off the air by that nation’s government said he has received offers to co-produce and transmit programming from Mexico. Marcel Granier, whose Radio Caracas Television went off the air May 27 after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez decided not to renew its broadcast license, vowed Tuesday to keep trying to reach Venezuelan audiences by any means possible.
The Chief thinks that this will work out somehow or another. Chavez is operating with a 1950’s model for media, and has forgotten about the net, SATCOM, etc. Hopefully Granier will be able to effectively stick it to him, media-wise.
Look Out for Global Cooling!
Here’s some very interesting climate science that is NOT based on somebody’s theoretical computer model of what they THINK may happen, based on what they ESTIMATE happened in the past. This one is based on specific measurement of what did happen previously, and ties it together with what’s happening now.
Article Abstract: The mud at the bottom of B.C. fjords reveals that solar output drives climate change – and that we should prepare now for dangerous global cooling
Surprise, surprise, surprise! The SUN drives climate change, not an extra tank of gas in your SUV.
Ooops! So much for Kyoto, AlGor, etc. Oscar or not, mother nature’s a bitch, isn’t she Al?
While we’re at it, here’s a whole series are some other articles on the topic of climate – all of which have the effect of pretty well demolishing the GlowBull Warming alarums: Climate change: The Deniers
The Post’s series on scientists who buck the conventional wisdom on climate science. Here is the series so far:
Statistics needed — The Deniers Part I
Warming is real — and has benefits — The Deniers Part II
The hurricane expert who stood up to UN junk science — The Deniers Part III
Polar scientists on thin ice — The Deniers Part IV
The original denier: into the cold — The Deniers Part V
The sun moves climate change — The Deniers Part VI
Will the sun cool us? — The Deniers Part VII
The limits of predictability — The Deniers Part VIII
Look to Mars for the truth on global warming — The Deniers Part IX
Limited role for CO2 — the Deniers Part X
End the chill — The Deniers Part XI
Clouded research — The Deniers Part XII
Allegre’s second thoughts — The Deniers XIII
The heat’s in the sun — The Deniers XIV
Unsettled Science — The Deniers XV
Bitten by the IPCC — The Deniers XVI
Little ice age is still within us — The Deniers XVII
Fighting climate ‘fluff’ — The Deniers XVIII
Science, not politics — The Deniers XIX
Gore’s guru disagreed — The Deniers XX
The ice-core man — The Deniers XXI
Some restraint in Rome — The Deniers XXII
Discounting logic — The Deniers XXIII
Dire forecasts aren’t new — The Deniers XXIV
They call this a consensus? – Part XXV
NASA chief Michael Griffin silenced – Part XXVI
Forget warming – beware the new ice age – Part XXVII
They call this consensus? – Part XXVIII
Dire Forecasts Aren’t New – Part XXIX
So much for consensus on GlowBull Warming!
More Islamic “Peace”? Not this month!
Britain has announced honoring writer Salman Rushdie with a knighthood.
This has touched off another round of rabid Islamic foaming at the mouth in protest – very similar to the Danish cartoon flap. This is unfortunately all too predictable, and reactions of Pakistani government officials have moved into the realm of international diplomacy.
Rushdie’s knighthood ‘justifies suicide attacks’
Not liking an honoring of another nation justifies murder? (Remember, this is the “religion of peace”. Yeah. Right. In a pig’s eye it is!)
After the unregulated vitriol of Pakistani officials, the government took official cognizance that they had a problem.
Pakistani Government Intervenes in Rushdie Row
Of course, the justification of suicide bombing in this case elicited a certain response, even from the UK.
‘Deep concern’ over Rushdie terror threat
A diplomatic row over Salman Rushdie’s knighthood erupted yesterday as Britain expressed “deep concern” over claims by a Pakistani minister that the honour was an affront to Muslims that could justify suicide bombings.
The UK’s high commissioner, Robert Brinkley, conveyed the message after being summoned to meet Pakistan government representatives in Islamabad, according to a Foreign Office spokesman. The Government is now embroiled in a mounting political row over the Queen’s Birthday Honours award to Sir Salman, whose 1989 book, The Satanic Verses, was condemned by Muslims as blasphemous and led to international protests.
A spokesman said the high commissioner made clear London’s deep concern at the reported remarks of the minister for religious affairs. “The British Government is very clear that nothing can justify suicide bomb attacks,” he said.
What’s really amazing about that is that it is necessary to state for the record that “nothing can justify suicide bomb attacks”. To anyone civilized, that would go without saying…but then again, this IS dealing with Islam, so the civilized part breaks down here.
Senator Doesn’t Get It!
McCain voices optimism on immigration plan
Says his support for measure has affected campaign
Senator John McCain of Arizona said yesterday that he was “guardedly optimistic” that the Senate’s controversial immigration legislation will pass Congress, and added that he has been stunned by the personal attacks on him from conservatives angry about the bill.
Sen. John (Manchurian Candidate) McCain (RINO-AZ) of course is continuing his support for the Kennedy-McCainiac Mexican Migraiton Support Act, while at the same time expressing puzzlement as to the failure of many voters to support this.
McCain, who acknowledges that his outspoken support for overhauling immigration laws is complicating his presidential campaign, relayed a story about attending a recent fund-raiser where protesters were standing outside holding signs that declared: “McCain — traitor.”
“I’m a pretty tough guy, and I’m not asking for any sympathy,” said McCain, a former Navy combat pilot who spent five years as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down in Vietnam. But, he added, “you see something like that and you think, ‘Wow, what would make these women . . . think I’m a traitor?’ “
He just doesn’t get it!
Hey Senator, here’s a cluebat to get hit by: maybe it has something to do with acting to virtually destroy the sovereign authority of the United States to control its borders, and to enforce its laws in the face of aggressive violations and outright harrassment from Mexican citizens and officials.
Huh? Christian Islam?
“I am both Muslim and Christian”
It is a fundamental to the Chief, that anyone can is entitled to worship who, what, and how they choose, regardless. However, this surely merits some note.
Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill. On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.She does both, she says, because she’s Christian and Muslim.
One would expect that an ordained practicing minister of a CHRISTIAN church, would have some understanding of a concept of the central role of Jesus Christ, and his atonenemt as a part of their belief.
Claiming this, while SIMULTANEOUSLY claiming to adhere to Islam, can only be described as a strange case of true Orwellian “doublethink”.
Carter Losing His Mind!
Carter: Stop favoring Fatah over Hamas
What’s wrong with this picture?
The United States, Israel and the European Union must end their policy of favoring Fatah over Hamas, or they will doom the Palestinian people to deepening conflict between the rival movements, former US President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday.
Huh? At least Fatah, as bad as it is, has conceded the right of Israel to exist as a nation. Hamas has never done so. Apparantly they, along with Jimmy Peanut the Georgia Cracker are in support for a Final Solution to the Jewish Problem v.2.
Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian government, had proven itself to be far more organized in its political and military showdowns with the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Sheeesh! By that standard then in the late 1930’s Carter would have supported Das Reich, since Hitler had been elected, and it’s dominance in being able to bring off the annexation or conquest of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland would have clearly demonstrated that it was “…far more organized in ITS political and military showdowns…”, eh?
Carter said the American-Israeli-European consensus to reopen direct aid to the new government in the West Bank, but to deny the same to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, represented an “effort to divide Palestinians into two peoples.”
Hey Peanut head: can you consider the chance that the US and (even) the Euros have a problem with directly aiding a terrorist group?
Unfortunately there is even more evidence of moonbattery from the Georgia Peanut on this issue. This so far out in left field that it is a classic textbook illustration of Michael Savage’s assertion that “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder“. Based on this, the Chief definitely concurs.
No Amnesty Plan!
House Republicans introduce their own immigration bill
This is encouraging!
In a sharp rebuke to President Bush, House Republicans unveiled legislation Tuesday that would bar illegal immigrants from gaining legal status in the U.S., require tamper-proof birth certificates for Americans and make English the nation’s official language. The measure’s core principles include gaining control of the border and enforcing existing immigration laws — it does not provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants as the Bush plan does.
Given the Donk management in Congress these days, this probably has little chance of getting very far, but at least it draws a clear distinction between a real REPUBLICAN approach, in contrast to the Kennedy-McCainiac Mexican Migration Support Act that has been under consideration in the Senate by the Republocratic Demmicans.