Monthly Archives: January 2009

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Cold War In Europe

Europe faces energy crisis as Vladimir Putin cuts Russian gas supply

As temperatures dropped below zero across much of Europe, the Russian prime minister instructed the head of Gazprom: “Cut it – starting today.”

The cut was ordered to punish neighbouring Ukraine, which Russia accuses of topping up its own gas supply by siphoning off energy meant for European consumers and sent through its pipelines.

But Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state-run gas company, said that it was European Union countries, including Britain, that would feel the effects of an increasingly bitter East-West energy row.

Not exactly too cooperative of Russia, but they sure got some attention from the Euros.

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Glowbull Warming Updates – cont’d

Holy smoke! Reality has broken through to the light on the Huffington Post of all places!

Mr. Gore: Apology Accepted

This writer goes through and pretty well demolishes AlGor’s climate bunko game. It’s well worth a look.

You are probably wondering whether President-elect Obama owes the world an apology for his actions regarding global warming. The answer is, not yet. There is one person, however, who does. You have probably guessed his name: Al Gore.

Mr. Gore has stated, regarding climate change, that “the science is in.” Well, he is absolutely right about that, except for one tiny thing. It is the biggest whopper ever sold to the public in the history of humankind. (Emphasis in original.)

To summarize the points made:

1. First, the expression “climate change” itself is a redundancy, and contains a lie. Climate has always changed, and always will. There has been no stable period of climate during the Holocene, our own climatic era, which began with the end of the last ice age 12,000 years ago.

2. Mr. Gore has gone so far to discourage debate on climate as to refer to those who question his simplistic view of the atmosphere as “flat-Earthers.” This, too, is right on target, except for one tiny detail. It is exactly the opposite of the truth.

There’s some discussion on this point that leads up to this:

… it turns out that there is an 800-year lag between temperature and carbon dioxide, unlike the sense conveyed by Mr. Gore’s graph. You are probably wondering by now — and if you are not, you should be — which rises first, carbon dioxide or temperature. The answer? Temperature. In every case, the ice-core data shows that temperature rises precede rises in carbon dioxide by, on average, 800 years.

Ooops. Another beautiful theory mugged by a vicious fact.

…the IPCC Fourth Assessment, like all the ones before it, is based on computer models that presume a positive feedback of atmospheric warming via increased water vapor.

4. This mechanism has never been shown to exist. Indeed, increased temperature leads to increased evaporation of the oceans, which leads to increased cloud cover (one cooling effect) and increased precipitation (a bigger cooling effect). Within certain bounds, in other words, the ocean-atmosphere system has a very effective self-regulating tendency.

In the original piece, there is a specific and detailed treatment of the very real effects of water vapor, (a HUGE factor compared to CO2) the sun, and even of cosmic rays on the climate. So what is what?

The ocean-atmosphere system is not a simple one that can be “ruled” by a trace atmospheric gas. It is a complex, chaotic system, largely modulated by solar effects (both direct and indirect), as shown by the Little Ice Age.

This ends with a final note concerning the much-ballyhooed sea ice situation.

P.S. One of the last, desperate canards proposed by climate alarmists is that of the polar ice caps. Look at the “terrible,” “unprecedented” melting in the Arctic in the summer of 2007, they say. Well, the ice in the Arctic basin has always melted and refrozen, and always will. Any researcher who wants to find a single molecule of ice that has been there longer than 30 years is going to have a hard job, because the ice has always been melted from above (by the midnight Sun of summer) and below (by relatively warm ocean currents, possibly amplified by volcanic venting) — and on the sides, again by warm currents. Scientists in the alarmist camp have taken to referring to “old ice,” but, again, this is a misrepresentation of what takes place in the Arctic.

More to the point, 2007 happened also to be the time of maximum historic sea ice in Antarctica. (There are many credible sources of this information, such as the following website maintained by the University of Illinois-Urbana: http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.anom.south.jpg). Why, I ask, has Mr. Gore not chosen to mention the record growth of sea ice around Antarctica? If the record melting in the Arctic is significant, then the record sea ice growth around Antarctica is, too, I say. If one is insignificant, then the other one is, too.

For failing to mention the 2007 Antarctic maximum sea ice record a single time, I also accept your apology, Mr. Gore. By the way, your contention that the Arctic basin will be “ice free” in summer within five years (which you said last month in Germany), is one of the most demonstrably false comments you have dared to make. Thank you for that!

Whew! The Chief is STILL flabbergasted that this turned up on HuffPo. Amazing!

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Revisited: “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder”

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This post is specifically stimulated by a comment on a previous post from Cory of the Madville Times.

Einstein defined insanity as repeating the same thing over and over again, and expecting to get a different result. By that definition, at least the Chief humbly submits that the above stated proposition concerning liberalism has validity, as illustrated by the following dialogue from American Thinker, shamelessly borrowed:

Let’s say my liberal friend Bob asks me: “Why are you a conservative, Chris?”

“Good question, Bob. In America today, conservatives believe, government is cruel, corrupt, unjust; and it just costs too much. And we conservatives just can’t stand there and do nothing.”

The current welfare state for which, usgovernmentspending.com tells us, the American people cough up $900 billion a year for government pensions, $950 billion for government health care, $875 billion for government education, and $470 billion for government welfare, every year, is an abomination. Never mind the corrupt patronage system so brazenly operated by Gov. Blagojevich and pals; let us think about the cruelty of a system that has destroyed the family in the underclass, the injustice of screwing the working poor and rewarding the non-working poor.

Again, at the risk of redundancy, the Chief again points out that these programs have been implemented starting back in the 30’s, and since then…and the problems they “attack” have only continued, or gotten worse. (Remember Dr. E’s comment about repeated behavior & the same result?) But to continue the dialogue:

“Liberals created this monster, Bob. Liberals believe that compulsory government programs are the way to help the poor and comfort the afflicted. But they are wrong. Government is not compassion. Government is force. You cannot solve social problems by force.”  (Emphasis added.)

This is the basic conflict between liberals and conservatives. Liberals believe you can solve social problems with government programs. Conservatives believe that you must solve them person-to-person, face-to-face. Compassion means, literally, “suffering with.” Getting paid to run a government program to help the poor with tax dollars isn’t “suffering with.”

This is the keystone point. DEPERSONALIZED compassion, is no compassion at all. And what’s worse is that the ONLY way to run it by government, is at gunpoint (the threat of the police power for failure to comply).

“Conservatives believe in society not as social force but as social cooperation. That’s why we must reform the welfare state into the welfare society. In the welfare society the American people, not liberal experts, will be in charge of their health care, their children’s education, the comfort of the afflicted, and the decent provision of pensions.”

Liberals believe in the welfare state; conservatives believe in the welfare society. That issues out of the basic conservative belief, initially voiced by Edmund Burke, that “To love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of publick affections.”

Conservatives want to appeal, wherever possible, to our better angels rather than fight with inner demons. Conservatives believe that “social problems” must be solved by people in their little platoons–family, neighbors, friends, associations, and charities–people influencing other people for good. That means no more of Mark Steyn’s adult adolescents. We can’t just pay our taxes and complain about the government. We have to get involved and help people, from the inside out. First you help family, then neighbors, and then your co-workers, fellow union members, fellow church members.

Again…to keep trying to achieve a good result by bureaucratizing the effort, is doomed to continual failure.

In this at least, continuing efforts to continue and expand the governmental approach to deal with these problems meets Dr. Einstein’s definition, and therefore, returns us to the proposition that “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder”.

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YouTube Knuckles Under to Islamo Censorship Demand

The IDF Video Censored by YouTube

See the video here.

The night video shows Hamas terrorists clearly loading Grad-type Katyusha rockets onto pickup trucks. Towards the end of the video, a great explosion and fire is seen as the IDF terminated the terrorist activity with extreme prejudice.

The above video and others were apparently taken down due to numerous complaints by pro-Arab viewers who “reported” the video as inappropriate.

Right. Inappropriate.

In other words, it catches Islamic TERRORISTS caught in the act of being terrorists, and taking the consequences.

Oh well. They’re learning the hard way that if you throw mudballs at a tiger, you probably will get eaten.

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Political Correctness Flourishing in UK Gov

Prisoners should not be called ‘inmates’, says MoJ

The current Labor Ingsoc government never ceases to come up with new examples of moonbattery.

Prison officers have been told not to refer to their charges as “inmates” because it might offend them. Ministers claim the age-old term is not appropriate if criminals are to be treated with “respect and dignity”.

!

Prisons minister David Hanson revealed the Ministry of Justice stance in a letter to an inmate in HMP Wakefield, in which he said: “Prison staff are expected to treat prisoners with dignity and respect and for this reason the term ‘prisoner’ should be used in preference to the term ‘inmate’.”

He went on to say the term “offender” was not inappropriate.

Hanson sounds like he’s so far removed from situational awareness that he would need the help of GPS, laser range-finders, and a police surveillance team to be able to find his posterior portions with both hands.

Fortunately for Merrie Old England, EVERYONE over there is not bereft of common sense (yet):

One prison officer leader attacked the move and warned jails have already become too soft as he called for a return to tough prisons in 2009.

Opposition MPs said it was “politically correct nonsense”.

In a scathing outburst, Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, called for an end to the “namby pamby attitude” that has led to soft prisons.

“It never ceases to amaze me, the hypocrisy of politicians and senior civil servants,” he said. “On the one hand they say we are not going to have soft prisons but on the other phraseology that has been around for a long, long time suddenly becomes offensive to our dear charges. As far as I am concerned they are convicts, they are prisoners, they are inmates.”

“We should treat them fair and properly but prison should be tough. As we come to 2009, prisons should move away from being seen and actually being soft options to be challenging and demanding places of punishment. Without that we will continue to slide down in the views of the general public and will send people out of prison more likely to reoffend.”

Hear! Hear!

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Recession Hits Home

SD November jobless rate: 3.4 percent

South Dakota, with a November unemployment rate of 3.4 percent, has been in a recession since December 2007, according to Ralph Brown, University of South Dakota economics professor emeritus.

The economic decline should at least slow during the second half of 2009 if not recover, Brown said. The most recent long recessions – in 1973-75 and 1981-82 – both lasted 16 months.

The state Labor Department reports 15,055 South Dakotans were out of work in November out of a labor force of 446,045. October’s statewide unemployment rate was 3.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Sioux Falls, and Brookings seem to be beating the overall SD conditions, but not quite so well out in the Hills:

November jobless rates for South Dakota cities included 2.2 percent in Brookings, 2.4 percent in Vermillion and Aberdeen, 2.5 percent in Huron and Pierre, 2.9 percent in Mitchell, 3 percent in Sioux Falls, 3.1 percent in Watertown, 3.3 percent in Yankton, and 3.6 percent in Rapid City and Spearfish.

It sure beats the situation in Detroit, and other bigger cities.

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French Cooking

More than a thousand cars torched on New Year’s Eve

France’s Islamic street thugs were at it again to “celebrate” the new year.

The French press reported that the Interior Ministry released a final “verified” count of 1,147 vehicles burned in France over New Year’s Eve. The number is up 30.64% from last year’s total, 878.

Not to fear, the government is responding forcefully(?).

Sarkozy vows crackdown on car burners

President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to crack down on France’s car burning after more than 1,100 vehicles went up in flames overnight on New Year’s Eve.

Sarkozy said he had asked authorities to be “uncompromising” with vehicle arsonists and said those caught burning other people’s cars should lose their own licences until the damage had been paid for.

Oooooooh! “This time we REALLY mean it! If we catch you, you’ll LOSE YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE!” This must have them shaking in their shoes!

“There is no reason why honest people should have to pay the consequences of the behaviour of delinquents,” he said in an address to emergency service staff who worked over the evening of Dec. 31.

Car burnings are regular occurrences in France, where some 36,700 were recorded in the first 11 months of 2008, according to interior ministry figures.

“…regular occurrances in France…” This is as disgraceful an example of lily-lovered weak law enforcement as the U.S. urban phenomenon of the “known crack house”. What they need is a French Giuliani to straighten out their priorities…but then again, it IS the French…so it may well be beyond all hope. C’est la vie.