Sunday, December 27, 2009

Neda Soltan is the Times Person of the Year



Neda Soltan was not political. She did not vote in the Iranian presidential election on June 12. The young student was appalled, however, by the way that the regime shamelessly rigged the result and reinstalled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ignoring the pleas of her family, she went with her music teacher eight days later to join a huge opposition demonstration in Tehran.

“Even if a bullet goes through my heart it’s not important,” she told Caspian Makan, her fiancé. “What we’re fighting for is more important. When it comes to taking our stolen rights back we should not hesitate. Everyone is responsible. Each person leaves a footprint in this world.”

Times of London

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Happy Birthday Ludwig!

Everybody likes the 4th movement of the 9th Symphony, I like the 2nd.


Read somewhere that listening to the late quartets make the listener more noble.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Allen West: What it takes to win in Afghanistan

Lt. Col. Allen West (US Army, Ret.) speaks to the Center for Security Policy's National Security Group on Capital Hill. Col. West was a senior advisor, Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command.

h/t
Hoa Hao

Thursday, December 3, 2009

What? Oil isn't a fossil fuel?

Do dead dinosaurs fuel our cars? The assumption that they do, along with other dead matter thought to have formed what are known as fossil fuels, has been an article of faith for centuries. Our geologists are taught fossil fuel theory in our schools; our energy companies search for fossil fuels by divining where the dinosaurs lay down and died. Sooner or later, we will run out of liquefied dinosaurs and be forced to turn to either nuclear or renewable fuels, virtually everyone believes.

[...]

Today, Russians laugh at our peak oil theories as they explore, and find, the bounty in the bowels of the Earth. Russia’s reserves have been climbing steadily — according to BP’s annual survey, they stood at 45 billion barrels in 2001, 69 billion barrels in 2004, and 80 billion barrels of late, making Russia an oil superpower that this year produced more oil than Saudi Arabia. Some oil auditing firms estimate Russia’s reserves at up to 200 billion barrels. Despite Russia’s success in exploration, most of those in the west who have known about the Russian-Ukrainian theories have dismissed them as beyond the Pale. This week, the Russian Pale can be found awfully close to home.

In a study published in Nature Geoscience, researchers from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden and the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington joined colleagues at the Lomonosov Moscow State Academy of Fine Chemical Technology in publishing evidence that hydrocarbons can be produced 40 to 95 miles beneath the surface of the Earth. At these depths — in what’s known as Earth’s Upper Mantle — high temperatures and intense pressures combine to generate hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons then migrate toward the surface of the Earth through fissures in the Earth’s crust, sometimes feeding existing pools of oil, sometimes creating entirely new ones. According to Sweden’s Royal Institute, “fossils of animals and plants are not necessary to generate raw oil and natural gas. This result is extremely radical as it means that it will be much easier to find these energy sources and that they may be located all over the world.”

[...]

The Nature study follows Kutcherov’s previous work, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that created hydrocarbons out of water, calcium carbonate and iron — products in the Earth’s mantle. By superheating his ingredients in a pressure chamber at 30,000 times atmospheric pressure, simulating the conditions in the Earth’s mantle, Kutcherov’s alchemy converted 1.5% of his concoction into hydrocarbons — gases such as methane as well as components of heavier oils. The implication of this research, which suggests that hydrocarbons are continuously generated through natural processes? Petroleum is a sustainable resource that will last as long as Planet Earth.

Energy Probe
via
greenspirit

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Let's get Christine a van!

A Story of Survival
By Christine Kent

On August 4th, 2007, I was the victim of a horrible crime that has left me changed forever. On that date, I was attacked by a stalker at my home in Oakland Park, FL. Allan Sinclair IV, a man I had considered to be just an acquaintance, had become obsessed with me when I did not want to be his girlfriend. I politely rebuffed his advances and told him that we could only be friends. After not seeing Sinclair for three years, he showed up at my house and said that he was in the area and thought that he’d stop by to say hello. He wanted what he couldn’t have, and put a gun to the back of my head. I spoke to him about God and told him that he needed to let me go. When I fled for my life, he shot me twice. One of the bullets obliterated the T-12 section of my spine, which paralyzed me. I lay in the gravel conscious beside my driveway as Sinclair ran over me with his SUV and turned the tire while on top of my abdomen, further shattering my body. He fled the scene and I desperately screamed for help, but no one came. My neighbor’s phoned the police when they heard the shots fired, but they were too afraid to come to my aid. I was shocked to find that my attacker came back within minutes in an attempt to hide me from view. He grabbed me by the ankles and dragged me across the driveway, leaving me behind the hedges. Being left there to die, I prayed for my life and to be saved while waiting to be rescued. I survived by a miracle, by the grace of God.

Fortunately this dangerous man was apprehended the very next day. Sinclair pled Guilty to Attempted Rape and Attempted Murder First Degree on Oct.2, 2009 and was sentenced to Life without the possibility of parole. Now I have some closure and peace of mind knowing that he’ll never get out, to hurt me or anyone else again. The Doctors confirmed that the injuries to my spine are so severe that I’ll never walk again. Having spent over six months in hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, I am so grateful to be back in my own home. I try to remain positive despite my pain and disability, believing that everyday is a gift and life is a blessing. Sheer will, determination and support helps to keep me pushing forward. I want to make the most of my life and be an inspiration to others as well, striving to make a difference where I can.

I wish so much to be independent again and look forward to progressing in my recovery. However, the costs associated with my injuries are quite high and involve everything from home modifications to medical related. I’m also hoping to save for a handicapped accessible van as well. Could you please help?

To assist with my injury related expenses, a fundraising campaign has been established with the Catastrophic Injury Program of the National Transplant Assistance Fund (NTAF). NTAF is a nonprofit organization that has been serving the transplant and catastrophic injury community for 25 years. All contributions are tax-deductible and are administered for injury-related expenses only.
If you wish to make a donation:

Make check payable to: NTAF Southeast Spinal Cord Injury Fund
Write on check memo line: in honor of Christine Kent
Mail to: NTAF
150 N. Radnor Chester Road, Suite F-120
Radnor, PA 19087

To use a credit card, please visit www.catastrophicfund.org and type “Kent” into the yellow box on the left or call 800-642-8399. My newspaper reports and videos can be viewed on this website.

Thank you for your prayers, support and donations. ChristineKent@bellsouth.net

A pedal-operated butter churn


The concept:
"I want to build a pedal-operated machine that churns butter and powers a toaster. It's basically a modified bicycle that attaches directly to an old hand-crank butter churn. It also charges a battery that is hooked to a power converter so I can plug in a toaster."
h/t
the Arianna Huffington of the local foods movement

Universities take action on Climategate

The Obama administration might think Climategate is a nonevent, but on Monday, Pennsylvania State University announced it was launching an investigation into the academic conduct of Michael Mann, director of the school's Earth System Science Center. Yesterday, it was announced that Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, would step aside while his university conducts an investigation. With so much fraud being exposed in the academic community that studies and promotes global-warming theories, an example has to be made of someone.

There are dozens of researchers at other institutions involved in this scandal surrounding leaked e-mails that discuss covering up evidence of global cooling and destroying research that discounts global warming. For example, in the United States, the National Center for Atmospheric Research is in the thick of the e-mail chain.

Mr. Mann is front and center in the debate over what constitutes unethical research. In the current controversy, he is named in about 270 of the more than 1,000 leaked e-mails, many of which detail disturbing and improper academic behavior. On Monday, he told the Penn State student newspaper that the controversy over the leaked e-mails was simply part of a systematic smear campaign to prevent climate researchers from doing their work and that the leaks were timed to derail next week's climate summit.

The evidence suggests that his troubles were not created by a smear campaign but are the result of his own shenanigans.....
....the rest of the article
h/t
joseffy

Monday, November 30, 2009

CRU Source Code Explained


h/t
Wolf Howling, who is back to posting after an extended hiatus. The Wolf is back with a vengeance, some sharp analysis and many excellent links at his site.

Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping



Reverend Billy's website

'Botch after botch after botch'

A random sampling of internal memos from the world's leading climate research agency:

"But what are all those monthly files? DON'T KNOW, UNDOCUMENTED. Wherever I look, there are data files, no info about what they are other than their names. And that's useless ..." (Page 17)

- "It's botch after botch after botch." (18)

- "The biggest immediate problem was the loss of an hour's edits to the program, when the network died ... no explanation from anyone, I hope it's not a return to last year's troubles ... This surely is the worst project I've ever attempted. Eeeek." (31)

- "Oh, GOD, if I could start this project again and actually argue the case for junking the inherited program suite." (37)

- "... this should all have been rewritten from scratch a year ago!" (45)

- "Am I the first person to attempt to get the CRU databases in working order?!!" (47)

- "As far as I can see, this renders the (weather) station counts totally meaningless." (57)

- "COBAR AIRPORT AWS (data from an Australian weather station) cannot start in 1962, it didn't open until 1993!" (71)

- "What the hell is supposed to happen here? Oh yeah -- there is no 'supposed,' I can make it up. So I have : - )" (98)

- "You can't imagine what this has cost me -- to actually allow the operator to assign false WMO (World Meteorological Organization) codes!! But what else is there in such situations? Especially when dealing with a 'Master' database of dubious provenance ..." (98)

- "So with a somewhat cynical shrug, I added the nuclear option -- to match every WMO possible, and turn the rest into new stations ... In other words what CRU usually do. It will allow bad databases to pass unnoticed, and good databases to become bad ..." (98-9)

- "OH F--- THIS. It's Sunday evening, I've worked all weekend, and just when I thought it was done, I'm hitting yet another problem that's based on the hopeless state of our databases." (241).

- "This whole project is SUCH A MESS ..." (266)

And based on stuff like this, politicians are going to blow up our economy and lower our standard of living to "fix" the climate?

Are they insane?

Lorrie Goldstein
via
Lindy Bill

The original raw temperature data has been dumped - what academic tosses out source material?? They didn't factor in the Medieval Warming Period, they hardcoded the hockey stick.....and we're just scratching the surface. Meanwhile, Obama, Browner, and Holdren are happily oblivious as they lurch toward Copenhagen....pray to God he doesn't actually sign anything.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

"Climategate is a destroyer of world-views"

This may be the best post to date on Climategate, every point is hit and every dot connected. The Anchoress is in top form, every word is gold.

>>There is a lot to read about Climategate, but none of it is in the Mainstream Media, with the exception of the Obama-Administration described "not real news" organization. That would be Fox News, which is covering the story.

The New York Times, in a stunning bit of hypocrisy, says they won't report on Climategate because they didn't like the way the information was discovered. To the NY TImes, the real story, if they ever deign to cover it, will be about the method in which the story was found, and the ends not justifying means.

There is a valid nit to pick over hacking and how it threatens not just programs but governments and individuals. But when an entire global movement, with accompanying financial interests and public bullying has been founded on "science" that is -at the very least- now confirmed to be "unsettled," that information, regardless of how it was brought to light, needs to be reported on and investigated.

The NY Times' prim distaste for the means of disclosure on this issue rather reminds me of a few years back, when someone leaded a memo from the Senate Intelligence Committee, whereby Sen. Jay Rockefeller suggested strategies to undermine "Bush's war," and the mainstream media ignored the content of the memo, while waxing indignant over the leak.

The standard media, it seems, only like leaks when they serve their own agendas, or take down their perceived enemies, foreign and domestic.

So, they don't like this Climategate Story, not at all. Troubling links and trouble, trouble for the narrative.

Let me tell you why the press is blacking out the Climategate story:

In a nutshell, Climategate is a destroyer of world-views. As someone who has always maintained that the AGW hype was a matter of politicians and grifters seizing an opportunity to use unsettled science as a means of getting filthy rich while imposing harsh measures against human freedom, I am very familiar with the world-view of the alarmists. Whenever I wrote about the "hoo-hah" of AGW (and particularly of Al Gore's stupendous, international fake-out and hypocrisy), my email would load up with people telling me I was "a stupid hick," unschooled in scientific method (just like Al Gore) and therefore unentitled to opine on anything, so I should just "shut up" and "go away" and of course, I was a "nazi." These emails occasionally ended with a diatribe against George W. Bush for good measure, and suggested he and I were both "criminals" against humanity. One person even accused me of being Barbara Bush, in disguise.

All of that was standard-issue hate, but nowhere as amusing as the occasional "Sinner, fry in hell" emails I will get from a Jack Chicker, so I stopped reading them long ago.

But I also had a journalist I admired, and who I still consider a friend, privately and gently suggest that if I doubted the truth about AGW then I was as deluded (and perhaps as evil) as a "holocaust denier."

Yes. The left went that far. The press went that far. They embraced this unsettled science, this unproven theory, with a fervor of moral righteousness; to dispute AGW was to be a bad and stupid person, even if were a dissenting scientist.

To question the point of "environmentally sound" lightbulbs that give bad light and create a dangerous and toxic risk when they break was to "not get the point," which was that the planet was "dying" thanks to Hanukkah candles and incandescent lightbulbs.

To suggest that large-numbers of privileged people flying scores of private planes to exotic locals, gorging themselves on fine fare while deciding how the common folk ought to live, in order to "save" the planet from AGW was bizarre, wasteful and hypocritical in an era of video-conferencing, was to be sniffed at as "insipid." Didn't one understand the power of the Gore Indulgence carbon-offset? Just pay some money to the man with the absolute moral authority on all things green, and your sins are covered. Somewhere, a tree is planted.

The scam of AGW was permitted to gain the foothold it did, because of George W. Bush.

It's Bush's fault: if Bush had not fought back when CBS News called Florida for Al Gore before polls in the panhandle had closed, if Bush had not taken Gore's selective re-count to the Supreme Court, if Bush had just taken those hanging chads like a man and allowed Al Gore to ascend to the presidency (as he'd been groomed to do before he sighed and fumed his way through debates, put his common sense into a lockbox and stumbled into the Buddhist convent, discovering the existence of "no controlling legal authority,") whether the Vice-President actually won or not (the NY Times eventually admitted "not") then Al Gore would not have had to seek redemption and his fortune in climate hucksterism, and the left would not have had to over-indulge him in it, overcompensating in order to "kick Bush in the leg."

That's basically it. The AGW/Climate Change question became a rigorous boondoggle that got out of control not because the scientist who first suggested a connection between human carbon emission and a change in climate were bad people, or that the question was not worth asking, but because bad people then took the uncertain hypothesis, put it on media-fueled steroids, demonized anyone who disagreed with them, made it political -so much so that even the scientists got caught up in the good/bad, smart/stupid, Gore/Bush, Left/Right identifiers- and found real power there; they allowed the AGW movement to become the dubious centering pole upholding the giant circus tent of their worldviews.

As such, it is not permitted to be shaken. Shake the centering pole, and everything could come tumbling down: Oh. My. Gawd! If the Gore-doubters were right about this, what else might they be right about? And if they're all stupid, and I'm smart, but they're right and I'm wrong . . .

Implosion.

If the true-believers of AGW got this wrong, and they'd attached it to all of their politics, all of their hate, all of their superiority, then everything is in a free-fall.

And this is why the mainstream media cannot possibly report on Climategate until they have an acceptable counter-narrative that they can haul out in order to either debunk the story or soften its edges, even as they break the news.

The press, who spent a huge portion of their credibility convincing America that President Bush was a "liar" and a "power-abuser" and an "arrogant chump who made the world (read Chirac and Schroeder) hate us" and then spent the balance of their capital carrying into office a man whose every utterance comes with an expiration date, who seems to have very quickly abused his power and has treated our traditional allies (who were partnering well with the United States from 2004-on) with contempt or disinterest. The press really cannot afford to admit that almost nothing they have said in the past 9 years has escaped ideological or political framing to suit their agenda. Implode, they will.

So the story must not be told, until it can be told from their self-protective angle which is undoubtedly under development as you read this.

[...]

There is an anvil-heavy irony to all of this. Part of the smart/stupid, left/right narrative was built on the fantastic strawman that the AGW-doubters on the right were "enemies of science," that first they were not allowing science to use human embryos for experimentation, and now they were daring to doubt the most imperative scientific advice in the history of mankind.

But if the excesses of the weather-sciences are about be discredited to the degree that -as some worry- may "bring all science into dispute", then that harm comes not from the right, who simply dared to question, but solely from the left, who refused to permit questions, openness, transparency.

Well, let's get to the bottom of all of this, and then let us try -if it is possible, any longer- to become a saner world, say I.

Let Al Gore keep his ill-gotten booty and his stupid Academy Award and his worthless Nobel Peace Prize, and let him go away, somewhere, to an abode that is at least as "green" as President Bush's despised ranch in Texas.

Let people once more get on a commercial air flight without being pestered about how they are guilty of earth-murder.

Let's name the grifters, disassemble the dubious global policies that have been hovering for landing in Copenhagen, admit that the greatest threat to the world and its people is predicated on bombs and hate rather than some feckless, unprovable idea, and then let's prepare for the cold, cold winter with some good old-fashioned oil-drilling while we finally begin to debate a nuclear future.

In truth, I just want my incandescent lightbulbs back, please.

h/t
Lindy Bill

Friday, November 27, 2009

The Grinch Who Moved Thanksgiving

Always a pleasure to get a history lesson from Bill Kauffman. A couple of snippets:

It seems that in 1939 Thanksgiving was to fall on November 30th, a matter of consternation to the big merchants of the National Retail Dry Goods Association (NRDGA). The presidents of Gimbel Brothers, Lord & Taylor, and other unsentimental vendors petitioned President Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving to the previous Thursday, November 23, thus creating an additional week of Christmas shopping—and to the astonishment of those Americans without dollar signs in their eyes, the President did so. (Not all merchants favored the shift. One Kokomo shopkeeper hung a sign in his window reading, “Do your shopping now. Who knows, tomorrow may be Christmas.”)

Opinion polls revealed that more than 60 percent of Americans opposed the Rooseveltian ukase; dissent was especially vigorous in New England. The selectmen of Plymouth, Massachusetts informed the President, “It is a religious holiday and [you] have no right to change it for commercial reasons.” Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks to the Almighty, harrumphed Governor Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts, “and not for the inauguration of Christmas shopping.”

[...]

Twenty-three states celebrated Thanksgiving 1939 on November 23, and another 23 stood fast with November 30. Two states, Colorado and Texas, shrugged their shoulders and celebrated both days—Texas did so to avoid having to move the Texas-Texas A&M football game.

Bill's article is at Front Porch Republic

Thursday, November 26, 2009

A jig

Uncle Earl

Jones, Briffa and Mann seem to have committed several criminal offences

These include:

1. Misappropriation of public funds

They deliberately falsified data then used the results of the falsification to obtain additional research funding. This is criminal fraud under English Law.

2. Deliberate attempt to prevent disclosure of information that was requested under the FOI Act

They colluded to destroy information that was the subject of an FOI request. This is a criminal offence under English Law.

These two offences will do for starters, but there are others, too. Indeed, both of the above offences can be doubled by charging the alleged miscreants with conspiracy in each case. Jones, Briffa and Mann should be prosecuted as a warning to others who would pervert science as a method to promote a political agenda. However, there is little probability that the Crown Prosecution Service will charge the alleged miscreants. It is more likely that they will be awarded Knighthoods.

And those like Monbiot who colluded in all of this will say, “We did not know”.

more at Joanne Nova's excellent blog
h/t
Brumar89

The World According to Americans


from Paul Kedrosky
via
KLP

Blasted blogger, shrinking things down. For a better view, go here.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

NYTimes: We Won't Publish "Statements that Were Never Intended for the Public Eye."

The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won't be posted here.

hahahahahaha.....please stop...have they forgotten the PENTAGON PAPERS??!!

Monckton on Climategate: ‘They Are Criminals’

The man who challenged Al Gore to a debate is furious about the content of the leaked CRU emails — and says why you should be, too.

This is what they did — these climate “scientists” on whose unsupported word the world’s classe politique proposes to set up an unelected global government this December in Copenhagen, with vast and unprecedented powers to control all formerly free markets, to tax wealthy nations and all of their financial transactions, to regulate the economic and environmental affairs of all nations, and to confiscate and extinguish all patent and intellectual property rights.

The tiny, close-knit clique of climate scientists who invented and now drive the “global warming” fraud — for fraud is what we now know it to be — tampered with temperature data so assiduously that, on the recent admission of one of them, land temperatures since 1980 have risen twice as fast as ocean temperatures. One of the thousands of emails recently circulated by a whistleblower at the University of East Anglia, where one of the world’s four global-temperature datasets is compiled, reveals that data were altered so as to prevent a recent decline in temperature from showing in the record. In fact, there has been no statistically significant “global warming” for 15 years — and there has been rapid and significant cooling for nine years.

Worse, these arrogant fraudsters — for fraudsters are what we now know them to be — have refused, for years and years and years, to reveal their data and their computer program listings. Now we know why: As a revealing 15,000-line document from the computer division at the Climate Research Unit shows, the programs and data are a hopeless, tangled mess. In effect, the global temperature trends have simply been made up. Unfortunately, the British researchers have been acting closely in league with their U.S. counterparts who compile the other terrestrial temperature dataset — the GISS/NCDC dataset. That dataset too contains numerous biases intended artificially to inflate the natural warming of the 20th century.
more
h/t
Nadine Carroll

Monday, November 23, 2009

Sunday, November 22, 2009

To say this is surreal does not begin to describe....



Where does Althouse find this stuff? May help explain the genesis of the global warming scaremongering....did it all begin with Tiny Tim? Those poor children...the humanity!

"A gear has slipped in the planet."

Whited Sepulchre: Sometimes you wake up in the morning and everything has changed. A gear has slipped in the planet. This is going to be a big, big deal.

The Evidence of Climate Fraud

A folder containing documents, data and emails purportedly "hacked" from Britain's Climate Research Unit (CRU) may be smoking gun proof of a worldwide conspiracy to exaggerate the existence, causation and threat of global warming. And the list of apparent conspirators includes many of the world's leading climate alarmists -- the very scientists on whose work the entire anthropogenic global warming theory is based.

In a Friday interview with Investigative Magazine's TGIF edition, CRU director Phillip Jones confirmed [PDF] that the incriminating documents, which have been widely disseminated online, are in fact genuine. Accordingly, whether indeed the labor of hackers, or instead that of a CRU whistleblower, the contents of the FOI2009 folder are now public record -- and that's nothing short of dynamite.
h/t
KLP

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Warmist hoax exposed

"...the 1079 emails and 72 documents seem indeed evidence of a scandal involving most of the most prominent scientists pushing the man-made warming theory - a scandal that is one of the greatest in modern science. I’ve been adding some of the most astonishing in updates below - emails suggesting conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more. If it is as it now seems, never again will “peer review” be used to shout down sceptics."

This is clearly not the work of some hacker, but of an insider who’s now blown the whistle.
h/t
DMA

Much more at Climate Depot

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Large Hadron Collider 'Being Sabotaged from the Future'

Scientists claim the giant atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is being jinxed from the future to save the world.

In a bizarre sci-fi theory, Danish physicist Dr Holger Bech Nielsen and Dr Masao Ninomiya from Japan claim nature is trying to prevent the LHC from finding the elusive Higgs boson. Called the "God particle," the theoretical boson could explain the origins of mass in the universe — if physicists can find the darn thing.

The scientists say their math proves nature will "ripple backward through time" to stop the LHC before it can create the God particle, like a time traveller who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

“One could even almost say that we have a model for God,” Dr Nielsen says in an unpublished essay. “He rather hates Higgs particles, and attempts to avoid them.”

"While it is a paradox to go back in time and kill your grandfather, physicists agree there is no paradox if you go back in time and save him from being hit by a bus," Dannis Overbye wrote in the New York Times.

"In the case of the Higgs and the collider, it is as if something is going back in time to keep the universe from being hit by a bus."

“It must be our prediction that all Higgs producing machines shall have bad luck,” Dr Nielsen told the New York Times.

h/t
longnshort

Baguette Dropped From Bird's Beak Shuts Down The Large Hadron Collider

A bird dropping a piece of bread has shut down the whole operation.


The Baguette Incident: Re-enacted according to eyewitness accounts

h/t
Lindy Bill

Monday, November 2, 2009

Planned Parenthood Leader Resigns After Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure

“I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that’s it.”

Soldier's Angels Project Valour

IT Fundraiser, running through November 11 to raise money for technology that reconnects wounded warriors and supports their recovery.

Provides voice-activated laptops and other adaptive technology to severly injured military personnel. Please consider donating to this great cause.

"It was the first time I felt whole since I’d woken up wounded in Landstuhl."
–Major Charles "Chuck" Ziegenfuss, on using a voice-controlled laptop

National Education Association Website Promotes Saul Alinsky’s Books For Teachers

Nice Deb has the skinny.

El Día de los Muertos

Sunday, November 1, 2009

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Ron Paul tells Bloomberg that Congressman Watt has just more or less killed the bill to audit the fed:

Representative Ron Paul, the Texas Republican who has called for an end to the Federal Reserve, said legislation he introduced to audit monetary policy has been “gutted” while moving toward a possible vote in the Democratic-controlled House.

The bill, with 308 co-sponsors, has been stripped of provisions that would remove Fed exemptions from audits of transactions with foreign central banks, monetary policy deliberations, transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee and communications between the Board, the reserve banks and staff, Paul said today.

“There’s nothing left, it’s been gutted,” he said in a telephone interview. “This is not a partisan issue. People all over the country want to know what the Fed is up to, and this legislation was supposed to help them do that.”..

Paul, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said Mel Watt, a Democrat from North Carolina, has eliminated “just about everything” while preparing the legislation for formal consideration. Watt is chairman of the panel’s domestic monetary policy and technology subcommittee.

h/t
alanrs

Friday, October 30, 2009

Wisconsin farmer promotes 'good-food revolution'

MILWAUKEE — After years of tilling away in obscurity, Will Allen has found sudden fame as the face of the urban farming movement.

In the year since he won a so-called genius grant from a Chicago foundation, Allen has mingled with former President Bill Clinton, appeared in Oprah Winfrey's O magazine and spoken to scores of groups across the nation and overseas.

"The thing that makes me happiest is that more people of color are joining the good-food revolution," Allen told The Associated Press. "Ten years ago, an African-American would say, this is slaves' work, why you doing this? Now we have more people of color at my talks. Before this I had never been interviewed by black media, and now I've had stories in seven or eight black magazines."

A former pro basketball player, Allen is the founder and chief executive of Growing Power Inc., a Milwaukee-based company that develops urban farming techniques and teaches young people how to grow food in poor, inner-city neighborhoods.

[...]

"It's about building sustainable food systems," Allen said of his mission, "creating a whole industry around local food systems that can improve communities. That can help end crime and create thousands of jobs. It's about working to make sure everyone has access to good food, to healthy food, high-quality, safe food."

AP

Will Allen's website

h/t
Booker Rising

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Friday, October 23, 2009

Raymond Carver is in the American pantheon now

I think when the Library of America decides to publish an author's collected works it becomes official - they're inducted into the pantheon of great American writers. Some say what made Carver great was his editor Gordon Lish and his slicing and chopping of submitted text, changing names and titles, and generally driving Carver nuts. But the success is hard to argue with. What makes this edition so interesting is Carver's stories are laid out as he intended alongside Lish's edited ones.

Raymond Carver
Collected Stories
Library of America, 1,019 pages, $40




Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A Story of Survival

Christine is from West Hartford and attended Northwest Catholic and Hall High, any help she can get right now would be greatly appreciated.



>>On August 4th, 2007, Christine Kent was the victim of a horrible crime that has left her changed forever. On that date, Christine was attacked by a stalker at her Ft. Lauderdale home. Allan Sinclair had become obsessed with her when she did not want to be his girlfriend. She rebuffed his advances toward her and told him that they could only be friends. After not seeing Sinclair for three years, he showed up at her house and said that he was in the area and thought that he’d stop by to say hello. He wanted what he couldn’t have and put a gun to the back of her head. Christine spoke to him about God and pleaded with him to let her go. When she fled for her life, he shot her twice, with one of the bullets obliterating her spine. Paralyzed, she laid on the gravel beside her driveway as Sinclair ran over her with his SUV, turning the tire while on top of her abdomen, further shattering her body. Sinclair fled the scene and Christine desperately screamed for help, but no one came. Her neighbor’s phoned the police when they heard the shots fired, but they were too afraid to go to her aid. Thinking the horrific ordeal was over; Christine was shocked to find that her attacker came back within minutes in an attempt to hide her from view. He grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her across the driveway, leaving her behind the hedges. Being left there to die, she prayed for her life and to be saved while waiting to be rescued. Christine survived, by the grace of God.

Fortunately for Christine and for all of us, this dangerous man was apprehended the very next day. Sinclair pled Guilty to Attempted Rape and Attempted Murder First Degree on Oct.2, 2009 and was sentenced to Life without the possibility of parole. Now Christine has some closure and peace of mind knowing that he’ll never get out, to hurt her or anyone else ever again. Christine’s injuries have left her paralyzed from the waist down, in unrelenting pain and fear of what the future holds. The doctors confirm that the injury to her spine is so severe that she’ll never walk again. Having spent over five months in hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, she is blessed to be back in her own home. Christine tries to remain positive despite her disability and feels that everyday is a gift and life is a blessing. She is thankful that her condition is not worse, and at least she’s able to use her upper body. The Spinal Cord Injury Support Group of South Florida has been a big help to her with adjusting, problem solving, goal setting, and offering encouragement. Christine wishes so much to be independent and looks forward to being active again, at least as far as her circumstances allow. The costs associated with her injuries are quite high. These include medications, medical equipment, medical treatments, rehabilitation, home modifications, and the purchase of a handicap accessible van in the near future. Unfortunately, she cannot afford all these necessary changes. Would you please help? Your consideration is greatly appreciated.

To assist with Christine’s injury-related uninsured expenses, a fundraising campaign has been established with the Catastrophic Injury Program of the National Transplant Assistance Fund (NTAF). NTAF is a nonprofit organization that has been serving the transplant and catastrophic injury community for 25 years. All contributions are tax-deductible and are administered for injury-related expenses only.

If you wish to make a donation:

Make check payable to:
NTAF Southeast Spinal Cord Injury Fund

Write on check memo line:
In honor of Christine Kent

Mail to:
NTAF
150 N. Radnor Chester Road, Suite F-120
Radnor, PA 19087

For secure credit card donations:
Call 800-642-8399 or click the “CONTRIBUTE NOW” button.

To email this page directly to others in your community who might wish to learn about this campaign, click the “E-MAIL TO FRIENDS” button and type in as many addresses as you wish.

Thank you for your prayers, support and donations.

ChristineKent@bellsouth.net

transplantfund.org

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Sweden Turning Stray Rabbits Into Biofuel

Stray rabbits are getting a raw deal in Sweden. Thousands of them living in the center of Stockholm are being culled, deep frozen and converted into biofuel for heating homes. Wildlife campaigners have criticized the practice.

Der Spiegel


Rabbits face hard times in Stockholm

h/t
Jungle Trader

John Mackey on health care, veganism, and free markets



This is an abridged version of an hour-long conversation with Mackey. For that and downloadable versions, go here

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Chinese soldiers on parade

mini skirts and go-go boots are back!


h/t
Lindy Bill

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Four-year old Paige didn't want to say goodbye to her daddy before he was shipped off to Iraq


Four-year-old Paige Bennethum really, really didn't want her daddy to go to Iraq.

So much so, that when Army Reservist Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum lined up in formation at his deployment this July, she couldn't let go.

No one had the heart to pull her away.

The commanding officer allowed Paige to say goodbye as her dad prepared to ship off from Fort Dix.

h/t
Gina Vener

Monday, October 5, 2009

Sunday, October 4, 2009

8 US KIA overnight

"All over America, the yellow ribbons are fading.
I hate to even have this thought, but our troops are war weary.
Their junior leaders see the political score. Indecisive leadership is abhorred in combat, even if it is emanating from a Washington office suite.

I received info that indicates morale is sliding in some combat units. Some sergeants do not want one of their men to be the last to die for a lost political cause. The moment they get the idea they are merely political pawns, morale will fall like a rock.

An army with lousy morale is a lousy army."

unclewest

Stephen Moore interviews John Mackey

Mr. Mackey says that combining “our high deductible plan (patients pay for the first $2,500 of medical expenses) with personal wellness accounts or health savings accounts works extremely well for us.” He estimates the plan’s premiums plus other costs at $2,100 per employee, and about $7,000 for a family. This is about half what other companies typically pay. “And,” he is quick to add, “we do cover pre-existing conditions after one year of service.”

Whole Foods also puts several hundred dollars into a health savings account for each worker.This money can be used to cover routine medical expenses, like drug purchases or antismoking programs. If that money is not used in a year, the workers can save the money to pay for expenses in later years.

This type of plan does not excite proponents of a single-payer system, who think that individuals can’t make wise health-care choices, and that this type of system is “antiwellness” because it discourages spending on preventive care.

Mr. Mackey scoffs at that idea: “The assumption behind that is that people don’t care about their own health, and that somebody else has to—a nanny or somebody—has to take care of me because people are too stupid to make these decisions themselves. That’s not been our experience. We find our team members [employees], not surprisingly, seem to care a whole lot about their health.”

more at Fausta's blog

Today is the Feast of Saint Francis



Perhaps the most famous story of St. Francis is when he tamed the wolf that was terrorizing the people of Gubbio. While Francis was staying in that town he learned of a wolf so ravenous that it was not only killing and eating animals, but people, too. The people took up arms and went after it, but those who encountered the wolf perished at its sharp teeth. Villagers became afraid to leave the city walls.

Francis had pity on the people and decided to go out and meet the wolf. He was desperately warned by the people, but he insisted that God would take care of him. A brave friar and several peasants accompanied Francis outside the city gate. But soon the peasants lost heart and said they would go no farther.

Francis and his companion began to walk on. Suddenly the wolf, jaws agape, charged out of the woods at the couple. Francis made the Sign of the Cross toward it. The power of God caused the wolf to slow down and to close its mouth.

Francis called out to the creature: “Come to me, Brother Wolf. In the name of Christ, I order you not to hurt anyone.” At that moment the wolf lowered its head and lay down at St. Francis’ feet, meek as a lamb.

St. Francis explained to the wolf that he had been terrorizing the people, killing not only animals, but humans who are made in the image of God. “Brother Wolf,” said Francis, “I want to make peace between you and the people of Gubbio. They will harm you no more and you must no longer harm them. All past crimes are to be forgiven.”

The wolf showed its assent by moving its body and nodding its head. Then to the absolute surprise of the gathering crowd, Francis asked the wolf to make a pledge. As St. Francis extended his hand to receive the pledge, so the wolf extended its front paw and placed it into the saint’s hand. Then Francis commanded the wolf to follow him into town to make a peace pact with the townspeople. The wolf meekly followed St. Francis.

By the time they got to the town square, everyone was there to witness the miracle. With the wolf at his side, Francis gave the town a sermon on the wondrous and fearful love of God, calling them to repent from all their sins. Then he offered the townspeople peace, on behalf of the wolf. The townspeople promised in a loud voice to feed the wolf. Then Francis asked the wolf if he would live in peace under those terms. He bowed his head and twisted his body in a way that convinced everyone he accepted the pact. Then once again the wolf placed its paw in Francis’ hand as a sign of the pact.

From that day on the people kept the pact they had made. The wolf lived for two years among the townspeople, going from door to door for food. It hurt no one and no one hurt it. Even the dogs did not bark at it. When the wolf finally died of old age, the people of Gubbio were sad. The wolf’s peaceful ways had been a living reminder to them of the wonders, patience, virtues and holiness of St. Francis. It had been a living symbol of the power and providence of the living God.

NOT TO HURT OUR HUMBLE BRETHREN IS OUR FIRST DUTY TO THEM... BUT TO STOP THERE IS NOT ENOUGH... WE HAVE A HIGHER MISSION... TO BE OF SERVICE TO THEM WHENEVER THEY REQUIRE IT... ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Thanks to Elena Maria Vidal for the reminder

Stop, thief!



h/t
Scribal Terror

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Carrie Rodriguez - Absence

What is it about Austin that keeps on producing great musicians like this?

Friday, October 2, 2009

Happy birthday Gillian Welch

France Tells Obama To Cowboy Up

Sarkozy reminds Obama that “we live in a real world, not a virtual world“

The American Catholic

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009

The result of the Supreme Court's Kelo decision



NEW LONDON, Conn. — Weeds, glass, bricks, pieces of pipe and shingle splinters have replaced the knot of aging homes at the site of the nation's most notorious eminent domain project.

There are a few signs of life: Feral cats glare at visitors from a miniature jungle of Queen Anne's lace, thistle and goldenrod. Gulls swoop between the lot's towering trees and the adjacent sewage treatment plant.

But what of the promised building boom that was supposed to come wrapped and ribboned with up to 3,169 new jobs and $1.2 million a year in tax revenues? They are noticeably missing.

Proponents of the ambitious plan blame the sour economy. Opponents call it a "poetic justice."

"They are getting what they deserve. They are going to get nothing," said Susette Kelo, the lead plaintiff in the landmark property rights case. "I don't think this is what the United States Supreme Court justices had in mind when they made this decision."

New London officials decided they needed Kelo's land and the surrounding 90 acres for a multimillion-dollar private development that included residential, hotel conference, research and development space and a new state park that would complement a new $350 million Pfizer pharmaceutical research facility.

Kelo and six other homeowners fought for years, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2005, justices voted 5-4 against them, giving cities across the country the right to use eminent domain to take property for private development.

[...]

Kelo can see her old neighborhood from her new home, but she finds the view too painful to bear.

"Everything is different, but everything is like still the same," said Kelo, who works two jobs and has largely maintained a low profile since moving away. "You still have life to deal with every day of the week. I just don't have eminent domain to deal with every day of the week, even after I ate, slept and breathed it for 10 years."

Although her side lost, Kelo said she sees the wider ramifications of her property rights battle.

"In the end it was seven of us who fought like wild animals to save what we had," she said. "I think that though we ultimately didn't win for ourselves, it has brought attention to what they did to us, and if it can make it better for some other people so they don't lose their homes to a Dunkin' Donuts or a Wal-Mart, I think we did some good."

Scott Bullock, senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, argued Kelo's case before the Supreme Court. He calls "massive changes that have happened in the law and in the public consciousness" the "real legacy" of Kelo and the other plaintiffs.

The empty land means the city won a "hollow victory," he said.

"What cities should take from this is to run fleeing from what New London did and do economic development that is market-driven and incorporate properties of folks who are truly committed to their neighborhood and simply want to be a part of what happens," he said.

The entire article is at the Huffington Post

The 5 justices who voted to take citizens' property and give it to a developer:

Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer

The 4 justices who voted against the theft:

Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas, and O'Connor


The real destructiveness of Kelo is the precedent it set. One egregious example is Didden v. Village of Port Chester. Didden's property would not have been condemned if not for their refusal to pay the "designated developer" the money he tried to extort from them.


from Volokh

>>The U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London generated a backlash on both sides of the political spectrum..... Many of the rear-guard defenders of this ill-conceived decision insisted that abusive condemnations are an aberration in an otherwise sound planning process. They, it turns out, were wrong. Didden v. Village of Port Chester, a most unfortunate decision out of the 2d U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, helps demonstrate the shortcomings of their optimistic view.

In 1999, the village of Port Chester, N.Y., established a "redevelopment area" and gave its designated developer, Gregg Wasser, a virtual blank check to condemn property within it. In 2003, property owners Bart Didden and Dominick Bologna approached Wasser for permission to build a CVS pharmacy on land they own inside the zone. His response: Either pay me $800,000 or give me a 50% partnership interest in the CVS project. Wasser threatened to have the local government condemn the land if his demands weren't met. When the owners refused to oblige, their property was condemned the next day.

Didden and Bologna challenged the condemnation in federal court, on the grounds that it was not for a "public use," as the Fifth Amendment requires. Their view, quite simply, was that out-and-out extortion does not qualify as a public use. Nonetheless, the 2d Circuit . . . upheld this flexing of political muscle.

Connecticut Irish Endorse Sam Caligiuri for the United States Senate



It has taken Irish-Americans a full century to shed itself of the image the hopelessly corrupt, cigar chomping, whisky-sipping back room wheeler-dealer politician of old. As a result, like it or not, fair or unfair, the reality is, the Irish American elected official, especially in New England, is held to a higher standard.

We don’t know if Mister Dodd is a thief and a weasel. He appears to be a thief and a weasel and that does matter, especially in light his identification as a member of the Irish-American community.

That Mister Dodd has managed to embroil himself in an ethics controversy is one thing, but that he dragged the whole of Ireland into the ugly mix, and by proxy, the reputation of the American-Irish community with him, goes, as the Irish say, beyond the pale.

In endorsing State Senator Caligiuri, we understand that most of our readers are not Republican and so, to be clear, we are not endorsing a political party. We are endorsing a qualified, honest and decent man to represent our state in Washington.

Sam Caligiuri, Attorney, Mayor and State Senator, husband, parent and the son of working class immigrants, holds a pristine reputation for honesty, fairness and experience makes him the ideal citizen-legislator in the race.

A well liked and respected leader from overwhelmingly Democrat Waterbury, proves Caligiuri’s appeal to Connecticut voters. His record of accomplishment in service to the people, as mayor of Waterbury and as a well-respected member of the State Senate, is proof positive Caligiuri can and will work across the political spectrum to do what is right and what is best for the United States of America.

Based on his record, Sam Caligiuri is the common sense candidate who exemplifies the salt-of- the-earth character so desperately needed in a United States Senate that seems increasingly out of touch with the people.

Tiocfaidh ár lá

Saturday, September 26, 2009

An introduction to Linda McMahon



A tip o' the chapeau (which I would never wear indoors) to Authentic Connecticut Republican

NBC Producer to Anti-ACORN Group: ‘Bite Me, Jew Boy!’

Apparently NBC “Dateline” producer Jane Stone or someone else who has access to her Blackberry has a problem with groups that oppose ACORN and with an ethnocultural minority.

Mark Levin
via
KLP

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Simple Men

Hal Hartley's Simple Men is now on YouTube in its entirety. It's in ten minute increments, here is the first segment.

Dance scene from Simple Men. Crank the volume!


This diatribe followed a dinner conversation about such subjects as Madonna, sexploitation and contemporary pop music. Martin Donovan's character didn't fit into the conversation.


The sheriff has an existential moment


Hal Hartley's website

Friday, September 18, 2009

Pelosi more clueless than Gibson

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday she is clueless about an amendment to prohibit government funds for embattled ACORN, although it overwhelmingly passed the Senate Monday and the White House is calling for the group to be held accountable.

"I don't even know what they passed," Pelosi told The Post yesterday. "What did they do? They defunded it?"
h/t
Gina Vener

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Hilarious!

Jon Stewart scoops the lapdog media.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Audacity of Hos
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorHealthcare Protests

h/t
the intrepid DMA

“Maybe that’s just one you leave to the cables.”

Charlie Gibson was a guest on WLS radio in Chicago and was asked why, after the Senate last night voted to halt funding to ACORN and after three of those video tapes of ACORN employees helping the pimp and prostitute set up shop, there was no mention of it anywhere on the network news. Charlie gave out a most uncomfortable laugh and said that that was the first he heard of it!

Malkin
via
DMA

Brumar adds - If he's really that clueless and uninformed, Charlie Gibson is a real life Ted Baxter.

More media malpractice. Jeffrey Lord revisits and expands on Friedman's and Brokaw's surreal performance on Meet The Press two Sundays ago. How long til these dinosaurs are irrelevant?

>>MR. GREGORY: You talk about Van Jones as well, you know, the fact that in this, in this media age, what he said, by anybody's estimation, was objectionable, to sign a petition saying the government was behind 9/11. But it goes to something that's going on in this information age...

MR. FRIEDMAN: David, yeah...

MR. GREGORY: ...which is you can be a target real fast.

MR. FRIEDMAN: David, when everyone has a cell phone, everyone's a photographer. When everyone has access to YouTube, everyone's a filmmaker. And when everyone's a blogger, everyone's in newspaper. When everyone's a photographer, a newspaper and a filmmaker, everyone else is a public figure. Tell your kids, OK, tell your kids, OK, be careful. Every move they make is now a digital footprint. You are on "Candid Camera." And unfortunately, the real message to young people, from all of these incidents, OK, and I'm not here defending anything anyone said, but from all of these incidents, is you know, really keep yourself tight, don't say anything controversial, don't think anything--don't put anything in print. You know, whatever you do, just kind of smooth out all the edges, and maybe you too--you know, when you get nominated to be ambassador to Burkina Faso, you'll be able to get through the hearing.

MR. GREGORY: OK.

MR. BROKAW: Well, I've--one of the things I've been saying to audiences is this question comes up a lot, and a lot of people will repeat back to me and take it as face value something that they read on the Internet. And my line to them is you have to vet information. You have to test it the same way you do when you buy an automobile or when you go and buy a new flat-screen television. You read the Consumer Reports, you have an idea of what it's worth and what the lasting value of it is. You have to do the same thing with information because there is so much disinformation out there that it's frightening, frankly, in a free society that depends on information to make informed decisions. And this is across the board, by the way. It's not just one side of the political spectrum or the other. It is across the board, David, and it's something that we all have to address and it requires society and political and cultural leaders to stand up and say, "this is crazy." We just can't function that way.

MR. FRIEDMAN: You know, David, I just want to say one thing to pick up on Tom's point, which is the Internet is an open sewer of untreated, unfiltered information, left, right, center, up, down, and requires that kind of filtering by anyone. And I always felt, you know, when modems first came out, when that was how we got connected to the Internet, that every modem sold in America should actually come with a warning from the surgeon general that would have said, "judgment not included," OK? That you have to upload the old-fashioned way. Church, synagogue, temple, mosque, teachers, schools, you know. And too often now people say, and we've all heard it, "But I read it on the Internet," as if that solves the bar bet, you know? And I'm afraid not.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Restore Rod Blagojevich and democracy to Illinois

1. We condemn the removal of a democratically elected politician no matter what he has done.

2. We refuse to listen to any facts.

3. We insist that Illinois submit to world pressure regardless of their laws and constitution.

4. We will crush Illinois if they do not submit to our demands, because, well, we can!

5. We demand that all criminals arrested, tried or sentenced under the de facto regime be considered political prisoners.

Our organization was formed after being enlightened about democracy by the OAS, US, EU, and world actions against Honduras.

¡Viva la causa!
La Gringa

Thursday, September 10, 2009

ROE Kills Four More US Troops

Q: What killed four US troops in Afghanistan yesterday?
A: US rules of engagement. The story is from McClatchey by Jonathan S. Landay via Gen. Paul Vallely. Read, but don't weep -- get angry.

U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines -- despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village.

``We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We've lost today,'' Marine Maj. Kevin Williams, 37, said through his translator to his Afghan counterpart, responding to the latter's repeated demands for helicopters.

Four U.S. Marines were killed Tuesday, the most U.S. service members assigned as trainers to the Afghan National Army to be lost in a single incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

Whoever wrote these rules should be hauled before the Senate Armed Services Committee and then cashiered.

from Diana West
h/t
Lindy Bill