A People's History of the United States is a piece of shit. It is badly written, intellectually dishonest and insultingly shallow Marxist propaganda. Needless to say, it served as a college textbook for many years. That anyone would use it in a classroom tells you just about all you need to know about academic historians these days.
Someday I'll make the trek to Zinn's grave, and on it will leave these three books:
Paul Johson's A History of the American People
Stéphane Courtois' (editor) The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression
John Earl Haynes' and Harvey Klehr's In Denial: Historians, Communism and Espionage
In summary, it appears that NWF, like WWF, is spreading a large amount of global warming misinformation, and some news outlets like Washington Post and MSNBC seem to accept it without question. It's that 'without question' part that keeps getting the media weenies in trouble; someone sends them a press release and they report it as if it were confirmed fact instead of doing any, ah, what's that word? Ah yes, reporting, which involves investigating. BEFORE they start talking.
Also from Watts Up, We don’t dispute the fact that there has been some cyclical warming in recent decades — most notably from 1979 to 1998 — but cooling took place from the 1940s to the late 1970s, again after 1998, and especially after 2001, all while CO2 rose. This fact alone questions the primary role in climate change attributed to CO2 by the IPCC, environmental groups, and others.
There was a major station dropout — and an increase in missing data from remaining stations — which occurred suddenly around 1990. Just about the time the global warming issue was being elevated to importance in political and environmental circles.
A clear bias was found towards removing higher elevation, higher latitude, and rural stations — the cooler stations — during this culling process, though that data was not also removed from the base periods from which “averages,” and then anomalies, were computed.
The data also suffers contamination by urbanization and other local factors, such as land-use/land-cover changes and improper siting.
But wait! There's MORE!! Donna Laframboise, who gave us the list of World Wildlife Fund non peer reviewed studies cited in the IPCC AR4 continues to make lists. Here’s her latest list. Those calm, rational, thoughtful folks at Greenpeace seem to have had a significant hand in the IPCC climate bible.
Considered the climate Bible by governments around the world, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is meant to be a scientific analysis of the most authoritative research.
Instead, it references literature generated by Greenpeace – an organization known more for headline-grabbing publicity stunts than sober-minded analysis. (Eight IPCC-cited Greenpeace publications are listed at the bottom of this post.)
In one section of this Nobel-winning report, climate change is linked to coral reef degradation. The sole source for this claim? A Greenpeace report titled “Pacific in Peril” (see Hoegh-Guldberg below). Here the report relies on a Greenpeace document to establish the lower-end of an estimate involving solar power plants (Aringhoff).
'Gate du Jour', snork. Easier than numbering all the crap coming out.
Oh, and it turns out that Rajendra Pachauri, IPCC bigshot, knew the glacier scare was bullcrap. However, a prominent science journalist said that he had asked Dr Pachauri about the 2035 error last November. Pallava Bagla, who writes for Science journal, said he had asked Dr Pachauri about the error. He said that Dr Pachauri had replied: “I don’t have anything to add on glaciers.”
The Himalayan glaciers are so thick and at such high altitude that most glaciologists believe they would take several hundred years to melt at the present rate. Some are growing and many show little sign of change.
having dumped what appears to be a good five inches in my yard. And driveway. And walk. And porch. Between the ice and snow, the holly trees are pretty weighted down. Added to by probably fifty pounds of bird each, hiding away inside.
Speaking of which, I need to break the worst off the feeder and put some feed out.
We got off easy compared to areas south & west, and a couple of years ago for that matter. Couple of years ago my spinner hanging from the carport was coated with ice and had icicles 8-10" long hanging down; there's none on it this time. Areas south & west got enough ice to break both trees and utility poles, like we got that couple of years back in this area.
Hot damn, the sun just broke through the clouds! It's supposed to hit upper 20's today, that and sunlight will do a lot of melting. Won't be able to tell that much on the city streets, especially side roads, but main roads and highways ought to do a lot of clearing.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go break the global warming off the feeder before the birds start trying to open the windows.
a damned liar. What drove Pelosi to action? Not the CIA's waterboarding of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists. In a 2009 interview, a former senior Bush administration official directed me to a little-noticed item from Time magazine. According to this 2004 report, Pelosi objected to a CIA plan to provide money to moderate political parties in Iraq ahead of scheduled elections, in an effort to counter Iran, which was funneling millions to extremist elements. "House minority leader Nancy Pelosi 'came unglued' when she learned about what a source described as a plan for 'the CIA to put an operation in place to affect the outcome of the elections,' " Time reported. "Pelosi had strong words with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in a phone call about the issue. . . . A senior U.S. official hinted that, under pressure from the Hill, the Administration scaled back its original plans." (Her role was also reported on this page by David Ignatius in 2007.)
Why is this important? Because on May 14, 2009, Pelosi, now speaker of the House, declared in a Capitol Hill news conference that she had opposed CIA waterboarding but was powerless to stop it. A former senior intelligence official told me in 2009 that he was shocked by Pelosi's claim because, he said, "Speaker Pelosi herself has stopped covert action programs that she has been briefed on by going to the White House. In that very same time frame [after she learned about waterboarding] Pelosi had gone back to the White House [over] a separate covert action program, expressed strong opposition to it. And the remarkable part to me, the White House backed off the program, changed one aspect of the program . . . she was particularly opposed to. And literally, the finding was pulled back and revised." If Pelosi had truly opposed waterboarding, he said, she had numerous ways to stop it -- but she didn't try. And let's not forget 'hypocrite'; all the whining and moaning about 'torture' and 'it's horrible', but she did nothing to actually stop what she was bitching about.
And please note: what she 'came unglued' over was the idea of providing money to political moderates to counter the money Iran was getting into the jihadi clowns; THAT was so horrible she blew up, but "I was powerless to do anything about the horrible waterboarding." Yeah.
I'm thawing out from my last 'clear the walk & driveway' session. Since the previous session, by a ruler, there's been another two inches of this globular warmering crap fall.
I may have to hitch Security Staff to a sled. If I can get her out of the doghouse.
with delusions he's actually worth the oxygen he uses up on a daily basis.
And anybody who considers him a vastly important figure to keep an eye out for is a fool. Unless that's code for 'waiting until he's in front of a good backstop'; then they may be onto something.
is now a frozen crust on every horizontal(or close to) ground surface. I got about half of the driveway clear by chopping the shovel down and breaking the cover into slabs that could be shoveled off. Now I think I'll type a bit and see if I can get circulation back into my fingertips.
Why is Kirk still voting? A: The Evil Party cares not for law or right, only power. B: The Stupid Party 'leadership' doesn't have the balls to challenge this. Simple enough.
Fortunately, Obama has supplied conservatives with plenty of material.
And we’d better get busy with the ridiculing, mocking, derision, scorn, belittling, shaming, parodying, satirizing and lampooning toot sweet like our lives, homes, families, nation and the world depend on it. (Because they do.)
I think Greenwald wants the Justices to be like a mythical Roman Senator: Gravitas No Matter What. He's also a friggin' idiot who apparently believes the crap he writes: Justice Alito's flamboyantly insinuating himself into a pure political event, in a highly politicized manner, will only hasten [the Court's] decline. Let's see, a very quiet action, nothing that would even have been seen if there hadn't been a camera on him at the time, this clown calls 'flamboyant'. How about "Greenwald is a hugely biased drama queen"?
Howard Zinn really was a miserable socialst bastard, wasn't he?
Althouse has some thoughts on Obama wanting to spend $8 billion of our money on rail lines. I'll throw in two things: One: if the government is involved in the things, they should only be lines where independant study shows they can actually show a profit. Two: Daughter has used trains on several trips, and loved them, but you have to remember a couple of things: 1. She had the time; on some trips you can drive faster than the trains get there, 2. she either had a ride on the far end, or only had to take a taxi to the hotel; everywhere else could walk. Doesn't do much good to save money on the train if you have to spend a fortune on taxi rides when you get there.
Just looked outside, there's light s now falling, enough to show kitty tracks across the porch since I cleaned it off about half an hour ago. Snow's fine, it was the freezing rain that scared people. Oh, and my comments the other day about no panic buying? Apparently the panic buyers waited till later than usual: according to the news the stores were packed yesterday after the crap started falling.
Come ON, people!
The state's two senators and 14 House members met with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius just hours before President Obama implored in his speech to the nation for Congress to come together and deliver a government that delivers on its promises to the American people.
So the legislators were floored to learn the Democratic administration does not want to deliver for the tens of thousands of people who sacrificed after 9/11, and the untold numbers now getting sick. Hey, The Lightbringer needs that money to pay off his union friendspay for civil trials for terrorists and enemy combatants! He has priorities!
Awright, people, we have work to do! We can't let the Aussies beat us out! I'll try to pump up(er, bad choice of words there...) the lust, what're you going to work on?
Oh, wonderful; the F22 program gets chopped up while the Russians are doing this; and anybody doubt that down the road they'll sell the things to whoever?
For a little more on the mess in Haiti, and the wonderful efforts of the UN and USAID(the miserable bastards), check this out at Theo. And, I add, reason to avoid giving money to US Airways.
Damn. Remember the mess about a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism? Seems the doc who did the damage has been whacked. Hard. The GMC (the independent body of medical regulators in the UK, rather like the AMA in the US) didn’t investigate whether his claims were correct or not — and let’s be very clear, his claims have been shown beyond any doubt to be totally wrong — only whether he acted ethically in his research. What they found is that his research (involving spinal taps of children) was against the children’s clinical interest, that Wakefield was unqualified to perform the test, and that he had no ethical approval to do them.
Wow. Again, let’s be clear: that’s a whole lot of ethical damnation from the UK’s leading medical board.
they can't lie about? The IPCC report states that "up to 40 percent of the Amazonian forests could react drastically to even a slight reduction in precipitation" -- highlighting the threat climate change poses to the Earth. The report goes on to say that "it is more probable that forests will be replaced by ecosystems ... such as tropical savannas."
But it has now been revealed that the claim was based on a WWF study titled "Global Review of Forest Fires," a paper barely related to the Amazon rainforest that was written "to secure essential policy reform at national and international level to provide a legislative and economic base for controlling harmful anthropogenic forest fires."
EUReferendum, a blog skeptical of global warming, uncovered the WWF association. It noted that the original "40 percent" figure came from a letter published in the journal Nature that discussed harmful logging activities -- and again had nothing to do with global warming.
Closest I ever came to such was at the range, lady thought I must be either a LE officer or in competition after I effed up and had to do a failure drill in the middle of practice.
Nuclear waste is probably the most dreaded substances in existence, in part because it's proved so difficult to effectively clean up and store. But a stunning new breakthrough has just surfaced that may make cleaning up radioactive waste easier and much more efficient--and the solution takes its inspiration from one of everyone's favorite creepy plants. Researchers have developed a material that opens its pores to let in its intended prey--the radioactive ion cesium--then "snaps shut" to entrap it, according to Science Daily. It's a Venus Flytrap that eats radioactive waste instead of flies.
was something like "It's just so wonderful I can barely restrain myself from stripping off my clothes and rolling in the grass like it was a weekend at Xanadu. Sir." Some freezing rain, some sleet and 28 degrees. I really wish it'd drop five, as that would make sure of sleet only from this point.
In this area the ice buildup hasn't been too bad I'd guess around .10" The holly trees are full of birds sheltering, and Security Staff is in the garage saying "I'm coming out to pee and that's IT!"
The streets were doing pretty well until the sleet starting really coming down, now they're getting slushy and icy.
January in Oklahoma. While son in northern Iraq is seeing 40's and light winds.
*Soviet Georgia, that is. And I didn't know it was out of print.
in the O'Keefe mess; Patterico on it here and here. LE has now stated there's nothing related to wiretapping in the paperwork; long bit from the first link:
Earlier versions of this story incorrectly reported that James O’Keefe faced charges in an alleged plot to bug the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu. The charges were related to an alleged plot to tamper with a phone system. The headline incorrectly referred to a plot to bug the phone and a caption incorrectly referred to an alleged wiretap scheme.
So there was no intent to wiretap. Let’s dispel that idea now. Nobody is claiming he was trying to bug Landrieu. Everyone who compared this to Watergate was wrong, wrong, wrong — and should be embarrassed. Period.
The only question now is what he and 3 other men did intend to do.
The Government position is that O’Keefe & Company wanted to shut down Landrieu’s phone system:
Instead, the official says, the men, led by conservative videomaker James O’Keefe, wanted to see how her local office staff would respond if the phones were inoperative. They were apparently motivated, the official says, by criticism that when Sen. Landrieu became a big player in the health care debate, people in Louisiana were having a hard time getting through on the phones to register their views.
That is, the official says, what led the four men to pull this stunt — to see how the local staffers would react if the phones went out. Would the staff just laugh it off, or would they express great concern that local folks couldn’t get through?
Nice theory. Let’s see if you can prove it.
Note that even the Government now believes that O’Keefe targeted Landrieu for the reason I previously highlighted — first last night (subtly, in UPDATE x4), and somewhat less subtly this morning — namely, her claim that phone lines were “jammed” when constituents tried to reprimand her for the Louisiana Purchase.
So, once again, the media says crap that wasn't true and talks up a big storm that wasn't actually there; I wonder if any of there stuff is on a level that O'Keefe and friends can sue them for?
I wonder if these clowns are so effing stupid they don't realize what a bag of rabid monkeys they'd be opening if this defense is bought, “We have an obligation to resist, not just a right to resist. That is what these protests have been about since we started to do the human blockades against the Strykers,” Imani said. “People have been against this war for over eight years and the fact that people came out to resist these wars and take responsibility and stop the crimes of their government, those are the people who should be supported,” Herrera said. The judge just ruled that the women will be able to use the necessity defense. “That our clients did what they did to prevent the commission of a greater harm,” said defense attorney Larry Hilde , referring to the Iraq War. “I think this is exciting and this enables us to show that this act of civil resistance. Breaking a lesser law is very important to uphold higher laws,” Imani said. or if they're so damn self-righteous that they don't think anyone else could use it in defending other actions, actions the progressives wouldn't like?
and inside I find even more information coming out about the ECU & Co.: Details of the breach emerged the day after John Beddington, the Chief Scientific Adviser, warned that there was an urgent need for more honesty about the uncertainty of some predictions. His intervention followed admissions from scientists that the rate of glacial melt in the Himalayas had been grossly exaggerated.
In one e-mail, Professor Jones asked a colleague to delete e-mails relating to the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
He also told a colleague that he had persuaded the university authorities to ignore information requests under the act from people linked to a website run by climate sceptics. Unethical at the very least, and from what I understand illegal in telling them to ignore the legal requests. 'Responsible scientists' my ass.
A piece on the Anbar handover, including commentary from Reid and Pelosi back when they were saying we'd lost.
Apparently a lot of people in Venezuela don't realize how wonderful socialism and closing down media that won't obey the great leader is. Or maybe it's just that Chavez is such a repulsive little bastard. Either way...
Kind of amazing how we repeatedly see the same thing: someone tells us exactly what he wants to do, and people won't, or don't want to, believe it. It's turned out very badly before; this time?
Stormbringer on an old song, the feel of it and the noise it stirred up.
Kind of amazing, actually; he stood there and flat lied, more than once, and apparently expected the lies to be accepted. I guess because they came from him.
Crap like this is why I generally don't watch such speeches; I can't afford to replace the breakables.
The take from Ace: The "Big Winner" from tonight's speech?
Jimmy Carter.
It's official: Jimmy is no longer the Worst President of my lifetime.
being allergic to that level of crap being piled in one place. Been looking at some reviews, and I think I'll just point you to Insty. A couple of bits: Stephen Green: “’I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.’ Okay. Except you embraced the competence of Jimmy Carter & Herbert Hoover.” ...
Tonight, he addressed the American people, and he addressed Congress. Go back and look at the speech. He was earnest, and his chin was down, his head relatively level, when speaking to Congress. When he spoke to us, his chin rose, and he talked down to us—literally.
Go ahead. Take a look. Note his posture. You’ll see it, too. You and I, we are not his equals. He is above us.
That’s what sets my teeth on edge every time I listen to him.
That’s almost worth rewinding the DVR for, but . . . no, I’ve suffered enough.
to make guns! Our driver stopped at a security point just outside the town center, where we were introduced to the Frontier Agency militia, six angry-dad-looking guys with AKs and sidearms. They became our personal bodyguards, and followed us through the tight warren of gun shops and factories, barren little brick rooms where upward of 1,000 guns are manufactured every day. Most of the work is done by hand.
Few years back PBS had a full hour show on the area, with lots of video. These people were making everything from AKs to Enfields to Dash-K heavy machineguns, mostly in workshops you could fit in an average garage.
Friend of mine is an Enfield nut and he's seen #1MkIII Enfields that came from the region that, without very careful looking, could not be told from something out of an English armory; they'd even duplicated the proof stamps.
found this at Gateway. My thoughts: First, it's hard to see him thinking he could do something like an illegal wiretap and get away with it. Second, considering the crap that's been coming out of the Justice Department under Holder, I have to consider the possibility of this being a setup/entrapment/bullshit(no, I don't like writing that). Third, we'll see. Considering the stuff he's come up with in the past, there just might be something interesting about to pop out.
Update: Insty pointed to this at Patterico; some real questions here.
so of course “Speaking of Latino voters, Medina said “when they voted in November, they voted overwhelmingly for progressive candidates. Barack Obama got two out of every three voters that showed up. So I think there’s two things that matter for the progressive community. Number one, if we are to expand this electorate to win, the progressive community needs to solidly be on the side of immigrants, that we’ll expand and solidify the progressive coalition for the future… When you are in the middle of a fight for your life you will remember who was there with you. And immigrants count on progressives to be able to do that. Number two. We reform the immigration laws, it puts 12 million people on the path to citizenship and eventually voters. Can you imagine if we have, even the same ratio, two out of three? If we have eight million new voters who care about …… and will be voting. We will be creating a governing coalition for the long term, not just for an election cycle.” Please note that this dirtbag is specifically talking about giving illegal aliens a way to vote; one more reason to start throwing illegals out of this country, and exactly why so many Evil Party politicians in particular want them here.
Also note the 'fight for your life' bullshit. Hey, if Mexico is so damned wonderful in how it's run, why would you be this desperate to stay HERE, asshole?
So in Britain it's illegal to advertise for 'reliable and hard-working' people for a job...
I can't get the video to play, but if Obama's bitching that the press is against him, that's freakin' insane. A few 'journalists' finally start acting like reporters and he comes out with this?
Ok, when someone like this decides "The crap has to stop", the True Believers really have problems: How hot is it getting in the scientific kitchen where they've been cooking the books and spicing up the stew pots? So hot, apparently, that Andrew Weaver, probably Canada's leading climate scientist, is calling for replacement of IPCC leadership and institutional reform.
If Andrew Weaver is heading for the exits, it's a pretty sure sign that the United Nations agency is under monumental stress. Mr. Weaver, after all, has been a major IPCC science insider for years. He is Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria, mastermind of one of the most sophisticated climate modelling systems on the planet, and lead author on two recent landmark IPCC reports.
For him to say, as he told Canwest News yesterday, that there has been some "dangerous crossing" of the line between climate advocacy and science at the IPCC is stunning in itself. Guilty conscience? CYA? Who knows? Glad Insty pointed to this
Is the socialized medicine bill dead? Is it still groaning? Does Obama still really want to be associated publicly with trying to shove this abortion of a law through?
So Airhead America sank because liberals and progressives are too sophisticated for talk radio? Yeah. Sure. Just keep after that chicken, Behar.
Got some stuff to take care of; this ends your morning blood-pressure test.
for the area. Yuck. I've got my stuff together just in case, so should be ok; not hugely comfortable, but ok. Tell you this: I haven't bought a generator because it's been the problem of 'buy something(and a good one ain't cheap) that you may need once or twice every three or four years'. But if all this global warmering keeps causing crap like this to happen in winter, I'm getting one. And getting the wiring Og told me about done so I can plug it into the house.
By the way, speaking of price increases, I got a gallon jug of lamp oil the other day; the stuff has a little more than doubled since I last got some.
I have to say, not as prepared as I'd like, and it's pure dumbass on my part. I need to make a list of maybe five things I need to get in the near future.
Many thanks to Annoyed for this, and the post: Let's laugh at them. Ever see any of the WWII Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons? "Schultz!" I've always wondered if that's where Hogan's Heroes got that.
And seemingly get away with? Obama quietly issues ruling saying it’s legal for the FBI to break the law on accessing phone records
Following the report earlier this week that the FBI regularly broke the ECPA law, in obtaining information from telcos without going through the proper process (and, in some cases using just a post it note!), some interesting details from the full report have come to light. The two key ones? First, “the Obama administration issued a secret rule almost two weeks ago saying it was legal for the FBI to have skirted federal privacy protections.” And, second, the original idea to use these bogus “exigent letters” didn’t come from the FBI, but from an AT&T employee.
The RNS gent also points out one of the latest "We know what's good for you" pieces of crap from Britain. As he says, note #10.
Unless you're A: this administration and B: run by a bunch of lawyers. One of the people briefed said opportunities to "take out" Awlaki "may have been missed" because of the legal questions surrounding a lethal attack which would specifically target an American citizen.
A spokesperson said the White House declined to comment.
While Awlaki has not been charged with any crimes under U.S. law, intelligence officials say recent intelligence reports and electronic intercepts show he played an important role in recruiting the accused "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Awlaki also carried on extensive e-mail communication with the accused Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, prior to the attack that killed 12 soldiers and one civilian. Let's see, openly working with the enemy, in another country... what's so damn hard to figure out? Oh yeah; According to the people who were briefed on the issue, American officials fear the possibility of criminal prosecution without approval in advance from the White House for a targeted strike against Awlaki. And Obama & Co. are so busy playing games that they won't do that, apparently. Just effing wonderful, isn't it?
Claiming he was targeted because he is Latino, Monserrate announced that civil rights lawyers Norman Siegel and Steve Hyman would take his case.
"Students from the college that I went to died to help African-Americans have the right to vote," Monserrate said. "Today, the Senate would seek to push back the clock and discredit the major movement that occurred here in the United States to protect the rights of all Americans."
Monserrate was "targeted" becasue he was caught on video throwing a beating on his girlfriedn who was desperately trying to flee after he ripped her face open with a broken beer bottle. The fact he's Latino has nothing to do with it.
Oh yeah. In March 1988, the town and the surrounding district were unmercifully attacked with bombs, artillery fire, and chemicals. The chemical weapons included mustard gas and the nerve agents sarin, tabun, and VX. At least 5,000 people died immediately as a result of the chemical attack and it is estimated that 7,000-10,000 were injured.
This video was shot by the first reporters to enter Halabja after the attacks. (Warning on content)
Chemical Ali was executed today in Iraq. He was notorious in the 1980s and 1990s for his role in the Iraqi government’s campaigns against internal opposition forces, namely the ethnic Kurdish rebels of the north, and the Shia religious dissidents of the south. He was responsible for the mass killings of Kurds at Halabja.
No real surprise after earlier revelations, but still. What has now come to light, however, is that the scientist from whom this claim originated, Dr Syed Hasnain, has for the past two years been working as a senior employee of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the Delhi-based company of which Dr Pachauri is director-general. Furthermore, the claim – now disowned by Dr Pachauri as chairman of the IPCC – has helped TERI to win a substantial share of a $500,000 grant from one of America's leading charities, along with a share in a three million euro research study funded by the EU.
You really need to read this whole piece, the information on just how the "The glaciers will be GONE!" is just amazing. And disgusting.
Down near the end, In May 2009 TERI was also given a share in a three million euro project funded by the EU. Citing the WWF's 2005 report, the EU set up its "High Noon" project to study the impact of melting Himalayan glaciers. It was particularly keen to foster alarm over the Himalayas as a means to win Indian support for action on climate change at last year's Copenhagen conference.
Last November, however, Dr Raina, the country's most senior glaciologist, published a report for the Indian government showing that the rate of retreat of Himalayan glaciers had not increased in the past 50 years and that the IPCC's predictions were recklessly alarmist. This provoked the furious reaction from Dr Pachauri that tarred Dr Raina's report as "arrogant" and "voodoo science". Only weeks later came the devastating revelation that the IPCC's own prediction had no scientific foundation.
Dr Pachauri's first response to these revelations was to claim that he had "absolutely no responsibility" for the blunder, that it was "the work of independent authors – they're responsible". But the IPCC's error was so blatant that last week Pachauri and other senior officials had to put out their remarkable statement, admitting that it had been due to a serious system failure.
Even more damaging now, however, will be the revelation that the source of that offending prediction was the man whom Dr Pachauri himself has been employing for two years as the head of his glaciology unit at TERI – and that TERI has won a share in two major research contracts based on a scare over the melting of Himalayan glaciers prominently promoted by the IPCC, using words drawn directly from Dr Hasnain. Corruption and greed and hysteria, a wonderful combination. But it appears to be mostly corruption and greed.
but you'd think the Hitlery Channel would have a more intelligent view of things: I asked him why he never spoke about the Corps on the show, and he said “The history channel won’t let me. THey hate guns, they hate the Military, they hate that the show is popular. They’re about to cancel it” if you look at the time slots they assign it’s no wonder. Anyway, he said to write the History channel and let them know you like the show and to keep the Gunny working. The email for their comments is thc.viewerrelations@aetv.com
A new law to give greater protection to householders is unnecessary and could be a licence to kill, a leading criminal barrister has warned.
Paul Mendelle, QC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, says that a change to allow “disproportionate” force would encourage vigilantism.
“The law should always encourage people to be reasonable, not unreasonable; to be proportionate, not disproportionate,” he said, adding that the present law worked perfectly well and was well understood by juries. Yeah, that would be the law that's put people in jail for the crime of defending themselves in their home against armed intruders. Yeah, that works just great, doesn't it?
Mr Mendelle’s view was strongly supported on Sunday by the barrister who acted for both Munir Hussain and Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who shot dead a burglar. Michael Wolkind QC told BBC One’s The Politics Show that permitting householders to use any force which is not “grossly disproportionate”, as Tories suggest, would amount to “state-sponsored revenge”. Mr Wolkind said there was no need for the law to be changed. “The law already recognises that people react in a certain way in the heat of the moment.” He added that in future cases, courts could be expected to take account of the Lord Chief Justice’s decision to exercise “mercy” and free Mr Hussain from a 30-month sentence for beating a burglar. 'Mercy'. Uh huh.
If you've seen some of my past posts on the idiocy that is 'justice' in Britain anymore- hell, go over to Smallest Minority and search 'Britain' for a whole bunch of stuff- you know how defending yourself in Britain risks putting you in jail for longer than your attacker. Even in your own home. But the lawyers think the current setup is just wonderful.
Well, they are defense lawyers, and according to the criminals the current setup IS wonderful.
With all the whining about 'reason' and 'disproportionate force', I'll end this with a quote from this country:
"Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an upraised knife."
Despite the fact that prosecutors must disclose any exculpatory evidence they have to the defense, they denied having any such evidence despite having been told by their own expert witness that 1LT Behenna’s explanation was the only logical explanation.
Withholding of this evidence allowed prosecutors to argue that Behenna executed Ali Mansur while seated DESPITE THE FACT THAT forensic experts, including Dr. MacDonnell, agree that Ali was standing with his arms outstretched when shot.
After 1LT Behenna was convicted and sentenced in mid February 2009, the Defense, through Attorney Jack Zimmerman, made a claim that the trial was inherently unfair because a prosecution expert agreed with the defense experts that the forensic evidence suggested that Ali Mansur was probably standing at the time that he was shot. This was the central theme of the defense throughout the trial; Ali Mansur, although naked, had made a threatening move by standing up before he was shot by LT Behenna. This, combined with the fact that Ali Mansur was a suspected terrorist, should have lead the military panel to find that LT Behenna was legally justified in killing Ali Mansur.
In a sworn affidavit, dated April 21, Dr. MacDonnell explained how knowledge he acquired while waiting to testify in the case could have changed dramatically its outcome.
I'd suggest reading this all the way through. This is just flat disgusting; the prosecutors should be disbarred and, if possible, criminally charged for this crap.
THE United Nations climate science panel faces new controversy for wrongly linking global warming to an increase in the number and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods.
It based the claims on an unpublished report that had not been subjected to routine scientific scrutiny — and ignored warnings from scientific advisers that the evidence supporting the link too weak. The report's own authors later withdrew the claim because they felt the evidence was not strong enough.
The claim by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that global warming is already affecting the severity and frequency of global disasters, has since become embedded in political and public debate. It was central to discussions at last month's Copenhagen climate summit, including a demand by developing countries for compensation of $100 billion (£62 billion) from the rich nations blamed for creating the most emissions.
...The individual who was hassled and had his half dozen firearms seized Saturday was a private citizen there to sell his collection. According to him, APD and/or ATF had a man approach him and offer to buy a gun; the man displayed a Texas Driver's License to prove he was over 21. The sale was made and later APD officers roughly grabbed the shirt of the seller and marched him outside and accused him of selling to an illegal alien. This apparently is the latest tactic to entrap the unwary citizen in the ATF's snare. As if anyone could possibly know the immigration or citizenship status of anyone else. Yet ATF seized all his firearms and told him the matter was "under investigation." More here
I repeat, to the Austin Texas Police Department: You Suck.
and demonstrated the Wonders of the Gummint perfectly, when it showed Mulder or Scully going into headquarters where they'd Show their id, lay their pistol on a tray, walk through the metal detector or get wanded, then pick up their gun and proceed. Always made me wonder why the HELL they'd do that? "You're cleared, Agent Mulder, here's your-" BANG.
Not being privy to the Sooper Seekrits of the FBI, do the agents have to walk through the metal detectors like regular icky non-agents?
without them telling us how; and they know that most of the major media are still in the tank, so they think they can shove this crap through. Apparently they never heard of that innernet thingy Al Gore said he invented: But now comes something really amusing. In an effort to win back the support of “fiscal moderates,” Obama yesterday endorsed the idea of creating a special debt and deficit reducing commission. But guess what, it wouldn’t convene until after next November’s election. In the meantime, he is counting on Democrats to muster enough votes to raise the federal debt ceiling further into the stratosphere of economic irresponsibility.
Politico quotes Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the Senate Budget Committee chairman: “The president is demonstrating exactly the kind of leadership we need to tackle our nation’s long-term fiscal challenges.” Right! And you, Dear Reader, are Marie of Romania. No, Politico was correct when it suggested that Obama’s latest gambit “risks being seen as just a ploy to win over swing Democratic senators.” You bet it does. Any fool can see that. So what about the White House? Do they really think we’re too stupid to see what they are up to? Yeah, the 'exact right kind of leadership' starts with causing Wall Street to tank again by going after banks, thus screwing lots of peoples retirement accounts and such, among other things. Conrad, you're an effing moron if you think we buy this crap as 'right-kind leadership'.
But then you are an Evil Party ass-kisser, aren't you?
As to that hit on Wall Street, President Obama's latest attack on Wall Street -- his third in a week -- aimed at hemming in risk by keeping banks from making corporate bets with depositor cash, wiped out more than $66 billion in value from the country's eight largest banks in two days.
Investors raced for the exits last week after Obama unveiled his surprise new banking regulatory framework -- without providing much insight into exactly how it would shape the future of financial institutions.
One thing is certain -- if Obama succeeds, the profits of the banks will be crimped.
At the same time, critics charge, the moves will do little to prevent the exact thing the White House said it wanted to insure --keep the US economy from another meltdown.
than having those nasty US troops handing out food to whoever they can get it to... It is a tale of two cities. One has ice-cold beers, internet access, thousands of men and billions of dollars’ worth of gleaming machinery, together with piles of food, blankets, generators and other aid relief from around the globe.
This is the heavily fortified US-controlled Port-au-Prince airport and neighbouring United Nations compound.
The other is the devastated city of Port-au-Prince, where the stench of death fills the air and starving people are in utter despair, still in need of the basic necessities of food, water, shelter and medical care.
Never, in more than 20 years of covering disasters, has the void between the might and power of the Westernised world and the penniless and pitiful people they have been mobilised to ‘save’ been so glaringly obvious to me. Remember during the tsunami relief efforts when the dickless UN bigshot was whining that "Only the UN has the moral authority to run this effort"? While he and the other UN assholes were playing games and asking for money? While US and Australian and Japanese military forces were working their collective ass off and saving lives?
Well, obviously the UN hasn't changed; apparently having 'moral authority' has something to do with having no brain. ‘It was chaos for the first few days. The airport closed down because they couldn’t handle the flights wanting to come in. There was no organisation until the US military got involved.
‘But it has become more difficult to actually move the stuff out of here and get it to the people who need it. There is so much red tape and bureaucracy.’ Because getting all the forms filled out is FAR more important than, oh, actually feeding people.
Oh, and you have to make yourself known as a Proper Concerned Celebrity, too: Late on Friday, the World Food Programme offered to take me to see one of the orphanages they are providing supplies to.
A gleaming white four-wheel-drive vehicle arrived in which we waited...and waited. I was told it was because we were expecting ‘a VIP guest’. In the end, the trip was cancelled. The VIP and her handlers had vetoed it.
I later learned the VIP was Princess Haya of Jordan. She flew in with supplies in her role as a UN Goodwill Ambassador, met her country’s troops then flew back to the Dominican Republic ‘for safety reasons’ – all in the comfort of a private 747.
Next time somebody tells me what a wonderful organization the UN is, I may kick them somewhere sensitive; they just keep doing this crap.
First, Sondra pointed to this: Not surprisingly, the blatant corruption exposed at Britain’s premiere climate institute was not contained within the nation’s borders. Just months after the Climategate scandal broke, a new study has uncovered compelling evidence that our government’s principal climate centers have also been manipulating worldwide temperature data in order to fraudulently advance the global warming political agenda.
Not only does the preliminary report [PDF] indict a broader network of conspirators, but it also challenges the very mechanism by which global temperatures are measured, published, and historically ranked. As the lady says, you need to read this; there's just too much there to really get the flavor with excerpts. And it's too important not to read; NASA and NOAA have a lot to answer for.
Next, on the IPCC, The scientist behind the bogus claim in a Nobel Prize-winning UN report that Himalayan glaciers will have melted by 2035 last night admitted it was included purely to put political pressure on world leaders.
Dr Murari Lal also said he was well aware the statement, in the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), did not rest on peer-reviewed scientific research.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Dr Lal, the co-ordinating lead author of the report’s chapter on Asia, said: ‘It related to several countries in this region and their water sources. We thought that if we can highlight it, it will impact policy-makers and politicians and encourage them to take some concrete action.
‘It had importance for the region, so we thought we should put it in.’ And they're busy blaming each other as to who's responsible for this; big surprise, huh?
And last, from Australia, Australia's peak science agency, the CSIRO, has backed away from attributing a decade of drought in Tasmania to climate change, claiming ''the jury is still out'' on the science.
The comments follow the issuing of a CSIRO report yesterday, revealing drought has cut water availability in northern Tasmania's premier wine growing region by 24 per cent, with riverflows reaching record lows. One of the report's co-authors, hydrologist David Post, told The Canberra Times there was ''no evidence'' linking drought to climate change in eastern Australia, including the Murray-Darling Basin.
''At this stage, we'd prefer to say we're talking about natural variability. The science is not sufficiently advanced to say it's climate change, one way or the other. The jury is still out on that,'' Dr Post said. The enviroweenies are screaming "POLITICS!" Which is rich, coming from them. First guess, the CSIRO has taken a good look at the crap coming out due to the CRU e-mails and the information being paid attention to because of them, and they don't want to throw their credibility in the toilet playing AGW games.
And now, it's nice outside and I have dog ears to scratch behind.
which turned out to be pretty good; lots to look at. And I noticed ammo prices at the show were down from the past, overall at much more reasonable levels. Couple of things to write about later, but for now I bring you my morning bitch and yell session.
First, from (fG)Britain, a whole collection in one article: But when Mr Freeman asked the waiter for assistance, he was astonished by the response.'He apologised but said he was not allowed to give me a toothpick for health and safety reasons,' said the 63-year-old. 'I asked him if he was joking, but he said it wasn't April 1 and there weren't any in the hotel.'I told him it was nonsense and asked to speak to the manager for an explanation, indicating there were 14 very dangerous metal knives and forks on my table that had been unsupervised for at least two hours.'The manager agreed it was ludicrous, but assured me there had been a directive from head office not to provide toothpicks because they are potentially dangerous.'... Meanwhile, a seaside resort has cancelled its annual fun day after children were banned from riding donkeys due to health and safety.Organisers in Llandudno, North Wales, said they were worried they could be sued if a child had an accident.In November, fundraisers were banned from donating cakes to a hospital appeal for a similar reason.Hertfordshire-based Friends of Royston Hospital volunteers said they were unsure if all ingredients would be suitable for diabetics.And in June pensioners in Eye, Cambridgeshire, were banned from holding a coffee morning at a library in case hot drinks were spilled on visiting children. Now that there's publicity about it, the hotel chain denied there was a toothpick ban, and suggested 'there were simply none available on the night'. Ok, so why wouldn't the manager say that? I smell aversion to ridicule.
And yeah, some places here in the US have gotten as bad. Disgusting, ain't it?
Oleg Volk's take on the campaign finance gag rules, from the other days Examiner: Doesn't mince words, does he?
Codrea has more links on the aftermath of the Austin gun show BS. Also on the Montana case against the government, that may get downright interesting.
And a great big "Well done!" to the Marines: The Marines formally handed over U.S. responsibility for Sunni-dominated Anbar, Iraq's largest province, to the Army during a ceremony at a base in Ramadi, the scene of some of the war's most intense fighting. Overall control of the province shifted from the U.S. military to Iraq in September 2008, but the U.S. continues to provide support for Iraqi forces. Iraqi and American colour guards stood together at attention as both countries' national anthems were played by a U.S. military band. As many as 25,000 Marines were in Iraq at the peak of the fighting, mostly in Anbar province. Fewer than 3,000 remain. All but a handful of those will ship out in a matter of weeks.
It seems the HillBuzz guys aren't exactly wilting at the 'RACIST!' bullcrap; wow, you falsely call someone that and they react by saying 'screw you' and looking for the ID of the clowns making the charge, would that be an 'unintended consequence'?
This is one hell of an interesting picture. I do have to wonder, did the people designing this not consider the problem?
And I'll end this with one of the bits over at Dr. Helen, call it "I'm Tired of Searching for Mr. Right". Observation: With a lot of these women it seems to be not only "Mr. Right has to make more money than me", but "He has to make that money in a 'proper high-status' profession or it doesn't count. AND have at least as much 'education' as I." I put the 'education' in that way because an awful lot of it nowadays, especially in some tracks a lot of girls take, has very little to do with education and an awful lot with indoctrination. Somebody who gets their hands dirty but makes damn good money doing it just isn't good enough for the princess, so she whines about 'no good men out there' and such. Unintended consequences, indeed. Personal note: one of the things that turned out to be a big problem with second wife was my blacksmithing and metalwork; she loved the fact that people admired what I made, but she hated that I actually got dirty and smelly making those things; and it wasn't a 'suitable' way to act in a 'good neighborhood'. Mind you, every weekend with decent weather you could hear saws and whatever working all over, but my stuff? Too smelly and nasty, I should stop doing that. Well, ladies(I realize the ladies who generally read my stuff are quite aware of this), most guys see nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty taking care of things, and don't see it as a 'low status' matter; if you do, maybe you ought to reconsider what you find important.
that's supposed to include SHOWING their ID, not just saying "I'm a cop, do what I say." Which is what I'm wondering about in this mess: Police charged Jordan Miles, 18, with assault and resisting arrest Jan. 11 because, they said, he fought with the officers who thought a "heavy object" in his coat was a gun. It turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew.
Miles said he resisted because he thought the men were trying to abduct him and didn't identify themselves as police. The three officers involved insist they did, which is why I started this as I did: ANYONE can say "I'm a cop", or wear a jacket that says 'POLICE' on the back as they break into your home, so did they show ID or just say? Three guys with no uniforms or ID showing, just saying 'cop', I'd be worried too. And these injuries, Miles' family and attorney said he was hit with a stun gun and hospitalized after the violent Homewood struggle during which a chunk of his hair was yanked out and a tree branch went through his gums. make me wonder. I know all kinds of nasty can happen in a fight, but this is sounding a bit excessive.
I know I sound like I'm looking for fault; there's just been too much BS over the past few years for me to trust the cops the way I used to. Which is a sad thing to have to say.
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