Thursday, December 31, 2009
24% of U.S. voters found to be mentally incompetent
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 24 percent of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President.
Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -18. Twenty-nine percent (29%) now say the country is heading in the right direction.
We let him “lawyer up” instead
Fifty-eight percent (58%) of U.S. voters say waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques should be used to gain information from the terrorist who attempted to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 30% oppose the use of such techniques, and another 12% are not sure.
Men and younger voters are more strongly supportive of the aggressive interrogation techniques than women and those who are older. Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party favor their use more than Democrats.
Seventy-one percent (71%) of all voters think the attempt by the Nigerian Muslim to blow up the airliner as it landed in Detroit should be investigated by military authorities as a terrorist act. Only 22% say it should be handled by civilian authorities as a criminal act, as is currently the case.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Psst, want to buy the hottest warbird in the world?
How about a pair of Sukhoi Su-27 Flankers?
Check them out here.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Saying goodbye to another hero
Robert L. Howard, believed to be America's most decorated living soldier, died Wednesday in Waco, Texas.
Howard served five tours in Vietnam and is the only soldier in our nation's history to be nominated for the Congressional Medal of 
Honor three times for three separate actions within a thirteen month period. Although it can only be awarded once to an individual, men who served with him said he deserved all three. He received a direct appointment from Master Sergeant to 1st Lieutenant in 1969, and was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Richard M. Nixon at the White House in 1971. His other awards for valor include the Distinguished Service Cross - our nation's second highest award, the Silver Star - the third highest award, and numerous lesser decorations including eight Purple Hearts. He received his decorations for valor for actions while serving as an NCO (Sergeant First Class).
Howard grew up in Opelika, Ala. and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1956 at age seventeen. He retired as a full Colonel in 1992 after 36 years service. During Vietnam, he served in the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and spent most of his five tours in the super-secret MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group) also known as Special Operations Group, which ran classified cross-border operations into Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. These men carried out some of the most daring and dangerous missions ever conducted by the U.S. military. The understrength 60-man recon company at Kontum in which he served was the Vietnam War's most highly decorated unit of its size with five Medals of Honor. It was for his actions while serving on a mission to rescue a fellow soldier in Cambodia, that he was submitted for the Medal of Honor the third time for his extraordinary heroism.
Here is his Medal of Honor Citation:
HOWARD, ROBERT L.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 30 December 1968. Entered service at: Montgomery, Ala. Born: 11 July 1939, Opelika, Ala. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Howard (then Sfc .), distinguished himself while serving as platoon sergeant of an American-Vietnamese platoon which was on a mission to rescue a missing American soldier in enemy controlled territory in the Republic of Vietnam. The platoon had left its helicopter landing zone and was moving out on its mission when it was attacked by an estimated 2-company force. During the initial engagement, 1st Lt. Howard was wounded and his weapon destroyed by a grenade explosion. 1st Lt. Howard saw his platoon leader had been wounded seriously and was exposed to fire. Although unable to walk, and weaponless, 1st Lt. Howard unhesitatingly crawled through a hail of fire to retrieve his wounded leader. As 1st Lt. Howard was administering first aid and removing the officer's equipment, an enemy bullet struck 1 of the ammunition pouches on the lieutenant's belt, detonating several magazines of ammunition. 1st Lt. Howard momentarily sought cover and then realizing that he must rejoin the platoon, which had been disorganized by the enemy attack, he again began dragging the seriously wounded officer toward the platoon area. Through his outstanding example of indomitable courage and bravery, 1st Lt. Howard was able to rally the platoon into an organized defense force. With complete disregard for his safety, 1st Lt. Howard crawled from position to position, administering first aid to the wounded, giving encouragement to the defenders and directing their fire on the encircling enemy. For 3 1/2 hours 1st Lt. Howard's small force and supporting aircraft successfully repulsed enemy attacks and finally were in sufficient control to permit the landing of rescue helicopters. 1st Lt. Howard personally supervised the loading of his men and did not leave the bullet-swept landing zone until all were aboard safely. 1st Lt. Howard's gallantry in action, his complete devotion to the welfare of his men at the risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows
Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, announced Tuesday that he's switching parties to become a Republican.
Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, announced Tuesday that he's switching parties to become a Republican.
"I have become increasingly concerned that the bills and policies pushed by the current Democratic leadership are not good for north Alabama or our nation," Griffith said during a press conference Tuesday.
"I am announcing today that I'm joining the Republican conference immediately," he said. "Our nation is at a crossroads and I can no longer align myself with a party that continues to pursue legislation that is bad for our country, hurts our economy, and drives us further and further into debt."
Griffith, a retired oncologist and businessman, succeeded former Democratic Rep. Bud Cramer, who retired earlier this year, in a hard-fought contest for the northern Alabama seat.
Republicans thought that district would be hard for Democrats to hold without Cramer on the ballot, but Griffith defeated Republican Wayne Parker by 4 points -- 52-48 percent -- even though Republican presidential nominee John McCain won every county in the district.
Former President George W. Bush won the district by double digits in both of his races.
In Congress, Griffith joined the Blue Dogs, the coalition of moderate and conservative Democrats in the House. He voted against the health care reform bill in November.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Chris Van Hollen, blasted the decision, saying the Alabama lawmaker has failed to honor Democrats' "commitment" to him.
"House Democratic Members and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took Parker Griffith at his word and, as a result, invested a great deal in working with Alabamans to bring Mr. Griffith to Congress," Van Hollen said in a statement. "We were committed to helping Mr. Griffith deliver for his constituents and successfully helped Mr. Griffith fend off the personal attacks against him from the far right.
"Mr. Griffith, failing to honor our commitment to him, has a duty and responsibility to return to Democratic members and the DCCC the financial resources that were invested in him," he added. "His constituents will hold him accountable for failing to keep his commitments."
Griffith said he would write a check to voters who wanted a refund.
Earlier this year, Sen. Arlen Specter moved from the Republican Party to the majority Democratic Party but Griffith's party switch from the majority to the minority party is rare.
Florida Rep. Andy Ireland was elected to the House in 1980 as a Democrat when that party held control. But in 1984, Ireland switched to join the GOP and thus serve in the minority. He continued to serve until 1993, when he did not seek re-election to the House. In 1994, Rep. Michael Forbes of New York was elected as a Republican but switched to the minority Democrats in 1999. He did not receive the Democratic nomination in 2000 and lost the seat.
Griffith's thinking may not be a total surprise, however. In August, he told voters at a town hall meeting at the University of North Alabama that if given the chance he would not vote again for Nancy Pelosi as House speaker.
"I would not vote for her. Someone that divisive and that polarizing cannot bring us together," he said.
Republicans in the Alabama delegation met with Griffith the middle of last week and asked him to switch and he agreed. Alabama's two U.S. senators, as well as Rep. Robert Aderholt, whose district borders Griffith's, were instrumental in helping Griffith change his mind. Senior Sen. Richard Shelby is himself a former Democrat who switched parties while in office.
"I believe his voting record and public statements on many important issues demonstrate an approach to government and spending that is incompatible with the national Democratic Party. As a Republican, he will be affirmed in his concerns about reckless spending and governmental overreach, rather than being ostracized for them," said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama.
Rep. Mike Rogers, another Alabama Republican, called the switch "a great development," and likened it to the party switch by Louisiana Rep. Rodney Alexander, who moved from the Democrats to the GOP about six years ago.
"He just could not stomach what the Democrats are doing any longer," Rogers said of Griffith's move.
Griffith's departure means the Democrats will still hold an advantage of 257 seats to the GOP's 178. But the Democratic majority is expected to shrink by at least two seats again in January. Reps. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., and Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, are expected to resign.
Fox News' Carl Cameron contributed to this report.
Monday, December 21, 2009
How the French soldiers see our troops in Afghanistan
This comes from Blackfive and is well worth your time:
We at Blackfive have a long history of showing love to our French allies. Actually since Sarkozy was elected it has been kinda fun to have them back on the team. Here is an article about what their troops think of ours. Good stuff.
Subject: French view of US Military by Jean-Marc Liotier
http://serendipity.ruwenzori.net/index.php/2008/09/21/american-troops-in-afghanistan-through-the-eyes-of-a-french-omlt-infantryman
American troops in Afghanistan through the eyes of a French OMLT infantryman
The US often hears echoes of worldwide hostility against the application of its foreign policy, but seldom are they reached by the voices of those who experience first hand how close we are to the USA. In spite of contextual political differences and conflicting interests that generate friction, we do share the same fundamental values - and when push comes to shove that is what really counts.
Through the eyes of that French OMLT (Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams) infantryman you can see how strong the bond is on the ground. In contrast with the Americans, the French soldiers don't seem to write much online – or maybe the proportion is the same but we just have less people deployed.
Whatever the reason, this is a rare and moving testimony which is why I decided to translate it into English, so that American people can catch a glimpse of the way European soldiers see them.
Not much high philosophy here, just the first hand impressions of a soldier in contact - but that only makes it more authentic.
Here is the original French article,
http://omlt3-kdk3.over-blog.com/article-22935665.html and here is my translation:
"We have shared our daily life with two US units for quite a while – they are the first and fourth companies of a prestigious infantry battalion whose name I will withhold for the sake of military secrecy. To the common man it is a unit just like any other. But we live with them and got to know them, and we henceforth know that we have the honor to live with one of the most renowned units of the US Army - one that the movies brought to the public as series showing "ordinary soldiers thrust
into extraordinary events". Who are they, those soldiers from abroad, how is their daily life, and what support do they bring to the men of our OMLT every day?
Few of them belong to the Easy Company, the one the TV series focuses on. This one nowadays is named Echo Company, and it has become the support company. They have a terribly strong American accent - from our point of view the language they speak is not even English. How many times did I have
to write down what I wanted to say rather than waste precious minutes trying various pronunciations of a seemingly common word? Whatever state they are from, no two accents are alike and they even admit that in some crisis situations they have difficulties understanding each other.
Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins and creatine (Heh. More like Waffle House and McDonalds) - they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to them - we are wimps, even the strongest of us - and because of that they often mistake us for Afghans.
Here we discover America as it is often depicted: their values are taken to their paroxysm, often amplified by promiscuity and the loneliness of this outpost in the middle of that Afghan valley. Honor, motherland – everything here reminds of that: the American flag floating in the wind above the outpost, just like the one on the post parcels. Even if recruits often originate from the hearth of American cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold high and proud the star spangled banner. Each man knows he can count on the support of a whole people who provides them through the mail all that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location: books, chewing gums, razor blades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission.And that is a first shock to our preconceptions: the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention. And they are impressive warriors! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of
them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how. Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seem to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. On the one square meter wooden
tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight unmoving in the directions of likely danger. No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. At night, all movements are performed in the dark - only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence
of a soldier on the move. Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered - everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump.
And combat? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all - always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay. That is one of their tricks: they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting: they just charge!
They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later - which cuts any pussyfooting short.
This is the main area where I'd like to comment. Anyone with a passing knowledge of Kipling knows the lines from Chant Pagan: 'If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white/remember it's ruin to run from a fight./So take open order, lie down, sit tight/And wait for supports like a soldier./
This, in fact, is the basic philosophy of both British and Continental soldiers. 'In the absence of orders, take a defensive position.' Indeed, virtually every army in the world. The American soldier and Marine, however, are imbued from early in their training with the ethos: In the Absence of Orders: Attack! Where other forces, for good or ill, will wait
for precise orders and plans to respond to an attack or any other
'incident', the American force will simply go, counting on firepower and SOP to carry the day. This is one of the great strengths of the American force in combat and it is something that even our closest allies, such as the Brits and Aussies (that latter being closer by the way) find repeatedly surprising. No wonder it surprises the hell out of our enemies.
We seldom hear any harsh word, and from 5 AM onwards the camp chores are performed in beautiful order and always with excellent spirit. A passing American helicopter stops near a stranded vehicle just to check that everything is alright; an American combat team will rush to support ours before even knowing how dangerous the mission is - from what we have been
given to witness, the American soldier is a beautiful and worthy heir to those who liberated France and Europe.
To those who bestow us with the honor of sharing their combat outposts and who everyday give proof of their military excellence, to those who pay the daily tribute of America's army's deployment on Afghan soil, to those we owned this article, ourselves hoping that we will always remain worthy of
them and to always continue hearing them say that we are all the same band of brothers."
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Pretty edgy for Ray Stevens
I was never a huge Ray Stevens fan, but he’s on the right side of this issue.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Just sayin’…
“It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.”—Mark Twain
Goredämmerung
Al Gore, speaking at the Copenhagen climate change summit, stated the latest research showed that the Arctic could be completely ice-free in five years.
In his speech, Gore told the conference:
“These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.”
However, the climatologist whose work Gore was relying upon dropped the former Vice-President in the water with an icy blast.
“It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at,” Dr Maslowski said. “I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this.”
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
A time for courage
Well, I did my part.
I just sent emails to my two Arkansas Senators, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, my Indiana Democratic Senator Evan Bayh (since I still own property in Indiana) and to Sen. Joe Lieberman telling them the coming vote on Obamacare could be the defining moment of their political careers if they have the courage to seize it.
It’s clear that the majority of Arkansans oppose the Democrat health care bill and since Blanche Lincoln is up for reelection next year and is trailing all of her potential opponents in the polls, this is a make-it-or-break-it vote for her. Will she take a stand for the people who sent her to Washington or will she let Harry Reid take her political career over the cliff?
She has to know the odds favor a Republican sweep in 2010, shifting the balance of Congressional power to the GOP, who will dedicate themselves to undoing all of the damage done by the Democrats this year, including the health care disaster, should it pass.
So the issue for Blanche Lincoln comes down to this:
- Vote against the health care bill, be a heroine and have a chance at re-election, or
- Vote for legislation that almost surely will be revoked and sacrifice her political career for nothing
Sounds like a no-brainer to me.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
British PM snubbed by soldiers' 'curtain' protest
From The Times Online:
Steven Swinford
Gordon Brown was snubbed by badly injured Afghan veterans when they closed curtains round their beds during a hospital visit and refused to speak to him.
More than half the soldiers being treated at the Selly Oak hospital ward in Birmingham either asked for the curtains to be closed or deliberately avoided the prime minister, according to several of those present.
The soldiers, who have sustained some of the worst injuries seen in Afghanistan, described his visit as “opportunistic” and a “waste of time”.
Furious about equipment shortages and poor compensation for their injuries, one soldier said: “It is almost as if we are the product of an unwanted affair ... he has done nothing for us.”
Brown visited the military wing of Selly Oak on September 2, where about 25 wounded soldiers were being treated. They were told about the visit in the morning and asked by nurses if they wanted to speak to him.
Sapper Matthew Weston, 20, is one of the most seriously injured soldiers to have survived. He lost both legs and his right arm when a bomb exploded on a dirt track outside Sangin.
He said: “I didn’t want to speak to him, I didn’t want to waste my time talking to someone who was just trying to make themselves look good. I spent the day with my family instead.
“Half the lads didn’t want to speak to him and those that did pretty much blamed him for everything. Many of the lads just closed their curtains and hid themselves away.
“I met Prince Charles and Sir Richard Dannatt [when they visited Selly Oak]. I have respect for them. Prince Charles spoke to me for two hours. I really didn’t want to speak to Gordon Brown.”
Another soldier, who suffered severe injuries when caught in a mine explosion, left the hospital in an attempt to avoid Brown.
He was angry at the government’s attempt to cut compensation payouts for injured soldiers. He said: “I went outside for a fag but when I came back he was still there. Most of us said we wouldn’t like to see him so we drew our curtains and waited for him to go.
“It was a pretty sour thing, we feel a lot of bitterness towards Gordon Brown. The guys read the papers, it is obvious to them that he doesn’t care. Many of us felt like it was an effort to accommodate him.
“At the time the Ministry of Defence were trying to sue wounded British soldiers to cut their compensation. It was so wrong. It doesn’t give the guys any faith in the government, it doesn’t make us feel like they support us or look after us.
“The lads didn’t say much after the visit. Some were grateful he had bothered to come up to see us, others were saying they wished they could have thumped him.”
Another soldier, who lost his right leg after being caught in a mine blast in Afghanistan, said that more than two-thirds of the 25 soldiers on the ward closed their curtains. He, however, decided to speak to Brown.
“I wanted to find out how the guy’s head worked,” he said. “I was interested in what he had made of his trip to Afghanistan and what he had learnt from it.
“I feel that even if someone is a moron, he should have the opportunity to defend his moronity. [His response] all seemed rather textbook and not from the heart.
“It is quite obvious to anyone that Brown is not concerned, it is almost as if we [the soldiers] are the product of an unwanted affair.
“The straight fact is this: we don’t like the man, he has done nothing for us and continues to kick us in the teeth over equipment and compensation.”
The most severely wounded troops are flown from the front line to Selly Oak for treatment, often within 12 hours of being operated on by teams of surgeons in Camp Bastion. The hospital has a specialist, 32-bed military-run ward to help soldiers recover from their injuries alongside other servicemen.
The concerns of the wounded soldiers appear to highlight a disconnection between front line troops in Afghanistan and Brown and his government. Earlier this year an official report suppressed by ministers revealed that soldiers’ lives were being put at risk by “endemic” failures at the Ministry of Defence.
It blamed a “political fudge” and Whitehall incompetence for the failure to provide soldiers in Afghanistan with adequate equipment, and said bungled projects were £35 billion over budget.
At the same time Brown has been accused of failing to give adequate funding to the military. As chancellor he oversaw a dramatic increase in government expenditure on education, welfare and health while the defence budget fell from 2.8% of GDP to 2.2%.
The cuts have continued since he became prime minister. In October he was forced to backtrack over plans to impose a £17.5m cut in the Territorial Army’s training budget, while a month earlier the government took two injured soldiers to court in a test case that would have slashed compensation payments to injured soldiers.
The failings are damaging the morale of troops on the front line. According to a survey of 10,500 Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force personnel, published in August, the majority of servicemen and women feel morale is low, singling out equipment shortages as one of their biggest concerns.
Two days after his visit to Selly Oak, Brown paid tribute to injured soldiers during a speech in London. He said: “There is nothing more heartbreaking than, as I did this week, meeting a teenager who has lost a leg.”
Yesterday a spokesman for the prime minister said: “The prime minister regularly visits wounded service personnel. He has the utmost respect and admiration for the soldiers’ sacrifice, bravery and dignity. As you would expect, we never comment on the PM’s private visits to injured soldiers.”
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Day Fourteen and Counting
From the Media Research Center:
Alexandria, VA – For the fourteenth straight day, the three broadcast networks have failed to report on the great and growing ClimateGate scandal on their weekday morning or evening news programs. How to explain this?
Perhaps it is that ABC, NBC and CBS have not yet heard of the story, despite two weeks of non-stop reporting on and discussion of ClimateGate in a whole host of media outlets.
Perhaps the broadcast networks only trust their fellow liberal press outlets, like the New York Times. Perhaps they don’t realize the Times exhibited journalistic diligence on ClimateGate, with a front page story the day the story broke.
In the event that ABC News, NBC News and CBS News missed the news, the Media Research Center (MRC) is today rushing each of them a copy of the Times story, in the hopes that armed with this new information, they will finally report a story that has been roiling nearly everywhere else for a fortnight.
So as not to offend the networks’ pro-global warming sensibilities, MRC President Brent Bozell is looking to have the stories delivered by bicycle messenger.
Bozell:
“Ignorance is no excuse under the law, but maybe we should stop criticizing and start showing compassion for NBC, ABC and CBS and their neglect of the huge ClimateGate story. We are more than happy to help rectify their knowledge deficit – via a network-friendly source and in an as environmentally-friendly a way as possible.
“We think that once the networks read the story of ClimateGate in their vaunted New York Times, they’ll feel compelled to report it themselves.
“We very much look forward to seeing the fruits of their labor.”
[UPDATE, Dec 5: Friday evening, NBC Nightly News finally mentions ClimateGate, but frets it could "delay taking action." ABC and CBS remain silent. Read more here.]
Gore’s junk science house of cards is collapsing
Former Vice President Al Gore on Thursday abruptly canceled a Dec. 16 personal appearance that was to be staged during the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which begins next week.
As described in The Washington TImes’ Inside the Beltway column 
Tuesday, the multi-media public event to promote Mr. Gore’s new book “Our Choice” included $1,209 VIP tickets that granted the holder a photo opportunity with Mr. Gore and a “light snack.”
Berlingkse Media, a Danish group coordinating ticket sales and publicity for the event, said that “great annoyance” was a factor in the cancellation, along with unforeseen changes in Gore’s program for the climate summit. The decision affected 3,000 ticket holders.
“We have had a clear-cut agreement, and it is unusual with great disappointment that we have to announce that Al Gore cancels. We had a huge expectation for the event. … We do not yet know the detailed reasons for the cancellation,” said Lisbeth Knudsen, CEO of Berlingske Media, in a statement posted by the company.
The ClimateDepot,com, an online news aggregator that track global warming news reports, referred to the situation as “Nopenhagen”, and evidence that popular momentum for the Copenhagen conference “is fading.”
For God’s sake, don’t confuse them with the truth
British meteorologists plan to re-examine 160 years of temperature data in the wake of the leaked emails showing scientists at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit cooked the data to hide a decline in global temperatures.
But Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government opposes the re-examination. Really.
From The Times Online:
Ben Webster, Environment Editor
The Met Office plans to re-examine 160 years of temperature data after admitting that public confidence in the science on man-made global warming has been shattered by leaked e-mails.
The new analysis of the data will take three years, meaning that the Met Office will not be able to state with absolute confidence the extent of the warming trend until the end of 2012.
The Met Office database is one of three main sources of temperature data analysis on which the UN’s main climate change science body relies for its assessment that global warming is a serious danger to the world. This assessment is the basis for next week’s climate change talks in Copenhagen aimed at cutting CO2 emissions.
The Government is attempting to stop the Met Office from carrying out the re-examination, arguing that it would be seized upon by climate change sceptics.
The Met Office works closely with the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU), which is being investigated after e-mails written by its director, Phil Jones, appeared to show an attempt to manipulate temperature data and block alternative scientific views.
The Met Office’s published data showing a warming trend draws heavily on CRU analysis. CRU supplied all the land temperature data to the Met Office, which added this to its own analysis of sea temperature data.
Since the stolen e-mails were published, the chief executive of the Met Office has written to national meteorological offices in 188 countries asking their permission to release the raw data that they collected from their weather stations.
The Met Office is confident that its analysis will eventually be shown to be correct. However, it says it wants to create a new and fully open method of analysing temperature data.
The development will add to fears that influential sceptics in other countries, including the US and Australia, are using the controversy to put pressure on leaders to resist making ambitious deals for cutting CO2.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change admitted yesterday that it needed to consider the full implications of the e-mails and whether they cast doubt on any of the evidence for man-made global warming.
Brilliant reposte, Prof.
Professor Andrew Watson, whose emails are among the Climategate documents, calls a critic an “asshole.”
Danish Prostitutes Offer Free Sex to Climate Conference Delegates - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News - FOXNews.com
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The media and Climategate
Slice your average environment correspondent through the middle and you're going to find a left-leaning liberal arts graduate who is utterly out of his/her depth. Their world view is being swept from underneath them and they are being shown — in ways that they do not really and have never had to understand — that the guys they thought were the goodies are in fact "at it" and that those they have spent a decade disparaging as deniers were, in fact, spot on.
I would find that hard to report too.
Read the whole thing here.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Here’s how he treats relatives
Called a “political liability” by the Obama campaign, Barack Obama’s Kenyan aunt, Zeituni Onyango, said, ”I loved President Bush,” while moving toward a framed photo of Bush and his wife standing with Barack and Michelle Obama at the White House on inauguration day. “He (George W. Bush) is my No. 1 man in my life because he helped me when I really needed that help.”
Onyango reserved special words of kindness for former President George W. Bush for a directive he put in place days before the election requiring federal agents get high-level approval to arrest fugitive immigrants, which directly affected Onyango. The directive made clear that U.S. officials worried about possible election implications of arresting Onyango.
She said she wants to thank Bush in person for the order, which gave her a measure of peace.
Obama's aunt, Zeituni Onyango
President Barack Obama’s Kenyan aunt buried her face in her hands and sobbed as she described her anguish over no longer having contact with him and his family after the revelation that she had been living illegally for years in the United States in public housing.
Zeituni Onyango told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that she is troubled that her immigration woes have made her a political liability to her nephew. Onyango, the half sister of Obama’s late father, said she has exiled herself from the family after attending Obama’s inauguration because she didn’t want to become fodder for his foes. Obama and his family have not reached out to her either, she said.
Holding a photo of Obama and herself
“Before, we were family. But right now, there is a lot of politics, and me, I am not interested in any politics at all,” said Onyango, whose appeal for asylum from her native Kenya is before an immigration judge in Boston.
The Obamas are her only family in the United States, she said. “It is very sad when such a thing happens. There are people, outsiders, you know, they come in between, they divide a family,” she said last week. “It’s not easy.”
Onyango, 57, is protective of Obama and said she never asked him to intervene in her case and didn’t tell him about her immigration difficulties. ”I carry my own cross,” she said. “He has nothing to do with my problem.”
The White House said Obama has had no involvement in his aunt’s case and believes it should run its ordinary course.
An emotional moment
Onyango helped care for the president’s half brothers and sister while living with Barack Obama Sr. in Kenya. She moved to the United States in 2000 and applied for asylum in 2002, but her request was rejected and she was ordered deported in 2004. However, she did not leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston. She had been a health care volunteer but not since her status became public.
Onyango said she previously had no trouble visiting Obama when he was a state senator in Illinois or after he became a U.S. senator. (But apparently, now she does) Her tiny apartment in a modest subsidized public housing complex for seniors and the disabled is adorned with photographs of her with Obama at the Illinois Statehouse, the president’s official portrait, his family, the inauguration, her children and African wildlife.
She is disabled and learning to walk again after being paralyzed for more than three months because of an autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome. Her status as an illegal alien was revealed in October 2008, days before Obama was elected. Obama said he did not know his aunt was living in the U.S. illegally and said he believes the law should be followed
Hey, that couple looks kinda familiar…
Turns out, Obama has a long-standing relationship with the White House “party crashers” involving support for Palestinians.
Read about it here.
Cooking the climate data: in their own words
I won’t try to republish it here, but if you want to see the real smoking gun parsed from the Climategate hacked emails, go here.
After this, there can be no doubt that these guys were cooking the data to hide the actual decline in global temperatures.
And this piece puts it in a richer context.
Cooking the climate data: in their own words
I won’t try to republish it here, but if you want to see the real smoking gun parsed from the Climategate hacked emails, go here.
After this, there can be no doubt that these guys were cooking the data to hide the actual decline in global temperatures.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
O’s Minister of Propaganda
This is a lie of Orwellian proportions.
Gibbs is in the same league as Baghdad Bob and Josef Goebbels when it comes to bald-face lying.
These people aren’t just crazy, they’re dangerous
Environmentalism should be regarded on the same level with religion "as the only compelling, value-based narrative available to humanity," according to a paper written two years ago to influence the future strategy of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), the world's would-be environmental watchdog.
Change our lives and wreck our economy on the strength of a garbled database? I think not.
By LORRI GOLDSTEIN
The Toronto Sun
I've been poring over one of many leaked computer files from the "climategate" scandal.
It's worse than those e-mails revealing leading climate scientists did a "trick" to "hide the decline" in global temperatures and privately called it a "travesty" they couldn't explain recent cooling.
This document has the innocuous header "HARRY_READ_Me.txt."
I'm indebted to Kate McMillan, the remarkable Canadian blogger who runs smalldeadanimals.com, for calling it to my attention.
You can easily find it online. I used www.anenglishmanscastle.com/HARRY_READ_Me.txt.
The file -- 274 pages long -- describes the efforts of a climatologist/programmer at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia to update a huge statistical database (11,000 files) of important climate data between 2006 and 2009.
The computer coding, along with the programmer's apparently unsuccessful efforts to complete the project, involve data that are the foundation of the study of climate change -- recordings from hundreds of weather stations around the world of temperature and precipitation measurements from 1901 to 2006, sun/cloud computer simulations, and the like.
PRESUMABLY PRECISE
These presumably precise data are the backbone of climate science.
Reading "HARRY_READ_ME.txt" it's clear the CRU's files were a mess. The programmer laments huge gaps in data, bug-filled programs and worries about all the guesswork he's doing. His comments suggest the problems go back years.
The CRU at East Anglia University is considered by many as the world's leading climate research agency. Here's how CBSNews.com's Declan McCullagh describes its enormous impact on policymakers:
"In global warming circles, the CRU wields outsize influence: It claims the world's largest temperature data set, and its work and mathematical models were incorporated into the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 report. The report ... is what the Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged it 'relies on most heavily' when concluding carbon dioxide emissions endanger public health and should be regulated."
As you read the programmer's comments below, remember, this is only a fraction of what he says.
- "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@SUNMEDIA.CA
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