Government at Work...

...Busily eroding our rights.


From a recent news item published in the St. Cloud MN Times we learn of an interesting incident occurring in that wonderful world of government "education" and how that system resolves problems associated with the effects of "multiculturalism".

A native graduate student who requires the assistance of a service canine due to seizures resulting from a childhood injury was enrolled in a program of teacher training. Some of his fellow foreign students who are adherents of the "peaceful religion" of Islam proceeded to torment the "unclean" dog threatening to kill it. Fearing for the safety of his dog, the student was forced to withdraw from the teacher training program.

The reaction of the administrative apparatchiks to this outrageous turn of events is in many respects typical of the government "educational" establishment. The spokespersons for the concerned school district have characterized the situation as a "miscommunication". The investigation revealed that the threats were not made "directly". The administration spokesperson stated: "...it is important to respect different cultures and the rights of disabled students." Does that mean that we are forced to respect the violence and threats of violence against members of our culture while no such requirement is placed on militant Islamists? Contemplate the answer to this question in light of a New York court considering the gagging of any reference to the Second Amendment to the Constitution in front of a jury hearing a firearms law case.

We are forced to assume that the threatening student(s?) continue to be enrolled in the program and that only members of the host (American) culture can be guilty of such crimes as threats, intimidation and "hate speech".

Follow The Money

When earlier alarmists predicted a coming ice age, the "culprit" was mankind's use of fossil fuels. Now that todays warmistas are preaching man caused "global warming'' the culprit is .... fossil fuels!

Climate Change: Did NASA scientist James Hansen, the global [warmista] in chief, once believe we were headed for . . . an ice age? An old Washington Post story indicates he did


On July 9, 1971, the Post published a story headlined "U.S. Scientist Sees New Ice Age Coming." It told of a prediction by NASA and Columbia University scientist S.I. Rasool. The culprit: man's use of fossil fuels.

The Post reported that Rasool, writing in Science, argued that in "the next 50 years" fine dust that humans discharge into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuel will screen out so much of the sun's rays that the Earth's average temperature could fall by six degrees.

Sustained emissions over five to 10 years, Rasool claimed, "could be sufficient to trigger an ice age."

Aiding Rasool's research, the Post reported, was a "computer program developed by Dr. James Hansen," who was, according to his resume, a Columbia University research associate at the time.

So what about those greenhouse gases that man pumps into the skies? Weren't they worried about them causing a greenhouse effect that would heat the planet, as Hansen, Al Gore and a host of others so fervently believe today?

"They found no need to worry about the carbon dioxide fuel-burning puts in the atmosphere," the Post said in the story, which was spotted last week by Washington resident John Lockwood, who was doing research at the Library of Congress and alerted the Washington Times to his finding.

Hansen has some explaining to do. The public deserves to know how he was converted from an apparent believer in a coming ice age who had no worries about greenhouse gas emissions to a global warming fear monger.

This is a man, as Lockwood noted in his message to the Times' John McCaslin, who has called those skeptical of his global warming theory "court jesters." We wonder: What choice words did he have for those who were skeptical of the ice age theory in 1971?

People can change their positions based on new information or by taking a closer or more open-minded look at what is already known. There's nothing wrong with a reversal or modification of views as long as it is arrived at honestly.

But what about political hypocrisy? It's clear that Hansen is as much a political animal as he is a scientist. Did he switch from one approaching cataclysm to another because he thought it would be easier to sell to the public? Wa$ it a career advancement move or an hone$t change of heart on $cience, based on empirical evidence?

If Hansen wants to change positions again, the time is now. With NASA having recently revised historical temperature data that Hansen himself compiled, the door has been opened for him to embrace the ice age projections of the early 1970s.

Could be he's feeling a little chill in the air again.

source

Update to No Shame

The video imbedded in this posting is hosted by MSNBC and placed on this blog at 2:01PM EDT. As the commenter known as "Goober" noted at 5:27 PM the footage containing scenes of groups of penguins had been removed. It appears that the producers of the MSNBC "news" segment have seen fit to correct their "error". Imagine that!

UPDATE II 08:53 8 May 2008

To view the penguin scene which was edited out of the video go here.

No Shame

The warmista activist renowned British explorer David Hempleman-Adams recently led a group including his 15 year old daughter (Camilla) on an 80 mile skiing expedition to the North Pole to call attention to the effects of "global warming". This was of course following near record setting winter temperatures for the Northern hemisphere. The NBC Nightly News bought into the stunt by presenting video (above) of their 80 mile trek including glaciers calving from a large land mass even though no such land mass exists that near the North Pole. They were also able to include footage of penguins along the route. Their expedition must have detoured several thousand miles to the south as penguins do not inhabit the Arctic but are indigenous to far south latitudes

This appears to be the latest effort on the part of the warmistas to convince the boobiogese to hand over more regulatory power to world governments. If any doubts existed that Pope Owl Gore's warmista followers had any shame, this latest outrage dispels it.

Horns of a Dilemma

Neal Boortz in an article on Nealz Nooz of today makes an interesting point with regard to the corner into which the Democratic Party has painted itself during the current presidential campaign cycle.Boortz refers to it as "buyers remorse". Having hung its hat more or less on a candidate (Obama) who has not been vetted in the traditional sense, the Democrats are beginning to witness an unraveling as more data comes to light in his background.

The media spin machine initially was able to portray Obama's legislative record as "moderate" when in fact he has accumulated a voting record to the left of Ted (the swimmer) Kennedy as well as "reporting for duty" John Kerry. Subsequent revelations however, have not been so easy to spin. The 20 year association with the America damning Jeremiah Wright has been more difficult to handle as the evidence has been plastered all over the electronic media for several weeks now and shows no indication of going quietly into the gentle night. Couple this with Obama's speech in San Francisco referring to flyover country residents as "bitter" and his association with Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground and the Democratic Party apparatchiks are beginning to perceive a problem with their anointed one come the November general election.

Boortz is onto something when he points out that Howard Dean and company will inevitably resort to the race card in defending their candidate by portraying any opponent i.e. McCain and other Republicans as "racist" who would dare to criticize "the first (or is that the second) black presidential candidate".

Although there are a number of voters who can be chided successfully for not voting for the anointed black candidate the secret ballot process militates against such a strategy. Evidence of such a problem has already been noted in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary where the exit poll data versus the actual vote tally indicated a substantial divergence in how voters actually voted as opposed to their answers to pollsters' queries.

The leftists Democrats who routinely avoid debate on the issues by hurling epithets such as "racist, homophobe, sexist" etc. at those with whom they disagree will likely command considerable favorable attention in the mainstream media but will be at a loss to explain why libertarians and conservatives such as this humble scribbler would in a New York minute vote for Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Ward Connerly or Janice Jackson Brown (all African Americans) over ANY other candidate black or white.

I'm Baaack!

Many apologies for the absence of nearly 3 weeks during the latest road trip of over 6500 miles. Road trips are always educational as well as boring while grinding out the miles. One lesson to be learned when planning ones route is to NEVER trust the Weather Channel. During one days journey through an area which the Weather Channel assured all and sundry was to experience torrential downpours as well as "golf ball sized hailstones" we were forced to activate the windshield wipers briefly on two occasions in order to clear the drizzle. Additionally, we considered purchasing tire chains before traversing the Monarch Pass (elevation 11,000+ feet) in Colorado after the Weather Channel predicted copious snowfall from a "severe" weather system. We encountered a brief light snow flurry at the summit which did not even require removal by the highway department. The Weather Channel focuses almost exclusively on the sensational and graphic depictions of weather events probably for two reasons: Firstly, to generate viewership in order to sell advertising which occupies nearly 50% of their air time and secondly to promote their apparently warmista agenda. It would probably be appropriate for the Weather Channel to be re-christened "Warmista TV".
In any event the trip deserves more reportage than is feasible while we catch up on the other everyday chores which were of necessity neglected during our absence. More anon.

Election Year

Just a few days ago your humble scribbler received an astonishing bit of "junk mail". On the trek from the mail box to the incoming bin via the trash container I noted a missive from the Internal Revenue Service emblazoned with words to the effect that the communication should not be thrown away as it contained notice of a "payment". As I annually receive and respond to a nasty letter from the IRS questioning why I have filed no tax return and threatening me with dire consequences, this bit of news tweaked the curiosity button. The last time I filed an income tax return was in 1981 shortly after retiring on a supposed "tax free" service connected disability due to a spinal injury suffered on the job. Since that time I have had no taxable income sufficient to trigger the filing requirement but each and every year I receive the identical threatening official letter which requires the tedious recital of the same hackneyed response.

The recent letter however, contained a filing form and the notification that the "government" has decided to engage in an economic "stimulus" by sending out "free" cash to the tune of $300.00 per qualifying individual. Let's see if I understand this correctly. We will all be paid $300.00 for producing absolutely no goods or services anyone would be willing to exchange legal tender for (except the paper shuffling government bureaucrats).

Wow! This boggles the mind. It is amazing to perceive the degree if economic ignorance rampant in a society subjected to government indoctrination education for several decades. It appears that while the schools have been drilling into the heads of their captive charges the necessity of recycling and hugging trees as well as writing to their legislators on the need to oppose the development of energy sources, absolutely NO economic basics have been discussed.

Meanwhile, the cost of energy sources which literally drive our lives are now verging on the prohibitive. Crude oil (reserves of which are proven but legally cannot be tapped) has now exceeded $105.00/barrel. One of the results of this of course is the run-up in the cost of motor fuel i.e. diesel, which has increased in price over $.50/gallon in the last 2 months.

The owners of the trucks which move virtually every item which we consume are being squeezed out of business. Recently, one long haul independent trucker hauling a 41,000 lb. load of freight from Florida to Quebec stopped in North Carolina to refill his fuel tanks at a cost of $960.00. In order to remain in business the ordinary citizen truckers must pass along these increased costs to the ultimate consumers. The alternative is of course, the disappearance of the products we need from the shelves with the result that the remaining items' prices are driven up beyond what those of modest means can pay. Duh!

What's that? Mail out more pieces of paper with dollar signs and numbers on them? Yeah, that'll fix it.