Just days after former Vice President Al Gore received an Academy Award for his global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth, the United States Supreme Court handed Mr. Gore a stunning reversal, stripping him of his Oscar and awarding it to President George W. Bush instead. For Mr. Gore, who basked in the adulation of his Hollywood audience Sunday night, the high courts decision to give his Oscar to President Bush was a cruel twist of fate, to say the least.
But in a 5-4 decision handed down Tuesday morning, the justices made it clear that they had taken the unprecedented step of stripping Mr. Gore of his Oscar because President Bush deserved it more.
It is true that Al Gore has done a lot of talking about global warming, wrote Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority. But President Bush has actually helped create global warming.
In another setback for the former vice president, a group of scientists meeting in Oslo, Norway today said that Mr. Gore was growing at an unsustainable rate.
The polar ice caps may be shrinking, but Al Gore is clearly expanding, said Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke of the University of Tokyo.
The scientists concluded that if Mr. Gore continues to expand at his current rate, he could cause the earth to spin off its axis by 2010, sending it hurtling into the sun. Heres an inconvenient truth, Dr. Kyosuke added. Als got to stay away from those carbs.
Elsewhere, after foreigners received a record number of Academy Award nominations, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs proposed building a 12-foot high fence around the Kodak Theater.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/01/2007 13:21 ||
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From the blogger's MySpace page:
Andy performs at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen which will be held this year from February 28 to March 4.
A FLORIDA appeals court today rejected a bid by Anna Nicole Smith's mother to claim her daughter's body, clearing the way for the former Playboy model to be buried in the Bahamas. The Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach turned down Virgie Arthur's request to overturn a lower court ruling that gave custody of Smith's body to a court-appointed guardian for her five-month-old daughter. The guardian is arranging a funeral in the Bahamas, tentatively arranged for Saturday, while Ms Arthur wanted to bury her daughter in Texas.
Smith, widow of an oil tycoon and fixture of the US tabloid media, died in a Florida casino hotel on February 8 at the age of 39. Her decomposing body remains at a medical examiner's office in Dania Beach, Florida. Earlier, another Florida judge rejected a bid by Smith's former boyfriend to have a Florida court decide the paternity fight over Smith's baby daughter, Dannielynn.
Larry Birkhead says he is the baby's father, despite Smith's long-time companion, Howard K Stern, being named on the birth certificate. Broward County Judge Lawrence Korda rejected jurisdiction and tossed the case back to California, where Birkhead first filed a paternity action. "They have jurisdiction for a number of reasons, apparently the act of conception being what the petition requires in terms of jurisdiction for California," Judge Korda said. He did grant Birkhead the right to get a DNA sample from Smith.
Smith's estate could ultimately be worth millions if it wins a legal battle over the estate of her late husband, billionaire oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2007 00:00 ||
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US courts should not be surrendering jurisdiction to beach-entities. Bribery is a cottage industry in rum-and-cola country.
#2
Anna wanted to be buried by her son. Reasonable. Her mother wants Anna to be buried near her home in Texas. Reasonable. Her son is buried in the Bahamas because that's where he died, but otherwise nobody cares where his bones moulder.
Solution: dig up Daniel & move him to Texas and bury Anna next to him there.
#4
"There has been no change in Anna Nicole Smith's condition; she is still dead."
Posted by: Mike ||
03/01/2007 10:40 Comments ||
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#5
Just friggin' plant her already before she starts growing things on her own!
She's dead!
It's a friggin' body!
These idiots are fighting over the money not the body.
Get the body planted! I am so sick of this bullshit all over the news for the last 3 friggin' weeks I can't even stand to hardly turn on FOX News anymore.
It's so friggin obvious...
OTTAWA (AFP) - A former Canadian defense minister is demanding governments worldwide disclose and use secret alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change, a local paper said Wednesday. He's "demanding"? What is he, a friggin Muslim...
"I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation ... that could be a way to save our planet," Paul Hellyer, 83, told the Ottawa Citizen.
"Nurse, Paul's off his meds again!"
How do ya think Santa get's those reindeer to stay up in the air, Paul? You're in Canada, so why don't you call the North Pole and ask him?
Alien spacecrafts would have traveled vast distances to reach Earth, and so must be equipped with advanced propulsion systems or used exceptional fuels, he told the newspaper. Such alien technologies could offer humanity alternatives to fossil fuels, he said, pointing to the enigmatic 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico -- which has become a shrine for UFO believers -- as an example of alien contact. Maybe there's even plans for a hybrid Gulfstream IV, whiich would get the peasants off of rich people's asses. What a boon to humanity that would be!
"We need to persuade governments to come clean on what they know. Some of us suspect they know quite a lot, and it might be enough to save our planet if applied quickly enough," he said. Maybe. And maybe they have some anti-psychotic medications that might be of great interest to...someone like yourself?
Hellyer became defense minister in former prime minister Lester Pearson's cabinet in 1963, and oversaw the controversial integration and unification of Canada's army, air force and navy into the Canadian Forces. He shocked Canadians in September 2005 by announcing he once saw a UFO. Well, at least they know what they're dealing with here then.
#7
It isn't clear to me that this dude is any more whacked out than AlGore. Really.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/01/2007 13:20 Comments ||
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He would LIKE to see the alien tech? He was the former Defense Minister. Wouldn't the aliens "from out of space" have kept the Canadians in-the-loop? And wouldn't, by dint of his position, already seen it?
#9
one bloke said he saw one (please take with a pinch of salt, i did... it was on you tube) and that he was brought in by the government to work on it. Apparently it used as fuel element 115, which of there is only a few grams of in the world, so of what use this alien technology is with no fuel i don't know
#10
He's a moron. Everybody knows that all we need to do is mass produce the flux capacitor.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/01/2007 15:29 Comments ||
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Inter-Departmental Memo
Subject: Wetwork
To: Halliburton MIB Division
Gentlemen,
It has come to my attention that th aforementioned Canadian is making waves and suggesting that secret technologies obtained from OTE (Other Than Earth) sources be revealed so as to stem global climate change.
This is definitely not in the best interests of our shareholders and OTE friends. Our interests clearly lie in a vested interest in keeping certain carbon-based fuel sources as the primary economic vehcile for the entire planet. Anyone who attempts to upset the apple cart of our carbon-based fuel economies or to reveal technologies that our OTE friends might have, inadvertently, provided during their many visits (and crash landings thereon) our friendly planet, represents a direct threat to our shareholder and OTE client financial assets.
Thus, I am directing an immediate wetwork operation against the named individual.
Thanks,
Frank G Harraway
Division Director, Halliburton OTE Visitor Coordinator, MIB Department
PS. Please insure that our OTE observation teams continue their clandestine efforts at creating accidents using high frequency sound, microwave, and radio frequency broadcasts in order that our Salvage Division is kept busy scavenging crash sites.
#12
The source of ALL global warming is blatantly obvious to any reader of Rantburg. It's all the hot air spewed by politicians around the world. While Washington, DC, has its share, the majority of hot air is currently being produced in Europe, primarily Belgium, and in any nation with a majority population of muslims. The solution is equally obvious, but can never be implemented due to the source. We can end global warming overnight by killing all the politicians (and former politicians) and the "leaders" of "muslim" groups, tribes, and nations. Since this is the ultimate in anti-Politically Correct behavior, it can only be implemented as a "final solution" to an otherwise unsolvable non-problem.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2007 16:04 Comments ||
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"former Canadian defense minister"
As I said over at Tim Blair's, this would explain a lot.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/01/2007 16:15 Comments ||
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I applaud the ma: He's demanding an imaginary solution to an imaginary problem.
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Dozens of people were arrested Wednesday as pro-democracy activists defied a police ban on demonstrations and took to the streets to protest growing repression and economic hardship in Zimbabwe. The demonstration coincided with a bleak new warning by the head of the Zimbabwe state central bank that the nation is broke and using foreign currency needed for fuel and spare parts on food. Oh-oh. I'll bet Bob will be having a talk to him about that.
The National Constitutional Assembly said it had marched in Harare and the cities of Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru. Police had arrested 50 demonstrators in Harare and 25 in Mutare, it said. "Police brutality against demonstrators is a clear sign that we are living in a military state where freedom of expression and association is not respected," the group said in a statement. It vowed to continue with the demonstrations. "We believe that demonstrating for a new constitution is a genuine cause that cannot be blocked by a corrupt police force whose mandate is merely that of protecting a failed regime." ...and it's not like we've got a lot to lose.
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono told a panel of lawmakers that his priority was to allocate hard currency for imports of corn, the staple, to avert a looming food crisis. Currency was diverted from almost every government department to buy food, he conceded. Gideon, Bob says to make sure you keep some aside for about ten thousand gallons of jet fuel and....stuff.
Many black farmers, including politicians, who resettled on former white-owned farms were failing to produce food, Gono said. Zimbabwe was once the region's breadbasket. "There are some people who have become professional land occupiers, vandalizing equipment and moving from one farm to another," Gono told a parliamentary committee on Home Affairs, according to the daily Herald, a government mouthpiece. Under President Robert Mugabe's land reform program, at least 5,000 white-owned farms have been seized with virtually no compensation since 2000. Many are derelict. Farmin, I'm sooooooo disappointed in you...
Mugabe was on a state visit to longtime ally Namibia, where hundreds of people took to the streets with signs that read "Go Mugabe Go" and "Go Home Dictator." The president also faces growing unrest at home. Last week police slapped a three-month ban on demonstrations following skirmishes with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. If Bob don't see it, it doesn't exist...
Tobacco exports, tourism and mining were the nation's main hard currency earners before the land seizures. Tobacco production this year is forecast at one-fifth of the 1999 level and food output is at one-third. Official inflation is nearly 1,600 percent, the highest in the world. Zimbabwe is facing acute shortages of food, gasoline, medicine and other essential imports. Power and water outages occur most days. ...but at least they still have their health...
As many as 3 million Zimbabweans are in neighboring South Africa seeking work and asylum. A Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday said South African officials involved in the arrest and deportation of undocumented migrant workers often assault and extort money from them, and that Zimbabweans and Mozambicans were most at risk of deportation and abuse. A reported 80,000 Zimbabweans were deported in the last seven months of 2006. South African authorities have said they were trying to clamp down on corrupt officials who extort bribes. Which they'll get right on as soon as they have time, as they are very busy extorting bribes...
#3
Well, it seems like this particular episode of ethnic cleansing didn't turn out very well, heh. I mean, except for bob, who's been doing it since the 80's, and has gotten very rich in the process, and will likely die scott free, happy and contended.
#4
#1: If any country needed invading/regime change its this one!!!!!!!!
NO, Nobody wants the drain needed to counter the country's Theft, let them rot.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/01/2007 20:24 Comments ||
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There were unconfirmed Net reports that cannibalism has already begun to take place, ala NORTH KOREA, CHINA?, and parts of pre-1989 and post-1989 USSR = RUSSIAN FAR EAST???
Elections in emergency-rule Bangladesh have been put on hold indefinitely until we can make sure only the right people are voting reforms to strengthen democracy are carried out, the interim government chief said. Fakhruddin Ahmed, who heads a military-backed caretaker government in place to oversee the ballot, took power last month after disputed polls were cancelled.
It is not possible to give a specific timeframe for the elections as reforms are still being carried out, he said speaking in Chittagong on Tuesday night. Ahmeds new interim government has pledged to carry out a string of reforms aimed at ensuring the elections are credible. The influence of the 3Ms money, muscle and misuse of authority has to be curbed to pave the way for free and fair elections, he said. Ahmeds deputy spokesman Sarwar Alam provided the quotes on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2007 00:00 ||
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The good news is that their nation doesn't have as many armed, competing sectarian groups or terror alliances as India has.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - U.N. peacekeepers and Haitian police seized the last remaining gang stronghold in Haiti's largest slum on Wednesday, the latest in a series of military crackdowns aimed at stabilizing the impoverished and divided Caribbean nation.
No shots were fired as scores of U.N. troops entered the seaside slum of Cite Soleil in armored vehicles and on foot, giving the international force sole authority over the lawless area for the first time, according to one U.N. official. The soldiers took over the gritty Bois Neuf quarter, a base for armed gangs blamed for a wave of kidnappings and killings. Seven suspected gang members were arrested in the raid but their leader, known as Beloney, managed to escape.
It was the last gang stronghold in Cite Soleil not occupied by the 9,000-strong U.N. force, known by its French acronym, MISTAKE MINUSTAH. Peacekeepers seized two other gang strongholds during raids earlier this month. "In terms of territory, 100 percent of Cite Soleil is now controlled ... by MINUSTAH with the support of the Haitian government," Brazilian military commander Col. Magno Barroso told The Associated Press.
But U.N. spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe gave a more conservative assessment, saying only that peacekeepers "had established a presence everywhere that gangs had controlled," but do not have full control over the entire slum.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2007 00:00 ||
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I didn't know the Brazilians were there. You DON'T mess with those people. They have a habit of cracking heads and THEN finding out what the fight was about. Just ask anybody who's ever been to Rio during Carnival.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2007 16:07 Comments ||
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#6
You DON'T mess with those people. They have a habit of cracking heads and THEN finding out what the fight was about. Just ask anybody who's ever been to Rio during Carnival.
No kidding! Been there, seen it. Absolutely no sense of humor, or willingness to put up with any crap.
From East Asia Intel, subscription.
China is building a new space launch facility on southern Hainan Island, which U.S. officials say will give Beijing new capabilities to attack satellites in higher Earth orbit.
China announced Feb. 6 that is building its fourth satellite launch center on Hainan, located in the South China Sea. The new center will augment launch facilities at Xichang in southwest Sichuan Province, Jiuquan in northwest Gansu Province and Taoyuan in the northern Shanxi Province. The new facility will be located at Wenchang, near Haikou, the capital, and will include a rocket launch facility, an assembly plant, command center and research facility.
Chinas space program is run entirely by the Chinese military, which does not distinguish between civilian and military applications for its systems.
U.S. officials said the new launch site would make it easier for China to conduct satellite attacks against geosynchronous orbiting satellites. China's Jan. 11 ASAT test involved a low-Earth orbiting satellite about 125 miles in space. Geostationary satellites are as high as 25,000 miles.
Hainan is also where China has built a new underwater submarine base for its new attack and ballistic missile submarines.
The southern locations indicate that Chinas military buildup is not limited to fighting a future conflict with Taiwan, but is aimed at projecting power through vital strategic sea-lanes.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/01/2007 14:23 ||
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So now we know exactly what where to break things, when the time comes. Assuming China doesn't have an internal melt-down beforehand, of course.
#2
It was alleged during Vietnam = the Cold War that CHINA had secretly constructed an underground tunnel complex extending from the mainland to Hainan. Post-USSR, China has redeployed sizable PLA missle, air, and conventional forces units near Hainan, close enuff to VIETNAM, PHILIPPINES, TAIWAN, WESTPAC, plus other parts of SE Asia. China sees itself as both LAND + [new] AIR-SEA POWER.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has urged a rebel leader in East Timor to surrender to the authorities. Australian troops are closing in on Major Alfredo Reinado and his men at their hideout in Same, 50km (30 miles) south of the capital Dili. Maj Reinado said he might negotiate, but added that he would rather die than be made to surrender by force.
Hokay, that works for us.
The Timorese authorities are pursuing Maj Reinado for his role in clashes with government forces last May. He was jailed over his role in the unrest, but escaped in a mass breakout from a Dili prison last August. "It's of concern to us that Reinado is still on the loose, and I think he, appropriately, should surrender himself to the East Timorese authorities," Mr Downer told reporters on Thursday.
Local UN head Atul Khare also told the Associated Press that he wanted Maj Reinado to hand himself in. Earlier this week East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao said he had authorised Australian-led international forces to track down Reinado, and he accused the rebel soldier of leading a raid on a police post over the weekend.
There are signals that Reinado may be prepared to negotiate with the authorities. "He has sent a message to the general prosecutor and presidential staff... that this current situation be settled through dialogue and negotiations," East Timor lawmaker Leandro Isaac, who is with Reinado, told the French news agency AFP by telephone. But he added that Maj Reinado was still vowing to fight to the death if necessary.
Brigadier General Mal Rerden, the Australian in charge of the international peacekeeping force in East Timor, told reporters that it was up to Reinado what happened next. "If he cares about the people of Timor-Leste, if he cares about the people with him now, he would give up his weapons and surrender," he said. "Anything that happens from now on is his responsibility."
Posted by: Steve ||
03/01/2007 10:01 ||
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French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that his first foreign policy goal if elected would be to wrench the European Union out of two years of institutional crisis. "The most urgent priority of our foreign policy is to resolve the institutional crisis opened by the French and Dutch 'no' votes" rejecting the EU's draft constitution in 2005, Sarkozy told a press conference.
"Stupid voters, they're too stupid to know they are s'posed to be sheep!"
"There is nothing to be gained by allowing a European crisis to drag on," the interior minister and right-wing candidate for the April-May election told reporters in a wide-ranging speech on foreign policy.
"All the best people are simply horrified! Aghast, really."
"After half a century of European construction, we are united enough for none of our members to be able to act independently, but not enough to be able to act together."
"Most of the time we are spectators rather than actors, financiers than decision-makers."
I'd double-check that 'financier' claim. The Euros are good at getting others to pick up the tab.
Sarkozy repeated his call for a simplified, mini-treaty aimed at breaking decision-making gridlock in the 27-member bloc. "This will not aim to reinvent political Europe, but to ensure that institutions that are no longer working can work once again. Time is running out if we do not want European construction to be definitively compromised." Asked whether other European leaders backed his proposal, Sarkozy said that British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, had "shown a great openness" towards the idea.
#1
Sarkozy said that {various euro head cheeses} had "shown a great openness" towards the idea.
Shown great openness, eh? There's my vote for Understated Snark of the Week - assuming self-snarking euro-statements are eligible, of course. Wotta ringing endorsement!
#5
That mini-treaty (whio would cover most of the so called Constitution massively rejected by the electorate) would be ratified by the Parluimanete without being subject to a referendum.
ITALIAN Prime Minister Romano Prodi won a confidence vote in the Senate today, allowing him to stay in office and drawing an end to a political crisis prompted by his resignation a week ago. Mr Prodi won with 162 votes for and 157 against. He would have had a majority even without the support of four unelected life senators who voted for him. A second confidence vote is due on Friday in the lower house, where Mr Prodi has a much more comfortable majority.
"I am very satisfied, now we'll go to the lower house," he said. Mr Prodi resigned last week after nine months in office over a foreign policy defeat in the Senate after some leftist members in his nine-party coalition voted against him. He got a second chance from President Giorgio Napolitano after he rallied his fractious allies behind him playing on their fears that a defeat would clear the way for conservative Silvio Berlusconi to return to power.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2007 00:00 ||
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wow! 5 vote majority. He must feel really confident
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2007 6:22 Comments ||
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And Government No 63, warming up in the bullpen...
An absolutely startling report about climate change was published Wednesday in National Geographic which stated the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun and not by man.
Unfortunately, as this goes counter to the position of an alarmist media and their seeming field general, Dr. Global Warming aka Al Gore, it seems quite unlikely that these revelations will be covered in today's papers or evening newscasts.
Regardless, the earth-shattering piece began (emphasis mine throughout):
Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a naturaland not a human-inducedcause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.
The article marvelously continued:
Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. (Get an overview: "Global Warming Fast Facts".)
Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.
In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.
Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.
"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said.
To be sure, Abdussamatov is not the first scientist to make this claim. However, for a publication like National Geographic to report it should stoke some interest in the press but dont hold your breath.
With that in mind, the article then elaborated by almost thoroughly refuting the hysterical claims being made by an alarmist media and their current leader, soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore:
Abdussamatov believes that changes in the sun's heat output can account for almost all the climate changes we see on both planets.
Mars and Earth, for instance, have experienced periodic ice ages throughout their histories.
"Man-made greenhouse warming has made a small contribution to the warming seen on Earth in recent years, but it cannot compete with the increase in solar irradiance," Abdussamatov said.
Yet, in an article about a somewhat contrary concept as far as the mainstream media are concerned, National Geographic expressed great skepticism. In a piece that debunked what the supposed consensus believes on this issue, the magazine spent almost the bulk of the space alloted citing scientists that dont buy Abdussamatovs conclusions starting with, Abdussamatov's work, however, has not been well received by other climate scientists.
However, the idea that National Geographic would present such a contrary view just when so many are buying into the junk science might be an indication that the work of skeptics is finally beginning to pay off.
Ignored by MSM and lefties in 5...4...wow that was quick!
#3
I'm tellin' ya, it's them Mars Rover SUV's. They're diesel or sumtin' like that.
Damn NASA!
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
03/01/2007 20:02 Comments ||
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Heard it direct from NASA several years ago, noticed the dead silence by ALL media since, it's heartwarming that somebody prestigious finaly said "Moonbats are WRONG" look for a firestorm against National Geographic, Facts Can't be countered, but by lying persistently they can be diminished or ignored.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/01/2007 20:53 Comments ||
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#5
Ho humm. Pointed out here by no other than the Beep. Note dateline:
Friday, February 13, 1998.
#9
It is a mistake to assume that all of Mars is warming since we only have observable information from a few parts of the planet (the poles).
Also since it takes Mars 2 of our years to circle the sun and since the time we've been closely observing the Martian poles is only about half a dozen Martian years, it is a mistake to have substantial confidence in any warming theory.
There may be a solar cause, there may not be (which makes a sceptic on Martian warming I think).
#10
How fitting. The initial climate modelling programs were written to simulate Mars' climate, and were later "expanded" and "tweaked" to "predict" Earth climate.
#11
Female Guam Radio Host > says the volcanic haze lurking over the Marianas had made the Sun look redder than she's ever seen it, so red it scared /frightened her into making prayers, + reminded her of how the Sun is typically portrayed or depicted vv the Apocalypse or "World-Is-Ending" Hollywood-TV movies.
#12
since when do facts matter to the Globotomies?
Those stupid enough to believe the "science" behind the GlobalCooling Warming hysteria could be convinced tomorrow the world is flat were Al Gore and Alec Baldwin set forth a decree.
House Republicans plan to break recent precedent and attempt to block a resolution appointing Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) to a spot on the Homeland Security Committee when it comes to the floor for a vote, Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) indicated today. Blunt blasted Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her endorsement of Jefferson for the Homeland Security Committee, calling the selection "ludicrous."
"I won't support that - it's such a contradiction of what the Speaker said," Blunt told reporters, referring to Pelosi's promise to run the most ethical Congress in history.
The FBI found $90,000 in cash in Jefferson's freezer when they raided his home last year as part of an investigation into whether he accepted bribes related to a telecommunications deal in Africa. Although the FBI probe is ongoing and the congressman has not been indicted, the ethics cloud hanging over Jefferson's head has caused headaches for Pelosi. Pelosi stripped Jefferson of his seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee last year. That move angered members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who argued that Jefferson had not been indicted or found guilty of any crime and that ousting him from the tax-writing panel created an unfair precedent. Despite the demotion and the ongoing FBI investigation, Jefferson was reelected in November, leaving Pelosi in a quandary about how to handle his committee assignments.
Before the recess, Pelosi announced that Jefferson would be placed on the Homeland Security panel. Jefferson's district includes New Orleans, and he has been an outspoken critic of homeland security agencies' response to Hurricane Katrina.
In an interview with CNN's Larry King, which aired Tuesday night, Pelosi said that after learning about the $90,000 Jefferson stashed in his freezer, she stripped him of his Ways and Means seat. "What I said to my colleague is, you have $90,000 in your freezer, whatever the explanation, you have a problem with me," she told King. Pelosi then said she named Jefferson to the Homeland Security panel because it has jurisdiction over his storm-ravaged district and because the tax-writing panel deals with some of the business and financial issues involved in the allegations against him while the Homeland Security Committee does not.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2007 00:00 ||
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If the Dems won't do it, then the Reps. will.
We should brainstorm a good slogan for the Reps. to highlight the Dems. malfeasance.
#3
the guy couldn't pass a security clearance check, so dimwit puts him on the committee in charge. Smart, Nancy. Rub this in their donk faces. They should be ashamed
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2007 6:27 Comments ||
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#4
The REAL question is ....WHY IS HE STILL A REPRESENTATIVE????? This is more of maddamn pelosis' "let's cleanup washington"
He's from a black Democrat district. He could be convicted of a crime and be reelected. I grew up in the Detroit area and watched exactly that happen, more than once. Racism wins over virtue.
#6
...Depending on how this turns out, it could be pretty much the end of the New Order in Congress. If the vote is blocked, it will be clear that the Dhimmis have no intention of cleaning up the place and not only will it be business as usual, it will be worse than usual. If the vote goes through, the Dhimis have a thoroughly rotten choice: vote for Jefferson and be seen as endorsing and rewarding corrupt politicians, or vote against him and defy Madame Speaker.
Popcorn, please....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/01/2007 8:22 Comments ||
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WHY IS HE STILL A REPRESENTATIVE?
Because we're cheap. We like to believe in fairy tales that good people will put up with the circus that politics is for the republic. Mainly, because we expect them to operate a governmental system that is responsible for a multi-trillion dollar world economy, a massive international security system, dish out multi-billion dollar national programs and offices, and then pay them relatively squat for doing so. And you wonder why they're referred to as the best government money can buy?
For the price of a couple pork programs, we could pay Congress, each SCOTUS justice, and both the Prez and Vice-Prez a clean million a year. And it would still be chump change. If you understand basic capitalism, you'd understand that if you paid such salaries you'd encourage more applicants for the job. You don't think that a mill would be enough to encourage someone to move into his district and actually try to get the job?
But where would be the fun in that? We want our political circus to bitch about a crummy 2 or 3 per cent increase in their pay. It's theater.
#8
Procopius2k makes an excellent point. Last election season, I asked one of my rancher buddies how corrupt he thought his county commissioners were (in Washoe County, Nevada). His answer "What kind of person spends $400,000.00 to get a job that pays $40,000.00 a year?"
#10
Anyone who doesn't think P2K is right is nuts. Maine's Governor, for example, makes $70K/year. Hell, when I was sailing we had unlicensed guys with a high school education making that much. We live in a capitalist society, folks, and one of the foundation axioms of such a society is "you get what you pay for." Pay peanuts, get monkeys.
Posted by: mac ||
03/01/2007 17:22 Comments ||
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New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said yesterday that he is alone on the second tier of Democratic presidential candidates, claiming a solid lead over his closest rivals Sens. Joseph Biden (Del.) and Chris Dodd (Conn.). Weve moved into a solid fourth, Richardson told reporters.
Speaking at the Latino Leaders Luncheon Series, Richardson told the crowd he had moved from registering 1 percent in polls up to 8 percent since getting in the race in late January, putting him in fourth place in the contest, behind Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Barack Obama (Ill.) and ex-Sen. John Edwards (N.C.).
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
For as long as he can hold back at the second tier, the longer his record can avoid examination. Wen Ho Lee witch hunt, directing state offices not to expose illegals burdening the education and welfare system [in one of the poorest states in the union], rife corruption in state party system, floating the state's budget on huge profits from generations of investments in 'Big Oil' while criticizing same said companies [a whiff of Gore there], etc.
#3
The best part about this whole election is knowing that Hillary probably will not get the Democratic nomination. I'm savoring the sheer delight of knowing that whoever is "lucky" enough to get it in her stead will become the object of all her charms. A fitting dilemma for the current crop of democrats, is it not?
Heh, Heh. A scorned Hillary. Whew! Even if Satan himself wanted the nomination, I'm sure he give pause before getting into the ring with her.
Iran has publicly severed the fingers of a man convicted of repeated robbery in the western town of Kermanshah, a press report said Wednesday. A robbers fingers were cut off on Monday afternoon at Vakilagha junction in Kermanshah in public, the conservative Qods daily reported, identifying the man as Farman, 46, convicted of 22 robberies. The report did not say how many fingers were severed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Heh heh. I'll bet he doesn't do that again for a while! Might have been better to chop off one finger at each conviction that way he stops after one or two.
#2
I couldn't resist:
Ole vas vorking at the fish plant up nort in Dulut vhen he accidentally cut off all ten of his finkers.
He vent to da emergency room in the Clinik and vhen he got dar da Norsky doctor looked at Ole and said, "Let's have da finkers and I'll see vhat I can do."
Ole said, "I haven't got da finkers."
"Vhat do you mean, you hafen't got da finkers?" he said. "Lord-it's 2007 I've got microsurgery and all kinds of incredible techniques I could put dem back on and made you like new! Vhy didn't you brink da finkers?"
Ole says........"How da fock vas I suppose to pick dem up?
#3
Convicted of 22 robberies and he hasn't been executed? Damn, this guy got off easy with the severed fingers! The Iranian courts are getting soft.
You know, although I'm neither a big fan of cruel and unusual punnishment or the Islamic Republic, I think I just found something about Iranian society I respect.
LEGAL prostitutes are just as happy as women in regular jobs, according to a survey that reports high job satisfaction in parts of the sex industry.
But illegal workers who sell sex on the streets had a much grimmer outlook, with half saying they had been raped or bashed in the past year.
The survey compared the mental and physical health of nearly 250 Queensland prostitutes aged 18 to 57 who worked in registered brothels, at home or on the street.
Legal workers reported similar job satisfaction to women in the general community, but streetworkers were far less happy in the job.
"The general picture is that those women whose families know about their work reported greater job satisfaction than those who kept their work secret," said researcher Charlotte Seib.
Asked why they entered the industry, 82 per cent said they did it for the money and 52 per cent pointed to the flexible working hours.
"And 39 per cent said they had a particular goal in mind such as a new car, a house or a holiday," said Ms Seib, from Queensland University of Technology.
One in four of the women surveyed had a Bachelor degree or higher, which is contrary to the popular stereotype that sex workers came from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
More than 60 per cent were employed before joining the industry.
Legal workers were mentally on par with other women but streetworkers were far less psychologically stable.
Ms Seib said the reasons for this were complex but probably stemmed from higher rates of child abuse, illicit drug use and violence on the job.
About half said they had been raped or bashed by a client in the past year compared with 12 per cent of private workers and just 3 per cent of brothel workers.
This proved that legalisation of the industry had been effective for those working within legal boundaries but streetworkers were still at risk, Ms Seib said.
#3
I don't think they really enjoy their work; I think they're just faking.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/01/2007 14:27 Comments ||
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#4
No, no! It's really true! I've heard of more than one hookerwhoreprostitute ex-girlfriend who was happy with her chosen profession of wringing money out of men for services rendered.
#6
I attended the University of Nevada at Reno and had many female friends that were paying for their education by working at the Mustang Ranch east of town. One such co-ed that I knew went on to law school and is a practicing attorney in California. Last time I saw her she said, "I'm still doing the same work but I have a better title now."
#7
The Mustang Ranch with its famous motto: I got screwed by the federal government. The Feds owned it for a while after a tax forfeiture.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/01/2007 17:12 Comments ||
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#8
LOL, Don M.!!!
Posted by: mac ||
03/01/2007 17:17 Comments ||
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#9
Reminds me of PAUL NEWMAN as JUDGE ROY BEAN > how the "Hanging Judge" of lore settled the Amer West by threatening hookers + murderous gunfighters wid death unless they got married.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(CCNMatthews - March 01, 2007) - Scientists at the University of Bristol have cracked climate change. Less than a month into Richard Branson's five-year competition, academics will take their winning idea to Virgin Earth and walk away with a cool $25 million.
The solution, published online by The Journal of Unlikely Science, is remarkably simple, requiring no technological wizardry or financial investment. It is quite simply, stop breathing; or at least breathe less. I think that's what a lot of the Radical Environmentalists want, the rest of us to stop breathing.
The authors of the study say those who exercise a lot could be doing no end of damage to the Earth's atmosphere by breathing too much. "All that time that the super-fitties among us spend exercising, they're guzzling extra oxygen and belching out tonnes of CO2." Let's here it for the couch Potatoes! Couch Potatoes of the World Unite!
Undertaking strenuous exercise causes an individual's metabolic rate to increase by at least 50%, leading to increased amounts of carbon dioxide produced in the body and expelled during breathing. At a rough estimate, the average person exercising at the recommended level of thirty minutes five times a week could be adding as much as 1.3kg of extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. Multiplied across a global population of 6.5 billion, this equates to a lung-busting 14 million tonnes. Or we could all be required to breathe out through a device that absorbs carbon dioxide.
Research has failed to show any clear cut difference between the metabolic rates of the "super-fit" and less active members of the population when resting. Therefore, claim the authors, contrary to earlier studies that hold the obese accountable for global warming, those who eat more and exercise less are actually doing the world a favour. Way to go A5089!
Although, said lead researcher, Dr. Mark Steer, "The amount of carbon dioxide saved by remaining sedentary is nothing compared to what you would save by running somewhere instead of driving there." What, me run? Can I ride my horse instead? or does he expell too much CO2? I know he expells a lot of methane, just ask my Farrier.
But according to the study, we can all make a difference just by breathing less. "If we merely cut out one breath in three, we could decrease the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere each year by a staggering 0.63 gigatonnes. That's the same effect as saving 5 million acres of land (an area the size of Wales) from deforestation."
Read the full article online at:
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/01/2007 12:14 ||
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Some years ago A garage where I worked got a brand new "Exhaust Gas Analyzer" we played with it before it got dirty by breathing into the pickup tube and seeing the results, I noticed that ALL exhalations had NO OXYGEN, only water vapor and CO2,(and trace gasses like Argon) I came to the instant conclusion that "The Breath Of Life" is actualy deadly Only by breathing very rapidly (panting actualy) could I get any Oxygen to register on exhale, be careful folks. Popular "Wisdom" is faulty.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/01/2007 20:42 Comments ||
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Journalists have leaned toward balance at expense of consensus data, he says
MURFREESBORO After being the red-carpet darling of the Academy Awards, it was back to reality Tuesday for Al Gore, who resumed his usual role of hypocritical scold history-spouting wonk as he addressed a gathering of national media ethicists at MTSU.
Gore was the star of An Inconvenient Truth, which won best documentary feature at Sunday night's Oscars. The film showed the slide show presentation the former vice president has given countless times across the nation. another replay by the GoreBot
Back in Tennessee on Tuesday, Gore told a crowd of about 50 people at the U.S. Media Ethics Summit II that the presentation's single most provocative slide was one that contrasts results of two long-term studies. A 10-year University of California study found that essentially zero percent of peer-reviewed scientific journal articles disagreed that global warming exists, whereas, another study found that 53 percent of mainstream newspaper articles disagreed the global warming premise.
zero percent, huh? Lying sack of sh*t
He noted that recently the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its fourth unanimous report calling on world leaders to provide grants and emergency police powers to the elites take action on global warming.
"I believe that is one of the principal reasons why political leaders around the world have not yet taken action," Gore said. "There are many reasons, but one of the principal reasons in my view is more than half of the mainstream media have rejected the scientific consensus implicitly and I say 'rejected,' perhaps it's the wrong word. They have failed to report that it is the consensus and instead have chosen balance as bias. "you need to quit questioning!"
"I don't think that any of the editors or reporters responsible for one of these stories saying, 'It may be real, it may not be real,' is unethical. But I think they made the wrong choice, and I think the consequences are severe. and he would know unethical
"I think if it is important to look at the pressures that made it more likely than not that mainstream journalists in the United States would convey a wholly inaccurate conclusion about the most important moral, ethical, spiritual and political issue humankind has ever faced."
Gore would not answer any questions from the media after the event. he NEVER answers questions - too "inconvenient"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2007 09:25 ||
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A 10-year University of California study found that essentially zero percent of peer-reviewed scientific journal articles disagreed that global warming exists
Which journals? Ones about climatology, or ones about cosmetology?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/01/2007 10:04 Comments ||
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Which journals? Ones about climatology, or ones about cosmetology?
Astrology.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2007 10:32 Comments ||
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Gore told a crowd of about 50 people at the U.S. Media Ethics Summit II...
Yeah that Academy Award really brings out the "crowds".
But it is a Media Ethics Summit...
"They don't put my prophecy up 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You will all burn in the fires of Global Warming! Repent and follow me! Kill the heretics!"
#11
Question: Since there is an Albedo effect to particulates in the atmosphere (hence Nuclear Winter scenarios) that serves to cool the earth, what has been the effect of all the activity to reduce particulate emissions via stack scrubbers etc.? Not to mention the practice of putting out fires that have added particulates to the air in the past.
Remember how much Mt. Pinatubo effected the temps for a while?
#1
...All of his accomplishments are true, and he did leave his mark on his profession. OTOH, according to him, St. John of Hyannisport was the Alpha and Omega of the presidency and his opinion of others - especially Republicans - was unpleasant at best.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/01/2007 6:19 Comments ||
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#2
That's a nice picture. It's the same one you see when you look up "sycophant" in the dictionary...
#3
Years ago whenever Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. opened his pie hole on some TV interview [Post Republic Vietnam] I used to yell "shit mouth" at the television screen. Typically the ex-wife would cringe a bit and slowly look my way and give me the deadly evil eye. ;-0
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., "Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Kennedy insider who helped define mainstream liberalism during the Cold War and remained an eminent public thinker into the 21st century.....with a panoramic vision of American culture and politics.....He was one of chief proponents of Multiculturalism in the 1980s."
IMO, The chief flaw I see in many of the Kennedy historians is that they crafted their analysis of Kennedy as if they were a fan publicist instead of a unbiased chronicler.
IMO [rant] a good Presidential historian should chronicle important events more objectively than Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. did. Of course he must chronicle the main events in president's life and compile the successes and the failures in historical context but he must also expose the Presidents character too.
By what ideas and impulses drove the President's decisions on the events that effected everyone of us.
Might have it been useful for us Citizens to know that JFK's drug problems and womanizing weaknesses may have had an influence on all of his Bay of Pigs decisions for instance?
Did Mr. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. chronicle the President's Addison disease? His Chronic back problems, due to osteoporosis resulted in several operations and required medications for chronic pain. Did Arthur report that Kennedy also took meperidine (Demerol), methadone (Dolophine), methylphenidate (Ritalin), meprobamate (Miltown), chlordiazepoxide (Librium),amphetamines, and miscellaneous barbiturates and thyroid hormone - though not all at the same time.
No he did not, Because Eastern Elitist Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. was a true blue kornerstone in the foundation of the Kennedy Kamelot Kastle.
/too bad .com isn't around to really fisk this fake historian.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A FLORIDA appeals court today rejected a bid by Anna Nicole Smith's mother to claim her daughter's body, clearing the way for the former Playboy model to be buried in the Bahamas. The Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach turned down Virgie Arthur's request to overturn a lower court ruling that gave custody of Smith's body to a court-appointed guardian for her five-month-old daughter. The guardian is arranging a funeral in the Bahamas, tentatively arranged for Saturday, while Ms Arthur wanted to bury her daughter in Texas. 
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Dozens of people were arrested Wednesday as pro-democracy activists defied a police ban on demonstrations and took to the streets to protest growing repression and economic hardship in Zimbabwe. The demonstration coincided with a bleak new warning by the head of the Zimbabwe state central bank that the nation is broke and using foreign currency needed for fuel and spare parts on food. 
Elections in emergency-rule Bangladesh have been put on hold indefinitely until 
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - U.N. peacekeepers and Haitian police seized the last remaining gang stronghold in Haiti's largest slum on Wednesday, the latest in a series of military crackdowns aimed at stabilizing the impoverished and divided Caribbean nation.
French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that his first foreign policy goal if elected would be to wrench the European Union out of two years of institutional crisis. "The most urgent priority of our foreign policy is to resolve the institutional crisis opened by the French and Dutch 'no' votes" rejecting the EU's draft constitution in 2005, Sarkozy told a press conference. 
House Republicans plan to break recent precedent and attempt to block a resolution appointing Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) to a spot on the Homeland Security Committee when it comes to the floor for a vote, Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) indicated today. Blunt blasted Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her endorsement of Jefferson for the Homeland Security Committee, calling the selection "ludicrous."
Journalists have leaned toward balance at expense of consensus data, he says
