Friday - June 20, 2008

Natural Disaster Narrowly Avoided?

Full Moon Crashes Into Athens, millions flee!
Democrats confused: Should they blame Bush or Hillary?







Oops, sorry about that. For a second I was channeling Steamboat McGoo from his prior career writing headlines for The National Enquirer. No, what we have right now is a full moon and a Solstice going on at the same time, which makes for a maximum Moon Illusion. This is the harmless kind of moonbattery, so have at it and enjoy.

The Really Smart People At NASA^tm are only too happy to tell you all about it, right here. And right here. And because you can never get a real scientist to actually shut up, they provide a neat link that allows you to find your local moonrise anywhere in the world, right here. Government at work, solving all the little problems so the big problems can solve themselves!

I’m sure the Democrats will wind up blaming Bush anyway.

Neat Poem

The previous post mentioned the Klondike Gold Rush, and that reminded me of two of my father’s favorite writers. O. Henry was one, and Robert Service was another. Which shows you that my strange sense of humor is probably genetic.

Service’s most famous bit of doggerel is probably the short epic poem “The Cremation Of Sam McGee”, a macabre and humorous bit of verse about a Klondike prospector trying to bury his dead friend. It has a very Dr. Seuss - like rhythim to it, which makes it fun to read to children.

Jump over to INGEB and read the rest. It was my dad’s favorite, and always made my brother and I laugh.

Looking Back: Interesting things that happened on this day, from various sources

Notable events that happened on this day

• West Virgina admitted as the 35th State.

  On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the thirty-fifth state in the Union. The land that formed the new state formerly constituted part of Virginia. The two areas had diverged culturally from their first years of European settlement, as small farmers generally settled the western portion of the state, including the counties that later formed West Virginia, while the eastern portion was dominated by a powerful minority class of wealthy slaveholders. There were proposals for the trans-Allegheny west to separate from Virginia as early as 1769. When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, the residents of a number of contiguous western counties, where there were few slaves, decided to remain in the Union. Congress accepted these counties as the state of West Virginia on condition that its slaves be freed. “Montani semper liberi,” “mountaineers always freemen,” became the new state’s motto.

  This snippet courtesy of the Library of Congress, keepers of public knowledge for the free use of the public.


• President Andrew Johnson announces purchase of Alaska. June 20, 1867, Known at the time as Seward’s Folly, the US purchased Alaska from the Russian Tsar Alexander II for about 1.9¢ per acre. Thirty years later, during the Klondike Gold Rush just over the border in Canada, gold discovered in the beaches around Nome Alaska yielded nearly a third of that amount in one summer alone.


• For our British friends, today marks the day that Queen Victoria ascended the British throne after the death of her uncle King William IV. She ruled for 63 years, reigning over one of the greatest periods in the British Empire.


• June 20, 1840: Samuel Morse patents the telegraph, taking the very first step of the modern Information Age. Later called “the Victorian Internet” the telegraph changed the world.


• It could be said that the Civil Rights Movement in America started today. On this day in 1942 the Congress of Racial Equality was formed in Chicago. Deeply influenced by Ghandi’s non-violent forms of protest, CORE began by using sit-ins to protest segregated schools.
  
• Today also marks the 65th anniversary of the Great Detroit Race Riot. 35 died. Overcrowding, inequitable rents, segregation, police indifference were all causes. It took the Army to stop the mobs.


• The movie Jaws hit theaters on this day, way back in 1975. It was the breakthrough blockbuster for boyish director Steven Spielburg. Starring Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and a rubber shark named Bruce, the film scared the piss out of us, and did it without any CGI at all. Don’t go in the water!!


• 451 AD - Battle of Catalarinische Fields in eastern France. Roman and Germanic Visigoth armies combine to defeat Attila The Hun, saving Europe and Christianity. Thanks guys!

There are thousands of Daily History web sites out there, all perfectly happy to add their bits of data to the free source of worldwide knowledge that is the internet. And that’s the way it should be.

racism over lost luggage.  (anyone else but this very spoiled cretin would serve jail time)

Here we go folks.  The ‘R’ word.  Or ‘ism’ you can take your pick.

I can’t help feeling that were the person a white one, they’d most likely be in jail.  This lady, and I use the term lightly, has had more breaks and more ppl leaning over backwards for her then I can count.  Of course, she isn’t alone in kid gloves treatment after bad behaviour.

Garbage gums here has civil rights and isn’t accountable for anything she does. She’s dark skinned & thus is entitled to a free pass. 

Naomi Campbell accused British Airways captain of racism over lost luggage
By Graham Tibbetts
Last Updated: 1:57PM BST 20/06/2008

Naomi Campbell flew into a rage and accused an airline captain of racism when he tried to explain that one of her bags had gone missing, a court heard today.
20 Jun 08: Naomi Campbell pleads guilty to assaulting a police officer after a row at Heathrow airport. ;

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1529569286/bctid1620576725

The model was caught up in the chaos of Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport when she was waiting to take off for Los Angeles.

After it became clear that Campbell’s bag was among a number that had failed to be loaded on to the British Airways flight Miles Sutherland, the captain, took the “unusual decision” of personally approaching her to explain the situation and apologise.

Uxbridge magistrates court, west London, heard that the model made no attempt to listen to Capt Sutherland and instead used her mobile phone, saying: “They have lost my f****** bags, get me another flight, get the press, get me my lawyer.”

She then shouted at Capt Sutherland: “I can’t believe you have lost my f****** bag. Bring me my f****** bags now.”

Melanie Parrish, prosecuting, said: “She instructed him to personally get off the aircraft and get her bag and show it to her.”

When the captain attempted to outline her options she retorted: “How dare you tell me what my options are? You are not leaving until you find my f****** bags.”

As the captain walked away Campbell shouted after him: “You are a racist. You wouldn’t be doing this if I was white.”

(No, he might not monkey face. Were you white he might have had you locked up at once)

The incident, which happened in April shortly after Terminal 5’s disastrous opening, led to the flight being delayed by almost an hour.

The court was told a cabin services director and a BA special operative trained to deal with difficult situations were called to the aircraft but had little success.

Miss Parrish said: “Miss Campbell was clearly upset and explained to them the reason why this was so awful for her was that she was contracted to wear a particular Yves Saint Laurent outfit on a US chat show and it was in the bag that hadn’t been loaded.”

She said that Campbell, who was sitting in First Class, again began to shout and swear and was told that her language was unacceptable and there were families and children on board.

Campbell, 38, continued shouting and swearing, yelling “F*** you, f*** you, Captain”, before the decision was taken that she would have to be removed from the flight.

When she refused to leave voluntarily three police officers arrived and were told: “F*** off, I have paid £5,000 for this. I have a right to be on this plane.”

As an officer, PC Eastick, attempted to grab her arm she “went berserk, thrashing her arms around uncontrollably and striking PC Eastick on the arm with her phone,” said Miss Parrish.

During a violent struggle Campbell thrust her right leg back and forward, hitting another officer.

(Now dat be ok doh because she have dem dar cibil right stuff ya’ll honkeys don’t got yet yaknowwhatImean if not axme and I splain it.)

Miss Parrish added: “At the time she was wearing formidable platform boots with stiletto-style heels.”

The only other passenger in First Class moved into the staff kitchen for his own safety, the court heard.

Campbell then spat on one of the officers and shouted at them: “It is because I am a black woman. You are all racists. I am going to sue you. I am going to f*** you.”

( Oh sure.  It’s ALWAYS race huh?  Heaven forbid it’s something to do with how they act or what they do. Oh no. It isn’t their doing. No. It’s Whitey!)

Her tirade continued later after she had left the aircraft when she claimed she was only being arrested because she was “black and famous”.

Campbell’s lawyer, Simon Nicholls, said she had not been drinking or looking for trouble.

“She has specifically told me to say she was genuinely apologetic to the police officers. I can’t say she was quite so sorry about British Airways but she is sorry she behaved in the way she did,” he said.

Campbell pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a police officer, one count of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and using threatening, abusive words or behaviour to cabin crew.

The magistrates ordered a probation report to be carried out on Campbell before they decided on sentence later today.

They told the model that all sentencing options were open but that they had a community punishment in mind.

She could have been jailed for up to six months and/or fined up to £5,000 for each count of assaulting a constable.

http://tinyurl.com/3zj4xw

EU lifts Cuba diplomatic sanctions (Is this long overdue and about time?  Thoughts?)

Curious to know if you folks think this is past time.

Embargo certainly didn’t get rid of Castro.  In fact, it’s possible that the only reason it’s lasted is due to the very wealthy and very strong Cuban lobby.  Who are as well, politically very astute.

By Our Foreign Staff
Last Updated: 9:15AM BST 20/06/2008
The European Union has agreed to lift diplomatic sanctions against Cuba in the hope of encouraging democracy in the Communist state.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the union’s external relations commissioner, said the decision was designed to encourage changes in Cuba after Raul Castro took over from his ailing brother Fidel.

The gesture was largely symbolic, as the sanctions banned high-level visits by Cuban officials – and they have been suspended since 2005.

However, a summit of EU foreign ministers in Brussels called for several conditions for relations to improve further.

The include the release of all political prisoners; access for Cubans to the internet; and opportunities for EU delegations to meet both opposition figures and members of the Cuban government.

“There will be very clear language also on what the Cubans still have to do ... releasing prisoners, really working on human rights questions,” she said after the decision was announced in Brussels. “There will be a sort of review to see whether indeed something will have happened.”

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the lifting of sanctions in no way meant the EU was getting weak on Cuba, and said that asking for talks with Cuban officials on touchy issues like human rights, or to demand access to political dissidents was the best way to push change on the island.

Washington imposed a trade blockade of Cuba almost 50 years ago.

http://tinyurl.com/3tk5f4

   Thursday - June 19, 2008

An Email From Newt

Gosh Newt, I can do a lot better than just a mere 5.

Could it be that this petition is actually working? I’ve seen the links on dozens of web pages. Maybe hundreds. The number of signatures went from under 100,000 to over 240,000 in just two days, and now, barely a week later, it’s over 1,000,000.

And, unless you “question the timing” - because, yeah, Newt is smart enough to realize that $4 a gallon is going to be a psychological tipping point, and time the push of his petition to crest at just about the right time, which is a brilliant move - this thing is starting to show results. Although the last I heard the Florida governor was only talking about the Gulf Coast.

So we need another million or three signatures. Oh, and if you send them $10 you get a “Drill Now” bumper sticker, sure to annoy the econuts out there on the roads.

I signed in when it was just over 100,000. Who cares? What matter is that I used my real name and address and signed the thing honestly. I also had a good number of emails going back and forth with the campaign folks, which lead me to the two big posts (sorry for the rapib rant) I put up on the subject. Gas prices in NJ are about the lowest in the nation, and the prices in my area are about the lowest in the state. But even so I was forced to pay $4.01 a gallon on Monday. Though I did find a Lukoil station on Tuesday that was still charging “only” $3.92 for regular when you pay cash. Either price has got my dander up, but good.

Drilling for more oil and more gas, and building the necessary pipelines and refineries to deliver them ... it isn’t the ultimate solution, but it’s a big help for the shorter long term future. Now let’s get some kind of cap on the crazy ass petroleum futures market too.

Signing this thing isn’t all you have to do. You’ve got to email, write, and call your Senators, Governors, and CongressWeasels. Because if they’re against this, then they’re out of a job. Simple as that.

As Time Goes By

It’s been a bit more than a year since Allan passed away. I didn’t run anything at the time because ... well, I don’t really know why. I guess I wasn’t ready to. I got one email from one of you guys, just one, asking me if I was going to post something. We’ve had a lot of turnover since Allan left us, and a lot of old readers have left us too. But some are still here. And we have lots of new ones. And I’m glad to have all of them, old and new.

Today I heard from a former co-worker of his, reminding me that I ought to do something. So I did. Three somethings actually. What the heck, I’m more than 18 days late with this.

This post, and the wonderful memorial graphic done by reader Sara. The sentiments there are repeated way down at the bottom of the page. And I added all the pictures I could find of Allan to the Gallery. If anyone has any more, email me them and I’ll put them up. I know there were two of Allan and Dottie (Annoying Little Twerp) but I can’t find them.  I put in some captions, but the ones at the original memorial post are more accurate.

The Gallery link now takes you to the top of the Gallery instead of to the Motorvators section. So now the adult areas are on full display instead of slightly hidden. But in a way I think Allan would have enjoyed that. Being surrounded by funny pictures and by lovely ladies not wearing much more than smiles ... not a bad version of Valhalla at all.

So here’s to Allan once again, a bit more than a year after he’s been gone. We’re doing our best to keep on keeping on here, possibly taking the blog in directions he may have liked. Or not. But we’re still playing by his rules. Miss ya Skipper.

Will Cold Solar Storm Chill the Earth?

Don from over at The Further Adventures of Indigo Red emails me that the brainiacs over at NASA have come up with an amazing theory: Solar Activity and Earth’s Temperature are linked! But not exactly in the way you might think.

When the sun has lots of sunspots, there are lots of solar flares. Properly called Solar Coronas, these flares are hundreds, perhaps thousands of times hotter than the surface of the sun itself. They also give off tremendous amounts of X-ray and UV radiation. Pointed straight at us. Oh noes!!!

X-rays and ultraviolet radiation from the solar corona affect Earth and its atmosphere. For satellites, this can be a real drag--literally. As Earth’s atmosphere gets hotter, it expands and becomes denser at high altitudes. When this happens, satellites experience more drag, which changes their orbits. Accurately predicting this “space weather” gives satellite operators more time to respond to or avert problems that could potentially cause interruptions and outages.

In order for scientists to build realistic models of the corona, they “must understand coronal heating. It’s the root cause of all this radiation,” says Klimchuk.

Naturally, as scientists, they are required to say “But more study is necessary!!” which translates into Normal as “We want more grant money!!”



Interestingly, at this very moment in time, the sun has but one little sunspot. BUT, and this might be significant, instead of a Coronal Loop, right now the sun has a Coronal Hole. Which is the exact opposite kind of thing. And that thing is pointed right at us! Oh noes? No, oh yesss!!!

coronal hole
A region of the Sun’s corona that appears dark in pictures taken with a coronagraph or during a total solar eclipse, and that shows up as a void in X-ray and extreme ultraviolet images. Coronal holes are of very low density (typically 100 times lower than the rest of the corona) and have an open magnetic field structure; in other words, magnetic field lines emerging from the holes extend indefinitely into space rather than looping back into the photosphere. This open structure allows charged particles to escape from the Sun and results in coronal holes being the primary source of the solar wind and the exclusive source of its high-speed component.

Why could this be good news? Because right now the Earth is caught up in the solar wind from this, but it’s a COLD wind. And one very very low in X-rays and UV, far lower than the sun’s normal output.
So, does that mean the weather will be a bit colder for the next couple of weeks? Beats me. But it’s nearly chilly here today.

Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole.
Credit: Hinode X-ray Telescope

Happy Juneteenth!

UPDATE: The vast majority of this post has been REDACTED. What I posted was, I thought, an email sent to me. Apparently the author, MICHAEL ZAK is most adamant about not having more than a single sentence of his work pasted up anywhere else. His blog recieves perhaps 100 hits a day, and I have now been told in no uncertain terms TWICE not to use more than a single sentence of his stuff. This time I was instructed to make these corrections WITHIN THE HOUR. Plus instructions to permalink to his website, instructions to link to Amazon for his book, instructions to display a picture of his book, etc. Becuase he gets 100 hits a day thank you, and people pay him money to come and talk about the history of the Republican Party. Really. Who? And why?

I don’t think there will be any more History of the GOP posts. And I think that’s all I’ll say for now. And no, I won’t be bothering to do a review on his book. It’s nearly a decade out of date anyway.

another new blog

A certain lovely red haired lady who comments here has started her own blog. She’s only got one post up, and is probably going through the typical teething problems all start up blogs have. But I’m expecting some interesting content to come from her pretty soon. So stop over and say hi.

Another lady BMEWSer with a blog! I wonder how many overall? I know of at least 3, but I haven’t actually checked.

“Progressive”: codeword for Marxist/Socialist for 100 years

It started before World War I. It really gained a foothold with the New Deal. It took a backseat for a while in the 50s when people finally figured out that Communism was more than a Red Herring, but a plaque upon the human race, and a few brave souls like Joe McCarthy pushed hard to get the Red Stain out of our government. During the 60s they sort of went underground, but the Progressive movement was strongly behind SDS, the Weather Underground, Black Panthers, etc., were all influenced and supported. After that I think they all moved to Berkley and got high for a few decades.

We started hearing that term again a few years ago. It really hasn’t changed it’s meaning. It’s the furthest left of all the leftist ideologies, and it has moved the Democrats so far over that they’ve disowned Joe Lieberman, who was pretty left to begin with. These days he has to call himself and Independent, because he’s to far to the right for rest of them.

I really don’t want to write a whole essay on this. My guess is that most of my BMEWS readers are pretty well versed in history already, and have paid a fair amount of attention to politics. So you know where a reasonable line between “normal” liberalism and outright Socialism ought to be. And how, at the extremes, the lines blur a lot when trying to identify Fascism, Socialism, and Communism. In all three you wind up with a State with nearly unlimited power and an Elite who is in control of nearly all aspects of your life, For Your Own Good^tm, because they know better than you.

I’m not sure if this is on Odumbo’s StopTheSmear website yet, but here are a number of links that show clearly and indisputably that he got his start from support by the New Party, a neo-communist group in Chicago. And while it is possible that he just used them and left them, it’s pretty noticeable that a fair number of New Party platform planks still show up in his rhetoric. And yeah, bomb throwers like Ayers figure into it too.

Start reading here; the story of little Barry, the ACORN that didn’t fall far from the Big Red Oak.

On the stump today, Obama often says he helped prevent South Side Chicago blacks, Latinos, and whites from turning on each other after losing their jobs, but many of the community organizers interviewed by the L. A. Times say that Obama worked overwhelmingly with blacks.To rebut this charge, Obama’s organizer friends tell the story of how he helped plan “actions” that included mixed white, black, and Latino groups. For example, following Obama’s plan, one such group paid a “surprise visit” to a meeting between local officials considering a landfill expansion. The protestors surrounded the meeting table while one activist made a statement chiding the officials, after which the protestors filed out. Presto! Obama is immunized from charges of having worked exclusively with blacks — but at the cost of granting us a peek at the not-so-warm-and-fuzzy side of his community organizing. Intimidation tactics are revealed, and Obama’s alliance with radical Acorn activists like Madeleine Talbot begins to make sense.
...
So along with the reservoir of political support that came to Obama through his close ties with Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, and other Chicago black churches, Chicago Acorn appears to have played a major role in Obama’s political advance. Sure enough, a bit of digging into Obama’s years in the Illinois State Senate indicates strong concern with Acorn’s signature issues, as well as meetings with Acorn and the introduction by Obama of Acorn-friendly legislation on the living wage and banking practices. You begin to wonder whether, in his Springfield days, Obama might have best been characterized as “the Senator from Acorn.”

There are enough links in this article to keep you reading for a while. Almost all of them are worth following.

Next go over to Right WingNut House and read Rick Moran’s piece on the Big O’s alliances with the New Party commies and several domestic terrorists, and how, once elected, he funneled them lots of money.

Furthermore, it is evident that in return for their support, Obama used his position as state senator and board member for the Woods Foundation to funnel public and private money into the coffers of these radical groups thus cementing a relationship that is still paying dividends for Obama to this day.

The New Party, ACORN, and the Arab American Action Network are not by any stretch of the imagination mainstream political or social organizations. They are radical anti-capitalist, pro-Marxist, and in the case of the AAAN a group supporting the terrorist activities of the Palestinians.

The New Party is an unabashed Marxist “fusion” party from which Barack Obama actively sought out and received an endorsement for his state senate candidacy.

It is inexplicable how this group operates so freely in places like Chicago. They are about as non-partisan as a Baath party convention in that if they have ever supported a Republican for anything, it was probably an accident. The bureaucrats whose job it is to see that the law is followed by groups like ACORN are intimidated by their tactics as well as how much stink they could raise with local politicians. Ergo, they skate.

Just what did the potential next president of the United States do for these thugs? He trained their leadership cadres in organizing techniques. Also, through his position as a board member of the Woods Foundation, Obama funnelled money to his friends on a regular basis

This isn’t smear. It’s historical fact. Freaking out yet? Not totally? Ok, clickety click on this one:

This is the second leg of the radical triad that Obama has used to advance his political career. The first leg can be seen in his long time friendship with both Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger - two religious/political powerhouses on the south side of Chicago. Obama’s coziness with those radical preachers gave him a firm base on which to run for office.

The big question mark is the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan. The NoI is very powerful on the south side and many are wondering what kind of deal Obama may have made with them. Tony Rezko, long time fund raiser and political mentor of Obama has personal ties to Farrakhan (you couldn’t build a treehouse on the south side without the NoI’s permission) and there has been speculation that Rezko could have been a go-between for the two (Obama not wanting to taint himself with the stench of Farrakhan’s radical separatism and anti-semitism.).

Are we about to elect a president who has made common political cause with Marxists? This should prove interesting as the press wrestles with a way to keep the damage regarding these revelations to a minimum.

Resko was just found guilty on 16 out of 24 counts of political corruption and wrong doing. Is he going to spill the beans to minimize his jail time, or will he pull a Susan McDougal and cover for his master? It is beyond undeniable that he and Barry Boy have major connections.

When even Investor’s Business Daily is running articles that essentially label Oblarney a commie, you’d think the MSM might take some interest?

Obama’s Red RootsIt’s natural to be skeptical of excessive claims about Obama’s radical associations. After all, there are so many. But one bears attention — because it helped him get his start in politics. In 1996, he won an Illinois state senate seat on a “fusion” ticket of the Democratic Party and leftist group called the “New Party.”

The New Party, founded in 1992 with 7,000 members at its peak, had been an explicitly anti-capitalist party of ex-Communists, socialists and activists from ACORN, the hard-left group that’s constantly in trouble over voter fraud. The New Party didn’t ask for Obama’s association; he asked for the New Party’s endorsement.

...

That raises questions about what was in the New Party platform that drew in Obama. Maybe its own statements saying it was formed “to break the stranglehold that corporate money and corporate media have over the political process.”

Sound familiar? One of the few things Obama reveals in his vague “change” agenda are plans to punish corporations. He rails against “corporate profits” and even worked in a condemnation of them in his first defense of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. So there’s little doubt he shares a lot of what the New Party believes.

The New Party also has advocated a bill of rights for children, a shorter work week, a universal “social” wage and military spending cuts. These will undermine parental rights, lower competitiveness, lard up welfare and make the U.S. less secure. All are echoed in Obama’s proposals. They are the hardest battle cries of the left.

Obama should come clean on why he sought these radicals’ support and, better still, disclose just how he intends to pay them back.

So now we have this guy running for President. And he’s ahead in the polls. And nobody knows or cares that he has close, long term association with communists, felons, thugs, bomb throwers, The united Church of Hate, and a bigoted and possibly violent anti-American offshoot of islam. And the loudest shouts against him come from known right-wing demagogue Pat Buchanan?

By June, resistance to Barack’s nomination in the party that he now leads was extraordinary, stemming from a belief that he is too naive to be commander in chief in wartime and too far left, and does not like or understand Middle America or its values.

“He is not one of us.”

If Barack cannot erase this hardening perception in the American mind, he will not be president. Democrats may talk of making the economy the issue this fall, but Republicans are going to make Barack the issue.

Climate Change Theory: Could it all be up in the air?

Global warming forecast: Partly cloudy

How clouds respond to global warming poses a huge challenge for climate scientists, since clouds are far more changeable in real life than models can predict. However, experts do agree that the level of future global warming greatly depends on clouds.

A new study finds that natural variations in how clouds form could actually be causing temperature changes, rather than the other way around, and could also lead to overestimates of how sensitive the Earth’s climate is to greenhouse gas emissions.

“Since the cloud changes could conceivably be caused by known long-term modes of climate variability, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, or El Niño and La Niña, some, or even most, of the global warming seen in the last century could simply be due to natural fluctuations in the climate system,” says lead author Roy Spencer of the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

Spencer and his co-author William Braswell point out that the paper doesn’t disprove the theory that humans are causing global warming. Instead, they report that “it offers an alternative explanation for what we see in the climate system which has the potential for greatly reducing estimates of mankind’s impact on Earth’s climate.”

“But we really won’t know until much more work is done,” he added. In addition to this article, Spencer has published several others that question the scientific consensus about climate change, which states that human-produced greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are causing global warming.

Spencer has been taking the Earth’s temperature for 20 years now, and feels that if the temps are rising, then they are rising at a much lower rate than some alarmists believe.

one of the world’s most wanted terrorists is to be freed. (Or, how to fight a war on terror)

Took awhile but finally able to post.
Have no idea why USA caved on this sob, unless we couldn’t or wouldn’t promise no death penalty.  ??  Don’t know.

Abu Qatada: Terror chief next to be released on bail
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent

A man who was once called one of the world’s most wanted terrorists is to be freed under similar bail conditions which led to the release of al-Qa’eda preacher Abu Qatada.

The man, referred to only as “U” in court papers, cannot be named under the terms of a court order but will be released as soon as his bail conditions have been agreed, the Daily Telegraph has learned.

He was implicated in separate plots to blow up Los Angeles airport and the Christmas market in Strasbourg and is said to have “direct links to Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qa’eda figures.”

The Home Office claims he was a “leading organiser and facilitator of terrorist activity.”

U has had his bail agreed “in principle” along with another man, cleared of an alleged terrorist plot to use the poison ricin.

The other man, known only as “Y” in court papers, also cannot be named.

His fingerprints were allegedly found on a photocopy of a poison recipe along with those of police killer Kamel Bourgass and on a plastic bag containing an imitation handgun found at Finsbury Park mosque.

They are the last of the 14 men detained under the Special Immigration Appeals Commission to be released.

Qatada, described as a “truly dangerous individual” with close connections to al-Qa’eda was released under a 22 hour curfew on Tuesday. His security is likely to cost £500,000 a year.

A Foreign office note sent to U’s native Algeria in 2006 said: “Senior position in Mujahedin training camp in Afghanistan. Direct links to UBL (Usama Bin Laden) and other senior AQ (Al Qaeda) figures. Involved in supporting terrorists including those involved in the planned attack on the Strasbourg Christmas Market in 2000, and an earlier plan to attack Los Angeles Airport.

“US sought his extradition but withdrew request August 2005 …

The Special Immigration and Appeals Commission (SIAC) said last year there were “credible grounds for believing each of these assertions.”

U was implicated in the Los Angeles Airport plot by Ahmed Ressam, who was arrested on 14 December 1999 crossing the Canadian border with a van laden with explosives which he said were destined for Los Angeles Airport.

U, who is 45, arrived in Britain from France in 1994 and claimed asylum. He left for Afghanistan in 1996, returning three years later,

Y, who is 38, arrived in Britain via Spain and France in 2000 and claimed asylum.

The Government maintains he has received terrorist training in Afghanistan and was the British leader of an Algerian terror group called DHDS.

http://tinyurl.com/4mpl8s

Abu Qatada launches legal bid to ban pictures of him.  (UPDATE! UPDATE!)

Same creep but new story .

Abu Qatada launches legal bid to ban pictures of him enjoying his freedom - because it ‘violates his privacy’

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:28 AM on 19th June 2008

Abu Qatada

Court bid: Abu Qatada claims pictures of him violate his ‘right to privacy’

Abu Qatada is to launch a legal-aid funded court bid to prevent the public seeing pictures of him enjoying his freedom.

The man known as Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe has instructed lawyers to seek a court order keeping new pictures of him secret.

The move came within hours of him being freed from prison after he won his fight against deportation from Britain.

Qatada, of Acton, will claim that any picture of him violates his ‘right to privacy’ under the Human Rights Act - the same act he used to gain his freedom.

http://tinyurl.com/3oop6q

---

---

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner

GNU Terry Pratchett

Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.

---

Sponsor's Links

---

Newsfeeds

 RSS 2.0   Atom 

---

Other ways to BMEWS yourself

Most Recent Posts

• Once Again, The One And Only Post
• Gee, Oops
• The ‘Rona Song
• Follow Me !
• eye candy, high plains edition
• Flowers For Algernon?
• The Death Of NYC?
• Very Funny Officer
• Rhubarb !!!
• Fauci Gets One Right
• toldja so
• Of course she isn’t, but you’re uninformed and intellectually lazy so she’ll get away with it
• Walter White Moved To Holland?
• TLH? Typical Leftist Hypocrites
• Biden Picks Kamala Harris For VP
• Feral Child Killers
• Gohmert (R-TX) Much Improved
• Still Here
• A Dark Ending
• Ospreys are up, is Trump in town?

Humor

---

Donations & Stuff

Buy BMEWS High Quality Stuff!

---

Help Support BMEWS

---

PAYPAL donation button

---

Our Sponsors

Your Ad Here

---

Department Of Information

DAILY READS

• Broderland Beat
  
• Hot Air
  
• Gateway Pundit
  
• Michelle Malkin
  
• Right Wing NEws
  

CONSERVATIVE OPINION

• Neal Boortz
  
• Ann Coulter
  
• Hugh Hewitt
  
• Rush Limbaugh
  

NEWS

• Washington Times
  
• Best Of The Web Today
  
• Media Research Center
  
• Newsmax
  
• Townhall
  
• Weekly Standard
  
• WorldNetDaily
  

MILITARY & IRAQ

• US Central Command
  
• US Army
  
• US Air Force
  
• US Navy
  
• US Marine Corps
  
• US Coast Guard
  
• A Soldiers Blog
  
• Citizen Smash
  
• CPT Patti
  
• Front Line Voices
  
• Iraq 2.0
  
• Iraq The Model
  
• Sgt. Stryker
  

GOVERNMENT

• White House News
  
• White House Press
  
• Dept Of Defense
  
• Dept Of State
  
• Dept Of Homeland Security
  
• National Security Council
  
• CIA
  
• FBI
  
• NASA
  
• US Supreme Court
  
• US House
  
• US Senate
  
• US House Votes
  
• US Senate Votes
  
• RNC News
  
• DNC News
  
• On The Floor
  
• US Government Reference
  
• State Governments
  
• America's Job Bank
  

LINKS

• Inside Louisville

Search For It!

Web BMEWS

This Blog Is Rated

Required Reading

• FAQ For Barking Moonbats
• What Is A Moonbat?
• Why Do Moonbats Bark?
• Our Patron Saint

Acknowledgements

Categories

• Abortion - (17)
• Adventure - (22)
• Advertising - (0)
• Advertising - (9)
• Africa - (102)
• Amazing Science and Discoveries - (121)
• Animals - (249)
  • Cat Blogging - (14)
• Archeology / Anthropology - (83)
• Architecture - (41)
• Art-Photography - (339)
• Awards - (77)
• Battling Brits - (23)
• Big Brother - (53)
• Big Business - (53)
• BIRTHDAY - (7)
• Blog Stuff - (270)
• Border Security - (27)
• Bowling Blogging - (187)
• Bread - (19)
• Bridges - (50)
• Canada - (14)
• Celebrities - (125)
• CHESS - (67)
• CHINA in the news - (45)
• Climate-Weather - (442)
• Colleges-Professors - (70)
• Commies - (212)
• Computers and Cyberspace - (80)
• Crime - (1093)
• CULTURE IN DECLINE - (416)
• Daily Life - (730)
• Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists - (1830)
• Passing on, Death and Disaster - (18)
• Disasters - (7)
• Economics - (362)
• DIVERSITY BS - (119)
• Editorials - (318)
• Education - (342)
• Egypt, Then and Now - (0)
• Environment - (209)
• EUro-peons - (310)
• Eye-Candy - (903)
• Fake News - (1)
• Finance and Investing - (36)
• Family - (38)
• Fine-Dining - (168)
• Food - (15)
• FRANCE - (116)
• Fun-Stuff - (838)
• FREEDOM - (121)
• gardening - (1)
• Gardens and plants - (3)
• Gay Gay Gay! - (56)
• Genocide - (12)
• Government - (395)
• Corruption and Greed - (144)
• Guns and Gun Control - (528)
• Health and Safety - (67)
• Health-Medicine - (320)
• Heroes - (72)
• High Tech - (33)
• Hildabeast - (77)
• History - (345)
• Holidays - (63)
  • Christmas - (15)
• Hollywood - (184)
• Homeland-Security - (41)
• Humor - (1876)
• Illegal-Aliens and Immigration - (502)
• Inflation and High Prices - (16)
• Insanity - (252)
• International - (396)
• Iran - (62)
• Iraq - (175)
• Israel - (81)
• Jack Booted Thugs - (124)
• Judges-Courts-Lawyers - (480)
• Justice - LACK OF - (123)
• Latin-America - (19)
• Literature - (32)
• Love-Marriage - (27)
• Media-Bias - (428)
• Medical - (48)
• Mexico - (11)
• Middle-East - (140)
• Military - (596)
• Miscellaneous - (2383)
• Moonbat Award to: - (15)
• Motorvators - (122)
• MOVIES - (29)
• Music - (117)
• muslims - (364)
• Nanny State - (149)
• Nature - (34)
• New Jersey - (3)
• Neat Inventions - (15)
• News-Briefs - (335)
• No Shit, Sherlock - (47)
• North-Korea - (20)
• NOSTALGIA - (10)
• Obama, The One - (431)
• OBITITUARIES - (48)
• Odd-Strange - (244)
• Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices - (126)
• Oppression - (34)
• Outrageous - (453)
• Outsourcing - (8)
• OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT - (39)
• pandemic and epidemic diseases - (61)
  • The New Normal - (4)
• Pandemic Pandemonium - (63)
• Paleswine - (74)
• PAT CONDELL - (43)
• Patriotism - (151)
• Personal - (436)
• Philosophy - (70)
• Pirates, aarrgh! - (158)
• planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles - (179)
• Politically Correct B.S. - (147)
• Politically-Incorrect - (117)
• Politics - (860)
• Porkbusters - (11)
• Product Safety - (5)
• Racism and race relations - (283)
• REALLY WORTHLESS and PUTRID PEOPLE - (145)
• Religion - (187)
• Republicans - (132)
• RoPMA - (684)
• Russia - (5)
• Sarah Palin - (16)
• Satire - (64)
• Scary Stuff - (76)
• Science-Technology - (257)
• Self-Defense - (35)
• Sex - (106)
• Sharia law - (10)
• Social-Security - (41)
• Space - (41)
• SPOOKS - (9)
• Sports - (170)
• STFU - (0)
• Stoopid-People - (1015)
• Success Stories - (7)
• Super Seniors - (0)
• Talented Ppl. - (22)
• Taxes - (66)
• Television - (55)
• Terrorists - (715)
• The New Conservatives - (45)
• Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters - (130)
• TURD WORLD - (27)
• Typical White People: Stupid, Evil, Willfully Blind - (36)
• Tyrants and Dictators - (94)
• UK - (1715)
• Unions-Labor - (54)
• United-Nations - (136)
• USA - (277)
• War On Terror - (365)
• War-Stories - (218)
• weird stuff - (37)
• work and the workplace - (143)

Monthly Archives

• April 2024
• August 2020
• July 2020
• June 2020
• May 2020
• April 2020
• March 2020
• February 2020
• January 2020
• December 2019
• November 2019
• August 2016
• July 2016
• June 2016
• May 2016
• April 2016
• March 2016
• February 2016
• January 2016
• December 2015
• November 2015
• October 2015
• September 2015
• August 2015
• July 2015
• June 2015
• May 2015
• April 2015
• March 2015
• February 2015
• January 2015
• December 2014
• November 2014
• October 2014
• September 2014
• August 2014
• July 2014
• June 2014
• May 2014
• April 2014
• March 2014
• February 2014
• January 2014
• December 2013
• November 2013
• October 2013
• September 2013
• August 2013
• July 2013
• June 2013
• May 2013
• April 2013
• March 2013
• February 2013
• January 2013
• December 2012
• November 2012
• October 2012
• September 2012
• August 2012
• July 2012
• June 2012
• May 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• November 2011
• October 2011
• September 2011
• August 2011
• July 2011
• June 2011
• May 2011
• April 2011
• March 2011
• February 2011
• January 2011
• December 2010
• November 2010
• October 2010
• September 2010
• August 2010
• July 2010
• June 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• January 2004
• Complete Archives
• Category Archives

The Stat Monster

---

---

---

Copyright

All content on this website (including text, photographs, audio files, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

You may freely use anything for non-commercial purposes as long as you attribute the source. All non-original content must be attributed to the original source. Play fair.

Fair Use

This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner or may be authorized or licensed for publication at this site only. Permission to copy, republish or reproduce such material must be obtained from the original copyright owner.

We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes.

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

GNU Terry Pratchett