More on EU's population time bomb

Michael Mapa writes a letter to the editor at PDI commenting on EC Ambassador Alistair MacDonald's support of a proposed reproductive health bill brewing in the Philippine Congress. Mr. Mapa points out that "European countries are facing a serious problem: their rapidly aging populations. After decades of freely available contraceptives and abortion-on-demand, some countries, such as Germany and Russia, now have to offer financial incentives to encourage people to have more children."

So yeah. Why do we have to encourage ourselves to follow in the footsteps of EU in their mistakes? Many have seen the negative effects of legislated population control programs in Europe and in other countries who followed suit. A paper entitled: Managing European Demographic Decline: Below Replacement-Rate Fertiltiy and its Impact on European Security considers many of these. Excerpts:

In this regard, it may be profitable to consider the current and projected security situation among the nations of Europe. Why Europe? Europe is the first region that has apparently completed the “demographic transition,” from high fertility to extremely below replacement-rate fertility. Although it remains uncertain how low fertility may still drop in some European countries, most have now been in a state of below replacement-rate fertility for at least two to three decades; thus, the implications of this level of fertility are being acted out now – reducing the need for conjecture. What is more, the fact that the European landmass is bordered by countries with fertility rates (and corresponding “youth bulges”) relatively higher than Europe’s, may also illustrate the security ramifications of uneven fertility decline. For these reasons, it may prove useful to investigate Europe as the model for the world’s low-fertility future – it could be considered either the harbinger of a new age of relative tranquility or the canary in the mineshaft, alerting the rest of the world to the security problems resulting from low fertility.

The basic demographic facts are startling. According to the European Parliament, by 2050, the average resident of Europe will be 49 years of age. (Draft Report on the Demographic Future of Europe, European Parliament, 2007) Joseph Chamie, former head of the United Nations Population Division, estimates that, without continued immigration or an unexpected spike in fertility, the population of Europe will drop by around 20 per cent, from a current level of 730 million to “well below 600 million by mid-century.” (Chamie, 2007) Because of the anticipated “contraction” in the working age population, the governments of Europe and the EU are actively planning for “a drop in the potential growth of European GDP of up to 1.2% between 2031 and 2050.” (Draft Report on the Demographic Future of Europe, European Parliament, 2007) The status of France and Germany – the major drivers of EU integration – is therefore particularly problematic (but not unusual among European nations); according to Haas,

France and Germany confront similar problems…Both states presently face a daunting fiscal challenge created by their aging populations. Over the next thirty years, annual spending on elderly care is expected to rise by nearly 14 percent of GDP in France and by more than 10 percent of GDP in Germany. In both states, seniors rely heavily on their government for retirement support, and both will be hard-pressed to pay for this support without significant cuts in discretionary spending, given that tax and deficit rates are already high. (Haas, 2007)

European governments are mainly concerned about such economic ramifications. But as Haas, makes clear, beyond the issue of how relative economic vitality affects national security, there is an even more direct link between demographics and security: if governments are forced to spend the lion’s share of their budgets on care for the aged, there will be less money left over for other budget items, such as the military The projected increases in government spending for the elderly in coming decades are sobering….The ratio of working-age people to seniors is steadily declining. These anticipated increases in welfare payments will add hundreds of billions of dollars, in real terms, to governments’ annual expenditures for many decades. To give some perspective on their magnitude, consider the following: roughly thirty-five years from now, the annual amount of money that the great powers will have to spend on elderly care is going to increase, in real terms, many times what these states currently spend on their militaries. By 2040 Germany will have to increase its annual spending on elderly care more than seven times what it currently spends on defense. France will have to spend more than five times as much… (Haas, 2007)

Other stories about this population problem may be found here and here.

In 1990, I spent many months at ELIS in Rome, Italy to prepare for the operations of my school in Cebu. In one conversation wth a lawyer and his pediatrician-friend, the doctor said that his practice was declining. I told him that children are healthier. While he agreed to what I said, he also answered that it was not as complicated as that. Simply, there are less children.

That conversation was echoed about 10 years later. I was in Tokyo, Japan to attend an AOTS training program with representatives from other training centers of ASEAN countries. I remember that in one mid-morning break, I was peering out of a window and looking at a complex with four-storey buildings across the street. Our Japanese coordinator who was beside me told me that the complex was a school and that they were using only one floor of one of the many buildings. I asked him why and, as expected, he said that there was just not many children in the district. One of the other participants within earshot of us, wittingly said that if only there were technology available, he would like to ask the Japanese government to transfer those buildings to his country. Why not?

Better off dead?

from LifeSiteNews.com:

MONTREAL, March 17, 2009 (LifeSIteNews.com) - A Quebec couple have launched a $3.5-million lawsuit against Montreal Children's Hospital for allegedly putting their infant daughter back on artificial food and hydration without their approval.

Marie-Eve Laurendeau gave birth to Phebe Mantha at LaSalle Hospital in November 2007. After a difficult delivery Phebe was transferred to Montreal Children's Hospital in serious condition and put on life support.

According to the lawsuit Laurendeau and Phebe's father, Stephane Mantha, were told by doctors that their daughter had little chance for survival and advised them to take her off respiratory support and hydration, to which they agreed.

After withdrawing respiratory support, however, it was found that Phebe could breathe on her own, and the hospital's ethics committee reversed the parents' decision to withhold fluids and food from their baby.

H/T:  Danielle at FB

All but natural

And I thought we are still battling the warming?  In fact, we need to do something drastic in 100 months.  But a new study shows that the "earth is undergoing natural climate shift".

The research team has found the warming trend of the past 30 years has stopped and in fact global temperatures have leveled off since 2001.

The most recent climate shift probably occurred at about the year 2000.

Now the question is how has warming slowed and how much influence does human activity have?

But if we don't understand what is natural, I don't think we can say much about what the humans are doing. So our interest is to understand -- first the natural variability of climate -- and then take it from there. So we were very excited when we realized a lot of changes in the past century from warmer to cooler and then back to warmer were all natural ...

What?! We can't Kill Embryos Yet*

*Blog post of Creative Minority Report.

Read and be enlightened.

What?! We Can't Kill Embryos Yet

Poor President Obama. He makes a big deal of signing legislation declaring it open season on embryos and then just two days later he, perhaps unwittingly, signed legislation buried in his humongous Omnibus bill that outright makes federal funding of the destruction of human embryos illegal. Oops.

Fr. Miguel Anselmo Azcona Bernad, S.J. +

Fr. Bernad, whom I met on two occasions when he spoke about Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal, passed away early this afternoon. He lived a long and fruitful life. He was 91.

PDI contributor Nono Montalvan was quoted as saying that Fr. Bernad was:

“the greatest Filipino from Mindanao” whose “brilliance and love for the island had celebrated the triumph of the human spirit.”

International Conference on Climate Change

Because the MSM did not report on this, I direct you to the website of The Heartland Institute that sponsored the three-day event in New York.  (Not to be confused with the emergency luau in Copenhagen recently.)

Ronald Bailey, a correspondent of Reason magazine was there, and he gives us a series of reports of the meet.  He writes Among the Global Skeptics on March 9, What Planetary Emergency on March 10, and the final day's Clouding Up Man-Made Global Warming.

Excerpts from the report of the last day:

At the luncheon, retired NASA climatologist John Theon rose to lament the fact that he hadn't fired James Hansen, the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and an ardent advocate of the idea that man-made global warming is a catastrophe in the making. The audience burst into applause when Theon called Hansen an "embarrassment." In 1988, Hansen launched global warming as a public policy issue in his testimony before a congressional committee. Theon admitted that he actually couldn't have fired Hansen, who had powerful political protectors, most notably then-Senator and later Vice President Al Gore. So had Theon tried to do it, it's much more likely that he himself would have been out on the street rather than Hansen.

Theon told the audience that while he remained silent on the issue of global warming when he retired from NASA, he now felt he needed to speak out. "This whole thing is a fraud," said Theon. "We need to educate the public about what we're going to get into unless we stop this nonsense." The nonsense being the deleterious effect that carbon rationing would have on economic growth and jobs.

Next up was Christopher Monckton, a former advisor to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Monckton delivered a high energy stem-winder mocking global warming "bedwetters" and praising the conference participants for their courage in opposing the activists' global warming juggernaut.

Scientists or politicians?

Christopher Booker writes this week:

The real disaster hanging over us lies in all those astronomically costly measures proposed by politicians, to meet a crisis which in reality never existed.

And he was not talking about the global financial crisis, although, these measures, if pushed forward with even more "urgency", could make life more miserable.

Miranda Devine chimes in:

It just shows that what counts with climate hysterics is not the greenness of the planet but the brownie points they gain.

Did you hear about the climate meet in New York this past week? No? It figures, especially if MSM only write about a Copenhagen "emergency summit on climate change" this week. Of course, if the future British king said there that we have only 100 months to do something before we see catastrophe. Then again, they always move the day of reckoning. Makes me wonder whether there really is a point of no return.

Embryos are fertilized

Of course they are.

Former Pres. Clinton does not think so. In an interview by Dr. Sanjay Gupta over at CNN, Clinton said that it was okay to experiment on embryos unless they are fertilized.

I think - the answer is I think that we'll work it through. If - particularly if it's done right. If it's obvious that we're not taking embryos that can - that under any conceivable scenario would be used for a process that would allow them to be fertilized and become little babies, and I think if it's obvious that we're not talking about some science fiction cloning of human beings, then I think the American people will support this....

I don't know that I have any reservations, but I was - he has apparently decided to leave to the relevant professional committees the definition of which frozen embryos are basically going to be discarded, because they're not going to be fertilized. I believe the American people believe it's a pro-life decision to use an embryo that's frozen and never going to be fertilized for embryonic stem cell research....

But those committees need to be really careful to make sure if they don't want a big storm to be stirred up here, that any of the embryos that are used clearly have been placed beyond the pale of being fertilized before their use. There are a large number of embryos that we know are never going to be fertilized, where the people who are in control of them have made that clear. The research ought to be confined to those....

But there are values involved that we all ought to feel free to discuss in all scientific research. And that is the one thing that I think these committees need to make it clear that they're not going to fool with any embryos where there's any possibility, even if it's somewhat remote, that they could be fertilized and become human beings.

And he said it many times. Some say he must have meant "implantation" but we do not buy that. Clinton said in an earlier interview with Larry King the same thing.

But let me say, I feel very strongly about this. I think that I worked hard on the sequencing of the human genome. We finished it when I was president. Now there are all these practical applications being spun out of it. We've identified the genes that were high predictors of breast cancer. We're getting close on Parkinson's. We're even making headway on Alzheimer's. But this stem cell research, if the stem cells are frozen embryonic stem cells, if they are never going to be used to be fertilized, to bring a life into being, then I think making them available for medical research is the pro-life position and I honestly don't understand -- I would understand it if we were going and raiding stem cell banks, where these stem cells were going to be used to actually fertilize eggs and have babies.

Even Gupta did not correct Clinton on his use of "fertilized" (On another note, remember that slip that Gupta made in Larry King Live when he said that one of the tasks of the surgeon general was to "prevent" life -- he corrected himself quickly when he said "preserve life".)

Check Jill Stanek. Read also Domenico and Kelly.

Here's a link to that interview.

What's next?

Soon enough, we'd see people and animals in domestic partnerships in California.

And if the ballot measure fails again, what next?

California may be far away from RP, but, again, there is a tendency for us to copy.

Anything goes

For the sake of the the Big Three -- health, education and energy.

Things. Now we know what they are. The markets' recent precipitous decline is a reaction not just to the absence of any plausible bank rescue plan, but also to the suspicion that Obama sees the continuing financial crisis as usefully creating the psychological conditions -- the sense of crisis bordering on fear-itself panic -- for enacting his "Big Bang" agenda to federalize and/or socialize health care, education and energy, the commanding heights of post-industrial society.

Clever politics, but intellectually dishonest to the core. Health, education and energy -- worthy and weighty as they may be -- are not the cause of our financial collapse. And they are not the cure. The fraudulent claim that they are both cause and cure is the rhetorical device by which an ambitious president intends to enact the most radical agenda of social transformation seen in our lifetime.

Only in WSJ Blogs

What you can't find in MSM (esp. NYT or CNN). Besides, Big Al isn't The One.

Its “kind of silly” to keep debating the science. (AP)

$3,500 (update: $10,000)

Who gets to play here?



How far can $3,500 go these days?

Update: Over at debbieschlussel.com, a reader says the set costs $10,000.00.

Just can't

Just cannot not link to this op-ed. H/T: Jill

Abortion ascendance
Gary Bauer and Daniel Allott

In August 2008, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt said a proposed rule would protect medical workers from performing abortions "against their consciences." The Obama administration seeks to rescind or change the ruling.

COMMENTARY:

A philosophical shift has taken place in the abortion rights movement. After confronting either a pro-life president or a pro-life majority in Congress for 26 of the last 28 years, abortion advocates have now secured sympathetic majorities in all three branches of government.

And change in government has brought change to a movement that's moved beyond working to secure a woman's right to choose abortion. Its new goal is much more audacious - to coerce others into violating their consciences and participating in the murder of innocent human life. It's a shift from merely being "pro-choice" to being "pro-abortion."

Another GWA talking point, CFL's, and cool bearer

Reuters reports that "U.S. oil and natural gas producing companies should not receive federal subsidies in the form of tax breaks because their businesses contribute to global warming, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress on Wednesday."

Be careful Mr Geithner of what you say. There are many recipients and would-be beneficiaries of government aid that contribute to "global warming." You just might make a lot more enemies. This is the same Mr Geithner who says he will run after tax cheats in America. (of course he is no longer a tax cheat, as he has fully paid his tax liabilities).

This line of thinking, though, would definitely be picked up by the greenies in governments and in private groups who look to the new US administration's green direction.

On another note, a study conducted in Canada shows a link between efficient lighting (using CFL's) to higher heating bills, thereby negating whatever decrease on greenhouse gas emissions.

CBC News has found that in some cases compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) can have the adverse effect of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, depending on how consumers heat their homes.

In fact, a recent report by BC Hydro estimates new lighting regulations will increase annual greenhouse gas emissions in British Columbia by 45,000 tonnes annually as consumers use more energy to heat their homes after switching to more energy efficient — but cooler — lighting.

Summer's here, PAGASA says. Those of you pining for cooler temperatures, maybe now is the time to invite Al again. He is the cool bearer.

Month of March

March is the US "National Talk to Your Kids About Sex Month". Below are excerpts of the email blast from Elliot Institute. How long until we get going like this in RP? With the RH Bill, impossible is nothing (with apologies to my favorite Adidas).

The Bus, The Mall, The Nurse and The School Counselor

"Every Tuesday a scheduled bus picked up students and took them to the Planned Parenthood clinic. School counselors arranged the visits. It was all so organized. ...

"The nurse said this was not the time to be asking questions."

It could be your daughter, your friend's daughter, your granddaughter, your niece … or some of their classmates. Scheduled for an impromptu "field trip" ... or lured into an abortion clinic during an after-school trip to the mall.

Most parents on all sides of the abortion issue are unaware that their kids and teens in their own circles are at significant risk for coerced abortion and the silent aftershock that even the most well-adjusted youth is ill-equipped to handle alone ...

"Parents are faced with a shell of a person and have no idea where they lost their child." -Terri, who had an abortion as a teen

Every day, a few misguided but influential teachers, counselors, nurses, marketers and even some pastors, are coercing vulnerable young women, who are then typically left alone to grapple with the heartbreaking, sometimes deadly, aftermath.


Even the Shopping Mall Isn't Safe

There is a growing trend among profit-driven abortion providers to open shopping-mall “health centers” designed to reach new and lucrative "markets."

Now, a Friday night trip to the mall may result in more undisclosed medical treatment and do irreparable harm to a young teenager's life.

► Nearly one-third of teen pregnancies end in abortion.1

► The attitude of the teens' parents is a major factor in their decision to abort.2

► Teens associate the abortion procedure with a sense of isolation.3

► Teens are 6 times more likely to attempt suicide if they have had an abortion in the last 6 months than are teens who have not had an abortion.4

Families who have a daughter or sister injured or killed by abortion or lost to suicide in abortion's lonely aftermath, fully understand the heartbreaking urgency of this issue. The need is great for proactive action, compassionate education, outreach and authentic support for those in our own circles.

Good news for stem-cell research

And not embryonic stem-cells.

The National Post reports that a team of Canadian researchers, with help from another team from Scotland, have found a means of growing stem cells from a person's skin. These induced pluripotent stems are believed to be safe against "immune rejection" which are not true for embryonic stem cell use.

Now, will those pushing for the unethical embryonic stem cell procedures stop what they do? Think no? I agree. Why? Stubborness perhaps?

FOCA

The buzz in America: the Freedom of Choice Act. Here are the two bills proposed in 2007 in both the HR and Senate. Practically identical.

The Senate version. The House version.

Excerpts.

Senate's

SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.

(a) Statement of Policy- It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

(b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not--

(1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--

(A) to bear a child;

(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or

(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or

(2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.

(c) Civil Action- An individual aggrieved by a violation of this section may obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a government) in a civil action.

SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, or the application of such provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which the provision is held to be unconstitutional, shall not be affected thereby.

SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT.

This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.


House's

SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.

(a) Statement of Policy- It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

(b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not--

(1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--

(A) to bear a child;

(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or

(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or

(2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.

(c) Civil Action- An individual aggrieved by a violation of this section may obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a government) in a civil action.

SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, or the application of such provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which the provision is held to be unconstitutional, shall not be affected thereby.

SEC. 6. RETROACTIVE EFFECT.

This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.

Responsibility cannot be legislated

The Philippine Congress is serious about passing the proposed right to reply bill to law.  The Senate passed its version, and the House of Representatives seems to be close to passing its own.  Obviously most, if not all media outlets, are against it.  The Philippine Daily Inquirer's editorial of February 23 touched on this issue.

In the last paragraph, it says (boldface, mine):

Most of the major newspapers, radio and TV stations have manuals of editorial policies that include provisions on the right of reply and on accuracy, objectivity and fairness. We urge the authors of the right of reply bill to withdraw it. Responsibility cannot be legislated. Government officials, politicians and the people in general will just have to trust in the responsibility, ethical uprightness and sense of fairness of publishers, editors and reporters in doing their work and exercising journalistic judgment and discretion.

Oddly enough, so many in media have advocated for the Reproductive Health Bill, (and many other laws) which is really none other than legislated responsibility.  Ain't it?  I do not see any difference.  Heck, I could replace the important words in that paragraph with words that pro-life groups use, and it will mean the same.

In the US, there is talk that the Fairness Doctrine will be revived.  This pertains much to public radio, but it seems some politicians want to revive it and apply the same to other media and even the internet (close to impossible, for the internet, I believe).  This FD might even be more encompassing than this right to reply bill in RP.  Another oddity is that many in media in the US are for its return -- although mostly from liberal talk radio who are getting slammed by conservative voices over the airwaves.  It is so bad for many of the liberal radio shows that they simply closed shop.  Rush Limbaugh (whom the One says Republican should not listen to) has a minimum of a little over 13 million weekly listeners to his The Rush Limbaugh Show.

If there's Will, there's a way

To defend your "right to question green orthodoxy."

George F. Will is under attack by the greenies, after he wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post entitled "Dark Green Doomsayers".  The greenies are not happy and wants WP to correct the errors in Will's op-ed.

Excerpt:

An unstated premise of eco-pessimism is that environmental conditions are, or recently were, optimal. The proclaimed faith of eco-pessimists is weirdly optimistic: These optimal conditions must and can be preserved or restored if government will make us minimize our carbon footprints and if government will "remake" the economy.

Because of today's economy, another law -- call it the Law of Clarifying Calamities -- is being (redundantly) confirmed. On graphs tracking public opinion, two lines are moving in tandem and inversely: The sharply rising line charts public concern about the economy, the plunging line follows concern about the environment. A recent Pew Research Center poll asked which of 20 issues should be the government's top priorities. Climate change ranked 20th.

Real calamities take our minds off hypothetical ones. Besides, according to the U.N. World Meteorological Organization, there has been no recorded global warming for more than a decade, or one-third of the span since the global cooling scare.

When cartoon hurts

Man/Boy-love danger

Bob Hamer writes "Single Moms and NAMBLA" as a reaction to Ann Coulter's book Guilty.  HE writes of his undercover work in NAMBLA.  Read all.

He concludes, well, in some support to statistics that Ann used in her book:

I am often asked how we can protect our children. There is no magic formula for identifying a molester. There may be clues, but they are not foolproof. We cannot prove a negative. We can prove a person is a child molester. We cannot prove he is not. But Ann, let me expand on what you have said. I know you have been attacked for your chapter on single mothers and of course, there are exceptions to most rules, but single moms (and married moms and dads) let me give one piece of advice that Ann didn’t render. Based upon my three year affiliation with these child molesters, I observed one thing: Not one boy who came from a home with a strong, loving father figure was successfully targeted by a persuasion predator.

Protection may be that simple…a boy needs a loving father.

RP is safe for now from MBL.

Thing is, the "porkulus" law can affect us

The stimulus package worth $787B (in paper) was signed into law a few days ago.  The US Congressional Budget Office reports that the law will really cost about $3.27T.  That's a lot of money (1 trillion dollar bills would be the equivalent of eight and a half planet earths stacked on top of each other).  A lot of money to hold power over the American people. 

So what? 

Thing is, the "porkulus" law can affect us in RP.   If, as Judge Roy Moore says, "it is an assault on our Constitution, our freedom and our faith", this stimulus package can only mean harm for us as well.  Of course, our veterans who fought for the US in World War II will get their lump sum reward (too little, too late?), but without a US economy stimulated (the law actually will not bring the kick the economy needs, some say), I do not see enough stimulus to stabilize our own economy in the long term

Yesterday, I heard from one of my colleagues in school (cite.edu.ph) that some of our partner-companies are sending us back some of our students who are on their on-the-job training (dual training system) with them, because the OJT's do not have any work or training.  This means that our students' graduation from their technician programs will have to be delayed, as the OJT is an important requirement.  Our partners have laid-off some regular workers and so we understand why the OJT's have to go as well.  They promise to take them back if the companies' operations are back on track.  The stimulus has to have a really good kick for our students to be back on track as well.

For what it's worth, we have new and old partner-companies who are taking in more OJT's this time.  Thank you very much for this.  But we are still short in our OJT placements.

The astronaut speaks

Former astronaut Harrison Schmitt is one anthropogenic global warming skeptic.  He will speak in next month's International Conference on Climate Change in New York.  It is not that he is a former US senator (although not presidential candidate) that makes him justified to speak about climate change and global warming.  Mr Schmitt:

has a science degree from the California Institute of Technology. He also studied geology at the University of Oslo in Norway and took a doctorate in geology from Harvard University in 1964.

Schmitt had earlier resigned from the Planetary Society after the society took the stand that many groups have taken with regard to global warming.  He said that:

"global warming scare is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision making."

AP, as it appears in the Boston Herald, writes:

Schmitt said historical documents indicate average temperatures have risen by 1 degree per century since around 1400 A.D., and the rise in carbon dioxide is because of the temperature rise.

Schmitt also said geological evidence indicates changes in sea level have been going on for thousands of years. He said smaller changes are related to changes in the elevation of land masses — for example, the Great Lakes are rising because the earth’s crust is rebounding from being depressed by glaciers.

Do as I say ... oh, I lost count

From the Times of London online, we read this report.

Who are some of these?  To name a few, here are excerpts:

THEY may shout their green credentials from the rooftops, but some of Britain’s most prominent environmental champions are living in homes that produce up to half a ton of excess carbon dioxide a year.

An audit of properties, measuring heat loss, has revealed that Chris Martin, the pop star, Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, and Sir David Attenborough, the broadcaster, are among those who reside in homes that are “leaking” energy. Some lack even the most basic energy saving measures such as cavity wall insulation and double glazing.
...

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat energy and climate change spokesman, owned the least energy-efficient property. He bought his £150,000 flat in Southwark, south London, 25 years ago but has failed to fit it with any significant insulation. Only last week Hughes unveiled plans to make every home in Britain energy efficient within the next decade. He could start with his own flat.
...

Johnson is a late convert to the environmental cause and has sought to enhance his reputation by offering Londoners discounted home insulation.

However, his five-bedroom Victorian house in Islington, north London, loses 1,388kWh of energy a year - equivalent to - largely because of “excessive heat loss” around 360kg of CO2 the upper and lower windows.

Yep, do as I say ...

It was like everything inside was coming out at once

During an interview at her attorney’s office Jan. 28, Sycloria Williams reflects upon her experience at a Dade County abortion clinic. “They never said anything to me that would make me think it was a baby. They never said anything like baby, fetus. Nothing.”

H/T: Jill Stanek

Who said this?

“But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.”

Powerful remarks indeed. Sadly, these words ring hollow when the innocent is an unborn child or a victim of a botched procedure.

Question: "Is there any human life more innocent than that of an unborn baby living in its mother’s womb?"

And another, before the signing the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) legislation:

"I refuse to accept that millions of our children fail to reach their full potential because we fail to meet their basic needs."

Now, isn't life a basic need? No wonder many children do not reach their full potential -- they are nipped at the bud. Are we finally seeing the truth?

Michael Dubruiel+

Michael Dubruiel passed away today, February 3, when he "collapsed this morning at the gym and was not able to be revived despite the efforts of EMTs and hospital personnel."

His blog is one of the blogs I follow regularly. He is the husband of Amy Welborn, one of my favorite contemporary Catholic writers and bloggers.

Update: Michael's last column.

Blogs abuzz about TAC

Recent days have seen blogs writing about the possible formal entry of the Traditional Anglican Communion into the Catholic Church.  It is noted that the TAC has been exploring its communion with the Roman Catholic Church for varied reasons.  Some have mentioned that the TAC is being offered to come into the Church as a Personal Prelature.  The only Personal Prelature so far after this new juridical form was instituted in the Church is Opus Dei.  If indeed this happens, an Easter entry has been speculated, then, Welcome Home!

See here, here, here, here, and here.

Justifying terror

Judea Pearl writes an op-ed in WSJ in time for the seventh anniversary of the murder of his son, former WSJ reporter Daniel.  He writes how some people have been made as tools of the terrorists to justify not only the violence that these terrorists do, but also why they think the global war on terror is not necessary, that it has to stop.  He mentions how luminaries, the media and even universities have contributed to this way of thinking.

Excerpts:

Those around the world who mourned for Danny in 2002 genuinely hoped that Danny's murder would be a turning point in the history of man's inhumanity to man, and that the targeting of innocents to transmit political messages would quickly become, like slavery and human sacrifice, an embarrassing relic of a bygone era.

But somehow, barbarism, often cloaked in the language of "resistance," has gained acceptance in the most elite circles of our society. The words "war on terror" cannot be uttered today without fear of offense. Civilized society, so it seems, is so numbed by violence that it has lost its gift to be disgusted by evil.
...

But the clearest endorsement of terror as a legitimate instrument of political bargaining came from former President Jimmy Carter. In his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," Mr. Carter appeals to the sponsors of suicide bombing. "It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Road-map for Peace are accepted by Israel." Acts of terror, according to Mr. Carter, are no longer taboo, but effective tools for terrorists to address perceived injustices.
...

Mr. Carter's logic has become the dominant paradigm in rationalizing terror. When asked what Israel should do to stop Hamas's rockets aimed at innocent civilians, the Syrian first lady, Asma Al-Assad, did not hesitate for a moment in her response: "They should end the occupation." In other words, terror must earn a dividend before it is stopped.

The media have played a major role in handing terrorism this victory of acceptability. Qatari-based Al Jazeera television, for example, is still providing Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi hours of free air time each week to spew his hateful interpretation of the Koran, authorize suicide bombing, and call for jihad against Jews and Americans.
...

At my own university, UCLA, a symposium last week on human rights turned into a Hamas recruitment rally by a clever academic gimmick. The director of the Center for Near East Studies carefully selected only Israel bashers for the panel, each of whom concluded that the Jewish state is the greatest criminal in human history.

Spitz's the man

As I said in a previous blog, Mark Spitz is still the Man!

You would never see him like this >>>

Disgrace. Even more disgrace.

Pro-life videos

Rachel's post on Faith and Family. Go and see.

I am posting these two videos because they are breathtaking. The videos are different than what I’m used to, but I found them to be at least as powerful as any other pro-life message I have seen. Incredible to see all the different vessels God can use to spread his message.

On a related point, see how radical environmentalism (read: anthropogenic global warming alarmism) is nothing more than population control, eugenics, and, well, socialism.

More than Two Children “Irresponsible” Says Top Advisor to British Government

I think we will work our way towards a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible. It is the ghost at the table. We have all these big issues that everybody is looking at and then you don’t really hear anyone say the ‘p’ word ... I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate.

She refused to have them killed

"What do you suggest she should have done?  She refused to have them killed."

Can you afford?

Heritage Foundation estimates the amount the new stimulus plan will cost American families.

If all families were asked to equally shoulder the burden of the $825 billion “stimulus” package, it would be like asking them to take on an amount of debt equivalent to what they spend on food, clothing, and health care — or most of what they spend on shelter — for an entire year.

The Philippine Congress finally passed the 2009 budget that also includes a stimulus plan. What would it be worth for us here? Methinks, it would not be as much as in the US. Good luck to us all.

Rowan @ 22 weeks

By any logical measure, Angele - a strikingly attractive woman in her thirties with long  hair and a model's cheekbones - should have been on the sidelines, protesting against the marchers. After all, the divorced mother of two had been raped and subsequently exercised her choice to have a mid-trimester abortion. But things didn't quite go according to plan.

On April 1, 2005, she told me, she went to an abortion clinic in Orlando, Florida to terminate the pregnancy. A physician induced labor, but clinic employees forgot to administer the digoxin intended to stop the fetal heart. The next day, she delivered a 1 lb. 1 oz. baby boy in a toilet in the clinic's grimy restroom. He was still alive.

She can't explain what happened next. No longer a fetus, the tiny boy was now legally a person under federal law and  entitled to constitutional protection under the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. She screamed for help as she stroked and sang to the infant she had tried to kill the day before. When she realized that clinic employees would not help her save him, she had a friend call 911, but help never came.

Excerpt from Barbara Hollingsworth's column on January 26.

Why not?

In a Sunstar Cebu report "‘Little mayor’ nabbed in raid", the little mayor was named but the name of the present town mayor was not. Nothing wrong there really, except that further into the news report, another person was named as probably on the take, and he is described as a technical assistant of the acting mayor of Cebu City, the report also including the name of the acting mayor. Why is there a difference in the treatment? Isn't the name of the town mayor as important as the acting city mayor's?

The welcome page of the online edition of Sunstar has a picture of the little mayor, the caption accompanying it states the name of the town mayor. So perhaps there is fairness in treatment? What do you think?

"This will end in tears"

It is frightening to think there is a real possibility that the entire world economy could go into complete meltdown and famine kill millions. Yet Western - and British - commentators are cocooned in a warm comfort zone of infatuation with America's answer to Neil Kinnock. We should be long past applauding politicians of any hue: they got us into this mess. The best deserve a probationary opportunity to prove themselves, the worst should be in jail.

It is questionable whether the present political system can survive the coming crisis. Whatever the solution, teenage swooning sentimentality over a celebrity cult has no part in it. The most powerful nation on earth is confronting its worst economic crisis under the leadership of its most extremely liberal politician, who has virtually no experience of federal politics. That is not an opportunity but a catastrophe.

Gerald Warner

Are these for us?

QUESTION: Mr. Boehner, you had three strong words in reaction to the Democratic House proposal. What was your message to President Obama?

HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): You know, I’m concerned about the size of the package and I’m concerned about some of the spending that’s in there. How you can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives – how does that stimulate the economy?

You can go through a whole host of issues that have nothing to do with growing jobs in America and helping people keep their jobs. Thanks.

H/T: MM

(A) Chance is good

British chemist, inventor, and environmentalist, James Lovelock, whose work on atmospheric CFC's led to a gloabl ban on CFC's granted an interview with the New Scientist. He says, among other things, that "most of the "green" stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It's not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it'll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of reckoning."

He finds that we may have a chance against climate change, "through the massive burial of charcoal. It would mean farmers turning all their agricultural waste - which contains carbon that the plants have spent the summer sequestering - into non-biodegradable charcoal, and burying it in the soil. Then you can start shifting really hefty quantities of carbon out of the system and pull the CO2 down quite fast."

Lovelock will turn 90 this year and will be a space tourist, a guest of Mr. Branson.

Shelby Steele

I direct you to Shelby Steele's The Wall Street Journal piece on January 21.

Here's the last paragraph:

Of course the bad economy has checked some of Mr. Obama's progressive ambitions. He will live with the Bush tax cuts for the time being, and he may include some business tax cuts in his stimulus package. But he clearly wants a more redistributive and socially activist government. And he will be helped in this by two unique sources of authority: the urgency of our economic troubles and his moral authority as the first black president. Again, I am not hopeful for him here, and I despair at seeing the moral capital of my race put to these ends.

More money cometh

Update: Friday, he will!

Update: Not today!

On Thursday, January 22, President Obama is expected to issue an executive order lifting the ban on the use of federal dollars by non-governmental organizations that discuss or provide abortions outside of the United States. January 22 is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. This means that groups working towards reproductive rights outside of the US will again have more funds available for them. This policy ban is known as the "Mexico City policy", and was first used in the time of Pres. Reagan. The ban was lifted during the Clinton presidency and later instituted again during Pres. Bush's two terms.

Read more here.

Let's pray for global warming

It is time. We are in the beginnings of an ice age. Russia's Vostok Station in Antarctica has core sample evidence that suggests that the 12,000-year Holocene period may be over. Core samples also show that CO2 levels follow the earth's temperature rise.

Here's John Tomlinson. Excerpts below:

If you're wondering why North America is starting to resemble nuclear winter, then you missed the news.

At December's U.N. Global Warming conference in Poznan, Poland, 650 of the world's top climatologists stood up and said man-made global warming is a media generated myth without basis. Said climatologist Dr. David Gee, Chairman of the International Geological Congress, "For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming?"

I asked myself, why would such obviously smart guy say such a ridiculous thing? But it turns out he's right.

The earth's temperature peaked in 1998. It's been falling ever since; it dropped dramatically in 2007 and got worse in 2008, when temperatures touched 1980 levels.

Meanwhile, the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center released conclusive satellite photos showing that Arctic ice is back to 1979 levels. What's more, measurements of Antarctic ice now show that its accumulation is up 5 percent since 1980.

In other words, during what was supposed to be massive global warming, the biggest chunks of ice on earth grew larger. Just as an aside, do you remember when the hole in the ozone layer was going to melt Antarctica? But don't worry, we're safe now, that was the nineties.

Dr. Kunihiko, Chancellor of Japan's Institute of Science and Technology said this: "CO2 emissions make absolutely no difference one way or the other ... every scientist knows this, but it doesn't pay to say so." Now why would a learned man say such a crazy thing?

By the way, did any of the environmentalists and global warming alarmists measure the carbon footprint or emissions from the O-nauguration? Anyone? Anyone? None. Thought so.

Here is one estimate:

What about the carbon footprint of your inauguration?

The President-elect forgot to mention that Disa orchids will be flown in for his inauguration from New Zealand within 24 hours of being picked!

The total bill for Mr Obama’s inauguration, including cost of the security, which will be paid by the taxpayers, will probably exceed the $160million [Figure revised according to the media estimates on January 20, 2009.] At a global average of 584g of CO2/GDP dollar, the inauguration carbon footprint on cost basis alone would be 93,400 metric tons [MT] of CO2.

[But, hey, that's nothing compared with the trillion-dollar bailouts being handed out to any bank/corporation large enough to blackmail the state!]

As for the additional CO2 created by an estimated 2 million people swarming Washington DC for the ceremony, add another 44,000 MT. By January 21, 2009, the inauguration carbon footprint will have exceeded 137,400 MT of CO2.

Another one:

It ain't easy being green, and in the case of Barack Obama's inaugural, it seems like he's not even trying to green it up. According to the Institute for Liberty, the Obamathon in Washington will produce about 575 million pounds of CO2 emissions.

A similar estimate:

Even though Obama proposes job-destroying tax hikes on employers who emit carbon dioxide, the Institute for Liberty reports his $170 million inauguration had a total "carbon footprint" of 575,000,000 pounds.

According to the EPA, the average American coal-fired power plant produces 10,237,509,070 pounds of CO2 per year. That's 112,191,880 pounds of CO2 every four days.

Also, I was directed to a NYT article about China overtaking the US as the number one CO2 emitter. NYT corrected that article after two days to say: An article on Saturday about the growth in greenhouse-gas emissions from China referred incorrectly to carbon dioxide. It is the main heat-trapping gas produced by human activity; it is not the main heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, which is H20 water vapor.

We knew that of course, right?

All hail the chief!

My President Is Black

Yeah Be The Realest Shit I Never Wrote
I Aint Write This Shit By The Way Nigga
Some Real Shit Right Here Nigga
This Will Be The Realest Shit You Ever Quote

{{Hook}}

My President Is Black, My Lambo’s Blue
And I Be God Damn If My Rims Aint Too
My Momma Aint At Home & Daddy Still In Jail
Tryna Make A Plate Anybody Seen The Scale

My President Is Black, My Lambo’s Blue
And I Be God Damn If My Rims Aint Too
My Money’s Light green And My jordans Light Grey
And They Love To See White Now How Much You Tryna Pay
Lets Go!

{Verse 1}

Today Was A Good Day Hope I Have Me A Great Nite
I Dunno Wat U Fishin For Hope U Catch You A Great White
Need I Say Great White Heavy As Killer Wales
I Cannot Believe This Who Knew It Came In Bails
Who Knew It Came Wit Jail Who Knew It Came With Prison
Jus Cuz You Got An Opinion Does That Make You A Politician
Bush Robbed All Of Us Would That Make Him A Criminal
& Den He Cheated In Florida Would Dat Make Him a Seminal
I Say And I Quote We Need A Miracle
And I Say A Miracle Cuz This Shit Is Histerical
By My Nephews And Nieces I Will Email Jesus
Tell Him Forward To Moses And CC: Allah
Mr Soul Survivor Does That Make Me A Konvict
Be All U Can Be Now Dont Dat Sound Like Some Dumb Shit
When You Dogged Of Crew Orders Black As My Nigga Boo
It’s Really A Desert Storm Thats Word To My Nigga Clue
Catch Me In Las Vegas, A.R. Arizona
Rep For Them Real Niggaz Im Winnin In California
Winnin In Tennessee Hands Down Atlanta
Landslide Alabama On My Way To Sevana

{{Hook}}

{Verse 2}

Woke Up This Morning Headache THIS BIG!
Pay All These Damn Bills Feed All These Damn Kids
Buy All These School Shoes Buy All These School Clothes
For Some Strange Reason My Son Addicted To Polos
Love Me Some Spinach Dip Im Addicted To Use This
And If The Numbers Is Right I Take A Trip Out To Houston
A Earthquake Out In China A Hurricane In New Orleans
Street Dreams Tour I Showed My Ass In New Orleans
Did It For Soulja Slim Brought Out B.G.
Its All Love From The Beginnin You Pimp C
You Know How The Pimp Be
That Nigga Go’n Speak His Mind
If He Could Speak Down From Heaven
He Tell Me Straight All My Crimes
Tell Him Im Doin Fine Obama For Mankind
We Ready For Damn Change So Ya’ll Let The Man Shine
Stuntin On Martin Luther Cuz Im Feelin Just Like A King
Guess Dis Is Wat He Meant Wen He Said Dat He Had A Dream

{{Hook}}

{Nas}

History, Black History
No President Ever Did Shit For Me
Had To Hit The Streets Try To Flip Some Keys
So A Nigga Wont Go Broke
Then They Put Us In Jail Now A Nigga Cant Go Vote
So I Spend Dough All These Hoes Is Trippin
She Aint A Politician Honeys A Polotician
My President Is Black Rolls Golden Charms
22 Inch Rims Like Hulk Hogans Arms
When Thousands Of People Is Riled Up To See You
That Can Arouse Ya Ego You Got Mouths To Feed So
Gotta Stay Tru To Who You Are And Where You Came From
Cuz At The Top Will Be The Same Place You Hang From
No Matter How Big You Can Ever Be
For Whatever Fee Or Publicity Never Lose Your Integrity
For Years Theres Been Surprise Horses In This Stable
Just Two Albums In I’m The Realest Nigga On This Label
Mr Black President Yeah Obama Fa Reel
They Gotta Put Ya Face On The $5000 Dollar Bill

{{Hook}}

{Outro}

So Im Sittin Here Right Now Man
Its June 3rd Haha 2:08 Am
Nigga I Wont Say Win, Lose Or Draw
Man We Congratulate You Already Homie
See I Motivate The Thugs Right
You Motivate Us Homie
Thats What It Is, This A Hands On Policy
Ya’ll Touchin Me Right
Yeah 1st Black President
Win, Lose Or Draw Nigga Haha
Matta Fact You Know What It Is Man
Shouts Out Jackie Robinson
Booker T Washington Homie
Oh Y’all Aint Think I Knew That Shit!
My President Is Black
I’m Important Too Though!

Another one from Ann

Ann Coulter, this week, will again raise eyebrows from the left. While beginning to point out that NYT's January 2 front-page article on violent crimes by returning GI's is more of the same from last year when it refused to to give comparable and relative statistics, she jumps on to ask, "But as long as the Times has such a burning interest in the root causes of murder, how about considering the one factor more likely to create a murderer than any other?"

The answer, as she says: That is the topic we're not allowed to discuss: single motherhood.

Read all here.

As I describe in my new book, "Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America," controlling for socioeconomic status, race and place of residence, the strongest predictor of whether a person will end up in prison is that he was raised by a single parent. (The second strongest factor is owning a Dennis Kucinich bumper sticker.)

By 1996, 70 percent of inmates in state juvenile detention centers serving long-term sentences were raised by single mothers. Seventy percent of teenage births, dropouts, suicides, runaways, juvenile delinquents and child murderers involve children raised by single mothers. Girls raised without fathers are more sexually promiscuous and more likely to end up divorced.

A 1990 study by the left-wing Progressive Policy Institute showed that, after controlling for single motherhood, the difference in black and white crime disappeared.

Various studies come up with slightly different numbers, but all the figures are grim. A study cited in the far left-wing Village Voice found that children brought up in single-mother homes "are five times more likely to commit suicide, nine times more likely to drop out of high school, 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances, 14 times more likely to commit rape (for the boys), 20 times more likely to end up in prison, and 32 times more likely to run away from home."

With new children being born, running away, dropping out of high school and committing murder every year, it's not a static problem to analyze. But however the numbers are run, single motherhood is a societal nuclear bomb.

Many of these studies, for example, are from the '90s, when the percentage of teenagers raised by single parents was lower than it is today. In 1990, 28 percent of children under 18 were being raised in one-parent homes -- mother or father, divorced or never-married. By 2005, more than one-third of all babies born in the U.S. were illegitimate.

That's a lot of social problems in the pipeline.

Think I'm being cruel? Imagine an America with 60 to 70 percent fewer juvenile delinquents, teenage births, teenage suicides and runaways, and you will appreciate what the sainted "single mothers" have
accomplished.

Even in liberals' fevered nightmares, predatory mortgage dealers, oil speculators and Ken Lay could never do as much harm to their fellow human beings as single mothers do to their own children, to say nothing of society at large.

But the Times won't run that series because liberals adore single motherhood and the dissolution of traditional marriage in America. They detest the military, so they cite a few anecdotal examples of veterans who have committed murder and hope that no one asks for details.

Advanced copy of inaugural address of The One

Leaked?  Sounds familiar ...

Four Two score and seven years ago our my father(s?) brought forth on this continent a new nation Messiah, conceived in Liberty Kenya, or Hawaii, or somewhere, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, unless they’re rich or successful. And where they are not equal it is the job of the Government to make them equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war depression. Not The Great Depression, but the next closest thing. And I plan on testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated to capitalism and personal freedom, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war big open area in front of the Capitol building. We Many of you have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. your lives to The One. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground Me, anymore than you have already done. The brave men , living and dead, and women of the press who struggled here to get me elected, have consecrated it, far above our your poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say do here over the next four years, but it can never forget what they did I say here, for I am The One. It is for us the living Government, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work of total Government control which they who fought here have thus far so nobly in years past we could only partially advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion you have elected Me—that we here highly resolve that these dead ideas and ideals shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom–Where my wife, for the first time in her life, can be proud to be an American—and that government of the people Government, by the people elected who know better, for the people control of all power, shall not perish from the earth.

H/T:  Bright and Early

Scale back

President-elect Barack Obama said reviving the U.S. economy will require scaling back on his campaign promises and personal sacrifice from all Americans.

“I want to be realistic here, not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace we had hoped,” Obama said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” program broadcast this morning. “Everybody’s going to have to give.”

Why am I not surprised? Only shows that candidates always promise the moon, even if the facts on the ground cannot support the promises.

She says, but They say

She says:

There is no more debate. Global warming is due to the polluting greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide and methane. The dirtiest source of carbon dioxide is coal, the fossil fuel used to provide us with electricity. The other sources are oil and gas, which we use for transportation. Methane from the landfill, dump sites and farms is another greenhouse gas responsible for increasing the earth’s temperature. Humans are the cause, thanks to our unsustainable lifestyle and habits. The fate of our planet rests on each one of us for the solutions. But time is of the essence. We need to move fast.

They say otherwise here, here, here.  I'd put my trust in these climate scientists than a ... a lawyer?

Hubris more than arrogance

The golf brawl mess takes another turn.  Valley Golf and Country Club says that based on its investigation, Delfin de la Paz started the fight.  He is banned for life from the club.  His two children have been prohibited too.  The sons of Sec. Pangandaman have also been banned from the club.  The secretary has been suspended from the club for two years.

As I take the club findings to be correct, I apologize for what I had written in a previous post. 

Weep not for them

From Jules and Jawa:



See also this.

Googling isn't green

Apparently, googling could increase carbon dioxide levels. Foxnews.com reports:

Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research.

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2. Boiling a kettle generates about 15g.

“Google operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon. “A Google search has a definite environmental impact.”

Google is secretive about its energy consumption and carbon footprint. It also refuses to divulge the locations of its data centers. However, with more than 200m internet searches estimated globally daily, the electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions caused by computers and the internet is provoking concern. A recent report by Gartner, the industry analysts, said the global IT industry generated as much greenhouse gas as the world’s airlines - about 2% of global CO2 emissions.

With Google searches increasing CO2 emissions, maybe this is the reason Google CEO Eric Schmidt did not want the chief technology officer position that The One promised he would create. It wouldn't jive with The One's green mind.

I wonder what "internet founder Al" would say about this? His use of the internet, notwithstanding. Anything? Guess not.

Do as I say ...

If you can't see why, well ...

H/T: PlanetGore

Who said this?

"All of us who have served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual. And we wish you all the very best. And so does the country."

These words or similar words were never heard from the opposition when he started his second term.

In my country, these words could not be uttered by the opposition as well.

Who are the statesmen around?

Choice of words

A cardinal isn't exempt from making a better choice of words. It would have not mattered much, perhaps, if he in the past has also minced words about the atrocities of Hamas against the citizens of Southern Israel. Feels like he has the Hamas talking points with him as he said those words.

For what it's worth, read Sandro Magister at Chiesa.

Give me por(n)

Now it is reported that the porn industry in the US is asking for some kind of bailout. Do you think the new stimulus package will include porn, er, pork for the "entertainment" industry? Why? As Chuck says "because they think porn is as American as apple pie, their sales of video's have dropped in the past year some 30%, they lost money, plus they want to revitalize America and believes everyone needs porn. I am sure they'll try to get House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to press top congressional Democrats to "pad this pork" into their agenda's, and call it a massive economic stimulus recovery bill. And then get President-elect Barack H. Obama to sign it as soon as he takes Office."

Who is next to ask?

Do you think we Pinoys can ask for part of the bailout package as we are partners in the war on terror, and this "war" costs money.

This, and our government's (plus others') war on global warming -- although even as we have not done anything to mitigate GW, world temperatures have been dropping.

Global temperatures are not rising. The warmest year in the past century occurred a full decade ago, in 1998. Temperatures have been gradually and steadily falling for most of the past decade. Temperatures in 2008 were no warmer than temperatures in 1980. (Ten Global Warming Truths to Keep Us Sane in 2009)

Why, even Putin thinks there is no more global warming. No kidding. Why would he cut off gas supply to Europe via Ukraine? Here's Jeff Poor:

It’s not often that meteorology intersects with geopolitics – but Europe could be in store for another Cold War, literally.

Accuweather.com’s chief long-range and hurricane forecaster Joe Bastardi observed that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s recent cut of gas flows to Europe via Ukraine may have been done so in anticipation of a global cooling cycle on the Jan. 6 “Glenn Beck Show” radio program. Bastardi has a solid reputation among Wall Street traders for understanding weather’s impact on energy commodities.

View from the other side

As we seem to get more of the same from MSM on the Israel attacks on Hamas, we can check this out:  Pajamas TV.

For context, here is Roger L. Simon in The MSM, Gaza and Pajamas TV:

If your only information about the current Middle East crisis came from CNN, you’d think it boiled down to a bunch of high-tech Israeli bullies running around Gaza torturing Palestinian women and children, while tossing smart bombs on hospitals and blowing up UN schools with Merkava tanks. Almost no context is given. That Israel had done virtually nothing for the three years since voluntarily withdrawing from Gaza but grin and bear it, as missiles after missile, many courtesy of Iran, flew willy-nilly into the Southern part of their country – a fusillade no nation on Earth, civilized or uncivilized, would begin to tolerate – is barely mentioned or mumbled into a half-audible mike while the video plays bloodied Palestinian infants screaming for mama.

The New York Times may be worse. Bending over backwards in a morass of cultural relativist obfuscation, the paper seems to have imbued moral equivalence with a religious fervor usually found at Lourdes.

Of course, the Israelis have the media ticked off. Remembering well the media’s role in the second Lebanon War when some, notably AP and Reuters, went so far as to try to palm off Photoshopped Hezbollah pictures as authentic photos from the front when the forgeries were so obvious bloggers caught them in minutes, this time the IDF has the media cordoned off miles from the action. This time they don’t have the chance to lens endless photos of the same “green man” popping up at one scene of “Israeli brutality” after the other.

Who could blame the Israel government for having had enough of the propaganda wiles of the MSM? I had to laugh when I heard CNN’s Ben Wedeman complaining last night that the network had to rely on their Palestinian stringers inside Gaza, but assuring us they were excellent and reliable. We’re supposed to take that seriously from the network whose former executive director finally admitted after several years that they had covered up (effectively lied about) Saddam’s atrocities in order to get access inside Iraq? Have these people no shame? Well, I guess not.

So that brings us to Pajamas TV. We have decided to help right this imbalance in our small way by emphasizing coverage from Israel as long as this crisis is going on. We have a live camera in Jerusalem and we are going to feature the following talent there, among others: Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post, our own Middle East Editor Allison Kaplan Sommer (a Tel Aviv resident), Richard Landes of Boston University and a part-time Jerusalem resident and Nitsana Leitner of the Israeli Law Center. We admit we are biased in favor of Israel, in favor of the side we view as the good guys in a moral struggle. So bear that in mind when you tune in, but tune in every day for our Gaza Update.

"Red faced and red handed"

► Red Faced and Red Handed: Top Ten Pro-Abortion Moments of 2008
by Katie Walker

H/T: MM

Leaves a bad after-taste

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Anthropogenic arrogance

Chad Myers last week talked to Lou Dobbs, and said something that would probably cause him his job, or to change tune soon (which we hope he does not). What did he say? He dissed on the arrogance of those who are beholden to the mistaken belief in man's great effect on weather (global warming, what else?). Isaac MacMillen in Arrogant Consensus quotes part of that interview:

“To think we could affect weather all that much is pretty arrogant. Mother nature is so big. The world is so big. The oceans are so big. I think we're going to die from a lack of fresh water or die from ocean acidification before we die from global warming, for sure. But this is like you said, in your career; my career has been 22 years long. That's a good career in TV. But in talking about climate, it is like having a car for three days and saying this is a great car. Yes, it was for three days, but maybe in day five, six and seven it won't be so good. That's what we're doing here.”

So little so late

What will two weeks do to change what is thought to be unchangeable? Again, in PDI,

As Nobel Prize-winning Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the UN Climate Panel, appeals to people worldwide to eat less meat to fight global warming and lessen greenhouse gas emissions, at the local front health experts are echoing this appeal, urging Filipinos to minimize meat in their diets during Christmas and New Year. Pachauri is a vegetarian.