Which side are you on?

Which side are we on? Always, on the side of truth. Recent events in RP have also pitted members of the Church against one another. Not that they have taken up arms to fight. Nope. Each "side" has organized prayer rallies and pray-overs. Which side are we on? (Almost like saying: Which side is God on?)

Maybe some words from Colleen on Pope Benedict XVI's take on faith-based political activism (the activist trap) can shed some light on where we stand.

In part:

The activist trap that Pope Benedict warns against is a common and familiar one: The temptation to align too closely with a particular political party and demonize opponents, to equate one’s personal judgments with the eternal truths of the faith, and to define “the Christian position” on every policy issue, thus losing focus on the few fundamental moral questions where authentic Christian witness is most countercultural and most needed. Lurking beneath those temptations is the one Benedict criticizes most forcefully: The human urge to use social and political activism to distract from our deepest questions, most intimate struggles, and most urgent longings for truth, goodness, beauty — and God.

While Benedict’s admonition against utopian social schemes and a materialist worldview seems particularly relevant to a Catholic liberals influenced by Marxist theories, conservatives should also beware becoming co-opted by political parties, hardened by ideology, negligent in charity, and hollowed out by incessant activity. In some ways, conservatives may need to hear Benedict’s message more than liberals. Those who believe most fervently in the socially transformative power of personal responsibility and personal conversion and in the existence of universal moral laws cannot expect to change the world through external activity and political victories alone. Their hope must lie in something deeper and more enduring, in the transcendent truths that can only be discovered in silence, solitude, and contemplation. As we leave summer behind and head into another contentious campaign season, Benedict’s advice — that we slow down, be still, and ponder the principles that inspire our activism — could not be more timely.

Church Needs People of Solid Faith

Pontiff to Jesuits: Church Needs People of Solid Faith. Essentially what Pope Benedict XVI told Jesuits in audience February 21.

Among others he said that the Jesuits continue their God-given mission "in full fidelity to the original charism."

Also:
"The Church urgently needs persons of solid and deep faith, of serious culture, and of genuine human and social sensitivity; [it needs] priests and religious who dedicate their lives to living at the margins in order to bear witness and help further the understanding that there is a profound harmony between faith and reason, between evangelical spirit and a thirst for justice and dedication to peace."

"... continue forming its members with great attention to the sciences and to virtue, without conforming to mediocrity, because the task of confrontation and dialogue in very diverse social and cultural situations with the different mentalities of today’s world is one of the most difficult and costly there is."

"... As you work as members of an apostolic body, you have to also remain attentive that your works and institutions always maintain a clear and explicit identity so that the goal of your apostolic activity is neither ambiguous nor obscure and so that many others might share your ideals and might effectively and enthusiastically join with you, collaborating in your vow of service to God and as human beings."

"The themes that are debated and questioned today, such as the salvation of all in Christ, sexual morality, and marriage and the family, should be considered in the context of contemporary reality, maintaining, however, that harmony with the magisterium that avoids the provocation of confusion and uncertainty in the people of God."

“For us, the option for the poor is not ideological but rather is born of the Gospel."

Read story in Zenit.

On Lenten fasting and abstinence

Lenten Fasting Regulations

Directions

1) Abstinence on all the Fridays of Lent, and on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

• No meat may be eaten on days of abstinence.

• Catholics 14 years and older are bound to abstain from meat. Invalids, pregnant and nursing mothers are exempt.

2) Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

• Fasting means having only one full meal to maintain one's strength. Two smaller, meatless and penitential meals are permitted according to one's needs, but they should not together equal the one full meal. Eating solid foods between meals is not permitted.

• Catholics from age 18 through age 59 are bound to fast. Again, invalids, pregnant and nursing mothers are exempt.

From Catholic Culture.

mt matutum, sunrise

mt matutum, sunrise
Originally uploaded by Debbie-sion

uploaded from debbie's flickr

"Joyfully Perplexed"

Alicia Victoria Joan Torres writes in a blog entry in part: Want the real shocker?? It appalls me that these public high school teens came to a Jesuit Catholic University to be introduced to a myriad of sexually deviant opinions, attitudes and practices ...

This is one of those things I commented on last year.

It is still happening. May even be getting worse.

January 2008 temperature drop

Beep! Beep! Missile lock

Aha, two new peeps in the cross-hairs of the GWA: (1) Bob Lutz, General Motors’ vice chairman and chief car guru and (2) Dr. Sallie Baliunas.

Bob Lutz, General Motors’ vice chairman and chief car guru, said, among other things, that global warming is a “total crock of ****." He said that? Read.

Dr. Sallie Baliunas shared her findings Tuesday at the University of Texas where she "suggests global warming is more directly related to solar variability than to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere..." Read.

Bad times for science?

Read Javier Cuadros take on global warming: If the global warming theory is proved wrong, citizens will look at science with lack of trust and perhaps with contempt.

Global warming: bad times for science
Environmental politics are forcing a premature consensus about climate change that may eventually cool our confidence in science.

"Hometown decision"

Justine wins the last edition of the WTA Diamond Games 6-3, 6-3 over Italian challenger Karin Knapp in Belgium. Call it a hometown decision with a very partisan crowd, but a win's a win.

Get the point

Yesterday, I attended Holy Mass at the Cagayan de Oro Cathedral. A small incident happened at communion time. One of the faithful, upon receiving communion by the hand, did not take Our Lord at once, but rather walked off with the Host in his right hand (between his thumb and forefinger). The extraordinary minister of the Eucharist (as we say, lay minister) called his attention but he continued walking. The EME followed him. Meanwhile, the man was moving towards the left grill wall area, and upon reaching the grill, spit out some spittle. Then took Our Lord. In his act of making his mouth "clean" for Our Lord, he gave us all a fright.

While communion by the hand is allowed, sadly it has been more popular and even made as the norm. And even as situations like this incident are scarce, one "abuse" is one too much. I admire the EME for what he did.

If communion by the hand is made scarce, incidents like this are avoided (although I heard horror stories of people taking the Host out of their mouths, I have not seen anyone doing that).

However bad the analogy, I would liken this to the abstinence programs. No sex, no disease, no unwanted pregnancy, no "fright".

Our Lady of Lourdes

Today, February 11, is the 150th Anniversary of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception) at Lourdes to St. Bernadette. The Church grants plenary indulgence especially today (if one is able to visit Lourdes, or if one visits and prays in a shrine or image dedicated to her).



Today is also the World Day of the Sick, so also pray for all those who are infirmed.

And today I turn 40!

Lenten sacrifice

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of the Church's Lenten Season. This season is a time of sacrifice and purification, in anticipation of Easter. What is your plan?

Here's Danielle Bean:

Upcoming: Lent

It’s almost Ash Wednesday. Do you have a plan for Lent?

I don’t mean printing up Way of the Cross coloring pages, preparing thorny crown crafts, or even simple “giving ups” like coffee, sweets, or TV. Those are all well and good, but what I want to know is do you have plan — a real plan for helping yourself and your family get closer to heaven? How are you going to make greater use of the sacraments, grow in faith and love, and draw closer to Christ this Lent? I’m not going to post a Your Turn discussion today because I would rather you quietly challenge yourself while I do the same:

What is standing between you and greater holiness? How are you going to get rid of it? What is your plan?

Here's one thing you may want to "cut down" on: personal carbon use. Sul serio?
Well, two bishops of Church of England think it is a good idea.
Carbon fast anyone?

H/T: The Junkman

You think they did it on purpose

There is the story of Michelle Stepney who "kicked" cervical cancer with the help of her twins (while they were still in the womb).

"I couldn't believe it when the doctors told me that the babies had dislodged the tumor," she said. "I'd felt them kicking, but I didn't realize just how important their kicking would turn out to be. I owe my life to my girls, and that's why I could have never agreed with a termination."

Marshall plan indeed

US-hosted climate talks in Hawaii this week need to focus more on agreeing curbs to greenhouse gas emissions by major polluters, the UN's top climate change official said on Tuesday. Thus starts Planet Arks story.

It ends: He said that they helped a need for a "Climate Change Marshall Plan" to help developing nations. The original US Marshall plan aided Europe's shattered economies after World War Two. "We need something similar on climate," de Boer said.

Methinks, another Marshall Plan is imminent because economies will shatter after resources are used up by spending on "climate change" initiatives otherwise used for solving more pressing problems. Watch and see.

Then again, we could rise to the challenge. Because we always bounce back. We people are powerful beyond our wildest imagination, and no environmental non-event will discourage us.

"Ingenuity is a resource and humans are an asset"

The Junkman makes a point:

George… family unit-sized hunter gather bands have to range over areas of hundreds to hundreds of thousands of acres to forage for their basic needs. Industrialized man manages enormously higher productivity (technology basically means doing heaps more with significantly less) and this is why hunger has not increased despite human population increasing from under 2.5 to over 6 billion people on the planet — all without increasing the net area under cropping — since WWII. Unlike our agrarian past, net economy is not tightly coupled to resource demand and the bulk of GDP has nothing to do with grain harvested or herds managed.

If we were still reliant on say, sperm whale oil to light our lamps, then resource depletion would be a problem but this is not how humanity, technology and development work. Biotechnology (despite George being agin it) is just one technique that will be utilized to increase our resource availability and it is not obvious that we will need to increase land area devoted to agriculture prior to the inevitable end of human population growth.

George… ingenuity is a resource and humans are an asset — your misanthropic nit-wittery notwithstanding.

A reaction to George Monbiot's Population growth is a threat. But it pales against the greed of the rich, January 29, 2008 in The Guardian.

Not 9th, but 8th

In a previous post, I said that 2007 was the 9th warmest year (contrary to what has been said to be the 2nd warmest). The Reference Frame said that there was a mistake, and those who computed have said sorry for the error. 2007 remains that coldest in this century and is the 8th warmests and not the 9th. Reference Frame has disclaimer here.

Computer models -- hah!

I mentioned that Al Gore has a plan in an earlier post. After reading again what he said, it makes me think that computer models he used in the past may not have been reliable (that only more reliable measure of global temperatures is actual measurements). Why will we listen to him now? That's like what Masha said once (must've have been Wimbledon, something like) "credibility written all over him" as her reaction to a linesman who called a ball out -- it helped that the skies were dark and he was wearing sunglasses.

He's in the news again -- Apple shareholder plan opposed.

Was there a Medieval Australia?

We might just get one. Soon.

Greenhouse cuts 'would land us in Middle Ages'
Mark Davis
January 26, 2008

THE Hawke government finance minister Peter Walsh has warned the Rudd Government that cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 would send Australian living standards back to the Middle Ages.

Mr Walsh, who was at the forefront of Labor's conversion to economic rationalism in the 1980s, heads the Lavoisier Group of hardline climate-change sceptics.

In a submission lodged with the Garnaut climate change review, the former West Australian senator disputes the scientific evidence that carbon dioxide emissions are causing rising global temperatures.

He points out that the Romans grew grapes in northern England in the first millennium and the Vikings grew cereals in Greenland in the second millennium.

"Those much warmer periods cannot reasonably be attributed to anthropogenic greenhouse gases," he says. He also says the temperature on Mars has risen in a similar way to that on Earth.
...

Trackback. Next: Medieval Asia?

Why really?

Iain Murray, in a commentary about the US Republicans bashing by the Democrats on the issue of global warming had this to say, in part:

When people say that there’s a hoax about global warming, what do they mean? Do they mean that there is no evidence that temperatures are increasing? Probably not — no one I know disputes that fact, although there are serious question marks over the reliability of the surface temperature measurements. Yet the satellite record is clear that the world is warming.

No, what is objected to is the idea that global warming will be catastrophic unless we do something about it now that involves a complete abandonment of affordable energy and a return to central planning. As Margaret Thatcher, who was the first world leader to express concern about global warming, said, global warming is proving to be “a marvelous excuse for international socialism.” It’s that excuse angle that is the crux of the matter. Things are being exaggerated, as the British High Court found with Al Gore’s film, in the name of this realignment. That’s where conservatives see the penny disappearing in this particular game of three-card monty, and they need to call foul when they see it.

Read all, and the links. I believe this is not just a question of Republicans/Conservatives versus Democrats/Liberals. It is about skeptics vs. alarmists on global warming.

Selfless

Here's intro of Foxnews story on Lorraine Allard. Full report and a link here.

Mother Delays Cancer Treatments So Baby Can Live
Friday, January 25, 2008

Expectant mother Lorraine Allard learned the devastating news that she was in the advanced stages of liver cancer when she was four months pregnant, according to the Daily Mail.

Allard, of St. Olaves in the U.K., had a choice: Delay treatment to save her baby, or terminate the pregnancy to save herself.

She chose the former, waiting until the fetus was viable before scheduling a Caesarean section.

"If I am going to die, my baby is going to live," Allard told her husband, Martyn, according to the Mail.

All we want is energy (that's about everything)

It has been said that scare tactics are being used to force us all to join the consensus on anthropogenic global warming, that could result, if the "consensus folks" have their way, through government control of "how much energy people and business can use from now on". Who knows what they want to control next. With "energy" on their side, that could mean everything else. The only thing going for me, and even if I cannot prove it, is faith that this will not happen when good people do something. And am sure we know who the good are.

Read here.

"... mankind depends mostly on petroleum and coal for its energy, and nothing is going to change that until human creativity, fueled by the extra wealth created by free markets, leads to new energy technology breakthroughs.

Are we “addicted to oil”? Sure, just like we are addicted to food. Try quitting."

Update: Al's got a plan, a real plan. Like clockwork. Don't say I didn't warn you.

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Can we get a consensus on this?

Someone found a correlation between global warming and the political clout of favorite skeptic whipping boy Al. Jason of San Diego.

Tuvalu is still around

Remember Tuvalu? One of the poster children (island) for global warming alarmists? BBC talked about it in 2000 sounding the concern of the Tuvalu government that rising tides due to global warming could wipe out the island. This year BBC again takes a look at Tuvalu. Yep it is still there. The concern for the island is there, although the dreaded first-victim-of-rising-tides due to global warming is now fairy tale.

Sake-Drenched postcards says: The facts are, though, that the sea levels haven't been shown to be rising, at least not anywhere near Tuvalu, and long-term monitoring results have shown them to instead be falling. But Tuvalu does indeed have significant problems - enough for it to one day relocate its people. Most center on the fact that it is of very limited size and resources. It is the rising effects of these issues - and not the rising sea - that now confront Tuvalu.

Read all here.

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two cents' worth

Want your two cents' worth? Invest now in CO2 European Union Allowances.
H/T The Junkman.

EUA spot Prices on 18.01.2008

€ 0.02 € 0.00

EUA Price last 30 days

Welcome to euets.com - the CO2 exchange for CEE

euets.com is a fully electronic exchange for anonymous trading on the spot EUA market. euets.com is the only CO2 trading platform designed to give direct access for all operators to the European CO2 market. Sign up now to sell or buy your EU Allowances on-line.

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One other reason why "we" hate the Americans

Nuff said.
See also why we hate Windows (Go Mac!) here.

Back to Medieval Europe

The European Commission has been very aggressive in legislating carbon taxes on European industries and even suggesting that trade partners of the EU go into carbon trade agreements with EU countries to balance the playing field, so to speak. This is one sure way of going back to Medieval Europe, without the industries that have made Europe what it is today.

Biofuels use = increase in GHG emissions?

A memo from Alex Farrell and Michael O'Hare of the Energy & Resources Group of the University of California Berkeley RE: Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from indirect land use change (LUC)on January 12, 2008 says that greenhouse gas emissions could increase if biofuel crop production increases. While they also say that there could be the possibility that GHG emissions could drop, they also point out that "we do not expect better analysis to change the overall result that land use change will be found to be a very large contributor to the global warming impact of the biofuels evaluated here."

The pdf is here. H/T The Junkman

Truly the hard part

Justine lost today. The hard part is losing to Masha (6-4, 6-0) at the Australian Open.

March for Life

January 22 marks another anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Pro-life groups will converge in DC for the annual March for Life. Pray for the victims (they are not just the babies, of course).

Have carbon offsets, will travel

Or not. Some say carbon offsets are not enough. We just have to stay home more often. No visits to family. No business trips. No vacations. Ok?

Antarctic, melting still (again?)

Last week, many MSM came out with news that, yet again, the Antarctic is melting. But is it really, indeed, melting? The Junkman says that "It’s quite possible that the reported Antarctic melting is manmade -- but the “man” may be Eric Rignot, as opposed to the term’s broader connotation.
Read the rest here.

Preface
Manmade Antarctic Melting, Indeed
Thursday, January 17, 2008
By Steven Milloy

A new study, much hyped by the media, blames humans for escalating ice loss in Antarctica. The media, however, seems to have no idea as to how truly manmade the supposed ice loss may be.

“Escalating Ice Loss Found in Antarctica; Sheets Melting in an Area Once Thought to Be Unaffected by Global Warming” was the Washington Post’s front-page, above-the-fold headline last Monday (Jan. 14). The headline for the continuation of the article was “Antarctic Ice Loss Could Speed Rise in Ocean Levels.”

If true, it would be quite a worrisome situation given that Antarctica contains enough ice to raise ocean levels by about 60 meters, a deluge that would put every major coastal city in the world deep under water and uproot hundreds of millions, if not billions of people.

NASA scientist Eric Rignot reported in Nature Geoscience (Jan. 13) that increased melting had been detected in the ice sheets of western Antarctica, an area where surface temperatures have remained unchanged.

As warming surface temperatures could not be blamed for the ice loss, Rignot hypothesized that the cause may be the flow of warmer waters from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that circles much of the continent. “Something must be changing the ocean to trigger such changes,” Rignot told the Post. “We believe it is related to [manmade global warming]”, he added.

Rignot may indeed “believe” that humans are the cause – he is, after all, part of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organization founded on the belief that humans are causing catastrophic global warming. But the facts belie such beliefs.

The oil industry lobby blame card

I like the passion for the environment of Migs Zubiri. But when he offers the oil-industry-lapdog card for anyone in disagreement with consensus on environmental issues, I think that he should direct his passions to take a look at what the skeptics think. Somehow I feel that while he says he wants debate, he actually does not. Sounds familiar? Well he mentions him. But he is mistaken. He says Al Gore "used it to boost ... popularity, but ... nobody is hitting him." Ha!

It's been said long before:

On July 6th, 2007 at 2:43 pm, BluegrassHindu said:

Here is a neat fact bio-fuel will increase world hunger :) what is the compassionate lefts answer to that ?

Fact : The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol will feed one person for a year. The grain needed to fill that same tank every two weeks over a year will feed 26 people.

Eco-warriors, eco-polluters

UK newspaper Telegraph points to a survey made by the Target Group Index that "shows eco-warriors are worst polluters". The "survey of travel habits has revealed that the most environmentally conscious people are also the biggest polluters."

Read on.

Davao People's Park and Kublai

My cousin Davao artist Kublai has put up new creations at the recently opened People's Park in Davao City. H/T Debbie at Davao Diaries (Thanks Debbie for allowing me to link!) here and here.

I've blogged about Kublai here, here, and here. Kublai's artist-in-residence of Ponce Suites in Doña Vicente Village in Davao City.

Forza!

Zits

The past three days have been very difficult for me in the shaving department. I have two acne zits, one near the upper lip, another on my chin. I have had to maneuver my Mach3 turbo around these, thus taking me more time to shave. It's been said that lack of sleep causes acne breakout. Thing is, I have been sleeping enough. Diet, maybe? But diet's been the same.

Think it's global warming? Hah! It is.

Increased Temperature, Sebaceous Glands and Acne:
Human body maintains a temperature of around 98.2 degrees F, it is the ideal temperature for your body. Slight fluctuation in the scale of temperature may occur temporarily during exercise and other activities. Your body works efficiently at 98.2 degrees F. Sebaceous glands and sweat glands are heat sensitive and rapidly produce their secretions. Thus, persistent rise in temperature results in increased activity of sebaceous glands and overproduction of sebum. Overproduction of sebum mixes with dead skin cells and clogs the hair follicles and acne breakouts occurs.

Average temperature has considerably risen since 1940 affecting hundreds of biological and ecological system. The persistent rise in temperature greatly influences on your skin and its disorders.

...

Global warming has affected various aspects of life. All organisms depend upon the ecosystem directly or indirectly. Increased temperature, damaged ozone layer and agriculture changes are all economical factors that profoundly impacts human life. Human skin is the most sensitive and most affected organ by these factors. Various skin disorders such as acne, scars are the result of global warming and climate change.

Read all here.

One year after

Early last year, GWA through the MSM predicted that 2007 will be the hottest year of all time.

Reuters said on January 4, 2007:

LONDON (Reuters) - This year is set to be the hottest on record worldwide due to global warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon, Britain's Meteorological Office said on Thursday.

The Met Office said the combination of factors would likely push average temperatures this year above the record set in 1998. 2006 is set to be the sixth warmest on record globally.

"This new information represents another warning that climate change is happening around the world," said Met Office scientist Katie Hopkins.

BBC started its story on January 4, 2007:

The world is likely to experience the warmest year on record in 2007, the UK's Met Office says.

An extended warming period, resulting from an El Nino weather event in the Pacific Ocean, will probably push up global temperatures, experts forecast.

They say there is a 60% chance that the average surface temperature will match or exceed the current record from 1998.

NYT briefed the world on January 5, 2007:

This year is set to be the hottest on record worldwide because of global warming and El Niño, the periodic hot spell in the tropical Pacific Ocean, Britain's Meteorological Office said. The agency said the combination of those phenomena would probably push average temperatures this year above the record set in 1998. The year 2006 is set to be the sixth warmest on record globally.

But in fact, global temperatures put 2007 as the coldest in the century, and only the 9th hottest since global temperatures have been measured.

H/T: The Reference Frame

Pros and Cons

There is a new website that is up. It is called Climate Debate Daily. It has one column titled:

Calls to action

Essays and research supporting the idea that global warming poses a clear threat to humanity, that it is largely caused by human activity, and that solutions to the problems of climate change lie within human reach.


and another one:

Dissenting voices

Essays and research challenging the view that the world warming that began around 1880 is caused by human activity, that it constitutes a serious threat, or that the vagaries of the earth’s climate are within human control.



One website to rule them all ;-)

O yea, he's gonna get it, big time

“… we are relieved that population growth has not been blamed as the cause of global warming and our difficulties in addressing the problem. Population has always been made the scapegoat for most development problems. We should not fall into this trap. How can we hold our people responsible when they are the ones that we are mandated to serve? Making people the problem will only lead us to the wrong direction and create bigger problems.”

Oh. Yeah.

As the Junkman says: It’s always about blaming people ...

Here are some quotes (complete blog post here):

“The planet is about to break out with fever, indeed it may already have, and we [human beings] are the disease. We should be at war with ourselves and our lifestyles.” — Thomas Lovejoy, assistant secretary to the Smithsonian Institution.

“The only real good technology is no technology at all. Technology is taxation without representation, imposed by our elitist species (man) upon the rest of the natural world.” — John Shuttleworth, FoE manual writer.

“People are the cause of all the problems; we have too many of them; we need to get rid of some of them, and this (ban of DDT) is as good a way as any.” — Charles Wurster, Environmental Defense Fund.

“We can and should seize upon the energy crisis as a good excuse and great opportunity for making some very fundamental changes that we should be making anyhow for other reasons.” — Russell Train (EPA Administrator at the time, and soon thereafter became head of the World Wildlife Fund), Science 184 p. 1050, 7 June 1974

The world has a cancer, and that cancer is man. — Alan Gregg, former longtime official of the Rockerfeller Foundation

Man is always and everywhere a blight on the landscape. — John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club

Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental. — Dave Forman, Earth First! and Sierra Club director (1995-1997)

Human beings, as a species, have no more value than slugs. — John Davis, editor of Earth First! journal

“We have to get rid of that warm medieval period.” — Jonathan Overpeck, a Professor at U of Arizona and IPCC Lead Author in an email to David Deming, a professor at U of Oklahoma.

No matter if the science is all phony, there are collateral environmental benefits…. climate change provides the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world.” — Christine Stewart, Canadian Environment Minister, Calgary Herald 14 Dec, 1998.

Movies to watch

There are movies that we could watch, when they arrive in this part of the world. Colleen Carroll Campbell gives us titles, and then some.

It was a Christmas piece from her, and ended thus: Still, there is no mistaking the pro-life theme running through these stories and the cultural shift they signify. In a season in which billions celebrate the redemptive promise that began with an unwed teenager's unexpected pregnancy two millennia ago, these films are an unconventional reminder that fertility is a blessing, even amid brokenness. And that life, for all its messy complexity, is a gift worth welcoming.

Dawn Eden talks about two of those movies that CCC speaks of too. Or a review here.
Check also Debbie's list here.

Emissions in EU rising faster than US's (H/T: NRO)

If an emission falls and there's no bureaucrat to mandate it... [Chris Horner]

Yesterday's Washington Post coverage wrapping up its assessment of the Bali coverage and, one hopes, ending its recent run of ill-informed global warming activism, came and went without them running a letter I had sent in response to said string of items.

The long and the short of it is found in George Will's comment, also yesterday but in an entirely unrelated context. "Today's liberalism, combining tolerance and statism, cares less what happens than that it be mandatory." So here it is FWIW:

To the Editors,

The preference for rhetoric over substance is widespread in Washington, but the Post is increasingly aggressive in its claims that the U.S. is "doing nothing" about greenhouse gas emissions or climate change, sitting on the sidelines, refusing to act, and otherwise falling behind in comparison with some subset of the rest of the world. Yet nowhere in its recent series of editorials, news articles and human interest stories covering the topic has the Post actually noted comparative U.S. and EU greenhouse gas emissions performance — Europe, the self-proclaimed "world leader", being the most likely party in comparison to which we are not acting. It seems the Post believes that if an emission drops and no bureaucrat was around to mandate it, it didn't really drop.

Disappointed though the Post may be in all things Bush Administration, imagine how this malaise could be improved by acknowledging actual comparative performance, figures for which are publicly available. Under any relevant modern baseline, e.g., the year Europe made its Kyoto promise (1997) or thereafter, U.S. emissions have risen far more slowly than those of its noisiest antagonists. For example, International Energy Agency data show that over the past 7 years (2000-2006), the annual rate of increase for U.S. CO2 emissions is approximately one-third of the EU's rate of increase. Indeed, over the same period even the smaller EU-15 economy has increased its CO2 emissions in actual volume greater than the U.S. by more than 20%, even while the U.S. economy and population also grew more rapidly. At minimum the Post can acknowledge performance, before trying to explain it away. In truth, mandates are not everything any more than Europe's rhetoric amounts to policy.

I don't believe it

AFP writes about Pope's Benedict XVI's Midnight Mass homily saying that the Pope "used his Christmas homily to speak out against selfishness and the degradation of the environment." I agree with the selfishness part, but I could not see how his words could have included the degradation of the environment. The writer quoted this: "And the richer men become, the more they fill up all the space by themselves. And the less room there is for others." I don't see how these lines could pertain to the environment. Duh?

Read the translation here. Judge for yourself.

Update (H/T: Abe): He did say something about how the world is, towards the end of the homily: What would he say if he could see the state of the world today, through the abuse of energy and its selfish and reckless exploitation? Something from Gregory of Nyssa in his Christmas homilies.

Merry Christmas!

Here's hoping you have a very blessed Christmas.

Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing: Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears, Let us hold close one day, remembering; Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men. Let us get back our childlike faith again. - Grace Noll Crowell

All from ElizabethAndrew.org

Unsustainable lifestyle

If I can comment on CHabito's column, I'd say:

You said in your column last week:

And then there is the argument that as world reserves of fossil fuel begin to dwindle, super powers need to find a convincing way to get people to control consumption so that they can maintain their own affluent lifestyles far into the future. And the global warming “hysteria” is one such convincing way.

The problem with this last argument, though, is that the Bush administration’s denial that climate change and global warming are real threats seems based on the same motivation (“the American way of life is nonnegotiable”), apart from protecting big business interests.

I've heard that before and it seems true. Definitely Al Gore and the Hollywood celebs who have joined his band of eco-warriors do not deny climate change and global warming, and definitely the same motivations reflect on them too. If Al Gore's house consumes 20 times more electricity than the average American home, and he flies around on private jets, travels on gas-guzzling SUV's (of course, he took the train to claim his Nobel while his luggage traveled on a Mercedes van), and organizes huge-carbon-footprint Live Earth concerts, that is quite a lifestyle he can't seem to forego. And it is on public record that he purchases carbon offsets from a company that he co-owns, truly, "protecting big business interests, don't you think? He is in the board of Apple, Inc., and even Greenpeace says that Apple isn't that green. Big business, right?

This is why the United States, Europe and China are the key focal points in the climate change debates. The United States is the runaway largest emitter of GHGs. And yet it also continues to be the biggest recalcitrant in the efforts to set targets for reducing GHG emissions, both under the 10-year-old Kyoto Protocol, and in the Bali negotiations.

While it is evident that the United States has the biggest CO2 emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels (also because it is the most industrialized nation in the world; up to more than 50 times RP's), Randall Hoven writes in American Thinker based on statistics and projections, the US is actually better in dealing with emissions, considering that comparing figures of 1997 (last year before Kyoto was signed) to 2004, the US only increased emissions by 6.6%. Okay, it is still more than 1B metric tons, but emissions from the U.S. grew slower than those of over 75% of the countries that signed Kyoto.

Highlights:

If we look at that data and compare 2004 (latest year for which data is available) to 1997 (last year before the Kyoto treaty was signed), we find the following.

• Emissions worldwide increased 18.0%.
• Emissions from countries that signed the treaty increased 21.1%.
• Emissions from non-signers increased 10.0%.
• Emissions from the U.S. increased 6.6%.

In fact, emissions from the U.S. grew slower than those of over 75% of the countries that signed Kyoto. Below are the growth rates of carbon dioxide emissions, from 1997 to 2004, for a few selected countries, all Kyoto signers. (Remember, the comparative number for the U.S. is 6.6%.)

• Maldives, 252%.
• Sudan, 142%.
• China, 55%.
• Luxembourg, 43%
• Iran, 39%.
• Iceland, 29%.
• Norway, 24%.
• Russia, 16%.
• Italy, 16%.
• Finland, 15%.
• Mexico, 11%.
• Japan, 11%.
• Canada, 8.8%.

I believe in global warming because there is evidence to support that, in the same manner that I believe that there were times in the Earth's history that global cooling occurred (and there will be shifting back and forth).

David Whitehouse says:

With only few days remaining in 2007, the indications are the global temperature for this year is the same as that for 2006 – there has been no warming over the 12 months.

But is this just a blip in the ever upward trend you may ask? No.

The fact is that the global temperature of 2007 is statistically the same as 2006 as well as every year since 2001. Global warming has, temporarily or permanently, ceased. Temperatures across the world are not increasing as they should according to the fundamental theory behind global warming – the greenhouse effect. Something else is happening and it is vital that we find out what or else we may spend hundreds of billions of pounds needlessly.


I believe in climate change because climate really changes naturally. But what I cannot support is the anthropogenic global warming theory and the alarmism that goes along with it. And I don't think I am alone saying this (except that I am not a scientist, unlike these people).

Heisman Trophy Winner, Winner over Abortion

Another story surrounding 2007 Heisman Trophy Winner Tim Tebow. Appears that he wouldn't have been around at all.

Here's the intro of a piece from Fr. Thomas Euteneuer:

How Many Heisman Winners Has Abortion Killed?
December 19, 2007

The sports world recently greeted the news that this year's Heisman Trophy Winner, Tim Tebow from the University of Florida, was almost a casualty of abortion. Twenty-some years ago he was not the strapping 6'3", 235 lb. beloved sports hero that he is today. At that time, he was a one-inch-long unborn child whose existence, because of an amoebic infection, was defined as a threat to his mother's health. Pam Tebow, his mother, was told by a doctor that it would be in her best interests to abort this baby, and she refused. Her husband backed her up on that generous decision, and seven months later they gave birth to a perfectly healthy boy. Little did they know that twenty years later they would be standing on a national stage with a Heisman Trophy winner giving that magnificent witness to life. The world thanks you, Mr. and Mrs. Tebow! There cannot be a more touching Advent story than this.

I wonder if anyone has ever asked how many potential Heisman Trophy winners abortion has actually killed. The answer is, twelve. Reflect on that a bit as you read further because there is a larger lesson in the Tebows' witness.

Read on.

Dang! or Not

Dang! I was wrong. Felix culpa?

At least we won't see his face in Time's next cover. Not that I am too excited about the winner, either.

H/T: Kyoto Schmyoto (American Thinker)

While it is evident that the United States has the biggest CO2 emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels (also because it is the most industrialized nation in the world; up to more than 50 times RP's), Randall Hoven writes in American Thinker that based on statistics and projections, the US is actually better in dealing with emissions, considering that comparing figures of 1997 (last year before Kyoto was sisgned) to 2004, the US only increased emissions by 6.6%. Okay, it is still more than 1B metric tons, but emissions from the U.S. grew slower than those of over 75% of the countries that signed Kyoto.

Read the rest here.

Some highlights:

If we look at that data and compare 2004 (latest year for which data is available) to 1997 (last year before the Kyoto treaty was signed), we find the following.

• Emissions worldwide increased 18.0%.
• Emissions from countries that signed the treaty increased 21.1%.
• Emissions from non-signers increased 10.0%.
• Emissions from the U.S. increased 6.6%.

In fact, emissions from the U.S. grew slower than those of over 75% of the countries that signed Kyoto. Below are the growth rates of carbon dioxide emissions, from 1997 to 2004, for a few selected countries, all Kyoto signers. (Remember, the comparative number for the U.S. is 6.6%.)

• Maldives, 252%.
• Sudan, 142%.
• China, 55%.
• Luxembourg, 43%
• Iran, 39%.
• Iceland, 29%.
• Norway, 24%.
• Russia, 16%.
• Italy, 16%.
• Finland, 15%.
• Mexico, 11%.
• Japan, 11%.
• Canada, 8.8%.

All hot air

Come to think of it, the Bali conference in climate change could have all been hot air (20,000 cars worth). Even the Associated Press thinks so:

The new deal does not commit countries to specific actions against global warming. It simply sets an agenda and schedule for negotiators to find ways to reduce pollution and help poor countries adapt to environmental changes by speeding up the transfer of technology and financial assistance.

Despite an aggressive EU-led campaign to include specific emissions reduction targets for industrial nations — by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 — the final road map has none.

Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch sells "humour" shirts although I don't think anything's funny about the Love and Awkward Mornings shirts. See the pictures of the shirts here.

Oh well, here are those shirts from Jill Stanek. It is no wonder what side of the fence they are.

Pope Benedict XVI on the environment

The Vatican released in advance Pope Benedict XVI's message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace on January 1, 2008.

He talks mostly about the role of family, and puts in two paragraphs on (highlights, mine):

The family, the human community and the environment

7. The family needs a home, a fit environment in which to develop its proper relationships. For the human family, this home is the earth, the environment that God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for the environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion. Human beings, obviously, are of supreme worth vis-à-vis creation as a whole. Respecting the environment does not mean considering material or animal nature more important than man. Rather, it means not selfishly considering nature to be at the complete disposal of our own interests, for future generations also have the right to reap its benefits and to exhibit towards nature the same responsible freedom that we claim for ourselves. Nor must we overlook the poor, who are excluded in many cases from the goods of creation destined for all. Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow. It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances. If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations. Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions aimed at strengthening that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.

8. In this regard, it is essential to “sense” that the earth is “our common home” and, in our stewardship and service to all, to choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions. Further international agencies may need to be established in order to confront together the stewardship of this “home” of ours; more important, however, is the need for ever greater conviction about the need for responsible cooperation. The problems looming on the horizon are complex and time is short. In order to face this situation effectively, there is a need to act in harmony. One area where there is a particular need to intensify dialogue between nations is that of the stewardship of the earth's energy resources. The technologically advanced countries are facing two pressing needs in this regard: on the one hand, to reassess the high levels of consumption due to the present model of development, and on the other hand to invest sufficient resources in the search for alternative sources of energy and for greater energy efficiency. The emerging counties are hungry for energy, but at times this hunger is met in a way harmful to poor countries which, due to their insufficient infrastructures, including their technological infrastructures, are forced to undersell the energy resources they do possess. At times, their very political freedom is compromised by forms of protectorate or, in any case, by forms of conditioning which appear clearly humiliating.

Read the complete message.

IPCC must come clean on real numbers of scientist supporters

IPCC must come clean on real numbers of scientist supporters

The UN Climate Change Numbers Hoax

By Tom Harris: John McLean Friday, December 14, 2007

It’s an assertion repeated by politicians and climate campaigners the world over – ‘2,500 scientists of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agree that humans are causing a climate crisis’.

But it’s not true. And, for the first time ever, the public can now see the extent to which they have been misled. As lies go, it’s a whopper. Here’s the real situation.

Like the three IPCC ‘assessment reports’ before it, the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) released during 2007 (upon which the UN climate conference in Bali was based) includes the reports of the IPCC’s three working groups. Working Group I (WG I) is assigned to report on the extent and possible causes of past climate change as well as future ‘projections’. Its report is titled “The Physical Science Basis”. The reports from working groups II and II are titled “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” and “Mitigation of Climate Change” respectively, and since these are based on the results of WG I, it is crucially important that the WG I report stands up to close scrutiny.

There is, of course serious debate among scientists about the actual technical content of the roughly 1,000-page WG I report, especially its politically motivated Summary for Policymakers which is often the only part read by politicians and non-scientists. The technical content can be difficult for non-scientists to follow and so most people simply assume that if that large numbers of scientists agree, they must be right.

Consensus never proves the truth of a scientific claim, but is somehow widely believed to do so for the IPCC reports, so we need to ask how many scientists really did agree with the most important IPCC conclusion, namely that humans are causing significant climate change--in other words the key parts of WG I?

The numbers of scientist reviewers involved in WG I is actually less than a quarter of the whole, a little over 600 in total. The other 1,900 reviewers assessed the other working group reports. They had nothing to say about the causes of climate change or its future trajectory. Still, 600 “scientific expert reviewers” sounds pretty impressive. After all, they submitted their comments to the IPCC editors who assure us that “all substantive government and expert review comments received appropriate consideration.” And since these experts reviewers are all listed in Annex III of the report, they must have endorsed it, right?

Wrong.

Club World Cup Champions: Forza!

Almost forgotten was the 2007 Club World Cup in Japan the past week. Yesterday, I watched the match of ACMilan against the Boca Juniors in a 4-2 win by the Rossoneri in Yokohama. Kaka' put in one in the first half. Inzaghi put in two and Nesta scored one. Kaka' was best player (golden ball) as well as the Toyota Awardee. Seedorf got the silver ball.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods closed with a 4-under 68 to match the tournament record at the Target World Challenge and set a record for the largest margin of victory, by seven shots over Masters champion Zach Johnson on Sunday.

Homeschooled Heisman Trophy Winner!

A blog entry from Nancy C. Brown on December 10 features reader Chris' note about "2007 Heisman Trophy Winner Tim Tebow who became the first underclassmen and the third Florida Gator quarterback to claim Heisman Fame":

Sent in by alert reader Chris (thanks!):

I am a sports fan, and thought I'd point out that the young man that won the Heisman trophy last night from the University of Florida was actually homeschooled. His parents are evangelicals, and run an orphanage in the Phillipines. Mom was recommended an abortion when she was pregnant with him, but of course didn't. The mom was also involved in changing Florida law so that h[ome]s[chooled] kids could take advantage of public school extracurricular programs, including sports. Apparently he's a pretty nice kid.

Anyhow, we always hear about the spelling bee and math contest winners, it might be nice to see the view widened a bit.

His profile at the Heisman site says this:

Long before he donned his Florida Gator jersey, Tim Tebow's life began in unusual fashion compared to most All-American QB's. Tebow was born on 8/14, 1987 in the Philippines where his parents were serving as Christian missionaries.

My Best Homes

Forzamillan comments at My Best Homes forum.
mybesthomes.net
Check the forum and join us if you want.

Definitely not rocket science

Definitely not rocket science:

If you are a skeptic about runaway, anthropogenic global warming, then you are a "denier" and worse than the Nazis.

The problem is that the voices of doom... those holier than thou... just can't seem to get it right.

This year there was an 85% probability that we were going to be belted with many more big hurricanes than normal... didn't happen.

This year we were supposed to have the hottest year on record... didn't happen. In fact, South American had one of its longest, coldest winters on record and Antarctic ice expanded significantly.

For which the Climate Skeptic disses:
If all your forecasts are coming out in the bottom 1% of the forecast range, then it is safe to assume that one is not forecasting very well. Which reminds me of Michael Mann, who said with famous confidence that there was a 95-99% probability that 1998 was the hottest year in the last 1000, which is an absurd claim. (Mann now denies having said this, but he is actually on film saying it, about 25 seconds into the linked clip: ).

And another H/T from the Climate Skeptic:

The Hidden Message

The cost to abate CO2 production as much as climate catastrophists wish will be staggering. One of the ways the catastrophists and their supporters in the media work to cover up this fact is to publish numerous cute articles about families recycling and such. The hidden message is that this is all that it would take from us to make an impact on CO2.

This Sunday article in the Arizona Republic is a great example (last Sunday, the Republic had an article just mentioning, without letting us make our arguments, that skeptics like me exist in Phoenix. However, even this violates the orthodoxy so the Republic has had pro-catastrophist and green front page articles every day since as pennance.). In today's article, the Republic looks at a number of families and gives advice on how they could be greener...

Read the rest here. And the Arizona feature is here.

Distancing?

Distancing . . .

Dishonest political tampering with the science on global warming

- December 05, 2007

Christopher Monckton, Denpasar, Bali

As a contributor to the IPCC's 2007 report, I share the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. Yet I and many of my peers in the British House of Lords - through our hereditary element the most independent-minded of lawmakers - profoundly disagree on fundamental scientific grounds with both the IPCC and my co-laureate's alarmist movie An Inconvenient Truth, which won this year's Oscar for Best Sci-Fi Comedy Horror.

Two detailed investigations by Committees of the House confirm that the IPCC has deliberately, persistently and prodigiously exaggerated not only the effect of greenhouse gases on temperature but also the environmental consequences of warmer weather.

My contribution to the 2007 report illustrates the scientific problem. The report's first table of figures - inserted by the IPCC's bureaucrats after the scientists had finalized the draft, and without their consent - listed four contributions to sea-level rise. The bureaucrats had multiplied the effect of melting ice from the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets by 10.

The result of this dishonest political tampering with the science was that the sum of the four items in the offending table was more than twice the IPCC's published total. Until I wrote to point out the error, no one had noticed. The IPCC, on receiving my letter, quietly corrected, moved and relabeled the erroneous table, posting the new version on the internet and earning me my Nobel prize. 

Read complete.

I missed this

Because of other pressing matters, I missed this conference in late November in Manila: Second International Congress on Love, Sex and Life -- Love, Laughter and Life Ever After.


Here's a bit of the summary from Mercatornet's Carolyn Moynihan:

Did you hear about the New York education professor, the Singapore IT aficionado, the Spanish doctor and the Philippine economist who met up in Manila last week? They, and 700 others who arrived at the same destination, were all in pursuit of what an American author has ingeniously dubbed "the thrill of the chaste".

And thrilling it was to spend two jam-packed days listening to the wit and wisdom of experts and amateurs alike on the theme of the Second International Congress on Love, Sex and Life -- that is, chastity as "Love, Laughter and Life Ever After". Corny? Only for the cynic who has forgotten what the gift of human sexuality is all about.

It is not, as the congress reminded us, about "having a relationship" while protecting yourself from a deadly disease. Not, as a Spanish advertisement pretends, a great "therapy" so long as you use a condom. And not, as the mass media constantly portray it and as some young people have come to believe, a way of having "fun".

Read all here.

Oops!

Bloomberg.com says:

Hot Air Emitted by Climate Summit Equals 20,000 Cars (Update1)
By Alex Morales and Kim Chipman

Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Government officials and activists flying to Bali, Indonesia, for the United Nations meeting on climate change will cause as much pollution as 20,000 cars in a year.

The delegates each will produce an average 4.07 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or CO2, to reach the resort island 950 kilometers (600 miles) from Jakarta, according to estimates e- mailed to Bloomberg by the UN agency holding the conference.


And more secrets coming out?

IPCC Falsifies Sea Level Data
Posted by ReasonMcLucus at 07:39 on 05 Dec 2007

The IPCC falsified data showing a sea level rise from 1992-2002 according to Dr. Nils-Axel Morner, former head of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics department at Stockholm University in Sweden. In an interview by George Murphy, Morner cites various examples of falsification of evidence claiming sea level rises.

"Then, in 2003, the same data set, which in their [IPCC's] publications, in their website, was a straight line - suddenly it changed, and showed a very strong line of uplift, 2.3 mm per year, the same as from the tide gauge. And that didn't look so nice. It looked as though they had recorded something; but they hadn't recorded anything. It was the original one which they had suddenly twisted up, because they entered a 'correction factor,' which they took from the tide gauge" in an area of Hong Kong that had been subsiding, or sinking.

Angel from Heaven

Girl, 7, Shot 6 Times While Protecting Mother

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A Detroit girl who jumped in front of a hail of bullets to protect her mother from an enraged gunman Saturday night is being hailed as an “angel from heaven.”

Alexis Goggins, 7, was hit protecting her mother Selietha Parker, 30, after Parker's ex-boyfriend Calvin Tillie, 29, forced the pair and family friend Aisha Ford to drive to Six Mile Road under threat of death, the Detroit News reported.

Click here to read the full report from the Detroit News.

Tillie, who was armed with a handgun, shot Parker in the side of the head and in the arm after Ford stopped for gas, but before he could fire a third shot, Goggins jumped over the seat between her mother and Tillie, begging him to stop, the Detroit News reported. Without hesitation, Tillie reportedly pumped six shots into the child.

The first grader is in stable condition at Children’s Hospital in Detroit with gunshot wounds to the eye, left temple, chin, cheek, chest and right arm, the Detroit News reported. Parker was admitted to the hospital, but later released.

Tillie was arrested at the scene. He had dated Parker for six months, the Detroit News reported.

Out of Bali

Why not?

UN Rejects Press Credentials for Representatives of US Newspaper
Writers for Environment & Climate News excluded from participation in Bali climate change conference Written By: Tom Swiss
Published In: News Releases
Publication Date: November 30, 2007
Publisher: The Heartland Institute


(CHICAGO, Illinois - December 3, 2007) -- As the first goals of the Kyoto Protocol are about to expire, the United Nations is preparing a "Conference of the Parties," the highest decision-making authority. The meeting will take place in Bali, Indonesia from December 3 to December 5.

But the event lost any claim of impartiality when organizers rejected attempts by representatives of Environment & Climate News to receive press accreditation for the conference...

Read more.


Where is consensus?

Countries split over stance on emission goals
Marian Wilkinson, Environment Editor in Bali
December 5, 2007

CONCERNS are growing at the UN climate conference in Bali that Japan and Canada could throw their weight behind the US to resist a new climate change agreement that includes binding emissions targets for developed countries.

Read more.


Associated Press notices:

Climate change meeting adds to emissions
By ROBIN McDOWELL, Associated Press Writer Tue Dec 4, 2:04 PM ET

BALI, Indonesia - Never before have so many people converged to try to save the planet from global warming, with more than 10,000 jetting into this Indonesian resort island, from government ministers to Nobel laureates to drought-stricken farmers.

But critics say they are contributing to the very problem they aim to solve.

"Nobody denies this is an important event, but huge numbers of people are going, and their emissions are probably going to be greater than a small African country," said Chris Goodall, author of the book "How to Live a Low-Carbon Life."

Read the rest.

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Climate change pow-wow

Keep in mind the UN meeting on climate change in Bali that runs up to the 14th. Initial estimates say that "some 15,000 politicians, officials, quangocrats and assorted busybodies are descending on Bali for a jamboree that will produce more than 100,000 tons of CO2 emissions. The purpose of their trip? To discuss how to reduce CO2 emissions."

Will they listen to their own kind?

Concerning the Current Consensus on Climate Change
Volume 10, Number 47: 21 November 2007

In a Policy Forum article inspired by the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Oppenheimer et al. (2007) write in the 14 September issue of Science that "with the general credibility of the science of climate change established, it is now equally important that policy-makers understand the more extreme possibilities that consensus may exclude or downplay." Why is that? Because, as they continue, "setting aside or minimizing the importance of key structural uncertainties in underlying processes is a frequent outcome of the drive for consensus."

In light of this illuminating admission, we note that the setting aside of key uncertainties in the climate modeling enterprise could well lead to more extreme possibilities at both ends of the climate prognostication spectrum, such that not only may earth's surface air temperature rise somewhat more than is predicted by the current IPCC consensus, it could equally as easily rise somewhat less than that august group has opined. And for the IPCC's current full range prediction of 21st century warming (1.1-6.4°C), somewhat less warming could well turn out to be indistinguishable from no warming at all.

Read the rest here.

Did you hear about the ship that sunk in the Antarctica? Thought maybe all of Antarctica has melted, huh? In any case, apparently shipowner was a friend of Al (who, fortunately was not aboard).

You’d never read this in the mainstream media: The owner of MS Explorer that sank, leaving a huge carbon footprint at the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean Friday is an acolyte of teensy-weensy carbon footprint crusader Al Gore.

G.A.P. Adventures CEO and Explorer owner, Bruce Poon Tip and Gore have similar ideals, “filling their schedules with speaking engagements on environmental change to educate global audiences.” And that’s straight off of www.gapadventures.com. In fact, as recently as last April, both Poon Tip and Gore gave presentations at the Green Living Show in Toronto.

The rest here.

25 years

Today is the 25th anniversary of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei's becoming a personal prelature. Tanti Auguri!

The most important person

Awww and a half. It isn't Mother's Day, but hey, any day is Mother's Day! So to all the Mothers out there:

The most important person on earth...

“The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral- a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body…Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature. God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation…What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?”

-Joseph Cardinal Mindzenty


H/T: Elizabeth Andrew

Spin as you like

Remember this AP poll that was headlined in the news as Poll: Most OK birth control for schools? There is a typical AP spin on this poll as Sweetness and Light puts it.

Says S&L: What a typical piece of carefully crafted mendacity from the Associated Press.

The entire article and the poll itself were obviously geared towards producing the headline and lede that the AP wanted to foist on the great unwashed.

Read all.

Walk out

Despite my beef re her "eating" pictures, I admire our Cebu governor. A news article lead says this:

CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia walked out of a beauty pageant on the eve of the fiesta celebration of Boljoon town last Friday. Garcia was invited to watch the contest after she attended a procession of the town's patron saint, Nostra Señora de Patrocinio de Maria (Virgin Mary). She was to receive a plaque of appreciation at the program. The province had given P3 million in assistance to help renovate Boljoon church, the fourth oldest church in the country. She was told that the beauty pageant would showcase "old, traditional Filipino costumes" but ...

Read all here.

Conned

Code Pink DC came out with a faux press release re Blackwater. Fooled a lot. Fact checkers on holiday leave.
Here's FrontPage Magazine's inside story.

H/T: MM.

Sweet

Justine Henin won the Sony Ericsson Championships against Masha in Madrid, the last tournament of the year. The win was number 10 for Justine, the only time a player has won in double digits in a season since Martina Hingis in 1997. There are other records Justine set with this win. The sweetest thing about this win: this limited Masha to only one win in the season.

I'll take your share

Since I was not a participant to the IPCC, I can't.

Mr. John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a participant in the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, does not want his share.

He opens his WSJ piece: I've had a lot of fun recently with my tiny (and unofficial) slice of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But, though I was one of thousands of IPCC participants, I don't think I will add "0.0001 Nobel Laureate" to my resume.

The other half of the prize was awarded to former Vice President Al Gore, whose carbon footprint would stomp my neighborhood flat. But that's another story.

Read all here.