DEDICATED TO EXPOSING DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA AND TO PROMOTING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS - WITH SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY. NO ADS. NO TIP-JAR. JUST THE TRUTH.
Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may no longer be enough to annihilate increasingly well-defended enrichment facilities. Several have been built beneath at least 70ft of concrete and rock.Exactly what I said above.
Svensmark and his colleague had arrived at their theory after examining data that showed a surprisingly strong correlation between cosmic rays --highspeed atomic particles originating in exploded stars in the Milky Way -- and low-altitude clouds. Earth's cloud cover increased when the intensity of cosmic rays grew and decreased when the intensity declined.
Low-altitude clouds are significant because they especially shield the Earth from the sun to keep us cool. Low cloud cover can vary by 2% in five years, affecting the Earth's surface by as much as 1.2 watts per square metre during that same period. "That figure can be compared with about 1.4 watts per square metre estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the greenhouse effect of all the increase in carbon dioxide in the air since the Industrial Revolution," Dr. Svensmark explained.
The Danish scientists put together several well-established scientific phenomena to arrive at their novel 1996 theory. The sun's magnetic field deflects some of the cosmic rays that penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, and in so doing it also limits the immense amounts of ions and free electrons that the cosmic rays produce. But something had changed in the 20th century: The sun's magnetic field more than doubled in strength, deflecting an extraordinary number of rays. Could the diminution of cosmic rays this century have limited the formation of clouds, making the Earth warmer?
That was a plausible theory. But exactly how cosmic rays might create clouds was a mystery -- an unprovable theory, many said. Some even claimed that it was inconceivable for cosmic rays to influence cloud cover.
To discover a mechanism, a team at the Danish National Space Center assembled by Dr. Svensmark undertook an elaborate laboratory experiment in a reaction chamber the size of a small room. The team duplicated the chemistry of the lower atmosphere by injecting the gases found there in the same proportions, and adding ultraviolet rays to mimic the actions of the sun.
What they found left them agape: A vast number of floating microscopic droplets soon filled the reaction chamber. These were ultra-small clusters of sulphuric acid and water molecules -- the building blocks for cloud condensation nuclei-- that had been catalyzed by the electrons released by cosmic rays.
Counter terrorism police have arrested and charged a 28-year-old Sydney gun dealer over the theft of seven rocket launchers from the Australian military allegedly for sale to a major underworld figure and suspected terrorist.It's clear that Muslims cannot be allowed to run businesses as gun merchants, as they're likely to smuggle some of the wares to terrorists under the table, or, as in the case of the suspect here, to steal weapons from the army to give to terrorist gangs. (Via David Frum.)
Taha Abdul Rahman was arrested at a house in Leumeah, in Sydney's south-west, early this morning in a joint operation by NSW Counter Terrorism Police, AFP and ASIO. He was charged with 17 offences. Police say Abdul Rahman, 28, supplied five of the Light Anti-Armour Weapons to one of the men arrested in anti-terrorism raids in Sydney last November over a plot to blow up the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Lucas Heights nuclear reactor.
[...] The theft of the rocket launchers was revealed exclusively by The Sydney Morning Herald last month. The story triggered a top-level national inquiry by security services into the theft of military weapons including an audit of arms stockpiles. In addition, all use of hand-held rocket launchers by the military has been suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry. "The person who received five (launchers) is currently facing terrorism-related charges on another matter,'' Australian Federal Police (AFP) Assistant Commissioner Frank Prendergast told reporters in Sydney.
The other weapons were supplied to another man who is facing criminal charges not related to terrorism.
A PLANE with 102 people aboard that disappeared in high winds over Indonesian waters twice changed course, an official said, as authorities widened the search for the Boeing 737. A US National Transportation Safety Board team arrived to help investigate the apparent crash of Adam Air Flight KI-574, which disappeared from radar screens on Monday near the Sulawesi coastal town of Majene without issuing a mayday. "Whatever happened to the plane, it was likely rapid and catastrophic," said Patrick Smith, a US-based pilot and aviation commentator, pointing to a possible massive structural failure due to metal fatigue or an onboard explosion.YUP: EXPLOSION. Just like I said... Stay tuned...
"But the vast majority of responses, even when couched as defenses of the right to free speech, were in fact hostile to the philosophy teacher. The Communist mayor of Saint-Orens-de-Gameville, echoed by the head of Redeker's school, deplored the fact that he had included his affiliation at the end of the article. France's two largest teachers' unions, both of them socialist, stressed that "they did not share Redeker's convictions." The leading leftist human-rights organizations went much farther, denouncing his "irresponsible declarations" and "putrid ideas."
... Among members of the media, Redeker was scolded for articulating his ideas so incautiously. On the radio channel Europe 1, Jean-Pierre Elkabach invited the beleaguered teacher to express his "regret." The editorial board of Le Monde, France's newspaper of record, characterized Redeker's piece as "excessive, misleading, and insulting." It went so far as to call his remarks about Muhammad "a blasphemy," implying that the founder of Islam must be treated even by non-Muslims in a non-Muslim country as an object not of investigation but of veneration.Above post cross-posted from Tongue Tied.
Philippine troops on Saturday killed six members of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group, including one wanted by the United States for involvement in the kidnapping of Americans, a military spokesman said. Philippine navy and army special forces troops backed by marines clashed with a group of rebels in waters off Panglima Sugala, southern Tawi-Tawi province Saturday, killing all six gunmen on a boat, said Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro. One of those killed, Judnam Jamalul, is among 17 Abu Sayyaf leaders and members who are wanted by the United States for involvement in attacks on American citizens.
Many of these attacks occurred on Clinton's watch. This is just more proof that global jihad has nothing to do with Bush or Iraq or Israel, and everything to do with the jihadists desire to reestablish The Caliphate under Wahhabist sharia.
Nine bodies have been found in a mass grave in Uruapan, in the western Mexican state of Michoacan. A state official said the bodies were found buried with their feet and hands tied and their mouths covered with tape in a warehouse in the city. President Felipe Calderon sent 7,000 soldiers to Michoacan state last month in an attempt to curb drug violence.BRAVO CALDERON! These bold military actions may eventually do the trick. The Leftist candidate - Obrador, who declared himself "the legitimate president of Mexico and held his own swearing in ceremony! - wouldn't have dared to undertake these bold military actions against the drug cartels in Michoacan, (and Tijuana); Leftist politicians like Obrador, Morales and Chavez blame the demand-side and generally seek legalization of the cultivation of the drug crops. At best the Left would seek to continue to treat the ant-drug war the way they treat the anti-jihad war: with feeble law enforcement tactics.
Drugs gangs have been blamed for more than 2,000 murders in Mexico last year, including some 500 in Michoacan state. ... President Calderon, who was sworn in last month, has vowed to curb drug-related violence.
Top Democrats Oppose More Troops in IraqQUOTE:
As President Bush prepares to present his new strategy on Iraq to the American people, Democratic Congressional leaders said today they will fight any approach that calls for deploying more United States troops there.
"Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq, we believe the way forward is to begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months, while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat to training, logistics, force protection and counter-terror."Running away - on a predetermined and public time-table, no less! - will send the same BAD signal we sent to our enemies in 1975. It is cowardly, It is wrong. It is typical Democrat policy. More HERE.
Bush has repeatedly said that we are fighting the enemy over there - (meaning Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, the Horn of Africa, etc.) - so we don't have to fight them over here.
A senior official in the Somali government's new Ministry of the Interior tolzad ABC News government forces had recovered "dozens of foreign passports," including several American passports, on the bodies of al Qaeda fighters killed in combat between forces affiliated with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and Ethiopian forces in Somalia.
These jihadists did NOT become radicalized in Somalia - or because of Iraq, (or Afghanistan). Like the 9/11 perp's, they were likely radicalized long before OSLO collapsed.Even by the standards of the extreme Right, he's (Nick Griffin) something of an extremist. He raged at David Irving when the fascist historian admitted that the Nazis had killed a few Jews (although not, for I wouldn't wish to offend the litigious Irving, in the mythical gas chambers of Auschwitz). The modest concession was a shameful betrayal of Holocaust denial, said Griffin. 'True Revisionists will not be fooled by this new twist to the sorry tale of the Hoax of the Twentieth Century.'Yes, it sure does. Brits who join the BNP simply because they agree with their perceived position vis a vis Muslim immigration need to know they are throwing their lot in with a Jew-hating, Ghaddafi-supporting party of proud fascists.The kinder, gentler BNP is only a ruse. The mask will come off when they attain real power, and then, Britain will find that they have elected their version of Hitler.
Griffin's mentors are from the terrorist wing of Italian fascism. He's a supporter of Colonel Gadaffi. In the 1990s, after transient success in the East End of London, he defined the party's alleged appeal and philosophy thus: 'The electors of Millwall did not back a Post-Modernist Rightist Party, but what they perceived to be a strong, disciplined organisation with the ability to back up its slogan "Defend Rights for Whites" with well-directed boots and fists. When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will, not of rational debate.'
Rationality certainly has no place in the BNP's account books. The party's treasurer, Michael Newland, resigned in disgust after Griffin used party funds to add an extension to his house. West Midlands fascists who complained that calling in interior designers was not the most effective way to create a new fatherland were purged. Yet for all his hard words about boots and fists, Griffin has become a touch post-modern. He saw the gains made by Haider in Austria and the Armani-clad 'post-fascists' in Italy and decided to rebrand the party.
The policy of expelling blacks and Asians from Britain and the Hitler-worship were hidden from public view and Griffin tried to become a semi-respectable politician with broad appeal. The partial realisation of his dream tells you all you need to know about the state of British politics.
UPDATEGo read the whole thing.
Over three hundred white supremacists gathered in New Orleans for the "2005 European American Conference," convened May 20 - 22 by David Duke. The theme of the conference was the unification of Europeans and Americans in opposition to Jews, who were demonized as blood suckers and parasites who dominate media and government around the world.
A significant number of politically affiliated European racists addressed the crowd, including Nick Griffin and Simon Darby from the far-right British National Party, Karl Richter and Marcus Haverkamp from Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), Vavra Suk and Lennart Berg of Sweden, Jean-Michel Girard of France's far-right National Front, and Deirdre Fields of South Africa.
It remains unclear whether these disparate American and international white supremacist groups will be able coordinate their anti-Jewish rhetoric and cooperate in their activities, but the simple fact of their participation in Duke's New Orleans meeting is a significant development in the world of white supremacy and anti-Semitism.
In the introductory headline to a series on American history that the publication has had online since at least 2002, Stern magazine (one of Germany's most widely-read weeklies) writes:America seems to have replaced the Jews as the hate-object of socialistic Germans. It fits in with a recent post of mine elsewhere: Americans as the new Jews. The whole post that I have excerpted above is well worth reading.
"The History of the USA: No nation has ever dominated the globe like the USA. And its people could care less about the rest of humanity."
Really? Is that why the USA sacrificed the lives of hundreds of thousands of its sons and daughters to liberate Germany from National Socialism? Is that why the United States spent billions to defend and rebuild West German democracy for decades on end? Is that why the United States helped Germans to establish the very democracy that guarantees German journalists the freedom to make outrageous, dehumanizing, sweeping anti-American statements like the one above?....
Now for some bad news: This won't end anytime soon. Stern's readers can't go without a steady diet of America-baiting. Hatred is a part of their ideological existence and they expect the magazine to deliver the goods.
UK scientists planning to mix human and animal cells in order to research cures for degenerative diseases fear their work will be halted. They accuse the body that grants licences for embryo research, the HFEA, of bowing to government pressure if it fails to consider their applications. Ministers proposed outlawing such work after unfavourable public opinion.TAB first discussed this issue HERE. I think people who feel that there is nothing wrong with HARVESTING human eggs and then blending their human DNA with the DNA from cows or pigs or mice are amoral, or morally impaired. These are the same folks who see nothing wrong with abortion or euthanasia. WHY? Because they view humans as merely a collection of protoplasm momentarily animated by a culturally derived ego. They don't believe in the sanctity of human life. The believe humans are soulless. Perhaps they are projecting their feeling about themselves?
... The creation of hybrid human-animal embryos was first suggested as a way of addressing the shortage of human eggs available for research. But the HFEA says it is unresolved whether this type of controversial work is permissible under existing laws - or even whether it falls under the HFEA's jurisdiction to grant a licence. The resulting embryos made are more than 99% human, with a small animal component. Opponents say this is tampering with nature and is unethical.
We just got back from the 3rd Annual Coalition to Salute America's Heroes Road to Recovery Conference. The girls and I missed the first three days of the conference due to classes and finals, but Dave said the speakers and the sessions were unbelievable.Read the rest.
We all were able to attend the closing banquet, where Gary Sinise provided the entertainment. What an awesome guy! You could just see how much he enjoyed playing for these wounded and disabled heroes....
... our troops and their families are making sacrifices each day so that we can continue going about our daily lives enjoying the precious freedoms that we have here in this country.Right on!
There are many ways that you can help them out or let them know that they are not forgotten. Truly one of the best things I do is reaching out to these fine men and women. Especially in this dangerous time we live in. They do their jobs voluntarily and we are fortunate to have people who, knowing how dangerous that work can be, are still willing to do what is necessary to defend our nation.
President Bush has decided to name Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus as the top American military commander in Iraq, part of a broad revamping of the military team that will carry out the administration’s new Iraq strategy, administration officials said Thursday. In addition to the promotion of General Petraeus, who will replace Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the choice to succeed Gen. John P. Abizaid as the head of the Central Command is expected to be Adm. William J. Fallon, who is the top American military officer in the Pacific, officials said.
Could it really be because the NAVY would lead any military move - like an embargo - against Iran, and also launch any preemptive military attack on IRAN? I think so.The Navy would likely be our lead force against Iran: The Gulf Cooperation Council plans to launch its largest ever military exercise:GCC sources said the six Gulf Arab members would conduct an exercise by the regional Peninsula Shield force over the next two months. They said the exercise, hosted by Oman, would contain air, ground and naval components in the Gulf region. "The exercise is designed to begin a serious effort at interoperability and regional defense," a GCC source said. "We have been planning this exercise carefully with our allies."
The source said Britain and the United States have been advising Peninsula Shield on the forthcoming exercise. The six GCC militaries employ mostly U.S. and British weapons platforms and also receive training from London and Washington.In fact, this will be the largest naval exercise ever run over there. (More here - and more HERE. And here.)
Complete round up on the personnel change HERE at MEMEORANDUM.
A plane missing over Indonesia with 102 people on board did not send out distress signals or report mechanical problems before disappearing, a top aviation official said today, as search teams intensified their hunt for the Boeing 737.
An hour after Adam Air Flight KI-574 took off on New Year's Day with 102 passengers and crew for what should have been a short hop between islands, the pilot reported heavy winds. Then, the plane disappeared, seemingly into thin air.
"We know nothing, whether it disintegrated in midair, flew into a storm or there were technical problems," said Nicholas Ionides, managing editor for Flight International Magazine in Asia. A top aviation official said the Adam Air plane that left Java island on Monday for Manado on Sulawesi island did not issue distress signals or complain of mechanical problems. The statements contradicted earlier reports and capped days of confusion.If this was not a equipment malfunction, or weather related, then it MAYBE it was an act of JIHADOTERROR? But... if it was an act of jihadoterror, why would jihadoterrorists choose to attack a jetliner within Indonesia, and why wouldn't they take "credit"?
A source close to Pajamas Media has learned that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has apparently succumbed to the cancer that hospitalized him last month, as exclusively reported by Pajamas Media, at age 67. He has been Iran’s most powerful figure since replacing Ayatollah Khomeini in the role of Supreme Leader in 1989.
THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE IS ALREADY HAVING ONE OF THE COLDEST EVER. HERE, TOO.THINGS AVERAGE OUT. THEY ALWAYS HAVE; THEY ALWAYS WILL.
I believe it is highly possible that terrorists, in Britain, are in possession of a nuclear bomb and are getting ready to use it. Here's why:Nuclear weapons are, in some sense, unstable; they are said to decay over time, and become ineffective, if not properly maintained.
Now, I would imagine that not all the parts of a nuclear weapon decay at the same rate. For instance, we can assume the shell - which is probably made of metal or plastic - does not decay rapidly. So, it is something within the bomb which decays. Of course, heavy metals themselves are unstable and emit radiation, so it could be that more uranium or plutonium needs to be added to the core periodically. But, I don't have enough information to know if this is the case.
Here's what I do know, from what I have read about the Litvinenko case. Polonium 210 is the trigger that starts the chain reaction within the uranium or plutonium core in a nuclear weapon. In other words, you have a core of plutonium or uranium and you need a trigger which is packed around the core, which itself explodes with enough force to compress the plutonium to the point that a chain reaction will ensue.Could it be that Polonium 210 is the unstable element of a nuclear weapon which needs maintanence? Could it be that our Muslim friend Litvinenko was smuggling polonium into Britain so that they could bring an already existing nuclear device back into working form?
Now, when I wrote that post, I received some negative comments about my seemingly wild flight of fancy. Turns out that I am, more than likely, correct in my speculation. From Terrorism expert, Paul Williams (written December 6, 2006) whom I will be interviewing on my radio show this coming week:
The death of Alexander Litvinenko by radiological poisoning points to the possibility that the former Soviet spy may have been involved with Islamic terrorists in the preparation of tactical nuclear weapons for use in the jihad against the United States and its NATO allies.
Litvenenko, a former KGB agent, died in London on November 23 after ingesting a microscopic amount of polonium-210. In a deathbed statement, Litvinenko blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the poisoning - - an accusation which the Kremlin has vehemently denied.
Litvinenko, who was born an orthodox Christian, was a convert to Islam with close ties to the Chechen rebels. His last words consisted of his desire to be buried “according to Muslim tradition.”
In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to suitcase nukes that were developed by U.S. and Soviet forces during the Cold War. Reliable sources, including Hans Blix of the United Nation, have confirmed that bin Laden purchased several of these devises from the Chechen rebels in 1996.
According to Sharif al-Masri and other al Qaeda operatives who have been taken into custody, several of these weapons have been forward deployed to the United States in preparation for al Qaeda’s next attack on American soil.
This brings us to the mysterious case of Litvinenko. The neutron source or “triggers” of the suitcase nukes are composed of beryllium-9 and polonium-210. When these two elements are combined, the alpha particle is absorbed by the nucleus of the beryllium causing it to decay by emitting a neutron. Such “triggers” were a feature of early nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Soviet stockpiles.
Polonium-210 has a half-life of 138 days, necessitating the replacement of the triggers every six months. (Read the rest.)
‘It is a far graver threat in terms of civilians than either the Cold War or the Second World War,’ he said. ‘It’s a much graver threat than that posed by Irish Republican terrorism.’
ABC News has learned that al Qaeda operatives in the greater London area are being encouraged to “strike during the Christian holidays,” according to intelligence and law enforcement sources…
ABC News sources in North America and the U.K. say that British authorities are constantly on the run, breaking up plots on a near weekly basis that have reached the pre-operational phase.Sources in Britain add that at least one “pivotal…al Qaeda U.K.” operative has been detained during the past two weeks, and others may — at least temporarily — be in custody.
Police are trying to trace a gang of British Muslims who are thought to have returned to plot terror attacks in Britain after being trained abroad for more than a year by al-Qaeda, Nine Britons, all said to be in their twenties, were among a group of 12 Western recruits groomed by al-Qaeda at a secret camp near the Afghan border to set up new terror cells in London and other Western capitals.
Police do not know the real identities of this gang, who are known as the “English brothers” because of their shared language. As well as nine Britons, they include two Norwegians and an Australian who were smuggled into the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan in October 2005.They are believed to have been under the command of an al-Qaeda veteran suspected of training some of the Britons accused of the alleged plot to blow up passenger planes flying to the US from Heathrow airport in the summer. ...Intelligence sources in Pakistan said that the men are reported to have joined Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan in attacks on Nato troops. The sources told The Times that the “brothers” were given religious indocrination as well as lessons on how to assemble suicide bomb vests and improvised explosive devices.
The sources are reported to have been escorted to the al-Qaeda camp by Adam Gadahn, a Californian indicted by the US authorities as an al-Qaeda terrorist, who introduced the “brothers” to their tutors.
And, why would Berezovsky be paying for Scaramella's lawyers? I only think he would do so if Scaramella was working for him, and if Scaramella threatened to out him, (like EH Hunt threatened Nixon). Amid protests from the United States and the European Union, the Defense Ministry is reconsidering its approval of a new Jordan Valley community located over the Green Line, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday. The government and the Defense Ministry initially downplayed last week's decision to allow the construction of 30 homes for Gaza evacuees in Maskiot.The EU and US mentioned "Israel's international commitments with respect to the West Bank". Let us be clear here. The only "commitment" involved here is the so-called road map, but the Arab side, that is, the "Palestinian Authority", was obliged to disarm all the militias in its zones or territory before Israel was obliged to do anything. The palestinian authority is far from disarming any militias and has openly said that it will not do so, and is probably incapable of doing so. Therefore, Israel is not bound by any "road map" obligations.
A government source told the Post then that the decision was merely "adjusting" the status of a plot of state land where settlement has been authorized since 1981. The small community, which is located off an isolated road in the Jordan Valley, has been populated on and off since 1982. Currently, it is home to a few permanent residents and a small pre-army academy that houses 50 Orthodox men in fewer than a dozen small white buildings.
The new homes would be constructed adjacent to the existing structures and would more than triple the number of structures on the site. But after the EU and the US said the initiative violated Israel's international commitments with respect to the West Bank, Defense Minister Amir Peretz decided to reconsider the decision, according to sources in the Defense Ministry. Discussions within the government are also taking place considering whether to go ahead with the project.
On a weekend when the Bush administration achieved a new CAIR-friendly low, a prominent Democrat, following the lead of other prominent Democrats, distanced herself very publicly from the unsavory Council on American-Islamic Relations.Read it all. What's amazing is that, while Dubya's been doing this, the Dems by contrast have been waking up. But one has yet to wonder if it's all for political gain. Either way, this is very serious, and people with common sense must start paying serious attention.
The Transportation Security Administration is the executive agency created after 9/11 to protect American travelers. Yet, Americans viewing its website this weekend could not have felt very protected. Aghast, instead, would have been the proper response to this posting. As if snuggling up to CAIR, coercing our law-enforcement and intelligence professionals to endure CAIR’s Islamic “sensitivity training,” and inviting CAIR to weigh in on our nation’s foreign policy were not enough, we now have a Bush-administration agency publishing an unedited CAIR press release on publicly subsidized, official government Internet space.
In this instance, right under TSA’s emblem and a memorial banner depicting the late President Gerald R. Ford, Americans were treated to a news announcement beneath the big blue headline, “CAIR Welcomes TSA Hajj Sensitivity Training.” If you have the stomach for it, compare this TSA posting to the official CAIR press release from which it cribbed. They are identical.
Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he'd take his oath of office on the Koran -- especially from Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, who called it a threat to American values. Yet the holy book at tomorrow's ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We've learned that the new congressman -- in a savvy bit of political symbolism -- will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.Thomas Jefferson was noted for his research on all religions. He could also have read the Koran for the purpose of doing research related to the motivation of the Barbary Pirates. It is unlikely that Mr. Ellison will mention the following when he holds that special Koran in his photo-op ritual:
"He wanted to use a Koran that was special," said Mark Dimunation, chief of the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress, who was contacted by the Minnesota Dem early in December. Dimunation, who grew up in Ellison's 5th District, was happy to help. Jefferson's copy is an English translation by George Sale published in the 1750s; it survived the 1851 fire that destroyed most of Jefferson's collection and has his customary initialing on the pages. This isn't the first historic book used for swearing-in ceremonies -- the Library has allowed VIPs to use rare Bibles for inaugurations and other special occasions....
Jefferson was always reluctant to reveal his religious beliefs to the public, but at times he would speak to and reflect upon the public dimension of religion... [...] ...[A]s he writes to William Short on October 31, 1819, he was convinced that the fragmentary teachings of Jesus constituted the "outlines of a system of the most sublime morality which has ever fallen from the lips of man."...In contrast, Mr. Ellison does not hesitate in proclaiming his religious preferences. See "Ellison: Muslim Activism As Part Of Allah's Plan."
... poverty has a cure. But for the left--those "progressives" that Sowell identifies, to embrace that cure would require letting go their death-grip on an ideology whose economic redistribution plans have repeatedly been shown to be catastrophically ineffective and oppressive in the real world. ... the alleviation of poverty is directly linked to economic freedom. The more liberty; the more people are free to pursue their own happiness, the less poverty. ... The freest economies have a per-capita income of $29,219, more than twice that of the "mostly free" at $12,839, and more than four times that of the "mostly unfree." It is economic freedom that is the true cure for poverty. Not taxes. Not regulation. Not government control of the economy and redistribution of wealth; but capitalism.
... One cannot escape noticing that the intellectual trend in the West is to continually bash capitalism, business, and free trade; while simultaneously enjoying the benefits of them.
Our academics rail against business. Our government constantly seeks to control it. Our youth are propagandized to death about its evils. Popular culture refrains from painting Islamofascists as the villians in movies out of political correctness, but does not hesitate to make big businessmen evil and grandiose.
One harmful result of this sorry situation is that there are few people--even among those who stalwartly defend the free market, who understand and appreciate the essential morality of capitalism.
The foundation of capitalism is human freedom in its most classical, liberal tradition. ...Redistributing wealth--the method of choice promulgated by the political left--is a scam that so-called "progressive" con artists have played for many decades now. What they actually do is redistribute poverty because their goal of the scam, as Sowell brilliantly notes, is to give themselves "sweeping powers to control other people's lives, in the name of curing the ills of society."
Scratch a progressive leftist, and you will see that underneath the caring, compassionate exterior he or she presents to the world, is the con artist/tyrant whose primary desire is control over others.
Reliapundit: FREE PEOPLE ARE WHAT CONSTITUTE A FREE MARKET - ANY MARKET: WOOL; COTTON; OIL; DOLLARS; GOLD; STOCKS. WHEN YOU INTERFERE WITH A FREE MARKET IN ORDER TO PREDETERMINE OUTCOMES, THEN YOU ARE LIMITING FREEDOM AND GUARANTEEING SKEWED, INEFFICIENT, AND UNSUSTAINABLE RESULTS.
WE FIRST RELATED THIS LAST FRIDAY - WHEN CALDERON SENT 7000 TROOPS TO HIS HOME STATE. NOW THE NYTIMES IS REPORTING MORE:Mexico is sending more than 3,000 soldiers and federal police to the violent border city of Tijuana to fight drug trafficking, the interior secretary said Tuesday, the latest offensive by President Felipe Calderon who has vowed to crack down on organized crime. The force -- backed by 28 boats, 21 planes and nine helicopters -- will hunt down suspected drug gangs, patrol the coast and man checkpoints in a city that is a popular smuggling route for cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana entering the United States, Francisco Ramirez Acuna said in a news conference in Mexico City. ''We will carry out all the necessary actions to retake every region of national territory,'' Ramirez Acuna said. ''We will not allow any state to be a hostage of drug traffickers or organized crime.''THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE RULE OF LAW IN MEXICO.
[NOTE: HAD THE OBRADOR THE LOSING LEFTIST CANDIDATE - (PICTURED AT LEFT AT HIS ALTERNATIVE SWEARING IN CEREMONY IN WHICH HE DECLARED HIMSELF PRESIDENT!) - WON THE LAST ELECTION, I DOUBT THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT WOULD'VE EVER TAKEN A HARD-LINE AND USED FEDERALES; THE LEFT BLAMES THE EXISTENCE OF THE DRUG CARTELS ON THE DEMAND SIDE.]
Researchers in Switzerland have demonstrated more-efficient water-splitting solar cells based on a cheap, abundant, and long-lasting material: rust. The advance could lead to a cheap and energy-efficient way to generate hydrogen for fuel-cell vehicles using solar energy.RTWT.
Water-splitting solar panels would have important advantages over existing technologies in terms of hydrogen production. Right now, the primary way to make hydrogen is to separate it from natural gas, a process that generates carbon dioxide and undercuts the main motivation for moving to hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles: ending dependence on fossil fuels. The current alternative is electrolysis, which uses electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen, with the two gases forming at opposite electrodes. Although electrolysis is costly, it can be cleaner if the source of the electricity is wind, sun, or some other carbon-free source.
But if the source of the electricity is the sun, it would be much more efficient to use solar energy to produce hydrogen by a photochemical process inside the cell itself.
UN staff accused of raping children in Sudan"REUTERS":
Members of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Sudan are facing allegations of raping and abusing children as young as 12, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
The abuse allegedly began two years ago when the UN mission in southern Sudan (UNMIS) moved in to help rebuild the region after a 23-year civil war. ... It is thought that hundreds of children may have been abused.
''I was sitting by the river the first time it happened," said Jonas, 14, one of more than 20 children who told the Telegraph they had been abused this way.
"A man in a white car drove past and asked me if I wanted to get into the car with him. I saw that the car was a UN car because it was white with the black letters on it. The man had a badge on his clothes. When he stopped the car, we got out, he put a blindfold on me and started to abuse me. It was painful and went on for a long time. When it was over we went back to the place we had been, and he pushed me out of the car and left."
The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday that U.N. peacekeepers and civilian staff were raping and abusing children as young as 12 in southern Sudan. The newspaper, in a story posted on its Web site, said it had gathered accounts from more than 20 young victims in the town of Juba of U.N. civilian and peacekeeping staff forcing them to have sex. The U.N. Peacekeeping Department in New York declined to comment.
U.N. peacekeepers in southern Sudan face several allegations of raping and sexually abusing children, some as young as 12, a British newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Daily Telegraph, citing an internal report by UNICEF along with interviews with more than 20 victims of the purported abuse, reported that the alleged abuse began two years ago when the U.N. Mission in Southern Sudan, known as UNMIS, arrived to help maintain peace in the region after a more than two-decade civil war. "The first indications of sexual exploitation emerged within months of the U.N. force's arrival and The Daily Telegraph has seen a draft of an internal report compiled by the U.N. children's agency UNICEF in July 2005 detailing the problem," the paper reported on its Web site. "Evidence suggests that UNMIS staff may already be involved in sexual exploitation."
The report appeared on the first day of work for U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who this week became the world body's eighth secretary-general, succeeding Kofi Annan of Ghana. ... The newspaper said Sudan's government had gathered evidence including video footage of UN workers having sex with young girls.
But the UN had yet to publicly acknowledge there was a problem or even investigate, the newspaper said. The UN, working with the African Union, is now pressing the Sudanese government to admit thousands more peacekeepers to its western Darfur region, where a separate civil war has raged for three years. The government has been resisting letting the reinforcements into Darfur, calling it an attempt to recolonise the vast northern African nation. Sexual abuse charges have surfaced for decades in UN peacekeeping missions and among civilian and other humanitarian staff operating in world hot spots.
