MOGADISHU LIBERATED

The jihadist, Islamist forces who were holding Mogadishu have fled the former Somali capital city. That's the good news. However, if the Somali clans do not settle the underlying political divisions that have prevented the establishment of a real government in the country, chaos will continue to plague the Horn of Africa. That would still be preferable to the establishment of a jihadist national base for Al Qaeda and other terrorists.

AN IDIOTIC "GREEN" BRIDGE

Rationality is in short supply in anything Greenies touch and the new "Green" bridge over the river in Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) is no exception. It has a cycle path, a pedestrian path and two road lanes that mostly empty buses trundle over but the road lanes are not open to cars. It is an anti-car bridge! Since there is little additional car-parking close to the bridge, it seems unlikely to be much used -- despite its cost to the taxpayer of $54 million.

The idiocies do not end there, however. It does not encourage pedestrians either. Have a look at the photo above and note the partial awning over the pedestrian path. It is situated on the South of the path but Brisbane is South of the tropic of Capricorn so the sun always comes from the North. So the awning is totally useless as a sunshade. And you can see that it is little use as a rain-shelter either. Someone must not have told the architect that the rain rarely falls straight down!

My previous post about the bridge was on December 17th (scroll down).

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

IMMIGRANTS OUT OF WORK

According to this article in the December 27, 2006 edition of the Washington Post, many immigrants in the D.C. area are having trouble finding work, now that the housing market has taken a severe downturn:

Hispanic immigration to the Washington region has always followed a seasonal pattern, as the winter puts a chill on outdoor labor and drives workers south. But with home sales and housing starts dropping after years of steady growth, many Hispanic workers -- legal and illegal -- say the good times are gone....

Demographers who track migration patterns and embassy staff members say it's too soon to tell exactly how the housing construction decline has affected the region's Hispanic population. But stories of departing workers abound. Some workers say they're headed home; others, spurred by rumors of construction jobs, try their fortunes in the Carolinas, Georgia, New Orleans. "It's a little better here, but not much," said Raul Amayas, 21, a Salvadoran immigrant reached by phone in Charlotte....

It remains to be seen if this new migration will affect areas not usually impacted by the presence of immigrants. And what if jobs are just not available?

IS THIS WHAT ELLISON WANTS AMERICA TO LEARN FROM ISLAM?

In a previous TAB post, Always On Watch noticed Rep. Keith Ellison's exhortations to an enthusiastic Muslim audience. Rep. Ellison (D. - MN) was quoted in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (in the Detroit Free Press story by Niraj Warikoo) as saying:

"Muslims, you're up to bat right now. . ." he said. "How do you know that you were not brought right here to this place to learn how to make this world better? How do you know that Allah, sallalahu aleyhi wasallam," (meaning peace be upon him) "did not bring you here so that you could understand how to teach people what tolerance was, what justice was? ... How do you know that you're not here to teach this country?"

Well, how do we know that Muslims were not brought "here so that [they] could understand how to teach people what tolerance was" -??? I'll tell you how. Read this report in The Australian (Hat tip: Charles Johnson) regarding religious tolerance in Malaysia:

LAWYER Malik Imtiaz Sawar seems a most unlikely person to attract death threats. A small, softly spoken, friendly man, the impression he gives is above all one of consideration.

What has earned him the death threats is his appearance in court on behalf of Lina Joy, a case that has become a battleground of Malaysian political and cultural identity, and of freedom of religion.

The case highlights what some analysts believe is the Arabisation of Malaysian Islam, a dynamic that can also be seen in Indonesia.

Lina Joy was once a Muslim but has converted to Christianity. She didn't do so to make any broad point or to lead any social movement. It was entirely a private decision. But in Malaysia the state takes official notice of your race and religion.

Lina Joy tried to get herself deregistered as a Muslim and reregistered as a Christian. As a Muslim she is not allowed to marry a Christian man and any children she has must be brought up as Muslims.

When the state authorities refused to accept her conversion she appealed to the courts on the basis of Article 11 of the Malaysian constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion.

The case, in which judgment could be given at any time, has polarised Malaysia. Many Muslims believe apostasy - changing your religion - is not only a sin but should be punishable by death.

The report is entitled "Death of religious tolerance in Malaysia."

Is that what Rep. Keith Ellison thinks that Americans should be learning? Implementing sharia law and punishing apostasy from Islam with death?

As Patrick Henry said, "Forbid it, Almighty God."

PIPES: THE ENEMY WITHIN CAN CAUSE OUR DEFEAT: "pacifism, self-hatred, complacency "

PIPES: We defeated the Nazis and the commies - who had vast war-machines. Islamicists are not as well equipped - yet! - but could defeat us. WHY?! Because of our pacifism, self-hatred, complacency. RTWT.

I have long argued that these three defeatist attitudes are primarily caused by post modernism. (Google "post modern" at this blog; you might find a few post on it!).

PROOF THAT BESIDES BEING A LIFELONG TRAITOR, KERRY IS A FREAKIN' MORON

Michele and Black Five and Parkway Rest Stop have the details on Kerry's trip to Iraq to visit with the troops- and how he was deservedly shunned by the people he maligned. There are more pic's at the above links which prove it.


What did he expect!? He slurred them! While we are at war, no less! Sheesh.


What makes it worse - (as if it could be!) - is the fact that this stinking traitorous turd actually still fancies himself the POTUS - as position which would also make him the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and the most senor Commanding Officer of all those troops he thinks are too stupid to get 'real" jobs as civilians.

I mean... does he think that as president he can really effectively lead people he has slandered!?

Or does he think that he's gonna cashier the dumb ones and attract smarter ones!?

And if he believes that his Leftist high tax economic policies are gonna make the economy BETTER, then how the heck is he gonna attract smarter volunteers!? Or will he come out for a universal draft!?

MY POINT: It makes no sense that Kerry should consider himself qualified to be Commander in Chef. It's idiotic for him to believe that he can EVER lead this nation's Armed Forces. He should accept this simple truth and MOVE ON.

UPDATE: MICHELE PROVES THAT THE PHOTO OF SHUNNED KERRY IS REAL.

GERALD FORD, RIP

President Ford - the only unelected man to serve in that office - certainly proved at least one thing: we are a nation of laws, not men. Too bad he lost to Dhimmi Carter. (Round up here.)

DOES THE USA HAVE A LOW LIFE-EXPECTANCY?

The article excerpted below says that it does. I will leave it to demographers to comment more fully on it as I could not with a quick search find the figures upon which it is supposedly based. The article says that it is based on this report and that report says in turn that it is based on this report but I cannot find national life expectancy tables in either. This table, however, may be the one referred to.

There are well-known flaws in studies of this kind, however. For instance, pre-term babies are often delivered live in the USA and some die subsequently. Those deaths feed into the figures and so lower overall life-expectancy. In many other countries, however, such babies would die very soon after birth and would not be recorded as live births -- thus removing the effect of preterm births on their figures. See here.

Other factors to bear in mind are that some countries (such as Communist Cuba) probably "massage" their figures to make themselves look good and that the U.S. population is not homogeneous. Blacks die younger, for instance. So overall figures again tell us little. And American mothers often delay childbearing into their 30s, which unfortunately is associated with higher risk to the babies born (more mongolism, for instance, and mongols die young).

Additionally, trust in United Nations figures is laughably gullible. Anybody who thinks that the U.N. does not have political agendas (almost invariably of a Leftist and anti-American kind) does not know much. Here's the excerpt with the dubious "facts":

"If you had a choice between two countries, one with a few thousand dollars more annual income and the other with a longer life expectancy, which would you go for? The most common way for countries to be ranked is by gross domestic product per person - a measure of economic output. On this gauge, the mighty US tops the list, apart from a few super-rich aberrations such as the tiny state of Luxembourg.

But the relative performance of countries according to life expectancy tells another story. Being born in the richest country doesn't mean you can expect to have the longest life. There are nine countries with a life expectancy at birth of more than 80, but the world's richest and most powerful nation, the US, is not one of them. Life expectancy there is 77.5 years, more than 4.5 years shorter than Japan, which tops the longevity list on 82.2 years (followed by Hong Kong, Iceland, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Canada, Italy and Israel).

(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Page. Email me - John Ray - here.)

WILL OLMERT EVER END THE FAILED POLICY OF RESTRAINT IN THE FACE OF CONTINUOUS KASSAM ROCKET ATTACKS?

Thanks to Ehud Olmert's policy of "restraint" in the face of terrorism, two boys in Sderot were wounded by kassam rocket shrapnel yesterday. Olmert is going to hold a discussion on the matter today, but it's much too late.

Now, I don't think much of defense minister (and Labor leader) Amir Peretz, but he's certainly right when he says that we shouldn't gamble with the lives of citizens in Sderot - where he's also a resident. In that case, maybe he should think about leaving the government in protest if Olmert is going to undermine him as he's been for some time now.

AT PROJECTED RATES OF CONSUMPTION, THERE ARE ENOUGH PROVEN GLOBAL OIL RESERVES FOR AT LEAST A CENTURY

ACCORDING TO THIS NEWSWEEK ARTICLE. RTWT. (Hat tip RCP.) And we will probably discover a lot more oil, and also find new ways to economically exploit known depositis which are not economically feasible to exploit goiven today's technology.

So... when you hear someone say "peak oil" or tell you we're gonna run out, you tell them to STFU.

DO ALL CUBANS HAVE ACCESS TO SPECIALISTS FLOWN IN FROM EUROPE?

NO. But Castro got one. Flew in from the EUssr - home of universal healthcare. I wonder why? Weren't Cuban doctors good enough!? I guess not. So much for the vaunted Cuban medical education system.

Meanwhile... EUROPEANS - ALMOST ALL OF WHOM SUFFER UNDER SOCIALIST HEALTHCARE - OFTEN DON'T GET SPECIALISTS FOR THEMSELVES!

Socialists: hypocrites; elitists; phonies; liars; scum. It's like Hillary and Bill OPPOSING school vouchers and then sending their kid to private school. Or like them fighting Social Security reform and enslaving most people to Social Security while padding their personal retirement accounts. Or like them deriding the family with an SUV while jetting around in private planes. Or like them politicking for limits to the 2nd Amendment while having concealed gun-permits and/or armed body-gaurds. Or like them deriding the intelligence and moral committment of the troops while calling themselves patriotic. SCUM. Or like them deriding Israel's security fence, but not even commenting on India's or Saudi Arabia's. ANTI-SEMITIC SCUM. Leftist scum all.

GRAMSCI, BOSS TWEED, AND A QUESTION ABOUT THE IMMIGRATION AND DRAFT POLICIES OF THE POST MODERN LEFT

The Left believes that the military is overwhelmingly poor and under-educated (a factually FALSE claim repeatedly made by Charles Rangel, among others).

The Left believes that the biggest reason most people join the military is that they are under-educated and can't find a good job in the Bush economy - because the Bush economy is horribly bad; (ALSO FACTUALLY FALSE - AND HAS BEEN FOR YEARS).

Phenomenal US economic growth - AND CONSUMPTION - helped the entire world economy. FACT (Clinton Sec Treas Summers):

"...the world economy in aggregate grew more during the last five years than in any five-year period since World War II."

So... if the Lefties REALLY believe that the economy is bad and that wages are too low and that this is forcing people to join the military then why don't Lefties favor severely curtailing legal immigration and ENDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION altogether by building a wall on our border with Mexico?!

These two policies would create a huge labor shortage, which would, in turn, drive wages up and lure these under-educated people away from the military. This would hobble the military's recruiting, and force the Pentagon to request a return to the draft, and it would drive up wages - two goals the Left claims are central to their platform. IOW: It seems to me that Leftie Doves should be immigration hawks.


I think they don't pursue these policies because they run counter to their deeper agenda, (their post modernist agenda - THEIR GRAMSCIAN AGENDA), which is an agneda designed to permenantly hobble the USA and weaken the West.

Toward that end, they want the USA to be less Anglo-American, and unfettered immigration - coupled with multiculturalism which doesn't demand assimilation - helps mightily to achieve that end.

And it's also because they want to use the immigrants as a voting bloc - as they have for a century. Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall are alive and well.

The more they let in, the more potential voters they think they'll be able co-opt. Like most elitist power-seeking groups, the Left - the Democrat Party - places achieving power for themselves above policy consistency and policy goals.

Proving once again that they are a cynical bunch of hypocritical demagogues. They seek to exploit race and class differences - and even faith in God - ONLY to achieve power. Even if it weakens our national defenses - as a draft would.

In a nutshell: the Democrat Party is controlled by two forces: one Gramscian and post modernist; the other Tammany-esque and all about partisanship, patronage and exploiting class and race differences, and this part is as old as the party itself. Both of these forces are bad for America - and therefore bad for the Free World.

[NOTE: I call them the post modern Left to distinguish them from the the Old Left - (the idealistic dupes of the 1930's), and the New Left - (the "anti-war" dupes of the 1960's), and to highlight the centrality of their moral and cultural relativism and their anti-Western attitudes.

Though post modernism began in the ashes of WW1, (which seemed for many - especially the so called intelligentsia who controlled the academy and the bureaucracy - to be such a collossal waste that it led them to hate the West and everything Western), it didn't get control of the Left until China abandoned Marxism and the USSR collapsed.

Faced with the utter failure of their economics-driven ideology in the economic sphere, the Left whole-heartedly enlisted in a culturally-drive war against the bourgeoisie - which Gramsci had agitated for and which had been present in "bohemian" Leftism before the 1990's but which hadn't yet dominated it. Now Gramscian ideologues dominate the Left and the Democrat Party.]

TO DENY PRIORITY CARE: THE MEANS AND ENDS OF "HEALTHCARE FOR ALL"

In Britain, Tony Blair's Cabinet is considering denying "priority treatment" to smokers, the obese, and people with drinking problems:

Experts warned this month that obesity, which costs the NHS £7bn a year, could bankrupt it if left unchecked and predicted that the proportion of obese adults would rise from one in five to one in three by 2010.







Smoking-related diseases cost an estimated £1.7bn a year, with the same amount spent on alcohol-related problems. The treatment of alcohol-related harm, such as violent crime and traffic accidents, costs an estimated £20bn.

That's the compassion of the left at work. This may sound reasonable to some, but the question is, where does such policy end?

If it is unreasonable to expect the state to provide "priority" care to those who smoke or drink then is it also unreasonable to provide priority care to those who take physical risks by playing sports?

After all, I'm sure statistics can be brought forth that such people account for a disproportionate amount of surgeries and other procedures for broken bones, torn ligaments, and concussions. And don't even get me started on all the rehab required. And, of course, there are all those who aren't fat, but who do eat a rich diet. And, what of those who insist upon having children despite having genetic predispositions towards certain diseases?

And, how long will these deficient people have to wait for their care? Until the problems get even worse, so that major invasive treatment is needed? Does that make sense? Or, do you think, perhaps, the compassionate Left intends to wait until the problems go away by themselves? You know, naturally, through the intervention of Grim Reaper himself?

Now that's what I call a Health Care Plan.

Reliapundit adds: REMEMBER: The Left designed the Social Security system here in the USA in 1930 to only begin pay out AFTER a person had EXCEEDED the average age of mortality. THAT'S NOT HUMANE LET ALONE GENEROUS. If people had their own personally controlled pension then they could retire when they see fit.

ALSO - as I wrote in the comments - because smoking and being "over-weight": are un-PC smokers and over-woeght people are "fair game" to the Left. Hence the Left has no reticence about freezing them out of benefits. Despite the FACT that there is a genetic component to tobacco addiction and obesity. In addition, the Left woud NEVER even think of proposing that those who get deadly STD's (like AIDS) be denied priority treatment even though these diseases are the result of VOLUNTARY behavior undertaken IRRESPONSIBLY (unprotected sex high risk).

BOTTOM LINE: this proves that those on the Left are NOT pragmantic intellectuals who know better how to solve social problems, but are in fact parochial elitists who want to pick winners and losers according to their own narrow values.

KEY QUESTION FOR SENIORS: Do YOU REALLY want the State to have final say over who gets what kind of care in life-or-death (and/or end-of-life) situations when you KNOW that the State has a basic CONFLICT OF INTEREST in these matters - as they save money TWO WAYS by denying seniors care: first by saving the medical expenses; second by saving the pension payout seniors would've gotten had they received the care and lived?!?! I sure don't.

ELLISON: MUSLIM ACTIVISM AS PART OF ALLAH'S PLAN

From this source, on December 25, 2006 [Hat-tip to Jihadi Du Jour]:

Speaking in Dearborn, Mich., late Sunday night, the first Muslim elected to Congress told a cheering crowd of Muslims they should remain steadfast in their faith and push for justice. "You can't back down, you can't chicken out, you can't be afraid, you got to have faith in Allah, and you got to stand up and be a real Muslim," Detroit native Keith Ellison said to loud applause. "Allahu akbar" — God is great — was the reply of many in the crowd....

Ellison said in Dearborn that Muslims can help teach America about justice and equal protection, suggesting that Muslim activists may be part of God's plan. He spoke at the annual convention of two Muslim groups, the Muslim American Society and the Islamic Circle of North America....

Those who found fault with poliictal activism from evangelical Christians, who often mention "God's plan", remain noticeably silent when it comes to criticizing Ellison's remarks.

Reliapundit adds: Great point AOW! Those on the Left only hate religions which reinforce Western Civilization, but if it UNDERMINES it (as Islam does, I would argue)... then they love it. It's why they've always been so fascinated by Eastern religion and now Islam: they are essentially antithetical to Western Civilization and free markets. This anti-religion aspect of Leftism is at least as old as Marxism, but ALL modern and post-modern statist ideologies are essentially hostile to Judeo-Christianity because a basic tenet of this is that we are all equal before the Lord, and none is Lord but God. This undermines the claim of absolute authority of all tyrants. Sure: many historically claimed "divine right" but this is and always was bogus. And in fact the long march toward liberty and democracy was centered for a long time on displacing these rulers and making null their bogus claims.

ASBESTOS: RATIONAL CAUTION VERSUS FEAR-MONGERING

At one of my other blogs - GREENIE WATCH - I related the fact that since naturally-occurring asbestos has been around in the soil of large parts of Southern California at least ever since the area was settled in the 1780s, we should be seeing widespread asbestos-related disease in the area by now. But there has not been a single report of that!

So we have in Southern California a most interesting natural experiment in showing how asbestos is not remotely the threat to health that has been proclaimed.

In response to that posting, I received a couple of emails from an anti-asbestos organization (significantly funded by trial lawyers, I would imagine) disputing what I had said. They implicitly admitted that SoCal did not have an unusually high incidence of asbestos-related disease but tried to explain that away. Their explanation, in my summary, is that there is both "good" and "bad" asbestos (I wonder why we don't usually hear THAT?) and that the bad asbestos has until recently obligingly confined itself to virgin territory undisturbed by man.

If you believe that, you would believe anything, it seems to me. For a start, virgin territory must be as rare in SoCal as are are other sorts of virginity. But I will leave it to unaffilated experts in California soil types to map those types against areas and dates of settlement.

The interest of the article excerpted below is to show that in at least some areas the naturally occurring asbestos is of a type that two arms of government consider dangerous and that quite minor human activity -- such as kids playing -- can kick up asbestos-containing dust which can then be breathed in. As much of SoCal is a desert climate made usable by irrigation only, there is a lot of dust there to be kicked up. So even if an area is not quite "virgin", almost any usage that has been made of it should have kicked up lots of asbestos. And all the farming in SoCal using those horrific PLOWS must be saturating the area in asbestos!

I am not of course disputing that heavy industrial and mining exposure to some types of asbestos can cause disease. Toxicologists however have a saying that "The toxicity is in the dose".

In other words, scientific caution would dictate that we ask if sub-industrial levels (lower levels) of exposure to asbestos are also harmful. The California example would seem to show that such levels are NOT harmful and that the danger from asbestos has been and continues to be vastly over-hyped. Here may be an example: The SACRAMETO BEE:

"The U.S. Geological Survey on Tuesday confirmed a federal environmental agency's findings of a particularly dangerous kind of asbestos on playgrounds in El Dorado Hills. USGS experts in mineral identification reached the conclusion after closely examining the playgrounds' study samples of tiny particles that the mining industry asserted were not asbestos....

The EPA study found that children and adults in El Dorado Hills can significantly raise their exposure to breathable asbestos particles simply from the dust kicked up riding a bicycle or playing basketball on outdoor courts....

The EPA strapped personal air monitors on agency technicians who mimicked children's activities at the park and on sports fields at Silva Valley Elementary, Jackson Elementary and Rolling Hills Middle schools.

The USGS, the scientific arm of the Interior Department, launched the $100,000 investigation at the request of the EPA, which wanted an independent examination of the industry critique.

MORE AT GREENIE WATCH.

YAHOO WITNESS NEWS INTERVIEWED BLOGMASTER OF "ISRAEL AT LEVEL GROUND"

Israel at Level Ground's Dave Bender was interviewed by Yahoo's Witness News department regarding the Lebanon war. Here's a link to one of the podcasts.

AMERICAN PUBLIC RADIO DEFILES CHRISTMAS EVE

It would be foolish to complain about the insensitivity of Public Radio International (originally founded as American Public Radio) and the producers of "This American Life," because sensitivity and insensitivity are not what it's all about.

What it's all about is a Gramscian attack on Christianity, because Christianity is a bulwark of American culture against collectivism and the jihad.

My local public radio station, which was once owned by a Jesuit university, broadcasts "This American Life" every Sunday afternoon. I happened to tune into it in the car yesterday.

I was astonished to find myself listening to a mock "fable" about the birth of Jesus, with a nebbishy Saint Joseph ruminating about his wife's supposed "infidelity," and wondering aloud what it means to be cuckolded by the Creator. The voice sounded like David Sedaris, but it might have been someone else. I didn't listen through to the end. And I am not going to give you a link. If you want to listen to this filth, find it yourself.

The story-line is an old chestnut of anti-Christian polemics. And I believe in freedom of the speech, of the press, and the airwaves. But the idea of broadcasting this sort of filth during the afternoon on Christmas Eve is appalling.

Do you think that the staff of "This American Life" --Ira Glass, Julie Snyder, Alex Blumberg, Sarah Koenig, and Lisa Pollak, inter alia -- would do a show during Ramadan featuring a witty conversational exchange full of sexual innuendoes between the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, and his 9-year-old wife, Aisha?

I don't think so, either.

That's because they are cowards, of course, and know that Christians aren't going to come after them with knives to decapitate them for their blasphemy, but it's not only because they are cowards.

It's also because they hate America and they hate Christianity. And I am also sure they would fall over themselves to do an equally filthy broadcast lampooning Judaism.

The Left's sympathy for jihadism deserves it's own post.

Reliapundit adds: In the interest of the truth I am providing a link to this Gramscian filth. PRI and NPR shouldn't get a penny of federal or state tax support or any tax breaks for deseminating this "progressive" anti-Western propaganda. PRI also has a show called Re-designing Christmas - probably some more anti-Christian crap. And another which presented a "re-written/new version" of the Nativity story. Write your Congressman to demand that none of your taxes are under-writing this anti-Judeo-Christian crap. The Left - the so-called "progressives" - are anti-traditionalism, anti-West and anti-Christian. As Punditarian wrote, they would never dare do anything of this sort against Mohammedanism - because like radical Muslims they hate the West. Post-modernists and jihadists are BIRDS OF A FEATHER! They are both our enemy. To defeat the jihadist enemy abroad we must defeat the "progressives" at home. Spread the word. Heck, write them:

Public Radio International
100 North Sixth St., Suite 900A
Minneapolis, MN 55403
phone: 612.338.5000

A CENTURY OF IRRATIONAL CLIMATE FEARS

The Boston Globe's indispensable Jeff Jacoby has a great column today, presenting his readers with information he obtained from the Media Research Center's report on press hysteria. It's an old, old story:

In 1895, the New York Times (it wouldn't earn the monicker New Duranty Times until it inked a deal to cover up for "Uncle Joe" Stalin in the 1930s) reported on the imminent demise of humankind due to -- a new ice age. Then, as Jacoby puts it regarding imaginary climate catastrophes:

In 1902, the Los Angeles Times reported that the great glaciers were undergoing "their final annihilation" due to rising temperatures. But by 1923, it was the ice that was doing the annihilating: "Scientist says Arctic ice will wipe out Canada," the Chicago Tribune declared on Page 1.

So it was curtains for the Canadians? Uh, not quite. In 1953, The New York Times announced that "nearly all the great ice sheets are in retreat." Yet no sooner did our neighbors to the north breathe a sigh of relief than it turned out they weren't off the hook after all: "The rapid advance of some glaciers," wrote Lowell Ponte in "The Cooling," his 1976 bestseller, "has threatened human settlements in Alaska, Iceland, Canada, China, and the Soviet Union." And now? "Arctic Ice Is Melting at Record Level, Scientists Say," the Times reported in 2002.

Over the years, the alarmists have veered from an obsession with lethal global cooling around the turn of the 20th century to lethal global warming a generation later, back to cooling in the 1970s and now to warming once again. You don't have to be a scientist to realize that all these competing narratives of doom can't be true. Or to wonder whether any of them are.

The hysterical pronouncements of Al-G'ore are just more of the same fear mongering agit-prop. Here's more from the Media Research Center:

Today’s global warming advocates probably don’t even realize their claims aren’t original. Before the cooling worries of the ’70s, America went through global warming fever for several decades around World War II. The nation entered the “longest warm spell since 1776,” according to a March 27, 1933, New York Times headline. Shifting climate gears from ice to heat, the Associated Press article began “That next ice age, if one is coming … is still a long way off.”

One year earlier, the paper reported that “the earth is steadily growing warmer” in its May 15 edition. The Washington Post felt the heat as well and titled an article simply “Hot weather” on August 2, 1930. That article, reminiscent of a stand-up comedy routine, told readers that the heat was so bad, people were going to be saying, “Ah, do you remember that torrid summer of 1930. It was so hot that ***.”

The Los Angeles Times beat both papers to the heat with the headline: “Is another ice age coming?” on March 11, 1929. Its answer to that question: “Most geologists think the world is growing warmer, and that it will continue to get warmer.”

Meteorologist J. B. Kincer of the federal weather bureau published a scholarly article on the warming world in the September 1933 “Monthly Weather Review.” The article began discussing the “wide-spread and persistent tendency toward warmer weather” and asked “Is our climate changing?” Kincer proceeded to document the warming trend. Out of 21 winters examined from 1912-33 in Washington, D.C., 18 were warmer than normal and all of the past 13 were mild.

New Haven, Conn., experienced warmer temperatures, with evidence from records that went “back to near the close of the Revolutionary War,” claimed the analysis. Using records from various other cities, Kincer showed that the world was warming.

British amateur meteorologist G. S. Callendar made a bold claim five years later that many would recognize now. He argued that man was responsible for heating up the planet with carbon dioxide emissions – in 1938.

The Media Research Center's article is long and thoroughly documented. It recounts the long histories of both the global warming and global cooling manias that have been used to sell newspapers for 100 years. Read it and you'll realize how (if not why) fears about the weather and the climate are one of the most persistent "extraordinary delusions of the crowd".

Merry Christmas From The Astute Bloggers

Merry Christmas!

JAMES BROWN - DEAD AT 73

Very sad. I wake up, here, early Christmas morning to this news:

James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73. Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia at Emory Crawford Long Hospital on Sunday and died around 1:45 a.m. Monday, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. Longtime friend Charles Bobbit was by his side, he said.

Copsidas said the cause of death was uncertain. "We really don't know at this point what he died of," he said. Pete Allman, a radio personality in Las Vegas who had been friends with Brown for 15 years, credited Brown with jump-starting his career and motivating him personally and professionally. "He was a very positive person. There was no question he was the hardest working man in show business," Allman said. "I remember Mr. Brown as someone who always motivated me, got me reading the Bible."

Along with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. His rapid- footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others. Songs such as David Bowie's "Fame," Prince's "Kiss," George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" and Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song" were clearly based on Brown's rhythms and vocal style.

If Brown's claim to the invention of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator.

Yep, and believe me, as a drummer, I can tell you that James Brown's tunes wrote the book on modern drumming. Every drummer (maybe exaggerating only a little bit) says his major influences are Clyde Stubblefield (James' drummer) and John Bonham (from Led Zeppelin). Put those two styles together and you've got modern rock drumming. Take the Bonham out and you've got Hip Hop and much of modern Jazz.

He redefined music across the spectrum. Really, James was the Elvis of Soul music. James was an unparalleled original. He was the Sex Machine who stayed on the scene, and still will. We'll miss you, James.

BREAKING: US CAPTURES HIGH-RANKING IRANIAN MILITARY OFFICIALS IN RAID IN IRAQ

NYTIMES/VIA POWERLINE:

The American military is holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including men the Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in a pair of raids late last week aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces, according to senior Iraqi and American officials in Baghdad and Washington.

The Bush administration made no public announcement of the politically delicate seizure of the Iranians, though in response to specific questions the White House confirmed Sunday that the Iranians were in custody.

Gordon D. Johndroe, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said two Iranian diplomats were among those initially detained in the raids. The two had papers showing that they were accredited to work in Iraq, and he said they were turned over to the Iraqi authorities and released. He confirmed that a group of other Iranians, including the military officials, remained in custody while an investigation continued, and he said, “We continue to work with the government of Iraq on the status of the detainees.”

It was unclear what kind of evidence American officials possessed that the Iranians were planning attacks, and the officials would not identify those being held. One official said that “a lot of material” was seized in the raid, but would not say if it included arms or documents that pointed to planning for attacks. Much of the material was still being examined, the official said.

... A senior Western official in Baghdad said the raids were conducted after American officials received information that the people detained had been involved in attacks on official security forces in Iraq. “We conduct operations against those who threaten Iraqi and coalition forces,” the official said. “This was based on information.”

("REUTERS" ran the NYTIMES story.) The only REAL news in this item is that the capture provides physical PROOF of what we have long known, because: THIS ISN'T THE FIRST REPORT OF IRANIAN MEDDLING IN IRAQ:

GUARDIAN - 8/10/05:

Britain yesterday described as "unacceptable" the smuggling of weapons from Iran into Iraq after revealing that a consignment was intercepted at the border between the two countries. While complaints have been made in the past, it is relatively rare to have concrete evidence of such smuggling.

The British embassy in Tehran raised the issue at a meeting with the Iranian foreign ministry. Officials relayed the government's concern and pressed Iran to acknowledge that there was a problem that should be dealt with.

... Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defence, warned Iran this week about the extent of smuggling. The US has been protesting for the past two years over alleged Iranian meddling in Iraq. Mr Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing that the smuggling was "a problem" for the Iraqi government. "It's a problem for the coalition forces. It's a problem for the international community, and ultimately, it's a problem for Iran," he said.

Disclosure of the smuggling came hours after four American soldiers were killed and six were wounded as a patrol was attacked near Baiji, 112 miles north of Baghdad, late on Tuesday. A bomb wrecked two Humvees and a bigger armoured vehicle.

Iran has repeatedly denied any involvement in the insurgency or party politics in Iraq.

ABC NEWS - 3/06/06:

U.S. military and intelligence officials tell ABC News that they have caught shipments of deadly new bombs at the Iran-Iraq border.

They are a very nasty piece of business, capable of penetrating U.S. troops' strongest armor. What the United States says links them to Iran are tell-tale manufacturing signatures — certain types of machine-shop welds and material indicating they are built by the same bomb factory.
"The signature is the same because they are exactly the same in production," says explosives expert Kevin Barry. "So it's the same make and model."

WASH POST - 3/24/06:

Envoy Accuses Iran Of Duplicity on Iraq
Fighters Receive Support, Khalilzad Says

Iran is publicly professing its support for Iraq's stalemated political process while its military and intelligence services back outlawed militias and insurgent groups, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Thursday. Iranian agents train and arm Shiite Muslim militias such as the Mahdi Army, linked to one of Iraq's most powerful clerics, Khalilzad said, and also work closely with Sunni Arab-led insurgent forces including Ansar al-Sunna, blamed for dozens of deadly attacks on Iraqi and American soldiers and Shiite civilians.

"Our judgment is that training and supplying, direct or indirect, takes place, and that there is also provision of financial resources to people, to militias, and that there is presence of people associated with Revolutionary Guard and with MOIS," the Afghan-born Khalilzad said, referring to Iran's main military force and its Ministry of Intelligence and Security.

(More on the Iranian stealth war HERE. And HERE and HERE.)

IT'S LONG PASSED TIME WE DID SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. AND I MEAN MORE THAN COMPLAIN OR SEND A HARSHLY WORDED LETTER - OR SANCTIONS. I MEAN SOMETHING KINETIC.

LOOKIT FOLKS: THE FACT THAT THESE RAIDS OCCURRED FIVE DAYS AGO - (THURSDAY) - AND IRAN HAS SAID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT IT, PROVES THAT THESE IRANIANS WERE UP TO NO GOOD.

THIS PROVES WE HAVE BEEN UNDER ATTACK BY IRAN, PROBABLY FOR SOME TIME. WE MUST RESPOND FORCEFULLY.

Not only has Iran been fomenting murder and war and genocide in Iraq, but also in Lebanon and Israel through their stooges in Damascus (Assad) and south Beirut (Hizballah).

If we take down the mullah tyrants we liberate not only Iran, but Syria and Lebanon, too. And release Iraq and Israel from their clutches, too.


It's time to act. We must act before the Iranians get nukes.


UPDATE: President Talabani PROTESTS the seizure of these Iranians. Weird... Stay tuned...

MORE BIRD FLU IN EGYPT: 3 admitted to hospital; one already dead

The Astute Bloggers reported on a few cases yesterday. There're more today:

XINHUA (China): An Egyptian woman died of bird flu on Sunday, raising Egypt's human deaths of bird flu to eight since this March, a World Health Organization (WHO) official told Xinhua.

The 30-year-old woman, who was admitted to Cairo's Abbasiya fever hospital on Saturday, was tested H5N1 positive just hours before her death, said WHO regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance Hassan el-Bushra.

The woman had been in rural hospital since Dec. 17, but was not immediately suspected of being infected with bird flu as she denied having had contact with poultry, el-Bushra noted. The woman's two other family members from the Egyptian Delta governorate of Gharbiya, some 90 km north of Cairo, who were also confirmed infection with the H5N1 virus on Saturday, are in stable conditions after they were admitted to Cairo's Abbasiya fever hospital, he added.

Click the photo for more general info form the BBC. All the cases still appear to be B@H, (bird2human). When it jumps to H2H... watch out...