Excerpt from Bernard Lewis:
During the fighting in 1947-1948, about three-fourths of a million Arabs fled or were driven (both are true in different places) from Israel and found refuge in the neighboring Arab countries. In the same period and after, a slightly greater number of Jews fled or were driven from Arab countries, first from the Arab-controlled part of mandatory Palestine (where not a single Jew was permitted to remain), then from the Arab countries where they and their ancestors had lived for centuries, or in some places for millennia. Most Jewish refugees found their way to Israel.
What happened was thus, in effect, an exchange of populations not unlike that which took place in the Indian subcontinent in the previous year, when British India was split into India and Pakistan. Millions of refugees fled or were driven both ways -- Hindus and others from Pakistan to India, Muslims from India to Pakistan. Another example was Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, when the Soviets annexed a large piece of eastern Poland and compensated the Poles with a slice of eastern Germany. This too led to a massive refugee movement -- Poles fled or were driven from the Soviet Union into Poland, Germans fled or were driven from Poland into Germany.
The Poles and the Germans, the Hindus and the Muslims, the Jewish refugees from Arab lands, all were resettled in their new homes and accorded the normal rights of citizenship. More remarkably, this was done without international aid. The one exception was the Palestinian Arabs in neighboring Arab countries.
The government of Jordan granted Palestinian Arabs a form of citizenship, but kept them in refugee camps. In the other Arab countries, they were and remained stateless aliens without rights or opportunities, maintained by U.N. funding. Paradoxically, if a Palestinian fled to Britain or America, he was eligible for naturalization after five years, and his locally-born children were citizens by birth. If he went to Syria, Lebanon or Iraq, he and his descendants remained stateless, now entering the fourth or fifth generation.
The reason for this has been stated by various Arab spokesmen. It is the need to preserve the Palestinians as a separate entity until the time when they will return and reclaim the whole of Palestine; that is to say, all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel. The demand for the "return" of the refugees, in other words, means the destruction of Israel. This is highly unlikely to be approved by any Israeli government.
Source
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Unsecured Nuclear Material
From this story in the Washington Post:
So, what DO we know?
(1) When the Soviet Union fell, nuclear facilities were abandoned and fell into disrepair.
(2) On more than one occasion, Al Qaeda has stated its desire to use nuclear weapons against us infidels.
(3) Security measures to find these loose nukes cannot be 100% successful all the time.
In other words, time is our enemy.
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, Nov. 29 -- The arrests of three men who allegedly tried to sell contraband uranium for $1 million show how a shadowy black market for nuclear components has survived despite tightened security at nuclear facilities worldwide, experts said Thursday.Some guessing going on, on the part of those nuclear experts: "probably not as dangerous" and "may even have been." Nothing is certain, it seems.
Slovak police said the material, believed to have originated in the former Soviet Union, was highly dangerous and could have been used in a radiological "dirty bomb" or other terrorist weapon.
U.N. and independent experts suggested the uranium may not have been anywhere near that lethal. But officials tracking the illicit global trade in radioactive materials said the arrests underscored the risk of nuclear substances falling into terrorists' hands.
Should that happen, "the consequences would be so catastrophic. The world would be a different place the next day," said Richard Hoskins, who supervises a database of stolen, missing, smuggled or unauthorized radioactive materials for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In 2006, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency registered 252 reported cases -- a 385 percent increase since 2002.
[...]
[N]uclear experts who were shown police photographs of radioactivity readings contended that the material probably was not as dangerous as authorities believe. They said police confused a scientific reading of the material as dealing with its "concentration" of uranium-235, when in fact it was just a "confidence" level of the machine to give an accurate reading. They suggested it may even have been natural uranium -- a common and nonlethal element.
So, what DO we know?
(1) When the Soviet Union fell, nuclear facilities were abandoned and fell into disrepair.
(2) On more than one occasion, Al Qaeda has stated its desire to use nuclear weapons against us infidels.
(3) Security measures to find these loose nukes cannot be 100% successful all the time.
In other words, time is our enemy.
HILLARY SPEAKS AT RICK WARREN'S CHURCH
Hillary gets a warm reception at Rick Warren's church. What is Rick Warren smoking? As if my respect level for Warren couldn't sink any lower. Not only does he make a trip to Syria and endanger the lives of persecuted Christians there but he had Obama speak at a conference last year and now Hillary. Unbelievable!!
I am beside myself about this.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
THE LEFTIST ELITE OF THE MSM AND THE DEMOCRAT PARTY MUST REALLY THINK WE'RE STOOOOOPID
WHY ARE LEFTISTS ALWAYS TRYING TO PULL RIDICULOUS CRAP ON US!?
SIMPLE: THEY THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT!
WHAT MAKES THEM THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT!?
LEFTIST NARCISSISM. (MORE HERE.)
I CALL IT "THE AUDACITY OF LEFTIST CONCEIT."
They think they're smart and we're STOOOOOPID.
Basically, the Left thinks we're stupid because we believe in God. AND :
AND BECAUSE THEY THINK WE'RE DUMB... They think they can get away with all kinds of ridiculously phony crap, outrageous lies, and incredible propaganda, like:
YOU KNOW WHAT THE WACKIEST THING IS ABOUT THE LEFT'S "SMARTER THAN THOU" ATTITUDE!?
- STUFF LIKE BILL CLINTON TELLING US HE WAS AGAINST THE WAR FROM THE START!
- STUFF LIKE CNN STACKING THE DEM DEBATE WITH DEM QUESTIONERS, AND THE GOP DEBATE WITH DEM QUESTIONERS.
SIMPLE: THEY THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT!
WHAT MAKES THEM THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT!?
LEFTIST NARCISSISM. (MORE HERE.)
I CALL IT "THE AUDACITY OF LEFTIST CONCEIT."
They think they're smart and we're STOOOOOPID.
Basically, the Left thinks we're stupid because we believe in God. AND :
- Because we believe there is a real and objective difference between right and wrong, and that it transcends subjectivity and cultures.
- Because we believe that strength and not appeasement creates and best defends peace.
- Because we believe that prosperity is a by-product of liberty and not something the rich steal from the poor or the idle class takes from the working class, or the First World steals from the Third World.
- Because we believe that climate change is natural and cyclical.
- Because we believe that taking guns away from law-abiding citizens doesn't lower crime - it increases it.
- Because we believe that life begins at conception - that a fetus is a new and unique human being with unique DNA and not a part of the mother's body with which she can do as she pleases.
- Because we believe that we know how to spend our money better than the government.
AND BECAUSE THEY THINK WE'RE DUMB... They think they can get away with all kinds of ridiculously phony crap, outrageous lies, and incredible propaganda, like:
- Like Rather's phony TANG documents.
- And blaming Libby for Armitage's leak.
- And saying that Bush lied in the 2003 SOTU when he uttered those 16 words about Saddam and Africa and uranium.
- And claiming that the turkey Bush held in Iraq was plastic.
- And that pristine children's dolls just naturally appear at dozens of bombed sites in Beirut.
- And man-made CO2 causes global warming.
- And that the Bush economy is the worst since Hoover.
- And that Bush deliberately withheld federal aid from Katrina victims.
- And that Bush is a dumb, unilateralist war-monger who lied about Saddam's WMD on purpose.
- And that a genocidal massacre occurred at Jenin(grad).
- And that the across-the-board tax cuts went mostly to the rich.
- That there's no more upward mobility.
- That the Iraq War was a war for oil and Bush's oil buddies.
- That we lost in Iraq months ago.
- That Petraeus was an incompetent liar and the surge doomed.
- That the illegal immigration problem is that illegal immigrants are living in the shadows - even though you and I see them lining up for work everyday!
- AND THE CNN DEBATE CRAP...
- AND THE BALD-FACED CLINTON LIES...
- ALL THAT FAUXTOGRAPHY...
- AND THAT BUSH REALLY LOST OHIO IN 2004 AS HE DID FLORIDA IN 2000...
- AND SO ON...
YOU KNOW WHAT THE WACKIEST THING IS ABOUT THE LEFT'S "SMARTER THAN THOU" ATTITUDE!?
THE LEFT THINKS THEIR SMARTER THAN US DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY ADVOCATE POLICIES WHICH HAVE NEVER WORKED ANYWHERE AT ANYTIME.
- They want to raise taxes and have the government get more involved in the heathcare industry despite the fact that this approach is not working that well in Canada or the UK or Europe.
- They want to raise taxes on oil and gasoline and have the government more involved in the energy markets. (Instead of increasing energy supplies by allowing new coal-burning plants to be built, and new nuclear power plants to be built, and allowing drilling in ANWR and off the coasts of FL and CA!)
- They want to raise taxes on Big Pharma and have the government more involved in the drugs industry. (In other words: KILL THE GOLDEN GOOSE WHICH IS LAYING THE EGGS WHICH ARE MAKING US HEALTHIER!)
- They want to raise taxes on "the rich" and give it to "the poor" even though no economy has ever grown as a result or redistribution.
- And, they want to make the USA and the Free World safer by relying more on the UN and multilateral appeasement instead of on the Pentagon and on us using our strength to assertively pursue what's in our national interest and the interest of the Free World.
- And they want to give amnesty to illegal aliens. And give them cheap tuition. And give them the right to sue employers who want them to speak English.
WHAT THE LEFT WANTS TO DO WILL ONLY MAKE US LESS FREE AND LESS PROSPEROUS.
DON'T BE FOOLED!
I HAVE A FEELING WE WON'T BE, EITHER.
YOU KNOW WHY!?
WE'RE NOT AS DUMB AS THE LEFT THINKS WE ARE!
DON'T BE FOOLED!
I HAVE A FEELING WE WON'T BE, EITHER.
YOU KNOW WHY!?
WE'RE NOT AS DUMB AS THE LEFT THINKS WE ARE!
Political Correctness and the First Amendment at risk
Investors' Business Daily interviews Rep. Susan Myrick (R-NC) regarding political correctness and the war on terror. Myrick strongly objects to the PC veil that prevents honest debate.
In that regard, Blogcritics' Selwyn Duke is one of only a handful of folks covering an important First Amendment case. CAIR has organized an advertiser boycott against controversial radio announcer Michael Savage and the stakes couldn't be higher. I say that no matter what you might think of Savage's diatribes: love 'em or hate 'em, he's got every right to express his opinion.
Trade rag Radio Ink reports that a group called Act for America is taking its First Amendment message to consumers.
William Mayer reports that CAIR's "press conference" at San Francisco's AM 910 (Savage's flagship station) was attended by all of about seven people.
There's only one word for a group that refuses to condemn Hamas, is an unindicted co-conspirator in a major terrorism trial, and has had a variety of its members and executives run afoul of the law, all while pillorying Savage. It's chutzpah.
First they came for Savage. Who's next, Rush? And then Hannity? Then Colmes?
If Americans don't act now -- and I mean all Americans -- there's no telling where this might end. Someday, liberals might dominate talk radio. And they would be at risk as well.
Contact Information and Sample Letter
As for AutoZone, TrustedID, OfficeMax, Citrix Systems, [Wal-Mart] and JCPenney: my recommendation is to tell them why you're steering clear. I've linked each of the company's names to go directly to a contact form or customer email address - just click, paste, and send the following message or your own equivalent.
We should explore every means of encouraging moderate Muslims to speak out against the radicals. There are many who want to, and do — such as Sheikh (Muhammad Hisham) Kabbani (of the Islamic Supreme Council of America) and Zainab al-Suwaij (of the American Islamic Congress) and Dr. Zuhdi Jasser (of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy). But they do not get the media attention...
...We need to shed the veil of political correctness that shields government officials from speaking out against them... groups like [Council on Arab-Islamic Relations] CAIR seek to silence the debate. The American people deserve to see and hear the debate, but most people in positions of influence are afraid to say anything...
In that regard, Blogcritics' Selwyn Duke is one of only a handful of folks covering an important First Amendment case. CAIR has organized an advertiser boycott against controversial radio announcer Michael Savage and the stakes couldn't be higher. I say that no matter what you might think of Savage's diatribes: love 'em or hate 'em, he's got every right to express his opinion.
[CAIR has ] carried out campaigns against National Review magazine, radio personality Paul Harvey, the producers of the television program 24, and many others...
[Now] CAIR has been pressuring Savage's advertisers to pull their spots from his show, and I'm dismayed to learn that some businesses have capitulated to their demands. Among these cowardly companies are AutoZone, TrustedID, OfficeMax, Citrix Systems Inc., [Wal-Mart] and JCPenney...
Trade rag Radio Ink reports that a group called Act for America is taking its First Amendment message to consumers.
...Act for America, which says it "was created to provide American citizens a means to be a collective voice for the democratic values of Western civilization," is asking consumers to contact OfficeMax and tell the company they won't shop at OfficeMax stores until the ad boycott is lifted. The group plans to launch similar efforts targeted at other advertisers boycotting Savage Nation.
William Mayer reports that CAIR's "press conference" at San Francisco's AM 910 (Savage's flagship station) was attended by all of about seven people.
...Basim Elkarra, Executive Director of CAIR's Sacramento branch..., refused to condemn the terrorist group HAMAS, specifically and by name, when challenged to do so... though he was given ample opportunity.
CAIR carries some heavy baggage in this regard. Last summer, it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation [HLF] prosecution and the founder of CAIR's Texas chapter, Ghassan Elashi, was found guilty and sentenced in the Infocom terror case. Elashi remains a key defendant in the HLF trial...
There's only one word for a group that refuses to condemn Hamas, is an unindicted co-conspirator in a major terrorism trial, and has had a variety of its members and executives run afoul of the law, all while pillorying Savage. It's chutzpah.First they came for Savage. Who's next, Rush? And then Hannity? Then Colmes?
If Americans don't act now -- and I mean all Americans -- there's no telling where this might end. Someday, liberals might dominate talk radio. And they would be at risk as well.
Contact Information and Sample Letter
As for AutoZone, TrustedID, OfficeMax, Citrix Systems, [Wal-Mart] and JCPenney: my recommendation is to tell them why you're steering clear. I've linked each of the company's names to go directly to a contact form or customer email address - just click, paste, and send the following message or your own equivalent.
The advertisers' boycott of the Michael Savage Radio Show at the behest of unindicted co-conspirator CAIR is misguided at best. Multiple federal officials (including current members of Congress) have stated "we know [CAIR] has ties to terrorism."
A swarm of bloggers are jumping on this issue.
I ask, respectfully, that you reconsider this misguided political correctness.
Sincerely, _____________
"THIS is CNN..." (Includes Updates)
Hugh Hewitt has about the best summary of the CNN Democrat (I mean) Republican debate last night that I have read:
My issue with last night is not so much the questions asked; yes many questions were over the top--hell, the guy with the Bible was little more than a sneering heckler. But a President should be expected to know how to handle a hostile questioner. In a perfect world it wouldn't bother me to see Republicans pose the questions in a Democrat debate and vice versa. After all, the idea is to see how a potential candidate can handle the pressure. I think that sort of debate would be a big improvement over what we have gotten to date, because (on the Democrat side anyway) most of the questions have been layups. Pointed questioning would serve the public good. However the kind of heckling questions we saw last night were nothing more than a lame attempt to brainwash the viewers in to thinking that the vast majority of Americans are partisan Democrats.
The problem in this instance with CNN is that for its Democrat YouTube debate, the questions were from a partisan Democrat perspective. In the CNN Republican debate... the questions were from a partisan Democrat perspective. So we are supposed to believe that a network with the resources like CNN can only find good video questions from the political left of the YouTube generation? Have they not been paying attention to bloggers like Michelle Malkin, Allah, Bryan Preston, and Mary Katherine Ham? Please.
No, this was truly a disgrace; and to pretend that it was not done purposefully is a flat out lie to the people of the United States; every bit as much so as were the Rather lies and The New Republic's lies. CNN has now joined MSNBC and the network of Rather as selling out completely to Soros and the MoveOn left. It was pathetic, and a really sad day for American journalism. William Randolph Hurst would have been proud.
UPDATE: More from Glenn Reynolds.
UPDATE: Meanwhile an NBC reporter covering Sarkozy calls Bush a "monkey." Nice.
UPDATE (RELIAPUNDIT): MEMEORANDUM HAS A COMPLETE ROUNDUP AND GATEWAY HAS SOME OTHER GREAT LINKS.
[...] Last night's fiasco was so thorough that it will take a while to settle in just how damaging it was to CNN's reputation as a news organization. From the awful judgment displayed with the opening guitar serenade through the preposterous selection of topics and questions right to the stark reality that CNN either was easily and completely manipulated by the Dems with planted question after planted question or were totally complicit in the hijacking of a Republican debate designed to serve Republican primary voters about who ought to be the Republican nominee. The network is either incompetent in a way no serious news organization should be, or wholly captured by agenda journalists of the left.UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has got CNN dead to rights for just how tricked up these questions and questioners really were. I am so glad that this is coming out, because the American people deserve better than the double standard they have been spoon fed by those elites who "know better" than they do. I actually heard Tom Brokaw call out CNN today on the Hewitt show, and Brokaw is no right winger.
No serious anchor would want to be where [Anderson] Cooper is today, at the center of a vast train wreck which cannot be explained away as the inevitable result of the sudden appearance of big news in a difficult setting, as with hysterical Katrina coverage of bodies stacked in freezers and gun fights in the Superdome, or the result of the input of bad data, as with the early call of Florida for Gore in 2000.
No, this [is] premeditated mediocrity. The network had months to prepare and consider and execute. But even with all that time, it lacked the minimal talent necessary to produce a serious debate about important issues using new technology. All it could deliver was a carnival of bad taste, trick questions, and full frontal left wing bias.
My issue with last night is not so much the questions asked; yes many questions were over the top--hell, the guy with the Bible was little more than a sneering heckler. But a President should be expected to know how to handle a hostile questioner. In a perfect world it wouldn't bother me to see Republicans pose the questions in a Democrat debate and vice versa. After all, the idea is to see how a potential candidate can handle the pressure. I think that sort of debate would be a big improvement over what we have gotten to date, because (on the Democrat side anyway) most of the questions have been layups. Pointed questioning would serve the public good. However the kind of heckling questions we saw last night were nothing more than a lame attempt to brainwash the viewers in to thinking that the vast majority of Americans are partisan Democrats.
The problem in this instance with CNN is that for its Democrat YouTube debate, the questions were from a partisan Democrat perspective. In the CNN Republican debate... the questions were from a partisan Democrat perspective. So we are supposed to believe that a network with the resources like CNN can only find good video questions from the political left of the YouTube generation? Have they not been paying attention to bloggers like Michelle Malkin, Allah, Bryan Preston, and Mary Katherine Ham? Please.
No, this was truly a disgrace; and to pretend that it was not done purposefully is a flat out lie to the people of the United States; every bit as much so as were the Rather lies and The New Republic's lies. CNN has now joined MSNBC and the network of Rather as selling out completely to Soros and the MoveOn left. It was pathetic, and a really sad day for American journalism. William Randolph Hurst would have been proud.
UPDATE: More from Glenn Reynolds.
UPDATE: Meanwhile an NBC reporter covering Sarkozy calls Bush a "monkey." Nice.
UPDATE (RELIAPUNDIT): MEMEORANDUM HAS A COMPLETE ROUNDUP AND GATEWAY HAS SOME OTHER GREAT LINKS.
THE REAL AUDACITY OF HOPE: "Venezuelans cram streets to protest Chavez's referendum to establish socialism"
THE VENEZUELANS SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING AND THEY DON'T LIKE IT:
IHT/AP: Venezuelans cram streets to protest Chavez's referendum to establish socialism
DON'T FALL FOR IT. IT'S ONLY A STYLE DIFFERENCE. THE SUBSTANCE IS THE SAME: SOCIALISM.
IF THE USA ELECTS A DEM IN 2008, I HOPE WE'LL SEE THE SAME PROTESTS HERE...
IHT/AP: Venezuelans cram streets to protest Chavez's referendum to establish socialism
More than 100,000 people flooded the streets of the capital Thursday to oppose a referendum that would eliminate term limits for President Hugo Chavez and help him establish a socialist state in Venezuela.
Blowing whistles, waving placards and shouting "Not like this!" the marchers carried Venezuelan flags and dressed in blue — the chosen color of the opposition — as they streamed along Bolivar Avenue.
No official crowd estimates were available, but opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez said about 160,000 protesters filled the avenue, and thousands more spilled over onto surrounding roads. The rally was among the largest by the opposition in recent years.
"This is a movement by those of us who oppose a change to this country's way of life, because what (the referendum) aims to do is impose totalitarianism," said former lawmaker Elias Matta. "There can't be a communist Venezuela, and that's why our society is reacting this way."
The rally marked the close of the opposition's campaign against the proposed constitutional changes, which will be submitted to a vote Sunday. Chavez plans to lead rallies in favor of the reforms Friday.
- HUGO'S COMRADES - HILLARY, OBAMA AND EDWARDS - WOULD DO THE SAME AS HUGO, GIVEN THE CHANCE.
- THOUGH SINCE HILLARY'S DEBACLE WITH SOCIALIZED HEALTHCARE THEY WOULD DO IT STEALTHILY AND INCREMENTALLY.
DON'T FALL FOR IT. IT'S ONLY A STYLE DIFFERENCE. THE SUBSTANCE IS THE SAME: SOCIALISM.
A fractured Bolivia heading at full speed to the cliffs
Opposition leaders in Bolivia have promised a fresh wave of protests and “civil disobedience” against a new draft constitution. Their call follows a strike on Wednesday that closed banks, schools and public transport in six of Bolivia's richest provinces.
Morales described the strike as a “rich people’s strike
The opposition argues that the proposed constitutional changes will give the government too much power. President Evo Morales says the reforms will finally give indigenous and poor Bolivians a say in running the country.
The strike was relatively peaceful and attracted the strongest support in the gas and farm rich province of Santa Cruz - an opposition stronghold. The local Santa Cruz leader, Branko Marinkovic, announced an indefinite hunger strike starting on Monday.
Marinkovic also urged the provinces to lobby international organizations against what he described as a "breakdown in democracy". However there was less support for the strike in the central city of Cochabamba and the Bolivian government described the protest as a failure.
In the capital La Paz Morales condemned the strikers during a massive rally. "The strike... is against this process of change, the new economic model, against the nationalization of natural resources".
EUSSR: FIRST THEY COME FOR YOUR GUN...
BBC: Euro MPs back stricter gun laws
DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT!
BUY A GUN - THE LIFE YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN!
THE RIGHTS YOU PROTECT MOST CERTAINLY WILL BE YOUR OWN.
The European Parliament has voted to tighten laws on obtaining and possessing firearms.
The age at which a firearm can be bought or owned will be raised to 18, unless it is for hunting or target shooting under adult supervision.
Blank-firing guns that could be converted will also be made illegal.
Earlier this month, a student shot dead eight people at a school in Finland, where gun ownership is among the highest in the world.
EU governments are expected to approve the reforms by the end of the year and the directive is due to come into force in January 2008.
Member states will then have two years to put the changes into practice.
- THIS IS HORRIBLE LEGISLATION - A FASCIST POWER-GRAB AKIN TO WHAT CHAVEZ IS DOING IN VENEZUELA. (AND DON'T GIVE ME ANY OF THAT "IT CAN'T BE FASCIST BECAUSE IT'S COMING FROM THE LEFT!" CRAP. FASCISM IS A LEFTIST/STATIST CREED JUST LIKE ITS COUSINS NAZISM AND COMMUNISM.)
- FACT: FINLAND HAS AMONG THE HIGHEST GUN OWNERSHIP RATES AND THE LOWEST GUN CRIME RATES IN THE EU.
- IN FACT, MANY NATIONS WITH HIGH GUN OWNERSHIP RATES HAVE LOW CRIME RATES.
- BY PASSING THIS LAW, THE EUSSR IS ENCROACHING ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF EUROPEANS.
- AND DIMINISHING THEIR RIGHTS AS CITIZENS OF SOVEREIGN NATIONS.
- THIS EUSSR POLICY DOVETAILS NICELY WITH THE UN'S ANTI-GUN POLICES.
- THAT'S NO ACCDIENT OR MERE COINCIDENCE: DISARMING ORDINARY, LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS - AND MAKING EVERYONE DEPENDENT ON THE SATE FOR THEIR DEFENSE IS A MAJOR GOAL OF THE LEFT. ALWAYS HAS BEEN.
DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT!
BUY A GUN - THE LIFE YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN!
THE RIGHTS YOU PROTECT MOST CERTAINLY WILL BE YOUR OWN.
OLMERT CASE FILE TO BE TRANSFERRED TO PROSECUTORS
The Israeli police are to send in their investigation conclusions. It's interesting that MK Zevulun Orlev feels that the police shouldn't make a recommendation on this though:
Update: ah, now I see why the police shouldn't have to make the decision here: they're now saying that they don't recommend indictment, and I suspect that Danino may have something to do with it:
Also, there seems to be a slight contradiction as it's said that evidence was found, and it's police who're presumably claiming that there's not enough evidence on which to indict. Update 2: according to this article, yes, it's the police.
Update 3: the daily Yisrael HaYom reports that the investigative team itself feels there's enough evidence, but it's Yohanan Danino himself who's saying there's not. So he seems to be the problem here.
Knesset State Control Committee chairman Zevulun Orlev on Thursday appealed to Public Security Minister Avi Dichter with a request to prevent the Israel Police from submitting its recommendations on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's probe in the Bank Leumi affair.I suppose it should be left up to the prosecutors investigating the case to handle the indictment parts, so I won't argue with Orlev about that.
"In no country in the West is it acceptable for the police to make recommendations. It should work on accelerating investigations rather than making dramatic announcements in the media," said Orlev.
The Israel Police is set to release its conclusions later Thursday - with Intelligence and Investigation Division Chief Cmdr. Yohanan Danino signing off on the police recommendations.
The case file will then be passed on to prosecutors for review, and it will ultimately be in the hands of the prosecutors to determine whether or not the case merits an indictment.
Sources close to the case have said over the past two weeks that they did not believe that police would recommend an indictment against the prime minister.
In January 2007, police began their criminal probe into alleged improprieties by Olmert surrounding the privatization of the bank, which occurred during Olmert's tenure as finance minister during the Sharon administration.
According to allegations, in 2005, Olmert intervened in the sale of the core ownership of Bank Leumi on behalf of Frank Lowy and Daniel Abraham, two businessmen who were also personal friends of his.
Update: ah, now I see why the police shouldn't have to make the decision here: they're now saying that they don't recommend indictment, and I suspect that Danino may have something to do with it:
(IsraelNN.com) The police team investigating Israel's sale of Bank Leumi have found evidence of suspicious and illegal involvement by Prime Minister Olmert - but not enough to justify recommending an indictment.Well I hope he's more responsible than the police are, though now that I think of it, Orlev is right, the police shouldn't be making the recommendations, their job is to investigate and then provide the results of their inspection to the prosecutors to look over.
The official Israel Police investigative team has found some evidence that Ehud Olmert, when serving as Acting Finance Minister in November 2005, acted illegally in promoting his friends' interests during the privatization of Bank Leumi. The team recommended that Olmert not be indicted - but the decision is not theirs to make.
The police presented their findings to the State Prosecution this afternoon (Thursday), after which Moshe Lador, who will assume the position of State Prosecutor on Sunday, will have to make the final decision as to whether or not to indict the Prime Minister.
Also, there seems to be a slight contradiction as it's said that evidence was found, and it's police who're presumably claiming that there's not enough evidence on which to indict. Update 2: according to this article, yes, it's the police.
Update 3: the daily Yisrael HaYom reports that the investigative team itself feels there's enough evidence, but it's Yohanan Danino himself who's saying there's not. So he seems to be the problem here.
OZONE AND CO2: DEJA VU
An email to Benny Peiser from Canadian skeptic, Prof Timothy Ball [timothyball@shaw.ca] below
International Herald Tribune 22 November: The Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Song Dong is singing the same song we heard about CFCs. China (and India) said you have received the benefits of CFCs with a 30% reduction in food loss through refrigeration. Now you are telling us that this chemical is destroying the ozone and we should therefore forego the benefits you have already obtained. The proposal was the West reduce their CFCs and allow China and developing nations to increase theirs. We said no. They said fine, then we won't sign the Montreal Protocol.
I appeared before a Canadian Parliamentary Committee on the ozone issue and raised questions about this unilateral application problem. The aide to the Chair scurried out and returned 10 minutes later with the information that China and India were only producing 5% of the world's CFC production. I replied, yes, now, but if China and India increase their production to provide refrigeration for over 2 billion consumers how was our objective obtained? They changed the subject.
There never was a single piece of scientific evidence of CFCs affecting ozone in the ozone layer, no more than there is for CO2 and climate change except in computer models. Later, the IPCC TAR report identified changes in solar radiation as the most likely cause of ozone variations. This is isn't surprising because as I told the Committee and anyone else who would listen that ozone is created by sunlight or at least the ultraviolet portion. At that time climate science was still locked into the concept of a solar constant even though solar physicists were describing it as a variable star.
This mentality carried over into climate studies and still predominates today as two of the major changes in solar activity (Milankovitch Effect and the relationship between solar magnetism and cosmic radiation) that affect climate are ignored. As environmental activists have cynically understood, once politicians have something in their heads facts and logic are redundant. They are doing the same thing with CO2 - the parallels between CFCs and CO2 are amazing and the only difference is the magnitude of impact on western economies are profound.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
International Herald Tribune 22 November: The Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Song Dong is singing the same song we heard about CFCs. China (and India) said you have received the benefits of CFCs with a 30% reduction in food loss through refrigeration. Now you are telling us that this chemical is destroying the ozone and we should therefore forego the benefits you have already obtained. The proposal was the West reduce their CFCs and allow China and developing nations to increase theirs. We said no. They said fine, then we won't sign the Montreal Protocol.
I appeared before a Canadian Parliamentary Committee on the ozone issue and raised questions about this unilateral application problem. The aide to the Chair scurried out and returned 10 minutes later with the information that China and India were only producing 5% of the world's CFC production. I replied, yes, now, but if China and India increase their production to provide refrigeration for over 2 billion consumers how was our objective obtained? They changed the subject.
There never was a single piece of scientific evidence of CFCs affecting ozone in the ozone layer, no more than there is for CO2 and climate change except in computer models. Later, the IPCC TAR report identified changes in solar radiation as the most likely cause of ozone variations. This is isn't surprising because as I told the Committee and anyone else who would listen that ozone is created by sunlight or at least the ultraviolet portion. At that time climate science was still locked into the concept of a solar constant even though solar physicists were describing it as a variable star.
This mentality carried over into climate studies and still predominates today as two of the major changes in solar activity (Milankovitch Effect and the relationship between solar magnetism and cosmic radiation) that affect climate are ignored. As environmental activists have cynically understood, once politicians have something in their heads facts and logic are redundant. They are doing the same thing with CO2 - the parallels between CFCs and CO2 are amazing and the only difference is the magnitude of impact on western economies are profound.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
THE CLINTONS: LOQAUCITY & MENDACITY - AND VICE VERSA
BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON:
HE: A SLICK USED-CAR SALESMAN WHO WOULD RAPE YOUR DAUGHTER.
SHE: HIS WIFE - WHO WOULD SWEAR HE'S A GOOD HUSBAND AND THAT THEY HAVE A GOOD MARRIAGE.
SHE: HIS WIFE - WHO WOULD SWEAR HE'S A GOOD HUSBAND AND THAT THEY HAVE A GOOD MARRIAGE.
SHEESH.
MORE HERE.
OBAMA WILL FINE PARENTS WHO DO NOT USE GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE
Barack Obama will force parents to pay for government health care for their children:
The issue of mandates for health care has driven the debate between Clinton and
Obama for the past few weeks. Obama says he would enforce his mandate for health
care for all children by fining parents if they refused to allow health care
coverage for their children.
“I am happy to be very clear how we enforce
mandates for children, and the reason is because children don’t have an option.”
In my opinion, this is Obama's introductory version of National Healthcare. He is working on the assumption that once the children are signed up it won't be so hard to sign the adults too.
Do not be fooled. This is totalitarianism posing as morality.
IQ: DESPERATION TO BELIEVE MYTHS LEADS TO FALLACIOUS REASONING YET AGAIN
What nonsense below! Are these guys seriously arguing that because genes with high relevance to IQ have not yet been found then there are none?
I hate to repeat an old saw but the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Genes relevant to IQ are being discovered all the time. One with a big link to IQ could be just around the corner. Though it is most probable that high IQ is the result of an accumulation of many "good" genes -- which is why high IQ people tend to be healthier and live longer etc.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
I hate to repeat an old saw but the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Genes relevant to IQ are being discovered all the time. One with a big link to IQ could be just around the corner. Though it is most probable that high IQ is the result of an accumulation of many "good" genes -- which is why high IQ people tend to be healthier and live longer etc.
A team of scientists led by Professor Robert Plomin, of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, identified only six genes linked with intelligence to any degree of significance, but even those accounted for just 1 per cent of the differences in IQ between individuals. Experts said upbringing, education and a healthy diet in early life had important roles to play in helping to nurture intelligence. The research also means testing the potential intelligence of new-born babies - or improving it with genetic engineering - could be impossible.Source
The researchers said a study of the human genome revealed hundreds of genes which contribute to IQ, but their individual effects are barely detectable. Previous studies on twins and adopted children have established that about half of the variation in intelligence is down to environment, but almost all of the genetic component has yet to be uncovered.
Prof Plomin said: "If the biggest [genes] only account for 1 per cent of the variance [in intelligence], there's a long way to go. The most striking result is there are no large effects." However, this does not mean intelligence is not inherited. Many experts believe IQ is due to the cumulative effect of a combination of genes.
The study, published in the journal Genes, Brains and Behaviour, involved obtaining intelligence scores for 7,000 seven-year-olds and DNA samples. Dr Robin Campbell, an expert in intelligence and child development at Stirling University, said: " [This research] leaves it open that nurture, education and good early nutrition have an important role." [Of course they do. Nobody has ever said otherwise. But genetic inheritance is the major determinant]
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
SINCE THE 1828 JACKSON VERSUS ADAMS CONTEST, EVERY RACE HAS BEEN WON BY THE MORE JACKSONIAN CANDIDATE
We American's want tour president to be an American hero, of sorts.
Someone who embodies what makes this nation great.
Given the choice between an intellectual egghead and a man with common sense, we always choose the man with common sense.
We choose them man who we think is tougher in fight - and will probably win one, rather than someone who might talk his way out of one.
We prefer Andrew Jackson's stature to John Quincy Adams' weightiness.
And so on.
Nearly every single race has been one by the more natural man. The man of the people. The more common man.
So what does this tell us about 2008?
Well, obviously McCain, Fred and Huckabee are the most Jacksonian on the GOP side. Rudy's okay, too. Mitt's big problem is that he seems too slick, too smooth, too smart. He can win the nomination, but - unless he can loosen up - he could lose the general election.
AND ON THE DEMOCRAT SIDE? I don't see one single solitary Jacksonian. Maybe Biden or Richardson - only it's difficult to seem Jacksonian when you've calling for retreat from Iraq for the past couple of years...
Someone who embodies what makes this nation great.Given the choice between an intellectual egghead and a man with common sense, we always choose the man with common sense.
We choose them man who we think is tougher in fight - and will probably win one, rather than someone who might talk his way out of one.
We prefer Andrew Jackson's stature to John Quincy Adams' weightiness.
[NOTE: EVEN IN 1824, JACKSON WON A PLURALITY IN BOTH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE AND THE POPULAR VOTE.]
- We prefer Ike's leadership to Adlai's erudition - his wonkiness.
- Truman's plain talking to Dewey's East Coast Republican urbanity.
- JFK's vim and vigor and bellicosity was preferred over Nixon's seeming weakness & sickliness - (because of their appearance on the first Presidential TV debate).
- Dubya was more likable, authentic, raw and rumpled than either Gore or Kerry.
- LBJ - a deal-making cowboy - was liked more than Goldwater, an ideologue.
- FDR was a cripple whose ability to surmount his handicap with a smile inspired a crippled America.
- Clinton felt our pain and knew the price of a gallon of milk. GHW Bush was a blue-blood at sea.
- Lincoln was born in a log cabin and chopped wood.
And so on.
Nearly every single race has been one by the more natural man. The man of the people. The more common man.
So what does this tell us about 2008?
Well, obviously McCain, Fred and Huckabee are the most Jacksonian on the GOP side. Rudy's okay, too. Mitt's big problem is that he seems too slick, too smooth, too smart. He can win the nomination, but - unless he can loosen up - he could lose the general election.
AND ON THE DEMOCRAT SIDE? I don't see one single solitary Jacksonian. Maybe Biden or Richardson - only it's difficult to seem Jacksonian when you've calling for retreat from Iraq for the past couple of years...
I guess I'm saying that right now - based on who is in the race right now - I'd bet that the race is in the bag for the GOP.
If they frame the race as Jackson versus Adams, and can cast their candidate as Jackson.
THEN AGAIN: 3-WAY RACES MAKE ANY OUTCOME IS POSSIBLE. ALL BETS ARE OFF WITH RON PAUL OR RALPH NADER ON THE BALLOT - OR EVEN BLOOMBERG OR DOBBS.
THIS IS THE DEMS BEST HOPE.
HEY: IT SURE HELP BJ CLINTON!
If they frame the race as Jackson versus Adams, and can cast their candidate as Jackson.
THEN AGAIN: 3-WAY RACES MAKE ANY OUTCOME IS POSSIBLE. ALL BETS ARE OFF WITH RON PAUL OR RALPH NADER ON THE BALLOT - OR EVEN BLOOMBERG OR DOBBS.
THIS IS THE DEMS BEST HOPE.
HEY: IT SURE HELP BJ CLINTON!
EUROPE'S FUTURE: "PRESS 2 FOR ARABIC"
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO STOP IT?
HELP THESE FOLKS KEEP EUROPE... ER, UM... EUROPEAN.
HELP THESE FOLKS KEEP EUROPE... ER, UM... EUROPEAN.
A HOPEFUL SIGN FROM SWEDEN: LEFTISTS MIGHT HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF DHIMMITUDE
GOV:
The first step in controlling the huge un-assimilated "internal colonies" is to stop the inflow.
All of Europe has to do this with regard to their Muslim in-flows.
We have to do with regard to our Mexican in-flows.
Then, the un-assimilated who are already on the inside have to assimilate and become tax-payers or they should be thrown out.
The opponents of this type of policy are indigenous multicultural leftists, and imported jihadists and reconquistas - all of whom must be defeated.
Nothing exemplifies the politically correct Multicultural establishment in Sweden more fully than the Social Democrats. They are, in effect, the ruling class of Sweden, and have been the party in power for the majority of the last half century.THERE'S MORE - RTWT.
So this news comes as a real surprise:‘Deport people smuggled into Sweden’
People who have been smuggled into Sweden should be deported, a leading Social Democrat politician has said. Allowing those who have paid thousands to people smugglers to stay is not fair on people who can’t afford to pay to leave their homelands.
Göran Johansson, leader of Gothenburg Council, said he based his views on the fact that many of the 20,000 Iraqis expected to come to Sweden this year came here illegally, often with the help of people smugglers.
“If it is obvious that someone has been smuggled in they should be sent back again,” Johansson told newspaper GT.
The first step in controlling the huge un-assimilated "internal colonies" is to stop the inflow.
All of Europe has to do this with regard to their Muslim in-flows.
We have to do with regard to our Mexican in-flows.
Then, the un-assimilated who are already on the inside have to assimilate and become tax-payers or they should be thrown out.
The opponents of this type of policy are indigenous multicultural leftists, and imported jihadists and reconquistas - all of whom must be defeated.
PRINCE CHARLES REFUSES TO GO TO ISRAEL, BUT ADORINGLY TOURS TURKEY
HELLO MAGAZINE:
Charles and Camilla explore Turkey's ancient treasures
Royal globe-trotters Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall couldn't have been more enthusiastic visitors as they were shown the sights of the ancient ruins of Ephesus during their official tour to Turkey. Camilla continued to snap away on her camera, as she had done in Uganda, while they admired the incredible city's treasures on Tuesday.
After touring the awe-inspiring Library of Celsus, where they had been greeted by a traditional dance troupe from the nearby town of Izmir, Charles held his wife's hand as they negotiated stone steps down to some excavated terraced Roman houses. The heir to the throne spent ten minutes looking at the former home of Flavius Furius Aptas, where fragments of marble floor and mosaics hinted at the home's former grandeur.
Charles, who studied archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge University, is well known for his interest in Muslim art and culture, and seemed delighted at the opportunity to see a shrine dedicated to the 13th-century poet Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi on Monday. He and his wife viewed the poet's sarcophagus in the southern town of Konya and a beautiful copy of his most famous work, the Mathnawi.
- MANY PEOPLE THINK CHARLES IS A CONVERT TO ISLAM.
- MORE HERE.
- HE REALLY REFUSES TO GO TO ISRAEL, AND NO MEMBER OF THE ROYAL FAMILY HAS EVER MAD AN OFFICIAL VISIT.
THE BAN ON DEPICTING MOHAMMAD IS BLASPHEMY
Muslims believe they are monotheists who worship the One True God of the Universe.
A God who cannot and must not be depicted because He is beyond any depiction - because gods who can be depicted are false gods.
SO... by banning all depictions of the so-called prophet, Mohammad, Muslims are elevating him to the level of... God.
This is blasphemy. YET THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THOSE MUSLIMS WHO CALL THEMSELVES FUNDAMENTALISTS AND EXTREMELY DEVOUT CALL FOR.
They are blasphemous.
And this goes for Bin Laden and all the Wahhabists and all the other radical Muslims.
They are blasphemers.
Muslims who think they are worshiping the One True God should not follow these blasphemers..
A God who cannot and must not be depicted because He is beyond any depiction - because gods who can be depicted are false gods.
SO... by banning all depictions of the so-called prophet, Mohammad, Muslims are elevating him to the level of... God.
This is blasphemy. YET THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THOSE MUSLIMS WHO CALL THEMSELVES FUNDAMENTALISTS AND EXTREMELY DEVOUT CALL FOR.
They are blasphemous.
And this goes for Bin Laden and all the Wahhabists and all the other radical Muslims.
They are blasphemers.
Muslims who think they are worshiping the One True God should not follow these blasphemers..
EUROPE HAS A BIGGER TRADE DEFICIT WITH CHINA THAN THE USA
- YOU KNOW ALL THAT CONVENTIONAL WISDOM (CW) THAT SAYS THAT THE SO-CALLED US TRADE DEFICIT WITH CHINA IS WHY OUR DOLLAR IS GETTING WEAKER, AND THAT IT'S A THREAT TO OUR SECURITY AND PROSPERITY?
- WELL. THAT CW IS BS.
- EUROPE'S CURRENCY - THE EURO - IS "STRONGER" THAN THE DOLLAR RIGHT NOW, AND GUESS WHAT????????? THEY HAVE A BIGGER TRADE DEFICIT WITH CHINA THAN WE DO! (AND THEY ARE JUST AS DEPENDENT ON IMPORTS OF ENERGY AS WE ARE, TOO!)
- CURRENCY VALUATION IS A VERY COMPLEX THING WHICH DEPENDS OF SEVERAL IF NOT DOZENS OF FACTORS. THE POPULIST NOTION THAT WE NEED TRADE BARRIERS AND A STRONG CURRENCY IS WRONG.
CHINA yesterday pledged to do more to expand imports from Europe and give market forces more play over its currency during a tense one-day summit with the European Union.
Addressing EU criticisms over its ballooning trade deficit with China, which the bloc blames mainly on the yuan's weakness against the euro, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told the summit participants that Beijing did not seek the lopsided trade nor was it solely responsible for the currency situation.
'In China's open market, every trading partner is treated equally,' said Mr Wen, who along with other Chinese leaders and officials vowed to continue dialogue with their European counterparts to resolve the currency spat.
However, the Chinese Premier also told the audience of European and Chinese business leaders attending the summit that China would hold firm to its policy of reforming the yuan gradually.
'China will continue to reform the RMB exchange rate regime in a gradual, proactive and manageable manner,' he said, while insisting the Chinese currency was not the only reason for their trade dispute.
He added: 'I believe that the main cause of the rise of the euro is the big fall in the value of the US dollar.'
... EU trade officials have lately become as vocal as their American counterparts in criticising what they say is a significantly undervalued yuan.
The trade deficit of the EU with China is likely to reach a whopping 160 billion euros (S$341 billion) this year, while the United States' trade deficit with China was US$232.5 billion (S$336 billion) last year.
The 27-member EU bloc is China's largest trading partner.
- THE WEAKER DOLLAR HURTS THE EU AND MORE THAN IT HURTS US.
- YOU WONT HEAR THAT FROM THE BDS-AFFLICTED LEFTISTS IN THE MSM - THEY WANT TO USE THE WEAK DOLLAR TO BASH BUSH AND THE GOP.
- ESPECIALLY NOW THAT OUR VICTORY IN IRAQ IS MORE OBVIOUS, AND IT'S WINTER - AS A RESULT, THEY CAN'T GO NEGATIVE EVERY DAY AND EVERY NIGHT WITH DEFEATISM AND GLOBAL WARMING FEAR-MONGERING.
- HENCE THEIR EMPHASIS OF THE WEAK DOLLAR AND THE WEAK HOUSING MARKET AND - THEY HOPE - A WEAK CHRISTMAS RETAIL PERIOD.
DON'T FALL FOR IT.
METHANE IS A VERY POWERFUL GREENHOUSE GAS (MORESO THAN CO2) - AND IT'S ONE WHOSE AGRICULTURAL ORIGINS SCIENTISTS DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND
NATURE:
Nearly two years after the confusing discovery that terrestrial plants may be pumping out methane through an unknown mechanism, scientists are still producing puzzling results about this strange phenomenon. A study this week seems to confirm that methane is emitted in this way, but adds that it might be limited to woody plants — again for unknown reasons.
Methane (CH4), the main component in natural gas, is a simple hydrocarbon and a potent greenhouse gas. It is most commonly released by organic matter decaying in oxygen-free environments, such as swamps and animal guts.
The original finding, published in January 2006, that green plants emit methane in the presence of atmospheric oxygen1 seemed to turn upside down textbook knowledge. It was clear that if global vegetation does release substantial amounts of the gas, one or more of the known methane sources must have been considerably overestimated (see The methane mystery).
But those initial measurements, by Frank Keppler of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg Physics, Germany, have proven hard to verify. Using a different experimental approach, other researchers failed to find evidence for any significant ‘aerobic’ methane emissions by plants. In a study published in May2, Tom Dueck, then with Plant Research International in Wageningen, the Netherlands, and his colleagues concluded that the contribution of green plants to global methane emission is very small at most.
However, a Chinese–American team has now confirmed, with a very precise carbon-isotope method, that at least some plants do indeed emit measurable, if small, amounts of methane under aerobic conditions3. But the results suggest that the effect is not universal among plants.
... But the results are by no means definitive. Although Wang did not see emissions from herbaceous plants, Keppler did. And there is also some preliminary field evidence for the effect occurring over tropical grasses.
Confusion continues
“This is a difficult process to study,” says Jay Gulledge, a microbiologist at the University of Wyoming in Laramie and a co-author of the newest study. “It will take a lot more work to figure out when, where, and why it happens, and whether or not it is actually important to the global methane budget.”
Keppler had estimated initially that terrestrial plants could account for up to 40% of total methane emissions, but the figure has since been revised downwards. If the effect is not universal among plants it would imply an even smaller contribution to the global methane budget.
As yet, all global estimates are extremely uncertain. But even if plants contribute little to the global methane budget, scientists are keen to understand the unknown chemistry behind the elusive effect.
- THIS SHOULD MAKE IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT SCIENTISTS STILL DO NOT KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT 'WHAT CONTRIBUTES WHAT' TO THE ATMOSPHERE, AND THAT THEREFORE MODELING BASED ON WHAT THEY THINK THEY KNOW IS MERE GUESSWORK.
- WE SHOULD NOT MAKE WHOLESALE CHANGES TO OUR REGULATORY SCHEMES, OR TAXES OR OUR INDUSTRIAL BASE BECAUSE OF WHAT UNDER-INFORMED SCIENTIST AND ILL-INFORMED POLITICIANS GUESS MIGHT HAPPEN.
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