All Hail The Chief

A whole lot of people don't like President Bush. I think that is a real shame, because I am convinced that he is a good man who has accomplished far more than the media will ever give him credit for. He is far smarter than most of the people who have mocked his intelligence. And I would be shocked if the historians give him a fair shake either. As I heard one person say not too long ago - if they got bad press when they were in office, the historians generally don't treat them any better. He is a better man than we have deserved.

Has the President made some mistakes? Sure. There are some things that he could have done better. But can you name one President that the same could not be said of?

I wish that he had done a better job of communicating with the American people and helping them to buy in to the direction that he was taking the country. I don't know if that was so much his fault or because the media could be blamed for that failure too. All I know is that President Bush was handed a whole bunch of things to deal with that I wouldn't have wanted to tackle. And I think that his responses to most of these issues were as good as anyone could have done - certainly better than anyone that he ran against. Perhaps we are about to find out if the left wing can do any better. I'm not holding my breath.

Mona Charen wrote a good article that highlights some of the President's accomplishments while in office. It is worth a read. I still hope that President Bush will end up with a positive legacy as he leaves the White House. I think in some ways he has accomplished that. If President Obama is successful in removing the troops from Iraq in an acceptable manner it will be totally because of President Bush's leadership and his willingness to do something unpopular for the sake of this country. And President Obama is already finding out that President Bush's warnings about big talk on the campaign trail were wise. Now that he is seeing the same information that President Bush saw, his tune has changed a bit.

We'll also see if the new President is any more successful in handling the economy than President Bush was. I personally believe that what has happened would have happened even if the most brilliant financial minds the world has ever known had been in charge. I believe that this economic downturn is a judgment against our country and is something that the Lord has allowed to turn our hearts back to Him instead of trusting in Mammon. But we shall see.

I don't care one jot how the world or the historians view President Bush. In my book he was a fine man and a good President, and I am proud that I voted for him twice. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I pray that God blesses you and gives you great joy.

Died On The Fourth Of July

I was saddened to learn this morning that Jesse Helms died yesterday, July 4, 2008. Yahoo! News ran a no-gloss story about him this morning. It seems appropriate that he would die on our nation's birthday. Some truly great American statesmen (including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson) have died on the anniversary of our freedom. Jesse Helms was certainly worthy of this title and the honor of dying on the 4th of July.

Jesse Helms was the only other American politician that I know that was as maligned and hated as much as George W. Bush. I think that is because both of them had something in common: they both believed in standing up for what they believed was right and in the best interest of their constituency and frankly didn't care who it offended.

It turns out that there are a lot of people who really don't like it when you tell them the truth. I guess Jesus Christ found this out too. Not that Jesse or Dubya are or were perfect - far from it. I never liked Jesse's racist tendencies. But no one would question that these men stood for what they believed. (Whether you like what they believed or not.) Perhaps the good news is that there are a lot of people who DO like people who have some character and some spine.

I decided to post the headline picture today because Jesse Helms had so many really bad pictures published throughout his lifetime. I guess a pretty big part of that came from journalists who hated him (this was nearly universal it seemed) and picked the worst, most unflattering picture they could to run with stories about him.

I had the opportunity to meet Jesse when I was in High School. I wish I had a picture. I was honored to receive a nomination to West Point from Senator Helms back in the late 80s. It was then that I began to respect him more and more as a sharp-minded conservative. I began to take a greater interest in politics, and noticed how he voted. I cannot recall a single time that I checked that Senator Helms had not voted in a way that was pleasing to me. Both he and Ronald Reagan influenced my political thought significantly. They will always be my two favorite politicians. Dubya comes in a close third. It is just sad to me that two of them have died, and one is very close to the end of his political career.

Perhaps one of the most shocking things that happened during Jesse's tenure in office was his meeting and befriending of U2 lead singer Bono. It caught even his (probably both Bono's and Senator Helms') fans totally off guard. It was this friendship that caused Senator Helms to soften the stances that he had taken on a few issues. And in a way, I think that it shows that there was far more to this man than the media allowed us to learn. I believe and hope that history will vindicate him one day.

As far as I am concerned, Jesse Helms will be missed sorely. He was one of the pillars in American society that made me believe that everything wasn't so bad - that there was still hope. Ronald Regan was another. Even though they weren't actively involved in American politics it was comforting to know that they were still there. Now both are gone, and that makes me wonder if anyone will step up to take the mantle that they have left behind.

Truth For Sale

You really should watch this report. This is one very large part of what is wrong in America today.

When I was growing up during the Cold War we were always taught about the difference between the freedoms that we have in the United States and the oppression that the Soviets suffered under. We were told that one of the greatest differences between our two cultures was that in America we had freedom of speech. It is too bad that that turned out to be an American mythology on par with the story of Washington throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac River.

Of all of the sacred cows that exist in this country, the First Amendment is probably the greatest. And yet this report shows just how greatly injustice, greed, and oppression are the rule of the day in this country I love so much. No wonder nature seems to be conspiring against us. If we don't change soon I fear that judgment will be unavoidable.

In the face of intentional distortion by the mainstream media is there any questioning why more and more people find themselves asking the very question that Pilate asked over 2,000 years ago? "What is truth?"

But What About The Polar Ice Caps?

So I read this brilliant article today about the polar ice caps. Turns out that they didn't move out permanently - they just went on vacation.

Are the world's ice caps melting because of climate change, or are the reports just a lot of scare mongering by the advocates of the global warming theory?

Scare mongering appears to be the case, according to reports from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that reveal that almost all the allegedly “lost” ice has come back. A NOAA report shows that ice levels which had shrunk from 5 million square miles in January 2007 to just 1.5 million square miles in October, are almost back to their original levels.

Moreover, a Feb. 18 report in the London Daily Express showed that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than usual, challenging the global warming crusaders and buttressing arguments of skeptics who deny that the world is undergoing global warming.

The Daily express recalls the photograph of polar bears clinging on to a melting iceberg which has been widely hailed as proof of the need to fight climate change and has been used by former Vice President Al Gore during his "Inconvenient Truth" lectures about mankind’s alleged impact on the global climate.

Gore fails to mention that the photograph was taken in the month of August when melting is normal. Or that the polar bear population has soared in recent years.

Call me smug. Call Gore a liar. AND QUIT INTERFERING WITH MY LIFE AND WASTING MY MONEY WITH YOUR STUPID LEGALIZED EXTORTION SAVE THE WORLD SCHEMES! There is one thing and one thing only that is going to bring about the end of the world: man's sin. PERIOD. Man's sin has created the whole mess.

Every time I turn around there is some new scam being perpetrated on the American people. "Ohmygosh! We're going to burn ourselves up! Global warming! Global warming! Let's make ethanol to save ourselves from ourselves!" "Ohcrap! That made the price of corn go up - and it didn't reduce greenhouse emissions in the first place! (And the oil companies are threatening to take away all that money they give me if I keep pushing this ethanol stuff.)"

I even heard a group of scientists the other day that are ready to suggest that it is actually another Ice Age that we need to fear. Good grief!

I am so utterly sick of the corruption and the lies. They aren't even believable lies anymore. Back in the 70s they told us that we were running out of oil - said that we'd be out by the late 70s or early 80s. Guess what? We still have oil. In fact, every week I keep hearing reports of some huge new oilfield that has been discovered that I should invest in.

There is one reason and one reason only to develop bio-fuels: to provide an alternative to the oil companies' and commodity traders' greed. I firmly believe that the international community's about-face on ethanol has far less to do with corn-driven inflation and far more to do with threats to these spokespeople from the oil industry. Big oil doesn't want any other players on the field, and the politicians don't want to lose that Sugar Daddy. It would be awful hard for Exxon to post those record profits if demand drops by 85%. Yes, I am just cynical enough to believe that. It isn't even a stretch for me.

If I had the money, I'd hire a top-notch team of the brightest, most-creative engineers, chemists, and designers that I could assemble right out of college and I would set them to developing a feasible, cost-effective means of transportation that did not rely on oil for propulsion at all.

While we developed that, I'd have teams of folks scouring the US Patents' Office for any devices created to increase fuel efficiency in petroleum-powered vehicles. I'd set my "Skunk-works" team to improving the ideas that they find and then we'd produce and market those technologies.

I simply don't believe that we have achieved the pinnacle of fuel-efficiency and power that technology can afford. Do I know what I am talking about? No! But neither did Henry Ford. He simply didn't believe his engineers when they told him it was impossible to make an 8-cylinder engine work. Guess who ended up being right? Would it be easy? DUH-HUH! Nothing is EVER easy. I have learned that one the hard way. But then I have digressed, haven't I?

So anyway, the article pointed out just how far it would seem that we are from global warming with the ice caps growing, Chinese houses collapsing under the snow, and young cows dying in Vietnam from the cold weather. If you are interested in more, there was an interesting article published by the Daily Mail that is mocking Gore over this stuff too. Seems like I remember that the Weather Channel guy said that it would turn out like this months ago. If he isn't already mocking the global warming crowd, he should be. I know that I am.

Stop the Stupidity!

I found this new career opportunity online today. Global Warming is going to make Y2K look like a legitimate threat! If you think that you got fleeced for Y2K you ain't seen nothing yet!

If you want to wallow sideways in the public trough here is the perfect opportunity for you. (What do you think Al Gore is doing? I'll bet he is beating these salary levels too.):

Carbon coach
Reducing contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, or the carbon footprint, is one huge step toward sustainability, but few guidelines exist for how companies gunning to be green should proceed. Carbon coaches offer this essential information. In addition to calculating carbon footprints and offering advice for offsetting them, carbon coaches help companies fit sustainability into their overall mission. Their services range from providing branding strategy for "green" product launches to advising companies on their relationships with NGOs....

Few guidelines exist, indeed. In fact I read an article today about how the UN is now saying that bio-fuels will cause more trouble than they will mitigate, but I will get to that in a moment. Back to the article at hand.

Most carbon coaches work at consulting firms, where they command salaries ranging from $40,000 to $60,000 for entry-level positions and $60,000 to $100,000 for mid-level positions.

Sadly, folks working for not-for-profit companies aren't going to make that much. "Non-profit organization salaries aren't as high; an entry-level carbon coach with a master's degree can expect a salary of $30,000 to $50,000." Well, it's for the children, though, right? Just like John Edwards' compassionate legal work for all of those poor children, right? It WAS for them, wasn't it? But then why did he take HALF of the rewards in legal fees? But I digress...

In another "What the crap?..." story, check out this headline from across the pond:

A British bus company has apologized to a girl who is led around on a leash by her boyfriend and describes herself as a human pet after one of its drivers threw her off a bus. Tasha Maltby, 19, told British newspapers she was the "pet" of her 25-year-old fiancé Dani Graves….

WHAT?!!! Yes, I read that right.

Maltby -- who lives on state benefits and got engaged in November -- said her choice of lifestyle might seem unusual but was harmless.

"I am a pet," she told the Daily Mail. "I generally act animal-like and I lead a really easy life. I don't cook or clean and I don't go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone."

Well, can't say that I could see that happening here... the very suggestion that a woman wear a leash would end up sending a fellow to the dentist for a new set of teeth with most of the women I know. People are weird.

So back to the UN article I was talking about earlier. I find it hilarious (in an infuriating sort of way) that the UN is backpedaling on its claim that bio-fuel will be the great messiah of our poor, little, carbon-polluted world.

...Regan Suzuki of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization acknowledged that biofuels are better for the environment than fossil fuels and boost energy security for many countries. However, she said those benefits must be weighed against the pitfalls — many of which are just now emerging as countries convert millions of acres to palm oil, sugar cane and other crops used to make biofuels.

...Foremost among the concerns is increased competition for agricultural land, which Suzuki warned has already caused a rise in corn prices in the United States and Mexico and could lead to food shortages in developing countries.

Is anyone besides me not surprised that no one stopped to think about the possible negative effects of this policy? Politicians never do. Just like the stupid bill that was passed by the geniuses in Washington that outlawed incandescent light bulbs - while favoring fluorescent bulbs that contain heavy metals and other serious toxins. I stopped needing someone to wipe my nose about 34 years ago, thank you very much.

Here's a shock for you: I am totally in favor of the development of alternative / renewable fuel sources. I suspect that I just surprised some of my more loyal readers with that statement. Why am I in favor of the development of alternative fuels and new technologies? Do you think that it is because I am concerned one iota about global warming? NOT A CHANCE.

The reason that I support bio-fuel development is because (based on my own reading) it looks like a relatively small farm could produce enough ethanol to allow a family to cut its dependence on oil severely if not completely. I am sick of the oil companies and commodity traders and the local gas stations charging as much for their product as they can without starting a riot.

They know that there is no competition for their product. They have a captive market. Americans can't just stop driving cars. The public transportation infrastructure does not exist on a large scale and the structure of our communities is not conducive to public transportation. Big oil knows that they have us between a rock and a hard place. The development of bio-fuel technology gives me the chance to produce my own fuel and stick it to the man. Viva la revolucion!

Anyway, this new "concern" by the UN is a big smoke screen in my opinion. They are already looking for a graceful way to escape the corner they have put themselves in by buying into the Chicken Littles' dire predictions and drinking the loonies' Kool Aid. See, it will cost all of the big wheels in the UN too much profit if petroleum goes away. They can't have that, but in the meantime they will line their pockets with ummm, spend waste trillions of dollars (yes, Virginia, that is trillion with a "t") until everyone figures out that the sun still keeps coming up in the morning and realizes that all this climate change is a bunch of hooey. (Then they'll blame Al Gore for it all, but he'll shift the blame to President Bush somehow.)

Come QUICKLY, Lord Jesus!

I Just Love This Headline

Hot Air Emitted by Climate Summit Equals 20,000 Cars

That really just about says it all. The delegates traveling to this summit are basically hot air balloons.

More nuttiness from the article:

"The delegates each will produce an average 4.07 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or CO2, to reach the resort island..."

In today's world of modern communication is there a valid reason why they couldn't have had a big teleconference? Oh, yeah, no resort.

``It's very hard for the public to understand that you come together with so many people to a very distant place and cause a lot of emissions, and at the same time talk about emission reductions,'' Artur Runge-Metzger, head of climate strategy for the European Commission, said yesterday in an interview in Bali, adding that he had offset his own emissions.

Well, duh! That's because it makes no sense at all! It proves that either the whole thing is a sham or that the people hosting and attending this summit really aren't serious about personally suffering any inconvenience or discomfort for the sake of saving the planet.

Here's the way the Socialist/Elitist/Liberal mind works: the sacrifices are for the little people to make, but the big, important people deserve these perks because of all the pressures they are under making sure the proles toe the line. Do you think that any of the world leaders supporting this fallacy are riding around in electric cars or taking a bike or, God-forbid a subway instead? No. Do you think they will suddenly change if they manage to get these stupid treaties passed? Don't be stupid.

They are now and always will be riding around in the biggest gas-guzzler that they can get their hands on. Meanwhile you and me and all the other peons will lose half our trunk to grain storage to power our new kangaroo powered carts. (Horses produce too much methane.)

Here's another doozy from the article.

Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas responsible for the higher temperatures that are causing a surge in sea levels and an increased risk of droughts and floods, according to UN reports.

Rising sea levels? Last I checked, Florida was still there. Lies, lies, lies. Hell will be full of bureaucrats.

Only liberals could take a fairytale and create a bureaucracy.

The Age Of Fantasy

I saw a headline over the weekend that nearly sent me through the roof:

Global Warming's Trillion Dollar Debate

TRILLION DOLLAR DEBATE?!!!!! I can feel my blood pressure getting up already.

The subtitle read, "UN scientists say climate change is happening faster than thought as politicians head to Bali to hammer out Kyoto's successor."

This is wrong on so many levels it is just hard to know where to start.

Let me remind you of the words of the founder of the Weather Channel, John Coleman, that I shared HERE last week:

In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped. The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway. I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend. (emphasis mine)

"Global warming" "man-made climate change" or whatever alarmist title you want to put on it is an utter, total, and complete sham.

First of all to use "global warming" and "debate" in the same sentence requires some fairly restrictive rules. It is OK to talk about the debate between gullible junk scientists about how long it will take for "global warming" to destroy all life on the planet. However, you cannot use "global warming" in conjunction with "debate" in a way that would indicate any meaningful dialog between scientists who support the fantasy of global warming and those scientists whose research indicates that the aforementioned scientists are full of beans. For example, you can say "Scientists who believe in global warming are afraid of scientific debate on the subject." But you couldn't legitimately say, "The facts of global warming have reached scientific consensus through the application of scientific method and open scientific debate."

Let it suffice for this portion of the rant to say that no consensus has been reached in the scientific community about catastrophic climate change as a result of application of the scientific method and scientific debate based on the data collected via objective observation. That's the truth no matter what Comrade Gore says. (I don't care if he DID invent the internet!) What a jerk.

OK, so I managed to look over this article (by liberal CNN) and see that the whole article is about an urgent reworking of the Kyoto treaty that the US never ratified. They're trying to make it even MORE restrictive.

Kyoto, the far-reaching agreement reached in 1997 intended to reduce global carbon emissions, is nothing compared to what could be coming next as the world's governments confront the ecological damage from global warming and debate what needs to be done to fix it.

I love it when journalists lie right off the bat, don't you? While many nations did buy into all of this nonsense, the US did not - of course the writer of this article didn't make it sound that way, did he? (He did, MUCH later in the article, acknowledge that President Bush wouldn't ratify the treaty.)

The fourth and final UN report on climate change, due Saturday, is expected to emphasize that the warming of the planet is "unequivocal" and that humans are the main cause. That report will act as a blueprint for the next crucial round of climate talks starting next month in Bali, Indonesia.

Thank God, it is the LAST report. We couldn't handle any more misinformation.

Scientists say up to an 85 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions is needed to head off potential catastrophic changes that could lead to more floods and famine. How to best achieve those cuts is where the fight begins. (emphases mine)

Is it just me, or are these "scientists" being mighty vague? Even they don't have the gall to boldfaced lie! They are even hedging their words here so that when Mr. Coleman's prophecy comes to pass they will be able to back out of it and try to salvage a modicum of credibility. Weenies!

The Bush administration has so far resisted mandatory caps, and all eyes will be watching to see if White House negotiators hold up the Bali talks.

THANK GOD!!! I'm glad someone is finally giving President Bush credit for doing something smart. Oh wait, this guy (and apparently the rest of the world) blames President Bush for blocking the caps that will save us all from ourselves. History will vindicate him on this one. "Global warming" is the new "acid rain."

Our intrepid reporter goes on to say:

Previous versions of the report, written in the 1990s, said global warming was likely happening and likely caused by humans but acknowledged that the science was not yet certain. The latest report, released in three parts over the course of this year, took away practically all that uncertainty.

Written by over 2,500 top government-appointed scientists from around the world, the fourth report is a user-friendly version that will be used by politicians and bureaucrats as a blueprint during negotiations next month in Bali and beyond.

"Gawrsh, Mickey! It MUST be true then."

Reality check (with much thanks again to John Coleman):

I suspect you might like to say to me, "John, look the research that supports the case for global warming was done by research scientists; people with PH D's in Meteorology. They are employed by major universities and important research institutions. Their work has been reviewed by other scientists with PH D's. They have to know a lot more about it than you do. Come on, John, get with it. The experts say our pollution has created an strong and increasing greenhouse effect and a rapid, out of control global warming is underway that will sky rocket temperatures, destroy agriculture, melt the ice caps, flood the coastlines and end life as we know it. How can you dissent from this crisis? You must be a bit nutty.

Allow me, please, to explain how I think this all came about. Our universities have become somewhat isolated from the rest of us. There is a culture and attitudes and values and pressures on campus that are very different. I know this group well. My father and my older brother were both PHD-University types. I was raised in the university culture. Any person who spends a decade at a university obtaining a PHD in Meteorology and become a research scientist, more likely than not, becomes a part of that single minded culture. They all look askance at the rest of us, certain of their superiority. They respect government and disrespect business, particularly big business. They are environmentalists above all else.

And, there is something else. These scientists know that if they do research and results are in no way alarming, their research will gather dust on the shelf and their research careers will languish. But if they do research that sounds alarms, they will become well known and respected and receive scholarly awards and, very importantly, more research dollars will come flooding their way. (Don't pretend they don't. JDE)

So when these researchers did climate change studies in the late 90's they were eager to produce findings that would be important and be widely noticed and trigger more research funding. It was easy for them to manipulate the data to come up with the results they wanted to make headlines and at the same time drive their environmental agendas. Then their like minded PHD colleagues reviewed their work and hastened to endorse it without question.

There were a few who didn't fit the mold. They did ask questions and raised objections. They did research with contradictory results. The environmental elitists berated them brushed their studies aside. (Isn't this what Al Gore has done? JDE)

I have learned since the Ice Age is coming scare in the 1970's to always be a skeptic about research. (Remember that? I'm still bummed that didn't happen... JDE) In the case of global warming, I didn't accept media accounts. Instead I read dozens of the scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct when I assure you there is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. It is all a scam, the result of bad science. (all emphases and asides mine)

The thing that really makes me mad is that this "scam" based on "bad science" is going to cost TRILLIONS of dollars. Let that word trill off your tongue. It incenses me that bureaucrats and politicians throw numbers like this around so carelessly about an utter prevarication.

Let me put this all in perspective. Let's consider just how much money is being wasted on this post-digestive male bovine silage. According to Compassion International it is possible to feed clothe and educate a child on $32 a month. That would be $384 a year and $6912 to raise a child from birth to age 18. If only 1 trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000) were wasted - and it will be FAR more - on global warming you could have fed, clothed and educated one hundred forty-four million, six hundred seventy-five thousand, nine hundred twenty six (144,675,926) children from birth until their 19th birthday. God will hold these liars accountable for their malfeasance.

Ever wonder why Al Gore has been such a crusader? According to THIS article, he has a vested interest in the global warming lie. Apparently, there is big money in global catastrophe.

Perhaps you wonder how I, with no Ph.D. in anything - a former English major, can be so confident that global warming is a hoax. I am certain it is a hoax because I know what the Bible says about mankind's (and the world's) end. If the increased temperatures shown in the data used by global warming's champions are to result in mankind's demise then there is nothing that can be done to avert disaster, and we might as well enjoy the air conditioning, warm heat, and fast cars that carbon-based energy has gotten us.

Once, back when Western Civilization's underpinnings were still Christian, mankind made huge strides in science and thought and the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment were born. Now our atheistic scientists have sacrificed scientific method and objectivity on the altars of Darwinism, greed, and vanity, giving birth to the Age of Fantasy.

I think Steve Graham over at Hog On Ice said it best:

It just occurred to me: isn't Al Gore's idiotic theory the epitome of God-denying humanism? The ancients realized that the weather was something man could not control, so they appeased their heathen gods as well as the actual, correct God. Now a certain segment of society thinks God is unfashionable. So they're looking for a way to turn man into the shaper of storms and droughts. Man, who can barely program his clock radio...

Did You Hear About This?

Weather Channel Founder: Global Warming ‘Greatest Scam in History’

Here is the lion's share of John Coleman's (John Coleman was the founder of The Weather Channel) article. If you want to see the whole thing you can read it HERE.

It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM....(What a great way to start an article! JDE)

Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild “scientific” scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridiculous manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmentally conscientious citizens....

This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a non-event, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won’t believe a me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.... (This guy is hilarious! JDE)

I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct. There is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril....

In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped. The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway. I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend.

Even without a Ph.D. in meteorology, man-made climate change simply doesn't make sense. There are far too many naturally occurring greenhouse gas producers that exceed our own ability to produce these gases. I just can't believe how many people have fallen for this bold-faced lie. I guess we are back to the philosophies of the leaders of the Third Reich again:

Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.
- Adolph Hitler

The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.
- Joseph Goebbels

The great problem is that there are too few in the world who use the stuff between their ears for anything but padding to keep their heads from imploding.

I Wonder If It Rained Today In Georgia

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." - God

I really meant to write about this this morning, but I wasn't able to get to it before now. Today was the day that the Governor of Georgia, Sonny Purdue, lead a prayer for rain on behalf of the state of Georgia. I was praying right along with him (albeit from a several hours' drive away). I don't know if they got any rain in Georgia, but we got a little here.

There was an article about the impending prayer meeting last night that really ticked me off.

Ga. Governor Prays For Rain Amid Drought
By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer Mon Nov 12, 6:15 PM ET


The tone of the article was incredibly cynical and arrogant.

As Georgia descends deeper into drought, Gov. Sonny Perdue has ordered water restrictions, launched a legal battle and asked President Bush for help. On Tuesday, the governor will call on a higher power (emphasis mine).

He will join lawmakers and ministers on the steps of the state Capitol to pray for rain.

While public prayer vigils might raise eyebrows in other parts of the nation, they are mostly shrugged off in the Bible Belt, where turning to the heavens for help is common and sometimes even politically expedient (emphasis mine).

"Christianity has more of a place in the culture here than in some other region," said Ray Van Neste, a professor of Christian studies at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. "And it's only natural, in a way, for the public to pray for rain." (Emphases mine.)

First Mr. Bluestein refuses to acknowledge that they are praying to God. No, to him it is just some nebulous "higher power." Then he goes on to suggest that what Governor Purdue is advocating violates the mythical "separation of church and state." Then he suggests that the Governor is merely using this prayer as an opportunity to grandstand and win votes. (I wonder if he would lay this charge against Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama with their newfound religious zeal?) After all, in the poor little backwards South they aren't sophisticated enough to realize that rain doesn't come as a result of prayer, right? It's just a cultural thing. There's nothing to it. It means nothing.

WHAT CONDESCENDING, EQUINE ORGANIC FERTILIZER!

Bluestein went on to say "In the U.S., public expressions of faith are often discouraged as a breach of the separation of church and state."

He makes it sound like it has always been thus. Down through our history Americans have had the good sense to know when they have run afoul of God's favor. Days of called fasting and prayer have been COMMON since the 1600s. Every single year there is a National Day Of Prayer, and every single year our nation celebrates Thanksgiving. That's right, THANKSGIVING, NOT turkey day. Don't get me started on that.

I find it telling that Bluestein didn't find any Christians to talk to. He did, however, manage to find a group of folks that were opposed to the prayer meeting, though.

The loudest opposition to Perdue's move has come from the Atlanta Freethought Society, a secular group that is expecting about a dozen of its 125 members to protest at the vigil.

"The governor can pray when he wants to," said Ed Buckner, who is organizing the protest. "What he can't do is lead prayers in the name of the people of Georgia."…

Well, I reckon he did anyway. Since the Atlanta "Freethought" Society didn't want any rain prayers offered on their behalf, I decided to pray that Governor Purdue's prayers for rain wouldn't benefit any of the Society's members one iota. I guess it might make an impression if everyone around them got rain but their land stayed parched and dry!

I didn't realize it, but the Governor of Alabama has also called for prayer to end the famine.

Perdue won't be the first governor to hold a call for public prayer during the epic drought gripping the Southeast. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley issued a proclamation declaring a week in July as "Days of Prayer for Rain" to "humbly ask for His blessings and to hold us steady in times of difficulty."

My hat's off to both Governors, who, at least in this case, have proven themselves courageous and wise enough to know from where rain comes. Good job, fellas. My prayers are with you. Oh yeah, and thanks, Lord, for the rain!

Good Progress

I have made very good progress on my web design project today. I finally have a layout that I am pleased with and will be putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow before I start showing it around some to get others' opinions. There is still much work to be done on it - like making the buttons work, finding the html widgets that I want, and actually publishing it to the site, but I am pleased that I seem to be learning the software at a reasonable pace. I am tired of sitting at the computer, but I am simultaneously pleased with the achieved result. I'm sure that I will be sharing it with you soon.

I have just completed 1776 by David McCullough. I've had it on my "to be read" list for over a year now and finally dove in. It wasn't quite the riveting read that I expected, but was good nonetheless.

I realized quickly how little I actually know about the the Revolutionary War. As a young boy (before I was 7 years old) I had a great interest in the stories about this war, most likely spurred on by re-runs of Daniel Boone. (No, I'm not quite old enough to have seen them first run.) Unfortunately, history books written about the Revolution at an elementary school reading level were pretty hard to come by back then. I doubt it is any different now. How many 7-year-olds are interested in Revolutionary history? I suppose a bit of my interest was also driven by the fact that I was 7-years-old in 1976.

One of the things that struck me as I read was that the British weren't the baby-eating demons that I had imagined them to be (at least not during the period of the war covered by the book - although there was mention of a number of atrocities carried out.) At times their generosity and concern for the well-being of "the colonies" was not unlike our own concern for those that our armies have encountered. The main fault of the British seemed to be their arrogance.

I was also struck by some of the similarities that I saw between America at the time of the Revolution and America today. The British were arrogantly secure in their belief that as the world's greatest superpower they couldn't be beaten by a ragamuffin army like the one fielded by America. They were wrong. There is no doubt in my mind that our military is the greatest on the earth, but we would do well to learn from the lesson we taught the British when they were in a similar situation.

Another similarity is that America was as greatly divided then as it is today. There were major fundamental differences between the Tories (or Loyalists) viewed things and the way that the Patriots (or Rebels) viewed things - Conservative versus Radical all over again. The only difference I would suggest is that the conservatives are on the right side this time. (I dare say they believed that they were on the right side that time!)

Politics was just as convoluted then as it is now. Nobody seemed capable to get anything done in Congress. We KNOW that hasn't changed.

Finally there was also the general apathy of the populace towards victory or defeat. The future lay in the hands of a handful of soldiers - some as young as 14. One quote by Colonel William Tudor about Washington struck me particularly. To his wife he wrote:

I cannot desert a man (and it would certainly be desertion in a court of honor) who has deserted everything to defend his country, and whose chief misfortune, among ten thousand others, is that a large part of it wants spirit to defend itself.

My, my, my, how history does repeat itself. His condemnation could have been written of the defeatists in the Congress, on the campaign trail, and in the media this year, self-serving cowards that they are. It is truly a shame that history is so neglected in our schools (and culture) today, and it is sad that so few realize the dear price payed for our liberties today.

God bless our troops and God bless America. Honor the veterans that you know this weekend.

Good News

I've been busy working on website design still. That's why I didn't get any posting done yesterday. But I saw this over at Babalu Blog and thought it was worth sharing.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.

Now there. Isn't that a much better story than the defeatist headlines yesterday that said, "2007 Is Deadliest Year for US in Iraq"?

I can't tell you how sick I am of the press in our country. Always some alarmist headline that makes it sound like our annihilation is imminent, but never really reporting about the genuine threats to our security. I wish I knew what the solution is. If it weren't for talk radio and the blog world there would be no hope of getting a clear picture of what is really going on. Yes, Fox News pretends to be fair and balanced, but the simple fact of the matter is that they are no better than anyone else.

Whatever happened to journalistic objectivity and responsibility? Whatever happened to "just the facts?" I don't think that the Founders ever intended the First Amendment to allow people to report lies and half-truths as fact. And I, for one, am sick and tired of being spoon fed opinions by people who hate this country and don't have sense enough to pour piss out of a boot with the instructions printed on the heel.

Quote Of The Day

Our cultural and political leaders have forgotten, if they ever knew, that the willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others is why serving in the military is considered such a high calling—and a part of what makes just wars just. Thomas Aquinas in his classic Summa Theologica puts his discussion of just war in the chapter on charity—the love of God and neighbor.

And reformer John Calvin called the soldier an “agent of God’s love” because “restraining evil out of love for neighbor is an imitation of God’s restraining evil out of love for His creatures.”

We are blessed that so many fine men and women are willing to wield the sword on our behalf in this country. But are we, in turn, willing to respect and honor those sacrificing for us? And if not, can we blame them if one day they decide to lay down their arms?

What kind of a world would this be if that happened? We would have a world where evil reigned unchecked by justice, and where the strong would be free to prey on the weak.

The problem is not with our service members who are serving us nobly and ably in Iraq; it is the political and cultural leaders who are dishonoring them. If most Americans share their attitude, then I say bring the troops home. Why should they risk their lives for an ungrateful nation?

-Chuck Colson

EXCELLENT article read it HERE.

Medal Of Honor Awarded Posthumously To Michael Murphy, US Navy SEAL

I am always humbled when I read the stories of the heroism of our men and women in uniform. The courage and selflessness displayed by these heroes is staggering and it makes me proud to be an American alongside them.

I am sad and shocked that this story was not carried by the New York Post. I guess patriotism, honor, and courage aren't fashionable in New York this fall.

Here is the story of the heroism that earned Lt. Murphy the Medal of Honor, but cost him his life:

Murphy, Luttrell and two other SEALs were searching for a terrorist in the Afghan mountains on June 28, 2005, when their mission was compromised after they were spotted by locals, who presumably alerted the Taliban to their presence.

An intense gun battle ensued, with more than 50 anti-coalition fighters swarming around the outnumbered SEALs.

Although wounded, Murphy is credited with risking his own life by moving into the open for a better position to transmit a call for help.

Still under fire, Murphy provided his unit's location and the size of the enemy force. At one point he was shot in the back, causing him to drop the transmitter. Murphy picked it back up, completed the call and continued firing at the enemy who was closing in.

He then returned to his cover position with his men and continued the battle. A U.S. helicopter sent to rescue the men was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all 16 aboard.

By the end of the two-hour gunfight, Murphy and two of his comrades were also dead. An estimated 35 Taliban were also killed. Luttrell was blown over a ridge and knocked unconscious. He escaped, and was protected by local villagers for several days before he was rescued.

"We look at these guys and say, 'What heroes,'" said Murphy's father, Dan Murphy. "These guys look at themselves and say, 'I'm just doing my job.' That's an understatement, but that's the way they view it, and that was Michael's whole life."

Murphy's heroics have been widely recognized on Long Island, where he graduated in 1994 from Patchogue-Medford High School....

To his fellow SEALs, he was known as "Murph," but as a child, his parents nicknamed him "The Protector," because of his strong moral compass. After the 2001 terror attacks, that compass eventually led him to Afghanistan, where he wore a patch of the New York City Fire Department on his uniform.

"He took his deployment personally. He was going after, and his team was going after, the men who planned, plotted against and attacked not only the United States, but the city he loved, New York," said his father. "He knew what he was fighting for."

Thank you Lt. Murphy. God bless his family and friends.

Keep Your Money, Boys. The South's Gonna Rise Again!

And now for something completely different...

Southern and Northern Secessionists Meeting In Tennessee

Well, that's something that I wasn't expecting to read. I'll admit that it might be easier if all of the little groups would stake out their piece of America and set the laws the way they want to!

I always heard that a lot of folks consider all Southerners to be inbred, ignorant, bigots, but I thought that things were perhaps getting a little better. I guess not. Here's a quote from the article that struck me as particularly arrogant and stereotyping of the South:

The League of the South says it is not racist, but proudly displays a Confederate Battle Flag on its banner.

Um. A Confederate battle flag does not a racist make. Many Southerners are proud of their heritage. They are proud that their ancestors fought under great men like General Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. These were men of very high standard, integrity and honor. For many in the south, the Civil War wasn't about slavery. It was about defending their country. For many it was about states' rights - something that we are seeing eroded every day with the debates about abortion, homosexual marriage, and gun control.

These people don't even try to hide their contempt of these folks:

Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which monitors hate groups, said the League of the South "has been on our list close to a decade."

"What is remarkable and really astounding about this situation is we see people and institutions who are supposedly on the progressive left rubbing shoulders with bona fide white supremacists," Potok said.

Sale said the League of the South "has not done or said anything racist in its 14 years of existence," and that the Southern Poverty Law Center is not credible.

"They call everybody racists," Sale said. "There are, no doubt, racists in the League of the South, and there are, no doubt, racists everywhere."

Harry Watson, director of the Center For the Study of the American South and a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said it was a surprise to see The Middlebury Institute conferring with the League of the South, "an organization that's associated with a cause that many of us associate with the preservation of slavery."

Leave it to a UNC professor to take that stance. I don't know if the League of the South is a racist organization or not. I hope not - racism is abhorrent, but I am ruffled that the assumption is made that they are racists simply because they have chosen to use the Stars and Bars as a part of their banner. Southerners have a right to celebrate their heritage just like everyone else.

More Like It...

I was shocked when Katie Couric actually admitted that the war in Iraq was going well a couple of weeks ago. This is more along the lines of what I was expecting.

Couric Weighs In On Iraq

So predictable...

Looks Like Climate "Change" May Actually Benefit The Rain Forests

Here's something you don't see every day: a group of scientists admitting that the actual results of their scientific study were the exact opposite of what they had projected.

Climate Change May Help Rainforests

Will wonders never cease?

This Makes Me Smile...

What goes around comes around.

I guess it is easy 'till you do it...

Have You Heard?

Bill Kristol, Fox News analyst and editor of the Weekly Standard has visited Iraq and is extremely impressed by the progress that has been made there by the troop build up. This article that I discovered yesterday elaborates more on his findings.

Why am I not surprised that I have not seen much about this in the headlines anywhere or on the news sites? Thank God that consensus does not drive truth. Because the consensus in the Main Stream Media is that the war in Iraq is not winnable. Every day we are bombarded with negative messages about the war. It has done my heart so much good to read the report that I linked to above.

Apparently it is true because the Democrats have turned cannibal when one of their own, Rep. Brian Baird had the audacity to change his mind about the war after visiting Iraq. I can't imagine any scenario where a Democrat would change his mind and agree with the President by suggesting that we stay the course if there wasn't truly progress on the ground in Iraq. Bless Rep. Baird for his integrity on this matter.

The Democrats who are attacking Rep. Baird remind me of a Proverb, "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down."

Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.
- Adolph Hitler

Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness...

Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.
- Adolph Hitler

There is little doubt in my mind that the main stream news outlets have become nothing more than propaganda mills for the far left. In spite of their claims of being fair and balanced, even Fox News does a poor job of presenting the news in an unbiased fashion. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the case of the war on terror. The blog Powerline carried an article today about MSNBC's and CNBC's refusal to run an advertisement from veterans of the Global War On Terror that brings an encouraging message about the war.

I suppose that these networks scoff at such advertisements as propaganda, but I suggest that their obvious slant in reporting and their refusal to include divergent viewpoints is evidence enough of the lack of quality and lack of objectivity in their own reporting. As far as I am concerned, they have no integrity and they are nothing but pawns for those who wish to destroy America.

Read the Powerline Article

The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.
- Joseph Goebbels

A Surprising Amount of GOOD News

An interesting thing happened on June 30th in Iraq - NOTHING.

Analysts and experts had been prophesying massive attacks surrounding the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi government. Oddly enough, there were no major attacks and the streets didn't run with blood. How strange!

It seems to me that the early transfer of power to the Iraqi government took alot of the wind out of the sails of the foreign terrorists on Iraqi soil. And everyone in the media (even Bill O'Reilly) seemed to think that it was an unwise move! However, in spite of the doom and gloom, I heard Brit Hume comment that the expected wave of violence never materialized. Perhaps the President is a little smarter than everyone seems to think? Hmmm?

The rest of the news that day was pretty good too. The economy seemed to be continuing its growth, unemployment continued its decline, Wall Street was happy, and things were generally going pretty well for President Bush. I like it when the news is like that.

I often suspect that what we get from the various news sources regardless of whether they lean left or right is the most negative spin on the news possible. I hear from military people all the time that we're not getting the whole story from Iraq. Well, if we're not getting it from there, it is likely that we're not getting it from any other place.

I wonder why that is. Are we humans THAT pessimistic as a species? Of course a good story always requires some sort of crisis, but the great stories always have a positive ending: Frodo destroys the ring, the Soviet Union collapses, Jesus raises Himself from the dead... So why is it that we so seldom get the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey puts it?

My guess is that it has alot to do with the spiritual condition of the people in control of the media. I have met very few people who would say that all they want is bad news. I can't enumerate the times that I have heard people rhetorically ask, "Why doesn't someone make a newspaper of good news?" While there is alot of bad news out there we often don't ever get to hear "the rest of the story."

Now many people don't want to believe that there is a devil out there, but according to the Bible that I read there is one and his personal mission is to steal, kill, or destroy anything that he can. This spirit moves the people under his sway to do his bidding often without their knowledge.

So what does all of this talk about devils have to do with good news and bad news? Well, the Bible also talks about three great gifts that God has given to each of us, namely, faith, hope, and love. It is God’s gift of hope that helps us to persevere in the face of bad news. It lets us know that He’s going to work it all out in the end in spite of how bad it looks now.

Remember, the devil wants to destroy anything that is good, thus, he influences those in control of the media to remove any chance that hope will be instilled in people by keeping good outcomes out of the headlines. If people lose hope, there is much collateral damage – faith falters and love grows cold.

It is hard to imagine a hopeful world, but I am convinced that one day – even with all of the gloom, sadness, and imperfection of this world – that we will see that God was indeed in control and that the end was worth it all.