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Top 10 dud global warming predictions ...

GLOBAL warming preachers have had a shocking 2008. So many of their predictions this year went splat.

Here's their problem: they've been scaring us for so long that it's now possible to check if things are turning out as hot as they warned.

And good news! I bring you Christmas cheer - the top 10 warming predictions to hit the wall this year.

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yeehaw... sherriff joe arpaio is back in the news.

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Vit

Thanks for what you do here.

Syncro

On the one hand, you're welcome Syncro and all you other fine folks who have expressed appreciation for my work on this gig over the last few days. On the other hand, it is an honour and a pleasure to serve here: to provide, perhaps, an occasional resting-spot oasis for our troops in the deserts of political battles; ergo the real thanks must go to Kate, for providing me with the opportunity and encouragement to undertake this service.

Vit

Kate would not have given you the yolk if you couldn't pack the load.

You do a fine job here.

Syncro

Vit

What Syncro said...

I rarely comment but I like your stuff - I usually stop by a couple of times a week to see your 'column'.

You do excellent work,Vit,but I must in all fairness warn you my neighbour is starting to hate you! For some reason,can't play your stuff on my XP system,so I go next door and bug him to play it.A couple of brewskis,and we are both happy...heh.Keep up the excellent job.
And thanks a million times over to our wonderful Hostess Kate for this site.

Hey, Kate, thought the following was something you, as an artist, could appreciate- I consider it "art":

http://www.automobilemag.com/green/news/0901_wooden_supercar_splinter/index.html

While that wooden beauty looks great as is, just imagine the possibilities of custom airbrushing...

The Regina Leader-Post has Harper's number:

Same old patronage games in Harper's 'new' Senate

The prime minister says he's bringing political balance to the Senate with 18 new appointees, but skeptics see only $50 million in patronage rewards to Conservative loyalists.

Conservative supporters point out that every prime minister before Harper has done exactly the same thing, and that the PM has encountered nothing but roadblocks in his attempts at genuine Senate reform.

But Harper sold himself to Canadians as a different kind of politician, one who'd refrain from using patronage appointments to the Senate. A man who could be trusted to keep that and other promises.

Instead, Harper has fast become the kind of governing politician he once professed to abhor -- one who routinely breaks his word.

"Routinely," of course, is putting it mildly.

At this point, the only thing that could make Harper's solemn word more worthless would be to have it signed and witnessed by Peter MacKay.

Bullshit, Stephen. Get a grip on yourself. Be a man. Read this.

Thomas Sowell hits one out of the park:

"Wal-Mart has done more for poor people than any ten liberals, at least nine of whom are almost guaranteed to hate Wal-Mart"

"Ronald Reagan had a vision of America. Barack Obama has a vision of Barack Obama."

Sowell is a great read. His economics books should be mandatory reading in high school, but considering the left-leaning approach to public education... fat chance of that.

mhb23re
at gmail d0t calm

Sorry, Vitruvius, but I've read too much of Michael Ignatieff to be impressed by either name-dropping or superficial cliches about Classical, Enlightenment or modernist thoughts on government.

By the way, Vitruvius, you might like to re-consider the wisdom of putting forward the following Mencken quotation in the light of Stephen Harper's recent conduct:

"Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them.

When it comes to Stephen Harper, the number of items that might be substituted for the phrase "something they can't get" beggars memory, frankly speaking.

(I'd also suggest that the next time you send someone to an "essay" on government, you should review the meaning of key terms like "conservative" before you post--to make sure you understand them.)

Your laughably ill-informed and incoherent "response" to my post shows next-to-no understanding of the relevant issues raised by the L-P editorial.

Congratulations, though, Vitruvius: such mindless partisanship may earn you a place on Stephen Harper's "short list" the next time he (inevitably) decides to break his word on Senate reform.

Very cool Canadian Sentinel. My dad and I built two wooden cars on VW bug chassis back in the 70's and 80's. Sort of a classic 54 MG look.

Well he built, I did the finish. 20 plus coats of simoniz wax applied with 0000 steel wool and buffed out with cheese cloth. Everyone else at the car shows had their Turtle Wax, we had our can of Pledge.

Stephen, does the FACT that Harper has been trying for almost 3 years to get the provinces to look at Senate reform mean anything at all to you? He has not appointed any senators to the Senate to keep his desire to make this organ elected with term limits. When the coalition made it plain they would put Bloc and even Lizzie May into the senate to make sure Conservative legislation would not pass if they regained power Harper had to act.

The Liberal Senate has sat on some of Harper's previous legislation for over a year just to delay implementation of passed parliamentary bills.

As a prerequisite for taking the Senate seat each appointee must agree to stand for election when finally Senate reform is done.

Why do people like you never check your facts and just spout whatever comes into your empty liberal head?

"Scrapbook

Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Ron Goldstein decided to compile the notes, pictures, postcards of his recent service into a scrapbook. He was awaiting discharge and, as he says, “had plenty of time on his hands”. Then in 1988, Goldstein’s sister persuaded him to write a memoir to complement the scrapbook. He found that its pages were disintegrating with age and rebound them. Fortunately for us, Goldstein decided to reproduce each and every page on his blogsite. This* was the result."

http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/
...-

*"Visiting this site for the first time?
Welcome to this site !

Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Front Cover of Ron's Army Album created 1946"
http://ronsactualarmyalbum.blogspot.com/

I am assuming that Steven will now be fighting for senate reform since he takes such exception to Harper's appointments.

I guess Harper won after all, huh Steven.

Expert on human gullibility was gulled himself; but, he writes about it.
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"In this week’s eSkeptic, we present an insider’s look at Ponzi schemes by an expert on human gullibility who not only just wrote a book on the subject, but with considerable irony just lost a good chunk of his retirement savings in the Madoff Ponzi scheme.

This is one of the most insightful articles we’ve ever published that puts the lie to the belief that intelligent and educated skeptics and scientists can’t be fooled. Read on and be amazed … and then watch the television special on “The Art of the Con” that features Michael Shermer’s look at how con games work, and how he pulled off one of the most famous cons (called “the pigeon drop”) on a busy street corner in Los Angeles."

"Fooled by Ponzi (and Madoff)

How Bernard Madoff Made Off with My Money

by Stephen Greenspan

There are few areas of functioning where skepticism is more important than how one invests one’s life savings. Yet intelligent and educated people, some of them naïve about finance and others quite knowledgeable, have been ruined by schemes that turned out to be highly dubious and quite often fraudulent. The most dramatic example of this in American history is the recent announcement that Bernard Madoff, a highly-regarded hedge fund manager and a former president of NASDAQ, has for several years been running a very sophisticated Ponzi scheme which by his own admission has defrauded wealthy investors, charities and other funds, of at least 50 billion dollars.

In my new book Annals of Gullibility, I analyze the topic of financial scams,"
http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/08-12-23.html#feature

Stephen is just ticked off that Lizzy Mae and the separatists didn't get their Senate seats.

stephen - think. Harper is committed to Senate reform. But the Liberals, NDP, Bloc, several provinces AND the Senate, reject any reforms. So, how does one deal, in a democracy, with a system that itself refuses to change? Please tell us what Harper should have done to reform the Senate when ALL of the above legislative bodies refuse to permit it.

The three opposition parties find patronage appointments too useful to allow Senate reform. Harper asked the provinces to elect their own Senate nominees - but how many provinces accepted his offer? Did Quebec, Ontario?

Harper had a motion passed in the House limiting Senate terms to 8 years; it passed (and the Liberals knew that their double numbers in the Senate would ensure that the Senate would refuse it. Guess what - the Senate REFUSED to allow limited terms.
Oh - and the Senate REFUSED to allow Senate accountability; they removed themselves from the accountability act; these Senators said that they would 'police' themselves. Heh.

So, Harper has tried for elections, tried for limited terms - and he can't get anywhere in this democratic system.

So- don't be - and I'll have to say it - so incredibly stupid - as to assert as you have done that all it takes for a PM to get his agenda through, is His Word.
It may surprise you, but Harper doesn't govern by Divine Right; he's not a Sovereign. Therefore, His Word won't get things done. He governs by democratic rules and restraints.

Therefore, to achieve reform, he's going in by the back door, so to speak. All his appointees have signed agreements that they will support 8 year limited term Motions, will all support elections to the Senate, and other senate reforms. Therefore, we are now getting a Senate committed to reform, rather than one sitting on its plum patronage behinds, sneering as they hold up legislature and change.

Stephen is still seething because the turkeys have been outwitted by the eagles.
Remember the old saying Stephen, "If you want to soar with the eagles, stop acting like a turkey."

As usual, for a lefty, Stephen simply asserts his inadequate thesis. Thank goodness the inhabitants of SDA are a much more knowledgeable and principled bunch, who both can and do "put their money where their mouth is"--something the lefties virtually never do.

Now that his OPINION has been legitimately challenged with some pertinent FACTS, I notice that Stephen has been very quiet. Altogether typical . . .

The fact that PMSH held off on Senate appointments, that were his to make, for three years, despite the fact that the Senate is stacked with Liberal appointees, who far outweigh the Conservatives, is a testament to the PM’s allegiance to Senate reform. As ET has pointed out, in a democracy, he is not the only player.

When circumstances change, so does decision making. Who would have foreseen the illegitimate power grab of the “Coup Coup [pronounced cuckoo] Coalition”? If that gaggle of traitorous opportunists had carried out their coup, the Senate seats would have been filled in the twinkling of an eye, with the likes of Lizzie May and the separatists. I wonder if Stephen would have had a problem with that.

In case Stephen hasn’t noticed, politics isn’t a game of Tiddly Winks: it’s more like war. Sometimes unlikely things, that one would rather not happen, need to happen. That’s just the way it is. Stephen and his ilk need to get over it and get smart: what’s “fair” for their side is also “fair” for their opponents.

And I thought these people were all in favour of diversity, inclusion, and tolerance . . . Silly me.

For those who thought 'Islam in Bosnia would prove to be an exception to the rule':

"As Bosnia revives, so do Muslim faithful"

(International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/26/americas/islam.php)

SARAJEVO: As several thousand worshipers streamed into the imposing King Fahd Mosque on a recent Friday, a young man sat outside selling a popular conservative Muslim magazine with President-elect Barack Obama's image on the cover.

"Hussein, Will Your America Kill Muslims?" the headline asked, using Obama's middle name, a source of pride for many Muslims here.

Thirteen years after a war in which 100,000 people were killed, a majority of them Muslims, Bosnia is experiencing an Islamic revival.

More than half a dozen new madrasas, or religious high schools, have been built in recent years, while dozens of mosques have sprouted, including the King Fahd, a sprawling €20 million, or $28 million, complex with a sports and cultural center.

Before the war, fully covered women and men with long beards were almost unheard of. Today, they are commonplace.

Two months ago, men in hoods attacked participants at a gay festival in Sarajevo, dragging some people from vehicles and beating others, while they chanted "Kill the gays!" and "Allahu Akbar!" Eight people were hurt.

Muslim religious leaders complained that the event, which coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, was a provocation.

"Gifts for Baby Boy Palin Pouring Into Alaska

Baby gifts for Bristol Palin's impending bundle of joy are pouring into Alaska from all over the world, says Alaska's first grandfather, Chuck Heath, to the tune of "hundreds of thousands" of pieces of mail.

Heath, 70, says boxes are piling up in the mail room of Bristol's mom, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"I'd say from a half-dozen countries," Heath says. "In Sarah's mail room, there's 87 boxes -- big boxes of mail that we haven't even opened." He adds that there's no way the family will ever be able to answer every letter, although they are trying.
(Excerpt) Read more at parentdish.com ..."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2154878/posts

It appears Robert is displaying the thought process typical of the Leftist mind, completely devoid of reason and common sense.

Who in their right mind would assume having the Senate stacked to the rafters representing one party is good for our democracy? The situation we have now is interfering with our democratic process. We have unelected partisans in the Upper Chamber playing partisan games, voting down and holding up Bills passed by elected MP's in the HOC.

This of course is because we have a Conservative government and most of the Senate is Liberal. It's all about childish, partisan games, nothing about what's good for the country.

Mr Harper tried to change the status quo to no avail. He's doing the responsible thing as is his duty and filling the seats which have been vacant for too long.

That's the system we have, we have to live with it until enough bozos get fitted with a functioning brain capable of thinking outside their own little tents.

Having the Provinces elect Senators is the best option without constitutional change. The PM can then choose from those elected Senators in waiting.

is good for democracy?

thanks maz2 regarding the Palin's info. After being so trashed by drive by media everywhere, it's super cool to read that normal caring people simply send a note (or hundreds of thousands of them send letters) and likely a good number of those little tiny baby t-shirts ect... in blue of course.

and any normal thinking person will know what they'll do with the excess gifts.

Putting all the political and pragmatic reasons aside the very best part of Harper's senate gambit is the Duffy factor.

As the coalition of the swilling lurched onto the scene you could see the senate dreams of Craig Oliver and Lloyd Robertson flicker back to life. However faint those dreams seemed on October 15 they had one last shot if only the Little Professor, the Video Professor and Kapitan Kaybec could pull it off.

Craig did his very best to cheer the coalition on, citing the amazing fact that 62% of Canadians supported these clowns by osmosis. Lloyd did his part by noting the ensuing "constitutional crisis" was brought on by the bully Harper.

Constitutional experts (read liberal hacks) were summoned to lend legal legitimacy to the whole self serving affair all the while ignoring the disdain average Canadians held for this bit of political theater.

Meanwhile, Ellie May enters stage left to gleefully ponder her pending elevation to the red chamber.

I almost felt sorry for Craig, Lloyd and Blinkin Bobby Fife as they tried to fan the tinders of this tender coalition.

And then it happened...The Little Professor (who apparently never studied the Video Professor's instructional tapes) released the all time cheesiest, amateur, unintentionally hilarious bit of political communications EVER!!!

Fife was freaking apoplectic when he realized the implications.....No Coalition....No Senate appointments for their team....Lloyd wouldn't be giving up the big chair anytime soon...The HORROR!!! OH THE HUMANITY!!

Lloyd himself looked disgusted beyond bearing and Craig squawked away in seagull like disbelief. As a matter of fact the only member of the CTV broadcast team who wasn't visibly upset was Mike Duffy.

Go figure.

But the best was yet to come. Having prorogued Parliament PMSH had one more surprise for the crew at CTV.

I wonder what Mr.Harper was thinking when he faced off with Lloyd and Blinky to record his year end joust with with that pair of asshats?

Was he thinking about the figurative swat to the snout these two puppies were going to get when he announced the appointment of Senator Duffy?

Hell, by recruiting the Puffster the PM managed to wipe their collective noses in their own piffle.

I must say I really appreciate Mr. Harpers wicked sense of humor.

Up next....Lurch!!

Syncro

The Muslims celebrate Christmas:

"On Tuesday Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Sharia criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, the code legalizes crucifixion." (via Caroline Glick)

I've been saying for years, full public disclosure of the Islamic doctrine as codified in it's trilogy, together with making shariah illegal and most importantly, putting an end to Muslim immigration is the beginning of the end for Islam.

I don't really care that "the vast majority of Muslims are moderate."

Is this something you'd want to tell your granddaughter as an excuse, while you dress her in a burka?

Moderate as a degree of what exactly?

Churchill said that "What hydrophobia is to dogs, Islam is to man."

The Islamic killers at Mumbai were moderate (to one degree or another) at one time. Perhaps, better put, had a lesser degree of toxicity. Then when they became fully infected, they not only killed their innocent, non-combatant victims - they sexually mutilated them, tortured them and then killed them.

Is Wahhabiism to blame? Deobandiism? Bin Laden? The Muslim Brotherhood, perhaps? How about the old canard, poverty?

No, these are just the results. The root, and foundationally violent cause is the Islamic ideology as expressed in the Quran, Hadiths and Sira. Sure, there may be 50 different sects, but there's only one trilogy. And it is not moderate, in the slightest.

Until the yoke of the multicultural suicide pact is broken and the foundation of the Islamic ideology is universally realized, rejected and harshly rooted out, there will be and can be no peace. Only war. But then that's how they divide the world - al dar Harb.

""We are pissed off at the government," said one young man,".

Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart?
Our Friend, the State?

Our Enemy, The State.
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"The Isle That Rattled the World [Iceland Created a Vast Bubble]

REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- A boy charged to the front of an angry crowd here recently and tossed a carton of skyr, a popular local yogurt-like snack, at the Parliament building. It splattered on the rough-hewn stone.

He and thousands of Icelanders were protesting one of the strangest economic failures of the global financial crisis. This past fall, every bank that matters in this tiny nation -- that is, all three of them -- failed. Iceland's currency, the krona, became worthless beyond its shores. The country's financial system stopped working.

"We are pissed off at the government," said one young man, pausing between fusillades of eggs. A roll of toilet paper arced across the Nordic sky. Voices of Anger, Shame in Iceland

In the whipping wind, a woman held a cardboard with a screaming mouth on Nov. 21.

Iceland is an extreme casualty of an era in which it became extraordinarily easy to borrow money. But it was more than that: An examination of the nation's banking system, which collapsed over about 10 days this autumn, reveals the degree to which Iceland was one of the international financial bubble's most enthusiastic players. Home to fewer people than Wichita, Kan., Iceland became so leveraged and so deeply intertwined with the global financial infrastructure that its collapse has rattled the world from Tokyo to California to the Middle East."
http://tinyurl.com/9cx4u9 (wsj)

Has anyone else heard about the latest Harris-Decima poll that states that a majority of Canadians are comfortable with the Big 3 bailout? I simply don't buy it.

Looking at their website - http://www.harrisdecima.ca/en/newsroom - I question the results of several of their polls.

Tutu, the "peace laureate", now counsels "the use of force", aka war?
Is Tutu now a neo-con?

Will the MSM now hail Tutu the war laureate?
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"Tutu urges force against Mugabe

JOHANNESBURG – South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu on Wednesday urged the use of force to drive Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe from power if he will not quit voluntarily."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2154972/posts

"Spain's Baqueira Beret ski resort has reported a new record has been set for snowfall with 435cm (Over 36 feet) of snow having fallen since 29th October."
http://preview.tinyurl.com/7tuzcw
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Related: "from the Westernmost tip of Europe."
Spain? Portugal?

"Luís de Sousa (08:53:44) :

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all from the Westernmost tip of Europe.

It hadn’t been this cold for more than fourty years. Yesterday we woke up under a layer of frost like I’ve never seen in these southern parts. Not only the cold is unusual as is the time it has been lasting. Even today as we are under the influence of a severe low front, the mercury is reluctant to go above +14 ºC. The northern regions of the state look like Scandinavia, with the mercury below zero all day round.

Well at least the Russians have been having a warm winter."
"Snowfall immobilizes rural communities in eastern, central Turkey"
http://tinyurl.com/8fexl6 (wattsup)
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"BC's Lower Mainland hit with new snow storm"
CTV.ca

Any sign of Coderre getting ready to march for Hamas or does he just march for Hezbollah?

The fat Lady has sung. Time to leave the building enviro-nuts. It was a season of glory but now comes the bill.

2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved
The first, on May 21, headed "Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts" , reported that the entire Alpine "winter sports industry" could soon "grind to a halt for lack of snow". The second, on December 19, headed "The Alps have best snow conditions in a generation" , reported that this winter's Alpine snowfalls "look set to beat all records by New Year's Day".

Lots more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/3982101/2008-was-the-year-man-made-global-warming-was-disproved.html

If force is used:

Mugabe to the Archbishop: Et tu, Tutu?!

Posted by: Vitruvius at December 27, 2008 2:44 AM

How truly sad that one who is articulate and mature comes out as a professional apologist.

Despite your whine Vit - the bottom of it is that politicians are sycophants - and the partisans - and the morons gobbling up false hope.

No different than three card monte on a streetcorner.

As long as limp apologists knock down standards and expectations, we'll have the professional backslappers out shilling for votes, and making out for themselves on other people's earnings. The same way as any constituency behaves: in it's own self interest.

You apologize for the liars. I demand more. People will hit exactly what they aim for.

Go fix a cocoa, put on your slippers, and stick to the tunes.

That is a complete mischaracterization of my opinions, Hardboiled, yet
I don't see the point in arguing it: I have more important things to do.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11313962

The dangers of Karaoke revealed

Stephen: "Instead, Harper has fast become the kind of governing politician he once professed to abhor -- one who routinely breaks his word." This is nonsense. I think that David Frum has the best analysis re the recent Senate appointments: http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=1118162

I guess Harper won after all, huh Steven.

alberta girl and vitruvi and the rest of the mindless automatons are incapable of criticizing the Dear Leader. Their programming does not allow it. All is for the best in this best of all possible harper worlds.

I guess Harper won after all, huh Steven.

alberta girl and vitruvi and the rest of the mindless automatons are incapable of criticizing the Dear Leader. Their programming does not allow it. All is for the best in this best of all possible harper worlds.

Posted by: Philboyd at December 27, 2008 10:54 PM

*sigh* I was going to post a retort,but why bother.Read some of the other posts here.We critize our dear leader more then you will ever do to yours.But then I guess you can't,when you can't breath properly with your nose up his butt.

ET wrote:

So, Harper has tried for elections,

No, actually, he hasn't.

According to testimony before the legislative committee on Bill C-20 on April 2, 2008, "the bill does not provide for a process for electing
senators."

Rather, it provides for "consultations" imposing (according to CPC MP Tom Lukiwiski) no legal requirement on the PM to recommend to the G-G the appointment to the Senate of the "winner" of the pseudo-election (i.e. the consultation).

In future, ET, you may wish to familiarize yourself with the text of bills, along with the associated committee evidence, before posting.

I know it would be a departure from the norm for a SDA regular to be informed about a topic before posting, but you may wish to start a trend.

Perhaps a New Year's Resolution of sorts.