At -31°C, Southern Saskatchewan is experiencing a rather quiet Sunday evening. Thanks Vitruvius.

Tonight, I was totally upset. Went to visit my old neighbour who is now 82. About a month ago, I repaired her exteriour Xmas lights. Tonight, she didn't have them on, nor did she have her Xmas tree lit up. "Why are your Xmas lights shut off?" I asked.
It appears Sask-Power has asked that people reduce electrical consumption during the holidays through TV ads.
An 82 year old lady has devoted her entire life to making the world a better place to live in. Now Sask Power can't supply enough electricity for her Xmas lights (so they tell us,) so they they ask her to shut them off
Suggestion to Brad Wall. Allow competitive companies to come into Sask., companies that will fill our electrical demand needs. Bruce Power is but one of them.

Merry Christmas.

From an e-mail from my regimental association:

Hoping to reach about 35 million Canadians and you are one of them.

How does one share a message of hope for the thousands of our Veterans that remain "medal-less"?

Note: You may even see a name or two you know already on the list. There are probably approximately 400,000 Veterans...Canadians that at one time or another since 1947 have volunteered to serve in our nation's military. Many of them want to just belong, to have something in common with the rest of their Comrades-in-Arms and something for a legacy for their family history. The Governor General's Volunteer Service Medal (GGVSM) is about the recognition and remembrance of all of our Veterans and the Heritage of our Military and the Legacy of "all" our Veterans. See it, sign it, share it, for our Veterans.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/volunteer-service-medal-for-our-veterans.html

Vit

I look forward to a no doubt eclectic Christmas Extravaganza.

In the interim I have a Calgary Herald article posted on my site that references the work Lance posted here regarding the CRU email leak.

Of course the headline is spun but that's the point isn't it.

Syncro

Hey Vit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBxEaRxLrUw

Great version of a classic!

"Climate nihilism is the phenomenon of going to Copenhagen, promising to reduce emissions and pretending to believe the promises, even neither though you nor anybody around you has any intention, plan or funding to do so."

Wake up Lizzie May . . . your 15 minutes are up.

"the liar cares about the truth, whereas the bullshitter just cares about himself."

http://tinyurl.com/ydr9mag

Little reported on "skeptics'" conference in Copenhagen: http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/tech-mainmenu-30/environment/2541-qskepticq-climate-conference-challenges-un

No offense Vit but under the circumstances, it think Bing and Doris would be a bit more appropriate for tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zN98EibnrI

Baby it's cold outside!

Seems the environmental groups are worried - they are aggressively attacking all comments from skeptics over at CTV and CBC - do not know if they are doing same at Global.

Found out they really don't like it when you bring up the fact that even IF climate change is taking place - even IF it is human caused, and even IF something can or can not be done about it - that will take at least 50 years to even know IF any plan works or just the result of normal cycles - it is far more likely that we will be dealing with the fallout of war between Iran and Israel, Pakistan, or North Korea on a Nuclear weapon level within the next 3 years; making climate change a total non issue. They get really mad when you point out that they think their cause, doctrine, and ideology is supremely more superior or more important than anything else happening in the world. One blogger even said "well that is why environmentalists have to stop mining so they can not get any uranium for bombs". Totally clueless to the fact the weapons already exist. And please don't bring up Russia's failed missile launch on the very day Obama received his "Nobel Peace Prize" that literally lit up the skies over Oslo to the point many thought it was a UFO or aliens and their National News stations broadcast the videos and photos (available on you tube) and announced that it was a Russian Missle test. They completely miss the message Russia was giving Obama - coincidently 5 days after the treaty between the USA and Russia had expired.

Fred, interesting article. I don't agree with the underlying premise that Global Warming exists, let alone that it is an imminent danger. But there were some good points within.

Here was my favourite paragraph:

"But really it is phony investigative journalism posing as the real thing. In truth, skeptics of global warming are poor, not rich. According to Media Matters, Exxon-Mobil has given conservative think tanks less than $7 million total since 2001 -- about $1 million a year. By contrast, the combined annual budgets of America's leading environmental philanthropies and NGOs total well over $500 million a year. Two funders alone have promised to spend $2 billion on climate communications over the next few years. And governments collectively spend billions annually, as they should, funding climate scientists to conduct research and publish their work."

the rat 1116 - awesome - will do re petition!

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/a-few-good-scientists/

"Let me tell you this: If it weren’t for scientists like me, you’d still be worshiping fire as an angry god. Every convenience in your life is thanks to us, so when we tell you something, you should just nod your head like you comprehend what we’re saying and shut up. And right now I am telling you those emails are unimportant.

Oh, that’s not good enough for you. You want us to explain them. You think you’re entitled to the truth.

You can’t understand the truth!

Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to have scientific equipment on them to gather data, and that data studied by men with computers. Who’s going to do it? A layman like you? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for the global warming skeptics and curse the climatologists. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know — that the crushing of data contrary to global warming, while tragic, probably saved grant money. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to the layman, creates scientific consensus. You don’t want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about on Twitter, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall studying those measurements you can’t even begin to comprehend.

We use phrases like “peer review,” “overwhelming consensus,” “settled science.” We use these phrases as the backbone to a life spent studying something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket made by synthetic fibers my science creates, then questions the manner in which I provide that science! I’d rather you just said, “You’re such a genius!” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a lab coat and crunch data. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to!"

Vitruvius, I am looking forward to it.

Joe Citizen 10:51 Agreed, it is about time.

the rat 11:16 Just signed the petition.

well I'm confused again and you SDA regulars caused it with your hypocrisy.

there has been much posting at SDA in the past about Tommy Douglas and his advocating of eugenics.

take a gander at this:

http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/eh4.shtml

the original social darwinists were the victorian era elites a.k.a. conservatives.

so which is it SDA? bump them off as per Tommy or just let them die of deprivation and misery? is that what SDA actually stands for? 'Social Darwinist Association'?

pls clarify. take your time. do try to refrain from your usual personal attacks and flippancy because THIS cuts to the core of your very selective view of history and public policy.

Good idea Vit...looking forward to that.

All Victorian Elites were conservatives? Victorian in reference to what? Time period? Mode of Dress? Decor Preference? Architecture? Mode of Transportation? Not any different back then - many persons who call themselves conservatives or liberals in the political or social circles are anything but - a good many label themselves in order to garner investors, political support, or avoid public or social disapproval. The word ALL is troublesome.

I tried really hard not to be flippant. I do not detect any sort of personal attack either. Hope this pleases you.

While looking around for articles on Russian History, I turned up this old video, shot in 1920, it is labeled 'Kolchak' ( a white Russian Cossack General). The opening and closing pictures, in the video looked familiar - if my old eyes do not deceive me, this film is the blueprint for the opening slides of ALgores big movie; the latter in color!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fMm6bYd7QI&feature=related

I would appreciate it if others here would go have a look since I have not seen the Algore scare mongering film; only the ads on T.V. and I may have Al's effort confused with the horror show they used to open the Hopydopy Denmark fiasco: 'The Hopinhagan'.

The film strip is in Russian so I could not understand the script but I tend think that the ice flow upheaval symbolizes what happened to the country of Russia when the Bolsheviks unleashed their demonic horrors on the Russian people in 1917. Ken (Kulak), if you read this, you will likely be able to tell us more about the man this film clip is honoring.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the Algore outfit lifted a few slides from an old filmstrip to back up a Bolshevik takeover of the entire world, to doom all of the people all over the earth to the terror that the Bolsheviks destroyed Russia with - and that the film he used was a film to commemorate a Russian General who fought against the Bolshevik fiends?

Here's some links to some beautiful Christmas Carols at Youtube:

"Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g5pdPKTBdk

"Glory to God", from Handel's "Messiah"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNB5p6MNnnc

"God Rest You Merry Gentlemen"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDvEwC0wZ-I

Hark the Herald Angels Sing", a magnificent performance at St. Paul's Cathedral, London
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDPwNPAV6tA

Is it okay to flippant now? What a waste of time, have you nothing better to do curious? Andrew Carnegie also said that "The man who dies rich, dies disgraced". That doesn't make him a socialist, it makes him a capitalist with morals; there are those on both sides of the scale. Now run along.

Global Warming hits Edmonton!

The Toronto Star published some excerpts from president Obama's Nobel acceptance speech on Friday.

The president notes that war appeared with the first man, but "over time, as codes of law sought to control violence within groups, so did philosophers and clerics and statesmen seek to regulate the destructive power of war".

Violence is primarily an individual matter. The moral principle that no person has the right to initiate the use of force on any other person, which is the foundation of a peaceful world, speaks first and foremost to the individual.

Obama: "The soldier's courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to country, to cause, to comrades in arms. But war itself is never glorious, and we must never trumpet it as such".

The notion that sacrifice is glorious, rather than a moral abomination, leads to war in the first place. A nation that invades another for the purpose of looting it is asking the target to sacrifice for the benefit of the invader. The same applies to bank robbers and other purveyors of violence on an individual scale.

The president is quite right, however, that war is not glorious. Self-defense is sometimes required, as he goes on to say.

The lunatic fringe has come out in force on the subject of global warming, as one might suspect. Here's a letter in the Toronto Star on Saturday from a moron who self-identifies as "Dr.".

"The causes of global warming are directly related to free market capitalism principles – limitless consumption, overproduction of goods leading to the massive waste of precious human resources, limitless profits putting power and control in the hands of private enterprise and a complete disregard for humanity in the process".

The facts: Capitalism is based on voluntary exchange of goods and services for mutual benefit. Profits and consumption are not limitless; if there were overproduction of goods, there would be no poor; the only massive waste of human resources are the public sector parasites who regulate rather than produce goods and services; power and control in the hands of private enterprise is where it belongs, because the alternative is power and control in the hands of government, which employs coercion and whose historical record is underscored with blood.

"Consumption as an economic practice is unsustainable".

The facts: Survival on earth requires consumption. Capitalism enables the production of vast amounts of goods and services that people require. Socialism only enables a gang of thugs to seize absolute power, a la Kim Jong-il in North Korea. That's where you find "disregard for humanity".

As Ayn Rand noted, the socialists used to claim that when their system took over, everyone would have shoes. When they discovered the truth, they declared that it was preferable to go barefoot.

From a letter in the Globe, Saturday:

"I'll sleep better when I know that policy is being driven by science and the precautionary principle, rather than the free-for-all of the blogosphere and newspaper opinion pages".

The whole point of the discussion in the blogosphere is that a lot of the science has been faked. In other words, AGW policy is not being driven by science.

Also, as noted in a Globe article the previous Saturday, some "scientists" objected to allowing the raw data of climate-change research to be made available to everyone including skeptics, saying that "such transparency would be unworkable because the matter of climate is too urgent and the stakes too high to allow skeptics to have any influence on policy". This of course is an excuse to prolong the fraud.

A web site devoted to the so-called "precautionary principle" describes it thus: It is "a response to uncertainty, in the face of risks to health or the environment. In general, it involves acting to avoid serious or irreversible potential harm, despite lack of scientific certainty as to the likelihood, magnitude, or causation of that harm. Precaution is now an established principle of environmental governance, prominent in law, policy and management instruments ..."

Note: "lack of scientific certainty". One could interpret this as giving in to fear-mongering. If the science is not certain, one might cause more problems by acting on dubious data. The calls for rash action to combat alleged global warming are ironic in the light of the supposed focus on precaution.

In short, the precautionary principle sounds more like an anti-concept than a principle.

One more issue:

Last month, a US activist named Amy Goodman was questioned for over an hour by Canadian border police who wanted to know (she says) about her views on the Winter Olympics. Yesterday, Marla Renn of the Olympic Resistance Network claims to have been interrogated for six hours then refused entry into the US. She was heading for an anti-Olympic event in Portland, Oregon.

Also, the city of Vancouver ordered the removal of a mural outside a downtown east-side gallery, which depicted the five Olympic rings – one as a smiley-face, the others with unhappy faces. The city referred to it as "graffiti". The gallery owner says she has hung about 30 murals in the spot over the years, and only this one drew an official objection.

It is not a crime to oppose the Olympics, and it is not a crime to meet with others with similar views. Only violence is unacceptable. Freedom of expression and of association are found in the Charter of Rights, and in all of these cases the authorities appear to be acting in violation of it. The problem, of course, is that the legislatures and the courts have so little regard for them that it is not surprising that the authorities believe they can get away with it.

Curious_George. You plead for nice treatment while you fire off accusations of hypocrisy? Not very impressive.

So Tommy Douglas advocated eugenics. So what if others have, the point is that the "virtuous, moral and religious socialist" Tommy Douglas was in fact in favor of rubbing out inferior human beings.

Strikes me as the very definition of hypocrisy. I think that has always been the point George.

curiouser and curiouser

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-20070327.html

Tonight I was in the process of drafting a letter to send to the CMA tearing apart their unscientific stance on AGW (which they expressed in a letter to Stephen Harper last month) and was looking for a number of articles I saw in the CMAJ which purported to show that poverty was associated with adverse health outcomes. If one takes large amounts of money away from people then they become poor or if the company that they work for goes out of business they are unemployed and poor. The relationship between being out of work and depression is a fairly strong one as I've noticed in my practice of medicine over the years.

What shocked me was the sudden proliferation of papers that suggest that in actuality the converse holds; economic growth is bad and recessions are a good thing. The most egregious example of this thinking was, of course, published in the CMAJ.
The effect of economic recession on population health. S. Bezruchka CMAJ 181(5):281-285 (2009). This paper is available online at:
www.cmaj.ca

There is a graph of mortality vs unemployment and Bezrucha finds it to mean that the higher the unemployment rate, the lower the death rate. No statistical test at all, just the projections of a warped minds statist ideology on data which shows at best a modest correlation. One has to just read the section "Mechanisms through which recessions can improve the health of societies" to see the type of intellectual decay that has begun to afflict medicine. To be fair, I haven't gone to the referenced studies to ascertain if they are statistically valid but when one is dealing with correlation inference of causation one requires a very high standard of proof. Correlations are often the initial hypotheses which underly a controlled experiment to test the association, but the peer review of the CMAJ needs none of that scientific rigor crap when they have their own personal opinions to guide them.

My experience with the CMAJ is that virtually any correlation that ties in with the personal prejudices of the statists that have risen to the higher levels of the CMA is seen as proof of causation. (In medicine it seems that the same paradox that one finds in other fields holds true: those who are competent in medicine actually practice medicine and those who are incompetent end up in medical politics). I used to think that the worst example of this was the Killias paper that purported to show that the more guns there were in a society the higher the homicide rate. Never mind that Ireland was given the same weight as the US (slight population discrepancies like that didn't seem to matter) and that Great Britain was divided into England, Scotland and N. Ireland. The real bias was shown in the estimate of the rate of firearms ownership in Switzerland which was set much lower than it actually was. The reason was because, and this is no exaggeration, because to use the machinegun that, by law, every military age Swiss male has to keep in his house without authorization was illegal and thus these firearms were included in the Swiss totals! If one used the real rate of firearms ownership and access in Switzerland, suddenly the statistical significance of the correlation disappeared even when one kept the other arbitrary "countries".

The CMAJ calls itself "objective" but in my experience that prior to some political event important to statists suddenly a rash of very poorly written papers appear in the CMAJ which are "peer reviewed" evidence that C68 needs to be passed, that we need and most recently that poverty is medically good for you to explain why we should send all of our money to poor countries as partial atonement for our carbonic sins. I didn't see this paper because now whenever the CMAJ comes into my mailbox it is thrown straight into the garbage without being opened. (No I don't recycle it as I don't think that the papers I do recycle would want to be associated with it).

Apparently the health benefits of recessions come from the government coming to the aid of the unemployed and this money is far more likely to improve population health than an individual working hard to make a much larger amount of money. Apparently working is too stressful and we should all take up less materialistic lifestyles and be happier and healthier. I didn't think that my opinion of the CMAJ could sink any lower but it looks like they were just starting to show doctors how bad they could really get in the future in the mid 90's. I personally don't know any doctor who actually reads the CMAJ which is why this National Enquirer of medical journals still exists (what would be really scary would be if a significant number of doctors actually agreed with this crap).

Anyway, I've procrastinated enough tonight and I've got to get my hospital billings in before a deadline coming up RSN and I don't need to read any more papers which make me want to drink very heavily.

Oops, what I meant to say, in my rant about the Killias paper was "these firearms were NOT included in the Swiss total". Inexcusible, but office Christmas party tonight and I don't have to work tomorrow.

Excellent Post there 'Rat'... second from the top.

Lest we forget.

And a not so gentle reminder of how we Canadian taxpayers have been so greatly ripped off in the Billion$ by the Cretienite Liberals.

Remember the Scamslist [200] at Scamslist.blog.com?

Vanished! ... Lest we forget.

Fortunately, for those of you who may have forgotten the Massive amounts of our tax dollars the liberals ripped off, there is a reminder here in the SDA archives.

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/007393.html

Only in Canada do we get robbed of Billion$ and no one goes to jail.

Guess the folks at Blog.com are Libranos. Not to be confused the the good folks at Blog.ca who are excellent and happen to be German.

Others from SDA had posted the ScamsList. Wonder where those are now?

Ignatief and the Liberal gang are going nowhere fast, yet, when I think of Liberal scams and the Gomery inquiry, it still makes me mad as hell. TG

I'm looking forward to your Christmas offerings, Vit. Remember: Christmas lasts for 12 days ... thus, Twelfth Night, January 5th into 6th. (Christmas doesn't actually BEGIN until December 25th, but I digress ... ;-)

Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols offers some gems, especially those accompanied by the harp.

John Rutter/Cambridge Singers do some very good stuff (What Sweeter Music, etc.).

Then there's Bing, and Ella, and Nat, and Frank, and ... well, I'm impinging on your territory.

Surprise us!

Your tax dollars at work.
A larval stage socialist at the CBC laments over the failures at Copenhagen, and tells a few whoppers along the way:

"Though the emails have largely been taken out of context and represent conversations based on debates that occurred 10 years ago — long before science without political steroids proved the case for global warming — the scandal is increasingly taking up oxygen at Copenhagen and robbing negotiators of precious political capital."

"In the days leading up to the summit, China and India, two of the world's fastest growing economies and largest carbon emitters, pledged to uphold their end of the bargain."

This one is a dandy as well:
"We have let a simple scientific issue become hijacked by special interests and grow like topsy to the point that summits like Copenhagen have now become forums for everything from the merits of socialist economies to Third World development and the reliability of scientific research."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/12/11/f-vp-jackson.html

Comments are open, or they say they are.....

Saturday i posted under Reader Tips
Whoaaa Obama's ratings -16

I was busy Sunday so did not see this.

Whoaaaaaa Big Time Neagative Numbers!!!
Rasmussen Reports for Sunday Dec.13/2009 puts him at -19

thats a 42% Disapproval Rating

It dont look good Mr.Benny

sorry! speling erors in priur poast
Hit Preview before post

If you want a great example of accuracy in weather prediction and a kick in the ass for anyone like Suzuki and the rest of the AGW crowd predicting climate 10-20 years out just go to the 14 day Trend on The Weather Channel.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/fourteenday/caon0696?ref=qlink_st_14day

Each and every day this trend line changes not slightly but drastically and rarely accurately beyond 2 days out.

(PDF warning) Michael Yon, Arghandab and the Battle for Kandahar

Beginning Friday evening, December 18, we will feature here, over a period of ten days, two dozen secular and sacred Christmas songs, carols, and related works. Mark your calendars ;-)

Can't wait Vit, good job my Man.

And, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

'Tis the season . . .

Melanie Phillips, who’s Jewish, has a fine defence of Christianity @:

http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles-new/?p=701

"Sleep walking off the cultural cliff, December 14, 2009

". . . among the intelligentsia, the animosity to religion runs even deeper than the upside-down value system of the multicultural agenda. It springs from the fixed view that reason and religion are in diametrically opposite camps.

"Anyone who prays to God must therefore be anti-reason, anti- science and anti-freedom - in other words, an objectionable, obscurantist nutcase. But this is the very opposite of the truth. Rationality is actually underpinned by Judeo-Christian beliefs.

"Without the Biblical narrative, which gave the world the revolutionary idea of an orderly universe that could therefore be investigated by the use of reason, science would never have developed in the first place.

"And it was the Judeo-Christian belief that all individuals are made equal in the image of God that gave rise to human rights and democracy.

"Of course, terrible things have also been done in the name of religion. And equally, people without religious faith can believe in freedom and equality, and lead moral lives.

"But that’s because they draw upon a culture that rests on religious foundations. Strip away those foundations and what’s left would be a brutalised and chaotic society.

"You don’t have to be a religious believer to be mightily concerned by such a likely consequence. . .

"Certainly, [Christianity] did some terrible things in the past to people of other faiths. But it is also responsible for the astonishing achievements of western civilisation . . ."

This is a thesis that batb and I have visited here many times. There don't seem to be a lot of takers, which is surprising in some ways, as most posters here are both intelligent and perceptive. However, where Christianity's concerned, there seems to be a real blind spot. Could this prejudice be the result of the relentless, anti-Christian propaganda that has permeated our culture now for decades? It seems that even reasonable, intelligent folks of goodwill have been infected. Back to Melanie:

"[Such people] draw upon a culture that rests on religious foundations. Strip away those foundations and what’s left would be a brutalised and chaotic society.”

“[W]ould be?” I think we’re already there.

I posted about the Melanie article before reading this open thread: I'm really looking forward to the line up of Christmas music. Many thanks, Vitruvius, it's much appreciated.

why the libs are on about torture.

http://sirjohnabottle.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/liberals-using-torture-to-fundraise/

And brought to you from your favourite "climategate? what is this climategate you speak of?" search engine.

"New! Explore impact of climate change on Google Earth"

The thing is curious george Tommy Douglas was an elitist. Like all elitist they don't think things like eugenics or even conservation should happen to them only to us,the great unwashed. It doesn't matter what political stripe they are. You just don't matter. Only they matter. If you have inferior children they should be erased. You should get rid of your beer fridge to save the world while they raise the heat in their winter houses and lower the air conditioners in their summer houses.
If you are lucky you have a nice little three bedroom house in the city and a cottage getaway in the country where you can take your little boat in the summer and maybe go skidooing in the winter. You are condemned for this as being wasteful and using up the planets resources. They take their private jets or luxury yachts to far off exotic lands to their other mansions and private beaches. If you just remember you are the problem, not them, then all is right with the world.
Somehow I don't think that it is we posters here at SDA are being hypocritical, they are the hypocrites.

canadian per capita emissions peaking in 1948, they must have calculated the Atlantic 3 blowout.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/12/11/so-you-really-want-to-save-the-planet-do-you/

Is Saskatchewan's HRCode the worst in the country?

http://tinyurl.com/ye78spv

lookout - It is difficult to find time to pray in these times where it's rush to work' rush back, meetings, dates, housecleaning etc., and I don't have children or a wifey to look after (or look after me) those who do, need people like us to discuss and attempt to point out what you are talking of. When we do we appear as self-righteous and severe. Also, it is becoming downright dangerous to speak about certain matters and even in democracies, we are being forced to put our children through secular teaching on sexual relationships and so-called tolerance. I might add that we also haven't the time to "listen" to that wee small voice.

George Weigel, The Just-War Tradition

In November, the president of the United States ordered a surge of U.S. forces into Afghanistan and called on other countries to do their duty in bringing that war to a successful conclusion. A few weeks later, the same president traveled to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The notion that the juxtaposition of these two events involves a “contradiction” (as the Washington Post subhead put it, and as the president’s speech tacitly acknowledged) is, in fact, a neat illustration of just how badly the just-war way of thinking has deteriorated in our culture, and just how attenuated the idea of the pursuit of peace has become. In the just-war tradition, as rightly interpreted, the justified use of proportionate and discriminate armed force was always understood to be in the pursuit of peace, which was the fruit of justice, security, and freedom...

This explains it .... Sacha Baron Cohen Admits: Obama A Big Practical Joke

http://wizbangblog.com/content/2009/12/13/sacha-baron-cohen-admits-obama-a-big-practical-joke.php

LUN (Link Under Name)

This explains it .... Sacha Baron Cohen Admits: Obama A Big Practical Joke

http://wizbangblog.com/content/2009/12/13/sacha-baron-cohen-admits-obama-a-big-practical-joke.php

This is too ridiculous to ignore. It's like they missed the day 3rd grade logic was taught.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8410489.stm

"Pay levels often don't reflect the true value that is being created. As a society, we need a pay structure which rewards those jobs that create most societal benefit rather than those that generate profits at the expense of society and the environment".

Quantum:

well that's a start.

1. victorian as in time period

2. I don't see the word ALL in my post.

also:
3. larben is batting 1000 with flippancy and personal attack as I expected.

4. the question about the SDA hypocrisy remains unanswered.

ah, I missed largs answer. quite persuasive. ok, I'll buy that; it's about elitists. lots of those around eh?

"they ALL do it".

now there's the word ALL, and I think we can ALL agree elitists are a scourge on the land regardless of socio-political affiliation. or is that affliction? LOL !!!

And while you're at it, keep your "burdensome" economic contribution and transfer payment as well....

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Ontario+Quebec+carry+oilsands+burden/2337900/story.html

Andy Revkin leaving the NYT? Yup

http://www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org/2009/12/andy-revkins-last-day/

But couldn't more pasture lead to more sheep and cattle, meaning more methane and certain doom for planet Earth?

Ben Cubby, Farmers can offer a partial remedy - at best

THE rich, dark soils of Australia's farming heartland contain more carbon than every coal-fired power station in the country could pump out in a century.

Tweaking the balance so the earth can soak up just a little more CO2, by changing the way crops are grown and by turning some cropland into pasture, could theoretically fulfil all of Australia's greenhouse gas targets in one hit...

Have you seen this?

Lord Monckton adresses a Greenpeace-campaigner on global warming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzkB5DuveDE

My favorite line: "If there has been climate change for 4 billion years, why are you against it now?"

finally, a group of global warming protesters I can offer support to...

http://babalublog.com/2009/12/hundreds-gather-to-protest-global-warming/

I appreciated your post loki - very informative.

X-51A WaveRider gets first ride aboard B-52

In February, the Air Force Flight Test Center's B-52 will carry the unmanned X-51A to approximately 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean then release it. A solid rocket booster from an Army Tactical Missile System will then ignite and accelerate the X-51 to about Mach 4.5. Then the booster will be jettisoned and the X-51A's supersonic combustion ramjet propulsion system will ignite and operate for about 300 seconds, propelling the cruiser to more than six times the speed of sound...

Fascinating article about Goldman Sachs. They truly give capitalism a very, very bad name.

Kate,

Today on Howard Stern Snoop Dog put forth a conspiracy theory that the KKK financed Obama's election victory inorder to have a blackman to blame for Bush's mistakes.
This shows 3 things: 1) the Obama-nation is starting to concede defeat. 2) they are already making excuses for the Obama administration. 3) long term marajuana use makes you paranoid

Tyee Tyee :)

Can you spot the many ironies here ?

I especially like this one;

[ "Very often there are distinct differences between the way ordinary people see things and the way the educated elite do. But ordinary people vote, and most of us are funded by their taxes."]

The Cloud Mystery - Dr. Henrik Svensmark (5 parts)

If anyone thinks that the "Team" weren't effective in shutting down peer-reviewed papers ... check out part 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1qGOUIRac0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTqBrML4nsc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv06IyygoUs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y87vLJrh2AY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pRmbBsdhNE

Ron, thanks for the Tyee article. If we were to add up all the $$$$ spent on all the education of the writers there, what would it be good for? Perhaps a cup of coffee at Starbucks?

Roald Amundsen
1872-1928

“On December 14, 1911,

Amundsen and four others stood at the South Pole, a month before Robert Scott. This expedition was an incredible masterpiece of organization. Here is the story.”

http://www.south-pole.com/p0000101.htm

Capitalist pigs & global warming

To The Secretary of State,
Department for Environment, Food, Rural Affairs and Global Warming (DEFRAGLOBWARG)
QashQau House, Smith Square, London, SW1H 0AX

Dear Secretary of State,

My friend, who is in farming at the moment, recently received a check for £3,000 from the Rural Payments Agency for not rearing pigs. I would now like to join the “not rearing pigs” business.

http://sppiblog.org/news/capitalist-pigs-and-global-warming

abortion is murder.

can't say that in the UK, legally.

Re: ""New! Explore impact of climate change on Google Earth"

I think Google has been bought off. Too bad.