Bush no Lie

McLellan to the contrary, the case that George Bush lied prior to the invasion of Iraq cannot be substantiated with the evidence at hand. Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post elaborates at the WaPo's website.

Peak Oil

Ever heard of "Peak Oil?" What does it mean? This guy has some answers.

March of the Penguins?

You can't deny that there have been, are, and will exist fluctuations in climate. This young British woman wanted to see the impact of climate change on the North Pole. She intends to make a documentary of it, as the youngest woman to reach the Pole on skis.



I don't post this because I dispute what she observed. I post it because the MSNBC video includes penguins, who definitely do not live at the North Pole.

SPOTD #138

Howdy folks. I hope all is well.

Today's phrase:
Whatever we're going through, chances are we've been there before. From Lord Byron.

Actual:
El mejor profeta del futuro es el pasado.

Phonetic with emphasis on bold syllable:
Ell may-hore pro-fay-tah dale foo-too-row ess ell pah-sah-doh.

Translation:
The best prophet of the future is the past.

Perfection
Only 4 more months until the college football begins. This is a very positive article about the BYU Cougars and the resurgence of the program as led by Coach Bronco Mendenhall. It's been fun.

Music
This is a very interesting transcript from a short segment on NPR.

Bruta
This is a great review of the Porsche GT2. It is blazing fast. It never ceases to amaze me what Porsche can do with a 6 cylinder engine.

Eric's Bad Movies
Eric Snider is my favorite movie critic. A few weeks ago he began a feature where he reviews bad movies. This one is for Superman IV, a movie I enjoyed a great deal as a kid but now find mostly unwatchable. It's a good review.

Infrastructure
Popular Mechanics has pointed out several aspects of US Infrastructure that need attention. Soon.

Dad's No Dummy
Advertisements portraying fathers as stupid are neither effective nor creative.

Link of the Day
Speed Racer looks crazy, and I think it will be awesome. Here's a little clip.

Good News from Iraq

Check out this post from Michael Barone on the Kagan report.

Cubans

I enjoyed this article from Pajamas Media about the supposed but apparently non-existent ideological shift between old and young cubanos. Apparently we are just as conservative as our parents.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/cubanamerican_generational_shi/

Bush in Africa/Projection

I cited a few links in SPOTD #136 about President Bush's visit to Africa and the very positive views about him held by many Africans. There was also praise from Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof. Geldof has written a longer piece for TIME. It was very interesting, but revealed something about Geldof (and I think many other people) that he has not noticed.

Geldof's praise for Bush in Africa is matched by Geldof's criticism of Bush in Iraq. Why the difference? On Africa they agree and on Iraq they don't. Seems pretty simple, doesn't it? When someone agrees with you, and does things that you advocate/admire, they are brave, courageous, a genius. When you they act contrary to your opinion they are ignorant, stupid, or perhaps even malicious. Geldof does a poor job, a non-effort really, to reconcile the dichotomy. I'm not just criticizing liberals like Geldof. This extends to the folks that like the president on terror but hate him on immigration. He must be in league with the construction companies or "big agriculture."

This tendency to view proponents of policies we disagree with through the prism of good/evil is often incorrect and just as frequently is the source for today's acrimonious political discourse. Sometimes people just disagree. It is as simple as that. Win the battle with superior ideas, not ad hominem attacks that betray at best a lack of sophistication and at worst the exact kind of malice that one may be projecting on the target of their ire.

Perspective

This video is an outstanding example of how the media doesn't present the most accurate picture of our America:



I do have some worries. I worry that Americans swallow the media line about class warfare and the destruction of the middle class with too little skepticism.

The Best Sports of 2007

I don't want to let this go too long. The Wall Street Journal's sports blog, The Daily Fix, has posted their picks for best sportswriting on 2007. There are some winners here.

I Implore! No More Gore Warming Bore!

I have discussed Global Warming on various occasions. I object to the way that it has been marketed to the public and I object to the prescriptions of it's promoters. They pose a danger to the global economic system and would pull resources from issues of greater import and need.

Gore's Warming is based on alarmism and urgency. It is propelled by a false notion of consensus. To claim that something is true because there is consensus is to ignore millenia of scientific precedent. That fact is acknowledged in this article from Science Magazine. They also claim that in a study of reports and articles, 75% directly agree with the "consensus," which is that recent climate change is largely anthropogenic, or resulting from man's activities. The article also states the following:

Many details about climate interactions are not well understood, and there are ample grounds for continued research to provide a better basis for understanding climate dynamics. The question of what to do about climate change is also still open.
Gore would have us believe that a consensus on the anthropogenic nature of climate change is also a consensus on what should be done. This is where he deals with us falsely.

Moreover, Gore takes the Science Mag consensus and twists it, exaggerating it's prediction to his own ends. This is demonstrated by the concern of more than 400 scientists from around the world. I don't think each of the 400 cited by the Senate committee report dispute man-made warming as the title suggests. They do dispute Gore's alarmism.

Gore's response is to question the credibility of 25 or 30 of the scientists, suggesting that ties to oil companies disqualify them from inclusion or consideration. Wasn't this the man who worked for 8 years with one of America's best-known perjurers?

Enough.

More bias

This is a great article about how some factions of the media (especially the New York Times) are so blatantly biased against conservatives that their protestations to the contrary defy all logic. The introduction from Scott Johnson's New Republic article:

If my friend Rachel Paulose were a liberal Democrat, she would be a celebrity. Serving as the United States attorney for Minnesota, she is the first woman, the first immigrant (Indian), the first Asian, and, at age 34, the youngest attorney ever to hold the position. A graduate of Yale Law School, she has compiled an impressive academic record and stellar professional credentials. She’s not a liberal Democrat, however, she is a conservative Republican, and she has been the subject of an old-fashioned, low-tech media lynching.

It's nice to read about solid, up and coming conservatives. Hopefully she will get the support that she needs.

Venezuelistan

Pakistan has been a source of great unrest for sometime, but the problems have intensified since President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency last week. The media has been following the story closely, which is appropriate given Pakistan's strategic importance and their status as an ally in the war on terror. Musharraf came to power via a military coup. His recent election may not have been free or fair. There is rightful concern about the decisions that he has made. I don't do dispute any of that.

What does concern me is the point addressed in this Investor's Business Daily editorial:

As Pakistan's tightening dictatorship draws global opprobrium, a curious double standard is emerging in Venezuela as democracy gasps its last and celebrities continue to file in. Where's the decency?
That's what was seen in the message sent by the latest visitor to Miraflores Palace, supermodel Naomi Campbell, who gushed "amazement" at the "love and encouragement" in the Venezuelan dictatorship as students battled riot police in the streets below.
...With a lousy record on holding free and fair elections, there's little doubt that by Dec. 2, the day of the vote, Chavez will have sealed his grip by permanently disenfranchising the opposition. There's also little doubt that if he doesn't get what he wants, he'll declare himself dictator.

Venezuela is not strictly related to the war on terror, but Hugo Chavez is a major potential source of instability in our hemisphere. He also continues a sad trend of oppressive leaders in Latin America, and that is unfortunate. Also unfortunate is the failure of luminaries to call Chavez out for who he is.

Fiction that Fits- A Follow-up

Having made this post the other day, I was especially interested in the dispatch from Michael Yon about Scott Beauchamp and The New Republic. Despite his fraudulent reporting from the Middle East, Beauchamp continues to serve in the Army and his commander is happy to have him:

Lapses of judgment are bound to happen, and accountability is critical, but that’s not the same thing as pulling out the hanging rope every time a soldier makes a mistake.
Beauchamp is young; under pressure he made a dumb mistake. In fact, he has not always been an ideal soldier. But to his credit, the young soldier decided to stay, and he is serving tonight in a dangerous part of Baghdad. He might well be seriously injured or killed here, and he knows it. He could have quit, but he did not. He faced his peers. I can only imagine the cold shoulders, and worse, he must have gotten. He could have left the unit, but LTC Glaze told me that Beauchamp wanted to stay and make it right. Whatever price he has to pay, he is paying it.

Having never served in the military, I'll defer to Beauchamp's commander as to the best course to pursue. Yon is less charitable towards Beauchamp's enablers at The New Republic:

As for The New Republic, some on the staff may feel like they’ve been hounded and treed, but it’s hard to feel the same sympathy for a group of cowards who won’t ’fess up and can’t face the scorn of American combat soldiers who were injured by their collective lapse of judgment. It’s up to their readers to decide the ultimate fate.

Somehow I don't think their readers will care too much. That's too bad.

The End of the World

According to the United Nations, it's coming soon:

The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage on the environment that could pass points of no return, according to a major report issued Thursday by the United Nations.

The politics of fear continue:

The speed at which mankind has used the Earth’s resources over the past 20 years has put “humanity’s very survival” at risk, a study involving 1,400 scientists has concluded.

Remember, pointing out this kind of propaganda with some healthy skepticism doesn't mean I advocate acting without consideration for environmental impact. We need to examine the incentives behind different groups advocating radical measures that would be borne principally by the United States and our partners.

Bad Sports

One of my least favorite things about going to a sporting event is the foul language coming from many of the fans. College football games are particularly rough. This is a growing problem in the NFL as well. From Mark Yost in OpinionJournal:

Unruly behavior at sporting events has been one of the most visible signs of the coarsening of American culture, but the NFL is in a league of its own. One reason is the sheer size of the crowds. The Washington Redskins, who lead the National Football League in attendance, draw about 90,000 fans per game, almost twice the average number of baseball fans at Yankee Stadium and four times the number of spectators at the best-attended National Basketball Association and National Hockey League games.
...Walking through the parking lot before the game, I witnessed a scene all too common at NFL tailgates: home fans taunting the visitors with four-letter expletives. What made the scene here particularly appalling was the target--a family of Cowboys fans with two small children. And the taunt, repeated throughout the stadium by Bills fans, questioned Dallas quarterback Tony Romo's sexual orientation (think of what rhymes with "Romo"). I wonder how the parents explained that one.

If someone can tell me how this is a good thing I'd love to hear it. Jason Whitlock weighs in on another dilemma in the NFL, this one on the player side:

Hip hop athletes are being rejected because they're not good for business and, most important, because they don't contribute to a consistent winning environment. Herm Edwards said it best: You play to win the game.

It is an interesting and provocative article.

Ignoble Nobel, part 2

I felt like rehashing my stance on Global Warming. My first post on the subject was this one, and I broke down the different Warming beliefs this way:

1. Global Warming is caused in large part by man, is a grave crisis, and man must act immediately to prevent disaster (Al Gore).
   
2. Global Warming is real, may be caused by man and could be problematic for the future.
   
3. There is no "Global Warming," aside from the normal cyclical changes in climate that have occurred many times in history.
   
4. There is no warming. There may even be cooling.

I stated then that #3 was closest to my personal belief. I feel comfortable with that viewpoint, and it is supported by people like Dr. William Gray, one of the most prominent hurricane forecasters in the world:

"We're brainwashing our children," said Dr Gray, 78, a long-time professor at Colorado State University. "They're going to the Gore movie [An Inconvenient Truth] and being fed all this. It's ridiculous."
...Dr Gray, whose annual forecasts of the number of tropical storms and hurricanes are widely publicised, said a natural cycle of ocean water temperatures - related to the amount of salt in ocean water - was responsible for the global warming that he acknowledges has taken place. However, he said, that same cycle meant a period of cooling would begin soon and last for several years.
"We'll look back on all of this in 10 or 15 years and realise how foolish it was," Dr Gray said.
During his speech to a crowd of about 300 that included meteorology students and a host of professional meteorologists, Dr Gray also said those who had linked global warming to the increased number of hurricanes in recent years were in error.
He cited statistics showing there were 101 hurricanes from 1900 to 1949, in a period of cooler global temperatures, compared to 83 from 1957 to 2006 when the earth warmed.

Writer Mark Steyn weighs in on Gore's pseudo-religion:

A schoolkid in Ontario was complaining the other day that, whatever subject you do, you have to sit through Gore's movie: It turns up in biology class, in geography, in physics, in history, in English.
Whatever you're studying, it's all you need to know. It fulfils the same role in the schoolhouses of the guilt-ridden developed world that the Koran does in Pakistani madrassas. Gore's rise is as remorseless as those sea levels. I assumed Gore's clammy embrace would do for the environmental movement what his belated endorsement had done for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential candidacy: kill it stone dead. But governor Dean was constrained by actual humdrum prosaic vote tallies in Iowa and New Hampshire. The ecochondriacs, by contrast, seem happiest when they're most unmoored from reality.
That's where Gore comes in. No matter how you raise the stakes ("It might take another 30 Kyotos", says Jerry Mahlman of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research), Saint Al of the Ecopalypse can raise them higher. Climate change, he says, is the most important moral, ethical, spiritual and political issue humankind has ever faced. Ever. And not just humankind, but alienkind, too. "We are," warns Gore, "altering the balance of energy between our planet and the rest of the universe".

It is interesting how anyone who questions liberal orthodoxy on Global Warming is labeled as anti-environment. It seems like anyone who swallows Belief #1 is anti-reality. Even if you think warming is caused by man, to act like we know EXACTLY what will cause it is absurd. It presumes a great deal more than we know. Want to know why this propaganda has reached such a level of acceptance? Dr. Gray has the answer:

It bothers me that my fellow scientists are not speaking out against something they know is wrong. But they also know that they'd never get any grants if they spoke out. I don't care about grants.

This illustrates the need for skepticism and a questioning mind. It is at the heart of real scientific discovery.

Ignoble Nobel, part 1

This is a little late, but I was on the road the day that Al Gore was announced as the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel committee tasked with selecting the winner of the Peace Prize has a spotty record. According to an excellent editorial in the New Hampshire Union Leader, this is the purpose of the award:

[Nobel] endowed the Nobel Peace Prize and instructed that it go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

I was very happy with 2006's recipient, although his work does not exactly fit the profile laid out by Nobel, it seems clear that extending credit to underserved populations is more impactful to peace than writing a book and making a movie. As the Union Leader states:

On Friday the prize was given to Al Gore and the International Panel on Climate Change. Two days before, a British judge ruled that Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth," contained so many errors (read: lies) that it could be shown in British public schools only if accompanied by a fact sheet correcting the errors.
The Nobel Peace Prize is worse than a joke. It's a fraud. It is such a transparent fraud that the five Norwegian politicians who award it have been reduced to defending their decision by concocting elaborate rationalizations. This year they laughably claimed that Gore deserves the prize because, well, global climate change" may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the Earth's resources," and "there may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars."

More on this tomorrow.

The Legacy of Che

It disgusts me when I see a college student or teenager wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Che Guevara.
This post from the Reason blog offers a nice remembrance of the dead totalitarian.
The shirt below is more to my liking.

Awesomely Bad Videos (cont'd)

This just happened last night, or I would have included it in yesterday's post. It appears this sportscaster, Mike Patrick. is trying out for a job with the E! network, or perhaps Access Hollywood. His partner's reaction is great.



Stay classy Mike Patrick.

Awesomely Bad Videos (AweVidSat XVIII)

I hate this commercial. For me the commercials for erectile dysfunction drugs are as bad as the ones for tampons. I just don't want to see them. I don't want to see 6 middle-aged guys extol their love for women, and then chant "Long live Viagra!"



This video is not for the faint of heart. I mean it. If you can't handle rodents, don't watch. It details the invasion and rampage of MILLIONS of mice in Australia in 1993. MILLIONS!



This video is nothing new, but it never fails to make me laugh. I don't think any amount of explaining could make this answer seem any less embarrassing. If anything, her overuse of prepositions is troubling.