Sorry Al, I Don’t Believe You. 

Witha hat tip to KJL, let’s check out a chart recently offered as ‘proof” of “global warming” by USA TODAY, otherwise known as “Useless Toady”.

Now…  look at the way this is laid out, and you’ll notice that the appearances that the temperature of the earth has been skyrocketing over the last 150 years.  The closer look, however, reveals that the temperature has only risen around a degree and a half. This is one of the oldest presentation tricks in the book; alter the scale to make things look far different than they really are.
Even there, however, to assume that this chart is correct, we also have to assume that the accuracy of measurement was the same in 1860 has it is today. Given the state of technology at the time, and the state of technology today, this would seem a bit of a stretch to say the very least.We’re measuring by means of satellite, and computer now.  Are you seriously going to tell me that these are no more or less accurate than what technology offered in 1865?

Note, also, that there is no margin for error listed.  None.  What survey, over the last 150 years, did not have a little bit of error rate in it….say, a degree or so, Even assuming typical accuracy , which for reasons discussed, we simply cannot assume?
Sorry, this story is simply not believable.  Not trustworthy.  Not scientific.  The figures they gave us are a stretch , even if you trust the source.  And I don’t.  Nor should you.

Since when is “Let It Snow” an Easter song?

Don Surber.

Edit:  changed photo.

It’s an unlikely story, and it’s even unlikely are that the story would continue to be retold a little over 2000 years later.  But so it is retold, and continues to become stronger in the retelling.

There’s an awful lot in the story which is hard for some people to believe; the Jesus lived to begin with, that he died and was raised up by God, all on our behalf, and that by our being bonded to Christ through baptism we too, are raised up. That his resurrection is given this victory over sin and death and that evil cannot finally triumph.  Because of the resurrection, death has lost it’s sting.

But these are the amazing convictions that make up what we know as Christianity.  And those points, are why we celebrate, today.

Oil prices fell. The stock market rose. Video images of smiling British soldiers with Iranian President Ahmadinejad were everywhere. So were pictures of the 15 freed hostages embracing family members back home. The relief over the return of the Brits was so tremendous; you could almost hear birds singing.

Maybe it’s because military action won’t be needed or maybe it’s just because the ordeal won’t drag on and on, but the world is breathing easier now. A lot of folks are happy. The problem, as I see it, is that Ahmadinejad seems to be the happiest.

And why shouldn’t he be? He has shown the world that his forces can kidnap British citizens, subject them to brutal psychological tactics to coerce phony confessions, finagle the release of a high-ranking Iranian terror coordinator in Iraq, utterly trash the Geneva conventions and suffer absolutely no consequences.

That’s Fred Thompson, posting over at Red State, yesterday.  You could almost consider what he says here, to be a reflection of the thoughts I posted the other day, when those troops first came home to England.

Tony Blair doesn’t appear to be in much of a mood for celebrating. I don’t know how he could be, given the troubling spectacle of British soldiers shake the hand of their kidnapper as a condition of release. In the old days, they would have kissed his ring — but wearing Iranian suits and carrying swag more appropriate to a Hollywood awards ceremony may have been as embarrassing. Ironically, Blair’s options are fewer by the day as his own party moves to mothball the British fleet, once the fear of pirates and tyrants the world over.

Some in the West seem part of Iran’s propaganda war; claiming that the release of the hostages was a victory that proves the Iranian dictatorship can be reasoned with. To misrepresent unpunished piracy as a victory is as Orwellian as the congressional mandate banning use of the term “the global war on terror.” What are we — Reuters?

Ahmadinejad must be particularly pleased to see “deep thinking” journalists making the case that American actions in Iraq were the true cause of the kidnappings. To believe this, all you have to do is ignore the history of the Iranian Revolution, which has been in the extortion business ever since it took power. Between the 1979 American embassy crisis in Tehran and the seizure of Israeli soldiers last year by Iran’s Hezbollah proxies, there have been more than a hundred other examples.

There are a number of people asking why Fred Thompson is getting such high regard from the right.  This is precisely why; he’s willing to call it the way it really is.  The way the right has always seen it; and the way the democrats and the press have been scrupulously avoid being calling it.  The way too many supposedly republicans have been scrupulously avoided calling it.  Including, every single one of the other Republican candidates for president.

Thompson also makes this important point :

It is critical that we see this incident as part of a long pattern of behavior — that will continue as long as the current leadership is in power. More importantly, it will escalate unimaginably if Iran achieves nuclear status, and with it the ability to hold millions rather than individuals hostage

Like I said; calling it what it is.

No wonder the left side of the ‘sphere is having such a problem with the following Mr. Thompson is getting; they know he is the largest electoral threat.

From this morning’s Telegraph:

Hardliners in the Iranian regime have warned that the seizure of British naval personnel demonstrates that they can make trouble for the West whenever they want to and do so with impunity.

The bullish reaction from Teheran will reinforce the fears of western diplomats and military officials that more kidnap attempts may be planned.

The British handling of the crisis has been regarded with some concern in Washington, and a Pentagon defence official told The Sunday Telegraph: “The fear now is that this could be the first of many. If the Brits don’t change their rules of engagement, the Iranians could take more hostages almost at will.

“Iran has come out of this looking reasonable. If I were the Iranians, I would keep playing the same game. They have very successfully muddied the waters and bought themselves some more time. And in parts of the Middle East they will be seen as the good guys. They could do it time and again if they wanted to.”

Americans also expressed dismay that the British had suspended boarding operations in the Gulf while its tactics are reassessed.

“Iran has got what it wants. They have secured free passage for smuggling weapons into Iraq without a fight,” one US defence department official said.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that Iran’s position has been strengthened by these events.  On the other hand prior to these events they could hardly have been weaker, and about any kind of event would make their hand stronger.

There are those who would suggest that this kidnapping of these British soldiers has placed Iran’s future, in terms of being able to secure nuclear power in jeopardy.  In the world community would hardly be agreeable to allowing such a demonstrably hostile government have nuclear capability. In short, nobody was tremendously interested in trusting Iran with the means to kill them.

However, I doubt that Iran gives a damn about the approval of the world community.  They’re going to be able to smuggle in whatever they want now that they are no longer being effectively monitored, and constrained.

William Douglas, McClatchy Washinton Bureau, asks the really dumb question of the day:

WASHINGTON – It’s become President Bush’s mantra, his main explanation for why he won’t withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq anytime soon.

In speech after speech, in statement after statement, Bush insists that “this is a war in which, if we were to leave before the job is done, the enemy would follow us here.”

The line, which Bush repeated Wednesday in a speech to troops at California’s Fort Irwin, suggests a chilling picture of warfare on American streets.

But is it true

It is true Bill.

From – the – Washington Post,  Karla Adam:

LONDON, April 7 — An Iranian official said Saturday that allegations of mistreatment from a British naval team seized last month in the Persian Gulf were unfounded and stage-managed.

“The mistreatment of the sailors is a lie,” said Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Iran’s presidential press adviser, according to Agence France-Presse. “By dictating certain statements made by the freed troops, the British authorities are seeking to improve their situation and diminish the pressure of British public opinion.”

The British sailors and Marines must be lying.  Mistreatment of prisoners would be a violation of the Geneva Conventions.   And we all know Iran would never violate the Geneva Conventions by such acts as putting prisoners on public display.

e

If the world doesn’t accept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  at his word, he can always ask the International Red Cross inspectors to testify as to the conditions of the British prisoners. 

(H/T photo:  Telegraph(UK))

Edit:  retitled

I am not sold on this idea, but does make an interesting meme.   Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit:

Interestingly, I think that the more Pelosi acts like a wannabe President, the worse it is for Hillary. And I think that Pelosi knows that

Glenn is of the opnion that Mrs. Pelosi is smart enough  to realize the consequences of her actions.   It seems to be that Glenn is making Mrs. Pelosi out to be too smart by half   Does Mrs. Pelosi want to the top cat in town?  Developing …..

(H/T:  American Thinker )

Citation to accompany the award of the Congressional Medal of Honor, to Lance Peter Sijan, Captain, United States Air Force (posthumous):

While on a flight over North Vietnam, Captain Sijan ejected from his disabled aircraft and successfully evaded capture for more than 6 weeks. During this time, he was seriously injured and suffered from shock and extreme weight loss due to lack of food. After being captured by North Vietnamese soldiers, Captain Sijan was taken to a holding point for subsequent transfer to a prisoner of war camp. In his emaciated and crippled condition, he overpowered one of his guards and crawled into the jungle, only to be recaptured after several hours. He was then transferred to another prison camp where he was kept in solitary confinement and interrogated at length. During interrogation, he was severely tortured; however, he did not divulge any information to his captors. Captain Sijan lapsed into delirium and was placed in the care of another prisoner. During his intermittent periods of consciousness until his death, he never complained of his physical condition and, on several occasions, spoke of future escape attempts. Captain Sijan’s extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at the cost of his life are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Armed Forces

We honor our past heros, because we will always need heros.

Ahmadinejad must be particularly pleased to see “deep thinking” journalists making the case that American actions in Iraq were the true cause of the kidnappings.

Fred Thompson, Red State.?

Noted in passing at the Washington Post:

On any given day, one isn’t likely to find common cause with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He’s a dangerous, lying, Holocaust– denying, Jew-hating cutthroat thug — not to put too fine a point on it.

That’s WaPo writer Kathleen Parker.  She’s usually a good read.  This is no exception.

Yes, well, Allow me to zig off her course for just a moment…. It would appear, if we take the claims being offered by the Democrats, that it took the likes of Nancy Pelosi to make Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appear to be taking the high ground. Amazes me just how far the Democrats have fallen, lately. That said;

But he was dead-on when he wondered why a once-great power such as Britain sends mothers of toddlers to fight its battles.

Ahmadinejad characterized as a gift to Britain the release of 15 British sailors and marines, including one woman, seized at sea last month. In reality, the hostages were the West’s gift to Ahmadinejad.

When a pretender to sanity such as Ahmadinejad gets to lecture the West about how it treats its women, we’ve effectively handed him a free pass to the end zone and made the world his cheerleaders.

Not only does the Iranian president get to look magnanimous in releasing the hostages, but he gets to look wise. And we in the West get to look humiliated, foolish and weak.

Just because we may not “feel” humiliated doesn’t mean we’re not. In the eyes of Iran and other Muslim nations, we’re wimps. While the West puts mothers in boats with rough men, Muslim men “rescue” women and drape them in floral hijabs.

We can debate whether they’re right until all our boys wear aprons, but it won’t change the way we’re perceived. The propaganda value Iran gained from its lone female hostage, the mother of a 3-year-old, was incalculable.

And that, my friends, is precisely why those hostages were taken, and why he did what he did.

Of course, there is the point being made here that battle was not envisioned in the situation these people were on.  Which, would seem to mesh with the standing order that was mentioned in the press conference the other day, about fighting not being an option. They were not equipped for it, because they didn’t anticipate it.  They were there simply as intelligence gatherers, after all.

It does seem rather clearly a fallacy though, particularly in light of events, that Intel missions are inherently less dangerous than are battle assignments.
Kathleen Parker goes on at some length to rail against the politically correct “wisdom” of women in combat roles. There is much to commend her thought process on this.

But in this particular situation, I find myself taking greater import from just whom it is we’re being scolded by on the point.

The question of whether or not such arrangements are a weakness would seem to have been answered in the affirmative in this case.  But I wonder, if the democrats, particularly Nancy Pelosi, who have demonstrated an overt willingness to kiss Iranian backside on everything else, will agree.

I’m looking for a WordPress plugin that will mail the whole body of a post, to an email address.

Do you remember when the democrats were promising us lower gas prices?

I do.

At the moment, gallon of gas costing this on average about $2.68 nationally and that trend is rising.  The fact of the matter is that the price of gas is gone up on the order of 40% since this democratic Congress was sworn into office, and a year after swearing this almost exactly a year ago:

The reasons behind the rise? Since taking office, the democrats have been ducking the only solutions to the problem of gas prices; increased domestic drilling, more refining capacity, less governmental interference in energy policy. That lack of action, of course, is the best recipe to raise gasoline prices. All of which, the energy producers have been telling them, since Jump street.  They ignored it.

.
Of course the Al-Gore driven enviro-whacko policies don’t help, either. Witness California, where prices are even higher.  And who runs California? Liberal Democrats, and RINO govenor. Never let it be said that the democrats were anything but consistent.  Consistently wrong, but consistent.

In any event, it is clear the Democrats, as usual, have not kept their promises.  The question is, how do we as a people react?

NEW ORLEANS -(AP) – A top hurricane forecaster called Al Gore “a gross alarmist” Friday for making an Oscar-winning documentary about global warming.

“He’s one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he’s doing a great disservice and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Dr. William Gray said in an interview with The Associated Press at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans, where he delivered the closing speech.

A spokeswoman said Gore was on a flight from Washington, D.C., to Nashville Friday; he did not immediately respond to Gray’s comments.

Gray, an emeritus professor at the atmospheric science department at Colorado State University, has long railed against the theory that heat-trapping gases generated by human activity are causing the world to warm.

Over the past 24 years, Gray, 77, has become known as America’s most reliable hurricane forecaster; recently, his mentee, Philip Klotzbach, has begun doing the bulk of the forecasting work.

So, there it is, Gang. A proven expert…America’s most reliable hurricane forecaster, telling Al Gore he’s full of thick smelly brown stuff.  The question is, why we’re listening to Al Gore, anymore.

I admit it; There are times when I look out of my double screened, computerized window on the world, and despair at what I see.
Michelle Malkin:

Whatever happened to “Let’s Roll?”

Answer: It became “Let’s Roll Over.”

Dean Barnett compares the United 93 revolt and the British Royal Navy rollover:

What a strange and dismal trip it has been for the Western world, going from “Let’s Roll” to “Fighting Back Was Not An Option” in scarcely more than five years. One can only hope that when the history of our era is written, the former will turn out to be the immortal quote, not the latter.

Barnett’s point about the trend involved, here, seems valid to me, though I wonder about the specific quotes he uses as examples. “Let’s Roll” seems an unusually brave statement, even in context, and “Fighting back was not an option” seems unusual in the opposite direction.

That point covered however, it must be said that the general direction in the western world has been against bravery, brave actions, individual fortitude, and as Billy Beck has pointed out several times, freedom.

I think that we need look no further for proof that the west is in decline than eight years of Bill Clinton, and the consequences of that, and the current politics of the democratic party, as well.  To my mind, these are instrumental in the downfall of the west.  As a solid indicator of this, I would look no further than the subject of Nancy Pelosi and her butt-kissing visit to Syria just recently.

And yes, certainly, America is but a part of the western world, but, much as this is going to annoy the un-American left, America has a leadership role to play in it. The Brits, The Australians, the Spanish… hell, even the French, more so than they’d like to admit, follow our lead.  the world is watching Washington these days, I’m coming to the realization that a goodly chunk of America would like to duck and cover.  To abdicate our leadership role and responsibility. Make no mistake; the resistance movements in Syria, in Pakistan, and in Iran, and in many other places in the world, see us backing away from our staunch support of freedom .  And they wonder, if America is the stalwart friend of freedom that they had always been led to believe.  Make no mistake, my friends, Americans are starting to question it, as well.
If we are unwilling to hold our western values high, (And I think the recent moves by the Democrats in Congress show that reluctance quite clearly) who else is likely to pick up the banner?

The trend is not encouraging.  The American spirit is still strong in some quarters, and has been historically known to overcome a great many obstacles.  The Reagan years, are a good example of the resurgence of the American spirit. Look at the number of things that we survived in order to obtain that resurgence of American spirit during those years.  But survive, and thrive, we did.

Like Barnett, I would rather that the former event, not the letter, be what history judges us by.  But I’m not sure.  I just wonder if the Democratic party is one of the things it can overcome, anymore. I’m becoming increasingly skeptical.

I don’t propose to give up on us, not yet, perhaps not ever.  But I’ve always been honest with you in these spaces, and there are times…. this being one of them, that I can’t help but be concerned about our outlook in the near term.