The Precautionary Principle

While playing Sunday morning detective for the previous post, I came across a reference to the "precationary principle" and decided that, since I can't go fishing today, I'd do a little review of something that seems to be guiding environmental policy. An example of the writings on the precautionary principle can be found here. In summary it might be defined as "When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically." The statement is hard to disagree with. Gosh, if the activity is harmful, then do something about it. Except, the precautionary principle is to be applied if someone thinks the activity may be harmful.

Just how do the proponents describe the "science" of the precautionary principle?
In the "New Uncertainty Principle" (Scientific American, January 2001, David Appell says, "Observe before you project yourself on a parabolic trajectory. The weight of 28.35 grams of prevention is worth 454 grams of cure. Science certainly has much to say on taking precautions. But for the enormously complex and serious problems that now face the world--global warming, loss of biodiversity, toxins in the environment--science doesn't have all the answers, and traditional risk assessment and management may not be up to the job. Indeed, given the scope of such problems, they may never be." It sounds very good, except that Mr. Appell knows, or should know, that the principles of parabolic trajectories have been studied and restudied for hundreds of years. One doesn't need great scientific research to predict with no little precision the results of propelling a mass at a known angle with a known velocity and momentum. (Us old cannon cockers do it with great precision). He argues that we may never know, because of the complexity of diverse biological and environmental conditions, we must do something. Appell takes something that has been studied to death and puts it beside wishful thinking to give the precautionary principle some psuedo-scientific basis. The other argument comes under the heading as sound science. Mr. Appell argues that some actions are necessary, if someone suspects they may have adverse consequences and we really don't even need to study it.
Other examples of the argument fromHo : "In the same way, the precautionary principle requires us to assign the burden of proof to those who want to introduce a new technology, particularly in cases where there is little or no established need or benefit and where the hazards are serious and irreversible. It is up to the perpetrators to prove that the technology is safe 'beyond reasonable doubt'. We cannot expect the precautionary principle by itself to tell us what to do about GM crops or any other new technology. Like a jury, we have to weigh up the evidence, and like a jury we have to come to a decision. " Notice the use of the word "perpetrator."

Other papers on the site biotech info site use the arguments that farm tools are different from household tools. All, go to "sustainable development" and saving the earth. Gee, everyone is for that.

The precautionary principle seems to be a way to get at environmental chemical and biotech phobia by requiring that something be proven "absolutely" safe, which is impossible. The proponents of the principle do not like risk analysis, which takes a look at risks, benefits and (oh migosh) costs. One will never prove something is absolutely safe. In fact, the precautionary principle would ban water and oxygen (reducto ad absurdem) since we all know that exposure to water kills and destroys and a pure oxygen environment can be deadly.

The precautionary principle is for scientists who "believe" but cannot prove, either from laziness, lack of ability or just the facts as they stand, that what they believe is bad really is. The EU is going heavily toward the precautionary principle, and we seem to be going that way. It will be a sad say for human development and progress if it really takes hold.

Mystery Person, or I need a life

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Toxin in plastics harming unborn boys cites work done by Shanna Swan, Obstetrician at University of Rochester Medical Center. Thinking that these chemical had been in use for 50 years, their might be data supporting the conclusion and I looked up Shanna Swan. The URMC does not list anyone by that name on the faculty or staff. They do mention such a person as being part of a Nature program. There is a person by that name on the faculty of University of Missouri, Columbia who does research in that area. Professor Swan is a biostatitician, not obstetrician and has a very impressive CV.

The research is widely quoted and "Shanna Swan" is referred to as an obstetrician. She seems to be a mystery person unless it is Prof. Swan.

Never did find the data supporting the conclusions of an increase in male reproductive problems, or exactly where in a peer-reviewed journal this work was published.

I found the first link on Junk Science

Pat Mitchell: Public broadcasting is fair and balanced

I listened to Pat Mitchell's speech at the National Press club this afernoon on WCVE. I was absolutely astonded when Ms. Mitchell said that public broadcasting was fair and balanced and then cited polls showing the public also thought so. I checked the PBS website and did not find the polls or mention of the polls.

If Ms. Mitchell believes that PBS is "fair and balanced, actually, not a slogan" then Ms. Mitchell is either absolutely unaware of what is being broadcast or is so far to the left that she couldn't recognize how far to the left she actually is.

I've been a long and dedicated listener/viewer of public broadcasting. I still listen/watch, but have been more selective with the programming. My distrust of PBS started with Moyer's "Trade Secrets" which contained numerous factual errors and the standard long, lingering pictures of water vapor from steam traps of cooling towers each time they talked about air pollution. When I questioned Moyers about this, his email response was that he was aware of the errors but just wanted to make a point. I then looked critically at the "news/current events programming." A short time later, I stopped getting my news from PBS. They may have changed, I just don't watch them.

On NPR every Saturday morining. Not only do the hosts gush over Mr. Schorr, but they never challenge hsi comments when his palbable dislike for anything Republican or Bush comes thrugh. On other programming we are incessantly beaten about the heads and shoulders on how wonder it is to e gay.

Perhaps Ms. Mitchell should actually view her programs critically. If she can't see bias, then there is no hope for her. The other programming is great, but until I see neutral or balance the Libs with a conservative, then not a dime to support them.

Would you rather have Lyme's disease?

Environmentalists shun tick time bomb - The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Local - News. The Enviro's won a battle over trapping tick carrying rodents and dousing them with an insecticide in the Newton, MA, city park as a way to control ticks that might carry Lyme's disease. The quote of the day "''All pesticides are poison," Ellie Goldberg of Green Cap. From the CDC: " infection in the untreated or inadequately treated patient may progress to late disseminated disease weeks to months after infection. The most common objective manifestation of late disseminated Lyme disease is intermittent swelling and pain of one or a few joints, usually large, weight-bearing joints such as the knee. Some patients develop chronic axonal polyneuropathy, or encephalopathy, the latter usually manifested by cognitive disorders, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and personality changes. Infrequently, Lyme disease morbidity may be severe, chronic, and disabling. An ill-defined post-Lyme disease syndrome occurs in some persons following treatment for Lyme disease. Lyme disease is rarely, if ever, fatal."

Yep, sounds like something I'd like to get when there is a way to prevent it.

A Word from the American Taliban

The Crisis Papers has an attack on religious (code word for Christian) fundamentalists by a "professional moral philosopher." The Taliban prescribed certain modes of belief, actions and dress and proscribed all others. Mr. Partridge's cutesy little piece on the evils of the religious is just another attack by the American Taliban on other religions.

The god of secularism is a jealous god. It will have no others before it. Today's unrelenting assault on freedom of religion comes not from the greatly feared Christian fundamentalists, it comes from the secularists who want no expression of religion and are determined to stamp out evey vestige.

Mr. Patridge styles himself as a "professional moral philosopher." I know that professional engineers, doctors, lawyers and the like achieve their professional status through eductation, experience and certification by examination. They must (except maybe for lawyers) perform their functions by a strict code of professional behavior or risk decertification. I wonder if "professional moral philosophers" work under the same set of standards, or can I claim that status by simply continuing to write drivel like this and getting an income form it?

Thought police-Italian Style

Fallaci charged in Italy with defaming Islam by writing things critical of some practictioners of the faith. Obviously, the PC jihadi's could show the radical muslims a thing or two about thought control.

Hezbollah

Just peace loving folks with 12,000 rockets. Haaretz - Israel News all for the self-defense of Lebanon. Tell me again about Islam being a religion of peace.

The Stoa Consortium

The Stoa. A great site to visit, even if you are only slightly interested. See the ancient city of athens link for great pictures.

This ought to be required reading

From the Democracy Project comes a list of
Democracy Links that ought to be required reading and study. Haven't figured out if these guys are conservative or liberal, but who cares, they have worked darned hard to get to the core documents that every citizen ought to read.

Know what I'm doing tonight.

The Constitution

We hear a lot about the constitution in the media and from our leaders. This is a good read for those who are interested in what it actually says.Constitution of the United States: Main Page

Long Story about Muslim conversion in Egypt

FrontPage magazine.com :: Confessions of a Former Islamist by Ahmed Awny Shalakamy, found on LeShawn Barber, this story is by an Egyptian Muslim who preyed, for money and Islam, on Christian Women. Long story and a bit childish, but it does shed some light on attitudes of the religion of peace, Islam, about non Islamists. Also, in an area in which women have few rights and limited protection, it is the inherent slime of attacking the helpless that is the key to the story.

Parental Notification

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Supreme Court to Review Abortion Law. The state has decided that parents do not have the right to know when medications in the form of oral contraceptives are given to their children. The state has decided that parents do not have the right to know when surgery (abortion) is performed on their children. If you are pro-abortion or anti-abortion, this ought to be troubling. Parents are responsible, among other things, for the health of their children. How does one know when these types of things can be done without notification? What assurances do you have that those prescribing or performing are doing so with an adequate review of the medical history of the patient?

What responsibility do the rabid "prochoicers" take when something goes medically wrong with either of these? The answer is none. One wonders at the level of outrage these folks would show if their kids were prescribed some other drug or had some other "minor" surgery without notification.

The state has decided that parents do not have the right of notification for some actions by their children. Do the advocates of this plan to take responsibility for these children? The answer is an emphatic "no." The whole rabidly pro-abortion stance is about avoiding responsibility.

The Great Compromise

Well, all the sound and fury over the so-called nuclear option is over. The Republicans blinked. Heck, they squinted, batted their eyes and cried "Uncle." I hadn't paid all that much attention to the fate of judicial nominees until this mess started. The Democrats couldn't oppose these folks on any grounds without going completely overboard on character assassination, which means they really had no gounds other than ideological grounds to oppose them. We heard lots of words about the nominees, the rules of the Senate and life as we know ending. Somehow I don't think the rules came down on stone tablets from the mountain. In fact, the rules of the senate are what the senate decides they are and are subject to change.

It comes down to the fact that the minority party has more gumption than the majority party. The "compromise" is not about judgeships, it is about who really controls the senate. The Republicans just had their bluff called and the majority party controls the senate in name only. A major victory for the Dems.

Need and ID? Got a cell phone?

TimesDispatch.com | Charges brought in alleged scam by 9 illegal immigrants and two legal residents. Seems they used cell phone pictures to create fake ID's and then proceeded to cash checks for about $40,000. This is alleged to be part of a larger scam that has resulted in taking $50 million from banks.

Says something for upgrading the quality of identification cards, if a cell phone picture can be used to create an ID card.

Foxes are people, too

TimesDispatch.com | Predators, prey and policy. The Corps of Engineers and the Department of Agriculture came up with a method of trapping and removing foxes from Craney Island (Hampton Roads) to reduce the predator threat for nesting least terns. The terns are endangered. PETA has complained about the method of trapping the foxes.

One believes that PETA would complain about any method of trapping the foxes. If nothing were done to preserve the cranes would PETA complain about that, also?

Well said

Leaving the left / I can no longer abide the simpering voices of self-styled progressives -- people who once championed solidarity

Wonder if his victims are suing Hussein?

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saddam to sue over prison photos. Saddam's lawyers are attempting legal action becuase of unflattering pictures of the despot. Maybe they should also publish pic's of Saddam at some of his mass grave sites.

Whoever sold the pictures to the news should face stiff reprimands. However, the world going agog about these pictures is a farce since they didn't show any horror at his years of atrocities.

How about an honest news program?

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005� carries a story about CBS looking to the entertainment division for help with its news lineup. How about just plain honest, factual reporting. If they want opinion, then label it as such, but do the news straight.

CBS might be really surprised at the audience share if they did honest, unslanted reporting and made an effort to ensure the facts backed up the story.

A Teacher we all should have

Democracy Project is carrying on a blog about a physics teacher in South Carolina who was fired because he refused to raise the grade of an athlete who decided it was ok to sleep through his classes. We need more teachers like Mr. Neace.

LARS VON TRIER - VON TRIER SLAMS AMERICA

At Cannes Mr. Von Trier really doesn't like the US and made it plain that he doesn't. Wonder if this is just to sell more tickets to his films? If not, I'll be sure the help him out and make sure he doesn't get any money from on evil, dirty American.

For the Mathematician who has everything.

Acme Klein Bottle

Filibuster

It wasn't until recently that I was hit squarely between the eyes with what constitutes a filibuster. I thought that it was some jerk up there reading recipes, phone books or his favorite novel until he dropped. Nope, it is "gee, Senator, we have a filibuster, can you stop it? If not, we got one, now let's go home and watch TV." In other words there ain't no guy up there talking until he drops.

AND THIS PARALYZES THE GOOD OLE BOYS IN THE SENATE? If they are going to filibuster, then it is up on the podium and start talking, not pretend to have one. Maybe the Dems should shut down the Senate, it doesn't seem to be doing much anyway.

The government that governs best is the government that governs least. Shutting down the senate may do us all a favor, in the name of great government.

Soldier's Letter to The Newspaper Guild

Power Line for 5/20/05 contains a letter to the Newspaper guild in response to Ms. Foley's comments that our soldiers targeted "journalists." The journalists described in Major Eric E's email are nothing short of terrorists (one working for CBS and one working for AP). If half of his allegations are true, Ms. Foley ought to be begging forgiveness for the actions of her union membership.

Journalists portray themselves as some sort of holy order dedicated soley to truth and justice. These folks are nothing more than terrorists or users looking for a great story, no matter how many people die on their way to the Pulitzer.

Antarctica ice cap thickening a sure sign of global warming?

Antarctica ice cap known as the Eastern shield has increased in thickness for the last 11 years. But I thought all the glaciers were melting.

Thoughts are that "global" warming has increased the temperatures in the region enough to have snow. Question: if it was too cold to snow, how did the ice get there in the first place. Could it be that climate varies naturally?

It is quite amazing that any and all weather events are sure signs of global warming.

Something that Native Americans should take real offense at

The Keetoowah band Churchill's claim of membership a fraud. Some native Americans have expressed their dispeasure at the use of Indian names and symbols. They really should be offended by Churchill's claims of being one of them. Apparently the Keetoowah are a bit displeased.

Kyoto accord signals death knell for dinosaur era fish in Canada

Sturgeon population decline attributed to global warming. Just read the headlines, it says it all. Don't bother with the paragraphs in the article that say things like "It's a big problem because hydro-electric dams are primarily built on good spawning sites or nursery areas where the fish feed. It's going to be an issue in (the provinces of) Manitoba and Ontario where they're now looking at rivers where before they weren't going to have hydro-electric dams," century ago, Canadian fishermen netted millions of kilograms of lake sturgeon each year, stacking them like logs on lakeshores. But, sightings of them nowadays are rare enough to make newspaper headlines and scientists estimate fewer than 1,000 are left in western Canadian rivers and lakes -- equal to the remaining number of plains bison that were once a symbol of Canada's vast prairies.

Changing habitat and overfishing the habitat in the past had nothing to do with it, then why the worry about adding new hydroelectric dams?

If you want to be a mindless ideologue

BW Blogs: "U.S. FLUSHED ITSELF ALONG WITH KORAN " is a great training guide. An unbelieveable rant by a supposed Ph. D, who isn't bothered with the facts one bit.

The doctorate I received was at a University that had, at the time, much higher standards. I have no problems with disagreement on the war or the conduct of the war. I do get a bit tired of the cant from the left.

Moyer's-Tomlinson PBS Controversy

I've been a long-time fan of PBS and NPR. It is hard to remember when my car radio didn't have a preset to the local NPR station and my wife and I made sure that we could get at least one PBS station on TV. I listen to WCVE at work. Having said that, I am actually not a fan of either. I've found that Sirius is an almost acceptable substitute for my classical music addiction and A&E, Mystery, BBC and other channels have pretty good replacements for PBS programming.

Over the years, I've stopped watching almost any of the PBS "news" shows. I stopped almost altogether 4-5 years ago when I watched Moyer's "Trade Secrets," an investigative report about vinyl chloride with long lingering shots of water vapor from cooling towers and stem traps when they talked about the evils of vinyl chloride. They also represented the "facts" in the show as current, when the stuff they were talking about had stopped 12-15 years earlier. When I questioned Moyers via email about his distortions, the response I got was something to the effect that he knew it was deistorted but he wanted to make a point. In other words, Mr. Moyers, seemed to knowingly misrepresent his facts. I stopped watching anything with Moyers in 2001, because I believed I couldn't trust his reporting integrity. His recent tirade with the Tomlinson "blacklist" on VOA confirms my earlier opinion.

NPR is much the same. I thoroughly enjoy the classical music and some of the regulars features, but I've become increasingly bothered by the absolute leftist slant of the "news" and reporting. Now that Edwards is gone, there is little to listen to. The loving reverence you hear each Saturday morning when they have Mr. Schorr regular time to vent his absolute palpable hatred of Bush and the Republicans has me switching channels when it comes on. I bet if Bush or the Republicans came out for the sun rising in the east, Mr. Schorr would be four-square against it and NPR would lovingly discuss it with him. Never do they have someone with even a slightly more centrist view follow Mr. Schorr. It is hard to listen to many of the featured programs without a long litany of "there is something wrong with you if you are not gay." About 5 minutes with Terri Gross is about 6 minutes more than I can take.

NPR and PBS have some excellent programs and some truly excellent people working for them. However, the absolute bias in their programming simply overwhelms Neanderthals such as I. Not a penny of my money goes to them any more and I dispise the fact that my government exacts tribute for them from my taxes. Stop the "public" communcations from feeding at the trough and then telling over half the population how dumb they are or how "out of it" they are if they don't have the preferred sexual orientation. Let them survive on donations or advertising. I hear that Air America is doing just fine.

Love some of the programming, but I just can't abide the one-sided message.

As I understand it, Tomlinson is attempting to inject more balanced programming into NPR and PBS and is taking great heat from the leftists who believe that they have the lock on what the public should hear.

Continuing Kudo's for Dan Rather

Peabody Award went to CBS 60 Minutes II and Dan Rather for reporting Abu Ghraib. It is truly amazing that any supposedly prestigious award would be given to the likes of Rather and Mapes after their follies with the Bush papers. And for giving it to them for their intrepid Abu Ghraib stories. Short of having pictures, the investigation was announced by the military in a press briefing a couple of months before the story was "uncovered" by the media. Then we were inundated by repetitive pictures of the "scandal." The last one I saw was on Monday morning when CNN was covering the bogus Koran story.

One never ceases to be amazed at the absolute arrogance and stupidity exhibited by the media.

Half-hearted apology followed by retraction

My Way News reports Newsweek's retraction of its story about flushing the Koran down the toilet-WELL AFTER THE DAMAGE WAS DONE. An unbelievable lack of professionalism in getting the story out before you get it right, it seems. Next time I hear someone talk about the high standards of the priesthood of journalism, I'll certainly remember this example.

Newsweek's "oops"

Newsweek published a story about US atrocities (flushing the Koran down the toilet) based on "FBI" internal memo's and corroboration from an unidetified Pentagon source. After the resultant riots in Afghanistan, it turns out that the unidentified source really won't corroborate the story as true, and in all liklihood, the story was not true. Newsweek's semi-apology is nothing but rationalizations. If their intent was to damage the United States, they succeeded.

CNN this morning ran with the goof story, but just had to add photos from Abu Ghraib, as if that had anything to do with Gitmo or the Newsweek story. Let's just keep putting up inflamitory pictures to make someone's point.

I keep hearing about the press, from the press, as if they are some sort of high priests of the truth. Newsweek couldn't be bothered with finding the truth before getting the story into print. Now they aren't really sorry they goofed. To be a journalist, you need no specific education beyond basic literacy, you have no certification or licensing board and have no real standards short of being sued for defamation of character. When the media does things like this one wonders why anyone would trust a news story on the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Most of the elite do not seem to have any real desire, other then getting caught, to ensure the facts before they publish.

Many of us have watched journalists make repeated mistakes in scientific and environmental reporting. They don't take the time to understand what they are writing about, usually haven't had enough science courses since high school (or middle school) to understand the facts and like publishing scary stuff to get readership. Now the locals have grown up and become the writers for formerly respected major news organizations. Maybe it's about time the word journalist carried a certification. After all, the guy who fixes your car, does your plumbing or does you electrical work must show some training and certification.

Education

Democracy Project: has a piece on education. The following quote is from the University of Georgia school of education: "Through our programs and courses the Department of Language Education is engaged in a process of continual reflection and evaluation to work toward an equitable democratic society."

In other words, the educators aren't interested in teaching "education" but in some 70's social conscious-raising on topics of interest. Language courses should teach the language, not some political message. Also "We recognize the University of Georgia’s contributions to the nation’s
intellectual, cultural, linguistic, and environmental heritage. We share the College of Education’s stated mission to (1) recognize, respect, and affirm differences among peoples; and (2) challenge oppression and structural and procedural inequities that exist in society, generally, and in local educational settings, specifically. These inequities arise from social,historical, economic, and political structures that influence and are influenced by culture, race, religion, language, ethnicity, age, gender, educational and socioeconomic status, disability status, sexual orientation, world-view, and community. Through our programs and courses the Department of Language Education is engaged in a process of continual reflection and evaluation to work toward an equitable democratic society."

What the heck does this have to do with language education. Gosh, having my world view on sexual orientation fixed in German class doesn't seem quite so important as learning German.

And we wonder why Johnny can't read, it's because the teachers haven't been taught to teach and really aren't interested in it anyway.

Multiculturalism, another name for racism at the University of Oregan

Oregon Daily Emerald - University of Oregon news and sports - Officials defend class enrollment restrictions: "Officials defend class enrollment restrictions" for white students. Apparently, to be first in line for enrollment in such special classes as Writing and Calculus you must identify yourself as special minority at the University of Oregon. The office of Multicultural Affairs controls enrollment to these classes. This is blatant racism, with students saying that, by barring the "majority" they feel more comfortable. The university's rationalization of the policy is interesting. They even use language that could be defined as "separate but equal." Sounds like the left really likes the way we were in some places 50 years ago.

Greenpeace guilty of criminal negligence - Environment - MSNBC.com

Greenpeace guilty of criminal negligence - Environment - MSNBC.com And Greenpeace would be first in line to condemn any business who did the same thing. Can you think of the tirade if it had been "Greenpeace Manufacturing and Shipping" who had done this evil deed?

And Greenpeace management (CEO) denies any responsibility. They are playing this just like they claim evil industry does. What a chuckle

I wonder how anyone could have believed Clarke after this?

www.delawareonline.com � The News Journal � Security expert: Liquefied natural gas facilities vulnerable to terrorists. The transport (ship, rail, pipeline) of any flammable substance such as LNG, natural gas, gasoline and other chemicals has inherent dangers. Most of our fuel is transported by pipeline. A good many of us have natural gas in our houses. The safety record for such transport is superb. Would-be terrorists could target any one of these.

Clarke is out to make some "scare tactic" point.
Found on Eagle Speak.

Nice Reminder

Power Line contains a piece on how history is not well remembered to the point that some of those historical facts we all know so well are not rooted in any fact. The examle used is Sec. State Rice, in praise of the US move toward democratization, that in the past, blacks counted only as 3/5 of a person. I had to be prodded, but Power Line is right, the 3/5's rule counted toward representation in Congress and it only applied to slaves. Free blacks counted as one, as did whites.

The count was a compromise between the North and the South. the North wanted slaves to count as 0 and the South wanted them to count as 1. Both for very obvious political reasons.

Wonder what history will be on the next revisionist rewrite?

San Francisco: City of Censorship

SAN FRANCISCO / Supervisors prohibit prejudiced remarks / Resolution follows comments about pregnant worker. They are all for freedom of speech, as long as it the right speech and they approve of it and, by gosh, no one is offended. The SF commissioners passed a resolution that bans public speech. "The intent of this resolution is to make a clear statement that discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, weight, height or place of birth will not be tolerated in San Francisco city government," This all started because someone said that a pregnant woman was not capable of managing the department of insptections. Notice that they did not defend her ability, but went straight to the speech ban. If I were the person in question, I'd feel like the commissioners made a very negative statement about my qualificatons. I bet, the lady, pregnat or not, is fully qualified to run the department.

In other words, if we don't like it, it is banned. Yessir, doesn't sound a bit like censoring freedom of speech. Hat tip to George Orwell and Tongue Tied.

The League of Conservation Voters-Heavy on scares, light on facts

The League of Conservation Voters website has all sorts of scary things. I went to the site after receiving an email asking me to send a letter to my elected representatives about blending sewage in fresh water. Some sort of EPA rule. The email didn't refer to the proposed rule. Some of us would like to read what the EPA proposes. I went to the LCV website and found this scary thing about the "EPA quietly Delays Lead Paint Rules." Again, no facts. Just a glowing attribute to Sen's Waxman and Boxer. Scrolling down I find a blast at Delay. One of his sins is to reduce the liability of those evil polluters who contaminate the US with MBTE. Hmm, bet if I did a little research, I will find that the EPA approved and then mandated this in gasoline. No doubt that industry had a hand in this, since they had to find a safe chemical to add to gasoline (safety defined as it works, no known at the time environmental harm and wouldn't damage engines). The fact is that MBtE was, and still is a mandated additive.

Going to the EPA website, I can't find any "news" or listings to tell me what they are proposing for mixing sewage with clean water. LCV didn't even mention the proposed rule making. I didn't find anything to indicate what they are doing with lead paint. I did find all sorts of terrible stuff about lead on the EPA website.

The LCV program works like this: Put all sorts of scary stuff out. Don't put any facts with the scary stuff. Get you all excited about the terrible damage if you don't write your congressman now AND SEND THEM A DONATION. It is just a simple money grab.

They ought to be ashamed for such dishonesty. But folks who are out to save the world and need no facts to back up their faith usually have no shame.

Six Years and $30 mil, no refinery yet

No New Refineries in 29 Years? There Might Well Be a Reason - New York Times. Good analysis of why the US oil refining capacity has shrunk 10% while demand increases. Regulations, costs and the awful economics of refining.

A review of Iraqi archaeology

TCS: Tech Central Station - The Iraq Museum, Reloaded. Seems that the US, contrary to popular belief and conventional wisdom, weren't as bad as we were made out to be.

The archaeologists who didn't complain about Saddam's destruction of sites, probably did so for a good reason. If they had complained, they wouldn't have been able to go into the sites. The US, on the other hand, takes the criticism and continues to work with them. They know that. It is a case of having your cake and eating it too.

Man, the Destroyer

Pleistocene Park Could Solve Mystery of Mammoth's Extinction - Yahoo! News. Interesting attempt to restore a 40,000-acre area of Siberia to the Pleistocene era habitat of grasslands with grazing beasties and predators. In fact, the report mentions an attempt to create a wooley mammoth (by someone else) by injecting mammoth DNA into elephants. (Shades of Jurrasic Park!)

The story is interesting until we go off into:
a. waves of ancient human expansion corresspond to elephant population decline. "Man is an ecosystem terminator."
b. Global destruction only accelerated in the holocene when man invented agriculture an started raising cattle.
c. And this is related to global warming due to permafrost carbon sequestration, which, of course will be released as we continue to melt the permafrost.

Let's see. The last ice age ended about the end of the Pliestocene era. The wooly mammoth began to disappear at the same time as the planet began, and is continuing, to warm. All of this now must have been caused by an infestation of humans. Yep, I can see it now, two guys and a cow and there goes the ecosystem.

There is absolutely no doubt that man has changed the ecosystem. Any species changes the ecosystem. Try telling a beaver that he shouldn't build dams because it alters an ecosystem. The idea that, man is an evil in an other pristine ecosystem and has been doing it since the last ice age for the detriment of all is absolutely ludricrous. What do these folks want, the next ice age? Just wait a while and we will have one. Save us from the Gaia-worshipers!

The solution I thought of is hilarious

Modbee.com | The Modesto Bee: "Dairy cows pass gas, but how much?" Obviously, VOCs emitted from cow farts can be reduced by flaring the gas. I can picture cows with flares attached to their butts.

No one knows how much gas is really passed. The NRDC, as always, wants the higher estimates, requiring dairy farms to undergo stringent environmental controls. Only in California would they seriously try to regulate a cow fart.

HUH? A Really, Really Dumb Idea

Ottawa Sun Online: NEWS - Pesticide ban in works. Ottawa is considering a 100% ban on pesticides on public property and, eventually, on private property. The article talks about the agony of golf courses not having pesiticides. Is this a ploy to reduce the opposition to absurdity?

The article didn't say how the city proposes to control such beasties as cockroaches, ants, termites and other bugs in schools and hospitals. Gee, we really wouldn't want to reduce the rats in surgery or the nursery, would we?

Organized Bad Ideas

Environment News Service (ENS) contains a piece on the recent convention on persistant organic pollutants (POPs). They seem to have some sort of mechanism to "nominate" and vote on chemicals to be banned. (Sort of like nomininations for service awards?). Among the "worries" are banning certain pesticides that have continuing and valuable use in disease control, particularly in developing nations. PVC is on the "to be banned" list include, because if you burn it, it might produce small amounts of dioxins. (Really bad stuff, them dioxins, they give you chloracne in huge doses. Check out the Ukranian election mess.)

The Stockholm convention seems hell-bent for banning chemicals that reduce disease in developing nations and can be used to transport water for the same folks. Wonder what they are really trying to prevent?

No Citizen Need Apply

Michelle Malkin has a report with links to Michael Graham's report on a rally of illegal immigrants in Rockville, MD, that had police protection. Mr. Graham was refused admittance and surrounded by the police to protect the protesters. Mr. Graham's tee shirt with INS on it may have been a bit of a taunt. However, it is absolutely incredible that the Rockville Police would show up at a rally of illegal immigrants to protect their "rights," see no need to report them to the INS and then help with denying US citizens entry into a "public" rally on public property.

It is way past time we insisted that our elected and hired public servants do the job they are being paid to do, or help them find something more suited to their obvious meager talents.

The Chick could have been Better

Started cold and windy for the weekly pilgrimage to the Chickahominy Reservoir. It stayed windy and the fish didn't want to play. I did manage a couple of chain pickeral on the new rod. The osprey weren't as active as last week. The reservoir was up about 4" from the week's rains. The bream spots were not active. I don't think I did any worse than most of the other few boats that were buzzing up and down the river. You can always tell when the fish aren't active from the sounds of folks moving. Them as don't catch upstream move downstream, while them as ain't catching upstream move down-stream. Last year, the blue and silver Little Cleo spoon was a killer for pickeral in May and June. Not so this year.

I didn't go back into goose-ville. There is an area upriver that looks like a canada goose nesting area. You have to beat them off with a stick. I did have fun watching a blue heron try to look just like the dead tree branches that were behind it. The grass and weeds are growing, so many of these places will not be accessable in a few weeks.

This tops it. Racism by our (probably very liberal) school administrators?

From the Prattville Progress, it appears that in Autauga County, AL, one can get suspension and sent to Alternate Training School if you wear white tee shirts (no markings) and black pants if other kids show up the same day wearing the same outfit. I wonder if this would apply to wearing blue jeans and the same NBA jersey or the same Crimson Tide tee. (Well, I guess it would if this were an Auburn area). "Gang" photo found at Montgomery Advertiser.

According to the article, the superintendent didn't know of any gangs whose uniforms were white tee's and black pants, but, just to be safe he suspended kids.

According to the Schenectady Times Union a 13-year-old will be suspended from school for wearing a necklass made from red, white and blue beads from a Christmas Present. Again, this was "gang colors" and, although the school didn't know of a red, white and blue gang "You can't measure prevention." This is going to court. Wonder if that school displays the flag? Line found on Right Nation Photo of this terrible gang member and her dangereous beads on Stark Truth

The stories are from schools over 1,000 miles apart. I can find two common threads. Both the "gangsta's" are black. Neither school had any inkling that their apparel was directly related to gang behavior, but under some logical process decided, without evidence, that it did. Frankly, this seems like out-and-out racism. The popular kids clothing styles and colors are not unlimited. Kids, like adults, tend to emulate things they see and like. It is not surprising that several kids will show up wearing the same style and colors of clothing on a given day. The second one is a study in absolute stupidity by the school administration.

Schools have quite a potential problem with gangs and gang-related activities. However, in these two cases, the administrations should take a gang awareness class. Schools also need to concentrate on educating the kiddies. Seems that these two schools have forgotten what the primary reason they are there.

Bad Grades? Fire the Teacher

At least in Georgia if the sleeper plays football. Think I'd be looking for a school board recall.

Overly Sensitive II

TimesDispatch.com | 'Dixie' field trip angers elementary school parent. this is about a field trip to an event put on by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. In case mommy hasn't figured it out, the area around Richmond was a battlefield in 1862 and then again in 1864-5. Lots of US history happened in Mechanicsville, Hanover County and Henrico County. I think it is important that we continue to remember those events and not cover them up with the usual PC blanket.

Frankly, Mannerin's "Fields of Honor" ought to be a must read for all Richmond area students before graduation from High School. Tough slogging if you are not interested in the minutia of detail that Mannerin goes into, but it certainly gives one a good feeling for what happened here during the war, and why you can walk in the woods and see all those trenches. Yes, the "works" are still there in many places after a century and a half.

I've toyed with being a member of CSV but have elected not to join. (I could get in using many different Confederate Veterans). I've yet to meet one who was some sort of avowed racist. We've moved past that. Many of the more ardent members simply resent the revisionist rewrite of history.

Overly Sensitive?

TimesDispatch.com | Mother contests 'slave auction' Apparently the Swift Creek Elementary School shouldn't have allowed role-playing (slave auction) in educating kids about slavery. At least one mom was upset about it. I think she was vastly oversensitive about the deal. Her daughter, and the other kids, got an idea of how a slave auction works.

If we were really so anti-slavery, then we would be continually protesting those countries that still condone slavery (like Niger). Apparently, not talking about something that ended 140 years ago in just the right way is more important than doing something about an existing situation.

Go Figure?

Bad Advice for Republicans

BostonHerald.com - National Politics: McCain wants Kerry to stop looking ahead. McCain criticizes his buddies obvious run for President. Since Kerry came across to most of us red-stater's as an absolute phony, if you are a Republican you'd like to see him carry the Democratic Banner again. Maybe this time he will actually shoot a goose so he has one to carry.

Anyone involved named Scopes?

CNN.com - Evolution hearings open in Kansas The epic, six-year battle in Kansas over teaching of "evolution" or "intelligent design (creationism)" continues to go on and on. The religious zealots on both sides of the issue should go take a "get-over-it" pill and two doses of common sense.

The true believers in evolution will stand for no other explanation. They seem to have science on their side with enough evidence of evolution of some species to move it from hypothesis to theorey. As the creationists point out, there are some holes in the facts that evolutionists can't account for. Since the data are probably (literally) buried in the past, they may never be found. In fact, Darwin's "natural selection" has, shall we say, been evolving over the years as any scientific theory should to fit new facts.

Hard core evolutionists want no other theory taught.

Hard core creationists want the Bible (which version?) taken literally and no other explanation taught. The soft-core creationists want "intelligent design" taught as an alternate view.

I'm not sure that teaching intelligent design as an alternate view is improper. Personally, I believe that all life is where it is now by a long process of evolution and the evolution process is the design. Who is to say that one day the guy upstairs might just explain it to us that way. In any event, I can't see what the fuss is about as long as neither are taught as absolute dogma.

The funny thing about science is that it evolves with new knowledge. What are the diehard evolutionists going to do when science blows their pet dogma's away for a new and improved version?

Need a tow truck?

CNN.com - Report: Mars lander wreckage found - May 6, 2005. Not bad finding the Polar Lander. Mars is smaller than the Earth, but still a big place to find a small package.

Wonder how much the tow truck fees are?

Stick to politics, Rush, don't try science

The laugh of the day comes from the Rush Limbaugh program. While discussing, rightly, the inconsistency of a report in Science that air pollution is down, causing clearer skies and more global warming, Rush questioned the article in that the clearer skies would increase the speed of light and more of it would bounce off. His conclusion that the global warming mythologist use any event as evidence of global warming, including decrease in pollution (or an increase in pollution) to advance their myth is absolutely right. He should just stay out of science.

I doubt very seriously that the speed of light will be affected at all by what is in the earth's atmosphere. The speed of light is a "constant." The GW mythologists are correct in that the less particulate in the sky the more sunlight gets through and the more the earth will be warmed. Don't believe me, check the warming on a clear day versus a cloudy day. Are you cooler in the shade or in the sun?

All that said, we just don't know the "energy budget" of the earth, including net solar heating. The impact has recently been revised downward. The science of global warming is, at best, unsettled.

Rush should stick to politics, you don't need any real facts. The global warming mythologists should stay away from politics, they need real facts.

Gee, it takes guys from Harvard to find out what my dad knew

To preserve forests, some suggest cutting trees contains facts that the enviros don't seem to know or want to know. We have more forests in the Northeast than we did a century ago. Forests need to be managed by cutting trees (or allowing the forest to burn off) periodically or new growth doesn't happen and wildlife decreases. You get lots of stuff from wood products.

My dad, who dropped out of school in the 8th grade knew that before some of these bright guys were born.

What's in a number?

From USA Today, a piece on the believability of statistical data put out by the government and others. The article has a running joke that 62.38% of all statistics are made up on the spot. Many of the bad statistics, such as 400,000 deaths from obesity each year (revised downward to 26,000) or the 100,000 Iraqi's killed since the invasion (revised downward to 25,000) seem to last forever. A miss of 94% is not "statistical error" it is just plain bad work.

Hat tip to Junk Science

The Left's Version of Academic Freedom

Appears to be agree completely or hit the bricks. A 3.78 gpa in a master's program doesn't seem to get much traction if you write something that the department chair at LeMoyne College disagrees with. See David Limbaugh

Fear Sells, Not Facts

TCS: Tech Central Station - State of the Scare reviews the American Lung Association. I like the phrase "confounding statitics." Contrary to the report, air quality is improving. ALA would do us all a favor by using the real statistics, not phoney ones that serve only to increase their donations.

FOXNews.com - Politics - Bush OKs Demotion of Abu Ghraib General If I read the MSM and listen to the ideologues we covered up Abu Ghraib. Actually, the Army is doing exactly what it should in this case. Those involved in the actual breaking of military law are being severely punished. The chain of command is being punished for lack of command and a lax command climate. I read Taglibu's report and am completely convinced that there were a group of officers and senior NCO's in the MP Brigade who allowed the command to get totally out of control. In my opinion, these folks should not have been allowed to be in command. Karpinski seemed to think that writting ineffective MFR's would solve the problem. She never adjusted from peacetime to really having to get the job done.

A View from the Left

Crisis Papers describes itself as "News, Opinion and Commentary from the Progressive Internet" and is edited by two Ph. D's. Among the "hot" topics: Bush won in 2004 by another election fraud. It's absolutely amazing that the ideologues of the left still want to believe this tired old saw. Among the reasons that we "know" that there was election fraud: the voting lines in some Ohio precints were long. And just why were they long? It is not that a lot of people wanted to vote, it is a Republican plot to deny them the vote. Silly of me to think that those who wanted to vote were willing to wait to vote. I didn't see that standing in a line to vote was denying them the right to vote.

Using that logic, when I went to the Henrico Public Library 30 minutes before the polls opened and had difficulty finding a place to park and then had a long line to stand in, I didn't realize that it was a Republican voter fraud plot. I didn't see anyone denied the right to vote, they simply had to wait a bit to vote. My only real complaint was that I didn't leave early enough.

The left's solution to voter fraud:
(1) Return to paper ballots, after all, as that maven of modern technology, Howard Dean showed on MSNBC (Dean and MSNBC) eletronic voting can be secretly tampered with without a trace. I have more faith in electronic data recording than I do with paper. Gosh, I liked the 50's and 60's, but not enough to return to them, unless the return happens to be a GTO or Rocket 88.
(2) Same day voter registration. This is a sure way to get voter fraud, but I'm willing to bet that this is what they really want. Don't tell me that there are scads of folks out there who really want to vote, but just can't find time to register, or didn't know that the elections were going to be held until the day of the election. It takes almost no effort to register to vote. And, by golly, only Rip van Winkel would not know that there was a Presidential Election going on last year. If you can't get around to registering to vote, then, this time, maybe you should lose your franchise. Don't punish us who actually made the effort to be registered by getting a last minute rush of folks who register on the day of the election and can't be checked for legitimacy.

There is more, but it defies logic.

They need to get over the election. Based on the fallacious idea that they have right on their side and everyone should know that, then the only way Bush could have won was that the election must have been stolen, or there is some vast right-wing theocratic conspiracy. How about just a real penchot for self-deception.

And you wonder why California is running at a big deficit

City's Social-Change Agenda Has Business on the Defensive - Yahoo! News could it be the "new social agenda?"

All the News that Fit to Print

As long as the right people decide what is fit to print, I guess.
April 28, 2005 - Respect free press. The response by a group who were upset that their rally didn't get into the print edition, only the online edition. The idea that a professor was ranting and raving in class about it truly makes one wonder what low standards are required to teach in college these days.

Just when you thought you had seen it all

United Poultry Concerns [UPC] - www.upc-online.org. These folks are really serious.

NCAA PC Strikes Again

Yahoo! Sports - NCAA Men's Basketball - University will not return to Warriors nickname. Gee, they might upset someone with the name. I'm sure that it took thousands of manhours to come up with the decision to rename the team to "The Gold." "Golden Eagles" lost out, probably because it might offend the bird (if they had a losing season) or might not be considered environmentally friendly.

Just what sort of name is the "Gold?" Why not the "fuscha" or the "aquamarine." Come to think of it, "Gold" might offend American Indians, Aztec, Mayan or Toltec descendents because of the inference to the plundering of the America's by greedy Europeans. "Marquette" itself must offend someone. Pere Marquette was part of the European invasion. In fact, "America" must symbolize to some the conquering of a pure, idyllic hemisphere by those nasty Europeans since it was named for an Italian.

Wonder if there is an end to this Political Correctness?

Where will they go when the sea rises?

Where will they go when the sea rises?. Well, now we don't like immigration because the noble, improvished poor might improve their standard of living. We also get a new term "climate justice." Wonder if you can get a job making up stuff like this? It must take loads of ability, wit and training. "Climate justice" -- I couln't have come up with that, the term would have seemed to unbelievable for any intelligent person to swallow.

Surprise! Windfarms are not as environmentally friendly as thought

Scotsman.com News - Sci-Tech - Wind farm study blow to green hopes. Gee, whillikers, do you mean that putting your hopes in a variable, more costly type of energy has other implications. Imagine that. Building the structures and their operation potentially has an impact on the environment, something the detractors have known and said for a long time. However, only the pure green types have any valid say in this issue.

Consensus of Scientists or Simply Censorship of Opposing Views?

Peiser's correspondence with Science
Contains a series of letters between Dr. Peiser and Science Magazine in which Dr. Peiser disputes an article saying that a review of publications on climate change shows that a "consensus" of scientists support anthropogenic global warming. Peiser's research shows the analysis is fatally flawed. Does Science publish the opposing view? No. First, the letter is "too long" then "well its on the internet so we won't publish it" In otherwords, Science is not interested in the "scientific method" when it results in data that doesn't support their preconceived notions.

Found on

Pardon My English: Duty, Honor, Country

Pardon My English: Duty, Honor, Country. Much better author than I. And darn well said. A must read, even for the most die-hard anti-bush, anti-war lib.

The New McCarthyism: Academic Freedom

For someone well on the way to complete news and opinion addiction (in other words, I need to get a real life), I began reading some of the "news" about academic freedom with no little amusement and cynicism. Having been in the hallowed halls of academics for eleven years, I could laugh at the foibles of those who are now there. After all, with memory that is 30-years distant, I recalled a time in which academic freedom meant the right to think, publish based on knowledgeable research and speak freely. One didn't have to agree with the speaker, just agree that he had the right to his opinions, no matter how "wrong" they were. Lately, I've come to believe that things have changed for the worse. The inmates have taken over the asylum. It was interesting to notice, and now appalling as I see the depths to which the trend has gone, the attacks the left make on someone who has the audacity to disagree with them. Quite often these attacks are couched in terms of "academic freedom" or "hate speech." The left, which seems to dominate the acadamy, has adopted, in the name of academic freedom, McCarthyism with a vengeance.

A while back a graduate student had the audacity to remark in class that his religious beliefs led him to disagree with the professor's viewpoint that homosexuality was normal and good. My rather naive response was that, as a graduate student, the young man should know that the wise student parrots back the professor's viewpoint and goes on with his life when the course ends if he wants decent grades. I even questioned why a "Gender Studies" or some such title was included in the UNC graduate english cirriculum. Little did I realize that the course was not intended to educate students, it was more intended as a propaganda session for the prevelant political beliefs of the department and the student had transgressed onto dangerous ideological ground by daring to question the professor's wisdom. The response by this professor was part of the new McCarthyism. She did not press her view point in the market of ideas, make sound arguments as to the correctness of her cause or anything approaching rational intellectual discourse. Instead, she emailed members of the class expressing her concerns over the trauma they must be suffering because of the hate speech and offering counseling for those who had been severely damaged by such speech. She attacked the person who disagreed with her with a vengeance that would have made Old Joe pround. Since when do adults with college degrees need counselling when they hear someone express ideas that they may, or may not, agree with? The attack machine of the left, went to work with full force.

We have the recent case of Jonathan Bean, reportedly a prize winning author and a previous teacher of the year at SIU. Mr. Bean sinned mightily by including links to the Zebra Killings in an assignment. Mr. Bean was rapidly attacked as a racist by numerous faculty members and by his department chair. Mr. Bean is in danger of losing his job. Did he make up the Zebra Killings? Did he erroneously imply that these killings were done by blacks linked to the Nation of Islam? Did he erroneously imply that the victims were white? The answer to all questions is no, he made no errors. The only fact that matters is that Mr. Bean strayed from the party line and must be punished for such an infringement. The new McCarthyism of the left attacked in full force.

The recent fuss at Columbia in which students lodged complaints against a "Muslim Studies(?)" for allegedly attacking them because they were Jewish is another prime example of the new McCarthyism of the left. Columbia investigated the complaints and all but completely exonerated the professor. However, the impression left by the ad hoc committee being stacked with department members and the professor's thesis advisor certainly would give rise to the thought that the "investigation" had all the appearances of a whitewash. Now, it seems that the new McCarthyism cannot let the issue end. The students who complained are being labeled as "Zionists." In other words, don't disagree with the Prof. If you do, you will be the recipient of Character attacks.

The recent news of attacks on concervative speakers at college campuses is appalling in that the leaders of those institutions make no efforts to put a stop to the left-wing brown shirts. Ms. Coulter has recently made the news as a result of the activities of protesters in her audiences. Does the academic leadership deplore the actions of those who would stifle fee speech? No. It seems, at least according to the president of St. Thomas College, that it is Ms. Coulter's fault that students were so enraged at her. Rather than have a diversity of ideas, the McCarthyites of the left chose to attack Ms. Coulter for "hateful speech." I don't care for Ms. Coulter and cerainly wouldn't pay to see her. However, if she is invited on campus, then common courtesy and a respect for the right of free speach of others should have restrained the hecklers.

Recently I returned to Mr. Lieter's blog <Leiter Reports: Chronicle of Higher Ed Article on David Horowitz and his Campaign to Purge the Universities. The blog defends the current state of academic freedom and attacks on it. How does a professor in a well-known law school do this? The arguments (not by Leiter, but cited by him) run to ""It's Orwellian," says Roger W. Bowen, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors. "He's trying to create an atmosphere in the classroom where faculty are not treated like the professionals that they are." and "David Horowitz's Gang "Smears the Dead" and "Horowitz does not want us to take Lenin’s apocalyptic injunction too literally. Instead, he believes you should drown your political opponents in a steady stream of bullshit, emanating every day from newspapers, TV and radio programs, as well as lavishly funded smear sites and blogs." Just the stuff for the marketplace of ideas.

If you can't win on intellectual power and the rightness of your cause, resort to name-calling, personal attacks and language not fit for the hunting camp. The left is devoid of ideas. The left on our campuses attack with a vengeance anyone who dares to disagree. That is the new McCarthyism. All will get teary eyed at the attacks of outside evil on the bastions of Academic Freedom. Even call it Orwellian. No real academic freedom, is academic Freedom. That's Orwellian. The new McCarthyism is alive and well on our campuses, nutured by those defending academic freedom.

Exciting Times

Became a grandfather yesterday. All doing well and all are excited.

L. England Trial

I'm willing to bet the convening authority is having conniption fits over the blow up in the L. England trial. Graner seems to be willing to take a bullet for his girl friend by changing his story.

Training film, my old combat boot. They may have called it that, but all involved absolutely knew that the antics were against military law and were just plain wrong. The enlisted persons involved with the abuse deserve to get what's coming to them.

I found, and continue to find, fault with the command structure from platoon all the way through brigade for allowing such a lousy command atmosphere to exist. The guards were out of control and no one in the chain of command seemed to notice. BG Karpenski, justly, got the most public wrist slap. The battalion commander was removed from the O-6 promotion list, and I'm sure that the OER's and NCOER's written for the chain of command won't be positive statements for retention and promotion boards to read.

The fact that all those in the chain of command didn't do anything to stop it is most appalling. As a reservist, I was never in a unit that allowed things to get that out-of-control before someone stepped up and took action. I don't buy the "we were in Iraq" and replacements were hard to find argument. If the LTC can't do the job, then find a MAJ, and keep right on down the list until you find someone who has the gumption to do the job. If the battalion needed command emphasis, then get the brigade staff moving at the double quick in that direction. That's what those folks are there for, they can push paper on the night shift. Yell for help, demand help and get the job done. No excuses, now or later.

Global Cooling?

Monarch Butterfly Population Down 75 Percent. "The Mexican government said the decline was due to a number of factors, including an unusually cold summer in the United States and a high mortality rate for the butterflies in Mexico in 2003 due to cold, wet conditions."

The other "factors" were farming in the US and Canada, the use of pesticides in the US and Canada and the US of bio-engineered plants in the US. It had nothing to do with illegal logging in the Mexican habitat for the butterflies. Interesting to not that the Mexican Enviros are blaming the Mexican government.

In 2001, we thought the Monarch population would decrease because of COLD weather, but they did not. However, the latest round of cold weather took it's toll. Just when I thought global warming was destroying all life on the planet, we now find out we need some (localized) global warming to save the Monarch. Go Figure.

I Guess if the Feds won't uphold the law, it's up to the locals.

TheWMURChannel.com - News - Illegal Immigrant Pleads Guilty To Trespassing. Way to go, Jaffrey, NH!

I believe it's called spying

My Way News

Another Demonstration of Colleges Embracing Diversity and Free Speech

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005� is a report of a student being arrested for disorderly conduct at an Ann Coulter event. The description of the audience at this event is a prime example of the Lib's love of free speech and diversity of ideas. If you don't want to get attacked, reviled and shouted down, your free speech must follow the acceptable liberal guidelines. Your diversity of ideas must adhere to strict liberal rules.

It is of notable interest that the person arrested is being defended by the "Austin People's Legal Collective." Thought "Peoples Collectives" resided in the Soviet Union and China. Well, I guess the communists have escaped the Iron Curtain and found a home in Texas.

I'm waiting for the freedom-loving peoples of the University of Texas to rise up in protest of those who want to suppress free speech. I won't hold my breath.

Wisconsin Enviro NIMBY'ism?

FOXNews.com - Politics - Energy Battle Sets Up Duel Between Environmentalists. It seems that the clean-air greens and the ecology greens are doing battle over the construction of electrical generation windmills in Wisconsin. The only folks getting the benefit from this are the farmers who get $4,000/year per windmill. Wind-turbine electricity will generate <1% of Wisconsin electrical demand. It is usually subsidized by taxes because it is more expensive (construction costs) than standard power generation. Also, the wind turbines have a nasty habit of destroying anything that flies into the path of the blades.

The clean-air greens want to wind energy electrical generation, which really won't do much to help with the energy supply. They will ignore the ecological damage in the name of clean air. I think, in this one, I side with the eco-greens. Nasty things do have a habit of making habitat a bit dicier for the flying fauna.

Another "Red State" Myth

Army secret unwrapped�-�Nation/Politics�-�insider.washingtontimes.com: "Entrepreneur Mr. D'Andrea -- a Harvard graduate and former Eagle Scout -- thinks the bar will be a hit in Republican-friendly 'red states,' which tend to harbor a heavy population of hunters and fishermen. "

Sounds like the HooAH bar will be a great seller, but I hate to break the myth that hunting and fishing is a "red state" thing. I lived in one of the blue states, Michigan, albeit in the red western part of the state. Michigan has the highest per capita boat registration in the US. Don't try to get a plumber or electrician around the start of deer season. I don't think all the hunters and fishermen in the state vote republican. If they did, Bush would have won by a landslide.

Would you expect anything different?

Pelosi's ethics stance hypocritical, GOP says�-�Nation/Politics�-�insider.washingtontimes.com. Rep. Pelosi is NOT interested in rooting out ethics violations, she is interested ONLY in rooting out Mr. DeLay. Disgusting how these folks cynically hold up the banner of purity. A book on honest, ethical politicians would probably be best described as a short story.

Good Reading. What do the Enviros really want?

CSR Watch / SRI Watch: Monitoring the anti business movement and responding to it

Illegal Immigrants

As much as I dislike the demigods who rant and rave in the media, I believe I agree with those who want to crack down on illegal immigrants. I'm not against immigration or even the wave of Latin Americans who want to come to the US. I simply believe that it should be done legally.

I worked for a company in Michigan that had a labor force that was about 85% immigrants. The work, slaughtering and processing beef, was hard, dirty and dangerous. The people who worked the kill floor, fab and rendering earned every penny they made. In an area that had suffered losses of the good union jobs from the closing of a GM plant and the continuing disappearance of jobs in paper mills and auto-related industries, it was hard to get Americans to work in that place. They would continually moan and groan about job losses and the area's unemployment rates, but you rarely found anyone lining up at Murco for a job. It seems that they would rather cry about the loss of the great jobs that weren't coming back than get a job they didn't like. The fruit industry in western Michigan seemed to have gone heavily to immigrant labor. You could drive down the Red Arrow Highway and go quite a while without seeing a sign that wasn't in Spanish.

Immigrants are in the US, doing the work that we just don't want to do. They are here doing it gladly because it's better than where they came from. I have no problem with that, other than those folks crying about no jobs when, albeit hard ones, there are jobs available. I do have a real beef with the flood of illegal immigrants doing those jobs and the seeming lack of interest by our bureaucrats and elected leaders in stemming the tide. It's time we found folks who look after our interests, like we pay them to do. If not, Murco is always hiring and they can find productive work there with Juan and Juanita, if they can keep up with Juan and Juanita, who work damned hard.

Tuition Breaks for non-Citizens

newsobserver.com | A Q: "Taking sides on tuition". North Carolina is toying with the idea of giving tuition breaks (state resident tuition) to illegal immigrants as is done in 9 other states. Putting the question of how one gets into a US College without either being a US citizen/legal resident and not have a student visa for a moment, one might ask why the citizens of NC and the 9 states who allow this are not raising Cain.

First, we pay taxes to support higher education in our states. Because we are tax-paying citizens we get lower tuition rates than out-of-staters. Never mind that, in Virginia, tuition rates are going up at about 9%/year. Want to check the rate of inflation?

Most states limit the number of out-of-state students at state-supported schools. Virginia allows only 35% out-of-state enrollment, for example. Allowing the children of illegal immigrants to enter at the in-state rates, simply closes the doors earlier for state residents.

This is the craziest thing I've heard of. Why do we give breaks to non-citizens that we deny to citizens? It's about time we elected folks who do the job they are paid to do, look out for our interests. The ones we have now don't seem to think that is part of the contract we made with them.

Maybe we should make French our national language

CNN.com - English-only advocates see barriers to bill easing up, Lou Dobbs. I must be some sort of ultra-right neolithic type. English is the language of the United States. If it takes a law to reaffirm that, then so be it.

They have to be making this up

Discussion of "V" day and a conservative satirical response. What I find unbelievable is that any school with a modicum of self-respect and dignity would tolerate either. But apparently, we can celebrate a play in which an adult female seduces a 13-year old child, but are horrified at the satirical response. I have kid going to college in a year. I don't wish to pay for garbage like this.

Full Disclosure

USNews.com: John Leo: Full disclosure needed to judge news (5/9/05) just about says it all. When an "unbiased" person or group is the source, we need to know the sources connections.

Another Day on the Chick

A day that started out with early morning rain, turned into another absolutely glorious day to be at my favorite fishing hole. I don't know how the Chickahominy Anglers tournament turned out, but I didn't meet many on the Chick who claimed to have caught much. I had a ball.

Made the typical few thousand casts with different flavors of plastic worms and spinner baits with no luck. Even the tried and true little Cleo didn't attract chain pickeral as it did last year at this time. However, I decided to plink in a few areas with beatle spins and an ultra-light and caught a few (18) bream, perch, chain pickeral. Loads of fun, even though the chain pickeral were mostly "hammer handles" and "tack hammer handles." Did manage one bass on a spinner and a couple of hammer handles on the Little Cleo.

Quite possibly what I do could only be considered fishing by stretching the definition. However, on a sunny day (after 10AM), the weather was nice and the quiet time to watch a doe cross the river, drifting along and watching osprey and turtles can only be bad because I had to leave after only 6 hours. PS. The $10 ultralight (working on the second $20 reel) is an absolute ball for plinking around.

A Consensus of Scientists who want to get published believe

Telegraph | News | Leading scientific journals 'are censoring debate on global warming'. Obviously, if you refute the consensus, you get silenced by not being published. So, instead of a "consensus of scientists believe in global warming" it is really a "consensus of scientists whom we decide to publish believe in global warming."

Yep, sure sounds like settled science to me

The Real Runaway Bride Story

Is not FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Prosecutor Mulls Charges for Runaway Bride. The real story is that the media created an event. Instead of helping with missing persons reports, we had the media descend on Duluth, GA, with reports several times an hour. We had Greta and other luminaries "reporting" from the scene. The media built this thing up into some monstrous event that simply turned out to be a young lady cutting and running in the face of her wedding.

It is interesting that now, somehow, Ms. Wilbanks is responsible for upsetting the nation and causing Duluth to spend extra bucks on the disappearance. Had the police treated this as a missing persons issue, this wouldn't have happened.

Short of legally binding requirements (military, court appearancesj, etc), I'm not aware of any law that prevents anyone from simply leaving without notice to anyone. You may be in trouble later if your flight resulted in harm to children or was to avoid pending debt, but no one is bound to report their intended departure by anything other than common courtesy.

I'd like to have media interest in the form of missing persons notices if one of my family disappeared, but I certainly wouldn't want it to become a national circus of a media frenzy.