Knee Deep in the Ephemera

Oh My Gosh, Were We Wrong About Climate Change?

2008-03-22T11:35:00.003-05:00

Yet another example of "I told you so" for all the global warming alarmists out there. I hope these new facts turn out to be accurate. Nothing would please me more than for these junk scientists to get a healthy dose of humble pie.

In an article posted on the Australian titled Climate facts to warm to, we read some interesting facts from biologist Jennifer Marohasy.

Last Monday - on ABC Radio National, of all places - there was a tipping point of a different kind in the debate on climate change. It was a remarkable interview involving the co-host of Counterpoint, Michael Duffy and Jennifer Marohasy, a biologist and senior fellow of Melbourne-based think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. Anyone in public life who takes a position on the greenhouse gas hypothesis will ignore it at their peril.
Duffy asked Marohasy: "Is the Earth stillwarming?"

She replied: "No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years."

Duffy: "Is this a matter of any controversy?"

Marohasy: "Actually, no. The head of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has actually acknowledged it. He talks about the apparent plateau in temperatures so far this century. So he recognises that in this century, over the past eight years, temperatures have plateaued ... This is not what you'd expect, as I said, because if carbon dioxide is driving temperature then you'd expect that, given carbon dioxide levels have been continuing to increase, temperatures should be going up ... So (it's) very unexpected, not something that's being discussed. It should be being discussed, though, because it's very significant." (more)

Firefox Stumble of the Day

2008-02-04T22:57:00.000-06:00

Songza is a brand new web jukebox and music search engine. Enter the name of a band or song title and a list of related songs comes up. You can scan the list to find something you want to listen to, and then you have several options available to you. Clicking on your chosen song, a menu comes up that allows you to either play that song, rate if it's a good or bad recording, add it to your play list, or share it by sending the song to a friend, linking to that song, embedding it on your site, or watching the YouTube video of it. As you are making new searches, the song you have been listening to continues to play uninterrupted at the bottom of the page. If you don't select another song to play before that song is over, it'll go straight to playing the list of songs you've collected on the side. Within your play list, you can drag and drop songs to determine their order.

There are short cuts to playing the songs on the site as well, such as hitting the space bar to pause or play the current song and using the arrow keys to scroll through your play list to the next song you want to hear. You can also check out the discography of the song you are currently listening to, or you can purchase it, all through Google links. Anytime you want to see the song's YouTube video or check out the track's discography, the information comes up in a new window so as not to interrupt your listening experience. If you want to create a play list to easily enjoy while surfing the web, or you want to check out different tracks from various artists without having to bring up more complicated sites that only let you listen to 30 second clips of the songs, Songza will be a great tool for you.

Earth Apparently Able To Heal Itself From Man's Evil Deeds

2006-11-17T10:11:00.000-06:00

In a story by LA Times writer Robert Lee Hotz, he states,

An international team of scientists reported Thursday that rising temperatures are steadily transforming the Arctic -- warming millions of square miles of permafrost, promoting lush greenery on previously arid tundras and steadily shrinking the annual sea ice.

Oh my, to quote REM, "It's the end of the world as we know it." but wait...before you sell your evil, greenhouse gas spewing vehicles, read this from the same article,

Yet the researchers also found new patterns of cooling ocean currents and prevailing winds that suggested the Arctic, long considered a bellwether of global warming, may be reverting in some ways to more normal conditions not seen since the 1970s.

I'm sorry, could it be that the earth just might be in the midst of a natural wobble in it's orbit which varies it's distance from the sun, thus changing temperatures? I hate to keep harping on these "chicken little" stories about global warming, but one week, it's "global warming isn't happening" and "warming is significant, water levels are rising" the next.

Which Is It?

2006-09-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

Is this another nail in the self-loathing, tree hugger's "American is evil polluter" coffin? I feel like it's a ping pong game. Not that long ago we had Algore bloviating again about how America is responsible for global warming and now a well respected professor at Colorado State University, and one of the nation's leading hurricane experts lays blame on changes to ocean circulation patterns.

Global warming is happening, but humans are not the cause, one of the nation’s top experts on hurricanes said Monday morning. Bill Gray, who has studied tropical meteorology for more than 40 years, spoke at the Larimer County Republican Club Breakfast about global warming and whether humans are to blame. About 50 people were at the talk.

Gray, who is a professor at Colorado State University, said human-induced global warming is a fear perpetuated by the media and scientists who are trying to get federal
grants.

“I think we’re coming out of the little ice age, and warming is due to changes to ocean circulation patterns due to salinity variations,” Gray said. “I’m sure that’s it.” (more)

E-85 Ethanol Not Mana From Heaven

2006-06-16T11:27:00.000-05:00

We've been getting all these stories that extole the virtues of Ethanol. We're being told how it will wean us from dependence to foreign oil and give us relief from high gasoline prices. Some examples here, here, and here. The Governor of my own state of Louisiana has even signed a bill requiring that fuel containing ethanol, as well as other alternative fuels, must be sold in the state once production of such fuels reaches certain levels.

From what I've read, the only ones benefiting from Ethanol, are the corn farmers, refiners, and investors.

Here's a story from the San Fransisco Chronicle by Edward Epstein:

The ethanol plant is a real key to economic development in this part of the county," said Fritz Kuhlmeier, president of the locally owned Citizens State Bank in Lena, which has deposits of about $120 million.

"Our jobs are being sucked into the cities, where there's more people and more culture, more activity. We have a brain drain here," said Kuhlmeier, whose son went away to college and now works as a structural engineer in Milwaukee, about three hours away.

Almost 350 farmers around Lena benefit from the strong ethanol market for their corn. They're doing even better because they own 85 percent of the Adkins plant, along with three corporate partners. (more)

Here's another from CNNMoney.com by Grace Wong:

Wall Street has taken a shine to ethanol producers as sky-high crude prices, limited refining capacity and concerns over environmental pollution have helped push ethanol prices to record highs. Ethanol, an alternative fuel most often made from corn, is usually blended with gasoline to make it burn more cleanly.

Three ethanol producers are looking to capitalize on those conditions. VeraSun Energy, the nation's No. 2 ethanol producer,will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "VSE" Wednesday. Rivals Hawkeye Holdings and Aventine Renewable Energy have filed to go public as well. (more)

Today I see this headline Professor: Ethanol is no miracle cure and story by Randy Conat of WJRT-TV.

But Professor Mark Perry, of U-M Flint, recently wrote an article published in the Flint Journal that points of some of the drawbacks of ethanol as a fuel. "I think this is one of the most misguided public policies we've had in a generation."

E-85, the fuel that's 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, is promoted as a way of lessening the need for foreign oil. But it takes a lot of fossil fuel to produce ethanol.

"The energy required to produce a gallon of ethanol is more than the energy you get out of it. So producing ethanol results in about a 20 to 30 percent net loss of energy in the process," Perry explained.

Scientists Claim It's Gore's Hot Air Causing Global Warming

2006-06-14T12:48:00.000-05:00

As many of us suspected, much of the warming we're seeing lately is due to the enormous amounts of hot air rushing out of Al Gore's mouth. Recent increases were noted due to his many press stops to promote his film, "An Inconvenient Truth".

In a story for Canada Free Press, Tom Harris quotes Gore and writes, "Scientists have an independent obligation to respect and present the truth as they see it," Al Gore sensibly asserts in his film "An Inconvenient Truth", showing at Cumberland 4 Cinemas in Toronto since Jun 2. With that outlook in mind, what do world climate experts actually think about the science of his movie?

Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention."

But surely Carter is merely part of what most people regard as a tiny cadre of "climate change skeptics" who disagree with the "vast majority of scientists" Gore cites?

No; Carter is one of hundreds of highly qualified non-governmental, non-industry, non-lobby group climate experts who contest the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing significant global climate change. "Climate experts" is the operative term here. Why? Because what Gore's "majority of scientists" think is immaterial when only a very small fraction of them actually work in the climate field.

Another quote from Carter in the article...

Carter does not pull his punches about Gore's activism, "The man is an embarrassment to US science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of whom know (but feel unable to state publicly) that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science."

Read more...

Muslim Outrage...???

2006-02-09T10:04:00.000-06:00

I just found this interesting piece by an Egyptian Blog called Rantings of a Sandmonkey, via Wretchard at The Belmont Club. I was already a bit skeptical about the incindiary outrage here, here and here, over the Mohammed cartoons, but this settled the issue with me once and for all.

Freedom For Egyptians reminded me why the cartoons looked so familiar to me: they were actually printed in the Egyptian Newspaper Al Fagr back in October 2005. I repeat,
October 2005, during Ramadan, for all the egyptian muslim population to see, and not a single squeak of outrage was present. (more )

Global Warming Is Racist

2006-01-20T11:28:00.000-06:00

Bruce Britt at BET.com would have us believe that not only is the white man causing global warming by being less environmetally insensitive than our black brethren, but that same global warming is causing stronger storms that affect blacks more disproportionally than whites.

Relatively, Blacks are environmental Good Samaritans. Per capita, we emit approximately 20 percent less carbon dioxide than Whites – well below 2020 targets set by the U.S. Climate Stewardship Act. Not only do we use more energy-conserving public transportation, we spend considerably less per capita on energy-intensive material goods.
Environmentalists blame the fierce new storms on global warming – the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. Scientists attribute the phenomenon to gases produced by fossil fuels like gasoline, petroleum and coal. Though critics dismiss global warming as junk science, reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have continually found a discernable human influence on world temperatures.
That’s bad news, especially for African Americans. Citing Katrina as a case-in-point, some environmentalists say global warming impacts minorities and the disadvantaged harder than other groups. If global warming gets worse, many African-American communities will be more vulnerable to breathing ailments, insect-carried diseases and heat-related illness and death. But asking Black folks to give up gas-guzzling SUV’s and other bling is a tough sell.
“It has been ingrained in our heads that to be anything, you must have everything,” says EJCC steering committee member Nia Robinson. “Because some of us have a big car and a nice house, people aren’t seeing that racism still exists. But Katrina showed that racism is alive and well in America. Now that people have that idea, I think we’re in a really critical stage to organize, educate and mobilize people.”

As far as global warming being caused by fossil fuels used by the "White man" or others, these links offer a differing opinion.
Global Warming and Hurricanes: Still No Connection
Hurricanes and global warming - a link?
Hurricanes and Global Warming: Do Not Believe the Hype
Hurricanes and Climate Change
You decide.

Johnny Depp Is Dumb Puppy

2005-11-19T12:31:00.000-06:00

It was only two years ago that "The 'Edward Scissorhands' and 'Sleepy Hollow' star, who spends much of his time in the south of France with his companion, Vanessa Paradis, and their two small children, told the German magazine he couldn't see himself paying more than short visits to his Los Angeles residence in the present political climate." (more here)
Poor Monsieur Depp, now his beloved, sophisticated France is going up in flames, mon dieu, what is great thespian to do? Staying put apparently isn't it. Maybe he can move to Saudi Arabia and let his kids hang out with Michael Jackson.

Thank God For Natural Selection

2005-11-10T15:01:00.000-06:00

Some things I am sad to see disappear, like the hair on my head, cheap gas, etc. However, there are other things that have ceased to be, that I am absolutely overjoyed about. This is an example of one of those things.

By Kevin Gray
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Nov 10
(Reuters) - A bizarre marine crocodile that lived 135 million years ago in what is now Argentina had the head of a dinosaur and the tail of a fish, paleontologists said on Thursday.

The finding, published in Thursday's issue of the journal Science, sheds new light on an animal that millions of years ago dominated Earth's seas. Scientists are calling the beast "Godzilla." -More-

Huh?

2005-11-01T14:49:00.000-06:00

Energy-momentum tensor for the electromagnetic flux in an extraterrestrial UFO explains the advanced propulsion, navigation and stealth communication systems.
Scientists are finally close to deciphering the secrets of advanced propulsion and navigation systems used in advanced extraterrestrial UFOs.

2005 Hurricane Season in 60 Seconds

2005-10-27T21:48:00.000-05:00

Here is a cool section on the NASA website. They have a couple of links to videos made from compiled, daily satelite images from the 2005 Hurricane season. Be prepared for a wait if you don't have a high speed connection, however, the video is really cool and worth the wait.

How Many Men Does It Take To Screw The Lightbulb?

2005-10-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

Apparently just two, and it was an accident.

The main light source of the future will almost surely not be a bulb. It might be a table, a wall, or even a fork.

An accidental discovery announced this week has taken LED lighting to a new level, suggesting it could soon offer a cheaper, longer-lasting alternative to the traditional light bulb. The miniature breakthrough adds to a growing trend that is likely to eventually make Thomas Edison's bright invention obsolete.

I can't wait to stick it to GE. I've spent a fortune on their's and other lightbulbs that don't last.

Is It Christmas Already? U.N. Procurement Scandal: Ties to Saddam and Al Qaeda

2005-10-23T20:50:00.000-05:00

Finally, someone does some actual investigative reporting. h/t to Fark for the story link from Fox News. Warning: The story by Claudia Rosett and George Russell of Fox News reads like an Agatha Christy whodunnit and is a little hard at times to keep up with the twists and turns, but the links appear very credible.

NEW YORK — The scandal engulfing the United Nations Procurement Department now appears to be bottomless. It also shows signs of growing more sinister, especially where it involves a mysterious private company called IHC Services, which did big business with the procurement department until it was removed from U.N. rosters in June.

New details of how dark the scandal could prove to be have emerged from the private sale of IHC on June 3, 2005, just as the procurement scandal was about to break. It now appears that while doing business with the U.N., IHC had links both to Saddam Hussein’s old sanctions-busting networks, and to a Liechtenstein-based businessman, Engelbert Schreiber, Jr., known among other things for his ties to a figure designated by the U.N. itself as a financier of Al Qaeda. (more)

I've Had All I Can Stand, I Can't Stands No More

2005-09-07T14:17:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not blogging lately...I seem to suffer from the problem of indecision when faced with so many things that come to or get my attention. The end result is that I write about nothing. My wife Kelli, who follows news and talk radio more than I (she's lucky enough to work at home) has become so insensed following the week long blamefest after Katrina that she sat and wrote the following.

What happened to New Orleans?
I keep hearing more crap from officials and talk radio. Do you know why everyone is spurting out crap? It’s because they’re all scared in one capacity or another. They’re all protecting their own interests. God love Rush and Sean Hannity, but they are protecting the reputation of the president and bringing down all Louisiana officials. (BTW Rush, your commentaries were dead on today, Tuesday September 6) Mayor Nagin is protecting his own neck. Kathleen Blanco seems purely dumbfounded and isn’t doing much to protect anything. Don’t even get me started on the brother and sister team of Landrieu and Landrieu. After this they’ve both shut up. They’re scared speechless. Jesse Jackson sees scared African Americans as an opportunity. He’s promoting his interests and politicizing the entire event.

Let’s put all this aside to analyze what is going on and why, no matter how prepared we are this probably will happen again. I’m going to give you the low down. Why do I know this? Because I worked from 1995 – 1997 to educate, as the Public Relations Assistant through the ARC, about hurricane evacuations. I sat in meetings with the Corps of Engineers. I saw the animated images created to show what would happen to New Orleans if hit. I was there. I lived in New Orleans. What you will read below is fact.

One: What actually was the disaster or disasters?
A hurricane hit the Gulf Coast. Portions of Southeast Louisiana flooded. St. Bernard flooded due to Katrina. St. Tammany Parish (North of Lake Pontchartrain) flooded due to Katrina. Some levees protecting Orleans and East Jefferson Parishes were compromised causing additional flooding after the hurricane passed.

Two: Why was this a problem on a human level?
This was a problem because many humans were still in Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes.

Three: Why were there people in harms way? Doesn’t South Louisiana, New Orleans in particular, have evacuation plans?
Yes, there are evacuation plans. The plans have two levels, that of preparation and that of implementation. Implementation involves the public transit system, RTA, the public busses that run through the city.

Preparation was not just on the shoulders of the local government, but also on the shoulders of the American Red Cross. I do not put one ounce of blame on the ARC because they, by far, do the best job of getting word out.

FOUR: What information was known?
For years the office of the mayor of New Orleans, the Corps of Engineers, FEMA, and the ARC have known of what could happen to New Orleans when hit by a hurricane. The Corps of Engineers have maps of where flooding could take place and basically it was all of Southeast Louisiana. It didn’t have to be a cat 4 or better. A slow moving cat 3 storm could do more damage than a fast moving cat 4 or 5 according to their research.

FIVE: What preparations were made?
For years the city of New Orleans and the ARC have preached self responsibility. They have said get your emergency preparedness kit and get out. Evacuation is the only true protection. You know if you are immobile. Your neighbor knows if you are immobile. If you are immobile, make arrangements in advance to evacuate. The ARC hugely recommended getting in touch with a local Church. I know that the Catholic Churches did help evacuate to Baton Rouge, many people that needed assistance during Katrina. Some implementation was put into effect according to a caller to the Rush Limbaugh Show. He said that the public busses were put at points around the city and it was made known that if you could not leave on your own accord that the busses would take people to a shelter.

SIX: Why were there still people in harms way?
This is the easiest question to answer. Those people did not want to leave. They chose to stay. The Times Picayune ran a huge article in mid-July stating in the event of a major storm if you did not rely on yourself to get out of town, then you would be left to fend for yourself. If you don’t think this didn’t make it to the ears of many, you do not know the people of New Orleans. The adults knew what could happen. They chose to stay.

SEVEN: Why did people choose to stay?
There are a multitude of reasons why various people chose to stay.
Most people just flat did not believe the devastation would hit. They did not believe it could become a reality. In New Orleans there was a huge “it can’t happen to me” attitude. Some people stayed for lack of preparation. They knew it might happen, but they had the attitude, “I’ll do that tomorrow.”
I’m sure there was a small minority that honestly had no idea of what was going on.
The rest of the people stayed for various criminal reasons.
Some stayed because they’re drug addicts and needed to be near their fixes. Some stayed because they saw the opportunity to break and enter homes and steal goods. Some stayed because they’re involved with gangs and there are territories at risk. The looting and shootings should seal it in the minds of Americans that the criminal reasons are true and not fabricated.
The people of Jefferson Parish got the message. They all got out of town. St. Tammany Parish got the message. They, too, got out of town. St. Charles Parish got it. And about 80% of Orleans Parish got it. It might be inconvenient, but it’s not rocket science to know how to get out of harm’s way. It so simple, the initiative to find a way to leave was not present.

EIGHT: Did you notice there were no American Red Cross shelters in New Orleans?
The big shelters of the Convention Center and the Superdome were set up by the city of New Orleans. In 1996 there was a huge controversy over where shelters should be established. Elizabeth Dole, then the president of the ARC, was a catalyst in making the decision to not allow ARC shelters to be set up in “death traps.” Southeast Louisiana below I-12 and the Florida Keys are designated areas not to set up shelters in the case of a natural disaster, such as a hurricane. These areas actually would put people into harm’s way. The people of New Orleans would be subject to drowning and if they survived the flooding, then the dehydration and starvation could come into play. Marc Morial worked against the ARC concerning this topic to gain political altitude. He stated that the ARC did not care about people and took the donations of disgruntled New Orleanians. If you’ll notice, the people that were evacuated to shelters outside of the effected areas did not go a minute without a meal. They have been well provided for.

WHY HAS GERALDO RIVERA SHOWN HIMSELF TO BE BLINDED BY IGNORANCE?
On the September 6 Sean Hannity show Geraldo said to Sean that people were not evacuated because no body wanted them. He said it was the equivalent of people from 9/11 being transported to Park Avenue and being turned away. Mr. Rivera, the vast majority of Louisianans turn away no one. We are at the top when it comes to giving our time and money. We are a large Christian community that believes in helping those in need. Look at the shelters that were set up through out Louisiana. If I am to believe that nobody wanted the evacuees, then show me the proof. Show the paperwork that denied those people.

Ultimately I think our people did a damn good job of saving people. Some were in extreme situations for two to four days. It wasn’t immediate, but considering that it only took one week to transport nearly two hundred thousand people out of the city, I would say that’s pretty damn good results.

The unsung heroes in this picture are the hundreds of volunteers with boats that traveled through the flooded city finding trapped people. By Thursday 4,000 people had been rescued. It takes incredible strength and endurance to accomplish those types of feats. They put themselves at huge risk of loss of life and health to save those who stayed behind.

WHY WILL THIS ULTIMATELY HAPPEN AGAIN?
See number seven. This disaster will happen again because there will always be 10% of the population that care for themselves only. They will stay strictly for personal reasons whether that reason be lack of initiative, ignorance or criminal. Once again, people will go to their roof tops, stranded. The only element that may change concerns the Superdome and Convention Center shelters. Attending to those evacuees probably will not be a dire situation, as we experienced. Even if the levees are made to withstand incredible pressure, New Orleans will always have to worry about the heavy rains associated with hurricanes. (A side note: When hurricane Goerge came through a few years ago there was an evacuation notice. People went to the Superdome and many stayed overnight. When they left, the Superdome had thousands of dollars in repairs that were needed. Why, because of the element of people that stayed there. They painted graffiti on the walls, ransacked the kitchens, destroyed the bathrooms, littered beyond belief, and ripped the cushions from the seats.)

ANOTHER SIDE NOTE:
Saturday, September 3 around 11:30 P.M. on WIBR I listened in on people calling to the radio station with fantastic stories. One woman called and said that she felt it was ridiculous that FEMA had to do damage assessment before she could get a check. She said “I want my money.” Well, Miss, YOUR money lies in the t.v.’s and furniture you purchased in your house beneath flood waters. The money that comes from either FEMA or The Red Cross is a GIFT from the American population. And a large portion of that money was used rescuing your neighbors from dire straights. Yes, Miss, “your money” is being spent by your neighbors that didn’t feel the need to evacuate.

Until The Job Is Done

2005-06-30T08:50:00.000-05:00

I often get beat down by the constant barrage of negativity and anti-america rhetoric coming from the MSM about the Iraq conflict, but all it takes is a visit to some military blogs or to read a story like this, for my faith in people to be restored.

President Bush, who met with relatives of fallen soldiers before Tuesday's Fort Bragg speech, was urged to stay the course in Iraq by a woman who gave him a bracelet honoring her late husband.
"I said: 'I know people are pushing you, but please don't pull the guys out of Iraq too soon,' " said Crystal Owen, whose husband, Staff Sgt. Mike Owen, was killed in Iraq last year.
"Don't let my husband -- and 1,700-plus other deaths -- be in vain," she added during a private meeting with Mr. Bush at the North Carolina base. "They were over there, fighting for a democratic nation, and I hope you'll keep our service members over there until the mission can be accomplished."

The End Is Near?

2005-06-06T11:01:00.000-05:00

The end of our dependence on fossil fuels that is. I came across this article by Jim Motavalli of the New York Times, about a zero emissions, hydrogen technology car being developed by Honda. It still looks like it may be some time before we have a commercially viable model, but I am encouraged by how close we are.

FOR a decade or longer, the fuel-cell car has resembled the mirage that recedes as you draw closer to it. Hydrogen-powered vehicles always seemed at least 20 years away, the subject of news conferences in Washington and static displays at auto shows. Even when test-drive opportunities came up, they were strictly controlled rides around a track, with nervous company representatives making excuses from the passenger
seat.

All that changed last month when Honda handed me the keys to a 2005 edition of its FCX (for Fuel Cell Experimental), the first zero-emission, hydrogen-driven vehicle to be certified by both the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of California for everyday commercial use. This is a street-ready hydrogen car with license plates and no rough edges, a test bed for green technology worth well over $1 million. (more here)

photo by Douglas Healey for The New York Times

Too Much Of A Good Thing, Part 2

2005-05-17T11:14:00.000-05:00

Just like I said in my recent post, the recent increase in volcanic eruptions should take care of the "too clean air" crisis that supposedly threatens the polar caps with melting and us with melanomas. Also, this should give the moonbats who are so apologetic about the U.S. being such a big pollluter some much needed perspective. Here is a story from Hawaii about just that. Hat tip to Fark for the link.

Since it began erupting on Jan. 3, 1983, the volcano has been sending an average of 1,000 metric tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere each day, according to the Hawaii chapter of the American Lung Association.
This is 6,000 times the amount emitted by a major industrial polluter on the mainland, making Kilauea the nation's top producer of sulfur dioxide.
The sulfur dioxide from Kilauea reacts with other chemicals in the air to form a hazy, naturally occurring pollution known locally as "vog," or volcanic smog. When the lava enters the ocean, concentrations of hydrochloric acid are also formed.

From The "How Does That Work" Files

2005-05-09T12:21:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to Fark on this one. I thought it appropriate because of the release of the latest Star Wars movie.
How Lightsabers work. by Marshall Brain.

Too Much Of A Good Thing?

2005-05-06T13:17:00.000-05:00

OK, OK, so the tree-hugging, chicken littles for years have been telling us how badly we are messing up our planet with pollution. Now I read in an article called Clear skies end global dimming by Quirin Schiermeier on Nature Publishing Group's News@Nature.Com that says our skys are too clean and are allowing too much solar energy to reach the ground. Apparently this will now lead to increased global warming.

Reductions in industrial emissions in many countries, along with the use of particulate filters for car exhausts and smoke stacks, seem to have reduced the amount of dirt in the atmosphere and made the sky more transparent.
That sounds like very good news. But the researchers say that more solar energy arriving on the ground will also make the surface warmer, and this may add to the problems of global warming. More sunlight will also have knock-on effects on cloud cover, winds, rainfall and air temperature that are difficult to predict.

Before you start running around looking for a hole to bury your head in, relax...if you recall, the planet is starting to experience a trend of volcanic eruptions, and this should spew enough ash into the upper atmosphere to cancel out these dreaded clear skies. You might want to use a good sun block until then.

Where Is My Muse?

2005-05-01T18:10:00.000-05:00

Work this past winter and spring was mucho and stresssful, and has left me drained and non-inspired. I know some are still visiting my site and I thank you. We are quickly moving into summer here in south Louisiana. The lawn is starting to grow quickly again, the heat has started to climb. Oh joy, can't wait until the mercury reaches the upper 90s and the humidity is above that. This weekend though, we had quite a rain storm come through and it actually cooled things down a bit. It was a nice afternoon today, the kids were content to relinguish their minds to the animated brain suckers on TV, my wife Kelli was finally tackling the mess in her car. Earlier I had spied what I thought was a nice patch of blackberries so I set off on the bike. Much to my delight the ride paid off and I was able to pick a quart bag in little time. Somewhere in the back of my mind, while I was picking mother nature's treasure, I couldn't help but think that I probably would have to pay for this easy haul with a visit from the dreaded "red bug". That's right....CHIGGERS. If you haven't suffered from these evil little critters consider yourself lucky. I won't go into details, but lets just say they like dark, warm areas where your clothing is tight, moving from the feet up. I showered and soaped up several times and hopefully washed all the vermin off. Time will tell. Here is what may be crawling up my leg this very moment. Click the bug for more info.

Oh well...bring on the blackberry cobbler.

I Know, I Know, It's Been Forever Since I Updated

2004-12-14T10:56:00.000-06:00

The election wore me out...I had no motivation left to post. I even went to my favorite blogs less often. I feel the spirit returning, with the coming new year.

Here is a link I found on Michelle Malkins site. I think it says what we (non-liberals) have been thinking for months. It's a peice by Dave Oliviera, associate editor of the Spokesman-Review.
Easily offended people offend me.

I'm tired of them going off on God, Big Macs, SUVs and WMDs.

We Red Staters get offended, too – although we're too busy earning a living to squawk in a letter to the editor.

I'm offended, for example, by school Christmas concerts that feature songs about penguins, snowflakes and Frosty the Snowman but not a single word about the Christ Child. By "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas." By Target giving the boot to Salvation Army bell ringers. By downtown merchants in Denver refusing to allow Christ-centered themes and songs in their annual Christmas parade.

Thank You!

2004-11-11T10:07:00.000-06:00

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all our veterans, and men and women of the Armed Forces not just today on Veteran's Day, but for every day of freedom we enjoy. God bless America!

Please watch this.
http://www.1id.army.mil/1ID/Video_Clips/Media/Veterans_Day.wmv

Go Vote!

2004-11-02T11:17:00.000-06:00

Today is election day...go do your civic duty and vote...for whoever, or whatever. Doesn't matter, just vote.

My state of Louisiana apparently is participating. I hope we meet or exceed official's expectations. So far long lines are being reported all over, but rain, which I suddenly hear coming down, could effect that turnout.

Louisiana residents head to the polls today to make choices ranging from who should lead the nation to whether they need a constitutional right to hunt and fish. Election monitors will staff many precincts to make sure voting goes right and everyone who is eligible gets to vote.

Seventy-five percent of the state's 2.9 million voters are expected to go to the polls, which open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Those in line at 8 p.m. will still be allowed to vote.

For updates of your states election activities, check out the Command Post for all day election blogging with contributions from every state.

I'm Scared

2004-10-27T13:46:00.000-05:00

Not because I think Bush will lose, but because of the crap that happened with the 2000 elections. We're already seeing legal action being taken, and more promised because of supposed disenfranchisement for the upcoming election. Here's an interesting read and point of view that I didn't even consider. h/t to zombyboy at Resurrection Song.

Arab diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, claim that the Democrats, many of whom believe their party was robbed of victory in 2000, are determined to fight hard to dislodge President George W. Bush from the White House.

Fears that the “American street” might explode, in the fashion often attributed to the “Arab street,” may well be exaggerated. But the possibility of US government becoming paralyzed for weeks, if not months, as a result of disputes over election results cannot be discounted.

UPDATE
Dems proving me right here.

"Heeeeere's Johnny"

2004-10-07T16:41:00.000-05:00

Is it me, or does he sort of remind you of
Jack Nicholson in The Shining? Or is it "The Joker"?

Kerry Finding Unique Ways To Reach Out To Undecideds

2004-10-04T09:13:00.000-05:00

Bias In Politics...Bias In Sports

2004-09-26T13:06:00.000-05:00

I watched a bit of this game yesterday. I didn't know if USC was going to pull it out. Standford looked really good in the first half and USC didn't. However, USC managed to pull it out at the waning moments of the game. Being somewhat biased myself towards LSU, I was proud of how LSU managed to squeek a win out a couple of weeks ago. They didn't look very crisp the entire game, but they found a way to win. The sporting press however wasn't very kind to LSU even though the inclement weather and bad field conditions had more to do with their close win than anything. Today I'm checking out ESPN to see the first polls and happened to see this headline.
Hmmmm, the mighty #1 USC barely gets by an unranked Stanford and here is what the press has to say.

Reggie Bush was worried the locker room would resemble a funeral. Instead, the top-ranked Trojans seemed thrilled to be in a close game -- and they rode a wave of halftime emotion to a 31-28 victory Saturday night. "I don't think it was anger. It was excitement," said Bush,whose spinning 33-yard punt return set up LenDale White's go-aheadscore with 6:15 left. "These are the type of games that we miss,that we love. It's easy to blow a team out. When you win a gamelike this, you feel so much better. You feel great."

(emphasis is mine...yeah right, they love to almost lose to an unranked team. Yeah it's easy to blow teams out when they're the caliber of most of the PAC10.)

But the final result didn't seem nearly as important to theTrojans (4-0) as the thrill of making an impressive comeback. Sure, USC has a roster stuffed with high school all-Americans and NFL prospects, but even the best individual talents need chemistry
and camaraderie. Freshmen exhorted their upperclassmen counterparts for better efforts. Team leaders spoke up. Coach Pete Carroll made big adjustments to the Trojans' passive zone defense -- and everyone got behind a common goal.

(God, too much sacarrin...going to...hurl. PAC10 love fest. Group hug. Cue inspirational music. Yeck.)

Did Terrorists Benefit From Oil-for-Food?

2004-09-23T09:04:00.000-05:00

OK...been really busy lately and haven't had any opportunities to post. Saw this on Fox News this morning. We haven't heard much about this on the lamestream media. How anyone could put their security in the hands of such a corrupt organization is beyond me. Yet, this is exactly who Kerry wants to turn ours over to. That scares me to no end.

NEW YORK — Investigators into the Oil-for-Food scandal at the United Nations are exploring a chilling possibility, that the U.N. humanitarian program may have funded terrorists — including possibly Al Qaeda.

You Can't Pay For This Type Of PR

2004-09-16T10:49:00.000-05:00

That big sucking sound was the President of the University of Virginia seeing this caption over his morning coffee.

Support of the Two Kerry's Theory

2004-09-14T15:21:00.000-05:00

For those of you who may have forgotten what the original Kerry was...watch this.

Real Player Windows Media Quick Time

Rather Amusing

2004-09-13T14:35:00.000-05:00

Kerry's Version Of Positive

2004-09-09T11:45:00.000-05:00

I happened to read this article, and this paragraph caught my eye.

"No, it's just ... it's sad that they can only be negative," Mr. Kerry said. "They have nothing to say about the future vision of America. I think Americans want a positive vision for the future."

Is this report from an obviously biased Dan Rather about Kerry's vision, or is this, or this? Is it me or are you tired of this particular attack also? Thankfully we have Byron York at the National Review pointing out what the Dems don't want us to know about Bush's commendable service in the National Guard.

Oh, and we can't let Ter-ay-suh's views go unrecognized.

UPDATE
It now appears that the document reported by CBS as being a newly found National Guard document shedding negative light on Bush's service may be a fake. Hat tip to Drudge. This just adds proof that Kerry isn't being honest when he claims to be giving us a positive vision and that the Dems are playing nice.

MORE DEMOCRATIC NEGATIVITY
Just read the examples in this story by Susan Jones

"Brace yourselves," Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie is warning congressional Republicans. "Senator Kerry's campaign is implementing a strategy of vicious personal attacks against the President and Vice President,"
Gillespie reminded Republican lawmakers that the Kerry campaign "is bringing in a bevy of former Clinton henchmen," and he offered examples of how ugly it's getting.

Democratic Implosion Eminent?

2004-09-03T09:17:00.000-05:00

Some sobering words from Victor Davis Hanson on the future of the Democratic Party.

The 2002 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Nicholson Baker, is due out with Checkpoint — an extended dialogue on killing (in a variety of strange ways) George Bush. Last year, comedian Rick Hall played to full houses in the U.K., performing his newest composition, “Let's Get Together and Kill George Bush.” A so-called pacifist group announced its sponsorship of a rather violent-sounding off-Broadway “guerilla comedy” entitled, I’m Gonna Kill the President.

This is stupid — and dangerous. Al Qaeda has announced its intentions play on perceptions of Western decadence and nihilism. Should the terrorists strike at our leaders, there will be a national accounting over the failure of those on the left to condemn such extremism. Alfred A. Knopf, for example, is promoting Baker’s book as a cris du coeur — “in response to the powerless seething fury many Americans felt when President Bush decided to take the nation to war.” “Seething”? The radical Left is courting disaster and threatens to destroy the credibility of liberals who are apparently fearful of condemning the madness in their midst — this “cry of the heart” to save Saddam Hussein from the wrath of an imperialistic and bullying United States. When upscale protestors swear at delegates and parade obscene signs in New York while John Kerry goes windsurfing in shades and racing gloves, you have a recipe for disaster for
wannabe populists.

The Democratic party of Harry Truman is moribund. We saw that all through the primary and convention. Democratic “populism” now consists of a screeching preppie Al Gore or Howard Dean, backed with money from Hollywood and George Soros — or John Kerry skiing in Sun Valley or windsurfing while resting up at one of his many homes. The result is that, despite the controversy over the war, the post-9/11 jitters, and the hysterical reactions to George Bush, most Americans tend to distrust those who claim allegiance with “the people.” Thus if the Democrats lose the next election, they must confront the bitter fact that the House, the Senate, the presidency, and soon the Supreme Court are lost — and lost mostly to the dominant influence of their most vocal and wealthy supporters in Hollywood, the universities, the media, and the foundations who have privileged an agenda that is out of touch with most of those whom they never see nor wish to see.

First Night of the Convention

2004-08-31T09:46:00.000-05:00

I was able to see a good bit of the convention coverage last night. I have to admit I wasn't riveted to the set, but this was due more to having my two young kids vying for my attention and not a boring convention. My first impression is that like the DNC's overplaying Kerry's Vietnam service, the RNC is going to overplay 9-11. Yeah Bush did a great job and we all want to feel good about it again, but I don't want be sick of it by convention's end. I thought for the most part the speakers were impressive. McCain made it clear why we must fight this War Against Terrorism. Here are some of the better exerpts.

"Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war. Like all wars, this one will have its ups and downs. But we must fight. We must. The sacrifices borne in our defense are not shared equally by all Americans. But all Americans must share a resolve to see this war through to a just end. We must not be complacent at moments of success, and we must not despair over setbacks. We must learn from our mistakes, improve on our successes, and vanquish this unpardonable enemy. If we do less, we will fail the one mission no American generation has ever failed to provide to our children a stronger, better country than the one we were blessed to inherit.

Our choice wasn't between a benign status quo and the bloodshed of war. It was between war and a graver threat. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not our critics abroad. Not our political opponents. And certainly not a disingenuous film maker who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children held inside their walls."

The speaker that surprised me was Ron Silver. It took me awhile to find the transcript this morning. You would think an actor speaking out against the Hollywood elite would be big news. Ron Silver is a rarity in Hollywood much like Arnold Swartzenegger...a sane, conservative voice. Even though he mentioned that he is a "well recoginzed liberal on many issues confronting our society" he is no Barbara Streisand, Alec Baldwin, or Susan Sarandon. He understands the gravity of this War on Terrorism and is not afraid to speak out against his own entertainment community

"We are again engaged in a war that will define the future of humankind. Responding to attacks on our soil, America has led a coalition of countries against extremists who want to destroy our way of life and our values. This is a war we did not seek. This is a war waged against us. This is a war to which we had to respond. History shows that we are not imperialists, but we are fighters for freedom and democracy."

UPDATE
Sorry folks...I got convention burnout so I didn't write any more on the convention. There is plenty of good coverage and critique of it out there in blog land.

What Liberal Media?

2004-08-30T14:27:00.000-05:00

Not happy to be outed by those of us who actually pay attention to what the liberal media has to say, some members are trying to beat us to the punch. What's surprising to me is that there's anyone left that can't see what's so obvious.

(CNSNews.com) - A Reuters news service editor sent an e-mail to a pro-life group last week, criticizing the group's stance on abortion as well as its support of the Bush administration. The angry email has prompted the pro-life group to question the editor's journalistic integrity.

Eastham's email read as follows: "What's your plan for parenting & educating all the unwanted children you people want to bring into the world? Who will pay for policing our streets & maintaining the prisons needed to contain them when you, their parents & the system fail them? Oh, sorry. All that money has been earmarked to pay off the Bush deficit. Give me a frigging break, will you?"

This Is Why We Went To Iraq

2004-08-26T17:10:00.000-05:00

For those of you falling for the biased crap the media is feeding us about how "bad" things are in Iraq or those just tired of all the negativity about Iraq, read this entry from Omar over at Iraq The Model blog. Don't just stop at this entry...read through his blog, it's full of optimism and positive stories. Keep in mind that this is an Iraqi citizen, a "man on the streets" if you will.

You sit in a restaurant like this one and see families relaxing with their children playing and having fun late at night and you feel that there’s ‘something’ wrong in the way MSM is dealing with the Iraqi issue. I watch TV and I see hell breaking around me then I go outside and see enough normalcy AND progress to make me believe that the people in the media are not here to report how’s life going but rather they are here reporting
pre-prepared stories and to be faced with something that contradicts the picture they have in their minds would be really annoying and will mean more hard work to try to find the truth or something close to it.

Not All The French Are Appeasement Monkeys

2004-08-26T14:31:00.000-05:00

America's disdain for the French, Michael Moore and John Kerry notwithstanding, is well known. How nice to hear from a rational Frenchman.

Indeed, there is no room for balancing, nor for regrets. In the light of the above facts, President Bush's decision was responsible and legitimate. International law was not despised, it merely showed its limits and should be reconsidered and even rebuilt in the light of warfare changes. And at least now, there's hope for democracy in Iraq, even if the fight for it will be hard. But it is worth fighting.

Keep This One On The Back Burner

2004-08-26T14:21:00.000-05:00

Something tells me that the Democrats will use these skewed jobless figures in a week or two to show how bad the economy is doing and fail to mention that at least half of the new claims were because of hurricane Charley. What do you want to bet?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The ranks of Americans filling for initial unemployment compensation swelled last week but at least half of this increase was linked to devastation wrought by Hurricane Charley earlier this month, the government said on Thursday.

A Performer With Sense

2004-08-23T17:35:00.000-05:00

When performers stop singing and start the political thing alah the Dixie Chicks and more recently Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., John Mellencamp, etc., it really turns me off to them and their music. If I decide to shell out major dough to attend a concert I don't want to hear a political agenda even if it isn't counter to my own. Rocker Alice Cooper has an opinion on this over at Blabbermouth.net.

"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."

Vote Early, And Often

2004-08-23T11:56:00.000-05:00

I saw this story earlier this weekend and wondered if anyone else would pick it up. It's interesting that the inferrence of the article is that President Bush may have benefitted from republican "snowbirds" voting twice thus giving him Florida.

The finding is even more stunning given the pivotal role Florida played in the 2000 presidential election, when a margin there of 537 votes tipped a victory to George W. Bush.

And all the examples in the story of voters voting more than once are Republicans, which seemed odd to me considering these numbers.

Of the 46,000 registered in both states, 68% are Democrats, 12% are Republicans and 16% didn't claim a party.

Gee, out of 31,280 dual-registered Democrats they couldn't even out one?

Nice To See Someone Gets It

2004-08-20T18:40:00.000-05:00

When President Bush recently announced the movement of large numbers of U.S. troops from Europe and Asia, of course Kerry at first agreed with idea then quickly reversed himself. This reevaluation of bases and troops was started by Clinton's administration. Jonathan Eyal of the Strait Times does a pretty good job of killing the myths in his piece titled, What's behind the big US troop reshuffle.

Democratic Senator John Kerry, his presidential opponent, quickly denounced the move, and the usual array of armchair commentators has been wheeled out, some praising Mr Bush's choice as farsighted and others castigating it as unfortunate.

Yet most of this is just electoral noise; regardless of who wins the White House this November, a realignment of the American military presence around the world remains inevitable.
It may be an unpleasant truth for Mr Kerry, but the re-evaluation of US bases was actually initiated by the administration of then president Bill Clinton, a fellow Democrat.

Is It A False Reality?

2004-08-18T15:26:00.000-05:00

Just because they say it, does that make it so? Is the apologetic, American-hating media directly responsible for the outcome of this poll?

Two-thirds say the U.S. is less respected by other countries than in the past, and this opinion is particularly prevalent among opponents of the Iraq war. Nearly nine-in-ten (87%) of those who think the war was the wrong decision say the U.S. is less respected internationally, compared with 53% who say the war was the right decision.

If the poll is accurate, what do you make of this story?

Off the field, however, the Americans have raved at their warm reception by the Greeks and athletes of other nations. There have been no anti-American protests and, according to US officials, no worrisome confrontations.
"We've seen just the opposite -- people in Athens going out of their way to make our team feel comfortable," said US Olympic Committee spokesperson Darryl Seibel.

The Truth Shall Set You Free

2004-08-18T09:33:00.000-05:00

Ouccchhhhhh!

Let's Counter The Protest Groups

2004-08-18T09:05:00.000-05:00

I ran across this on Michele Malkin's blog. It's good to know someone is getting out the word for our side.

Move America Forward, a "pro-War on Terrorism" group, has been monitoring the protest groups and plans to counter their effort.

Sadly, there are those in this nation who are so focused on discrediting the Bush administration and advancing their misguided liberal agenda that they relentlessly oppose our nation’s efforts to beat back the terrorist threat in a knee-jerk “blame America first” frenzy. Those who oppose the War on Terror have the mouthpiece of the mainstream media to disseminate their propaganda to the entire nation in an almost unchallenged effort.
The more these individuals spew their propaganda and lies without being refuted or challenged; the more Americans will slowly begin to accept their vision and their arguments as fact. People accept lies that are continuously repeated and that go unchallenged over time. Perception becomes reality. We cannot afford to let that happen at this critical time in our nation’s history.

World War 4 & Bush's Doctrine

2004-08-17T14:44:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to Wretchard at Belmont Club for his thoughts and link to a great piece by Norman Podhoretz.
Wretchard says:

This extensive article is nothing less than an attempt to understand the Global War on Terror in the context of the last 60 years. Podhoretz compares the manner in which GW Bush met the threat posed by radical Islam to Harry Truman's response to the Soviet Union, and to a lesser extent, the way Roosevelt faced global fascism. The articles argues that in terms of scope, potential deadliness and the fundamental nature of issues, the current struggle against radical Islamism ranks as a World War. Podhoretz lays out the themes of Bush's policy speeches side by side with their implementation and concludes the President has founded his strategy on four pillars.
The idea that Western civilization is worth
fighting for in a contest with an ideology which aims to destroy it;
That regimes which abet this hostile ideology will
be destroyed or reformed;
That America has the right not merely to respond,
but to pre-empt enemy action; and
That the Arab-Israeli issues will be judged by
their contribution to the goal of creating democratic institutions in the Middle
East, and not upon any grounds of historical entitlement.

Wretchard also says

Watered by the defeatism of Jimmy Carter and egged on by the Western "intelligensia", radical Islam appears less a malevolent force in its own right then the longed-for "exterminator" which will carry out the sentence of guilt which the Left has passed.

Therefore it is necessary, but not enough, to win another victory against oppressors in other countries; it's also past the time for the West to triumph against the dark recesses of its own soul.

The Democratic Broken Record

2004-08-16T17:14:00.000-05:00

Bush raises the Terror Alert...the Dems question the timing.

Bush announces major troop realignment...the Dems question the timing.

This from Bush
"We have to make sure forces are well prepared and positioned to meet the threats of the future," the commander-in-chief said during a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Cincinnati. "The world has changed a great deal and our posture must change with it for the sake of our military families, for the sake of our taxpayers and so we can be more effective at projecting our strength and spreading freedom and peace."

This from the Dems

In a statement released by the Democratic National Committee, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a former presidential candidate and former NATO supreme commander, said the redeployment from Europe and Asia would "significantly undermine U.S. national security." "This ill-conceived move and its timing seem politically motivated rather than designed to strengthen our national security," Clark said.

What will we hear next?
Bush goes to the bathroom...the Dems question the timing. Come on, I'm not buying it.

Oh Yes The UN Has Relevence

2004-08-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

This is who the libs want to hand over control to? This is why Kosovo is such a wondrous, safe place today.

UN officials said member states refused to contribute to a proposed force that would protect a UN mission in Baghdad. The mission was meant to mark the return of the UN presence in Iraq after a year's absence and help organize and monitor national elections in January 2005.

"We haven't had much success attracting governments to sign up for the dedicated force to protect the UN personnel in Iraq and our property," Annan said. "So for the time being, for practical measures, we have no other choice but to rely on the multinational force."

B.T.W. multinational force = U.S. and British forces

Of Course, But Why

2004-08-05T13:24:00.000-05:00

Of course this was coming. I knew as soon as I started reading about the elevation of the Terror Alert. Don't these people know how long al-Qaeda planned the September 11 attacks. Well, we got some more news on it today. See this and this.

For Those Of You Who Don't Think We're Making A Difference

2004-08-03T19:01:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to Robert Alt at http://noleftturns.ashbrook.org/ for this eye-opening look at the transformation of a soldier from the old Iraqi army. Funny how you don't see many of these stories covered by our illustrious "fair and balanced" media.

"So I walked home from our station in Al Hillah, south of Baghdad, but I didn’t change my clothes," Ahmed said, "And I came to a Marine checkpoint on a bridge in Baghdad. And I still had my uniform on and the Marine sergeant stopped me ..."

"’Where are you going?’ he asked me," Ahmed said in his accented but surprisingly good English. "And I tell him, ’I am a major in the Iraqi Army and I was ordered to go to my house’" Ahmed said, finishing the backdrop to a life-defining moment he had not seen coming; and on what was supposed to be just a long 50-plus mile walk home to his wife and five children.

The encounter would prove to be a pivotal one for the military veteran because for the next two anxious minutes, Ahmed went through what must be emotions impossible to describe to someone who has never known he was about to die. It was more the result of the 33-year-old’s lifetime of experience with the ways of Saddam Hussein.

Ahmed, though, was actually two minutes away from a rebirth of sorts. "He looked at me for a while and I thought he was going to kill me," Ahmed said. "But he didn’t kill me," he added. "Instead he came to the position of attention and saluted me as an officer," Ahmed said, "And said, ’Sir you can go.’"

"I took a few steps and began to cry," he said, "Because I think, ’Why do I fight these people for ten years?"

Go here for the rest of the story.

Moore Evidence Of Deception

2004-08-02T18:50:00.000-05:00

Here we go...another example of Moore's doctored reality. Also a great pic of Moore looking like he's passing his last Big Mac and Jay Leno looking like he's clutching his heart.

How They Got To Be Billionaires

2004-07-26T19:00:00.000-05:00

Always ones to reward good service, John and Teresa don't disappoint.

It's Deja Vu All Over Again

2004-07-25T02:06:00.000-05:00

Presidential campaign commercials from 1952 until now. Has the message really changed?

Obviously someone in touch with the common man.

2004-07-24T23:10:00.000-05:00

How many "unintentional errors" is Kerry's campaign going to make? Kerry camp spins its wheels. As reported by the Washington Times.

...the campaign picked as its press-pass logo for its Motor City tour the gleaming showcase car of a foreign auto company — Rolls-Royce — that makes cars priced far outside the financial reach of any middle-class voter.
"That's an insult to the auto worker, it's an insult to the American worker, it's an insult to mainstream America," said Sam Burwell from Corunna, Mich., a third-generation auto worker for General Motors. "It also shows who he's really in touch with: his European, elitist French friends and not Americans like me. A Rolls-Royce, for cryin' out loud."

Then Kerry spokesman Davis Wade spins the gaff into an attack on Bush. Lamely I might add.

"I could say that the Rolls-Royce is the perfect symbol of who got the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, but sometimes objects in the rearview mirror are closer than they appear," he said.

What the hell does that mean anyway.

My first post

2004-07-24T15:44:00.000-05:00

For my first post I would just like to give the definition of Ephemera. So here it is

Ephemera
n. pl. e·phem·er·a (-r-) or e·phem·er·ons
A. short-lived thing.
B. Printed matter of passing interest.