Say Anything Blog

Robert Tracinski at RealClearPolitics throws some fuel on the global warming fire when he questions the scientific legitamcy of Climatology.

Given that we’re being asked to rely on this kind of climate prediction as the basis for massive new regulations that will overturn the whole basis of our economy, we need to ask a crucial, fundamental question.

Is climatology a science?

I don’t mean to ask whether the climate is being studied using scientific methods and theories. Here’s what I mean: is climatology a complete, developed, mature science? Is it the kind of science that is capable of making accurate, reliable predictions? Is the field of climatology, in its current state, capable of producing “settled science” on any broad conclusion?

I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when the New York Times reported that some scientists were balking at Gore’s exaggerations of the scientific certainty of climatology, with one of them commenting that “Hardly a week goes by without a new research paper that questions part or even some basics of climate change theory.” If the basics of climatology are still up for debate, how can we rely on the kind of complex predictions—not only about continued global warming, but about its effect on the weather of specific regions—that are still being pumped out by the United Nations?

Writing in Newsweek recently, MIT Professor of Meteorology Richard Lindzen detailed the uncertainties and the enormous gaps in the evidence for claims about human-caused global warming and concluded, “Climate modelers assume the cause must be greenhouse-gas emissions because they have no other explanation. This is a poor substitute for evidence.”

Those who claim the authority of science for speculations about human-caused, catastrophic global warming are abusing the reputation earned by established, mature sciences. They are attempting to steal that reputation on behalf of a premature hypothesis put forward by practitioners of a science still in its infancy.

I think that many climatologists would agree that with the thousands, perhaps millions, of variables that could affect weather on this planet that the development of a reliable prediction model is a goal that is currently unattainable.  Without the model, one might as well consult a psychic than a climatologist to determine future weather conditions.

H.R. 808: Department of Peace and Nonviolence Act This is an idea whose time has not come!
In addition to it’s inane premise, it provides for all sorts of domestic meddling in the affairs of our citizens…

The Secretary shall--
(1) develop policies that address domestic violence, including spousal abuse, child abuse, and mistreatment of the elderly; (Yup! Need a cabinet level department for that !)
(2) create new policies and incorporate existing programs that reduce drug and alcohol abuse;
(3) develop new policies and incorporate existing policies regarding crime, punishment, and rehabilitation;
(4) develop policies to address violence against animals; (This includes RW’s goats!)
(5) analyze existing policies, employ successful, field-tested programs, and develop new approaches for dealing with the implements of violence, including gun-related violence and the overwhelming presence of handguns; (A gun control czar! Why didn’t we think of that?)
(6) develop new programs that relate to the societal challenges of school violence, gangs, racial or ethnic violence, violence against gays and lesbians, and police-community relations disputes; (maybe some PC police?)
(7) make policy recommendations to the Attorney General regarding civil rights and labor law;
(8) assist in the establishment and funding of community-based violence prevention programs, including violence prevention counseling and peer mediation in schools;
(9) counsel and advocate on behalf of women victimized by violence; (avoid the Super Bowl!)
(10) provide for public education programs and counseling strategies concerning hate crimes;
(11) promote racial, religious, and ethnic tolerance;
(12) finance local community initiatives (midnight basketball?) that can draw on neighborhood resources to create peace projects that facilitate the development of conflict resolution at a national level and thereby inform and inspire national policy; and
(13) provide ethical-based and value-based analyses to the Department of Defense. (An ethics based proposal from the Democrats! Stop laughing!)

From those wonderful folks who brought you Dennis Kucinich!
HR 808 Department of Peace and Nonviolence Act

William Whittle over at Eject! Eject! Eject! has an excellent essay on critical thinking (or the lack thereof) as it pertains to some of the major conspiracy theories of our time! It’s rather like Occam’s Razor on steroids…

My father was interred at Arlington National Cemetery in 2002. I will never forget that day. It changed my life, and was the event that started me writing here at Eject! Eject! Eject!

The man who coordinated that service was on a hill about a half-mile from that side of the Pentagon on the morning of September 11th, 2001. He told me that they had been informed that something was going on in New York that morning. Then he heard something that he said he thought was a missile attack – a roar so loud and so far beyond a normal jet sound that he looked up at that exact moment expecting to die.

What he saw emerge from the trees overhead, perhaps a hundred feet above him, was American Airlines Flight 77 as it went by in a silver blur, engines screaming in a power dive as it hit the near side of the Pentagon. He told me – to my face – that body parts had rained down all over that sacred field. Just like red hail on a summer day. Those body parts are buried in a special place at the base of that hill.

Now. If Rosie O’Donnell and the rest of that Lunatic Brigade is right and I am wrong, then that man – that insignificant Army chaplain and his Honor Guard of forty men – are all liars. He is lying to me for Halliburton and Big Oil. That Chaplain—and all of those decent, patriotic young men in the Honor Guard, and all the commuters on the roads who saw an American Airlines jet instead of a missile – ALL of those people are liars and accessories to murder. And all of the firefighters who went into buildings rigged to explode were pre-recruited suicide martyrs dying for George W. Bush’s plans for world conquest.

Remember: NOTHING that happened on September 11th needed any more explanation than what was obvious from the second impact...namely, that Islamic terrorists hijaked four American aircraft and flew three of them into their targets. To try to convince people of missile attacks and rigged explosives and mystery jets is nothing more than an intentional assault on reason and common sense, one that damns the innocent and protects those mass murderers with our blood on their hands.

It’s an obscenity. It’s a filthy, God-damned, criminal obscenity.

Read the whole thing! You have nothing to lose but your tin-foil hat!

an examination of the value of critical thinking

Bumper sticker philosophies debunked

No it’s not new News.  In fact, it’s quite old news, but so many keep forgetting where all this dreck is coming from. 

All this dreck, meaning, Rosie O’Donnell can spout treason with impunity, Al Sharpton can unapologetically demogogue the faux rapes of Tawana Brawley, and now, Crystal Gail Mangum, yet Imus, despite repeated abject apologies, and groveling at the feet of Sharpton, is summarily sacked and ground underfoot (keep in mind that I never really listened to Don Imus nor liked what I heard when passing through the channels).

What’s happening with this society?  Why does it seem one faction can spew all the hate, bile and invective it likes, while the other treads on eggshells for fear of crucifixion?

It is said that you can only be abused if you allow others to abuse you.  It is high time America recognizes that it is under a cultural assault by those who hate and despise it.  I speak of the Leftists within out midst.

We must, unlike Imus, no longer cower and kowtow to this domestic enemy, but call them on the sheer hypocrisy of their every statement.

They call us haters and bigots, yet despise America and pour fourth hate and vitriole.

It’s time to recognize them as the enemy and treat them as such.

Devvy Kidd, spells out, in bullet points, how the ACLU is, in reality, a War Machine bent on destroying America by attacking our social values and destroying our ability to maintain ourselves as a noble and just society.

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Cute how yahoo news reports:

Rutgers team: We accept Imus apology

only after they’ve received his head on a platter.

Gee ladies, thanks a ton for your magnanimous display of tolerance!

Give us a call whenever you demand a black man’s head, for calling you bitches and a buncha nappy headed ho’s…

A couple days ago after the secretary of defence announced that he was going to extend all tours of duty to 15 months there was the predictable pap from network news profiling some poor soul (for whom I do have pity) in his second tour of duty was injured very badly by a roadside bomb. Never mind that could have happened in his first tour.

Tears all around, angry wife, confused soldier (brain damage) and upset parents. If that were my boy I'd be upset too. But, War is Hell.

One of my all time favorite movies WAS Braveheart. The heroics, the bravery in battle. Fabulous stuff.

Then there's Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth and the battle of Argincourt. If you have seen the Kenneth Branaugh edition of this play on the TV you have seen a good one. It's wonderful.

And PATTON. I saw some of it today on AMC. The part where he is driving by the walking wounded and goes to the hospital tent. It is there where the famous slapping of the soldier incident takes place. We forget that in WWII we would lose as many men in one DAY as we have so far in Both Iraq and Afghanistan together.

MY NEW MOVIE FAVORITE and I expect anyone who reads my humble blog to go see it in theater. The 300. That was one of the most beautiful movies I have seen in years. Very colorfully and artistically done. The plot was about a brave group of men fending off people from present day IRAN who want to invade and destroy Greece and Sparta. They come across a village already destroyed. It's complete and brutal. They know they are dealing with a ruthless enemy. But there is a traitorous and cowardly congress unwilling to support the war effort.

So 300 men go against tens of thousands of Persians and prevail for the most part until a defector betrays them. The glory, courage and honor of these men in the battle is wonderful to behold. And the Kings wife was brave and courageous.

Of course it reminded me of the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Traitors and cowards in congress. Defectors (Pelosi) doing evil behind the backs of our men. Every soldier in Iraq and Iran should see this movie. It tells the story of the importance of standing firm against an evil invader.

It was true in 700 BC and it's true today.

By the way, every one of the 300 but ONE is killed heroically. War is Hell.

For my more pacifistic readers was the action portrayed in The 300 justified or not? If so, then, why isn't the Iraq and Afghan war as well.

Seat belt use should be a choice among adults. That being said, it is stupid not to wear them.

Gov. Corzine remained in critical condition today, recovering from a broken thigh bone and a dozen broken ribs from a Thursday night accident on the Garden State Parkway. Officials say it appears that he was not wearing a seat belt.

Ouch.

When one is in the car with other people, as Corzine was, not wearing a seatbelt can be deadly for everybody. During a crash, an unstrapped body becomes a missile. Corzine is just lucky that his big dumbass body didn’t fly into his driver and his assistant sitting behind him. His last living act on Earth could have been to kill other people. That’s how serious not wearing a seatbelt can be.

So where was Corzine going? He was on his way to host a meeting between Don Imus and the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team. He almost died in an SUV on the way to that. Great job governor.

Corzine is a big nanny-state tax and spend Democrat. New Jersey needs to fine his ass with the laws that he agrees to and welcome him back from the brink of death. Next time, he needs to wear a seatbelt.

Scientists in the U.K are seeking ethical permission to produce synthetic sperm cells from a woman’s bone marrow tissue, so that lesbian couples can create biological children without the requirement of male involvement.

MarriageDebate.com reports:

“Women might soon be able to produce sperm in a development that could allow lesbian couples to have their own biological daughters, according to a pioneering study published today.

Scientists are seeking ethical permission to produce synthetic sperm cells from a woman’s bone marrow tissue after showing that it possible to produce rudimentary sperm cells from male bone-marrow tissue.

The researchers said they had already produced early sperm cells from bone-marrow tissue taken from men.

Somehow, this new form of “gender equality” where women have the power to create children without the input or consent of a father—not to mention the power to kill those children without the input or consent of the father, leaves me—as a man—feeling somewhat less than “equal”.

HT: Kayuga

Good for Pawlenty. Even though I am from North Dakota now, I used to live in the socialist republic of Minnesota, its good to see that the Governor Pawlenty has the balls not cave to the pressure of democrats and just raise the gas tax 10 cents more. Its seems to be their mantra all the time. Well we will just raise taxes.

Lets not be fooled that is a very high tax and not just Minnesotans are going to get caught in this tax. Imagine if you drive your SUV pulling your 18 foot boat over to lake in Minnesota and you put 30 gallons of gas in your tank, you just gave Minnesota 3 dollars of your hard earned money. 

Pawlenty says he won’t give in on gas tax increase

Governor favors borrowing for roads

BY BILL SALISBURY

Governor Tim Pawlenty (Scott Takushi, Pioneer Press)Gov. Tim Pawlenty signaled Thursday he is willing to compromise with the Legislature to find more money for transportation projects.

But that will not include a gasoline tax increase, Pawlenty said at a Capitol news conference.

“There are some other ways, perhaps, we can find some compromises,” the Republican governor said.

The Democratic-controlled House and Senate have both passed transportation bills that call for a 10-cents-a-gallon increase in the gas tax, plus higher license tab fees, a gas surcharge to pay off highway bonds, a half-cent sales tax increase in the metro area for roads and transit and $20-a-year county wheelage taxes.

A House-Senate conference committee is expected to quickly resolve differences in the two bills as early as next week and send a compromise to Pawlenty.

Calling it “their big Kahuna bill,” the Republican governor reiterated his pledge to veto that measure.

Then he hopes to find some middle ground on transportation. He favors borrowing to pay for road construction, but he declined to say what other options he would consider.

“We’re not going to give you our negotiating strategy for transportation,” he told reporters, “but our goal is to work with the Legislature to find some additional revenues for transportation that can be signed into law this year.”

Pawlenty tacitly acknowledged that the state’s transportation system has been shortchanged for years, and he said transportation advocates who will not compromise share the blame.

“If everybody hangs onto their idealized version of the perfect, nothing will get done, and we’ll add one more year to the 20-year ... parade of doing nothing on the issue,” he said.

“We have a big need and a bit of a standoff, and so we have to find ways to break the logjam.”

The Senate has passed its big tax and spending bills for the year, and the House is scheduled to act on its money bills next week. Then, Pawlenty said, he and legislative leaders will get down to serious budget negotiations.

He warned lawmakers against trying to sneak policy changes he opposes past him by attaching them to the budget bills.

“If they put ... enough junk in a big bill, trying to get me to swallow the junk because it’s in a big bill, the whole bill will be vetoed,” he said.

Examples of such “junk,” he said, include the “Dream Act” that would allow children of illegal immigrants to attend public colleges at cheaper in-state tuition rates, rolling back his pay-for-performance program for teachers, providing benefits to same-sex partners of state employees and any tax increases.

He also dismissed as legislative game-playing a provision in the Senate tax bill that would abolish his pet JOBZ tax-break program for business expansion in outstate Minnesota.

“They’re not going to get rid of the JOBZ program,” he said. “It is a shot across my bow. I get it. I’m not taking the bait. ... I didn’t just fall off the rutabaga cart.”

... even if you have to count them on your fingers.

Carl Mortished

The price of meat is set to rise in America as the nation’s helter-skelter dash to convert corn into road fuel begins to take its toll on the supply of food.

The US Department of Agriculture has said that meat supply will fall this year because of the high cost of feed. Output of beef, pork and chicken is expected to decline by one billion pounds as farmers react to the soaring cost of feeding their livestock.

[...]

Read the whole thing.

This proves the old adage that there really is no free lunch.

Of course, this is really a war on the free enterprise system.

Tonight on BBC: Payouts reveal Iraq civilian toll, being a story about US pay outs to Iraqis whose civilian relatives were accidently killed by US forces.

Funny, though. I thought the death toll from nearly daily car bombs, and the accompanying eulogies paid to the car bombers by the US media, did a much better job of “revealing the Iraqi civilian toll.”

David Blaine, eat your heart out.

I will now attempt, with success, to announce what you, the Say Anything reader did with 100% accuracy.

For this trick to work, you must follow the instructions very carefully - and you cannot cheat.

First, you must visit this website. WARNING: It isn’t 100% safe for work. There is no p0rn but the product allows you visually see the before/after, with/without effects with decently produced CGI. Nothing about the site will trigger Webp0rn protection software.

After visiting the website, scroll down this post.















Stop cheating and go visit. If you don’t want to take any chances then read this post from home later.














Fine, ruin the magic trick.














BEHOLD!! I know exactly what you did!

If you:

• Are a woman, you realized what the product did and, based on your activity level, either explored the product advertising as interesting and left, or actually put their product to the consumer test - based on your measurements - and might consider their product had they not been a U.K.-based company.
• Are a dude, upon realizing what you were looking at and giggling to yourself, you immediately selected the largest cup size and the largest level of activity and ran the simulation. After laughing some more, you emailed this to some friends. In that email the word “DUDE!!” appears at least once.

Physics! Catch the fever!

Originally posted at File it Under.

New headlines [Thu Apr 12, 2007] coming out across the wire proclaim:
U.S. CDC alarmed at rise of drug-resistant gonorrhea.

Gonorrhea in the United States is now resistant to all but one class of antibiotic drugs, threatening doctors’ ability to treat the common sexually transmitted disease, officials said on Thursday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it will no longer recommend antibiotics called fluoroquinolones to combat the bacterial disease because of the emergence of drug-resistant strains in recent years that thwart them…

Although the cephalosporins offer several potential options for treating gonorrhea, the lack of additional classes of antibiotics is a serious concern. There are currently no new drugs for gonorrhea in the drug development pipeline, Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC’s Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention, told reporters in a conference call.

The CDC released data showing gonorrhea resistant to fluoroquinolones has become widespread among heterosexual men after previously becoming so among homosexual and bisexual men.

Historically, the infusion of AIDs/HIV into the heterosexual community has been through the germ vector of bisexual men, particularly minorities.

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We have an interesting issue for 2008… who takes credit for the economy--good or bad?

First, if the economy stays strong, Democrats will claim that it is the result of the 2006 election, not of the ‘03 Bush tax cuts.

Second, if the economy falters, the Dems will blame Bush’s policies.

Third, if the economy stays strong, Republicans will stake their claim on lower taxes and less government interference as being the cause.  (THIS IN MY OPINION IS REALITY BTW)

Fourth, if the economy falters, Republicans will blame Dems for raising taxes, the minimum wage, etc.

Now, let’s consider which scenario is the easiest sell for Dems.  If the economy does well, they cannot claim that it started in 2006 because technically, the numbers from ‘03-06 were far better than anything that could happen between now and Nov 2008.  They are just plain stuck because they would have to backtrack on all their trash talking over the last six years about Bush and no jobs created and no growth and recession and…

But if the economy slows down… they bear no blame for the 06’ election having an impact (and rightly so since they haven’t done a damned thing since taking power).  However, they can beat the Republicans up for their handling of the economy and trot out the same tired poor folk to talk about not being able to send their kids to college, losing their job that paid $6 an hour at Walmart, not having health insurance, etc.  More class warfare.

Analogy for you sports fans--it is August and our baseball team is in first place (our economy compared to every other economy in the world, i.e. twice the size of China’s and growing at 3-4% GDP, low unemployment, etc).  But you don’t like the manager of the team.  You want him fired.  Do you A. root for your team to make the playoffs and hope that they can continue to win or B. root for your team to lose every game so that the manager gets fired?

I play for this team.  We all do.  And if the team is losing, the manager may get fired, but several of us are gonna be gone too.  Compare that to a good playoff performance and we get bonuses and bigger contracts and are part of a success.  Regardless of political leanings and who the manager is, the right answer is for all of us to work together to be successful.

Why doesn’t this sink in?