Say Anything Blog

With the advent of World War II many of our Hollywood Stars went to fight rather than stand and rant against this country we all love.

Fonda drew cheers. She said she had stayed away from anti-war rallies in fear that the “lies spread about me” would harm the movement.

So how do you feel the real heroes of the silver screen acted when compared to the hollywonks today who spray out anti-American drivel as they bite the hand that feeds them? Can you imagine these stars of yesteryear saying they hate our flag, making anti-war speeches, marching in anti-American parades?

I thought not, neither did I!

Ed Morrisey (Captain Ed of Captain’s Quarters) has an important article at the AEI website website, American.com:

With most of American politics focused on the troop surge and partisan maneuverings over its implementation, another story has gotten lost: The Iraqis themselves have made important progress in a basic economic issue that has fueled the sectarian divide.

The only real industry in Iraq comes from its only real natural resource: oil. Unfortunately, the reserves of oil are not shared equally among the population groups. Most of the oil is located outside the “Sunni triangle” and the Sunnis have fought the Shi’ites (and the Kurds to a lesser extent) in order to keep them from federalizing Iraq and hoarding all of the oil revenue from their respective areas of the nation. Many Sunnis have been unwilling to accept a democratically-elected government that naturally favors Shi’ites, or the federalism that favors the Kurds.

Over the past three years, the politicians were unable to settle on an equitable and secure revenue-sharing plan that still allowed the Kurds and the Shi’ites to manage their own resources. But now things have changed. The Kurds, who had held out the longest, agreed to share their oil revenues on a basis that had already won support from the Shi’ites and the Sunnis. Two days later, the Iraqi cabinet approved the deal, and the Iraqi Parliament will likely vote it into law.

This agreement got a boost earlier this month when geologists and seismologists reported oil and natural gas reserves in Anbar, a Sunni stronghold. The reserves in Anbar so far do not appear to be anywhere near as large as those in the Kurdish or Shi’ite regions. However, their existence gives the Sunnis incentives to stabilize Anbar and start building infrastructure to exploit their holdings. If they can reduce the violence, more surveys could be conducted that might find even more reserves, giving them even more opportunity to flourish.

This development sends two strong signals, both of which bode well for the long term. First, the Sunnis will now have an investment in the success of the central government. Revenue sharing will only occur if the government remains in place; if Iraq falls apart, the Sunnis will see no revenue from either area. Second and just as important, the process of reaching this agreement demonstrates that Iraq can teach itself democracy and internal diplomacy. If the three factions can reach lasting agreement on oil, it will generate momentum for the resolution of less-tractable disputes.

As usual, Ed notes both the obvious development AND the true, longer term significance.  The Iraqi people are teaching themselves how to make self-governance work.  No small accomplishment for an ethnically and religiously diverse people who have been under the harsh command of a brutal autocrat for nearly 40 years.

This is real progress.

A recent article by the “Northwest Institute for Economic Security and Global Awareness” claims some foreign students could be spies or terrorists.  Authors of the study e-mailed and mailed copies of their article to campus officials for comment. Copies were also widely distributed by Internet and snail mail. The article is getting wide attention throughout the region now as the “cat is out of the bag” despite attempts to dismiss the article by Minot State University administration.  READ THE ARTICLE FOR YOURSELF! Truth or BS?

Noel Sheppard

Typical.

As NewsBusters reported here, here, and here, there are huge dollars to be made from global warming alarmism. However, conceivably no one is better positioned to financially benefit from this scam than Dr. Global Warming himself, former Vice President Al Gore, a fact that the media will surely not share with Americans any time soon.

Yet, if America’s press would take some time out of their busy schedules covering the earth-shattering details surrounding Anna Nicole Smith’s demise, they might find a deliciously inconvenient truth about the soon-to-be-Dr. Gore that is significantly more fascinating and diabolical than anything likely to emerge from that courtroom in Broward County, Florida.

As reported by Dan Riehl (emphasis mine throughout):

Former Vice President Al Gore has built a Green money-making machine capable of eventually generating billions of dollars for investors, including himself, but he set it up so that the average Joe can’t afford to play on Gore’s terms. And the US portion is headed up by a former Gore staffer and fund raiser who previously ran afoul of both the FEC and the DOJ, before Janet Reno jumped in and shut down an investigation during the Clinton years.

[...]

When you add it all up, this is a flimflam of epic proportions:

*
First, Gore sets up a company that will invest in other companies that will benefit from global warming alarmism
*
Second, Gore gets some Hollywood types to fund and produce a movie designed to scare the c-c-carbon out of the population
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Third, Gore travels the world promoting this movie, while pushing the view that a cataclysm is imminent if the world doesn’t immediately act
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Fourth, an adoring media falls for the con hook, line, and sinker. Rather than debunking the flaws in the theories, the media promote every word of it while advancing the concept that Gore’s views represent those of an overwhelming majority of scientists
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Fifth, scared governments and citizens across the globe invest in alternative energy programs driving up the shares of companies Gore’s group has already invested in
*
Sixth, Gore and his cronies make billions as they laugh all the way to the bank at the stupidity of their fellow citizens

America—what a country!

Read the whole thing.

Somehow, the boiling rage lefties have against profitable corporations that employ millions of Americans doesn’t get focused on a scammer like Al Gore.  Strange.  If it was really about making money, tobacco and oil millionaire Al Gore should be at the top of the lefties’ hit list, but he isn’t.  Maybe it’s....oh, I don’t know...politics?

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

GAAKH!  Now humans are polluting the neighborhood.  This never would have happened if Algore had been elected.

“The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars,” he said.

Abdussamatov’s work, however, has not been well received by other climate scientists…

“His views are completely at odds with the mainstream scientific opinion,” said Colin Wilson, a planetary physicist at England’s Oxford University.

“And they contradict the extensive evidence presented in the most recent IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report.” (Related: “Global Warming ‘Very Likely’ Caused by Humans, World Climate Experts Say” [February 2, 2007].)

why do these lunatics continue to unquestioningly refer to the same politically motivated studies?

Amato Evan, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, added that “the idea just isn’t supported by the theory or by the observations.”

There is accumulating evidence that Mars, like the Earth, is currently experiencing global warming.  Via Instapundit, see for example this AP story.

There are a couple of things that make the Mars global warming interesting.  First is the fact that terrestrial human generated emissions play no part in the Mars climate.  Secondly, because Mars’ atmosphere is much thinner than the Earth’s, the greenhouse effect on Mars is currently much weaker than on Earth.  Thus most of the current heating can only be explained in terms of extra-planetary effects, such as an increase in solar radiance or a natural tilt effect similar to the Milankovitch cycles on the Earth.

That latter explanation is somewhat troublesome, as is argued by researcher Habibullo Abdussamatov, because of new evidence linking the changes in Martian temperature to the solar cycle.  Doctor Abdussamatov concludes that

The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars. [...] Man-made greenhouse warming has made a small contribution to the warming seen on Earth in recent years, but it cannot compete with the increase in solar irradiance

Also interesting is the fact that Mars may be in the process of undergoing a major climate warming event:  Most of the “ice” on the Martian poles is frozen CO2.  If this CO2 were to melt, enough would be released to raise the atmospheric density to roughly 1/10 of that of Earth, and raise Martian surface temperatures so,

That takes us from a situation of working in a near vacuum with a space suit to being able to run around on the surface with an oxygen mask and a heavy coat. It’s what the terraforming people were always talking about.

Predictably the AP writer shills for the global warming advocates in his criticism of the Abdussamatov storywith this amazingly 4th-grade level insight on the new study:

Perhaps the biggest stumbling block in Abdussamatov’s theory is his dismissal of the greenhouse effect, in which atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide help keep heat trapped near the planet’s surface. [...] He claims that carbon dioxide has only a small influence on Earth’s climate and virtually no influence on Mars.

Actually, dumba$$, what he claimed was human generated greenhouse gases have only a small influence on our climate.  Learn to read your own copy.  And there is other evidence for that, like water vapor being the dominant greenhouse gas on Earth, not CO2.

Rumors not True

Just as I expected the rumors not true there has been this urban legend around Grand Forks, ND that basically said if UND changed the name Fighting Sioux the arena would be razed. Not True:

From the Dakota Stupid:

Since the arena has opened its doors, the rumors have remained, however. Many people now think that a logo or nickname change would result in UND’s loss of the REA, a claim that was also emphatically denied.

“I have never heard any conversation that would lead me to believe that anything like that would happen,” said Bob Gallager, UND’s vice president for finance and operations.
“There’s no truth to the rumors. It’s a $100 million facility. It’s not very realistic that they would kick out the school and leave it empty.”

Kupchella also said these rumors are false, saying that the “agreement is the agreement. We would never have agreed if things like that were in there.”

Jody Hodgson, general manager of the REA, said the Engelstad family remains committed to the university, but neither they, nor arena officials have plans to kick UND out if the nickname and logo were changed.

“As always, the REA will work with UND on this issue,” he said.

Just as I suspected. Now we can move on and argue about something else. Oh by the way, do not change the name. Fighting Sioux forever.

More than two decades ago I witnessed a chilling vow. One that appears to have been kept. Therein lies a story.

It was a beautiful spring morning in 1985. The cloudless sky above the mountains brought clear air in off the Mediterranean Sea. The morning sun had burned off the early fog that usually covered the blacktop streets in the strategic mountain village of Marjayoun, South Lebanon perched 1200 feet above the Litani River gorge. From my office I looked directly across the gorge to the ruins of Beaufort Castle atop the mountain that was exclusively Shiite Muslim territory. I had no idea of what was about to happen.

This morning my cameraman and I were heading into that territory and further south to the large Shiite town of Bent Jbeil. I was nearing the end of the first year of my contract as producer for Middle East Television. From our offices in Beirut, Jerusalem, Cyprus, Marjayoun, Lebanon and Metulla, Israel, we produced television news programs broadcasting in both English and Arabic across five countries of the Middle East. I was part of the English department and worked as a correspondent in both Lebanon and Israel.

[...]

My cameraman, Mark, and I drove down the mountain ridgeline from Marjayoun through the towns of Qlaya, DyrMimas and Kifar Kila and continued along the Israeli frontier past Aytun where we curved east and then south into Bent Jbeil that was surrounded on all sides by high hills. We were going after “evergreen” video footage that we could use in all manner of stories. The town itself was very colorful with traffic, mosques, shops and a big open-air market called the souk. Traditionally, the market was a place of truce where sides in conflict could meet for commerce.

My bet proved good. We got plenty of attention, some smiles and also some of the most vicious glares I’ve ever seen. We were recognized yet the tradition of truce held strong. We got great video but as we were preparing to leave two young men that tailed us for some time finally approached. One spoke English well and said he had something to say. I offered to put him on camera but he refused. Suddenly, he launched into a diatribe and made a blood chilling promise.

“We are holy warriors chosen of God. We are coming to America to kill Americans. You cannot stop us. You’ll see.”

“Are you Hezbollah?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “Some day we will make you pay for all the evil you have done. We’ll come to America. You’ll see!” With that he and his companion congratulated each other and walked quickly away.

[...]

Did the two Hezbollah recruits in Bent Jbeil keep their promise? You bet. Last I checked they mayor of Bent Jbeil, Lebanon is from Dearborn, Michigan. And the Hezbollah stronghold has sent thousands of its residents to the US. I’m no genius, but with where I’ve been and what I’ve seen, I can connect the dots. They’re here, waiting.

[...]

In our wide-open western mentality this Death to America chant is merely free speech, a dissenting opinion. Instead, we must understand that as persuaders of the apostate we are now locked in an unrelenting conflict for our very civilization. By the terms of this struggle there will be only one victor.

Noel Sheppard

You just can’t make this stuff up:

This news out of Canada should give Americans an idea of just how out of control the reporting and the hysteria surrounding global warming has gotten: “A former Canadian defense minister is demanding governments worldwide disclose and use secret alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change.”

To put this in its proper perspective, it seems quite unlikely that America’s media will cover a recent National Geographic article concerning the possibility the sun is much more responsible for climate change than man as reported by NewsBusters Thursday.

However, it is almost a metaphysical certitude that this absolutely insane UFO story from Agence France-Presse will get attention from a media clamoring for anything that promotes more global warming hysteria (emphasis mine throughout):

“I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation ... that could be a way to save our planet,” Paul Hellyer, 83, told the Ottawa Citizen.

[...]

Rumor has it that Al Gore saw the same UFO.

Read the whole thing.

When you combine Canada, Global Warming and UFOs, you get a nutty combination that is just too funny.  I’m sure this guy really believes what he is saying.

Spencer Ackerman reports that Baghdad should enjoy a full day of electrical power by 2013.

This is Part 2 of a series reviewing the North Dakota State Auditor’s Report for 2005-2006.

As many people know, the ConnectND system is has been a financial blackhole for many years.  Some of the items found in the State Auditor’s Report starting on page 19 are just plain funny:

Excess Superuser Access

We found seven individuals and two system accounts that had improperly been given the ability to modify security rights. Access to data should be provided based on the individual’s demonstrated need to view, add, change, or delete data. There is a risk that unauthorized changes could have been made to roles, permission lists, and user accounts from accounts that were improperly given the Security Administrator role. We notified the Information Technology Department (ITD) of the accounts with the Security Administrator role. ITD promptly remove this role from those accounts.

Ability to Update One’s Own Payroll Data

Initially, we noted approximately 1,200 user accounts were not tied to the user’s employee ID.
The vast majority of these were for NDUS accounts. We reviewed users with access to update payroll information and found that there were 93 of them. Sixty of the 93 user accounts were Ability to Update One’s Own Payroll Data Initially, we noted approximately 1,200 user accounts were not tied to the user’s employee ID. The vast majority of these were for NDUS accounts. We reviewed users with access to update payroll information and found that there were 93 of them. Sixty of the 93 user accounts were 15 not tied to the employee ID. During our final review, we noted an additional six state accounts and four NDUS accounts were not tied to the user’s employee ID. One of the state accounts had update access to payroll information.

Inappropriate Access to Social Security Numbers

Several screens throughout the system display social security numbers. This increases the risk of improper disclosure of Social Security Numbers. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act guidelines indicate Social Security Numbers should not be used as identifiers. NDUS collects and uses Social Security Numbers because federal reporting requires the use of Social Security Numbers.

Credit Card Numbers Inappropriately Stored

Schools inappropriately enter and store credit card numbers in the System, increasing the risk of credit card fraud. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards which apply to merchants accepting credit card payments state that a merchant has the duty to protect stored data relating to such payments. NDUS does not have a formal policy against storing credit card numbers.

The debackle that is ConnectND is just a small part of why Higher Education keep increasing.

Making Changes with Confinement of “Short-Term” Inmates (2-1)

CJI recommends the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation take appropriate action to formulate and implement a plan to confine convicted offenders under the jurisdiction of the Department only if they have more than a year and a day to serve when they are physically placed in the Department’s control. This plan will require the active involvement of state policy makers, court representatives, and local officials.

Making Changes with Confinement of “Short-Term” Inmates (2-2)

CJI recommends the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation temporarily suspend the plans for constructing reception/orientation beds at the State Penitentiary and other proposed bed space additions, except for the improvements to the infirmary and medical areas, until the impact of implementing the preceding recommendation can be determined. If the state determines not to implement the plan, CJI recommends proceeding with all aspects of the capital construction project as currently proposed by an architect.

Reallocating Inmate Population within DOCR (2-3)

CJI recommends the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation make even better use of the beds at the three adult facilities it operates and, assuming the male inmate population remains at or below its level in September 2004, return as many inmates as possible from Appleton, Minnesota to a Department facility to reduce costs.

I found this here. Its by Boris Ryvkin, Brown University class of 2009. It is a nice counter-factual to the common belief here at SA that colleges and universities as socialist indoctrination camps. Brown is the most liberal, in theory, having been publicly outed for university endorsed sex parties by O’Reiley last year. Its also a very interesting view on what to do in Iraq… from a college sophomore.

The United States stands at a critical geopolitical crossroads. The next year will determine whether the United States attains the position of power broker or sees its power break. The current situation in Iraq underscores an unfortunate adage: politicians rarely make effective strategists. In order for the United States to buttress its strategic interests and national security needs, minimize its military casualties and wartime expenditures and strengthen its regional influence, it must repudiate democracy building and return to a realist mindset. A new vision for Iraq and the Middle East is necessary if U.S. fortunes are to improve.

Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional aims must be addressed in any serious discussion of Iraq. The regime in Tehran faces a number of serious challenges in its nuclear development. The quality of the nuclear fuel at the Bushehr and Isfahan facilities is dubious, as are the centrifuges necessary for uranium enrichment. The lack of a delivery mechanism is another problem, which is underscored by a few comparisons. South Africa began its nuclear program near the end of World War II and tested its first device only in 1976. It should be noted that the country had a well-funded and advanced research and development core, large territorial uranium deposits and near-perfect secrecy. According to the Institute for Science and International Security, the first bomb measured a gargantuan 4.5 meters in length and weighed 3,400 kilograms. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reported that China, a state with a $700-billion trade surplus and a standing army of over 2.3 million, has produced only 80 land-based weapons after 40 years of nuclear development. Given Iran’s low uranium deposits, dearth of trained scientists and 11 percent unemployment rate, historical precedent should cause us to question our hysteria. Whatever weapon Iran does produce, it will simply be too large to hand to individual terrorist groups. Iran’s nuclear drive is not aimed at global apocalypse, but at sustaining an increasingly tenuous regime.

The Color of Money

Tennessee blogger Bill Hobbs picks up the story of Al Gore’s voracious household energy use, which we noted Tuesday:

The Tennessean reported that Gore buys “carbon offsets” to compensate for his home’s use of energy from carbon-based fuels. As Wikipedia explains, a carbon offset “is a service that tries to reduce the net carbon emissions of individuals or organizations indirectly, through proxies who reduce their emissions and/or increase their absorption of greenhouse gases.” . . .

But how Gore buys his “carbon offsets,” as revealed by The Tennessean raises serious questions. According to the newspaper’s report, Gore buys his carbon offsets through Generation Investment Management:

Gore helped found Generation Investment Management, through which he and others pay for offsets. The firm invests the money in solar, wind and other projects that reduce energy consumption around the globe . . .

Gore is chairman of the firm and, presumably, draws an income or will make money as its investments prosper. In other words, he “buys” his “carbon offsets” from himself, through a transaction designed to boost his own investments and return a profit to himself. To be blunt, Gore doesn’t buy “carbon offsets” through Generation Investment Management--he buys stocks. . . .

Meanwhile, Gore runs around the country and the world trumpeting “climate crisis” and blaming man’s use of carbon-based energy--burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel as he goes. His efforts have served to put climate change at the top of the national and even global agenda, driving up the value of the stocks and companies viewed as “green” or environmentally friendly. Companies like those his investment management firm invest his own and other peoples’ [sic] money in. (You can see a list of Generation Investment Management’s holdings here, courtesy of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.)

Another Volunteer State blogger, Bob Krumm, looks at Gore’s demands for the suppression of dissent. Yesterday’s Tennessean reported on a speech the erstwhile veep gave in Murfreesboro:

“I believe that is one of the principal reasons why political leaders around the world have not yet taken action,” Gore said. “There are many reasons, but one of the principal reasons in my view is more than half of the mainstream media have rejected the scientific consensus implicitly--and I say ‘rejected,’ perhaps it’s the wrong word. They have failed to report that it is the consensus and instead have chosen . . . balance as bias.

“I don’t think that any of the editors or reporters responsible for one of these stories saying, ‘It may be real, it may not be real,’ is unethical. But I think they made the wrong choice, and I think the consequences are severe.

“I think if it is important to look at the pressures that made it more likely than not that mainstream journalists in the United States would convey a wholly inaccurate conclusion about the most important moral, ethical, spiritual and political issue humankind has ever faced.”

Gore would not answer any questions from the media after the event.

Krumm notes that Gore was complaining as early as 1992 about excessive balance in the media. Yet in a speech at the October 2005 We Media Conference, Gore seemed to urge government-mandated balance, at least on other topics:

As early as the 1920s, when the predecessor of television, radio, first debuted in the United States, there was immediate apprehension about its potential impact on democracy. One early American student of the medium wrote that if control of radio were concentrated in the hands of a few, “no nation can be free.”

As a result of these fears, safeguards were enacted in the U.S.--including the Public Interest Standard, the Equal Time Provision, and the Fairness Doctrine--though a half century later, in 1987, they were effectively repealed. And then immediately afterwards, Rush Limbaugh and other hate-mongers began to fill the airwaves.

Gore is mistaken on two out of three points: Although the Federal Communications Commission abolished the Fairness Doctrine (which regulated the presentation of “controversial issues of public importance") in 1987, the Public Interest Standard (which is part of the law that created the FCC) and the Equal Time Provision (which applies to political candidates) remain in force.

So, let’s sum this up: Here we have a major American politician who is calling for policies that would impose huge costs on society but appears to be profiting handsomely himself; who is leading an extravagant lifestyle while demanding sacrifices from ordinary people; and who is calling on the media to suppress the views of those with whom he disagrees, while at the same time urging more government regulation in the name of “fairness” to his partisan and ideological allies.

Why is it left to think tanks and bloggers to investigate and expose all this? Why aren’t the mainstream media all over the story? Could it be . . . bias? By James Taranto- Best of the Web

Democratic political strategist James Carville says Al Gore will run for president in 2008, but he fell short of offering his endorsement of that possible campaign.

Carville, appearing Tuesday as a guest on MSNBC’s ‘Imus in the Morning’ program, said Gore’s desire to run for political office might come, not from his Oscar win, but rather from something more primitive.

"Running for president is like having sex,” Carville said. "You don’t do it once and forget about it. You want to do it again. He’s run for president in ‘88, he ran for president in 2000. We know he wants to be president and the stars could line up. I suspect he will get into this race.”

The CNN analyst, author and former Clinton administration operative, will likely support Sen. Hillary Clinton in the 2008 race, but Carville said he is not formally on board with her team.