Posted by Richard on January 28, 2011
Tracy Province, a convicted murderer who escaped from an Arizona minimum-security prison and went on a crime spree before his capture, told authorities he went to Yellowstone with the intention of overdosing on heroin and becoming bear food.
Unfortunately for Gaia and its worshippers — and for some hungry grizzly — just before shooting up, he chickened out. Because, he claimed, of divine intervention. And it was too cold.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: crime, environmentalism, suicide | 2 Comments »
Posted by Richard on January 28, 2011
Scientists at Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology claim their "research" shows that if you kill enough people over a long-enough period of time, it's good for the environment:
His empire lasted a century and a half and eventually covered nearly a quarter of the earth's surface. His murderous Mongol armies were responsible for the massacre of as many as 40 million people. Even today, his name remains a byword for brutality and terror. But boy, was Genghis green.
Genghis Khan, in fact, may have been not just the greatest warrior but the greatest eco-warrior of all time, according to a study by the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Energy. It has concluded that the 13th-century Mongol leader's bloody advance, laying waste to vast swaths of territory and wiping out entire civilisations en route, may have scrubbed 700m tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere – roughly the quantity of carbon dioxide generated in a year through global petrol consumption – by allowing previously populated and cultivated land to return to carbon-absorbing forest.
Apparently, the "research" was all done with today's favorite science toy, computer models. Why bother with all that tedious gathering of empirical data or messy experiments, when you can just write software that embodies your assumptions and cranks out conclusions? ("What are you going to believe, reality or my carefully constructed, elaborate, and expensive computer model?")
They had a lively and fun discussion in the comments at Mother Nature Network. The defenders of this "research" insisted that it was just a study, not advocacy, and everyone should calm down. But I can't help but think that the environmentalists who publish such dispassionate, objective studies are only one part of a green movement that includes many passionate advocates. And the eco-fascists of the green movement have a long history of expressing sentiments like these:
We have wished, we ecofreaks, for a disaster or for a social change to come and bomb us into Stone Age, where we might live like Indians in our valley, with our localism, our appropriate technology, our gardens, our homemade religion — guilt-free at last! — Stewart Brand
We advocate biodiversity for biodiversity’s sake. It may take our extinction to set things straight — David Foreman, Earth First!
If radical environmentalists were to invent a disease to bring human populations back to sanity, it would probably be something like AIDS — Earth First! Newsletter
Human happiness, and certainly human fecundity, is not as important as a wild and healthy planets…Some of us can only hope for the right virus to come along. — David Graber, biologist, National Park Service
The collective needs of non-human species must take precedence over the needs and desires of humans. — Dr. Reed F. Noss, The Wildlands Project
If I were reincarnated, I would wish to be returned to Earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels. — Prince Phillip, World Wildlife Fund
I wonder what these scientists are working on next — maybe a computer model to determine whether the ecological benefits of the Third Reich's population reduction efforts outweighed the harm done by the emissions from those ovens?
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: climate change, environmentalism, genocide, global warming | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on January 27, 2011
Good morning! You look a little sleepy. Are you moving a bit slowly this morning? Well, I've got just the cure. Get yourself a good cup of coffee, turn up the volume as much as you dare, and check this out: a medley of "America the Beautiful," Leon Russell's "Dixie Lullaby," and "Chicken Fried" from the 2010 Grammy Awards show. Guaranteed to get your blood pumping.
I've been getting back into country music lately, and the Zac Brown Band is definitely one of the reasons. If they're new to you, check out the original full-length video of "Chicken Fried" (sorry, embedding is disabled; you'll have to hit that link to YouTube).
Then check out some of their other stuff, like "Toes" — one of the coolest songs and funniest videos I've heard and seen in a long time. Catchy melody and great lyrics. It starts like this:
I've got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today, life is good today
And the twist on that verse at the end is just perfect. Enjoy!
Then, for a serious change of pace — and only if you don't mind getting a little verklempt — watch "Highway 20 Ride." And read the two highest-rated comments. If that doesn't move you, you have a heart of stone.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: leon russell, music, zac brown | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on January 26, 2011
I'm glad I passed on the SOTU speech last night. Based on Steve's drunkblogging, the WSJ summary, and the commentaries and analyses I've seen, it was well worth passing up. Besides, a good portion of it seems to have been recycled from last year, with some bits from 2009 thrown in, too.
Is this the second or third year that President Obama has solemnly declared that, like a family, the federal government must live within its means? No matter. It's not what the Prez says, it's what he does. And here's what he does (courtesy of The Captain's Comments):
This president has a lot of nerve talking about fiscal responsibility. How fiscally responsible is proposing a dozen or so massive new "investments" while annual deficits are well over $1 trillion? How fiscally responsible is proposing to freeze discretionary spending at its current stratospheric level?
The Republicans are talking about rolling it back to the 2008 level, and even that's far too timid.
In his response to the SOTU, Sen. Rand Paul said he's introduced a bill to cut spending by $500 billion this year. That's more like it! Take a look:
Check out Rep. Michele Bachmann's SOTU response, too:
[YouTube link ]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: bachmann, big government, deficit, obama, politics, rand paul | 2 Comments »
Posted by Richard on January 26, 2011
I've heard the Socialist Democrats' favorite euphemism for yet more government spending, "investment," about a bazillion times too many in the past few days. And I have no desire to watch a preening President congratulate himself for his "fiscal responsibility" because he's willing to freeze discretionary spending (sort of) at its current stratospheric level. So I'm going to skip the State of the Union circus and get a little more work done.
I'll check in later on Vodkapundit's drunkblogging of the event. If you're watching the speech, go there now. You'll be glad you did. But I strongly suggest not playing a drinking game where you have to take a swig whenever the Prez says "invest," or "jobs," or "working together," or "Sputnik." Your liver might not survive.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: big government, democrats, drunkblogging, obama, politics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on January 21, 2011
I mentioned Mosab Hassan Yousef in a post last March about Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the delusional thinking of Tavis Smiley and members of the Obama administration regarding Islamists. Yousef is the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of the terrorist organization Hamas. He didn't follow in his father's footsteps.
For ten years, Yousef worked as an undercover agent for Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency, providing vital information about Hamas operations that saved countless lives. He's a convert to Christianity and the author of Son of Hamas, which has received astonishingly good reviews on Amazon. From Colorado Jewish GOP:
Yousef claims that his doubts about Islam and Hamas began forming when he realized Hamas’ brutality, and that he hated how Hamas used the lives of suffering civilians and children to achieve their goals.
Yousef was held by Shin Bet agents in 1996. He claims that while in prison, he became appalled as he compared the Shin Bet’s methods with how the Hamas tortured suspected collaborators. He decided to accept a Shin Bet approach to become an informant. Since his release from prison in 1997, Yousef was considered the Shin Bet’s most reliable source in the Hamas leadership, earning himself the nickname the “Green Prince” – using the color of the Islamist group’s flag, and “prince” because of his pedigree as the son of one of the movement’s founders. The intelligence he supplied Israel led to the exposure of a number of Hamas cells as well as the prevention of dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts on Israeli figures. He has claimed that he did not inform for money but rather that his motivations were ideological and religious, and that he only wanted to save lives.
Yousef has stated that he supplied intelligence only on the condition that the “targets” would not be killed, but arrested. This led to the detention of several key Palestinian leaders, including Ibrahim Hamid, a Hamas commander in the West Bank, and Marwan Barghouti. Also, Yousef claims to have thwarted a 2001 plot to assassinate Shimon Peres, then foreign minister and now President of Israel. “Many people owe him their lives and don’t even know it”, says his former Shin Bet officer.
When I wrote about Yousef (now known as Joseph) last March, the Obama administration, for some insane, inexplicable reason, was trying to deport him. Fortunately, at the end of June, they dropped their effort, and an immigration judge granted him asylum. Had he been deported, it would almost certainly have been a death sentence.
In early February, Yousef will be making two appearances in the Denver area:
February 9
6:30pm
Faith Bible Chapel
6210 Ward Road
Arvada, CO 80004February 10
7:00pm
Hebrew Educational Alliance
3600 South Ivanhoe Street
Denver, CO 80237*Sponsored by Americans Against Terrorism, Faith Bible Chapel, and Stand With US and endorsed by a coalition of over 20 groups, synagogues and churches. For more information on sponsorship, please call 303-437-3144
For more information, or to donate towards the purchase of radio and print advertising with the above message, click here.
(Perks are available for large donors)
If you're in the Denver area and at all concerned about Islamist jihad, it behooves you to attend one of these events. If you can't attend, you may want to check out Son of Hamas, which Claudia Rosett said "reads with the page-turning ease of a great thriller." (I confess I haven't read it. I have a sizable stack of unread books in my house, and promised myself I wouldn't buy more until I significantly reduced the size of that stack.)
Oh, and if you can spare a few bucks to help promote these events, please click the "here" link above to donate. I have.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: colorado, denver, hamas, heroism, israel, jihad | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on January 18, 2011
Dire Straits was one of the greatest rock bands of the 80s and 90s, and 1985's Grammy-winner "Money for Nothing" was their biggest hit. Mark Knopfler wrote it in an appliance store, capturing in its lyrics some of the phrases he heard an employee there utter while watching MTV. I prefer "Sultans of Swing," "Lady Writer," and "Skateaway," but there's no question that "Money for Nothing" is a great song.
Now, the Canadian government is censoring it for violating Canada's "human rights standards." Because someone complained. Because of this verse:
The little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy, that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire
At least one Canadian radio station has defied the ban, playing the song repeatedly for an hour.
IMHO, anyone who's offended by "Money for Nothing" hasn't really listened to it or understood it. And is either an idiot or one of those "offense thieves" who takes offense where none was given. Here it is. Turn it up and enjoy.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: canada, censorship, music, political correctness | 2 Comments »
Posted by Richard on January 18, 2011
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706. Marsha Enright and Gen LaGreca wrote a most fitting tribute to this quintessential self-made man often described as "the first American." And they reveal the one terrible mistake Franklin made. Check it out.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: franklin, history | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on January 16, 2011
I saw Touching Your Junk: An Ontological Complaint at the end of December. I managed to save my Firefox session history after my computer meltdown. Today, I finally reinstalled FF, and when I fired it up and reloaded my last session, there it was. I think it's marvelous. Check it out.
No, don't just click the link, look at the first Venn diagram, and move on. The author of the post (Zarf) found it wanting, analyzed it, deconstructed it, and finally created a proper Venn diagram that captured the intent of the original. I think he did a bang-up job, and I really got a kick out of it. If you're at all into ontology (when was the last time you saw the phrase "into ontology"?), I think you'll like it, too.
I'm afraid I don't recall who pointed me to it, so no hat tip.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: airport security, humor, ontology, venn diagrams | 2 Comments »
Posted by Richard on January 16, 2011
Wholesale prices surged 1.1% in December, but the experts assured us it was nothing to worry about. Most of the increase was just due to rapidly rising prices for things like food, gasoline, and home heating oil. And who needs those?
This might be a good time to review the experts' plan to "fix" our economy: more quantitative easing.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: economics, economy, inflation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on January 13, 2011
Today is the first anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. According to the news report I saw tonight, over $11 billion in foreign aid has poured into Haiti since then. And a million people are still living in tattered tents. What's wrong with this picture?
I find it difficult to believe that, in Haiti, you can't build a permanent structure — at least a simple one-room cabin that could shelter a family of four — for a thousand bucks or so. $11 billion amounts to $11,000 for each homeless man, woman, and child, or $44,000 for each family of four. Heck, that would buy a decent 2500 sq. ft. home in Detroit.
So why are a million people living in tattered tents? Where has the money gone? Is there any kind of accurate accounting for how the funds have been spent?
I doubt it. What matters to the people in charge isn't the outcome, but the intentions.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: disaster, foreign aid, haiti | 3 Comments »
Posted by Richard on January 13, 2011
I'm back! Did you miss me? (Did you even notice I was gone?) Sorry for the long absence, and a belated Happy New Year. It was a combination of way too much work, too little motivation, and a major computer meltdown that took forever to resolve.
In the last couple of weeks, there have been a bazillion things about which I should spout off. But for now, I'll just give you a little feel-good story you probably missed (unless you're in Chattanooga, TN). At least, it's a feel-good story for those of us who are cat lovers:
At 4 a.m., Cornett was awakened by the loud and repeated meows of the family's cat. Bustopher Jones, named after a character in the musical "Cats," wouldn't shut up — meow, meow, meow, meow.
"I was a little annoyed, and I raised up and thought, 'What is that cat doing?'" she said.
What he was doing was saving the lives of the entire family.
Awake on the sofa, she smelled the smoke. The smoke alarm hadn't even gone off, and Talullah, Lexiss and Seamus, the Cornetts' three dogs, were asleep, not making a sound.
Bustopher, a shelter cat, saved the lives of Angi Cornett, her husband, three children, and three dogs. And instead of thanking Bustopher, one of the dogs viciously attacked him, causing nearly-fatal injuries.
Fortunately, the Cornetts got him to a veterinary hospital, and he survived:
Jones came home Friday from an animal hospital in Cleveland. The bill was $241 and left the family with about $30 in their checking account.
But Cornett said she doesn't regret anything.
"He fought back from the brink of death," she said. "I just want Jones to be recognized."
He was. The McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center, from which Bustopher Jones was adopted, has awarded him the "McKamey Purple Paw certificate of meritorious conduct."
Good for you, Bustopher Jones! And I think you should lord it over those useless dogs from here on out. 🙂
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: cats, fire, heroism, tennessee | 1 Comment »
Posted by Richard on December 25, 2010
Some of you no doubt traveled somewhere in the last couple of days, and if it involved an airport, it probably wasn't a particularly pleasant experience. For your Christmas Eve entertainment, here are some ditties that hopefully will evoke a smile — if perhaps a somewhat rueful one. Enjoy, and have a very Merry Christmas!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: air travel, airport security, christmas, humor, music | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on December 22, 2010
Last week, I mentioned that this year's La Niña was bringing lots of snow to the mountains, while leaving Denver and the eastern plains mild and dry. Since then, it's been doing that in spades. The weather reports have switched from forecasting snow totals in inches to feet.
Colorado's ski resorts have received 1-3 feet or more of new snow since the weekend. And it's just getting started. The jet-stream pattern they call the "Pineapple Express" continues to funnel Pacific moisture into the Colorado mountains at a prodigious rate.
The southwestern part of the state, which had been neglected by earlier storms, has been especially favored by this one. Silverton Mountain (a.k.a. Purgatory) got almost 3 feet in a 24-hour period. In one week, the region went from a snowpack of less than 50% of normal to well over 100%.
By Christmas Eve, many locations above 9,000 ft. will have gotten 7-8 feet of new snow. Everyone's using the phrase "epic snowfall" to describe what's happening.
I don't mean to sound like the Colorado Tourism Office, but if you're a skier or boarder, you need to get your ass up there. 🙂
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: colorado, skiing, snow, weather | 3 Comments »
Posted by Richard on December 21, 2010
The winter solstice lunar eclipse Monday night or Tuesday morning (depending on your time zone) lived up to the hype. Here in Denver, high clouds cleared right on time, and even in the light-polluted city, the view was spectacular. The moon was positioned right above Orion, and to the left of that was a very bright Jupiter. Quite a sight.
No, I didn't take pictures. I just stared. I figured that plenty of better equipped and more skilled people would do the photographic honors. And I was right. SpaceWeather.com has a nice gallery of photos. Unfortunately, they've messed up some of their links. So here's Page 1, and here's Page 2. I especially liked the shots by Jeff Berkes (on Page 2), in particular this one.
CBSDenver showed a really nice one as their "picture of the day" on tonight's newscast. It showed multiple shots of the moon at various stages from the beginning through totality to the end of the eclipse. But as of now, it's not on the website yet.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: astronomy, eclipse, moon, photos | Leave a Comment »
