12/13/07 Thursday Conservatively Speaking
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ran is seeking fissile material for nuclear weapons from a Serbian nuclear facility, according to an intelligence report disclosed in Italy. Iranian nuclear scientists are part of a clandestine program to gain the material outside United Nations controls, according to the Milan Panorama newsmagazine. The program disclosed a “secret plan” ordered by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, in August 2006 targeting the Institute of Nuclear Science at Vinca, Serbia, as an “opportunity” for proliferation. The facility is said to contain 40 kilograms of uranium (if highly enriched is enough for nearly two city buster sized nuclear weapons) and it is lightly guarded by Serbian guards.
The plan outlines how to seize, and smuggle the bomb material back into Iran. Funding for the operation would be set up by a special budget from government of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad, the news weekly stated. Once the fissile material is in Iranian hands it is a short and fast step to making a nuke. Iran dismisses the report as part of a U. S. back conspiracy against it.
The British, Israelis and others continue to raise alarm by what they see as a politically motivated and highly flawed U. S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) publicly released ten days ago. Iranians, aware their phone calls were being listened to, gave false and misleading information leading to the bad conclusions in the NIE says British Intelligence. Israel says the NIE “make absolutely no difference to it.” I continue to chose to believe the NIEs release could be part of a still secret U.S.-Saudi plan to avoid war with Iran. But, Iran’s duplicity may make that effort moot. If so, Saudi Arabia may well ignore (while protesting) an Israeli strike that destroys Iran’s nuclear facilities.
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ust 18% of American voters believe that Iran has halted its nuclear weapons program which is strongly implied in last week’s heavily criticized NIE Report. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 66% disagree and say Iran has not stopped its nuclear weapons program. Twenty-one percent (21%) of men believe Iran has stopped the weapons development along with 16% of women.
67% of American voters believe that Iran remains a threat to the national security of the U. S. Only 19% disagree while 14% are not sure. Fifty-nine percent (59%) believe that the United States should continue sanctions against Iran. Twenty percent (20%) disagree and 21% are not sure. Forty-seven percent (47%) believe it is Very Likely that Iran will develop nuclear weapons in the future and another 34% believe Iran is Somewhat Likely to do so. Twenty-nine percent (29%) of liberal voters believe that Iran has stopped its weapons program but 54% disagree.
The U. S. is expanding and making its base permanent on the Horn of Africa at Djibouti between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The goal is to control the radicalization of the region. Al Qaeda maintain a presence there and will, if it can, foment trouble in the critically important area.
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ctor, activist, and part-time journalist Sean Penn let the crowd know that he was not endorsing a candidate for president. He then proceeded to endorse Democratic presidential candidate, UFO gazer and fellow tinfoil hatter Dennis Kucinich . . . kind of. According to an article in The Left Coast Report Penn described Kucinich as “the dominant voice of integrity.” And “the one endlessly determined voice of peace.” And “the most deserving and noble of candidates.” And the most experienced in issues of policy.” And the one who is “the least willing to play into the politics of personal power.” All I can say is – they deserve each other.
A CIA operative is getting his 15-minutes of fame by saying although water boarding stopped terror attacks and saved American lives because he now thinks its torture it is wrong and “Americans are better than that.” A syllogism that would earn John Kiriakou a failing grade on any freshman logics class test.
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blockbuster report published in the prestigious International Journal of Climatology of the Royal Meteorological Society insists that climate warming is both natural and unstoppable and that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant. The conclusion is that climate change is “unstoppable” and cannot be affected or modified by controlling the emission of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, as is currently proposed and promoted.
Professor David H. Douglass (University of Rochester) said “We have good reason to believe that current climate models greatly overestimate the effects of greenhouse gases. Satellite observations suggest that GH models ignore negative feedbacks, produced by clouds and by water vapor, that diminish the warming effects of carbon dioxide.”
One of his co-authors, Dr. John Christy (University of Alabama), said, “Satellite observations suggest that models ignore negative feedbacks, produced by clouds and by water vapor, that diminish the warming effects of carbon dioxide.”
The third co-author, Dr. S. Fred Singer (University of Virginia) said: “The current warming trend is simply part of a natural cycle of climate warming and cooling that has been seen in ice cores, deep-sea sediments, stalagmites, etc., and published in hundreds of papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Six months ago Dr. Mark Harris, University of the Caribbean published an article in Newsmax saying that water vapor not CO2 leads to warming, and he was ignored.
Simultaneous with the report debunking his opinion former U. S. Vice Presidernt Al Gore accepted a Nobel Prize last weekend and used the occasion to promote his unscientific views and whine about losing the Presidency.
Last weekend Newsmax report concludes by saying, “Our research demonstrates that the ongoing rise of atmospheric CO2 has only a minor influence on climate change. We must conclude, therefore, that attempts to control CO2 emissions are ineffective and pointless — but very costly.”
If you neglect your parents in Indian you can go to jail. A law passed last week favors the value of extended families and hopes to reverse the trend toward the western idea of the narcissistic “nuclear family.”
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ouse Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D) Maryland while fictitiously joining in steps to clean up pork-barrel spending, fleeced taxpayers for $96 million worth of pet projects into next year’s federal budget, including $450,000 for a campaign donor’s foundation. Not all his pork is foolish but some is quite odd including $450,000 for the California based InTune Foundation Group. In 2005 it got $500,000 to develop lesson plans on funk music and Nobel Peace laureates. The Group hasn’t reported what it is or has done, and no one at the Department of Education, whose budget was raided knows anything.
Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for his role in a dog fighting conspiracy that involved gambling and killing pit bulls. He has already served about one month after pleading guilty and voluntarily surrendering to prison. He still faces State charges.
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herri Shepherd, a co-host on ABC’s morning show “The View” last week revised history saying Jesus Christ and Christianity pre-dates Judaism, and apparently every other religion as far as she is concerned. Previously this astonishingly ignorant woman informed viewers that the world is indeed flat and not round. Ignorance is not bliss unless you’re a cow being lead to slaughter. In a time when public education is failing and particularly so for African-Americans and in urban centers it is unacceptable to promote ignorance rather than education and especially to those groups. Barbara Walters is culpable because she runs the show, hires and tolerates such abject ignorance.
The show was so severely criticized during the brief term of Rosie O’Donnell that all email links were blocked and now removed from the shows website.
Republicans debated in Spanish last Sunday evenings from Coral Gables, Florida. It was broadcast nationwide on several Spanish language networks like UNIVISION.
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hina has agreed to disagree with Russia and not co-develop a fifth generation fighter-bomber as previously planned. The rift appears to be over money, quality and pride. Russia charges more for its technology than China will pay. Further, China believes it has the capacity to build the advanced aircraft that features a low-observable radar signatures, thrust vectoring controls and advanced avionics and targeting equipment. China knows Russian technology well having bought 100 of Russia’s most advanced fighter, the Su-30, that form the core of its air force. Finally one of those Russian build fighters crashed last month for undisclosed reasons and it is unknown whether the incident contributed to the split between the two communist states or not. It is known that the Su-30 design is extraordinarily hard and expensive to maintain.
Fifty-four percent (54%) of American adults say that individuals who borrowed more than they can afford are to blame for the nation’s looming mortgage crunch. Just 25% blame “Wall Street Investors.”
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he famous leaning tower of Pisa tips at 3.97 degrees but a 14th century stone church tower in Bad Frankhausen, Germany leans at 4.4 degrees (16 feet out of plumb at the top) and had bragging rights until someone pointed out the15th-century church tower 240 miles away in Suurhusen is the crookedest on the planet leaning 5.17 degrees. Suurhusen will be listed in next years Book of World Records and a $1.5 million project to save the Bad Frankhausen tower may straighten it enough to put it behind Pisa’s tower. Both say Suurhusen is a pretender since it is only half as tall as either of them. The 12th century tower at Pisa is the senior leaner anyway. By the way none of the structures were designed to lean.
State budgets are beginning to slump along with the U.S. housing market. As many as 20 states will have to plug holes in their budgets next year. But not one state has reduced spending even to last year’s levels preferring to raise taxes.
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callywag is a boisterous, energetic and disruptive person who has little regard for authority. The word began as ‘scurryvag’ coming from the Latin ‘scurra vagus’ meaning wandering fool. In London the word was used to describe a scurrilous vagrant. No one knows when it appeared but most probably after the Roman occupation of the British Isle so sometime after 43 AD. – 410 AD. In Liverpool, due to the inhabitants’ accent, the words merged to become ‘scallywag.’ It remains popular there and in the American South.
“We need a system where the voters choose the politicians, rather than the politicians choosing the voters.” said California Governpr Arnold Schwarzenegger describing his support for a November 2008 ballot initiative to take redistricting out of the hands of California’s elected officials.
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lergy and lay members of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, California voted 173-22 at their annual convention to remove all references to the national church from the diocese’s constitution making it the first full diocese to secede because of a conservative-liberal rift that began decades ago and is now focused on whether the Bible condemns homosexual relationships. The Episcopal Church it said “has isolated itself from the overwhelming majority of Christendom and more specifically from the Anglican Communion by denying Biblical truth and walking apart from the historic Faith and Order.” The decision is almost certain to spark a court fight over control of the diocese’s multimillion-dollar real estate holdings and other assets.
COP likely derives from England meaning CONSTABLE ON PATROL. Copper probably is linked to the copper buttons worn by New York’s police officers in the 19th century. As such the two are not linked in origin.
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ongo, a German shepherd is accused of mauling a Honduran landscaper, allegedly in the country illegally, was hospitalized and later awarded $250,000 by family’s insurance company in NEW JERSEY last June. According to the Trenton Times, city officials in Princeton Township have declared Congo to be a vicious dog and a judge ordered him killed. But Congo’s supporters have refused to let him go quietly. They contend the victim grabbed the dog’s owner, while the other gardener wrestled the owner’s wife to the ground using her as a shield causing the 85-pound fur-covered cruise missile that sprang to their defense. Thousands have sent e-mails to Gov. Jon Corzine (D) asking the gov to grant Congo a pardon and some say a Medal for Valor. Contact Corzine at PO Box 001 Trenton, NJ 08625 609-292-6000 or go to http://www.nj.gov/governor/govmail.html
Being labeled a liberal has a 38% negative versus a 28% positive impression. The “progressive” tag is positive 35% of the time versus 18% negative. Being “Reagan-like” is 44% positive and 25% negative while a conservative label is only slightly positive 32-28%. All of these finding have heavy partisan biases.
A CBS News poll released Tuesday has Giuliani at 22%; Huckabee 21%, Romney 16%; McCain and Thompson 7%. Clinton stood at 44%, compared with 27% for Obama and 11% Edwards. Each of the other Democratic candidates drew 2 percent or lower. Yesterday Rasmussen has Clinton down 4% percentage points and Obama up 4 points but still behind Hillary.
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ennis Tyrrell was filling in a hole he had dug prospecting for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, Ark. when he saw a sparkle. It is a 3.48-carat diamond, about the size of a piece of Chicklets chewing gum and the 1,000th diamond found at the Park this year matching 1994’s record when 1,421 gem stones were found.
Crater of Diamonds State Park, opened in 1972, is the world’s only diamond-producing site open to the public. Visitors pay a fee and can keep the gems they unearth. The largest diamond found at the park was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found by a Texas visitor in 1975.
79% of American veterinary medicine students are women.
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he so-called Left Coast literally starts on California’s coast but it is spreading inland and north and fast. Former bastions of conservatives in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties for instance are tipping away from the GOP and toward much more liberal views. Seven years ago the City of Santa Barbara ranked farther left than the radically liberal San Francisco Bay and Marin County areas. Then John Kerry carried the county. In the once rock ribbed conservative San Luis Obispo County the coast and voters in the City of San Luis Obispo are on the threshold of tipping the county left. According to recent polling if the elections were held today all three of those Counties’ Boards of Supervisors would have liberal majorities.
The difference between the mafia and government is that the mafia is organized.
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alifornia lawmakers, many of whom took campaign contributions, trips to Hawaii and Rolling Stones concert tickets from subprime lenders and then failed to curb “predatory loan” practices in 2001 contributed to the sub-prime mortgage mess that will costs state taxpayers billions to fix. A story in the Sacramento Bee says those lawmakers ignored warnings from consumer groups and killed a provision in a 2005 bill to broaden the scope of the state law. Ameriquest, now out of the mortgage business, led the pack contributing $9.6 million to political causes from 2001 to 2006. It paid $72,000 for Assembly Democrats to attend a fundraiser in Hawaii during the Pro Bowl in 2005, including gifts, airfare, lodging at Hilton Hawaiian Village and meals – even $170 for cookies. Republicans, including the Governor, were also showered with money and gifts from the collapsed lender and the consequences are ruined lives and raided taxpayer bank accounts.
“It’s the economy – stupid” was Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign winning slogan. More American’s say their biggest concerns are economic and no longer the war in Iraq.
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hy does the flu spread primarily in the winter months (November through March)? Because the influenza virus is more stable and stays in the air longer when air is cold and dry, the exact conditions for much of the winter flu season and that facilitates its spread on airborne droplets. When the air gets humid the droplets pick up more water get bigger and fall to the ground where, unless that’s where you are lying, they languish.
These conclusion are published in the Oct. 19 issue of PLoS Pathogens by the professor and chairman of the microbiology department at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the lead author of the flu study. “Influenza,” is an Italian word that some historians proposed, originated in the mid-18th century as influenza di freddo, or “influence of the cold.”
A Utah doctor known as the “candy man” was federally indicted yesterday on allegations he wrote illegal prescriptions for painkillers for up to 80 people a day, contributing to five deaths. In Santa Barbara there are doctors notorious for the same sort of dangerous “legal” practices, and this sort of behavior is widespread – hopefully this indictment will be a precedent.
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