Infidel Bloggers Alliance

2009-11-21T15:27:00.001Z

ALL CLEAR

FULL COMMENTING RESTORED

PASTORIUS ACCEPTING EMAILS AGAIN

UP AND TAKING NOURISHMENT

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

It's Time To Listen To Our Friends In The Mainstream Media

2009-11-21T14:09:00.000Z

Afghanistan, the CENTRAL front, nothing to see anywhere else, right?

2009-11-21T13:57:00.003Z

Gertz:

Al Qaida chief, 'most wanted' Algeria, sentenced to death in absentia
CAIRO — Algeria has sentenced an Al Qaida network chief to death.
An Algiers court has sentenced to death Abdul Malik Droukdel, identified as the commander of the Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. The criminal court sentenced the 38-year-old Droukdel to death in absentia.
"He is the most wanted man in Algeria," a security source said.
Droukdel was one of 53 people prosecuted by Algeria in connection with AQIM's insurgency campaign since 2006. The defendants, most of whom were convicted, were charged with an attack in April 2009 in which 11 people were killed and more than 100 injured in Algiers.
The Algiers court also sentenced to death an AQIM cell leader identified as Salih Salih Rabah Gheito. Gheito was convicted of conducting the communications and other preparations for the cell that attacked police in Algiers.
This marked the first major trial of AQIM suspects. Many of the defendants were charged with participating in the double suicide bombing that killed more than 40 people in Algiers in 2007.
During the trial, witnesses said some AQIM bombing attacks took months to prepare. They said members of the leadership monitored preparations and selected recruits.
Still, none of the defendants admitted to having met AQIM chief Droukdel. Security sources said Droukdel has taken extensive measures to protect himself from identification and arrest.

No muslim nation has yet even MENTIONED the cause of these war criminals, or their authority to operate as they see fit.

Is it the west raping their lands and women?
Is it our despoiling their natural resources so we can drive to our breast augmentation surgeries?
Or maybe it's something else.

The next time they say the USA gets nothing from Israel but American jews dedicated to Israel's benefit

2009-11-21T13:54:00.000Z

GERTZ:

Israeli tech credited with protecting U.S. troops, combat aircraft
WASHINGTON -- A senior senator said the Defense Department has contracted for Israeli technology that was protecting U.S. ground units in campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The senator said the Israeli technology was more effective than anything else deployed by the U.S. military.
"If you look at some of the things that we have, they have been credited with saving more lives from RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] in Iraq than anything else," Sen. James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, said. "This is Israeli technology that you are sharing with us."

Crew chief checks out Litening AT Block II advanced targeting pod. RNLAF

In an address to the Jerusalem Conference on Nov. 3, Inhofe, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, cited the Litening air pod, Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle and armored tiles for U.S. combat vehicles. He said the tiles, developed by Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, were saving the lives of American troops.
Rafael also produces Litening, a combat navigation air pod that has been installed on virtually every U.S. fighter-aircraft. Northrop Grumman has been the prime contractor of the Litening program in the United States.
The Hunter was produced by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries. Northrop has also been working with the U.S. Army in developing and maintaining the Hunter.
Inhofe's identification of Litening and Hunter as Israeli systems contrasted with that of Northrop and the U.S. military. The two platforms have not been publicly linked to Israeli companies.
Rafael has been supplying armored tiles for the U.S.-origin Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. The project has been led by General Dynamics for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Another major Israeli project was the armoring of the M-ATV combat vehicle for the U.S. Army. Israel's Plasan Sasa has been the prime subcontractor in a multi-billion-dollar deal to armor more than 5,000 M-ATVs for the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
Inhofe told the conference that many Americans were under the misconception that the Israeli-U.S. defense relationship was based on American arms sales. He said the relationship was mutual, and that U.S. arms sales to Israel were in Washington's interests.
"When we send C-130s and Apaches to Israel, we are not doing it for Israel, we are doing it for us," Inhofe said.

Lost in the new message from Barack Obama,

AND

RAHM
EMANUEL (son of the Irgun? There is a major disconnect in THAT conspiracy theory)

WHY IS THAT?

The IRGC scenario: Israel attacks, and Hizballah executes the response worldwide

2009-11-21T13:46:00.001Z

GERTZ:

Prospects of new war on rise as Hizbullah gains control in Lebanon
WASHINGTON -- Iran's proxies, particularly Hizbullah, are preparing for an imminent war against Israel, a report said.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy said that Hizbullah has increasingly dominated Lebanon and could force the nation into another war against Israel. In a report, the institute said none of the issues that led to the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbullah in 2006 have been resolved.
"If the situation does not change significantly, it may only be a matter of time before a new conflict erupts in and around Lebanon," the report, titled "A Victory for Islamism: The Second Lebanon War and its Repercussions," said. "The group has spent the intervening years greatly expanding its military capacity, to such a degree that it can now decide whether Lebanon goes to war."
Authored by Swedish analyst Magnus Norell, the report said that neither the Lebanese government nor the international community has sought to address Hizbullah dominance, aided by Iran and Syria. Norell, a senior analyst at Swedish Defense Research Agency who formed a backchannel between Israel and Hizbullah to facilitate the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, asserted that Hizbullah has prevented Beirut from using its military.
"Approximately 70 percent of privates in the Lebanese army are Shi'ite, the sect from which Hizbillah recruits practically all of its members," the report said. "Most officers, on the other hand, are Christian or Sunni. This, too, was the case before the civil war."
Norell, along with his Swedish colleague, Magnus Ranstorp, participated in the discussions with Israel that led to the withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Norell recalled that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, today defense minister, decided to "bet" on the assurances of the United Nations and international community that they would prevent Hizbullah attacks on the Jewish state.
Instead, Norell said, Hizbullah embarked on an armament program that led to the 2006 war. He said the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as well as the pullout from the Gaza Strip five years later were regarded by Islamists as "pure capitulation."
"Not only has Hizbullah bolstered its military power and political influence, it has also strengthened its relations with Syria and Iran," the report said. "Finally, it has kept its conflict with Israel at a level high enough to ensure that the question of peace remains moot, but not so high as to endanger its political and military position within Lebanon."
Norell said Hizbullah was regarded by most Lebanese as having won the 2006 war with Israel. He said this has encouraged Arab states to reject peace negotiations with the Jewish state.
"Another war with Israel is expected to happen sooner or later, and Hizbullah is not prepared to allow its preparations to be hampered, either to the north or south of the Litani River," the report said.

Israel: Hizbullah has acquired long-range rockets based in Lebanon
TEL AVIV -- Israel's military has detected Hizbullah acquisition of missiles and rockets with ranges of up to 325 kilometers.
Officials said the weapons could strike targets in most of Israel.
"Some of them have a range of 300 kilometers and some of them have a range of up to 325 kilometers," Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said.
In a Nov. 10 briefing to a parliamentary committee, Ashkenazi said Hizbullah has already deployed the long-range rockets in Lebanon. He said a rocket attack from the Beirut area could reach the nuclear reactor in the southern Israeli city of Dimona.
"There is a paradox," Ashkenazi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee said. "On one hand, there is calm. But when you peek over the fence you can see armament and empowerment."
Officials said the latest acquisition marked the longest-range missiles and rockets in Hizbullah's arsenal. Until 2009, they said, Hizbullah wielded weapons with a range of about 200 kilometers.
Ashkenazi did not identify the latest Hizbullah missile. The missile approximated the range of the Soviet-origin Scud B.
Officials said Hizbullah has amassed an arsenal of 40,000 missiles and rockets, most of them short-range weapons. They said Iran has increased weapons and other military support to its Lebanese proxy.
"We don't delude ourselves," Ashkenazi said. "The situation is delicate and Hizbullah is growing stronger all the time. The Iranian challenge is to increase control over the Middle East through training, arms and money provided to all terror organizations."

Now imagine a massive missile response from Hizballah operating as volunteers operating in Syria against US forces in Iraq. Against US forces wherever they can bring these rockets. Iran maintains fig leaf deniability with Obama's timid, legal proof requirements for response, and need for world approval before proceeding.

Barack Obama told CNN yesterday, "I've restored America's standing in the world..."

Iran DEPENDS upon America's risk averse need for 'moral standing' to succeed in creation of CHAOS they can take advantage of, in ways 'civilized' societies are reluctant to respond to.

According to Dr. Hassan Abbasi, adviser to the Iranian govt, the global balance of power is in a state of flux and every nation should fight for a place in a future equilibrium. The Western powers, especially the United States, still wield immense military and economic power that "looks formidable on paper." But they are unable to use that power because their populations have become "risk-averse." "The Western man today has no stomach for a fight," Abbasi says. "This phenomenon is not new: All empires produce this type of man, the self-centered, materialist, and risk-averse man." Abbasi believes that the US intervention in Iraq, which involved "slightly higher risks" than the invasion of Afghanistan, was the very last of its kind. And even then, the US went into Iraq because of President George W Bush's "readiness to do what no other American leader would dare contemplate.

Israel's 'Iron Dome' missile defense system to be ready by 2011

Israel needs a real plan for Iran's REAL PLAN

TEL AVIV -- Israel plans to deploy a new rocket defense system in 2011.
Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said the military would deploy the Iron Dome system to intercept incoming missiles and rockets. Ashkenazi said Iron Dome was advancing toward production and would be ready in 2011.
"Two new anti-aircraft artillery batteries of the Iron Dome missile defense system, which is designed for the interception of Katyusha and Kassam rockets, will begin operating in 2011," a military statement said on Nov. 14.
Iron Dome was meant to intercept missiles and rockets with a range of up to 70 kilometers. The system, which underwent its first live-fire test in mid-2009, has been developed by the state-owned Rafael Advance Defense Systems.
In a Nov. 10 briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Ashkenazi said Iron Dome would be required for the growing arsenal of short- and medium-range missile and rocket arsenals stationed along Israel's borders. The chief of staff cited threats by Hamas and the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah.
Ashkenazi said Hizbullah has acquired missiles with a range of 300 kilometers. He said Hizbullah has "tens of thousands of missiles in its possession, a small percentage of them able to reach a range of 300 kilometers," the military statement said.
"The chief of staff said that Hamas and Hizbullah, amid the relative quiet in recent months along borders of the north and Gaza Strip, have been rearming with missiles and rockets," the military statement said.

Double Shot!

2009-11-21T03:40:00.000Z

been a strange day

Maria Muldaur

Buckets of Rain

2009-11-20T22:00:00.000Z

Maria Muldaur

Midnight at the Oasis

A Test Interview: An Australian Cabin Crew

2009-11-20T21:17:00.000Z

I have been wanting to interview people, regular people that are still only concerned with partying and having a good time and nothing else—just like a lot of the anti-Jihad bloggers were before 9/11—to see what their thoughts on Islam are and how they respond to questions about politics and whether they realize that the world is in a mess because of Islam or not.

In the interest of my crazy idea to interview random people, I thought I would first try to interview one of my colleagues. Now, some of you might be thinking, “How does that count? Your colleagues are not “random” people!” Well, the truth is, my colleagues are as random as meeting someone on the street that I have never met before. Whenever I fly, I fly with a different set of crew and rarely do I get to fly with the same people I have flown with before.

What I have in mind, of course, isn’t like your typical interview—I ask a question, the other person replies and then I put that down on paper in a question/answer layout. It is a very casual sort of interview (if you can call it that) and whenever I do something like this, it will accompany my commentary (sorry, no escaping my loathsome writing skills).

Anywho…onto the interview.

About The Interviewee:

This 20-something girl’s from Australia; she is tired of Dubai and wants to go back home. She misses Australia and is actually proud to be an Australian. She says she has a good life in Australia and she just came to Dubai to work for this airline because she wanted to see the world. Now that she has seen enough, there is nothing else left for her to do in Dubai. She will resign in a month or so and move back, not really knowing what lies ahead.

The Interview (39,000 ft above ground level):

In my hotel room before I left for the flight I had scribbled a set of questions to ask on a piece of paper. I safely put the paper in my suitcase and left for the flight…not realizing that I won’t be able to get a hold of those questions during the flight as they were put away in a very cold place called the “cargo hole”.

“Crap!” I thought to myself and then followed that by, “Oh well…” and proceeded to think of questions in my head. To begin with, I asked her if she knew anything about politics in general. Her very quick response was, “I know enough about politics.” The girl wasn’t rude but for some reason her reply sounded more like, “what the heck’s the matter with you?!” I prepared myself to run to the nearest exit in case she looked like she was about to blow up…she didn’t blow up and I mustered up enough courage to proceed with the interview.

Catch-22:

I wanted to know if there was anything about her government’s policies that she was specifically not happy with. That was a stupid question for me to ask; not because it was a bad question but because the girl was confused. At first she said she was fine with all the government policies, then she told me she wasn’t happy with the strict immigration laws of Australia, then she went ahead and said that she supports the immigration policy to some extent because it preserves their heritage and she is proud of that.

At this point, I started searching for my non-existent Magnum .44 to shoot my brains out but the fake journalist inside of me slapped me and brought me to my senses. I asked her to elaborate and she said, “The immigration policies are not good in the sense that a lot of poor people go through a lot of dangers to get to Australia to have a better life and when they do get to the borders alive, they are arrested and put in detention centers. However, what’s good about the strict immigration policies is that it keeps Australia safe and preserves the culture. So to me it’s sort of a catch-22 situation. I want these illegal immigrants to have a good life but I also want Australia to be safer.”

She started to make sense; I almost saw a light bulb go off above her head (but my sources cannot confirm that report just yet).

Islam:

I wanted to know what she thought about Islam (because I don’t give a rat’s butt whether she is proud of her heritage or not, I don’t even know what her heritage is…I bet she doesn’t even know). I asked her what she knew about Islam. She was honest and told me, “I have minimal knowledge of Islam; it’s mostly based on what I have heard and seen. Before I came to Dubai, I had a negative impression of Islam. There is a lot of stereotyping of Muslims in Australia.”

I asked her, “Has your perception of Islam changed since you have come to Dubai…do you see Islam in a more positive light now?” Her answer was a straight, “Yes.” I thought, “We’re onto something here.” So I asked her (in these exact words) to tell me specifically what she thought was negative about Islam that had now come and bitten her in the butt in a positive way. She thought for a moment and said, “I can’t tell you anything specifically, I can’t put my finger on anything.” And then followed the nervous laughter. It was awkward; mission accomplished.

I decided to move on. I asked her to tell me the first thing that comes to her mind when I say, “Shariah law.” She said, “terrorists!” I thought, “yay!” and asked her why she said what she said. She told me, “This perception of mine is only based on what I’ve seen around me and in the newspapers. It is not based on any research or any facts. That is just the first thing I think of. I have never had any personal problem with either the Shariah law or Islam. Even though there are a lot of Muslims in Australia, we live with them peacefully.” She wasn’t making me happy but then it was what she thought and how she thought was what I was after anyway.

What If:

I asked her, “Let’s take a hypothetical situation. Let’s say Australia imposes Shariah law on all its citizens. What would you do? 1. Convert to Islam 2. Accept it and live as a second class citizen 3. Not accept it and rebel quietly 4 Band up with other rebels and overthrow the government?” She said, “I will accept it…um, I will not accept it and rebel quietly. I will not overthrow the government. I might convert, I don’t know. I just don’t think it is ever going to happen. Australia has never done anything against Muslim countries so they will never bring Shariah to Australia.”

At this point, she had stopped making sense, the light bulb had burst! I gave her a huge lecture on Islam and Jihad after the interview but I won’t include that here because that’s not the point of all of this. I should mention, however, that she added, “I think the terrorists have hijacked Islam. Islam is a religion of peace. Terrorists just twist Quranic verses.” This was coming from a girl that had just told me less than half an hour ago that she knew next to nothing about Islam and had never read the Quran.

To finish the interview, I asked her if she would like to say something to her fellow Australians. She said, “Read up on Islam to form an informed opinion.” I loved her advice. I thanked her for the interview and we shook hands.

Conclusion:

What I wanted to get from this interview was the view of a lay person. A person that doesn’t constantly eat, breathe and drink anti-Jihad. The reason being, when the time comes and the world goes completely crazy, we are not only going to have to know Islam and Muslims like the back of our hands but we are going to have to know what to expect from our neighbors who never cared about all of this. These sort of interviews, I think, will also give us an idea about how surprised the regular populace will be when faced with another attack from Islam, what their first perception will be and how close they are to understanding the threat of Islam among other things.

I understand that interviewing a cabin crew is probably not the best thing and putting one person’s opinions up does not give a fair representation of the majority of the population but this was just a test interview. I am going to Australia in a couple of days and I will try to interview people on the streets if at all possible. So, I would really appreciate feedback on this. Just let me know what you thought about it. I could use a lot of constructive criticism because, in all honesty, I am not really a journalist. I don’t even know how to spell “journalist”. I know I am doing a lot of things wrong and if you can tell me what they are, I’d really appreciate it.

Waxman "Let's Cat Out of Bag"

2009-11-20T19:39:00.003Z

Says ALG's Wilson,

Current Healthcare Legislation a "Trojan Viper"

Via Email

For Immediate Release
November 20th, 2009

"As bad as the current healthcare legislation
already is, it is really intended to be a Trojan
Viper. It will open the door a total government
healthcare takeover." – ALG President Bill Wilson

November 17th, 2009, Fairfax, VA—Terming the current Obama healthcare legislation a "Trojan Viper," Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today said that Democrat Congressman Henry Waxman "let the cat out of the bag," when he told a Washington news bureau, "If we get it in place, we can build on it later."

"That," said Wilson, "is the liberal MO: get any big government program in place, and then expand on it later until it costs trillions and dictates every move Americans make. It's all intentional. Obamacare is their next Trojan Viper."

"They will make whatever deals they have to make now just to get this in place, and then just 'build on it later,' costing taxpayers trillions of dollars," Wilson explained. "In the Senate, they might offer the so-called 'trigger' tied to escalating health costs, only to later simply pull the trigger themselves and implement the government takeover. It's an example of a 'compromise' to win enough votes, along with state "opt-outs," or restricting abortion funding in the House bill."

"As bad as the current healthcare legislation already is, it is really intended to be a Trojan Viper. It will open the door a total government healthcare takeover—even if as Waxman says he doesn't get everything he wants right away," said Wilson. "Then they'll just 'build on it later.'"

Wilson said that, like other government programs, "The costs are radically understated at first, and then they are phased in later with a vengeance."

In the interview, Waxman told the Washington News Observer broadcast news bureau that he thought it was vital to get the bill passed "by the end of the year."

"There are going to be so many pressures next year, especially with the elections looming, that this is our opportunity," said Waxman. "When the Clinton Administration tried to do it, they pushed it off into the second year, and the closer it got to the election, the special interests were able to bring it down."

Wilson agreed that time was not on Congress' side. "The more the people learn about the the government health care takeover, the less they like it, and so Waxman wants the bum's rush," Wilson said. He called on members of the Senate to delay procedural votes on the bill "for as long as they possibly can. The final text of the Senate bill is still not available, and a complete analysis of its contents should be made publicly available prior to any votes."

The Senate is expected to vote on proceeding to the bill tomorrow night at 8PM. "This is an opportunity for the Senate kill this bill. If the vote to proceed passes, then at least 41 Senators must filibuster. It's the only way to stop this madness," Wilson said.

The Senate version of the "public option" will start operating at massive budget-busting deficits starting in 2015, according to an Americans for Limited Government analysis of Congressional Budget Office data. By 2019, the "public option" will have spent some $361 billion more than it took in via new taxes.

"The 'public option' will be losing billions within 5 years," Wilson said, concluding, "and when it's fully implemented, this Trojan Viper government takeover will be losing trillions of dollars, ration health care away from seniors, raise the cost of premiums, drive the American people off of private health options, and bankrupt the Treasury."

For a long time I thought these words so significant then, had lost all relevance

2009-11-20T17:55:00.000Z

1963

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

There's a battle outside

And it is ragin'.

It'll soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'.

Hadley Climate Research Unit Hacked

2009-11-20T17:49:00.001Z

emails and data indicate there may be some hanky panky with the global warming data.

This is potentially huge

from Dr Bulldog:

The Telegraph Picks Up on the Hadley CRU Story
Posted 20 November, 2009 by doctorbulldog

The story is starting to get its legs:

Climategate: the final nail in the coffin of ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming’?

By James Delingpole – blogs.Telegraph.co.uk

If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That)

When you read some of those files – including 1079 emails and 72 documents – you realise just why the boffins at Hadley CRU might have preferred to keep them confidential. As Andrew Bolt puts it, this scandal could well be “the greatest in modern science”. These alleged emails – supposedly exchanged by some of the most prominent scientists pushing AGW theory – suggest:

Conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction
of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of
data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.

One of the alleged emails has a gentle gloat over the death in 2004 of John L Daly (one of the first climate change sceptics, founder of the Still Waiting For Greenhouse site), commenting:

“In an odd way this is cheering news.”

But perhaps the most damaging revelations – the scientific equivalent of the Telegraph’s MPs’ expenses scandal – are those concerning the way Warmist scientists may variously have manipulated or suppressed evidence in order to support their cause.

Here are a few tasters. (So far, we can only refer to them as alleged emails because – though Hadley CRU’s director Phil Jones has confirmed the break-in to Ian Wishart at the Briefing Room – he has yet to fess up to any specific contents.) But if genuine, they suggest dubious practices such as:

Manipulation of evidence:

I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each
series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from 1961 for Keith’s to
hide the decline.

Private doubts about whether the world really is heating up:

The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it
is a travesty that we can’t. The CERES data published in the August BAMS 09
supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are
surely wrong. Our observing system is inadequate.

Suppression of evidence:

Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4?

Keith will do likewise. He’s not in at the moment – minor family
crisis.

Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? I don’t have his new
email address.

We will be getting Caspar to do likewise.

Fantasies of violence against prominent Climate Sceptic scientists:

Next time I see Pat Michaels at a scientific meeting, I’ll be tempted to beat
the crap out of him. Very tempted.

Attempts to disguise the inconvenient truth of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP):

……Phil and I have recently submitted a paper using about a dozen NH records that
fit this category, and many of which are available nearly 2K back–I think that
trying to adopt a timeframe of 2K, rather than the usual 1K, addresses a good
earlier point that Peck made w/ regard to the memo, that it would be nice to try
to “contain” the putative “MWP”, even if we don’t yet have a hemispheric mean
reconstruction available that far back….

And, perhaps most reprehensibly, a long series of communications discussing how best to squeeze dissenting scientists out of the peer review process. How, in other words, to create a scientific climate in which anyone who disagrees with AGW can be written off as a crank, whose views do not have a scrap of authority.

“This was the danger of always criticising the skeptics for not publishing
in the “peer-reviewed literature”. Obviously, they found a solution to that–take
over a journal! So what do we do about this? I think we have to stop considering
“Climate Research” as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should
encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit
to, or cite papers in, this journal. We would also need to consider what we tell
or request of our more reasonable colleagues who currently sit on the editorial
board…What do others think?”

“I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor.”“It results from this journal having a number of editors. The responsible one for this is a well-known skeptic in NZ. He has let a few papers through by Michaels and Gray in the past. I’ve had words with Hans von Storch about this, but got nowhere. Another thing to discuss in Nice !”

Hadley CRU has form in this regard. In September – I wrote the story up here as “How the global warming industry is based on a massive lie” – Hadley CRU’s researchers were exposed as having “cherry-picked” data in order to support their untrue claim that global temperatures had risen higher at the end of the 20th century than at any time in the last millenium. Hadley CRU was also the organisation which – in contravention of all acceptable behaviour in the international scientific community – spent years withholding data from researchers it deemed unhelpful to its cause. This matters because Hadley CRU, established in 1990 by the Met Office, is a government-funded body which is supposed to be a model of rectitude. Its HadCrut record is one of the four official sources of global temperature data used by the IPCC.

I asked in my title whether this will be the final nail in the coffin of Anthropenic Global Warming.
This was wishful thinking, of course. In the run up to Copenhagen, we will see more and more hysterical (and grotesquely exaggerated) stories such as this in the Mainstream Media. And we will see ever-more-virulent campaigns conducted by eco-fascist activists, such as this risible new advertising campaign by Plane Stupid showing CGI polar bears falling from the sky and exploding because kind of, like, man, that’s sort of what happens whenever you take another trip on an aeroplane.

The world is currently cooling; electorates are increasingly reluctant to support eco-policies leading to more oppressive regulation, higher taxes and higher utility bills; the tide is turning against Al Gore’s Anthropogenic Global Warming theory. The so-called “sceptical” view is now also the majority view.

Unfortunately, we’ve a long, long way to go before the public mood (and scientific truth) is reflected by our policy makers. There are too many vested interests in AGW, with far too much to lose either in terms of reputation or money, for this to end without a bitter fight.

But if the Hadley CRU scandal is true,it’s a blow to the AGW lobby’s credibility which is never likely to recover.When the Guardian asked Professor Jones to verify whether these emails were genuine, he refused to comment.

Professor Michael E Mann, director of Pennsylvania State University’s Earth System Science Centre and a regular contributor to the popular climate science blog Real Climate, is another prominent climatologist who features in many of the email exchanges. He said: “I’m simply not going to comment on the content of illegally obtained emails. However, I will say this: both their theft and, I believe, any reproduction of the emails that were obtained on public websites, etc, constitutes serious criminal activity. I’m hoping that the perpetrators and their facilitators will be tracked down and prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows.”

and this from The Guardian:

Climate sceptics claim leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists
Hundreds of emails and documents exchanged between world's leading climate scientists stolen by hackers and leaked online

Leo Hickman

Hundreds of private emails and documents allegedly exchanged between some of the world's leading climate scientists over the past 13 years have been stolen by hackers and leaked online. The computer files were apparently accessed earlier this week from servers at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, a world-renowned centre focused on the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change.

Climate change sceptics who have studied the emails allege that they provide "smoking gun" evidence that some of the climatologists colluded in manipulating data to support the widely held view among the world's climatologists that climate change is real and is being largely caused by the actions of mankind. So far the veracity of the emails has not been confirmed and the scientists involved have declined to comment on the story which broke on a blog called The Air Vent.

The files, which in total amount to 61Mb of data, were first uploaded onto a Russian server, before being widely mirrored across the internet. The emails were accompanied by the anonymous statement, "We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code, and documents. Hopefully it will give some insight into the science and the people behind it."

A spokesperson for the University of East Anglia said: "We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all of this material is genuine. This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation. We are undertaking a thorough internal investigation and we have involved the police in this enquiry."

Professor Phil Jones, the director of Climate Research Unit, features in many of the alleged emails. In one, dated November 1999, he discusses with three other climatologists how best to present data. This sentence, in particular, has been leaped on by sceptics as evidence of manipulating data, but, as yet, the veracity of the email has not been verified by the alleged sender or its recipients.

The emails also illustrate the persistent personal pressure some climatologists have been under from sceptics in recent years. There have been repeated calls, including Freedom of Information requests, for the Climate Research Unit to make public a confidential dataset of land-and-sea temperature recordings that is "value added" by the unit before being used by the Met Office. The emails show the frustration some climatologists have had at having to operate under such intense, often politically motivated, scrutiny.

When the Guardian asked Professor Jones to verify whether these emails were genuine, he refused to comment.

Professor Michael E Mann, director of Pennsylvania State University's Earth System Science Centre and a regular contributor to the popular climate science blog Real Climate, is another prominent climatologist who features in many of the email exchanges. He said: "I'm simply not going to comment on the content of illegally obtained emails. However, I will say this: both their theft and, I believe, any reproduction of the emails that were obtained on public websites, etc, constitutes serious criminal activity. I'm hoping that the perpetrators and their facilitators will be tracked down and prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows."

2009-11-20T17:10:00.000Z

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

ANONYMOUS COMMENTING HAS BEEN DISABLED

DO NOT SEND PASTORIUS ANY EMAILS AT THE CUANASBLOG ACCOUNT

IT MAY HAVE BEEN DAMAGED OR COMPROMISED

(HOPEFULLY THIS IS TEMPORARY AND ULTIMATELY UNNECESSARY)

Midnight Rider's Dream Skeet Shoot

2009-11-20T16:52:00.001Z

Blogger and Email Problems

2009-11-20T13:58:00.007Z

UPDATE: My email is no longer working. I have no access to my email account. Someone, or something, has changed my password. When I go through the prompts to access my password, and I enter the answers, Yahoo tells me my answers are wrong. That is not possible.

If you receive any emails from the cuanasblog email address, they are not from me.

If I someone regain access to my cuanasblog email account, I will let you know here at IBA.

END UPDATE

This morning I am having Blogger and Email problems. I spent 20-30 fruitless minutes attempting over and over to log into my Blogger and Email accounts. Neither worked.

Now, all of the sudden Blogger lets me in, but my Email (which is through Yahoo) still will not allow me in.

My personal Email works, but my CuanasBlog email does not work.

Anyway, the upshot is, if you email me, I will not be receiving the email for the time being.

Eric Holder: Incompetent!

2009-11-20T12:12:00.001Z

Or, maybe agenda driven.

Whatever.

Hat tip to Beamish, who dubbed Eric Holder "The Fool of Law":

2009-11-20T11:24:00.004Z

Al-Qaeda Somalia Abroad: A Threat to Israel and the U.S.
PJM

Earlier this month al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s dangerous Somalian proxy, threatened to attack Israel. “The Jews started to destroy parts of the holy mosque of al-Aqsa and they routinely kill our Palestinian brothers, so we are committed to defend our Palestinian brothers,” an al-Shabaab commander named Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur declared in a firebrand sermon delivered from a small village in Somalia. A local radio station broadcast the sermon and then CNN picked up the story, focusing on the fact that the African-based terror organization was “far from its normal base” in threatening Israel.

In fact, al-Shabaab is very much on the international threat radar these days. So much so that just last month the White House authorized a daring, dangerous, and successful attack against the al-Shabaab/al-Qaeda partnership in Somalia, killing an estimated nine operatives including Saleh Ali Nabhan, who was wanted by the FBI.

The raid, called Operation Celestial Balance, remains officially unconfirmed by the White House. According to eyewitnesses, it took place on September 14 and involved two attack helicopters that were deployed from a nearby Navy ship. The raid echoed the “Black Hawk Down” incident of 1993, but with entirely different results. Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal reports:

A car transporting [Saleh Ali] Nabhan and five other foreign fighters was escorted by another car carrying three Shabaab escorts; the vehicles were hit as they stopped for breakfast as they traveled to Kismayo.

According to one witness, upwards of six helicopters were involved in the raid. At least two AH-6 Little Bird special operations attack helicopters strafed the two-car convoy. Other helicopters dismounted Navy SEALs, who seized the body of Nabhan and another, and purportedly took two other wounded fighters captive. An unconfirmed report indicated that Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow, a senior Shabaab leader, was among those killed.

On October 12, 2009, a jihadi website posted Nabhan’s biography, confirming his death and calling him a “martyred commander.”

In life, Saleh Ali Nabhan’s terror goals were anything but local. He was originally placed on the FBI’s Seeking Information-War on Terrorism list for his role in the East Africa embassy bombings in 1998. In the years since, Nabhan is believed to have been involved in several international terror plots and attacks, including the 2002 Mombasa, Kenya, attacks, which specifically targeted Israeli interests there.

Continued here->

Major Hasan Was On Obama's Presidential Transition Task Force

2009-11-20T03:09:00.003Z

From Weasel Zippers:

Thinking Anew—Security Priorities for the Next Administration

People keep asking me why Obama doesn't think a Fort Hood investigation is really necessary. Why, you wonder?

PROCEEDINGS REPORT OF THE HSPI PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION TASK FORCE April 2008-January 2009

The above are the proceedings of the Presidential Transaction Task Force. Now do a simple search of "Nidal" or "Hasan," guess what you'll find?
...the Fort Hood murderer was a participant.

Another Vast Jewish Conspiracy - British media and society are gripped by lies about a "secret" Israel lobby controlling foreign policy

2009-11-20T02:07:00.002Z

From the Wall Street Journal:

Here is a small selection of events that have taken place in Britain since the end of Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza earlier this year.

The government has imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel and failed to vote against the Goldstone report in the U.N . The charities War on Want and Amnesty International U.K. have both promoted a book by the anti-Israeli firebrand Ben White, tellingly called "Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide." The Trades Union Congress at its annual conference has called for boycotts of Israeli products as well as a total arms embargo.

In the media, the Guardian newspaper has stepped up its already obsessive campaign against the Jewish state to the extent that the paper's flagship Comment is Free Web site frequently features two anti-Israeli polemics on one and the same day.
The BBC continues to use its enormous influence over British public opinion to whitewash anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Middle East. Its Web site, for example, features a profile of Hamas that makes no mention of the group's virulent hatred of Jews or its adherence to a "Protocols of Zion"-style belief in world-wide Jewish conspiracies.
(Click here to read the Hamas Charter)

Readers may be surprised to learn, therefore, that the British media and political establishment is apparently cowering under the sway of a secretive cabal of Zionist lobbyists who have all but extinguished critical opinions of Israel from the public domain.

Such charges have been aired to mass critical acclaim this week in a landmark documentary, "Inside Britain's Israel Lobby," on Channel 4—the same outlet that offered Iran's Holocaust-denying president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an uninterrupted, seven-minute propaganda slot on Christmas Day last year.

The makers of the documentary—top Daily Mail columnist Peter Oborne and TV journalist James Jones—have also written about their program in the Guardian. Both furiously deny that they are peddling conspiracy theories. But the mindset we are dealing with was neatly exposed by the authors' own explanation on how their suspicions were aroused that something sinister is at work in the corridors of British power.

It all transpired, they told readers ominously, during an address earlier this year by Conservative Party leader David Cameron at a dinner hosted by the Conservative Friends of Israel.

"The dominant event of the previous 12 months had been the Israeli invasion of Gaza," they wrote. "We were shocked Cameron made no reference in his speech to the massive destruction it caused, or the 1,370 deaths that resulted, or for that matter the invasion itself. Indeed, our likely future prime minister went out of his way to praise Israel because it 'strives to protect innocent life.' This remark was not intended satirically."

Since it is inconceivable, the authors obviously believe, that anyone could honestly credit Israel with anything other than the most damnable motives it must therefore follow that those who do in fact praise the Jewish state must be being paid or bullied into doing so.

If you think this all sounds familiar, you'd be right. Messrs. Oborne and Jones produced an extensive pamphlet accompanying the documentary, which openly claimed inspiration from none other than John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, authors of "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy"—another conspiracy theory alleging malign Zionist influence in the United States.

But if Messrs. Mearsheimer and Walt at least felt the need to dress up their polemic in pseudo-academic wrapping paper, the sheer amateurishness of the British documentary they inspired is breathtaking. There was the endless superimposition of the Israeli Star of David on to the British flag, which, along with some absurdly melancholic background music, was presumably designed to prepare viewers for an astonishing series of revelations. But of course such revelations actually never materialized.

It turns out from the documentary itself that the allegedly secretive Jewish donors have been quite open in declaring their interests in accordance with the law. One of them, Poju Zabludowicz, the billionaire funder of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) is good friends with Madonna—not exactly the kind of company you'd choose if you were trying to hide behind a veil of obscurity.

Much is also made of the influence of Friends of Israel groupings in the British Parliament. Such allegations are, of course, rendered ridiculous with a moment's reflection on the countervailing influence of vast amounts of Arab oil money, not to mention the fact that membership in such groups for many parliamentarians is either purely formal or outright meaningless. Michael Ancram, for example, a former Northern Ireland minister and a member of Conservative Friends of Israel for more than 30 years, is famous for calling for talks with Hamas.

Given the paucity of the arguments, it would be tempting to dismiss the whole thing as unimportant. Would that we could. The documentary has already provoked a torrent of abuse against British Jews, not least on Channel 4's widely read Web site, whose moderators have seen fit to approve dozens of postings about the Zionist lobby's "seditious behavior," its "disgusting attack on British democracy," "the hand of global Zionism at work," and several along the lines of the following, which said flatly: "We want our country back. The agents of a foreign power embedded at all levels of our government and politics need flushing out."

If this sort of language takes hold, a bad situation in Britain may be about to get a whole lot worse.

Jewish leadership organizations have long feared accusations of divided loyalty between Britain and Israel and, ironically given the charges now being made against them, are frequently criticized in their own communities for failing to be sufficiently robust in Israel's defense. The risk is that some may now be panicked into silence.

Non-Jews who call for a more reasoned discussion of Israel—already a small and diminishing group in Britain—will likely face additional slanders against their integrity: Since there is supposedly no reasonable case to be made in favor of the Jewish state, we must have sold out to the "Lobby."

Such calumnies cannot be allowed to stand. Now more than ever, the forces of reason and decency must continue the fight to be heard.

Mr. Shepherd is director of International Affairs at the Henry Jackson Society. His new book, "A State Beyond the Pale: Europe's Problem With Israel," has just been published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

The Power & Danger of Iconography

2009-11-20T01:54:00.001Z

Barack Obama ran an unprecedented Presidential campaign - utilizing the power of design to help secure the seat of the President of the United States of America. However, his iconic emblem, the ever present "O", holds more power than even Obama knows. Bill Whittle points out the dangers of branding an ideology with an icon and how, perhaps, the powerful symbol will be used against the very man it built up.

2009-11-20T01:00:00.000Z

John Patitucci

Our Family

2009-11-20T00:44:00.000Z

Obama on Stimulus Data Errors: "Accounting is an Inexact Science"

From Stogie (click on title above to read the whole thing.

Fox News reports:

President Obama brushed off criticism over his administration's inaccurate reporting on job creation Wednesday, telling Fox News the accounting is an "inexact science" and that any errors are a "side issue" when compared with the goal of turning the economy around. He said job growth is his No.1 responsibility.

Victor Davis Hanson: Circling Sharks Smell American Blood

2009-11-20T00:05:00.002Z

From VDH:

On his recent trip to Asia, President Obama found China, Japan and South Korea -- like many nations these days -- in no mood to hear more American lectures.

Beijing is worried about owning so much American debt. Tokyo is tiring of an American military base in Okinawa, and wants to redefine its relationship with us. Seoul is starting to doubt American commitment to keep it safe from North Korea.

Why all the sudden pushback to our charismatic president?

Our dollar is crashing, while the price of gold is soaring. The budget deficit has never been worse -- and the president wants to float even more debt for health-care and energy initiatives.

By the end of this presidential term, we may add another $9 trillion to our already astronomical $11 trillion debt. Unemployment has already topped 10 percent. This quarter's trade deficit reached a near-historic high. Our debtors and oil exporters talk of scrapping the dollar as the common international currency.

American hesitation abroad reflects the shaky economic news. In Afghanistan, we can't decide whether to seek victory or admit defeat -- or simply vote present by keeping the status quo. President Obama reached out to enemies like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. But so far they remain unimpressed, despite his apologizing for an assortment of supposed past American sins.

The Chinese don't listen all that much anymore to our sermons on their human-rights, coal-burning and free-trade abuses -- not when they hold $1.5 trillion in U.S. assets. The president took a lot of flak for bowing to Saudi royals and the Japanese emperor. But why wouldn't he show deference -- given America's huge dependence on foreign oil and Japanese imports?

France, of all nations, is now warning us to get a backbone with the Iranians. So far the theocracy has snubbed our new outreach efforts aimed at stopping its nuclear proliferation. Iran's Russian patrons now talk more nicely to us -- but mostly because we caved on land-based missile defense in Eastern Europe, and got nothing really in return.

The Norwegians gave Obama the Nobel Peace Prize after less than a year in office and without any real accomplishments. They must suspect that such global recognition will flatter Obama to push a now-unexceptional America toward a more multilateral perspective in tune with the thinking at the United Nations.

The Obama administration announced a kinder, gentler approach to the war on terror. It serially promised to the world to shut down Guantanamo and loudly derided much of the Bush-era anti-terrorism protocols. We may put on trial former CIA interrogators, while we give civil trials and full American legal protection to the terrorist detainees who planned the 9/11 attacks.

Obama himself has praised the history and culture of the Islamic world, and even fudged the historical record to magnify its achievements.

Yet so far this year authorities broke up three radical Islamic terrorist plots inside the United States. And we lost 12 soldiers and one civilian (with others wounded) at Fort Hood; the accused, a member of our own military, has shown himself to be a Muslim extremist. Al-Qaida promises more attacks, and the Taliban feel that American commitment to a free Afghanistan is weakening.

Add it all up and there is a growing sense that America is in fact hemorrhaging -- as both friends and enemies abroad smell blood in the water.

Go read the whole thing.

Obama Funneling Jizya Through NBC's Parent Company General Electric

2009-11-19T22:04:00.003Z

GE owns NBC. NBC relentlessly sucks up to Obama. Now, GE has decided they must $1 billion in Sharia-compliant bonds.

From Atlas Shrugs:

Shariah Finance Watch writes, "GE’s involvement with promoting Shariah, the barbaric doctrine of the enemies that seek to replace capitalism, end free speech, eliminate rights for women and phase out self-determination, should come as no surprise given their shameful business partnership with the Jihadist regime in Iran, which ended only after media and shareholder scrutiny just resulted in too much heat for GE’s management."
GE Capital plans $1 billion Islamic bond: report hat tip TC
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones) -- General Electric Capital Corp. plans to sell up to $1 billion of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, as early as next week, a banker aware of the deal said Sunday.

GE Capital will meet investors in London following a roasdshow [sic] in Dubai today and in Asia last week, the banker told Zawya Dow Jones.

"The size isn't final yet but it's a benchmark sukuk so we're talking around $1 billion," he said.

Citigroup and Goldman Sachs were mandated as lead arrangers of the bond, he said

Obama's hidden bailout of General Electric | Washington Examiner
Obama helps strengthen General Electric-Putin ties
Does G.E. Stand to Gain From the Obama Administration? - Glenn Beck
General Electric, NBC News and President Obama - Bill O'Reilly ...
FLASHBACK LAST MONTH: Goldman Sachs, Obama, Geithner, Citigroup and 'special interests'
The cynics, and the lobbyists, and the special interests who've turned our government into a game only they can afford to play. They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter; they think they own this government, but we're here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It's time to turn the page.

That line from candidate Obama is worth recalling in light of an interesting AP story today about Treasury Secretary and Bailoutmeister Tim Geithner, headlined, "Mr. Geithner, Wall Street is on line 1 (again)":

They are a small cadre of businessmen who have known and worked with Geithner for years, whose multibillion-dollar companies all survived the economic crisis with help from U.S. taxpayers....

The calendars, obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act, offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the continued influence of three companies -- Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. -- whose executives can reach the nation's most powerful economic official on the phone, sometimes several times a day.
WHAT IS SHARIAH LAW?

Understanding Shariah law is integral to understanding the dangers of Shariah-compliant finance. Shariah law is Islamic law dating back to the 7th century and is today the law of the land in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and the law under which the Taliban operates.

Shariah law authorities, some of whom are now being paid handsomely by Barclays, Dow Jones, Standard & Poors, HSBC, Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Deutschebank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Credit Suisse and others have the power to dictate Shariah compliance as deemed by “scholarly consensus” on matters of finance, family, penal law, apostasy, and war. Examples of authoritarian Shariah law include: requirement of women to obtain permission from husbands for daily freedoms; beating of disobedient woman and girls; execution of homosexuals; engagement of polygamy and forced child marriages; the testimony of four male witnesses to prove rape; honor killings of those, principally women, who have dishonored the family; death to apostate Muslims who chose to leave Islam; inferior status of non-Muslims, and capital punishment for those “slander Islam.”

You know, if Obama and his pals are involved in paying off Islam in this manner, perhaps it would better be called Zakat than Jizya.

What do you think?

2009-11-19T21:42:00.000Z

Dubai: The Pearl Of The Persian Gulf

2009-11-19T20:51:00.001Z

The video that I am going to put up with this blog post shows how prostitution and slavery rackets operate in Dubai. How some women come here to work in the "business" willingly and some are forced into it. I must remind the reader and the viewer that this is but the tip of the iceberg.

Although the following video is from 2004, not much has changed except that the situation here has gotten worse.

Dubai, "the pearl of the Persian Gulf", not only allows prostitution and slavery but makes sure the business runs smoothly for all the PIMPS and BOSSES involved.

The video is about 50 minutes long; it is in Armenian with English subtitles and is worth the watch.

Follow this link to watch the video.