Global Warming Disclaimer

Ah, those darn scientists think of everything, but really, what do you expect from people that spend so much time getting educated?

The Earth, it seems, might actually cool over the next decade (as it has this past decade) according to German climatologists studying newly devised computer models. But about 2015, watch out! The temperature might start to rise again.

"Just to make things clear, we are not stating that anthropogenic [man-made] climate change won't be as bad as previously thought," said Mojib Latif, a professor at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, northern Germany.

"What we are saying is that on top of the warming trend, there is a long-periodic oscillation that will probably lead to a lower temperature increase than we would expect from the current trend during the next years."

Fellow author Johann Jungclaus of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, likened the trend to "driving from the coast to a mountainous area and crossing some hills and valleys before you reach the top."

So, to follow the logic correctly, if temperatures rise over the next decade it will be the result of man driven activity. However, if temperatures cool over the next decade it will be because of a natural change in Earth temperature cycles, temporarily disguising man's climactic malevolence.

No word yet on whether the new computer models can explain the warming trend on Mars.

More Text Messages Haunt Detroit

If they are not there yet, the citizens of Detroit must be getting pretty close to that symbolic point of no return if they have had any time to digest the latest damaging court document to be made public yesterday by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge, Robert J. Colombo Jr.

The 18 page document (via the Detroit Free Press) exposes the moral and ethical decay of those now leading the city through its assumed power in the mayor's office and its police department.

If Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty had been half as concerned with providing their city an effective administration as they were with covering their asses to the public while baring them to each other, the city wouldn't be facing all the problems they are facing now.

Would the city still be facing blight? Sure, six years is not enough to wipe out decades of neglect. Would there still be administrative problems? Of course. Dennis Archer took great strides in taking a broken political machine and transforming it into a machine less bureaucratic and more responsive--but there was still a long way to go. Dennis Archer deserves a lot of credit, for he was the one that got the trend started, but it was up to his successor to keep the positive momentum going.

Alas, along came Kwame Kilpatrick assisted by the pretty yet malcontented Christine Beatty. Kilpatrick and Beatty, given the opportunity to serve together on the governing board, could turn heaven into a hell hole before lunch. That they had six years to conspire, manipulate the system, obfuscate, posture, and lie unchecked to everyone that surrounded them could not have boded well for the city's continued recovery. Those that they could not corrupt and draw into their schemes they fired or pushed aside. Those that they could influence were promoted or given favors.

City services? Gee, wouldn't an extra $8.4 million laying around help out just a little?

The embarrassment of their exposed sexual dalliance cannot be easy to bear--no one wants that stuff public. But, as far as the city goes, that should not be its personal shame. What Detroit will have the most difficulty overcoming are the layers of suspect bureaucrats that have risen to the top in Kwame's six years of you-scratch-my-back administrative protocols. Six years is a lot of time to frustrate the effective and reward the crony.

Current Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings is but one such example. The court documents show that Bully-Cummings was at least aware of the conspiracy to fire internal affairs chief Gary Brown if not involved in the plot itself. Now she sits atop the police department. That has to be comforting.

Given the conniving that is so well documented now by all the text messages that have become exposed (among the many more that are irrelevant to this case and therefore not released) how can Detroiters and Michiganders be anything but suspicious about greater undiscovered corruptions that might yet exist, and how deeply their roots may have burrowed into the city bureaucracy?

I don't know if Kwame Kilpatrick can last out this term, but one thing is for sure. When Kwame does leave office his successor will have to dismiss a lot of suspect employees that have percolated to the top of the mess.

A great place to start would be Ella Bully-Cummings.

Carter Roundup

It seems like I've been pummeling a deceased equine, but in the case of Jimmy Carter, I'm not the only one taking a swat.

PowerLine quips that a sucker is born every minute, but a sucker like Jimmy Carter is born only once or twice a century, while Front Page Magazine laments that, like a bad penny that is always turning up, Jimmy Carter is at it again.

Carter should have his passport pulled and the Justice Department should take a serious look at whether Carter's misguided international dapplings are chargeable under the Logan Act.

It is bad enough that he makes himself look a fool when fawning over verified terrorists and terrorist sympathizers, it is much worse that his excursions could lead to misinterpretations of official US foreign policy by rouge regimes led by mostly butt-cracks and assholes bent on the destruction of western civilization.

It is perfectly understandable why a hemorrhoid like Jimmy Carter would feel at home amongst such company. What is not understandable is why George Bush did not put an end to all this silliness long ago.

Rev. Wright Trying to Kill Obama Campaign UPDATED

What do you do when the cow is threatening to die? Its wheezes are becoming weaker and weaker, its eyes glazing, its strength fleeting. What do you do if that cow is the proverbial cash cow, the cow on which you have staked your fame and fortune?

If you are Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's spiritual adviser for over 20 years, you prop up that beast with every means at your disposal. Jeremiah Wright is, as we speak, resuscitating his cash cow of victimhood, caring little about whom he takes down with him.

Mr. Wright gave speeches over the past couple of days that have done nothing but further clouded the Presidential candidacy of his church's most famous member.

Rather than apologize for his lunacy conspiracy theories, Wright wrote more chapters. Rather than take a step toward embracing the country that has heaped fantastic financial and social benefits upon him, Wright has thrown down the gauntlet. Rather than quietly retreat from Barack Obama's Presidential campaign, Wright has attached a grappling hook onto the pant leg of Obama, and Obama cannot distance himself, regardless of how diplomatically he might try.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright does not want Barack Obama to win the Presidency, for with that high honor, an honor that is impossible without the support of tens of millions white voters, the cash cow of victimhood will have given up its last drop of financial elixir, and the good Reverend, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, is still thirsty.

UPDATE 9:41 PM.

It looks like Obama is going to try and distance himself, and not in a diplomatic fashion. (Not that it will work.)

Anyone who thinks that Barack Obama has finally seen the man hiding behind the curtain is deeply intoxicated or daft. What Obama has finally recognized is that that Dr. Wright was doing serious damage to his campaign and that he was not going to go down quietly.

Are we to believe that the man that Obama saw speaking yesterday was not the same man that he met 20 years ago? Or should we instead believe that Mr. Obama was too gullible to believe that which America figured out the first time it saw the raving Reverend rooster banter on about whiteness, AIDS, America and slavery?

This is nothing more than damage control on Obama's part. Too bad it didn't take place 19 years ago.

Cialis Blogging

This is just one of those days when blogging, if it occurs, will occur spontaneously and perhaps much later in the day--sort of like one of those Cialis moments, only without the actual pill, the sultry music or, for that matter, without the annoying commercial advertisements that usually come on when I'm watching television with my daughter.

Who knows, this blogging hiatus could last all of 36 hours, but I'll be ready when the conditions are right.

UN Exposed Again

The United Nations is little more than a loosely grouped collection of mostly vagabonds with few collective goals and fewer constraints within its flailing bureaucracy to do much of anything about it--if it even wanted to.

Seeking peace? The UN would really love them some peace too, as long as the warring factions would just lay down their guns on their own without UN forces actually having to, you know, face the sights of a rifle.

UN troops stood by and watched villages wiped out in the Balkans, watched villages get wiped out in Rwanda, and watched tens of thousands of people die in the Sudan before being able to officially document it as "not genocide." Not content to simply watch the victimization of villagers in DR Congo, UN peace keepers got into the act themselves and were widely engaged in an epidemic of sexual assault.

The UN has provided cover to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon as they have rearmed for the oncoming onslaught against Israel as well as lined their own pockets in the oil for food scandal.

Things just don't seem to be getting much better as it appears as if the UN is the gift that keeps on giving.

The BBC is reporting tonight that UN troops in DR Congo have also been involved in the arms trade, ivory trade, illegal gold trade, and the propping up of the militia primarily responsible for mass murder in Rwanda.

Is this a surprise to anyone?

Warning Label, Please

Six specific usage warnings are itemized on the label of Exlax, this in addition to two lines on the specific dosage.

Do you think the producers of Our Family prune juice could possibly mention it to us ignorant first time users not to slug a couple cups before heading to a track meet?

Kwame Kilpatrick Takes No Stuff (While Detroit Needs a Lot of It)

Though Mr. Kilpatrick will tell you differently, the mayor of Detroit has ceased to make decisions concerning the fate of his once great city for any other reason than how it might affect Kwame Kilpatrick. This is a great way to choose socks in the morning, it is not a great way to serve as mayor.

Kwame will posture and he will obfuscate. He will dodge, dismiss and dispel. He will get indignant and he will defend. What he will not do is take ownership for his actions, nor will he pursue any outcomes that he thinks are not in the best personal interests of one Kwame M. Kilpatrick.

The City of Detroit be damned.

Now, I don't begrudge any man a healthy disinterest in trudging off to prison. But, seriously, this is not about guilt or innocence anymore. That issue will be decided in court whether Mr. Kilpatrick is in office or not. Rather, this is about whether or not the Mayor of Detroit is able to execute the responsibilities of his office in an efficient manner, and in a way that benefits the city of Detroit. Kwame has long ago decided it is in his bests interests to cling to his city job by well manicured fingernails, unfortunately, he has not seriously considered the needs of the city to which he clings.

If he leaves, his city will be filled with chaos, he says. Are you kidding me? If Kwame hasn't already recognized the chaos in Detroit these days he wouldn't recognize it if it did a topless spiked-heels table dance on the granite liquor bar at the Manoogian Mansion.

He loves his city, he says, because "it is a community that doesn't take no stuff."

That, I think, could also be a personal motto for Kwame Kilpatrick. (Well, that and maybe, "where are the strippers?") He is a man that doesn't take no stuff. This is not, however, a mentality that should be thrown onto the back of a community in dire need of a lot of stuff, stuff that it requires to be able to meet the basic needs of its existing citizens, let alone stuff that it needs to attract the businesses and jobs necessary for better times.

"Taking no stuff" of course, refers to disrespect and criticism. Unfortunately for most of the mortal men I've encountered in my life, taking stuff, though seldom pleasant and often humbling, is sometimes absolutely necessary. When a person decides to take no stuff, he defensively ignores necessary criticisms and advice. When a mortal man projects his "take no stuff" attitude onto a foundering city that desperately needs all the help it can get, that city suffers for one man's stubborn pride.

I've known a lot of people that wouldn't take no stuff. Fortunately, for their own sake, most of those people changed their attitude before they reached a cruelly candid adult life.

Kwame did not change his. Because of this, and because Detroit is solidly strapped to Kwame's back, the city cannot.

Detroit Red Wings!

Last night the Red Wings played the first game in their Western Conference Semifinals series against the once hated Colorado Avalanche.

I guess it was a good game too.

On Versus.

I'm beginning to wonder why I follow the team so closely during the regular season just so that I can get shut out of some of the most exciting playoff action.

Thanks a lot Gary Bettman.

Malaysian Court To Consider A Woman's Right to Choose....Her Religion

Who ever said that Muslims can be a bit controlling of women?

Well, let me tell you that the Malaysian high court is wasting no time putting that little issue to bed, not only going so far as to consider whether a woman is capable of renouncing her own religion, but also by only taking several weeks to do so.

You've come a long way baby...

Indiana Republican Courts the Nazi Vote

How can a guy get a law degree and yet remain so ignorant about history, naive about human nature, and so totally stupid when it comes to making campaign decisions?

Yep, a Republican, trying to get his message out, gives a speech to the Nazis at an event honoring the birthday of Adolph Hitler.

From The News-Dispatch

CROWN POINT, Ind. - If fans of Hitler held a party, and a candidate for federal office attended, would anybody notice?

Apparently, yes.

U.S. Congressional candidate Tony Zirkle is facing criticism from one of his primary opponents, and a host of people on the Internet, for speaking at an event over the weekend that celebrated Adolf Hitler's birthday.

Zirkle confirmed to The News-Dispatch on Monday he spoke Sunday in Chicago at a meeting of the Nationalist Socialist Workers Party, whose symbol is a swastika.

When asked if he was a Nazi or sympathized with Nazis or white supremacists, Zirkle replied he didn't know enough about the group to either favor it or oppose it.

"This is just a great opportunity for me to witness," he said, referring to his message and his Christian belief.

h/t LGF

Jimmy Carter

This is pure Michael Ramirez.



A donkey like that should wear pants.

h/t QandO Blog

Jimmy Carter's Fantasy

There is a short post on Power Line this morning that addresses the great stupidity of Jimmy Carter and his pandering to middle east terrorists and providing them exactly the propaganda opportunity they were looking for.

But old Jimmy wasn't content to simply play the fool once, he played it again upon his exit stating that he had achieved a major breakthrough with Hamas and that Hamas is now ready to recognize the state of Israel's right to exist.

Hamas has a different story.

Rougman Has the Flu

Which means he is highly irritable and unlikely to post much of anything for the remainder of the day. Rougman hates the flu. Which means, I suppose, that according to Nora Ephron, I won't be voting for the flu in any upcoming election.

According to Nora:

But now there are two and we’re facing Pennsylvania and whom are we kidding? This is an election about whether the people of Pennsylvania hate blacks more than they hate women. And when I say people, I don’t mean people, I mean white men.

It sounds like white men in Pennsylvania can only meet the strict non-hating standards of leftist liberal Nora Ephron by sitting this one out entirely or by voting for both candidates. Though technically, sitting this one out might mean dual hating equivalence--so charges could still be warranted.

Voting for both candidates might fall a bit outside the voting guidelines but it ain't like a hater needs much of an incentive to do something outrageous and evil. War for oil and all that.

I wonder if it ever entered into this ditz's mind that honest caring people could choose not to vote for the woman candidate or for the black candidate because they dislike socialism? Seriously, shouldn't we pay at least a little bit of attention to the things that the candidates are saying?

I thought that is why they were campaigning. My mistake. Probably the flu.

h/t Protein Wisdom

Michigan and the UAW

The UAW is an organization whose umbrella's shadow spreads across the breadth and depth of this country. It does not notice the geographical boundaries of Michigan as they bleed away into Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin. A UAW represented job in Indiana or Texas is every bit as important as one that is represented in Michigan. It isn't in the charter of the UAW to try and coddle a state where many of its jobs happen to be located.

The UAW is, in effect, a corporate-like organization looking out for all of their shareholders (members) much in the same way that GM and Ford must look after theirs.

If people are critical of the big three for not recognizing that Michigan suffers when they lay off local workers, they should at least be as critical of the UAW that looks at raw union membership numbers ahead of any sort of state loyalty. If people are critical of GM, Ford and Chrysler for leaving the state, they should be at least as bitter at the UAW for giving them so many incentives to shuffle across the border.

Which brings me to a quote from today's Lansing State Journal that concerns two concurrent strikes taking place in the Lansing area:

"I don't think this strike is that big a deal at all for GM," said David Cole, chairman of the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research.

"What really matters is that this strike is saying: 'This state is an unfriendly place to bring new manufacturing jobs.' "

The labor unrest could make other companies think twice about locating new factories in the state. For example, no foreign car maker has built an assembly plant in Michigan, instead choosing locations such as Alabama and Texas.

Cole said the UAW doesn't seem to understand that the union's actions harm Michigan.

"I wish (UAW President) Ron Gettelfinger would look in the mirror and say 'I am killing Michigan' and understand what he is doing," Cole said.

With all due respect to Mr. Cole, I think Ron Gettelfinger does understand what these strikes do to the reputation of Michigan as a place to conduct business, I just do not believe that is of any concern to him. He simply could not care less. Gettelfinger, despite his reputation as being a short tempered jerk, can still see charts and read the statistics.

Ron Gettelfinger, president of the UAW, doesn't see this as Michigan vs. Indiana or Alabama or Texas. He sees this as the UAW versus the fat cat auto industry executives. This is rich versus poor as far as he is concerned. This is the haves versus the have-nots. And, incidentally, Gettelfinger is from Kentucky and received his college education in Indiana. If Gettelfinger had to choose between Michigan and Kentucky or Indiana he might very well choose Kentucky or Indiana.

Which is really a shame because Michigan has been very friendly to the unions. Many of those in our state government (up to and including our current governor) are still beholden to organized labor even though organized labor has long ago abandoned any loyalty to Michigan. Our legislature has, through the years, passed a lot of legislation aimed at strengthening the union and granting it legal leverage. Right to work? Not here.

The truly sad thing is that most UAW members from Michigan would prefer to stay in Michigan and appreciate the state despite the animus of Gettelfinger. They do appreciate its four seasons and its incredible outdoor opportunities. Despite labor's relatively high wage scale in Michigan, the state remains much less expensive than many to live in.

While it might be their desire for many Michigan auto workers to stay in Michigan, it isn't necessarily Gettelfinger's concern to keep their jobs here. Gettelfinger is a bottom line man, and the bottom line is measured in different terms. He rolls the dice with someone else's job, not his own.

So, good luck to you workers that have thrown in your lot and faith with Ron Gettelfinger. I do hope it does work out. However, I also hope you are aware of something, that snowmobile in your garage won't work all that well in the hill country of Texas.

Fred Phelps Has Kindred Spirits

Maybe Fred Phelps should look east to find himself a country he can support after all!

From Dhimmi Watch: Iran leads the world in executions of homosexuals

Kwame Kilpatrick's Animal House Antics

I remember a classic line from the movie Animal House where young obsequious pledges to the Omegas are paddled. After each whack the pledges howl, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

This is what came to mind this morning as I belatedly read an article from yesterday's Detroit News that covered the "Pancakes and Politics" forum in Birmingham. I'm not so certain what Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick isn't conducting a simple fraternity style hazing of city residents.

Invited panelist at the forum were Kilpatrick, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and Macomb County Commission Chairman William Crouchman.

What struck me the most was near the end of the article.

Before the breakfast give-and-take started, Kilpatrick arrived via the back door with two security guards and began going table to table, greeting attendees.

While waiting to address the business and political leaders, the mayor was flanked by his press secretary, a body guard and a mayoral appointee who works as his advance person. Ficano, Crouchman and Patterson stood alone.

[...]

When the four leaders were introduced, Kilpatrick received the loudest applause.

Thank you sir, may I have another?

Before it is all over with Detroit will be receiving plenty more.

Joe Knollenberg vs. Jimmy Carter

Rep. Joe Knollenberg is challenging Jimmy Carter. His point is well taken--tax dollars should never be showered onto an organization that willfully supports activities that undercut America's foreign policy and that provide legitimacy and propaganda opportunities for terrorist organizations.

Like Hamas. Like Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

"America must speak with one voice against our terrorist enemies. It sends a fundamentally troubling message when an American dignitary is engaged in dialogue with terrorists. My legislation will make sure that taxpayer dollars are not being used to support discussions or negotiations with terrorist groups."

For the record, it is estimated that American taxpayers have already given Carter's The Carter Center some $19 million dollars since its founding.

Money down a rat hole.

Cliff May (h/t Dhimmi Watch) in a Boston Herald op-ed piece this morning explains why negotiating with terrorist is so dangerous. Particularly negotiating with one that proclaims “the Koran is our constitution, Jihad is our way, and death for the sake of God is our highest aspiration.”

additional h/t to Front Page Magazine

Abortion Art at Yale UPDATED

What happened to the good old days when art projects were oil on canvas and abortion was about the safety and health of the mother?

Those days are long gone at Yale.

From the Yale Daily News:

Art major Aliza Shvarts '08 wants to make a statement.

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.

The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body. But her project has already provoked more than just debate, inciting, for instance, outcry at a forum for fellow senior art majors held last week. And when told about Shvarts' project, students on both ends of the abortion debate have expressed shock . saying the project does everything from violate moral code to trivialize abortion.

But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for "shock value."

"I hope it inspires some sort of discourse," Shvarts said. "Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it's not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone."

The "fabricators," or donors, of the sperm were not paid for their services, but Shvarts required them to periodically take tests for sexually transmitted diseases. She said she was not concerned about any medical effects the forced miscarriages may have had on her body. The abortifacient drugs she took were legal and herbal, she said, and she did not feel the need to consult a doctor about her repeated miscarriages.

Shvarts declined to specify the number of sperm donors she used, as well as the number of times she inseminated herself.

This is one of the most blatant acts of selfishness I've ever heard of. I guess the days of the reluctant mother and the bloody hanger have been eclipsed by the narcissist driven rapid fire body purge. This, of course, brought to you by the founding fathers and their insistence on a right to privacy.

h/t to Cassy Fiano at Wizbang who cannot believe Yale would approve of such a thing.

UPDATE 7:49

This directly from Yale University.

New Haven, Conn. — April 17, 2008

Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body.

She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art.

Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.

This is absolute insanity. It might be time for the Yale medical school to put this woman and her adviser under observation.

Bruce Springsteen Endorses Obama

The Boss has gone ahead and endorsed Barack Obama. Wow, that ought to reel them in.

From the Lansing State Journal:

WASHINGTON - Rock star Bruce Springsteen endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president Wednesday.

[...]

"He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next president," the letter [on his website] said. "He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where '...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.' "

That is pretty deep Bruce. For the people!

Seriously, does a poor-singing musician deserve national political press coverage simply because he has produced 35 years worth of crappy to quite average music? Sure, he's been speaking about the poor working man and about unfortunate youthful procreation for decades, but the tenets of most of his songs, particularly those that deal with unplanned impregnation, are nothing but steep personal laments in horribly butchered prose. Personal responsibility? Nah. I suppose that is a problem for a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems to solve.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd have to give the Springsteen endorsement about a 3. He got to dance with Courtney Cox, but his vocals on "We are the world" could melt paint. Which is better than the 2 I think Elton John deserves. At least if Bruce gets into the money raising thing for his favorite candidate, it will be legal.

With all things considered I'm going to look outside the box for cutting edge political punditry and endorsements of significance. Heck, I know a mechanic that knocked up his high school girlfriend and served in the military.

Maybe I should ask him who he's voting for.