Fresh Tasty Ideas

Research to be published in Nature magazine claims that the Arctic was once 74 degrees Fahrenheit and lush with vegetation like sequoia and cypress trees:

Millions of years ago the Earth experienced an extended period of natural global warming. But around 55 million years ago there was a sudden supercharged spike of carbon dioxide that accelerated the greenhouse effect.

Scientists already knew this “thermal event” happened but are not sure what caused it. Perhaps massive releases of methane from the ocean, the continent-sized burning of trees, lots of volcanic eruptions.

The Northern Hemisphere emerged from a miniature ice age only 11,000 years ago. The earth’s temperature levels have been fluctuating for as long as the earth has existed.

Enter enviromentalist fanatics, led by head penguin Al Gore, who claim categorically that global warming is the fault of humanity. Question this “fact” and you’ll be labeled a tool of big oil, a backward luddite, or a fascist neo-con.

In fact, Al Gore’s statement that there is a consensus on global warming is a blatant lie. Just this past April in Canada, leading scientists from around the nation wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Harper which stated:

Observational evidence does not support today’s computer climate models, so there is little reason to trust model predictions of the future. Yet this is precisely what the United Nations did in creating and promoting Kyoto…

“Climate change is real” is a meaningless phrase used repeatedly by activists to convince the public that a climate catastrophe is looming and humanity is the cause. Neither of these fears is justified. Global climate changes all the time due to natural causes and the human impact still remains impossible to distinguish from this natural “noise.”

It might be a little easier to believe the people who claim that the end is nigh if they didn’t have a history of scaring us with environmental doomsday scenarios (and being totally wrong about them). Global cooling anyone? Only 20 short years ago (using data that is now used to prove man’s hand in global warming) scientists were warning of the coming food shortages and famines associated with a period of global cooling. And let’s not forget the dire predictions of acid rain, and that ozone hole that has since repaired itself quite nicely.

In his inagural address to the nation, the President of the United States once said:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This bold affirmation of liberty and freedom was part of a new doctrine. The date was the 20th of January, 1961. The president was in fact not Republican George W. Bush, but Democrat John F. Kennedy. Flash forward now to 2006: what has happened to that belief in liberty within the Democratic party as a fundamental human right? Where is the dedication to the spread of liberty around the world?

Reading far-left blogs such as Daily Kos and Think Progress causes me much sadness. Here are people that delight in the failings of the US within Iraq and Afghanistan. They rejoice when Afghanis riot against their new, democratic government. They point their fingers across the political aisle to say “I told you so” when Marines die in Falluja or when a Blackhawk helicopter is downed by terrorists. They read with baited breath of how US Marines allegedly massacred Iraqi civilians and hope that finally American troops will be brought home so that Iraq will fall into the hands of the Islamic terrorists.

Every IED that kills a US solider, every civilian contractor that is brutally tortured and killed, and every Iraqi civilian that is killed by a suicide bomber is a crushing blow. American families greive their lost loved ones who will never return from duty, Iraqi families greive their lost loved ones who won’t come home from a trip to the market. These deaths are also blows to the Bush administration, and to Bush’s reputation himself. This is no doubt why the left finds it difficult to contain their exuberance regarding mistakes and setbacks in Iraq.

But above all, each of the above events represent a small defeat for liberty. Terrorists in Iraq, streaming in from Iran and Syria, want nothing more than the eradication of freedom and democracy. In fact, they want the antithesis to these concepts — they want Islamic law, or Shariah. And to accomplish this, they want to force out the American military. There is then no doubt that some Islamic extremists loyal to the terrorists within Iraq (as well as their aims) are allying themselves with the global anti-war movement. Because American troops will never lose on the battlefield, and the terrorists know this.

So why have Democrats abandoned their belief in liberty? How has the party gone from “bear any burden” to “democracy just isn’t for everyone” (this is a popular sentiment now among part of the left)? And how has political bickering become more important than seeing through America’s mission in Iraq and Afghanistan? For those who hate Bush, who despise Republican stances on taxes or on education, for even the people who don’t believe that the WMD intelligence, although incorrect, wasn’t falsified — how can you justify cheering on the enemies of liberty? What cause is greater?

Democracy in Iraq is far from the democracy you or I know. But the world has no other choice than to promote democracy in nations that breed violence, instability, and terrorism. Not so coincidentally, these are Islamic nations. But democracy is a tool, and this tool can and will tear apart the stranglehold that clerics and mullahs have over their people. And to think peace can be obtained otherwise — without giving liberty to those who now live without it — is horribly mistaken.

Kennedy, Bush, liberty, democracy, Iraq, democrats, republicans, politics, religion, Islam, terrorism

According to numbers compiled by Congressman Steve King of Iowa, the civilian death rate is lower in Baghdad than it is in Washington, D.C. King claims that approximately 28 civilians per 100,000 suffer violent deaths in the capital of Iraq, whereas than number is 45 per 100,000 in the District of Columbia. It is interesting to note that Washington, D.C. has had an unconstitutional gun ban for more than 25 years, and has 50% more violent deaths per capita annually than Baghdad.

Washington D.C. isn’t alone in its dubious distinction — several American cities have shockingly high violent death rates. Here are the other cities that are more violent than Baghdad, with the violent death per 100,000 civilians in parenthesis:

• Detroit (41.8)
• Baltimore (37.7)
• Atlanta (34.9)
• St. Lous (31.4)
• New Orleans, pre-Katrina (53.1)

There’s a very non-politically correct statistic that is common all six of these cities. Click below to find out.

Update: Here’s a site that challenges Rep. King’s numbers. They basically claim that he has used incorrect data and that he’s comparing national numbers for Iraq with city-wide numbers for America.

crime, Iraq, murder, Steve King, gun crime, Baghdad

In a post from last week, Cold Turkey, I noted that so-called “honor killings” claim the lives of over 300 girls annually in Turkey. The supposedly hard-line secular government in Turkey has taken up a firm position against this barbaric practice by enacting a new penal code which sentences the killers to life.

But the problem continues, because family and tradition are more influential than the law in Turkey it appears. Now, women who shame their families (sometimes by only being the subject of a rumour) are asked to kill themselves, and spare their male family members imprisonment.

Notice that it isn’t men who are commiting suicide to save the family’s honor — just women. Like any society in which Islam is integral, the women suffer. The article mentions that in addition to being forced into killing themselves, up to half of the women in Turkey are physically abused on a regular basis. Turkey may be leaps and bounds ahead of Islamic states like Iran and Pakistan, but that really isn’t saying much.

honor killing, Turkey, misogyny, suicide, women, violence, Sharia

Take that you cheese-eatin’ surrender monkeys! “California winemakers best French rivals.” Again. No, I don’t really care that much. But it is funny that our vintners, in less than 50 years, surpassed in quality what the French have been doing for centuries. Or is it that California is just a better place for growing wine? God knows I couldn’t tell the difference between them though, I can barely pick a Zinfandel from a Cabernet, and I’m being honest. But still, ha ha Frenchie! We’re #1! USA! USA! (That oughta make liberal heads asplode)

Napa, Wine, France, California, Judgement of Paris

Just got this email via a family member. I thought it was appropriate given the convictions of Lay and Skilling today:

A city boy, Kenny, moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day the farmer drove up and said, “Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.”

Kenny replied, “Well then, just give me my money back.”

The farmer said, “Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.”

Kenny said, “OK then, just unload the donkey.”

The farmer asked, “What ya gonna do with him?”

Kenny, “I’m going to raffle him off.”

Farmer, “You can’t raffle off a dead donkey!”

Kenny, “Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he is dead.”

A month later the farmer met up with Kenny and asked, “What happened with that dead donkey?”

Kenny, “I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00.”

Farmer, “Didn’t anyone complain?”

Kenny, ” Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.”

Kenny grew up and eventually became the chairman of Enron…

Not a bad one, eh? Although I think someone just remembered this little story today, and tacked on the last line.

Lay, Enron, Skilling

Al Gore’s travels across the United States produce far more carbon dioxide than the average American, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. While this doesn’t detract from Gore’s overall global warming argument, it does show that he doesn’t take his own message seriously. In “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gore recommends reducing air travel and driving — but apparently not for himself.

global warming, Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, carbon dioxide, greenhouse

Apparently, the Michigan Department of Education is considering purging the words “American” and “America” from textbooks and curricula. Their reasoning? America refers to not just the United States, but also Canada, Mexico, Central America and South America. No alternative for what to call residents of the United States is given. United Statesians anyone? If you want even more confusion, read the article to see how they recommend refering to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson before and after the “North American Revolution” (formerly known as the American Revolution).

This is what the liberal jackasses on the Michigan Board of Education waste their time with? Aren’t there more important issues than destroying our language and culture in the name of “international friendliness?” It’s no wonder our public schools suck.

American, America, political correctness, Michigan, education

If I ever hear a resident of New Orleans complain about the state, local, or federal government’s response to hurricane Katrina again, well, I simply can’t be held responsible for what I do next. I mean seriously, they re-elected Nagin as mayor.

New Orleans, Nagin, Katrina, Louisiana

Thanks to LGF, I’ve come across two pieces detailing the negative feelings that ordinary Germans have towards Islam. Here are just a few:

• 91% of Germans associate Islam with the oppression of women (4% of Germans are Muslim), up from 85% in 2004
• 71% of Germans say Islam is intolerant, up from 66% in 2004
• 60% expect tensions between traditional German society and immigrants from Islamic countries, and 56% say a “clash of cultures” already exists

And these feelings despite the happy picture of multiculturalism that the German government has tried to paint. Can you imagine what people might think if their government was unbiased on the issue? But perhaps most shocking is the extent to which some Germans will go to stop violence in the name of Islam:

• 56% of Germans want to ban the building of Mosques, given that some Islamic states ban churches
• 40% want to ban the practice of Islam, if it leads to less violence

Thomas Mann said that “tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil,” and I think that’s what some Germans are realizing. It might be time to re-evaluate the notion of freedom of religion, especially in the case of Islam. And this isn’t coming from some American “neo-con” — it’s coming from Germans who live amongst these Islamic immigrants. Can we tolerate a religion, which to some definite degree, calls for our conversion, and if we refuse, our destruction? I don’t think that’s the idea of religion that the American founding fathers had when they drafted the Constitution. I don’t think that’s the idea that any of the great Western thinkers had when they imagined the freedom to practice any religion.

Islam, Germany, Muslim, culture war, misogyny, terrorism