Today’s links to interesting news and analysis…
- Disturbing news: “The Guantánamo ‘Suicides’: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle“, Scott Horton, Harpers, January 2010
- New Scientist’s Editors ask IPCC for explanation of their egregious error about melting of the Himalayan glaciers: “Sifting climate facts from speculation“, 13 January 2010 — IMO they’re saying “please lie to us”, as the obvious facts described here are too unpleasant to acknowledge.
- Two years ago experts worried that we were running out: “Natural gas under Gulf may be too much of a good thing“, Houston Chronicle, 15 January 2010
- “NASA GISS Inaccurate Press Release On The Surface Temperature Trend Data“, Roger Pielke Sr, at his website, 16 January 2010 — Note links given to the some of the many peer-reviewed papers questioning accuracy of the global climate databases.
- “Meet the Real Jack Bauers“, Marc A. Thiessen, National Review Online, 18 January 2010 — “In Courting Disaster, the real CIA interrogators explain why their methods bear no resemblance to what you see on Fox’s 24.”
- Nice summary of the debate about using the “tribes” (an absurd term) to win in Afghanistan: “The World According to Gant“, Michael Cohen, Democracy Arsenal, 18 January 2010 — Follow the links to the actual reports and articles!
Special feature: We’re in year 3 of the recession. Reserves exhausted, some families, businesses, and even nations are sliding to the edge.
- Bad news, but California is not the only State at risk: “California at the Brink of Financial Disaster“, Michael E. Genest (California Director of Finance), 13 January 2010
- Much of Eastern Europe is also in trouble: “Ukraine Is Headed for National Bankruptcy“, op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, 17 January 2010
- “Illinois enters a state of insolvency“, Crain’s Communications, 18 January 2010
- A potential flash point for a global crisis: “Grεεk dεbt disastεr“, Tracy Alloway, blog of the Financial Times, 18 January 2010 — Excellent summary of what is probably a “no exit” situation
Quote of the Day
Excerpt from “The Truth Shall Set You Free (Offer Not Applicable in the Netherlands)“, Mark Steyn, National Review Online, 17 January 2010:
This sounds very familiar. During my long battles with Canada’s disgusting and corrupt “human rights” thought-police, I was frequently told (by lawyers, experts, “human rights” activists, Islamists et al) that “truth is no defense.” The factual accuracy of what I’d written was never in dispute; it was whether or not it was legal to say it, however accurate it may be. And so it goes at Geert Wilders’s show trial:
“It is irrelevant whether Wilder’s witnesses might prove Wilders’ observations to be correct”, the ‘Openbaar Ministerie’ stated, “what’s relevant is that his observations are illegal”.
{Source: “”Shrugging off Spinoza”, Arthur Legger (SpringPeople Analysis & Text, Senior International Reporter), posted at Tidsskriftet Sappho (“the free press magazine), 17 January 2010 — Note the links at the end.}An “Openbaar Ministerie” sounds like my kind of government department, where the booze flows as freely as the trillion-dollar line-items. But it is, in fact, the prosecution service of the Dutch Ministry of Justice — although, given the state of Dutch “justice,” the Ministry for Openly Barring Persons may be a more accurate translation.
Afterword
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Yes, Mark Steyn. The KKK may have some valid points now and then, but they are still the KKK
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FM reply: Yes, the “ugly lying smear to avoid dealing with the points raised by folks you disagree with.” Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels would be proud of you. (A KKK analogy deserves a NAZI analogy in reply. See how the mud you throw sticks so nicely to you as well)
Freedom of Information Act
One area where the US is lightyears ahead of many European naions. I can think of anyone but Sweden who can live up to those standards. Do fight to keep them high.
“This is not an act of desperation”, said Irony to Satire and Common Sense, “but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against our captors!” With that all three prisoners bound their own hands and feet, stuffed rags down their own throats, and climbed up onto their washbasins. They secured their makeshift nooses around their throats and leapt simultaneously, swinging as they died from asphyxiation. The End.
Mr. Wilders were invited to speak at the Danish Parliament in july 2009.
http://www.information.dk/194516
He opened up with the following six points:
1. Boykot FN’s menneskerettighedsdomstol. (boycott the UN Human right court)
2. Annuller lovgivningen mod racistisk tale. (cancel all laws banning rasicist speech)
3. Udvis kriminelle muslimer. (expel criminal muslims)
4. Luk alle muslimske skoler. (close all muslim schools)
5. Luk moskéer og stop opførslen af nye. (close all Mosques and ban any new ones)
6. Ikke én indvandrer mere til Europa (Not one more immigrant to Europe)
Well, FM. Please enlighten this Dr. Goebbels
How do you then interpret the following six points from Mr. Wilders. In particular item 5.
RE: News about recession
Dear Fabius: You have tarried a bit too long Inside Rome on the Tiber. We out in Campania could tell you that we are not slipping TO the edge, but rather are slipping OVER the edge. Some statistics to support this: conventional jobless rates (that undercount); estimated unemployed no longer seeking recordable work; home values (Schiller Index); and foreclosures. We, the Vox Populi, are dying out here while Nero and the Senate fiddle. Perhaps a Spartacus will arise, but that makes people like me fear even more – for the loss of remnants of our Republic still outweigh the costs of bearing fools who think they are in control.
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FM reply: I believe you exaggeragte the situation. Jobless rates are still below previous post-WWII peak levels. Home values and foreclosures are very ugly, but not yet at socially disruptive levels — and there are obvious and proven solutions. However, another leg down from here might have severe consequences.
Here’s another great article: “Corruption in Afghanistan isn’t limited to Afghans, U.S. official says“, McClatchy Newspapers, 12 January 2010:
Sorry Rune, your analogy does not hold. Both the Nazis and the modern European Right regard the Jews/Muslims as fundamentally foreign, this is where the similarity ends.
The Jews were only in Europe because the Romans expelled them after one revolt too many. 2000 years ago. And by that time many of them were secularized, and most wanted only to integrate. You would be hard pressed to find any evidence of Jewish plots to kill European citizens en masse or overthrow their governments – which is why the Nazis tried to associate them with the Bolsheviks.
Muslim immigration into Europe on the other hand is far more recent and at a far higher rate. A vocal minority has made it clear that conquest, not immigration, is on the agenda. And they have killed many Europeans in the recent past.
Here’s a bit of Canadian and Newfoundland history, that seems relevant to insolvency of various nations. The Newfoundland lesson how a debt crisis precipitated first a temporary loss of sovereignty in Newfoundland, and later a permanent absorption into Canada.
#6 . Suggest Fraud may join Hedge Funds , Bonds, Insurance etc as a serious part of economy rather than a crime. After all , fraud encourages innovation and productivity ; distributes affordable goods/services to the poorer sections of society ; creates and benefits small organisations and entrepreneurs ; reduces waste ; damps the appetite of governments for large projects .
Pink Floyd – In the Flesh! lyrics