Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Open Trackbacks.

This is your open trackbacks post for Friday, February 2, 2007 through Sunday, February 4, 2007.

If you have something interesting you'd like to share, feel free to link it here and leave a trackback.

Just remember the trackback policy.

For the best exposure, go to the blogger's oasis and use the linkfest chooser to choose the posts you'd like to hook up with.

That is, if the site's up. I wasn't able to use it all day on Thursday.

I'm sure they'll be back.

UPDATE: They're back... I wonder what was up?

There IS a scientific consensus on global warming

There's not absolute agreement on the topic of global warming among scientists, but I have to admit there is a consensus among scientists.

I guess Al Gore was right after all. There is a broad scientific consensus on the topic of global warming.

The mass media had it right after all... sort of.

I don't think you'll hear much about this in the press though. You won't hear them crowing about how right they were. They're above all that. Well, maybe Al Gore isn't, but the media is.

The IPCC report is due out tomorrow. It's backed by over 2500 scientists, that say that not only is global warming real, but it's caused by people. That sure sounds like a consensus doesn't it?

That's not the consensus I'm talking about though. No, that's small potatoes. A whisper in the heated wind flowing around this important issue.

After all there's a much bigger scientific consensus wrapped around the topic. Nearly seven times bigger. That's right, somewhere around 17,800 scientists have come to a consensus and put their names to it. 6.8 times as many scientists as put out the IPCCs report.

What do those thousands of scientists have to say on the topic? Al Gore's not going to like this... Neither is the New York Times...

Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful.

I guess all this talk of human induced global warming is just so much hot air after all.

A hat tip to Discuss Global Warming and Climate Change.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Faultline USA, Right Celebrity, stikNstein... has no mercy, basil's blog, Pirate's Cove, Thought Alarm, Conservative Cat, High Desert Wanderer, Pursuing Holiness, and Sujet- Celebrities, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Framing the terms of the debate

Recently there was a big stink about the use of the word "democrat" in the state of the union address. Apparently democrats objected to it.

I suppose it comes down to something that seems to be common when we talk about the democrats and the left in general. They want to choose the terms we use.

That makes sense in a way. If you choose the words, you can influence the way people think. They've chosen to call themselves the "democratic" party, as if only they believe in democracy.

Now that Hugo "I smell sulfur" Chavez' supporters have helped to clear up a misconception I've had most of my adult life, I guess I can see their point. After all, "socialism is democracy" according to the socialists in Venezuela. And all this time I thought that the two were pretty much mutually exclusive.

I was obviously wrong. If you look at the major goals and ideals behind socialism, you'll find that they nicely dovetail with the democratic platform.

I don't believe in socialism, despite the fact that it exists. So I guess, I don't believe in democracy, at least not the way they do in Venezuela, or apparently in the democratic party.

No wonder they get upset over "ic".

Then and Now

The world has changed drastically since I was a young kid, and then again, it hasn't changed at all. When I was a really young child, around three years old, my family moved to Turkey. This was in the early 1960s, and strangely enough, Americans weren't very popular there.

My mother and father remember a lot more about that time than I do. There were times when we weren't allowed to leave our home because of threats against Americans. There were times when bombs went off in our neighborhood. My brother and I had to go to the market to buy bread at times because they wouldn't sell it to my mother.

I can vouch for the fact that my mother never gave the Turks a reason to hate her. Still they did, and it was because she was an American.

Today the left asks "why do they hate us" and blames it on President Bush. Somehow I doubt that he had much political influence in the 1960s.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Islamic radicals in Iran hated us. They hated us so much that they kidnapped quite a few Americans and held them hostage for an incredibly long time.

Today, Islamic radicals in Iran hate us. Once again, they are threatening to kidnap Americans and hold them hostage, or worse. Things haven't really changed that much in all that time.

I don't care why they hate us. I do know that they've hated us for longer than I've been alive. I know that it's an irrational hatred, and that some of them have sworn to see us destroyed.

The global war on terror isn't a new phenomenon that suddenly materialized out of the smoke and rubble of the world trade center one sunny day five and a half years ago. This war has been going on for more decades than I've been alive. It's just taken new forms as time goes by.

I managed to survive my childhood despite the hatred and prejudice of others. I think that says something good about our chances in the world. Some people may hate us, but despite their best efforts they haven't yet managed to destroy us. With God's grace they never will.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, meet the War on Terror.

In Boston, two men were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and placing a "hoax device" after an advertising stunt that went sour. Little electronic signs with magnetic lights disrupted traffic around the city, and the police blew one of the signs up to make sure they didn't contain electronics.

Turner Broadcasting Systems was using the signs to advertise a particularly noxious and thankfully very short little late night cartoon. Drivers became suspicious, and bridges and roads were closed to investigate.

I'm sure that some on the left will cry foul, saying that the war on terror has "gone too far". I'm waiting to hear that the ACLU is defending TBS and the two men for violating their "freedom of speech".

Supposedly the advertising campaign had been in place for weeks. That hardly excuses where the little signs were placed. Parts of the subway system and a major highway were shut down while police investigated. That's a big traffic nightmare in a city the size of Boston.

All for a silly stunt to advertise a trashy cartoon.

Wild Thing over at the PC Free Zone has more... much more...

This is your open trackbacks post for Thursday, February 1, 2007.

If you have something interesting you'd like to share, feel free to link it here and leave a trackback.

Just remember the trackback policy.

For the best exposure, go to the blogger's oasis and use the linkfest chooser to choose the posts you'd like to hook up with.