Global Warming Not Cited for Failure To Appear
More stealing from Ace of Spades, but with some commentary by me.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbshear1001nboct01,0,6613717.storyThe basic gist of the story is that after reviewing the hurricane season, there hasn't been much to speak of. What they don't mention is that after all the hoopla and hand wringing that Global Warming (trademark, Al Gore) will cause massive superstorms, droughts, alien invasions, and childhood obesity, there hasn't been jack crap to show for it. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were supposed to be just the warmup (no pun intended) for Mother Nature really socking it to us in a fit of Gaia-inspired mayhem. So far, it looks like Mother Nature took a Midol and flopped onto the couch with a bucket of ice cream to watch the Lifetime network.
So, like so many other tales of coming desperate disasters, we're seeing a whole lot of nothing. Does that mean that Global Warming (trademark, Al Gore) isn't real? No, looking at history we can clearly see that all kinds of warming, cooling, drying, wetting, sulfur-emitting and other trends can be seen (and that's just in my bathroom!). The world is a big, big place that's been around a long, long time. When observed in timeframes as short as I've seen cited, it's like diagnosing a death rattle after listening to a single hiccup.
Does this mean that Mother Nature won't wipe a region off the map every now and then in a fit of PMS-like rage? Of course not. Disasters happen with an alarming regularity despite how often we think we've seen the "worst in a century." Their causes are as diverse as seawater-soaked rock being subsumed 100 million years ago (Mt. Pinatubo, 1991) to a gamma ray burst from a star hundreds of light years away (one possible cause of the Ordovician extinction, 445 million years ago).
To sum up, Mother Nature doesn't need a reason to go postal on us and, while our actions do have consequences, take what comes out of the mouths of "people in the know" with a grain of salt. If you don't, you could miss out on a whole lot of nice, sunny days.
Problem of Leatherclad S&M Maniacs Divides Community
This is stolen from ACE of Spades (
http://ace.mu.nu/#242240), but it's so damn worthwhile I can't help myself. For all who wonder if we really should "give peace a chance," here's the answer.
THE GREAT WESTERN Desert, Australia -- It's a tiny community, of just one hundred and fifty souls. The economic center of the town is a single oil well; the only other economic activities are subistence farming and light trade with far-flung outposts across the dangerous highways. The town has no name, and appears on no maps.
But for the past year, residents have been debating a problem: what is to be done about the growing threat from the rampaging, gay-looking, bare-assed S&M biker gangs that control the highways and occasionally surround the town?
Lord Humungus, spiritual leader of the savage roving sort-of gay biker-gangs. Called "The Ayatollah of Rock-n-Rollah," he is seen here delivering the daily prayers to his followers and exhorting them to "kill, kill, kill" all who stand in his way. He describes himself as being fundamentally "a man of peace."
One resident, a 30-year-old unmarried female known only to her fellow residents as "Warrior Woman," sees the threat in stark terms. "They're monsters," she says flatly. "They butcher us when we dare to leave the town's protective walls. Every day they kill a couple more of us; every day their numbers grow. The only solution is to take the fight to them."
A Feral Kid expresses his full agreement with the Warrior Woman. "Rrrrahhh," he says. And there seems little chance of changing his mind.
But other residents are more cautious. "'Take the fight to them?'" scoffs one resident. "That's what Warrior Woman says about every problem. Are the chickens not producing enough eggs? Take the fight to them. Are the engines of our scavenged vehicles old and in dire need of replacement? Take the fight to them."
The resident, who only identifies himself as The Curmudgeon, sighs and shakes his head. "Warrior Woman has a cool composite bow and bright-white football shoulder pads. She thinks she can fight the highway trash. But you know what? The highway gangs have shoulder pads too, and lots of bows and arrows. They've got crossbows, little ones that fit right on their forearms. And their leader even has a .44 magnum revolver and four bullets, several of which might not be dud rounds."
The Curmudgeon doesn't believe that war is the solution. "An arrow for an arrow leaves the world blind."
"I reject the term 'terrorism,'" says the leader of the highway gangs, a beefy, steel-hockey-mask-wearing self-styled "resistance leader" calling himself Lord Humungus. "Is it 'terrorism' when when we indiscriminately slaughter innocent civillians? Is it 'terrorism' when we take them prisoner and tie them to the front of our dune-buggies as human shields? Is it 'terrorism' just because we surround their camp and tell them they must give in to us or else we will continue terrorizing them?"
Lord Humungus scoffs at the absuridity of that characterization. "I think terms like 'terrorism' are far too simplistic. The world isn't black and white. It just isn't. Sure, all the people in the town wear white shoulder pads and bleached canvas, and all of our highway maniacs wear black leather bondage gear, but viewing the world in such a way lacks all nuance."
"This town's leadership doesn't understand that we can compromise with these savage, merciless bisexual rapist-killers," The Curmudgeon says. "This Humungus is a reasonable man. He can be negotiated with."
Lord Humungus is quick to agree. "We want exactly what they want. We want to torture them and butcher them. We want to rape them indiscriminately, men, women, children, and poultry. We want to take everything they have and leave them for dead, to be feasted upon by the desert vultures. Surely they can see that, by cooperating, we can both achieve all of our goals together. They will finally have peace, and we will finally have murdered every single one of them."
He seems reflective as he contemplates the misunderstanding between the cultures. "The savage marauding somewhat-gay biker-gang culture is a Culture of Peace. I do not want to set my beloved Dogs of War on these people. But they force me to. All of this senseless violence. And for what?"
One resident thinks she knows. "It's all about the oil," says an unnamed, chubby-but-hot blonde woman whose breasts seem perpetually in danger of falling out of her wide-open blouse, but never quite do. "It's just about the oil-well in the middle of our town. That's all this is about." She says she recently protested a speech by the town's leader, Pappagallo, waving a sign reading "NO BLOOD FOR GUZZOLINE."
Outside commentators see no easy answers, no obvious way to break the unending "cycle of violence."
Some have suggested that the only possible solution to the town's dilemma is the arrival of a mysterious, amoral drifter who can drive like an absolute madman but who is haunted by the deaths of his wife and daughter. The arrival of such a hero, it is imagined, will unite the town behind a single plan of action and lead to a daring daylight escape to the more civilized coastal areas, where there's "nothing to do but breed."
But Auntie Entity, Mayor for Life of neighboring Bartertown, rejects this solution as being "too easy." "We don't need another hero," she says as she polishes her chainmail boustier. "We just need to find the way home."
Just Begging for Death
I’m a dead man. Yep, I’m dead for sure. You see, the other day I was a little bored at work and decided to doodle. And while doodling, what came out of my blasphemous pen? Images of Muhammad! Just so you all can see how dead I am, I’ve posted the offending images.
Here’s Muhammad enjoying a cup of tea.
Here’s Muhammad holding a bunny and scratching it beneath its little furry chin.
Here’s Muhammad water skiing.
The moment some radical Islamist sees these, my head and my neck will part ways, I’m sure.
Of course, I’m joking – sort of. My point is that by doing something as stupid as drawing a cartoon, I can send millions of people into a murderous rage. And, out of those millions, enough of them will be proactive to put a life in danger over it. That’s why several Danish cartoonists are currently living under protection because of their drawings and, recently, Swedish artist Lars Vilks had the audacity to craft a crudely drawn image of a dog with something that may or may not be Muhammad’s head.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1723208720070917?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true
This kind of homicidal lunacy has to stop. We cannot continue to allow a small group of seventh-century backwards inbred nutjobs to threaten our rights and safety. The industrialized world needs to make it clear to the millions of Muslims that our God-given right to free speech won’t stop when it runs up against their theology.
While writing this, my poison pen struck again.
Here’s Muhammad telling the radicals Islamists what he thinks of them.
Lack of Global Warming Endangers Global Warming Activist
Global warming exists. So does global cooling, global fair-to-middlin’, and global just-about-right-for-football.
After spending years in college pursuing a history degree with a focus on climates, biology, and their interaction with history, it’s safe to say that I’m pretty skeptical of a lot of the statements made by many in the global warming camp. Some are more grounded than others, but all too often the data isn’t published by the actual scientists and climatologists who did the research. Science is generally pretty boring, so it’s only when someone makes a worst-case scenario and somebody in the news industry picks up on it, that you hear about it. Throw in the politicians who need votes to survive and the presidents of
non-profit organizations who make more than $200k a year (most of them) and you’ve got a recipe for grade-A bullshit.
Plenty of people believe this bullshit, but not many do something about it. One person has. Now he’s in deep shit because of it.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22359472-5005961,00.htmlAdrian Flanagan, a British yachtsperson (calling him a yachts
man is just pushing it too far) decided to show the world just how bad global warming is by circumnavigating the Earth through the all the Arctic Ocean’s melted ice. As someone with more faith in politically motivated bullshit than in actual observation, Flanagan set out on his epic tale even after being told by the Russians that the supposedly melted ice was in fact very solid and that it was a
kamikaze mission. Well, much to Flanagan’s consternation, heavier-than-expected ice has him trapped off a small island. He’s calling for a nuclear-powered Russian ice-breaker to get his ass out of trouble. The Russians have better things to do and have so far told him,
“tough shitsky.”Flanagan isn’t taking his defeat at the hands of Mother Nature well—his manager describes him as “pretty fed-up.” Worse, polar bears, which are endangered by global warming, are looking to endanger Flanagan a little themselves.
Perhaps they don’t understand that he’s too environmentally conscious to eat.
Of Arrogance and Apologies
I work in the print industry as a buyer, and previously as a technical editor. I’ve spent a lot of time in the halls of these various institutions and one thing that becomes obvious immediately is that most of those who follow this career path are politically liberal. In some cases, they are rabidly liberal and could easily qualify as socialists, communist, anarchists, or just plain nut-jobs. Another thing is that people assume that everyone else in the work area is also liberal and that they are therefore free to express opinions about conservatives, republicans, or religion that would be taboo and offensive in other work spaces. As a conservative republican with religious inclinations, it’s definitely a minority experience.
However, I’m no shrinking violet. If someone makes a statement that is offensive to me, I let them know it. Usually, the offender is embarrassed, stammers an apology, and there’s an uncomfortable silence as they realize that they’ve said something that makes them sound like a horse’s ass. Of course, I’m not rude about it; I can laugh at myself and my own beliefs if it’s genuinely funny; and, I don’t tell people to shut up (saying things that make you a horse’s ass is a constitutionally protected right, one that I take advantage of often). Still, it can put a damper on things when they realize that I’m not “one of them.”
What I find most difficult about the overwhelming slant of my profession is the arrogance that comes with it. Anyone who believes that they are beyond fault by virtue of the sheer wonderfulness of their beliefs, whether those are liberal, conservative religious, ideological, or whatever, just pisses me off. And when the dissenting opinion is not only ignored, but ridiculed without review, that really pisses me off. That doesn’t mean you can’t ignore stupid things, but by God, you’d better at least listen to the smart ones.
The AP/Ipsos recently ran a poll to discover if political persuasion was relative to how much people read (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8R5J3RG0&show_article=1). They discovered that self-described liberals read an average of 9 books a year, self-described conservatives read an average of 8 books a year, and self-described moderates read an average of 5 books a year. The poll also found that 22 percent of liberals and moderates said they had not read a book within the past year, compared with 34 percent of conservatives. When asked by Alan Fram of AP about why the disparity (which, incidentally, is within the margin of error of the non-scientific poll), former Colorado senator and current president of the American Association of Publishers, Pat Schroeder put her foot in her mouth up to her knee.
"The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: 'No, don't raise my taxes, no new taxes,'" Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. "It's pretty hard to write a book saying, 'No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes' on every page."
And
She said liberals tend to be policy wonks who "can't say anything in less than paragraphs. We really want the whole picture, want to peel the onion."
As a person who doesn’t brook this kind of crap in my own office, I let her know that I was none too happy with her smug statement. I sent off the following email to Ms. Schroeder’s email address at AAP.
Ms. Schroeder,
As a print buyer buyer for a Colorado publisher (American Water Works Assocation, www.awwa.org) and a conservative, I am offended by your quote in Alan Fram's AP article.
"The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: 'No, don't raise my taxes, no new taxes,'" and "It's pretty hard to write a book saying, 'No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes' on every page."
This kind of smug arrogance on the part of publishing industry leaders is common and far more dangerous to our industry than any censorship. What publisher can wonder why sales are flat to slightly rising when those who create the books believe half of the population is to be relegated to "slogans" and simple-minded fare?
Not only do I read, but I work hard to get dozens of scientific and technical texts published every year. When we conduct our annual review of which publishing organizations that we will join (we are members of PubsWest and are joining the Colorado Independent Publishers Assocation) I will strongly suggest that we do not consider the Association of American Publishers because it is an organization that is interested in only half of our audience.
Neal Hyde
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who got a little pissed off. I recently received the following reply.
Dear Passionate Fellow Reader:
Thank you for your concern about statements attributed to me in the Associated Press story about their reading poll. I was away when the story broke. When I returned and read the article, I kicked myself. The first principle in politics is to remember some journalists are really fight promoters…and I clearly forgot that principle when talking to this reporter! My comments were taken WAY out of context. He had asked, why the 12% difference between liberals and conservatives reading habits? With tongue in cheek I told him liberals were incapable of saying anything in less than a tome and have slogan envy, etc. Clearly, he went to work editing my response to stir up both sides...sigh. I am very sorry if my “edited” words caused you deep concern and join you in that concern. Obviously, I want everyone to read. These are very difficult, complex times and books are about the last place where one can have more than 7 seconds to complete a thought! Thanks for your inquiry and again, I am very sorry liberties were taken to blow my comments way out of context and proportion...
Keep on reading,
Pat Schroeder
AAP President & CEO
P.S. To my conservative friends, the irony is the story broke while I was on a cruise with Oliver North, Ed Meese, Newt Gingrich and others of the Freedom Forum. To my liberal friends, I still believe to my core we must listen to everyone.
While I appreciate that there was a reply to my email, I can’t help but notice that she avoids responsibility for her statements by claiming to have been taken out of context and misquoted. It is possible that Fram did a hatchet job on Schroeder’s words, (AP has fallen far in quality), but I smell an awful lot of authenticity in her original statements. Although the exact words haven’t been spoken, I’ve heard these very sentiments expressed by many people within the walls of my work and in the pages of Editor & Publisher Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, and other publishing/printing periodicals. I don’t believe that Schroeder was speaking tongue in cheek, but expressing a whole-hearted smug superiority that her “side” was better because it was supposedly more well-read, and that those of other persuasions were of lesser intelligence and desired/deserved simpler, easier to understand material. If you have a hard time seeing how arrogant and dangerous that is, let’s just substitute a few words.
"The Howard Deans of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans…and She said republicans tend to be policy wonks who "can't say anything in less than paragraphs. We really want the whole picture, want to peel the onion."
Or
"The Jews of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans…and She said National Socialists tend to be policy wonks who "can't say anything in less than paragraphs. We really want the whole picture, want to peel the onion."
Sorry Ms. Schroeder, but I don’t think that your explanation/apology works. You were just embarrassed, stammered an apology, and now we’re enjoying an uncomfortable silence.
Trust me, I know what it sounds like.
A Few of My Favorite Places
I live in a beautiful area. We’re nestled against a jagged spur of rock called a hogback that jumps right out of the rolling plains to form a minor barricade before you start climbing into the Rocky Mountains. At the turn of the last century, it was part of the Ken Caryl Ranch, and that’s what the area is called today. On the other side of the hogback are more homes, mostly wealthy folk but not all, and the beginning of the Rockies.
Being so close to the mountains means that wildlife is close as well. There’s a few spots that we like to go that are prettier than others, but as a rule, we don’t have to go too far. Here’s a couple of our favorites.
Roxborough State Park 
It took us a couple of years to find this state park, even though its only five minutes away, because it was cleverly hidden behind a fire station (I’m not joking). The dirt road that leads to it doesn’t appear to be anything special, but when you go over the rise and see, it’s amazing. It occupies the south end of the Ken Caryl valley and is filled with great rock formations, trails, and ton of Mule Deer and other animals. They’re used to people, and as long as you don’t get within about fen feet, they couldn’t care less. One year, the inlaws and us stood on the trail and watched bucks spar not more than thirty feet away.
Mt. Evans State Park
Mt. Evans has the highest paved road in the continental United States and terminates at a visitors center and an observatory at more than 14,000 feet. We have to be careful as there’s about 40% less atmosphere at that level and we get a slight case of altitude sickness, not to mention a helluva sunburn. The road is only open between mid-to-late June and early September as any other time the snowpack is too thick to push through. It’s what is known as a microclimate (sub-alpine) and although it’s about an hour’s drive from Denver on clear days you
can easily see the city from the top. Toward the summit you can see herds of Rocky Mountain Bighorn and big-ass mountain goats. Some dumbasses sometimes think the animals are tame and want to pet them - bad idea. Those horns on the goats are razor sharp, and I’ve seen a few people come close to being perforated for getting too close to a lamb.
Rocky Mountain National Park
This gem of a place is about an hour away, but it’s worth the drive. We last went in late July when the snowpack wasn’t too bad, but we still wound up crawling along a lot of icy trails. However, it’s beautiful and there’s critters everywhere. The elk herds are massive, and there’s more than a few trophy racks in there.
Ken Caryl Valley
Just on the other side of the hogback (about half mile away) we’ve got plenty to enjoy. This last Sunday we went for a little drive and ran across a couple of nice mule deer bucks just sauntering around the neighborhood. A small group of does and a fawn were also seen. One nice buck was in the middle of the road eating crabapples from a nearby tree and causing something of a traffic jam.
The return of the blog and horror
Man, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I see a direct correlation between my blogging and my taking on a new job at my work. Instead of a technical editor, I’m now a print manager and buyer. That means I take the books and promotional material my organization puts out (
www.awwa.org) and get them printed and distributed to those who want to buy them. It’s a fun job and requires a lot of work. I’m getting the job down now, so it’s time to blog again.
Let’s see…what do I want to rant on? Hold on, let me get my soapbox…Yeah, here it is…
I have a personal theory that trends tend to move on about 17-year cycles, give or take a few years. That is, popular culture recreates the trends that occurred roughly that long ago. During the 90s and early part of this century, clothing, movies, etc. tended to mimic the same trend lines shown during the 1970s. Now, in the year 2007, we’re seeing a return to the same themes and images of the 1980s.
One of the ways this trend line has an effect on me (in addition to letting me bring out a lot of my very old t-shirts from retirement) is in cultural tastes. I like to write horror fiction, and so keeping an ear on the pulse of the public taste is important if I ever want to be published. For the past ten years, horror has been struggling. Horror had its own section at the bookstore and several strong publishers. However, around the mid-to-late 1990s there was an implosion in the market. Too many really lousy books were being published and too many readers went elsewhere. Certain subcategories of horror fiction remained strong (vampires, sexy vampires, erotic vampires, vampires with sexy erotic themes) but many did not. Several publishers that specialized in horror went belly up or were bought by larger groups and plugged into their “genre” fiction departments.
But, as I’ve written here before, things are looking up for those who like to look on the dark side. The same trends that pulled people away are swinging back and horror is becoming hot again. Not only are books on horror selling well, but other genres have adopted horror elements and made them their own. The best example is in romance novels, the Borg of fiction, where “supernatural romance” is a hot item. Look at stories like The Da Vinci Code or James Rollins Black Order, which are thrillers with supernatural elements, or more properly supernatural technothrillers.
While some purists may not like this diversification and absorption of horror and supernatural themes, I think it’s a good thing. Horror by itself is a pillar of the fiction community, but it’s all by its lonesome. When applied with other genres and ideas, it’s stronger, not weaker. Besides, it’s not like the first time this has happened. A Christmas Carol, Wuthering Heights, Jude the Obscure, The Heart of Darkness; all of these are classics of literature, but they’re also horror stories and better for it.
Look at the Funny Christians
When I was a kid, I traveled with my folks a lot, and we would often listen to recordings of old-time radio shows. Fibber McGee & Molly, Amos & Andy, The Shadow, the Jack Benny Show, and others played often and I still remember some of the funniest riffs. One from Fibber McGee & Molly was when they took Fibber’s little niece to a museum to see famous paintings. At a painting of Christians being fed to Nero’s lions, the little girl began to cry.
“Oh, are you sad because the people are being killed for believing in Jesus?” Fibber asked.
“No,” said the little girl. “I’m sad because there’s a little lion in the corner who isn’t getting any.”
That’s funny.
What isn’t funny is when someone looks at other people’s religious beliefs and denigrates them for their devotion. It’s usually to make themselves appear smarter, better, faster, whatever than those who believe. It’s condescending and infuriating when it happens to you. It’s even more infuriating when those who are doing it are trying to sell you something.
The democratic party realized a while ago that many of their candidates failed to appeal to religious voters because democrats were perceived as being anti-religious, and especially anti-evangelical Christian. This perception was drawn from years of promoting legislation that went against Christian values, as well as a steady stream of anti-religious/anti-Christian statements, satire, and general attitude. The hard-core left is particularly well-known for venomous and arrogant anti-Christian material. In short, many Christians looked in the democrat’s “big tent” and didn’t like what they saw, and went elsewhere.
And so began a top-down push from democrats and democrat candidates to embrace religion. For some, this was a no-brainer as they had (and still have) strong Christian beliefs. For many, however, this was an uncomfortable exercise at best, and the transparency and hypocrisy of the act was offensive to both believer and unbeliever. Still, the democrats have pushed forward, loudly proclaiming that God is not a republican (which is true) and that, in general, liberals are just as religious as conservatives (which is not).
But not everyone has gotten the memo.
The daughter of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and democratic example-of-diversity-in-chief, has recently finished up another movie project. Her others have been well-known (if not well-received) documentaries on the 2000 and 2004 elections, and she’s famous for injecting herself and her liberal opinions into the features. Of course, the editing is slanted to give her an edge in conversations with conservatives that she doesn’t naturally enjoy, and she’s well understood as a poster child for liberalism and the democratic left.
Alexandra Pelosi’s most recent venture takes her among evangelical Christians as a kind of tour-guide and classification expert, like a Crocodile Hunter with superiority issues.
“Crikey, that’s a Pentecostal, and he’s really mad. Look at the way he’s puffing himself up with religiousness to frighten an aggressor. It’s so great to see them in the wild!”
She makes her way sophisticated, liberal way through red-state territory, giving blue-staters a view of their lesser brethren. Not only does she condescend, but she mocks and distorts those she’s looking at through the microscope, like a scientist derisively sorting through bacteria. She even has the gall to say that she doesn’t do this, though it’s plain in her voice and attitude.
When you look at the democrats this year and in the coming years, remember, this apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.
http://www.denverpost.com/ostrow/ci_5062334
