Clipmarks | bferman's Comments

The pundits say it will be a surprise. I say no surprise

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:35:26 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: McCain WILL pick Mitt Romney. Take it to the bank. Though I still wish it would be Palin.

Clip Source: features.csmonitor.com

James Carville, Greenberg’s longtime political partner (the two were central to Bill Clinton’s improbable victory in the 1992 presidential campaign), has a more colorful way of assessing vice-presidential picks. Does the candidate “make the opposing campaign manager throw up.”

Carville doesn’t name names, but he predicts McCain will surprise us. “McCain and I share something in common,” says the Ragin’ Cajun. “We’re both craps shooters. And just by nature, craps shooters always want to put their stack in the middle of the table.”

The Democratic analyst and pollster Stan Greenberg said Wednesday they see nothing to fear from a Romney pick, await a surprise.

James Hanson refuses to discuss views at William & Mary

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:40:59 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: It's tough finding outlets when you are censored.

Clip Source: media.www.vainformer.com

Dr. James Hansen, NASA climatologist and major figure in the debate on global climate change, recently refused a paid invitation to speak and debate at the College about his positions on global warming. Braum Katz ('09) -- secretary for the College's Department of Student Rights, director of the newly-created William and Mary Society for Academic Freedom and Diversity and Informer writer -- invited Mr. Hansen via e-mail.

"For this fall," Mr. Katz wrote in his e-mail to Mr. Hansen, "we are hoping to host a debate on global climate change and its implications. Patrick Michaels has agreed to come, and my organization would like you to come and debate Dr. Michaels in Williamsburg. The date is very flexible, and we can tailor the day of the debate completely to your schedule. We will be able to pay for your travel expenses and offer you an honorarium for your time. Please let me know if you would be interested."

Mr. Hansen's response was, simply, "not interested."

Another Leftist Icon Comes to His Senses

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:57:30 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: This is a great article about the transformation of David Mamet from Liberal to Conservative. I do not know who David Mamet is but I find the story rather familiar in my own transformation and in the natural maturity of many as they gain wisdom and perspective.
It gets frustrating at times seeing and hearing comments that are based on such lack of clarity. This is more evidence that the natural growth and transformation is toward a Libertarian stance founded in clear-mindedness, Conservative stance on constitutional intent, and Incrementalism as the wisest approach to societal advance in the face of fascist-progressivism.

Clip Source: johnwarren.vox.com

yet another Leftist icon, David Mamet, announced he is coming to his senses.

Mamet chose to “come out” with an op-ed published by Norman Mailer’s rag, The Village Voice, entitled, “Why I am no longer a ‘Brain-Dead Liberal’,” in which he outlines, in some detail, his migration from the Left.

Mamet opens his essay with a quote from macro economist John Maynard Keynes, who responded to a challenge about his changing views, saying, “When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?”

Keynes, whose early 20th century writings advocated the “New Deal” socialist economic policies still embraced by Democrats, was roundly criticized for adjusting his economic opinion after free market economist Friedrich von Hayek critiqued Keynes’ 1930 Treatise on Money

after reading Hayek’s seminal condemnation of socialism, The Road to Serfdom, Keynes proclaimed, “Morally and philosophically I find myself in agreement with virtually the whole of it:

Freedom, not climate, is at risk

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 04:45:17 GMT

clipped by: bferman
clipper's remarks: An amazing article that brings much needed clarity to the subject.

Clip Source: www.ft.com

We are living in strange times. One exceptionally warm winter is enough – irrespective of the fact that in the course of the 20th century the global temperature increased only by 0.6 per cent – for the environmentalists and their followers to suggest radical measures to do something about the weather, and to do it right now.

Rational and freedom-loving people have to respond. The dictates of political correctness are strict and only one permitted truth, not for the first time in human history, is imposed on us. Everything else is denounced

global warming hysteria has become a prime example of the truth versus propaganda problem

The environmentalists ask for immediate political action because they do not believe in the long-term positive impact of economic growth and ignore both the technological progress that future generations will undoubtedly enjoy, and the proven fact that the higher the wealth of society, the higher is the quality of the environment. They are Malthusian pessimists.

Tags: politics, climate change, global warming, environmentalist, communism

Lack of Sun Spots May Lead to New Ice Age

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:47:09 GMT

clipped by: bferman
clipper's remarks: I've been reading about the Sun spot problem for years now. The mainstream media need to wake up and realize that the Earth is on the verge of entering a VERY LONG cooling period that could reduce the world food supply substantially.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Sun Goes Longer Than Normal Without Producing Sunspots

The sun has been lying low for the past couple of years, producing no sunspots

The scientists said periods of inactivity are normal for the sun, but this period has gone on longer than usual

The last cycle reached its peak in 2001 and is believed to be just ending now, Longcope said. The next cycle is just beginning and is expected to reach its peak sometime around 2012. Today's sun, however, is as inactive as it was two years ago, and scientists aren't sure why.

"It's a dead face," Tsuneta said of the sun's appearance.

In the past, they observed that the sun once went 50 years without producing sunspots. That period, from approximately 1650 to 1700, occurred during the middle of a little ice age on Earth that lasted from as early as the mid-15th century to as late as the mid-19th century

Tsuneta said he doesn't know how long the sun will continue to be inactive

Tags: global warming, climate change, politics, sun spots

CO2 Can’t Be Blamed for Global Warming

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:21:40 GMT

clipped by: bferman
clipper's remarks: Yet more evidence to be ignored by the mainstream media.

Clip Source: www.allamericanblogger.com

CO₂ Can’t Be Blamed for Global Warming

Well, for one thing, it hasn’t warmed since 1998, and another thing, there are these laws they can’t break:

According to the laws of thermodynamics, the mid to upper levels of the troposphere should be warming faster then the surface. This is because this is where the CO2 is supposed to be trapped. Co2 absorbs more heat then it reflects. Since it retains its heat, the area in which it is “trapped” has to be warming faster then an area where it is not “trapped.”

This has not happened. According to the data available from NOAA (The National Weather Service) the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere have not seen a dramatic warming

The temperatures have not increased in a manner consistent with the laws of thermodynamics and AGW theory

If you look at the data available from MSU, you can clearly see that in the Northern Hemisphere, troposphere temperatures have fallen since 1979

This is the exact opposite of what should be happening.

Wikipropaganda

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:37:14 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: I checked with Peiser, who said he had done no such thing. I then corrected the Wikipedia entry, and advised Peiser that I had done so.

Peiser wrote back saying he couldn’t see my corrections on the Wikipedia page. I made the changes again, and this time confirmed that the changes had been saved. But then, in a twinkle, they were gone again. I made other changes. And others. They all disappeared shortly after they were made.

Turns out that on Wikipedia some folks are more equal than others. Kim Dabelstein Petersen is a Wikipedia “editor” who seems to devote a large part of his life to editing reams and reams of Wikipedia pages to pump the assertions of global-warming alarmists and deprecate or make disappear the arguments of skeptics.

Holding the far more prestigious and powerful position of “administrator” is William Connolley. Connolley, a ruthless enforcer of the doomsday consensus, may be the world’s most influential person in the global warming debate after Al Gore.

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

I first noticed this when I entered a correction to a Wikipedia page on the work of Naomi Oreskes, author of the now-infamous paper, published in the prestigious journal Science, claiming to have exhaustively reviewed the scientific literature and found not one single article dissenting from the alarmist version of global warming.

Of course Oreskes’s conclusions were absurd, and have been widely ridiculed. I myself have profiled dozens of truly world-eminent scientists whose work casts doubt on the Gore-U.N. version of global warming. Following the references in my book The Deniers, one can find hundreds of refereed papers that cast doubt on some aspect of the Gore/U.N. case, and that only scratches the surface.

Naturally I was surprised to read on Wikipedia that Oreskes’s work had been vindicated and that, for instance, one of her most thorough critics, British scientist and publisher Bennie Peiser, not only had been discredited but had grudgingly conceded Oreskes was right.

Tags: wikipedia, global warming, lawrence solomon, "the deniers", extreme left perspective

Lack of Sun Spots May Lead to New Ice Age

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:47:09 GMT

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Sun Goes Longer Than Normal Without Producing Sunspots

The sun has been lying low for the past couple of years, producing no sunspots

The scientists said periods of inactivity are normal for the sun, but this period has gone on longer than usual

"It's a dead face," Tsuneta said of the sun's appearance.

Tsuneta said he doesn't know how long the sun will continue to be inactive

Tags: global warming, climate change, politics, sun spots

The Second Ten

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:44:52 GMT

clipped by: vandamonium
clipper's remarks: Find more here: http://listverse.com/miscellaneous/20-weird-english-words/

Clip Source: listverse.com

20 Weird English Words

English is a wonderful language with some of the strangest pronunciation rules and words that come from many other languages. This is a list of 20 weird English words.

11. Nudiustertian

The day before yesterday

12. Phenakism

Deception or trickery

13. Pronk

A weak or foolish person

14. Pulveratricious

Covered with dust

15. Rastaquouere

A social climber

16. Scopperloit

Rude or rough play

17. Selcouth

Unfamiliar, rare, strange, marvelous, wonderful. For example: The List Universe is such a selcouth website!

18. Tyrotoxism

To be poisoned by cheese

19. Widdiful

Someone who deserves to be hanged

20. Zabernism

The abuse of military power or authority. I wonder how long it will take for this one to show up in the comments.

Flat screens "accelerating" global warming

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:04:03 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

A gas used in the making of flat screen televisions, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), is being blamed for damaging the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.

Almost half of the televisions sold around the globe so far this year have been plasma or LCD TVs.

But this boom could be coming at a huge environmental cost.

G8 Countries fail abysmally in cutting C02

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:05:24 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: uk.reuters.com

The "G8 Climate Scorecards" compiled by environmental group WWF and Allianz said even Britain, France and Germany at the top of the rankings had all failed abysmally to implement measures to back the goals of cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

"We're not going to be able to fathom what the world may be like in 20 years if we aren't able to reduce emissions," said Regine Guenther, head of climate policy at the WWF in Germany.

"None of the eight leading industrial nations have taken sufficient measures needed to be considered in line with the target to limit a worldwide increase in temperatures to 2 degrees centigrade," said Niklas Hoehne, the author of the study done by ECOFYS research group for WWF and Allianz.

Be the Che you wish to see in the world!

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:31:13 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: Insider Obama campaign slogan.

Clip Source: www.yourcelebritystuff.com

Yet another Che Guevara sighting in an Obama Texas campaign office.

Human stem cells used to cure brain disorder

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:08:45 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.nature.com

Success in mice could be a breakthrough for disorders such as multiple sclerosis.

Human stem cells have been used to correct abnormal brain development in mice with fatal brain disorders, offering hope for treating a range of neurological disorders including some deadly childhood genetic diseases.

Those behind the new treatment hope that human clinical trials could be just a few years away.

The treatment uses human glial progenitor cells — cells that can differentiate into the glial cells that, among other things, make up myelin. Myelin, a protein that insulates the long 'arms' of nerve cells, called axons, helps the conduction of neural signals throughout the nervous system.

The breakthrough is “stunning”, says Ian Duncan, who studies myelin at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The work will have greatest relevance in treating congenital childhood diseases, he says, although he warns that a practical therapy is still some way away. ”This is a therapy for the future,” he says.

Tags: medicine, stem cell therapy, brain

Global Warming Hits Arizona

Sat, 17 May 2008 14:46:15 GMT

clipped by: bferman
clipper's remarks: Is global warming just more liberal hysteria?

Clip Source: www.climate-skeptic.com

Global Warming Hits Arizona

May 13, 2008:

just south of Flagstaff, Arizona (elevation about 6700 ft)

Tags: global warming, climate change

Bob Barr (L) on Gay Marriage

Sat, 17 May 2008 04:58:54 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: O.K. I'm listening. I really believe America is on the verge of seriously considering a third party.

Clip Source: www.ajc.com

“Regardless of whether one supports or opposes same sex marriage, the decision to recognize such unions or not ought to be a power each state exercises on its own, rather than imposition of a one-size-fits-all mandate by the federal government (as would be required by a Federal Marriage Amendment which has been previously proposed and considered by the Congress).

The decision today by the Supreme Court of California properly reflects this fundamental principle of federalism on which our nation was founded.

“Indeed, the primary reason for which I authored the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 was to ensure that each state remained free to determine for its citizens the basis on which marriage would be recognized within its borders, and not be forced to adopt a definition of marriage contrary to its views by another state.

The decision in California is an illustration of how this principle of states’ powers should work.”