Quote For the Day!

“Sustainability” doesn’t mean sustainable, it means Green politics.  I want sustainability,  I want sustainable civilizations.  It would be fine it sustainability meant sustainability,   but it doesn’t, it’s a coded, loaded word for sustaining Green philosophies. Consider that the new curriculum aims to sustain the biosphere, the ecosystem, and the environment, but not our lifestyle, our living standards, our productivity, liberties, or our budget. This is not a philosophy that cares about sustaining the workforce, our health, or our legal system. Real sustainability would be concerned with sustaining The Scientific Method. Green political sustainability does the opposite. – Jo Nova

It's Not "Scaremongering," It's Love of Country

By Diana West on Tuesday, February 25, 2014

On Feb. 9, 50.3 percent of Swiss voters passed a referendum to cap immigration from the EU. In the course of a (very hostile) Spiegel Online interview with Christoph Blocher, leader of the Swiss People's Party, the impetus becomes clear. The EU's so-called freedom of movement -- read: untrammeled immigration into decreasingly sovereign states -- has approached a crisis for Swiss nationhood.

"Some 23.8 percent of Switzerland's population is comprised of foreigners, and almost 15 percent are first-generation naturalized Swiss citizens," Blocher said. "No similar European state has anything like that."

Once the shocking fact that nearly one in four people in Switzerland are foreigners sinks in, it seems logicial to conclude, as Galliawatch does, that many if not most non-native voters probably opposed the immigration cap. That means that the outcome among native Swiss was likely...... Read More »

Rand Paul Is Right: Dems Should Be Embarassed To Be Seen With Clinton

By Diana West on Thursday, February 27, 2014

Finally, a headline of my dreams: "Rand Paul: Democrats Should Be `Embarassed' To Be Seen With Bill Clinton." In fact, the headline is stronger than Paul's actual statement -- Democrats "ought to be a little embarassed" -- but I'll gladly take it, and extend my heartfelt thanks and congratulations to Sen. Paul for being the first political leader I can remember (maybe ever?) to state the obvious: Bill Clinton, sexual predator and accused rapist, not to mention creator of the Chinese military threat (for campaign contributions), is a national disgrace,... To Read More »

Another cancer diagnosis not to worry about

Posted on February 21, 2014 by admin

We have repeatedly discussed the problem of over-diagnosis and the consequences: treatment of cancers that would not harm the person in which they are found — some breast and prostate cancers definitely fall into this category. A new study just published in JAMA Otolaryngology now extends this finding to thyroid cancer…..They examined the data on thyroid cancer incidence, type, tumor size and mortality, and found that the incidence (new cases) of thyroid cancer nearly tripled (from 4.9 to 14.3 cases per 100,000 persons) between those dates. While that certainly sounds like a frightening statistic, the authors also found that most of this increase was due to an increase in papillary thyroid cancer — a type that is not deadly. Further, many of the tumors were too small to ever become life-threatening. In addition, they found that the mortality rate from thyroid cancer had not increased between 1975 and 2009, which also suggests that the increased incidence was not due to deadly forms of the disease.

In their discussion, the authors note that the apparent epidemic of thyroid cancer in the United States does not “seem to be an epidemic of disease.” Instead, their data indicate that the problem is over-diagnosis. They suggest dealing with it by giving patients the option of active surveillance, and/or relabeling incidentally identified small thyroid lesions as something other than cancer.……To Read More…

Teacher Cheating Scandals: Add Philadelphia to the List

February 26, 2014 by David L. Goetsch

Student cheating is a phenomenon as old as education itself. As long as there have been standards to meet in the classroom and students who cannot—for whatever reason—meet them, there has been cheating. What has changed in recent years is the amount of cheating that takes place in schools across the country and who is doing the cheating. But before getting into the issue of teachers who cheat on behalf of students as a way to cover up their own incompetence, some background is in order.

There have always been students who could not meet educational standards due to learning disabilities of various sorts, but let me be clear, these are not the students who cheating teachers are “helping” pass standardized tests. When I say “students who cannot meet” standards, understand that “cannot” fails to convey the proper nuance here. A more accurate rendering would be “choose not to” pass standardized tests. The only learning disabilities most public school students suffer from are laziness, poor attendance, tardiness, an entitlement mentality, and bad attitudes. Frankly, many students from inner cities do poorly in school because education is not a priority. They do not see it as their ticket to a better life. …..To Read More…

Teacher Cheating Scandals: Add Philadelphia to the List

February 26, 2014 by David L. Goetsch

Student cheating is a phenomenon as old as education itself. As long as there have been standards to meet in the classroom and students who cannot—for whatever reason—meet them, there has been cheating. What has changed in recent years is the amount of cheating that takes place in schools across the country and who is doing the cheating. But before getting into the issue of teachers who cheat on behalf of students as a way to cover up their own incompetence, some background is in order.

There have always been students who could not meet educational standards due to learning disabilities of various sorts, but let me be clear, these are not the students who cheating teachers are “helping” pass standardized tests. When I say “students who cannot meet” standards, understand that “cannot” fails to convey the proper nuance here. A more accurate rendering would be “choose not to” pass standardized tests. The only learning disabilities most public school students suffer from are laziness, poor attendance, tardiness, an entitlement mentality, and bad attitudes. Frankly, many students from inner cities do poorly in school because education is not a priority. They do not see it as their ticket to a better life. …..To Read More…

The liberal agenda: Being good to liberals

By: George Will 2/27/2014

The many jaundiced assessments of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on the fifth anniversary of its enactment were understandable, given that the sluggish recovery, now drowsing through the second half of its fifth year, is historically anemic. Still, bleak judgments about the stimulus spending miss the main point of it, which was to funnel a substantial share of its money to unionized, dues-paying, Democratic-voting government employees. Hence the stimulus succeeded. So there.

This illustrates why it is so sublime to be a liberal nowadays. Viewed through the proper prism, most liberal policies succeed because they can hardly fail. Each achieves one or both of two objectives — making liberals feel good about themselves and being good to liberal candidates.

Consider Barack Obama’s renewed anxiety about global warming, increasingly called “climate change” during the approximately 15 years warming has become annoyingly difficult to detect. Secretary of State John Kerry, our knight of the mournful countenance, was especially apocalyptic recently when warning that climate change is a “weapon of mass destruction.” Like Iraq’s?

Blogger Steven Hayward noted that Kerry, he of the multiple mansions and luxury yacht, issued this warning in Indonesia, where the average annual income ($3,420) suggests little latitude for people to reduce their carbon footprints. Never mind. Obama says “the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact.”…… To Read More…..

Solutions to black education

By: Walter Williams 2/26/2014

A fortnight ago, my column focused on how Philadelphia’s schoolteachers have joined public-school teachers in cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Columbus, New York and Washington in changing student scores on academic achievement tests. Teachers have held grade fixing parties, sometimes wearing rubber gloves to hide fingerprints. In some cases, poorly performing students were excused from taking exams to prevent them from dragging down averages. As a result of investigations, a number of schoolteachers and administrators have been suspended, fired or indicted by states attorneys general….. There is little that the political and education establishment will do about the grossly fraudulent education received by many black youngsters, and more money is not the answer. For example, according to findings by Cato Institute’s Andrew J. Coulson, Washington, D.C., spends $29,409 per pupil. In terms of academic achievement, its students are nearly the nation’s worst. The average tuition for a K-12 Catholic school is $9,000, and for a nonsectarian private K-12 school, it is $16,000. A voucher system would empower black parents to remove their children from high-cost and low-quality public schools and enroll them in lower-cost and higher-quality nonpublic schools……To Read Much More…..

Greens Exploit Widespread Science Ignorance

By Alan Caruba

This appeared here and I wish to thank Alan for allowing me to publish his work.  RK

I frequently have to tell people that I am a science writer, not a scientist. The only science course I took in college was zoology and I passed it only because my paper on Procyon Lotor—raccoons—demonstrated an ability to do some good research and present it cogently.

In the decades since then I have had the opportunity to write about many science-based topics and it became evident that a huge portion of our society and worldwide is ignorant of how science functions and the incredible advances for mankind that it has provided.

It is this ignorance that is constantly exploited by the many environmental groups. Scaring people about the climate has been their bread and butter for decades, but a natural cooling cycle that is approaching two decades in a few years is killing that goose that laid so many golden eggs. The same is occurring for “renewable energy” as Europe is beginning to regret pouring billions into wind energy while multi-million U.S. subsidies are on the chopping block as well.

The “food police” are generating a scare campaign about genetically modified food crops. As Dr. Jay Lehr, the Science Director of The Heartland Institute, pointed out in a December 2013 article, “Not one single human has been harmed by genetically improved food.” So, naturally, some Greens are pushing to have everything made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) subjected to warning labels.

Do you know who the first environmentalists were? Farmers! It is the original “green job” because farmers were among the original users of renewable energy—the solar power—to grow their crops. They used wind power to draw water and grind grain into flour. They built irrigation systems to make more efficient use of water.

When the United States declared its independence the nation was largely composed of farmers. Now less than two percent of the population grows enough food to feed all of us and have plenty left over to export. The current exception to this is California’s central value when farmers have been denied water to save the lives of bait fish, smelt. They’re getting no help from the federal government either.

Throughout the last century the American Farm Bureau Federation and state farm bureaus were leaders in conservation tillage, well-water testing, and many other environmental improvements. As one observer noted, “Long after the current excitement about the green economy has worn off, American farmers and ranchers will remain green collar workers as they have always been—efficient producers of food, fiber, and fuel and stewards of natural resources.

In the meantime, we are subjected to celebrities like Al Gore, Bill Maher, and Daryl Hanna, who have no science degree. The outspoken actors, Ed Begley and Leonardo Dicaprio only have a high school diploma and many others who opine on environmental issues are literally high school dropouts. A long list of news media personalities has no science degree. They include ABC’s Sam Champion, NBC’s Matt Laurer, and CBS’s Harry Smith. CBS’s Scott Pelley is a college dropout.

Among the scientists, many have degrees in areas that do not reflect meteorology or climatology. They include Bill Nye known as the “science guy” who has a degree in mechanical engineering.

As Dr. Lehr points out, “There is little food on the plate of humans anywhere that has not been genetically improved.” This goes back four thousand years to the creation of wine. In 1862, an Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel began to crossbreed simple garden peas to improve their taste, yield and strength. Thirty years later his work on the subject was published in the journal of the Royal Society of London, “and the new agricultural science of hybridization was born to improve our food.”

Writing in the February edition of Wheat Life, a publication for Washington state farmers, John Moffatt, a wheat breeder for Syngenta, noted that “Wheat is not only the largest crop in the world with acreage surpassing that of even corn and soybeans, it is also one of the most complex.” Sygenta is one of North America’s leading wheat genetic research companies, responsible for helping farmers grow profitable wheat with research that begins with seeds that undergo a certification process. Their crop varieties consistently outperform saved seed in yield, quality and test weight.

“If genetic labeling laws are passed throughout the United States,” warns Dr. Lehr, “it will severely set back the scientific and human health benefits of genetic food advances. Billions of people around the world have consumed genetically modified food since it became widespread during recent decades. Billions more will benefit from such foods in the coming decades.”

Meanwhile, the Green liars will continue to wage war on humanity. From Paul Ehrlich who in 1968 forecast global famine to the Club of Rome that in 1972 predicted exhausted resources and famine and then had to recant the forecasts in 1976, to an endless series of “science” lies before and since, it behooves us all to be wary and skeptical of their claims.

We owe a debt of gratitude to those scientists who have greatly enhanced the lives of the seven billion with whom we share planet Earth. We owe a lot to the farmers who, thanks to scientific breakthroughs in genetics, are feeding us.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

Quote of the Day!

Would you bet your paycheck on the weather forecast for tomorrow? If not, then why should this country (US) bet billions on global warming predictions that have even less foundation? - Thomas Sowell

Abolish the IRS

Conservative Action Alerts

The Internal Revenue Service's attack on tea party groups, pro-gun groups, Christian groups, and the First Amendment requires Congress to take severe and meaningful action.  Right now, we're calling for the complete abolition of the Internal Revenue Service in order to end its "power to abuse" once and for all.

As Sen. Cruz says:

"The IRS has not honored its trust with the American people [and] the Obama Administration has demonstrated a willingness to use the machinery of government to target their political enemies. That's wrong... It is a manifestation of too much power in the federal government. When the federal government has that much power in our individual lives it's an invitation to being abused. And I think we ought to abolish the IRS ..." 

We must demand our Representatives and Senators to join Senator Ted Cruz and work to strike the root of the IRS scandal by working to abolish the Internal Revenue Service entirely….To Read More….

Harvard writer: Free speech threatens liberalism and must be destroyed

Robby Soave

 

If this Harvard University student got her way, free speech on campus would be abolished and professors with dissenting views fired, because radical leftism is the only permissible political philosophy and the First Amendment is a barrier preventing modern colleges from fulfilling their proper role as indoctrination camps.
Her name is Sandra Korn. She is a senior at Harvard and columnist for the Harvard Crimson.  In a recent column, Korn unambiguously insisted that the university should stop guaranteeing professors and students the right to hold controversial views and pursue research that challenges liberalism.

“If our university community opposes racism, sexism, and heterosexism, why should we put up with research that counters our goals?” asked Korn in her column.  The column’s subtitle was even more direct: “Let’s give up on academic freedom in favor of justice.”  Korn cited several instances of perspectives that clashed with her own being banned from campus as triumphant examples of the way Harvard should be run. The firing of Subramanian Swamy, a Harvard summer school instructor who was dismissed for his anti-Islamic views, was one such triumph.....To Read More......

Democrats cry foul when Republicans use their favorite tactic against them

By Noemie Emery | FEBRUARY 25, 2014

Opinion,Noemie Emery,Columnists,Obamacare,Health Care,MagazineDemocrats don't always hate anecdotes -- they love them when used by Obama and Hillary Clinton --... Irked at the gall of Republicans in using the Democrats' votes for health care against them, liberals have discovered a plot that is even more sinister: the GOP is using "anecdotes" (i.e., the stories of people who have been hurt by the measure) in an effort to take the Left down.

By "anecdotes" they mean stories like the those of Edie Littlefield Sundby, the stage-four cancer patient who can't keep her old team of physicians; the parents who can't take children to the hospitals at which they were formerly treated; the people having trouble paying their premiums; or the story related in the Wall Street Journal on Monday by Stephen Blackwood, whose mother, also suffering from a rare form of cancer, can no longer get access to the medicines that have kept her alive.

This isn't quite what the Left had expected. Last year, Jonathan Chait mocked the frustrated quest of the Right for Obamacare victims, as the only ones likely were selfish rich people, and "neither the medical specialist nor the hospital executive nor the upper-income taxpayer quite offer the politically sympathetic face of the Everyman struggling under Obama's socialist boot.".....To Read More.....

NFL could pull Super Bowl if Arizona religious rights bill passes

By Ashe Schow February 25, 2014

Call it what you want -- anti-gay or religious rights -- but if Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signs a controversial bill, you might not be callingArizona the home of the 2015 Super Bowl. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, S.B. 1062, is the current controversy du jour out of Arizona, and the National Football League is with the opposition.

“Our policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other improper standard,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told USA Today. “We are following the issue in Arizona and will continue to do so should the bill be signed into law, but will decline further comment at this time.” The Arizona Super Bowl Host committee released a statement saying it disagreed with the bill and its impact on Arizona’s economy…..To Read More….

Fox network 'lied about anchor's firing'

'I was fired because I have a biblical belief and I have that right in this country'

Officials for Fox Sports, whose vice president earlier said one-time football analyst Craig James was fired for his beliefs about and support for traditional marriage, now say those statements were false, according to a complaint filed with the Texas Workforce Commission.  The complaint was filed on behalf of James by officials with Liberty Institute, which is representing James.  According to the legal team, it was a national spokesperson for Fox Sports who told the Dallas Morning News “that James was terminated because of his religious beliefs about same-sex marriage.”

But now, “during a sworn deposition,” Fox Sports President Eric Shanks “stated that the Senior Vice-President for Communications and spokesperson for Fox Sports Lou D’Ermilio made false statements to the press.”  The organization also said Shanks said he did not know why D’Ermilio made the “false statements,” and there has been no investigation to determine why the statements were made…..To Read More…..

Galbraith Was Right About Advertising

Mises Daily: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 by Robert Batemarco

Now that I have your attention, rest assured that even when John Kenneth Galbraith got something right, he got it wrong. One of the signature ideas for which Galbraith is known is the Dependence Effect, which states that advertising convinces people that they need things that they don’t really need. In Galbraith’s own words, “If the individual’s wants are urgent, they must be original with himself. They cannot be urgent if they must be contrived for him. ... One cannot defend production as satisfying wants if that production creates the wants. ... The even more direct link between production and wants is provided by the institutions of modern advertising and salesmanship.”  Galbraith uses this concept to undermine the foundations of microeconomics in the personal preferences of individuals…..To Read More……

Obamacare Delay: Good Politics, Bad Economics

Mises Daily: Monday, February 24, 2014 by D.W. MacKenzie

The Congressional Budget Office has reported that ACA subsidies will lower the labor force participation rate in coming years. The Obama administration has also decided to delay the small business mandate part of the ACA until 2016.Officials of the Obama administration insisted that lower participation rates in the labor force are beneficial. Lower income Americans can now decide to work less, to supply less labor, to work part time or retire earlier. By working less Americans can take care of family members or enjoy more leisure time.

The Obama administration has in the same week admitted that the burdens that the ACA places on small businesses are onerous. The costs of the ACA will therefore cause smaller employers to demand fewer workers.  Economically speaking, there is not a real difference between workers supplying fewer hours of labor and employers demanding fewer hours of labor. In terms of the production of real wealth fewer hours of labor used in industry translates into reduced overall production. Politically, however, there is a very real difference between workers wishing to supply more hours, and employers demanding more hours…..To Read More…

FISA, the NSA, and America’s Secret Court System

Mises Daily: Saturday, February 22, 2014 by Ben O'Neill

[This article is part of a series. See Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the US Courts.]

We begin our analysis of the legal machinations of the NSA by looking at the secret court system which supposedly practices judicial oversight over the agency. This Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court or FISC) was created in 1978 as a result of recommendations of the Church Committee, composed after a series of intelligence scandals in the 1970s.  The court was purportedly created as an additional safeguard against unlawful activity by US intelligence agencies, which had been found to have committed various kinds of unlawful surveillance activities…..To Read More….

“100 Years of Democrat Rule and What Are the Results?”

Written on Tuesday, February 25, 2014 by Syd Wolf

The Progressive Movement embraced nefarious, ideologically driven individuals who supported an agenda which transitioned our nation from a “republic” to a “democracy” and now towards an “oligarchic” form of government. “Democracy” was a convenient vehicle to move to “majority rule” and now what is deemed “politically correctness.” Corruption and narcissistic frailties of human virtue and morality has led us to rule by an elitist class and the trampling of the rights and liberties of the minority. Implementation has been slow, calculated and incremental; but was easily facilitated by a distracted, constitutionally illiterate and uniformed electorate.

Promoting “democracy,” as a form of government, cultivates a “false sense of entitlement and security,” promotes anarchical behavior like “Occupy Wall Street” and empowers other factions, groups or individuals. Use of the term “democracy” asserts democratic rights and principles that end up paralyzing constitutional procedures and processes as well as subversive ideas. Propaganda of fraud, lies and “political correctness” leads to the loss of liberty and surrendering rights guaranteed by our Constitution.

Elitists have become social engineers, changing our society to fit their code of ethics using devious means to sneer at or subvert established moral values and virtues to make their own conduct acceptable.  Historically, Democrats have dominated Congress and the Presidency and over the past 100 years the Democrats have held power twice as long as Republicans; higher when looking at complete control of both Houses and Presidency. Composition of Congress from 1931 to present (82 years):....To Read More.....

Mises, Kant, and Welfare Spending

Mises Daily: Friday, February 21, 2014 by Patrick Barron

Man’s Natural Rights and the Limits of Government

In The Law Frédéric Bastiat presents the irrefutable maxim that man’s rights exist prior to the formation of the state and that, therefore, the collective action of the state cannot conflict with man’s prior rights. According to Bastiat, man can delegate to the state only those powers that he himself already possesses, and man does not have the natural right to force another to give to a charity. Since I cannot coerce you to give to the charity of my choice, neither can government force you to give to the charity of its choice. Yet that is exactly what it does. Let us say that you object that government gives money to a charity that you personally abhor. You would not get very far arguing that you have a right to reduce your tax payment by a pro-rata amount. If you persisted in withholding payment, government will confiscate your assets. If you try to protect your assets, government will kill you. Yet, from the context of natural rights, government has no justification in forcing you to pay for a charity of which you disapprove and would not fund voluntarily. ......To Read More....

Michael Mann Faces Bankruptcy as his Courtroom Climate Capers Collapse

Written by John O'Sullivan

This appeared here.  I have not posted this until now because I was waiting for permission to post the whole article.  I wish to thank John for allowing me to publish his work.  RK

Massive counterclaims, in excess of $10 million, have just been filed against climate scientist Michael Mann after lawyers affirmed that the former golden boy of global warming alarmism had sensationally failed in his exasperating three-year bid to sue skeptic Canadian climatologist, Tim Ball. Door now wide open for criminal investigation into Climategate conspiracy.

Buoyed by Dr Ball's successes, journalist and free-speech defender, Mark Steyn has promptly decided to likewise countersue Michael Mann for $10 million in response to a similar SLAPP suit filed by the litigious professor from Penn. State University against not just Steyn, but also the National Review, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Rand Simberg. Ball's countersuit against Mann seeks "exemplary and punitive damages. " Bishop Hill blog is running extracts of Steyn's counterclaim, plus link.

Mann’s chief undoing in all such lawsuits is highlighted in a quote in Steyn’s latest counterclaim:

“Plaintiff continues to evade the one action that might definitively establish its [his science’s] respectability - by objecting, in the courts of Virginia, British Columbia and elsewhere, to the release of his research in this field. See Cuccinelli vs Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia...”

At last, after 3 years of legal wrangling, it is made clear why I was so bold as to formally undertake an indemnity to fully compensate Dr Ball for my own actions in the event Mann won the case. Respected Aussie climate commentator, Jo Nova was one of the few to commend my unparalled commitment to Ball's cause.

Steyn’s legal team, aware of the latest developments from Vancouver, have correctly adduced that Ball has effectively defeated Mann after the Penn. State pretender’s preposterous and inactive lawsuit against Ball was rendered dormant for failure to prosecute. Under law, Mann’s prevarications, all his countless fudging and evasiveness in the matter, establishes compelling evidence that his motive was not to prove Ball had defamed him, but more likely a cynical attempt to silence fair and honest public criticism on a pressing and contentious government policy issue.

The fact Mann refused to disclose his ‘hockey stick’ graph metadata in the British Columbia Supreme Court, as he is required to do under Canadian civil rules of procedure, constituted a fatal omission to comply, rendering his lawsuit unwinnable. As such, Dr Ball, by default, has substantiated his now famous assertion that Mann belongs "in the state pen, not Penn. State." In short, Mann failed to show he did not fake his tree ring proxy data for the past 1,000 years, so Ball’s assessment stands as fair comment. Moreover, many hundreds of papers in the field of paleoclimate temperature reconstructions that cite Mann’s work are likewise tainted, heaping more misery on the discredited UN’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) which has a knack of relying on such sub prime science.

Where Do We Go From Here?

It will likely be open season on Mann. Anyone may now freely dismiss him in the harshest terms as a junk scientist who shilled for a failed global warming cabal. Without fear of his civil legal redress, we may now refer to Mann for what he is: a climate criminal, a fraudster.

Being that Mann's suit in the BC court was filed 3 years ago before he filed against Steyn, it appears Dr Ball will be first in line with his counterclaims and pipping Steyn for the well-deserved $10 million compensation prize. That’s if Mann's financial backers (most notably, the David Suzuki Foundation) aren't bankrupted first.

Woe for Weaver, too

But the more savvy climate analysts will note something here that is far more important scientifically than just Ball’s sensational legal victory over Mann. That is Ball’s more telling concurrent court triumph over Professor Andrew Weaver, “climate scientist” at the University of Victoria, BC, Deputy Leader of the Green Party of British Columbia, and a member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly. Weaver has also established himself as the IPCC’s lead climate modeler.

Long-time readers may recall that Weaver also sued Ball for libel in February 2011, some months before Mann took a punt at it. David Suzuki's mouthpiece, desmogblog.com made huge fanfare of it at the time. Both Ball and I suffered the ignominy of having all our online articles removed from the Canada Free Press website after CFP caved into the bully boy tactics masterminded behind the scenes by the deep-pocketed David Suzuki and his Desmogblog cronies, who thereafter smeared my name, too).

Weaver’s libel suit against Ball has also now been rendered dormant due to failure to prosecute because Weaver, like Mann, won’t disclose his (similarly dubious) metadata. Both these prominent men have been expensively represented by one of Canada’s top libel experts, Roger McConchie, who claims he “literally wrote the book on “Canadian Libel and Slander Actions.””

This is an epic double whammy for Ball. As an inadvertent courtroom martyr for climate skeptics Dr Ball has destroyed the credibility of both the IPPC paleoclimate record (Mann’s ‘hockey stick’ graph ‘science’) and all those IPCC computer model ‘projections’ of a dangerously warming climate (Weaver’s ‘science’). And all achieved in the most important ‘peer reviewed’ venue possible – a government court of law. The threat of the cold light of truth being shone on their "secret science" was a step too far for Mann and Weaver. As such, the alarmist (false) claims of a cooler past climate presented by Mann, and doomsaying computer model projections of a dangerously warming future climate, presented by the still hugely influential Weaver, would not stand up in court.

So, forget Steyn’s case – the court victories that count, in terms of the scientific (and political) consequences, are entirely due to Tim Ball. By tenaciously and bravely defending his actions for three long years the mild-mannered septaugenarian has single-handedly proved that the very core of government climate science is junk. Thereby, this instance of 'science on trial' is no less significant, in the broadest sociatal context, as the infamous Scope's Monkey Trial of 1925.

But was the "evidence" for global warming intentionally and illegally concocted? By their persistence in hiding their data we may think so, as far as Mann and Weaver are concerned; while Dr Ball's latest sensational book,''The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science;' detailing the Climategate shenanigans, is a 'must read' as to culpability. But only a full criminal investigation will be determinative of all that. The question now is, will the U.S. and Canadian governmental authorities have the stomach to delve deeper?

The 'fairness' fraud

Thomas Sowell About | Email | Archive

It seems as if everywhere you turn these days there are studies claiming to show that America has lost its upward mobility for people born in the lower socioeconomic levels. But there is a sharp difference between upward “mobility,” defined as an opportunity to rise, and mobility defined as actually having risen.  That distinction is seldom even mentioned in most of the studies. It is as if everybody is chomping at the bit to get ahead, and the ones that don’t rise have been stopped by “barriers” created by “society.” When statistics show that sons of high school dropouts don’t become doctors or scientists nearly as often as the sons of Ph.D.s, that is taken as a sign that American society is not “fair.”

If equal probabilities of achieving some goal is your definition of fairness, then we should all get together – people of every race, color, creed, national origin, political ideology and sexual preference – and stipulate that life has never been fair, anywhere or any time in all the millennia of recorded history.

Then we can begin at last to talk sense.....To Read More....

More From Mike Shaw's Eco-Logic

From ACSH: Upholding its tradition, a new Lancet piece on chemicals aims to scare rather than inform

February 19, 2014

The current issue of Lancet Neurology has a “sky is falling” alarm about the alleged ever-rising threat of environmental chemicals for our children’s neurological development. The authors are well-versed in this subject: not toxicology or neurology, no, we mean they are experts in the subject of trying to scare parents and the media about remote or hypothetical chemical threats. In this case, they wave the skull-and-crossbones banner of a “pandemic of developmental neurotoxicity.” If they hoped to garner media attention — and they surely did — they succeeded beyond expectations: fright is in the air…….Original here. BTW--"Toxic terrorists" is one term, but I prefer "Science welfare frauds."

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think

February 16, 2014

Those of a certain age may recall the title of this posting as a 1949 tune popularized by Guy Lombardo. Right, of course, but what we're getting at here is a look at vacations. This HND piece cites data suggesting that vacations are good for your health.

We also spotlight an up-and-coming luxury travel company, with prices that surprisingly are not so luxurious.    Read the complete article.

The real war on women: Obamacare killed my sister--Doug Graham

February 11, 2014

Here's a heartbreaker for you, and just in time for Valentine's Day...Posted by Ann Coulter. As Commies will always say, "If you want an omelet, you gotta break some eggs." Every single one of you who voted for this incompetent buffoon as president have blood on your hands.  And there will be a whole lot more.

ACSH absolutely nails it with their top 13 health scares in 2013

Let's make this one viral, folks. Plenty more great stuff on their site.

A look at population health

February 03, 2014

This HND piece explains the relatively new concept of population health—defined as "The health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group." While these groups are usually geographic, they can also comprise other populations, such as employees, ethnicities, those with disabilities, or those incarcerated.

Evaluating outcomes on the basis of a cohort, rather than on individual results is a necessary accommodation to the Feds being in charge, of course, but how this will affect health care long term is still an open question. More than that, "Giant" health care seems to require virtually endless amounts of IT, which always seems to be able to acquire funding.

Many "providers" (as in physicians) are complaining—with plenty of justification—that the tail is wagging the dog.  Read the complete article.

The Salt Of The Earth

By Michael D. Shaw, Feb 24, 2014

Contributing Columnist - HealthNewsDigest.com  This appeared here

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls his disciples "the salt of the earth." While the meaning of this expression is clear, its derivation may not be. Roman scholar Pliny the Elder would say: Nil utilius sole et sale--There's nothing more useful than sunlight and salt. The habitual use of salt is intimately connected with the advance from nomadic to agricultural life. Traditionally, salt is identified with three special qualities...

• Purity--The Romans believed it to be the purest of substances, since its origin lay in the purity of the sun and sea
• Preservation--Until the recent advent of refrigeration, salt was a key preservative for foods
• Flavor--Without salt, many foods can be insipid, and in some cases repellent

Around 1920, though, something happened, and an essential nutrient--honored from dim antiquity--would be subjected to a relentless and mindless attack, by scientists who should know better, and in most cases do. Indeed, the anti-salt hysteria set the pattern for today's sad mess that we call "science," where it's more about ego and maintaining the guild, than it is about the search for truth.

Around 1920, though, something happened, and an essential nutrient--honored from dim antiquity--would be subjected to a relentless and mindless attack, by scientists who should know better, and in most cases do. Indeed, the anti-salt hysteria set the pattern for today's sad mess that we call "science," where it's more about ego and maintaining the guild, than it is about the search for truth.

In 1925, Allen and Sherrill published a study claiming good results in treating hypertension with a low salt diet. To put it kindly, there was mixed success in duplicating their results, and by the 1930s, low salt was abandoned.

In the 1940s, along came Walter Kempner, who began treating malignant hypertension patients with a diet of white rice, fruit, fruit juices, and sugar. The original idea was to reduce the load on the kidneys, and given the extreme reduction in fats, protein, and salt, this was achieved. More than that, Kempner's diet shifted the sodium/potassium ratio such that patients registered an incredible 20 times as much potassium as sodium in their diet. This is fully six times as high as even the most ardent anti-salt proponents would recommend.

Kempner's patients--many of whom were obese--did lose weight, and did drop their blood pressure. Despite the glaring confounding factors of weight loss and dramatic potassium increase, Kempner insisted that all his good results were due solely to sodium reduction. Yet, his diet gained fame and plenty of adherents, including present day physicians who absurdly believe that a high-carb diet is the best way to treat type 2 diabetes.

As would be revealed in a lawsuit finally settled in 1998, Kempner whipped the bare buttocks of one of his patients for violating the diet, and was also said to have kept her as a sex slave. Nonetheless, Duke University would stand by their man: "Dr. Kempner was a giant who developed a whole approach to an understanding of nutrition that shaped the world's understanding of health," said John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs. "His positive impact on countless lives cannot be overestimated."

One of Kempner's true believers was Lewis Dahl, who "proved" the salt/hypertension link in 1962 by feeding rats massive amounts of salt--the human equivalent of more than a pound of salt per day. Not surprisingly, the rats did not thrive on this diet, and some became hypertensive. I wish I were making this up.

In 1988 came the Intersalt study, which--among other things--drastically overplayed low blood pressure/low dietary salt findings involving isolated aboriginal groups, especially the Yanomami Indians of Brazil. Note that this was within a context of data from 38 countries, with the findings that the per capita daily consumption of sodium in the majority of countries ranged between 2990-4830 milligrams of sodium (current guidelines are 1500-2300 mg--based on nothing at all). The Intersalt results also indicated--in its principal findings--that there was no clear pattern between the level of salt intake and blood pressure.

Yes, the Yanomami "confirm" salt/hypertension if you disregard--again--the glaring confounding factors such as vastly different lifestyles, levels of physical activity, caloric intakes, and environmental stresses, as well as other information strongly suggesting their genetic predisposition to low blood pressure. Still, this obvious outlier fueled the fires of salt restriction, and it continues to this day, despite compelling evidence that it is truly bad medicine.

Several recent studies link lowered salt intakes to a variety of health problems, including low-birth weights and cognitive impairment in children, along with increased rate of falls and fractures among the elderly. In assisted living facilities, where all residents are given low-salt diets, the rate of falls and fractures are three times as great as in the normal home environment. But wait, there's more.

Low salt diets have been implicated in insulin resistance, congestive heart failure, iodine deficiency diseases, and an increase in all-cause morbidity and mortality.

I'll leave you with this: The widely touted super-healthy Mediterranean diet averages 4200 mg of sodium per day. Consider that a standard hospital saline IV drip, which supplies an average of three liters of 0.9 percent sodium chloride per day is equivalent to more than 10,000 milligrams of sodium per day, and this doesn't include any dietary sodium. Yet, the patient's blood pressure is routinely checked every four to six hours, and does not change.

That's right. You can disprove this anti-salt nonsense any day in any hospital in the world. One more health meme that refuses to die, even though it might kill you.

Michael D. Shaw
Exec VP
Interscan Corporation
mds1@gasdetection.com
http://www.gasdetection.com

###

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Quote of the Day

Surely, the example of Rachel Carson ought to serve as a warning regarding all these extremist bouts of hysteria and scare-mongering. Her excessive alarm over chemicals led to a ban on DDT and the resultant impact may have led to the deaths of tens of millions of people (see DDT FAQ at Junkscience.com).  Did we not learn anything from past scares over global cooling, the ozone layer, forest harvesting, species loss, and so many others? While we should rightly be concerned about all aspects of our environment, environmental extremists have repeatedly presented these issues to the public in such exaggerated and distorting manner as to make all reasonable discussion or debate next to impossible. And their environmental scares have repeatedly come to little or nothing and yet they continue to irresponsibly spew them into the public realm and equally irresponsible media grant them ever more coverage, adding to the exaggeration and hysteria of the extremists. The consequences have been exceedingly costly to humanity and to all life, especially in terms of slowing human progress. - Wendell Krossa

Michelle Rhee: School Choice and Common Core Cheerleader

By M. Catharine Evans and Ann Kane February 20, 2014

Who would have thought the champion of charters and school choice, the foe of teachers unions, was connected to Common Core before most people had even heard the term? Michelle Rhee is that woman and she has poured millions into getting Republican candidates elected in at least 17 states [in 2012, 90 out of the 105 candidates backed by Rhee were Republicans or conservatives] Texas may be next on the list -- see USA Today op-ed co-authored by Rhee and Susan Combs, Texas State Comptroller.

The StudentsFirst CEO not only supports Common Core, two of its lead writers were on Rhee's board of her billion dollar organization. On IRS 501c (3) and 501c (4) applications for StudentsFirst Institute and StudentsFirst respectively, David Coleman, regarded as the architect of Common Core, is listed as Treasurer and Jason Zimba as Director. Zimba, a Math professor from Bennington College, authored the wacky and Kafkaesque CCSS Math standards…..To Read More……

The Best of Alan Caruba: Post Constitutional America?

Editor's Note:  There are two fully published article here.  My thanks to Alan for allowing me to publish his work.

Pardon My Paranoia

By Alan Caruba Saturday, February 22, 2014

An organization, Patriots for America, is calling for millions of Americans to descend on Washington, D.C on May 16 for Operation American Spring whose purpose is to demand that President Obama and others in his administration be removed from office.

Among the rules of engagement set forth on their Internet site include (1) no weapons. No ammunition. “The Communist forces that control Washington, D.C. do not recognize the 2nd Amendment and have banned all weapons and ammunition from the district. Do not give them the opportunity to arrest you and prosecute you.” (2) Follow all rules of the road. (3) Comply with all constitutional requests of local authorities. And (4) travel in groups of four or greater.

Geoff Ross is identified as the senior chief of the organization that wants participants to be prepared to stay as long as it takes for Congress to take action. The event suggests that he and many supportive groups think the U.S. is at risk of losing its constitutional government so long as Barack Obama is President.

The worst possible scenario to the event would be if some element of the law enforcement authority is ordered to fire on the gathering, but I recall that in July 2008 presidential candidate Obama said that Americans could no longer “…continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

America does not need a civilian national security force.

We have the military whose job is to protect us against foreign invasion and we have state and local police authorities in our towns and cities to address riots and large protests. The force the President wants would exist solely to intimidate and control Americans who he deems his enemies.

What we do have in the wake of 9/11 is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and it is not intended to be a military force although it does include the Coast Guard. On March 23, 2013, Capt. Terry M. Hestilow, U.S. Army retired, wrote to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) warning that DHS is preparing to go to war with the citizens of the United States.

“It is with gravest concern that I write to you today concerning the recent appropriation of weapons by the DHS that can only be understood as a bold threat of war by that agency, and the Obama administration, against the citizens of the United States of America.” He expressed his concerns over “recent purchases of almost 3,000 mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) armored personnel carriers, 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition (with associated weapons), and other weapons systems.”

“One needs only look to the rise of Adolf Hitler,” wrote Capt. Hestilow, “and his associated DHS organizations, the SA and the SS, of 1932-1934, to see the outcome of allowing an agency of government this kind of control over the free citizens of a nation.”

In a February 5, 2014 article on Infowars.com, Kit Daniels reported that “The U.S. Postal Service is currently seeking companies that can provide “assorted small arms ammunition in the new future. The U.S. Postal Service joins the long list of non-military federal agencies purchasing large amounts of ammunition.”

What has a growing number of Americans concerned is this arming of government agencies we do not associate with the need to be heavily armed. “Since 2001, the U.S. Department of Education has been building a massive arsenal through purchases orchestrated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms” reported Daniels. “Back in July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also purchased 72,000 rounds of 40 Smith and Wesson, following a 2012 purchase for 46,000 rounds of .40 S&W jacketed hollow point by the National Weather Service.”

One might assume that the DHS needs to be armed to some degree, but there is no logical reason for the Post Office, the Department of Education, and NOAA to be heavily armed. Reportedly DHS spent over $58 million to hire security details for just two Social Security offices in Maryland and $80 million for armed guards to protect government buildings in New York and more guards for federal facilities in Wisconsin and Minnesota. “Even the Environmental Protection Agency has its own SWAT teams conducting raids on peaceful Americans,” wrote Daniels.

DHS has been engaged in a program to provide military-style weapons and vehicles to local police forces around the nations.

My most profound fear, my paranoia, concerning the May 16 protest, despite its instructions to participants not be armed, is that some incident would escalate to a point where shots were exchanged. One can conceive of that serving as the reason to initiate an “emergency” proclamation and/or to declare martial law.

One gets the feeling that this government, under the direction of President Obama, is preparing for a national insurrection against his often lawless administration. The May 16 event would provide an excuse to initiate actions that would put us all under the gun.

I no longer believe “it can’t happen here.” We have a President who sees no reason to work with Congress and who recently “joked” that he can do whatever he wants.

I worry that members of our military and others would obey orders to impose governmental control to the extent that we might see widespread resistance by millions of armed Americans. I regard the surge in the purchase of weapons by private citizens during Obama’s terms in office as a reflection of the paranoia that I am feeling these days.

But is it paranoia? Or is it a reasonable assumption that a President who feels free to ignore the Constitution might have plans that do not include peaceful elections or his departure from the office?

© Alan Caruba, 2014

Americans Are Losing Their Freedom

By Alan Caruba Saturday, February 1, 2014

February 1st was National Freedom Day. It commemorates Lincoln’s signing of the House and Senate resolution that later became the 13th Amendment. Lincoln signed the Amendment outlawing slavery on February 1, 1865.

Short of another Civil War, Americans have reached a point verging on the loss of their Constitutional freedoms as ever before. The issue then was slavery, but Americans are rapidly moving toward having their Bill of Rights annulled by a President intent on ruling as a despot, making them slaves of a regime that rules as he wishes, ignoring the Constitution and Congress.

His actions have been supported by the Democratic members of Congress and because Republicans only control the House they have seen their legislative efforts to oppose the regime blocked, often by one man, Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader. The nation’s media with few exceptions have supported or ignored the President’s actions.

Why is this happening? A brief review of the means put forth in Saul Alinski’s “Rules for Radicals”, written by a “community organizer”, outlines what Obama is doing as he seeks to turn America into a socialist state. It is a process that progressives/liberals have been pursuing since early in the last century.

1) Healthcare – Control healthcare and you control the people.

2) Poverty – Increase the poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live.

3) Debt – Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty.

4) Gun Control – Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government. That way you are able to create a police state.

5) Welfare – Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food, Housing, and Income).

6) Education – Take control of what people read and listen to – take control of what children learn in school.

7) Religion – Remove the belief in God from the Government and schools.

8) Class Warfare – Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to take (tax) the wealthy with the support of the poor.

 

We are close to having everything we write and say known to the regime. As Andrew Napolitano asks, “What if the government spies on all of us all the time and recognizes no limits to its spying? What if its appetite for acquiring personal knowledge about all Americans is insatiable? What if the government uses the microchips in our cellphones to follow us and listen to us as we move about?”

And what if Congress, as World Net Daily’s Bob Unruh has written, has empowered the President to “arrest, kidnap, detain without trial and hold indefinitely American citizens thought to ‘represent an enduring security threat to the United States.’” That’s what the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) does!

“Some of the nation’s most respected legal teams are asking the Supreme Court to take up a challenge to the indefinite-detention provisions” of the Act “charging that the law has created the framework for a police state.” That’s how far along we are toward the destruction of the U.S. Constitution.

“The 2014 NDAA was fast-tracked through the U.S. Senate, with no time for discussion or amendments, while most Americans were distracted by the scandal surrounding A&E’s troubles with ‘Duck Dynasty’ star Phil Robertson. Eighty-five of 100 senators voted in favor of the new version of the NDAA, which had already been quietly passed by the House of Representatives.”

Ostensibly a law to address terrorists, the NDAA is a blueprint for a nation in which its citizens have none of the rights spelled out in the Bill of Rights. All it will take is the declaration of martial law or a national emergency.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a leading opponent of Obamacare, writing in The Wall Street Journal, said, “Of all the troubling aspects of the Obama presidency, none is more dangerous than the President’s persistent pattern of lawlessness, his willingness to disregard the written law and instead enforce his own policies via executive fiat…the President’s taste for unilateral action to circumvent Congress should concern every citizen, regardless of party or ideology.”

Americans will soon have little recourse against a government intent on controlling every aspect of their lives, spying on them, and arresting them for criticizing it.

A May 16 march on Washington may cause the White House and the Congress to pause in its attacks on our freedom and liberty. One can only hope that millions participate.

Americans fought a war to end slavery. Will we have to fight to resist becoming slaves?

© Alan Caruba, 2014