Sunday Funnies 02/04/07

The Dems are being cautious, and so they should be. Pulling the plug will have consequences, and it will be remembered who did it. You can read Cox & Forkum's commentary and links about it HERE.









You can read Cox & Forkum's related commentary and links HERE.





The attempts at depersonalizing the memorial are sickening. The point of the memorial is supposed to be to remember and honor those individuals who were murdered, not turn them into an out-of-context abstraction. You can read Cox & Forkum's related commentary and links HERE.







How about replacing the hysteria and hype with reasoned, scientific debate that looks at the WHOLE picture and isn't afraid to ask questions?
     

Global Warming Hysteria; separating the facts from the fiction

Hat tip to Cox and Forkum for the cartoon. You can read their related commentary and links Here.

The MSM seems to be obsessed with global warming these days. I don't object to their examining the phenomenon, but I do object to their lack of objectivity, and their one-sided reporting.

In fact there seems to be a growing wave of hysteria and "emotional thinking" surrounding the issue. The MSM fans the flames of this hysteria, and facts are simply ignored. Most disturbing to me is the trend of thought that anyone who questions whether or not global warming is being caused by humans needs to be SILENCED. That is always the tactic of people with something to hide.

The only way to separate good science from the bad, is to be free to examine all the facts. That does not suite the environmental fanatics who want their fragile version of global warming to be treated like a religion that must not be questioned.

Neal Boortz had a very good post about these issues yesterday:

WHY AM I SKEPTICAL ABOUT MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING?

The following are some very good reasons as to why we should all be skeptical about the hysteria and question the hype:

[...]

# Because the sun is warmer .. and all of these scientists don't seem to be willing to credit a warmer sun with any of the blame for global warming.

# The polar ice caps on Mars are melting. How did our CO2 emissions get all the way to Mars?

# It was warmer in the 1930s across the globe than it is right now.

# It wasn't all that long ago that these very same scientists were warning us about "global cooling" and another approaching ice age?

# How much has the earth warmed up in the last 100 years? One degree. Now that's frightening.

# Because that famous "hockey stick" graph that purports to show a sudden warming of the earth in the last few decades is a fraud. It ignored previous warming periods ... left them off the graph altogether.

[...]



# Because many of these scientists who are sounding the global warming scare depend on grant money for their livelihood, and they know the grant money dries up when they stop preaching the global warming sermon.

# Because global warming "activists" and scientists seek to punish those who have different viewpoints. If you are sure of your science you have no need to shout down or seek to punish those who disagree.

# What happened to the Medieval Warm Period? In 1996 the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a chart showing climatic change over a period of 1000 years. This graph showed a Medieval warming period in which global temperatures were higher than they are today. In 2001 the IPCC issued another 1000 year graph in which the Medieval warming period was missing. Why?

# Why has one scientist promoting the cause of man-made global warming been quoted as saying "we have to get rid of the medieval warming period?"

# Why is the ice cap on the Antarctic getting thicker if the earth is getting warmer?

# In the United State, the one country with the most accurate temperature measuring and reporting records, temperatures have risen by 0.3 degrees centigrade over the past 100 years. The UN estimate is twice that.

# There are about 160,000 glaciers around the world. Most have never been visited or measured by man. The great majority of these glaciers are growing, not melting.

# Side-looking radar interferometry shows that the ice mass in the West Antarctic is growing at a rate of over 26 gigatons a year. This reverses a melting trend that had persisted for the previous 6,000 years.

# Rising sea levels? The sea levels have been rising since the last ice age ended. That was 12,000 years ago. Estimates are that in that time the sea level has risen by over 300 feet. The rise in our sea levels has been going on long before man started creating anything but natural CO2 emissions.

# Like Antarctica, the interior of Greenland is gaining ice mass.

# Over the past 3,000 years there have been five different extended periods when the earth was measurably warmer than it is today.

# During the last 20 years -- a period of the highest carbon dioxide levels -- global temperatures have actually decreased. That's right ... decreased.




# Why did a reporter from National Public Radio refuse to interview David Deming, an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma studying global warming, after his testimony to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unless Deming would state that global warming was being caused by man?

# Why are global warming proponents insisting that the matter is settled and that no further scientific research is needed? Why are they afraid of additional information?
[...]

Yes, why indeed? Because they don't want their lies exposed. The truth always holds up to scrutiny, and people who are advocating lies have to prevent that scrutiny from happening if they are to have any hope of making their lies persist.

There are plenty of good reasons for being against pollution. One can easily argue that strengthening emissions standards is in our own best interests for health reasons. But as Boortz rightly points out, the hysteria behind the global warming movement is politically driven:

[...]
# The United Nations is anti-American and anti-Capitalist. In short .. I don't trust them. Not a bit. The UN would eagerly engage in any enterprise that would weaken capitalist economies around the world.

# Because after the fall of the Soviet Union and worldwide Communism many in the anti-capitalist movement moved to the environmental movement to continue pursuing their anti-free enterprise goals. Many of the loudest proponents of man-made global warming today are confirmed anti-capitalists.
[...]

(bold emphasis mine) There needs to be more honesty surrounding this issue, and less hysteria and hype. Good science and facts need to replace "emotional thinking", which isn't really thinking at all, but political manipulation.
     

Are sales of Windows new Vista operating system driven by hardware manufacturers?

I've been playing with the latest test release of PCLinuxOS. It has some neat desktop wallpaper pics, three of which I am posting here:


I thought this was a funny joke. In fairness to Microsoft, I realize they are such a target for viruses and such because they are the dominant operating system. If Mac and Linux had larger user bases, they would be larger targets, too. Yet I think it's also true that the Linux community fixes their security holes much more quickly than Microsoft does.

Linux Magazine has just published an interesting article:

Why Windows Wins
An excerpt:

[...] What fascinates me most about the Vista launch is the limited number of computers in the world that are capable of running the software today. How many companies can spend $6 billion on a product that can only be deployed on an estimated 15% of the world’s computers? It’s like building one billion cars and there being only 5 roads to drive them on. It’s seems a bit reckless in one sense. But it’s also rather brilliant.

Windows Vista isn’t so much a new operating system as it is demand generation for new hardware. It’s a strategy that ultimately will prove successful because it enlists the support of everyone selling hardware. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) The author, Bryan Richard, goes on to show how Microsoft's success has actually limited its ability to make radical changes, and how and why it's biggest market for growth now lies with hardware vendors.

It's a short article, and I found it an eye opener. In that context, Mircosoft's strategy makes good sense. Still, I won't be trying Vista any time too soon. XP is fine, and I'll be sticking with it untill I've made a complete transition to Linux. The latest hardware is great, but I like to make my hardware last a long time. Linux lets me keep using what I have.

DesktopLinux.com is featuring a series of articles that compare Vista with Linux:

A Vista vs. Linux matchup -- Part 1: Leveling the Playing Field

It has three parts total so far, and makes a detailed comparison. If you are looking for an alternative to costly Microsoft upgrades, you may want to check it out.


This next desktop wallpaper picture features the little saber-tooth squirrel from the animated movie "Ice Age":


He is standing on top a cube with a "K" on it. The "K" is the logo used for the popular K Desktop Environment (KDE), a Windows-like Graphical User Interface for Linux, BSD, and other Unix based operating systems.


This third wallpaper I included just because it's so beautiful:


This is a photo of the Jiuzhaigou valley in Sichuan province, central-western China. I find it's beauty stunning. It also reminds me a lot of home, here in Oregon. :-)
     

Have you tried Firefox version 2?

I've recently begun using the newest upgrade of Firefox, version 2.0.0.1. I like it a lot!

When it first came out, I decided to keep using verion 1.5, and see what happened with other people before using version 2 myself. Now it's been out for a while, it's had a minor upgrade, and it's getting good reviews, so I'm giving it a whirl.

It's been a nice suprise, as it has many small but useful features. Here is a link to a review that goes over some of those features:

PRODUCT REVIEW
Firefox 2.0: Subtle Changes, Big Difference

Most of the new features in Mozilla's Firefox 2.0 aren't readily apparent, even to a seasoned Firefox aficionado. Once a user digs a little deeper, however, the new tools and capabilities become more obvious. Phishing protection automatically investigates suspect e-mail, an enhanced search tool suggests additional terms and Session Restore can save the user after a crash. [...]

As a blogger, I've really gotten into using tabbing. Tabs are so much easier than having multiple windows open, it's been a real time saver. This latest version of Firefox has even managed to make the use of tabs even better!


It used to be that there was one "X" button at the right of the tabs, and you had to use it to close whichever tab was active (or in the forefront). Now each tab has it's own "X" button, and you can close it without having it in the forefront.

If you accidentally close a tab, you can easily bring it back by finding and selecting it under "history".

There are many more useful features. You can download Firefox 2 here:

Firefox 2 - Rediscover the web.

The page this link goes to also has three links on it, labeled "Enjoy a Better Web Experience", "Enjoy a Better Web Experience" and "Personalize Your Browser". Each will tell you a lot more about the features version 2 offers.

Firefox 2 is free to download and use, and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. Check it out, I think you'll be glad you did.
     

Worse than a bungee cord jump?

The Human Slingshot

I'd never do that. You would think she'd get some kind of whiplash or something. Or her brain bouncing around on the inside of her skull.

When they pulled her back to let it go, she HAD to be thinking:
"I wonder if this is such a good idea?"

Hat tip to Nealz Nuze for the link.

Sunday Funnies 01/28/07

The Main Stream Media is wielding so much power these days, they are almost like a fourth branch in our government... but unelected, of course.

No one was suprised about Hillary:



Comparison's have been made with Margaret Thatcher, but please...


She could hardly fill Maggie's shoes. The only thing they have in common is being female.



Hillary brings a lot of baggage with her (including Bill), but that won't necessarily stop her. People vote the way they do for lots of reasons. She's a lawyer, and clever in many ways; smarter than John Kerry. The worse thing the Republican's could do is under-estimate her.

There was a funny video on YouTube of a satire done by SNL, of an interview of Hillary on "Hardball" with Christopher Matthews. I see it's been pulled; I couldn't find a copy anywhere on YouTube. But there is still a working copy of it somewhere, I found a site with a functioning YouTube link HERE. I suppose it's a matter of time before they purge this copy, too.

Why was this video pulled off-line? YouTube is full of clips from SNL (in fact, there is a rather funny one about Nancy Pelosi HERE), so it wasn't a copyright issue. Did the Clinton's find it so threatening that they had it removed? Did Democrats complain? SNL makes fun of both parties, I don't see why any clips had to be removed.





I find such resolutions disgusting in the extreme. It's just posturing, that encourages the enemy with renewed resolve to kill our soldiers. I've come to expect that from many Democrats, but any Republican signing onto such a resolution should pay a price for it. If you are a Republican, consider signing The NRSC Pledge. I have, and I also emailed our Republican Senator here in Oregon, Gordon Smith.








You can read Cox & Forkum's commentary and links on the controversy HERE.



Jimmy Carter, in drag. Doesn't he look a lot like...

See Here
     

Jimmy Carter and his Jewish Problem

Fifteen Carter Center Board Members have resigned over Jimmy Carter's new book. It's being claimed that he's abandoned his traditional position of honest broker and mediator, and become an advocate for the Palestinians. One former board member, Steve Berman, maintains that the Carter Center recieves a great deal of it's funding from Saudi Arabia, and that Carter needs to disclose where the funding for the Carter Center is comming from.

Of course our own MSM is silent on this. But Carter himself has hardly been silent, and even made an appearence recently on Middle Eastern TV:


Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar) - 1/14/2007

In his interview on Al-Jazeera TV, Carter made the remarkable statement that he does not consider the missle attacks on Isreal to be terrorism.
[see clip #1355]

Does Jimmy Carter have a Jewish Problem, or a Problem with Jews? It seems Carter once Interceded on Behalf of a Former Nazi Guard and also complained that there were "too many Jews" on the government's Holocaust Memorial Council.

Carter played his part in helping the French and the PLO bring the Ayatollah Khomeini to power, which ultimately led to the global resurgence of Jihad. Now Carter is an apologist for the Islamic Jihad against Israel.

Combine those things with the admiration of Jew-hating Arabs expressed in the Carter family. You have to wonder if there isn't a pattern here. Maybe we should be connecting the dots?




The MSM keeps pushing Jimmy Carter forward as some kind of unbiased saint, yet there seems to be quite a bit of bias.

Carter still thinks there is a "Malaise" affecting America, and that it's source is the American People. If he wants to see a malaise affecting our country, I suggest he look in a mirror.
     

Moneydance; a cross-platform accounting program for Windows, Macintosh and Linux

Moneydance: The way Quicken used to be.
I've used Quicken for years. I'm currently using version 2001. I haven't upgraded, because 1.) I don't even use most of the programs features, and 2.) Each new version seems more obnoxious and pushy than the last. Customer reviews for the newer versions express a lot of dissatisfaction, so I haven't been eager to upgrade. In fact, I've been looking for other options. One interesting option I've discovered is a program called Moneydance.

It's a simple checkbook program that offers the basic funtions that Quicken does, as well as some advanced features as on-line banking. What it doesn't have is the pressure to upgrade every year or the aggressive upselling of more advanced features or extra services. It reminds me of the way Quicken USED to be.


Another interesting aspect of Moneydance is availibility on multiple computer operating systems. You can buy versions for Windows, Macintosh or Linux, so if you ever move to a different operating system, you can continue using Money Dance. The retail price is about $30.00.


If you need a double entry bookeeping programe like Quickbooks, for generating invoices and such, then Moneydance probably won't cut it for you at this time. But if you are looking for a simple way to manage your personal finances, or you have a small business that deals mostly with cash transactions, Moneydance might be right for you.


You can actually download the program for a free trial, with the option to purchase if you like it. If you think it might fulfill your needs, it's worth a try.

The best way to clean your pussy

The Kitty Washing Machine

At least it's a more efficient way; it keeps those sharp claws away from you. But it still looks like quite an ordeal, especially for the cat. You may end up with a cleaner pussy, but it won't be a happy one!

UPDATE: The embedded link won't work, but you can view the video HERE".

Hat tip to Nealz Nuze for the link. I like Neal's comment:

"Good luck ever getting your cat in a carrier again after a visit to the cat spa".
     

Democrat Posturing = Paralysis

From Neal Boortz:
ANOTHER WORTHLESS RESOLUTION

The Senate is debating another non-binding resolution on the war in Iraq. Really...don't these people actually have something else to do? What about the first 100 hours of Democratic rule? Oh, that only applied to the House. So the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution yesterday saying President Bush's troop surge was not in the national interest.

Actually, it's not correct to say that this resolution is worthless. It is actually quite valuable. Not to us, but to the Islamic fascists. This resolution can be used as a rallying point for their recruitment of new followers. "See! We're winning! We have the unbelievers on the run! Join us in the Jihad! Victory is at hand!" [...]

(bold emphasis mine) Boortz goes on to say how they are going to waste time debating it, filibustering it and holding hearings in committee. All over a non-binding resolution that won't do anything but weaken the moral of our troops and encourage our enemies. Is this what we use our tax dollars to pay them for?

If the Democrats really wanted to DO something, they could cut funding for the surge. But they won't do that, because they would then have to take responsibility for the carnage and everything else that would follow.

The Democrats are doing what they do best; posturing. Taking a position against something, without offering any plan or contributing real help to solving the problem. It's precisely that refusal to do anything, that resulted in 9-11. How many more 9-11s will we need to experience, before they stop their paralysing posturing?


It seems that the only enemy the Democrats see are the Republican Party, and Walmart. They don't seem to realise that we dare not turn our backs on what is happening in the Middle East, and go about our business as if it doesn't affect us. We've done that before, and the result was 9-11, with the promise of worse to come.

Here's a good example of "worse to come", from Maynard at Tammy Bruce's blog:
Newt Warns of Iran's Nuclear Holocaust
He quotes a portion of a recent speech by Newt Gingrich:

Three nuclear weapons are a second Holocaust," Gingrich declared, adding: "People are greatly underestimating how dangerous the world is becoming. I'll repeat it, three nuclear weapons are a second Holocaust. Our enemies are quite explicit in their desire to destroy us. They say it publicly. We are sleepwalking through this process as though it's only a problem of communication."

"Our enemies are fully as determined as Nazi Germany, and more determined that the Soviets. Our enemies will kill us the first chance they get. There is no rational ability to deny that fact. It's very clear that the problems are larger and more immediate than the political systems in Israel or the US are currently capable of dealing with," said Gingrich.

(bold emphasis mine) Too many Democrats seem to think that Iran has nothing to do with events in Iraq; they fail to see that we are dealing with a trans-national movement, of which Iraq is only one front. If we fail or walk away from this, it will surely follow us, our enemies more resolved than ever.

I'm sick of the Democrats useless posturing and posing. Is it too much to ask for some BI-PARTISAN cooperation in actually DEALING with this?

More from Neal Boortz:
DICK CHENEY UNLOADS ON IRAQ

Dick Cheney blew his stack in an interview with Wolf Blitzer [video] and finally fought back on Iraq... and he was mostly right. Despite the problems in Iraq, there really are some things that have gone right. [...]

[...] It also is somewhat amazing how we have forgotten that the Democrats were solidly for removing Saddam from power. The invasion had widespread Democrat support on Capitol Hill. When things started to get a bit rough, tough, the Democrats turned. They saw a worsening situation in Iraq as an opportunity to demonize their true enemy .. George Bush. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) It's too true. Where is the Bipartisan leadership we need?
     

The President's SOTU Address

I can't blog much now, as I'm busy pulling stuff together for our accountant. But here are some interesting an informative links about the SOTU address:

From LMC:
President Bush Addresses the Nation
Little Miss Chatterbox gives us a great summary of the event, with some excerpts of some of the high points. Plus links to other blogs covering this subject.

From Neal Boortz:
STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH
I could nit-pick on parts of the President's speech, but I think I'll let Neal do it for me. It's short and to the point. He also has some interesting comments on THE DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE. It's right on target.

Democrat Jim Webb, in his rebuttal, complained about how corporate CEO's make 400 times the money regular workers do. Thomas Sowell has a very good article on that subject, "The Fallacy of Greed", that explains why this is so, and why there is nothing "unfair" about it. Don't miss it!

Maynard at the Tammy Bruce blog has a gripe about State of the Union Rebuttal. He looks at when and why it came into being as a regular feature in the media in it's present form.

I thought on the whole the President's speech was pretty good, considering he has a Democrat majority to deal with. It wasn't perfect, and I don't agree with everything that was said, but under these circumstances Republican's are going to have to make compromises; they are in no position not too, if they wish to get anything done.
     

What do the opinion polls actually say?

When I lived in San Francisco, I knew a lot of people who worked for phone polling companies. They would talk about how the questions they were payed to ask people were very carefully worded, designed to extract a particular response. They often said that with the right wording, you could get poll results that said just about anything you could want it to say.

Neal Boortz has an interesting post today on this very topic:

DAMN THE POLLS

[...] What you have with these polls is the news media covering news that it has created. Usually the questions are phrased in such a way that the media outlet conducting the poll is going to get just the response they're looking for .. a response that will fit neatly within some story that has essentially already been written.

Let's take a look at the latest Washington Post - ABC poll:

Sixty-five percent disapprove of how Bush is handling his job as president. Fine .. now just what does that say. Do they disagree because he has used too much force in Iraq, or not enough? Do they disagree because they think Bush hasn't spent enough on education, or because he spent too much? Do they disapprove because he has blocked government-funded stem cell research, or because he hasn't pushed for a Constitutional amendment banning abortion? What do these polls say? You don't really know, do you?

Seventy-one percent say that our country is on the wrong track. Fine ... but again, what does this mean? I think that our country is on the wrong track because we aren't reducing the size and power of the federal government. Others think that our country is on the wrong track because the federal government isn't doing enough. I think we're on the wrong track because we aren't moving toward comprehensive tax reform. Others think we're on the wrong track because taxes aren't high enough. I think that the country is on the wrong track because we aren't moving toward free market reforms in health care. Others think that we're not on the right track because we're not moving toward socialized medicine? So ... 71% think our country is on the wrong track, but what does that mean? [...]

(bold emphasis mine) Neal goes on with more examples of how polls are used to make stories the media wants you to believe, in contradiction to actual facts.

The questions Neal asks about the poll results can change the entire context, but few people seem to be asking these kinds of questions. In San Francisco I had also worked at a Radio/TV station for a while, where I learned about "spin". The media could take poll results like these and "spin" them to tell any kind of story they wanted, just by omitting anything that contradicted the story they wanted to tell. Whatever happened to real journalism?



Here's a good one from before Christmas...


The Holidays may be over, but the story remains the same.
     

Sunday Funnies 01/21/07