Debunking Rosie O'Donnell's Stupidity

“I do believe that it’s the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel. I do believe that it defies physics that World Trade Center tower 7—building 7, which collapsed in on itself—it is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved. World Trade Center 7. World Trade [Center] 1 and 2 got hit by planes—7, miraculously, the first time in history, steel was melted by fire. It is physically impossible.”
- Rosie O'Donnell, from "The View"

Once again we are subjected to the half-baked opinions of an actress, presented as unassailable facts. How does this arrogant, ignorant woman even get time in front of a camera anymore? The facts do not support her. Do the facts even matter anymore? I think so, and fortunately I'm not the only one.

Some good news for us, from Tammy Bruce:

Popular Mechanics Responds to Rosie's 9/11 Conspiracy Meltdown

On Tammy Radio today I commented on Rosie O'Donnell's delusions about September 11th and her assertions that it was an American government conspiracy. This after her similar paranoid/conspiracy rant about the Iranian hostage taking of the British sailors either being faked or arranged by us, the British, or maybe Martians. All she knows is someone is setting up the gentle, compassionate and 'ethical' Iranians.

Other than the mental health issues in question, the bizarre claims of conspiracy surrounding 9-11 have been addressed over the years by a number of respected scientists, researchers and engineers, including the editors of Popular Mechanics. They now respond to Rosie's delusions on their blog, and deconstruct her wild accusations, one by one.

Tammy also goes on to tell us about the book Published by Popular Mechanics, called:

"Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts".

See the rest of Tammy's post for more about the book, and a link to an article about the Conspiracy Industry, by one of the editors at Popular Mechanics.


As for Rosie's claim about melting steel, she's right! The steel did not melt, the fire would not have done so. Unfortunately, she stopped there. What she failed to understand was that it didn't have to melt for a collapse to occur.



Some excerpts from the Popular Mechanics Rosie Rebuttal article:

[...] Towers 1 and 7 were approximately 300 ft. apart, and pictures like the ones here and here [see article for hyper-links] offer a clear visual of how small that distance is for structures that large. After further studies, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) told PM that debris from the 110-floor North Tower hit WTC7 with the force of a volcanic eruption. Nearly a quarter of the building was carved away over the bottom 10 stories on its south face, and significant damage was visible up to the 18th floor [...]

Tower 7 housed the city’s emergency command center, so there were a number of fuel tanks located throughout the building—including two 6000-gal. tanks in the basement that fed some generators in the building by pressurized lines. “Our working hypothesis is that this pressurized line was supplying fuel [to the fire] for a long period of time,” according to Sunder. Steel melts at about 2,750 degrees Fahrenheit—but it loses strength at temperatures as low as 400 F. When temperatures break 1000 degrees F, steel loses nearly 50 percent of its strength. It is unknown what temperatures were reached inside WTC7, but fires in the building raged for seven hours before the collapse. [...]

(Bold emphasis mine) Tower 7 sustained severe damage to it's lowest 10 floors. Add to that fire, fed by ruptured pressurized fuel lines, which WEAKENED the stress capacity of the already over-burdened remaining support beams ... it isn't hard to understand. But it does require actually reading something other than just conspiracy theory. Rosie ought to try it sometime.

The article is filled with lots of details, and also examines and debunks the clandestine demolition theory too. It's easy to understand and should be of great interest to anyone who actually cares about FACTS.



I worked in high-rise security for 12 years. I participated in annual Life Safety seminars, where scenarios like the impact of a plane were examined. Depending on the size of the plane, it's speed, it's fuel load and where it impacted the building, it could precipitate the collapse of a building. ANY massive damage to a large building, in the right location, combined with a raging fire, could do the same thing. This kind of knowledge has been around since long before 9-11. In fact the 9-11 hijacker's tapped that knowledge and decided to deliberately use it as a weapon.

To have to hear an ignoramus like Rosie spouting off at length on national TV about her conspiracy theory nonsense, when the information that proves her wrong is so abundantly and easily available, is appalling and beyond excuse. Barbara Walters, who is supposed to be a journalist, should be ashamed of herself for allowing it to go unchallenged. What's going to be next on The View... Holocaust denial? Sheesh!


Related Links:

LMC's The Anti-View
(has video link, also has contact information for sending complaints to ABC).

Highrise Security and our post 9-11 reality
What I understand about 9-11, based on my own experience in high-rise security.
     

Weak response only invites more of same...

(You can read Cox & Forkum's related commentary and links here.)

The U.N. has once again shown that they are good for nothing.

From Neal Boortz:
THE U.N. CAN'T GET ANYTHING RIGHT

The worthless United Nations continues to be useless. Iran goes into Iraqi waters and kidnaps 15 British sailors, one of them a woman, and the best they can do is to express "grave concern." Oh wow! Grave concern! I'm sure that really curled some beards in Iran. The U.N. originally intended to "deplore" the hostage-taking, but Russia objected. And here we thought that Putin was mad at Iran for not paying its bills! I guess not.

Face it. The U.N.'s response to this naked aggression shows that the organization serves no practical purpose and should be downgraded to a Sunday afternoon tea society. [...]

Neal is just warming up... it's worth reading the whole thing.


In another article, the International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran may
only be a few days away from making weapons grade uranium:

[...] The IAEA also is waiting for Iran to respond to its requests to install remote cameras at key locations at Iran's underground enrichment plant at Natanz.

No enrichment is yet taking place at Natanz, but diplomats accredited to the IAEA said Friday it may start within days. If so, those cameras are crucial for IAEA experts in their efforts to monitor possible attempts to reconfigure machinery there into making weapons grade uranium — used in the fissile core of nuclear warheads. [...]

So far, there hasn't been much in the way of serious consequences for Iran, so it continues to do as it likes. The lack of response by the U.N. and the Western powers emboldens them further... where is it all going to end?
     

Sewer pipes in Gaza used for rockets instead; resulting sewage flood kills six

To find out how this cartoon is literally true, read Cox & Forkum's related commentary and links HERE.

Six people dead in a flood of raw sewage, because some Palestinians thought it was more important to use the sewer pipes to make rockets to kill Jews, than to drain away their own feces. As a result, they are literally swamped by their own sh*t when a retaining wall for an overburdened cesspool collapsed.

They had been warned about the danger of the sewage flood for TWO YEARS. But they had more important things to do with those pipes.

It's hard to feel sorry for people with priorities like that.

Tiger adopts little pork chops as her own

I got the following email with attached photos:

Subject: Fw: Mother of the Year!
>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 11:37 AM
> Subject: Mother of the Year!
>
>
> > I guess this tiger lost her new baby cubs and was so upset about it that they gave her some piglets to raise...dressed as tiger cubs...you have to wonder if one day she'll think her cubs smell very similar to pork chops...
> >
> >[END]

It seems these pics have been circulating around the internet with various versions of a story.



The story goes something like, a Tiger in a California Zoo miscarries a litter, and becomes so depressed, the Zoo gives her piglets dressed up as tigers and she adopts them.



But the truth about the photos is actually more interesting. From About.com:

Tiger Nurses Piglets

[...] Comments:  The photos are genuine, but there's more to this story than meets the eye.

To begin with, the snapshots were taken at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Chonburi, Thailand (near Bangkok), not some nameless zoo in California. Moreover, it would appear that the sad tale of the tigress falling into a deep depression after losing a litter of cubs was fabricated, as was the claim that the piglets were substituted for the deceased cubs by zookeepers in order to console the "mourning mother."

As it happens, this sort of intermingling of species is not at all unusual at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo, where "creating successful relationships with animals of different species" is something of a guiding principle. The facility, more accurately described as part zoo and part circus, boasts offbeat attractions like basketball-playing elephants, "lady crocodile wrestlers," and a petting zoo where customers can bottle-feed baby tigers with their own bare hands. Visitors have reported seeing tigers, pigs, and dogs all housed together within the same enclosure, with sows nursing tiger cubs and tigresses nursing piglets "adorned in tiger-print costumes."

The costumes are strictly for show, by the way. The mother tiger pictured above, who has been photographed on other occasions suckling piglets au naturel, was herself nursed by a pig in infancy and apparently regards the other species as family, not prey. [...]

Snopes.com also gives further details:

Tiger and Piglets

While the zoo in Thailand has intermingled species successfully, it has had some other legal and health related problems.

Check out the "photographed" link in the quote above, for more pics of tigers and piggies.
     

Iran's kidnapping drama continues...

The kidnapping of British Soldiers by Iran is reported on Iranian TV

It's difficult to know what Iran is up to. Perhaps they are looking for a prisoner swap? Perhaps they have over-reached more than they intended?

Internally, Iran is having lots of problems. The economy is tanking, and the U.N. sanctions against Iran promise to make things worse. The Iranian government is clamping down on dissidents and opposition groups, and stepping up censorship of foreign media and cultural influences.

There are divisions in the Iranian leadership; not all the mullah's like what Amadinejad is doing, believing he is creating unnecessary problems. Pressures continue to mount as Iran tries to move forward with it's nuclear program.

As I noted in a previous post, we still have many non-military options we can use in dealing with Iran.

Here are some of the latest articles on the situation today:

From Tammy Bruce:
Iran's British Marine Hostage Drama Deepens

From Jack Kelly:
Britain Must Respond Firmly to Iran's Provocations

[...]Why would Iran engage in such a provocation now?

First, taking hostages is what the mullahs do. When the Islamists first took control of Iran, they seized the American embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. (They were released on the day Ronald Reagan took the oath of office. He'd made it clear during the campaign that he lacked Jimmy Carter's forbearance toward the Islamist regime, and the mullahs didn't want to risk testing his resolve.) In 2004, they seized eight British sailors on a similar maritime inspection mission. (The sailors were released after three days, but not before being paraded blindfolded on Iranian tv.)

Second, the Iranians need somebody to trade. The mullahs have been embarrassed by the apparent defection of two high ranking officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, and U.S. and U.K. forces have arrested five Iranian intelligence officers within Iraq since the surge began. (The CIA apparently warned the British the mullahs were planning reprisals.)

Third, the mullahs need to distract an increasingly restive Iranian public from a deteriorating economy, and the high likelihood that the economic sanctions imposed by the UN last weekend will make things worse. Tyrants frequently beat war drums in such circumstances. [...]

From the Memri Blog:
From the MEMRI Archives: Elements in Revolutionary Guards Threaten to Abduct U.S. Troops

From CNN:
Iran: Inquiry first, contact second

[...]In an interview on GMTV on Tuesday Blair said: "I hope we manage to get them (the Iranian government) to realize they have to release them. If not, then this will move into a different phase."

Asked what that meant, Blair said: "Well, we will just have to see, but what they should understand is that we cannot have a situation where our servicemen and women are seized when actually they are in Iraqi waters under a U.N. mandate, patrolling perfectly rightly and in accordance with that mandate, and then effectively captured and taken to Iran."

Blair's spokesman said later the prime minister did not mean Iranian diplomats would be expelled or military action was likely.

[...]

Britain insists the group was in Iraqi waters, a claim Iraq supports; Iran insists it was in Iranian waters.

Competing claims on the waterway, which provides Iraq's only outlet to the Gulf, was one of the causes of the 1980-88 war between Iran and Iraq. (Read about the contested waterway) [...]

update 03/28/07: I've added some excerpts to some of the links, I didn't have time to do it yesterday.


Related Link:

Iranian Hostage Situation Escalates
This post by LMC also has some good links. Check it out to see Newt Gingrich's interesting suggestion for dealing with the hostage crisis.
     

Alberto Gonzales: an Incompetent Wuss?

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

In a previous post, I argued that the Dems and the Media were creating a controversy over the firing of the 8 U.S. attorneys where none really existed.

I stand by that, but one can still ask to what extent has Gonzales contributed to HELPING the Dems and the Media succeed in their scandal mongering? Charles Krauthammer has a look at that very question, in this article:

Unnecessary Scandal

WASHINGTON -- Alberto Gonzales has to go. I say this with no pleasure -- he's a decent and honorable man -- and without the slightest expectation that his departure will blunt the Democratic assault on the Bush administration over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. In fact, it will probably inflame their bloodlust, which is why the president might want to hang on to Gonzales at least through this crisis. That might be tactically wise. But in time, and the sooner the better, Gonzales must resign.

It's not a question of probity, but of competence. Gonzales has allowed a scandal to be created where there was none. That is quite an achievement. He had a two-foot putt and he muffed it.

How could he allow his aides to go to Capitol Hill unprepared and misinformed and therefore give inaccurate and misleading testimony? How could Gonzales permit his deputy to say that the prosecutors were fired for performance reasons when all he had to say was that U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president and the president wanted them replaced?

And why did Gonzales have to claim that the firings were done with no coordination with the White House? That's absurd. Why shouldn't there be White House involvement? That is nothing to be defensive about. Does anyone imagine that Janet Reno fired all 93 U.S. attorneys in March 1993, giving them all of 10 days to clear out, without White House involvement? [...]

(bold emphasis mine) Ouch! He goes on to make a pretty good case against Gonzales, for very different reasons than the Democrats are using. I'm hearing more and more grumbling about Gonzales from Republicans, and with such growing bi-partisan opposition, I don't see how he is going to last.


Related Link:

Goodbye, Gonzalez
     

Fly the Unfriendly Skies... or be Sued

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

CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) has a history of litigating against people as a way to silence their critics and avoid scrutiny. Now they are going after the passengers who complained about the flying imams disturbing behavior.

CAIR has a very specific agenda, and is not even universally supported or trusted by all Muslims. Please follow the Cox & Forkum link above, it has many good excerpts and links about this issue.

I'd like to see US Air launch a counter-lawsuit, and launch a discovery probe into CAIR and it's activities. But I fear the insurance companies will force the airline to settle out of court, which will only encourage more such lawsuits. I hope I'm wrong about this. CAIR needs to be countered, investigated and exposed.


UPDATE 03/22/07:

An excerpt from the Washington Times:

Muslims offer to help 'John Does' sued by imams

[...] Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix-area physician and director of American Islamic Forum for Democracy -- a group founded in 2003 to promote moderate Muslim ideas through its Web site (www.aifdemocracy.org) -- told The Washington Times his group will raise money for legal fees for passengers if they are sued by the imams.

"It's so important that America know there are Muslims who understand who the victims are in air travel," said Dr. Jasser. "But I hope it doesn't get to that point because the backlash will be even greater when Americans see Islamists trying to punish innocent passengers reporting fears." [...]

The motto of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is "At home with American liberty and freedom". Truly, THEY are the kind of Muslims we need to be supporting and encouraging.


Related Links:

Why we should care about CAIR

US Air Imams; a political publicity stunt?

Flying Imam's Actions & Motives Questioned
     

More Clinton Hypocrisy

She should be so honest. It seems Hillary wants to jump on the bandwagon regarding the absurd controversy over the firing of 8 U.S. attorneys by the Bush Administration.

Firing U.S. attorney's is certainly something she knows about, seeing as the Clinton's fired all 93 U.S. Attorneys in March 1993. It's an event worth revisiting, as this recent piece from the Wall St. OpinionJournal does. An excerpt:

The Hubbell Standard
Hillary Clinton knows all about sacking U.S. Attorneys.

Congressional Democrats are in full cry over the news this week that the Administration's decision to fire eight U.S. Attorneys originated from--gasp--the White House. Senator Hillary Clinton joined the fun yesterday, blaming President Bush for "the politicization of our prosecutorial system." Oh, my.

As it happens, Mrs. Clinton is just the Senator to walk point on this issue of dismissing U.S. attorneys because she has direct personal experience. In any Congressional probe of the matter, we'd suggest she call herself as the first witness--and bring along Webster Hubbell as her chief counsel.

As everyone once knew but has tried to forget, Mr. Hubbell was a former partner of Mrs. Clinton at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock who later went to jail for mail fraud and tax evasion. He was also Bill and Hillary Clinton's choice as Associate Attorney General in the Justice Department when Janet Reno, his nominal superior, simultaneously fired all 93 U.S. Attorneys in March 1993. Ms. Reno--or Mr. Hubbell--gave them 10 days to move out of their offices.

At the time, President Clinton presented the move as something perfectly ordinary: "All those people are routinely replaced," he told reporters, "and I have not done anything differently." In fact, the dismissals were unprecedented: Previous Presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, had both retained holdovers from the previous Administration and only replaced them gradually as their tenures expired. This allowed continuity of leadership within the U.S. Attorney offices during the transition.

Equally extraordinary were the politics at play in the firings. At the time, Jay Stephens, then U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, was investigating then Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski, and was "within 30 days" of making a decision on an indictment. Mr. Rostenkowski, who was shepherding the Clinton's economic program through Congress, eventually went to jail on mail fraud charges and was later pardoned by Mr. Clinton.

Also at the time, allegations concerning some of the Clintons' Whitewater dealings were coming to a head. By dismissing all 93 U.S. Attorneys at once, the Clintons conveniently cleared the decks to appoint "Friend of Bill" Paula Casey as the U.S. Attorney for Little Rock. Ms. Casey never did bring any big Whitewater indictments, and she rejected information from another FOB, David Hale, on the business practices of the Arkansas elite including Mr. Clinton. When it comes to "politicizing" Justice, in short, the Bush White House is full of amateurs compared to the Clintons. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) The MSM sure gave them a free ride on that! And now, they want to make a drama over the firing of 8 attorneys, who refused or failed to pursue investigations of Democrat voter fraud?

Politicizing Justice? Yes Hillary, you and the MSM.
     

OpenOffice.org: the alternative to MS Office

For Windows, Mac and Linux: a free office suite program
OpenOffice.org is both the name of a program, and the website you can download it from. The software is an open-source, cross-platform Office Suite that is comparable to Microsoft Office. It has versions that work with Windows, Macintosh, and Linux/Unix, and it's available free of charge.

Here is a link to recent review by Anne Krishnanof at Linux Insider, of the latest version:

OpenOffice: More Pros Than Cons     An excerpt:

[...] Users tend to love it. Reviewers across the Internet give OpenOffice thumbs up for being just as good as office suites by Microsoft and Lotus. They always point out the price is right when you consider that the 2007 version of Microsoft Office for individuals ranges from US$150 to $450.

OpenOffice offers many of the same applications as Microsoft Office, including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program and database, rivaling Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access. It also includes a drawing program and an equations program.

The software looks and feels like Microsoft Office, and it can read and display most files created in other programs. According to one reviewer, it also does just fine saving documents that can be read by the proprietary programs.

You can download the program from OpenOffice.org or order it on a CD to run on Windows, Linux or Mac operating systems. You can even run it from a thumb drive, meaning you can carry the programs with you and use them on any computer you choose.

There are catches to OpenOffice, depending on how you want to use the programs, but not any related to this being an open source project. Like any software, OpenOffice has some things that it does better than others, and some features it lacks altogether. [...]

It's a good review that is also honest about possible shortcomings, like the lack of office-wide calendar sharing and other things that I don't even need.

It's ideal for my work situation, an office in an RV Park. I use it for business correspondence, Memos, creating stationary and park forms, and it also has desktop publishing capabilities which come in handy for creating signs and making advertising brochures.

I use both Linux and Windows XP, and I can use the same OpenOffice files on both operating systems, which is very convenient. There is no license fee to pay, and I can install it on as many computers as I want. If you haven't got an office suite yet or are looking for an option to MS Office, you may want to check it out.




Related Links:

OpenOffice.org 2 - Product Description
Get more details of it's many features here. Also links to more screenshots.

Why the Office Format Wars are Not Over
A good article by Glyn Moody at Linux Journal, explaining why it's NOT over (despite what Microsoft says) and what is at stake.

OpenOffice.org Training, Tips, and Ideas
A blog devoted to OpenOffice training, tutorials, and discussions. Updated regularly, its an excellent resource for the power user.

For Linux AND Windows... FREE
A prior post of mine, about Openoffice and a book that helps people make the transition to it from MS Office.
     

Sunday Funnies 03/18/07

The Natives are Revolting... in Europe!

We've heard of riots in Europe before, mostly by Muslim immigrants, over cartoons or other grievances, but are we starting to see a backlash by native Europeans? Recent rioting by native Dutch citizens would seem to suggest the answer is yes. Is it a new trend? More from Fjordman at the Brussel's Journal:

Native Revolt: A European Declaration of Independence

After the death last Sunday of Rinie Mulder, a 54-year old indigenous Dutchman who was shot by a police officer, non-immigrant citizens went on a rampage in Utrecht. Apparently Mulder intervened when Muslim youths harassed a pregnant native Dutch woman. Locals claim the police has failed to protect them for years. They say the authorities are afraid of the immigrants and tolerate their criminal behavior.

This issue is not just about Utrecht or Holland. Similar resentment against Muslim immigrants, but at least as much against their own authorities, is quietly brewing among the natives all over Western Europe.

It is insulting that two thirds of the Dutch, one of the founding members of the European community, voted against the proposed EU Constitution, and yet EU leaders will apparently just ignore this and force their massively undemocratic Constitution down people's throats anyway. The German Presidency wants EU leaders to agree on a text for a new treaty by February 2008. The label 'Constitution' is to be dropped, in order to avoid further referendums.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso expressed unease with the prospect of a second Dutch constitution referendum. "Referendums make the process of approval of European treaties much more complicated and less predictable," he said "If a referendum had been held on the creation of the European Community or the introduction of the Euro, do you think these would have passed?"

Although the EU warns against "Islamophobia," those who live in the real world know that there has been an explosion of violent infidelophobia in Western Europe staged by Muslim immigrants. This wave of violence especially targets Jews, but the attacks against Christians that are going on in the Middle East are increasingly spreading to Europe as well. In more and more cities across the continent, non-Muslims are being harassed, robbed, mugged, raped, stabbed and even killed by Muslims. Native Europeans are slowly becoming second-rate citizens in their own countries. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) The subject of increasing crime in Europe and governments lack of response in dealing with it, has been a contentious topic. Fjordman maintains that much of what is being called "crime" in Europe is really Jihad by Europe's large Muslim immigrant population.



He further contends that the lack of response by authorities is largely due to the European Union, which is run by UNELECTED officials. They feel no obligation to respond to citizen complaints, as they impose their plan to abolish individual nation states in order to create a multicultural "Eurabia":

[...] In the 1990s, Swedish authorities decided that native Swedes and their culture had no more claim to the country than Kurds. At the same time, the country became a member of the EU. Mass immigration to Sweden started years before EU membership and wasn't caused by this, but the EU certainly didn't help. Now suddenly, as with other EU members, Swedes have most of their laws passed by unelected EU bureaucrats rather than their own elected national representatives.

Swedes were used to that laws were passed with their consent and with their best interests in mind, because by and large they had been. Within a few years, all of this has changed. Laws are now passed by EU bureaucrats who don't give a damn about their interests, and by elites who don't care about their own people, in fact view them as potential stumbling blocks for the new Multicultural society. Yet most Europeans still follow these laws. Why? I can see at least two reasons.

Germany's ex-president Roman Herzog pointed out that between 1999 and 2004, 84 percent of the legal acts in Germany stemmed from Brussels, and warned that "EU policies suffer to an alarming degree from a lack of democracy and a de facto suspension of the separation of powers. The question has to be raised of whether Germany can still unreservedly be called a parliamentary democracy."

Why is this pan-European EU dictatorship still functioning? Because seeing is believing. Most Europeans still don't know that EU leaders are using their money without their consent to merge Europe with the Arab world because their media don't tell them this. Due to the common Euro currency and the lack of national borders they can move around most of Europe at ease, which seems convenient. They don't physically see, however, that the EU has also usurped the power of their national parliaments. The latter appear to be working just as always, but have now been reduced to implementing the policies of unelected Eurocrats. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) How did this all come about? Fjordman explains in detail the relationship of trust that has existed between European Natives and their governments, and shows us how the trust has been exploited, and local political power seamlessly usurped by the unelected elites of the European Union.

At last we are seeing a backlash. Fjordman suggests that native Europeans have learned a few things from the rioting of European immigrants:

[...] The excellent Chinese blogger Ohmyrus has warned against precisely this:

"While it took a long time for Europeans to learn to settle their differences peacefully through the ballot box, this important lesson is slowly being unlearned. The lesson learned from the Danish cartoon affair is that violence pays. Most Western governments caved in by issuing apologies or condemning the cartoons instead of defending free speech. Soon groups that oppose immigration will turn to violence too. If European democracies cannot manage their ethnic tensions, democracy will break down, ushering in dictatorial rule."

(bold emphasis mine) Is it too late for Europe? If Europeans revolt in sufficient numbers, there is still time to reverse the damage wrought by the European Union. Fjordman examines ways this might be accomplished, and also suggests a European Declaration of Independence.

It was difficult choosing excerpts to print here, because the article is very detailed, and those details provide a lot of context, so I definitely recommend reading the whole thing. In it, Fjordman ties together many current trends in Europe, explaining the forces behind them and the inherent dangers. The article also contains many informative embedded links.

Europe faces a rocky road ahead. Fjordman's article is must reading for anyone who wants to better understand what is happening in Europe today.


Related Links:

From Paul Belien:
Utrecht Riots: Neighbourhood Closed Off

The Dutch police deny that the police officer who killed Rinie Mulder is of Moroccan or Turkish descent. Esther, a Dutch blogger, refers to a post on a Moroccan website saying the police officer is Turkish, not Moroccan. The post has, however, been removed. Yesterday, we reported, relying on sources in Ondiep, that the officer was a Moroccan woman. [...]

click above link for more

From Marij Uijt den Bogaard:
Tariq Ramadan and Islam’s Future in Europe

From 2003 to 2006 I worked as a civil servant in the Berchem borough of Antwerp, Flanders. Berchem is a multicultural neighbourhood with many immigrants of Turkish and Moroccan origin. My job was to promote the integration of these people and foster good relations between the different ethnic groups living in Berchem. Prior to 2003 I worked in Antwerp North, another neighbourhood with many immigrants.

During the past years I noted how radical Islamists groups began to take over the immigrant neighbourhoods. I warned for this danger in my reports to the city authorities. The latter made it clear to me that they did not like my reports. They said my reports read like “Vlaams Belang tracts.” The VB is the local anti-immigration party. When I kept reporting about what I saw happening around me I was fired. [...]

click above link for more

More from Fjordman:
Will the Third Rome Fall to Islam?

I recently read the book The Reformation by Owen Chadwick, about the Protestant Reformation and the situation in 15th and 16th century Europe. It is fascinating to read about Western Europe during a period when it was genuinely dynamic, not the anemic and self-loathing continent it is now. But still, I was also struck by how many similarities there are between the situation then and now. This was also during a period of Muslim aggression, as the Turks made inroads into the Balkans and Central Europe, eventually threatening even Western Europe. [...]

click above link for more
     

Iran Acuses Hollywood of... Propaganda!

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

Apparently the Iranian government has their knickers in a twist over the movie "300". I think it's hilarious; as if Hollywood is really just the propaganda arm of the US government. That is the way the Iranian mullah's do things, and it sounds like they are projecting that onto us.

Here's a fun comment from Neal Boortz:

Iran is complaining about the new blockbuster movie '300' because they say it insults their civilization. Who cares...perhaps they should be worried about more important things...like catching up on their bills with Russia. Seems they're a bit behind.

Iran does plenty of propaganda of it's own. If Hollywood does any sort of propaganda, it's usually of the anti-American variety. Clearly, Hollywood is not controlled by the US government. The Theocracy in Iran, by contrast, has a firm grip on just about everything there.

Does anyone really expect "talks" with Iran to produce anything productive?

(You can read Cox & Forkum's related commentary and links HERE.)
What are we doing? How can they help us with problems in Iraq, when they ARE one of the biggest problems there?
     

I Remember Mama...

No, not the charming black and white movie with Irene Dunne. Unfortunately.

Children of Palestinian Suicide Bomber on Hamas TV: Mama Killed Five Jews and She is in Paradise

Again, why do we keep giving money to the Palestinians? So they don't have to work to support their families, and can use them as bombs instead?


Related Links:

Preparing Children for Martyrdom

Obsession: What we are up against
More examples of Middle Eastern TV.
     

Farm report 03/11/07

PRIME SUSPECT: Who Killed Henny-Penny?

You may recall that last Sunday's Farm Report was:

CSI: Robin's Wood, The case of the missing golden chicken

Our Buff Rock chicken, Henny-Penny, mysteriously disappeared; days later the grisly remains of her body were discovered under some bushes below a small fir tree.

There was a list of suspects. That list has been narrowed down to one prime suspect, a true villain who would strike terror in the hearts of chickens everywhere:


Our Prime Suspect: The Cooper's Hawk

We managed to figure this out, even without Helen Mirren's help. But how?

First we eliminated suspects from out investigation. The dogs had been locked up when the chicken went missing. The Trailertrash cats, who often act suspicious, are... cats. Acting suspicious is what cats do! They also prefer easier prey like rodents and small LBB's (little brown birds). They harass the smaller Bantam hens for fun, but have never actually attacked one. They pretty much ignore the larger Pullets like Henny-Penny. Too much work!

The fox had only been seen once, several weeks ago. There was no evidence to suggest he had been back, and I believed a fox would be more likely to strike at night (although I could be wrong about that).

Why the hawk then? Well, there was one detail I had left out of last weeks report. The day after the disappearence, I saw a hawk sitting in the branches of a tree at the edge of the yard the next morning. It flew away when I went outside to have a closer look.





The very next morning, the hawk was there again, in the same tree. It flew away again. It seemed too big a coincidence, coming right after the disappearance of the chicken.




My suspicions were confirmed, when the remains of the chicken were found several days later... very close to the tree the hawk had been sitting in.




I had originally counted out the hawk theory, because of what I thought I knew about hawks. When we first moved here 3 years ago, I saw a hawk attack and kill a Robin that was grazing on our lawn. It was a very noisy affair; he began eating it alive, right there on the lawn, while it flapped around in vain trying to escape. Other Robins dive-bombed at the hawk to try to drive it away, but the hawk was immovable.

I briefly considered rescuing the Robin, but decided not too, because:

1.) It was already badly injured by the hawk, and would probably die anyway.

2.) Hawks have to eat, too. This was nature's way, and I thought it best not to interfere.

Anyway, after witnessing that, I thought that's what a hawk attack was typically like. I was working outside most of the day the chicken disappeared, and I didn't hear anything. There was no shredded bird remains or feathers all over the lawn, like there was with the Robin. No fuss, no feathers. No hawk attack, I thought.





But seeing that hawk hanging out near where the body was found caused us to reconsider. I took a look at some mug shots from our books of suspects, a.k.a. "Field Guide to the Birds of North America" and "Birds of Oregon Field Guide". Those books had four suspects that could have been in the area.





One of them lived in our area year-round, and of the four it looked the most like the hawk I had seen. The clincher was reading bird's m.o., it's method of killing:

[...] known to ambush prey, it will fly into heavy brush or run on the ground in pursuit. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) Up till now I had assumed a hawk would only attack from above and kill in an open space. But this changed everything. It showed that the hawk could have chased the chicken into the deep brush, and killed and eaten her there.




Further research on the internet also showed that one of the more common, popular names for the Cooper's hawk is "Chicken Hawk". Thus, we have our Prime Suspect... who is still at large.

Life goes on at Robin's wood. The daffodils are blooming; the hens are broody, as spring is in the air.


Henny-Penny's sister, Bunty, admiring the flowers




The days come and go as they always have for the fowl community at Robin's Wood, but there is one small difference now.

They do something now more than they used to do...





They watch the SKY...
     

The Battle Continues for 2nd Amendment

Maynard at the Tammy Bruce Blog posted this a while back:

How the Left Plans to Take Your Guns

While dining out, he overhears a foghorn leftist justifying to her friend the confiscation of all guns from citizens. Among other things this woman claimed that collective rights usurp our individual rights. It has a kind of logic, yet Maynard points out how it's not even consistently applied:

[...] It's also worth noting the irony of how Leftists will interpret the Constitution very loosely when they want to invent a new "right", but they turn into super-strict constructionists when trying to control people they dislike. For example, where exactly do you find your Constitutional right to unrestricted access to abortions? Even those who favor a woman's right to choose (as I do) must acknowledge that the Constitutional argument is marginal. It's said to derive from the right to privacy, which also isn't enumerated, but is a generous interpretation of protection from unreasonable search and seizure (the Fourth Amendment). I heard Gloria Allred expalin that abortion rights were a product of the "Constitutional penumbra". I won't necessarily argue with that, but can't we have a little consistency here? Someone who finds meaning in the Constitution's penumbra ought to also respect the actual words. [...]

This is a popular tactic with the left, and the views Maynard overheard are worth noting since they are actively being used against all gun owning citizens to dilute the meaning and authority of the 2nd Amendment. It's worth reading the whole thing.


More recently, Maynard posted this:

The Second Amendment: Saved?

[...] In a 2-1 decision, a U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia has overturned the DC gun ban. The court ruled that the right to bear arms is "not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued intermittent enrollment in the militia."

In other words, in the opinion of this Court, the Second Amendment acknowledges YOUR right to be armed. You may think this is obvious and that any other opinion would have been a gross offence against common sense and decency. But, legally speaking, the question had been undecided.

This ruling does NOT end the issue. This is a regional court ruling. Only a Supreme Court ruling would settle the legal argument for the nation. [...]

Saved? No. It's a step in the right direction, but a future Supreme Court decision against gun owners could still be disastrous.





Related Links:

www.saveourguns.com

Second Amendment victory in D.C.

Crime Emergency in "Gun Free" Washington, DC
     

Spicy Hot Version of the Andrews Sisters

Christina Aguilara - Candyman (Music Video)


Hat Tip to Tammy Bruce's MySpace Page, where she linked to this. Her comment about it:

[...] here is Christina Aguilera and her "Candyman" video, which is sort of a 40s style salute to the troops. This one, however, has a set of Andrews Sisters who would have been called a name in the 40s other than "Ladies." I think it's the line about panties dropping or something. Go figure ;)

It's rather stunning, an old theme with some new twists.

The source link on YouTube is here.
     

High Tech Gossip; a YouTube Replacement; and How Apple's Helping the Linux Desktop Succeed

Izimi.com; better than YouTube?

From Rob Enderle at TechNewsWorld:
Mini-Microsoft, Steve Jobs' Secret Diary, and a Potential New YouTube

Rob looks at two blogs by anonymous employees of Microsoft and Apple respectively, that purport to give us an insider's look at what is going on in those companies. He winds it down with a look at a credible new alternative to YouTube, that avoids YouTube's censorship problem.


Doc Searls expains to us how Apple is unintentionally clearing the way for the Linux Desktop to establish itself:
Can Apple clear the way for the Linux desktop?


And for anyone who is concerned about how the new Daylight Savings Time that kicks in next weekend is going to affect their Linux computer, there is this article:
Preparing your Linux systems for the new DST

I think I'll just change the time manually, but for those who want to make it kick in automatically, it is doable.
     

Global Warming; Real Science Strikes Back?

While Hollywood awards Al Gore for advocating the Politically Correct positions about global warming, it seems there are other filmmakers who are more interested in the larger picture, and the opinions of the greater science community.

In Britain, a documentary called "The Great Global Warming Swindle" is scheduled to air March 8th. From UK news:

'Global Warming Is Lies' Claims Documentary

[...] The programme, to be screened on Channel 4 on Thursday March 8, will see a series of respected scientists attack the "propaganda" that they claim is killing the world’s poor.

Even the co-founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, is shown, claiming African countries should be encouraged to burn more CO2.

Nobody in the documentary defends the greenhouse effect theory, as it claims that climate change is natural, has been occurring for years, and ice falling from glaciers is just the spring break-up and as normal as leaves falling in autumn.

A source at Channel 4 said: "It is essentially a polemic and we are expecting it to cause trouble, but this is the controversial programming that Channel 4 is renowned for." [...]

(You can read related commentary and links here.)

The article goes into some detail about the arguments presented in the channel 4 documentary, arguments that refute mankind as being the primary force driving global warming. As interesting as that is, it doesn't stop there. It also has a look at some of the other factors driving the push to limit the "debate" about global warming to only politically correct positions:

[...] "Al Gore might have won an Oscar for ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, but the film is very misleading and he has got the relationship between CO2 and climate change the wrong way round."

One major piece of evidence of CO2 causing global warming are ice core samples from Antarctica, which show that for hundreds of years, global warming has been accompanied by higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.

In ‘The Great Global Warming Swindle’ Al Gore is shown claiming this proves the theory, but palaeontologist Professor Ian Clark claims in the documentary that it actually shows the opposite.

[...]

"At the moment, there is almost a McCarthyism movement in science where the greenhouse effect is like a puritanical religion and this is dangerous."

In the programme Nigel Calder says: "The greenhouse effect is seen as a religion and if you don’t agree, you are a heretic.

He added: "However, I think this programme will help further debate and scientists not directly involved in global warming studies may begin to study what is being said, become more open-minded and more questioning, but this will happen slowly."

I think it's perfectly fine to question and study the impact pollution may have on global warming. But in order to eliminate the good science from the bad, we need open debate and discussion, not repression of opposing viewpoints.


In short, we need less holy pronouncements, hysteria and hot air from the Goricle, and more reasoned, balanced scientific discussion and debate. The truth can always hold up to scrutiny, and no one must dictate to us what we are allowed to say and discus in our quest to scrutinize and uncover the truth.

Unfortunately, I don't expect that "The Great Global Warming Swindle" will receive an airing here in the US. But who knows? The tide may yet turn, if enough people demand more information, instead of less.


UPDATE 03/11/07: Here is an on-line link to the documentary:

"The Great Global Warming Swindle"
     

Farm Report 02/04/07

CSI: Robin's Wood
The case of the missing golden chicken
One morning about two weeks ago, Henny-Penny Buffrock went out into the yard with the rest of the chickens to scratch and forage. There was nothing unusual about this.




But that evening, Henny-Penny failed to return at sunset. She didn't even phone or leave a message. This was highly unusual behavior, as all who knew her would verify.

At first it was thought that perhaps she had created a nest in the brush, and was camping out overnight. Many of the hens had started to become broody, and a few had started laying eggs in the wood, but they had always come home at night.

The next day, when the hens were all out in the yard again, Henny-Penny failed to show up for breakfast or lunch, which she would have done even if she had a hidden nest. Could it be possible that she herself became a target for a meal?




Several days later, the unthinkable was verified. At the edge of the yard, deep in some brush under a small fir tree, a grisly discovery was made.




This was all that was left of poor Henny-Penny:




Who could have done such a thing? I began to examine the suspects.

The body was initially discovered by Saffron, an old spinster Shepperd dog.




She had been very interested in the area around the small fir tree, and when she went down into the brush below it, I walked over to see what she was up to.

When I got there, I heard slurping noises coming from the bushes. I was sure she was licking something icky, so I called her out, and then pushed through the brush to see what it was. Fortunately, she didn't roll in it.

Could she have committed the crime? No. At her age I'm not even sure she could, but more importantly she and all the other dogs had airtight alibis as to their whereabouts at the time of the disappearance.

A fox had been seen the vicinity several weeks earlier, but there was no verification that he had been around recently.

Hawks in the area were known to sometimes attack, but where were the resulting fuss and feathers that would normally accompany such an attack? No one heard anything, and there was no feathery mess blowing around the yard.

There were two local characters that were regarded suspiciously by the fowl community:




Swanky "Fats" Trailertrash, and his notorious Siamese wife, Smudgie "Pussy Galore" Trailertrash, were often regarded with suspicion at Robin's Wood ever since they moved here from a local trailer park in town.




"Pussy" in particular, was a known menace to the smaller Bantam hens, often lurking about the coop near sunset, stalking and harassing them on their way inside for the night. But would she, COULD she, take out one of the larger hens like Henny-Penny?

Be sure and see next Sunday's installment of the Farm Report, where the PRIME SUSPECT will be exposed.


UPDATE: You can see the conclusion to this mystery here:

PRIME SUSPECT: Who Killed Henny-Penny?