December 20, 2006
Nice Christmas e-Card http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=0212320003
Dear Santa: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2006/12/santa_and_the_nativity.html
Liquid coal: A cheaper, cleaner 21st century fuel?
12/17/2006 NEW YORK - …Already the United States Air Force has carried out tests flying a B-52 Stratofortress with a coal-based fuel.
And JetBlue Airways Corp. supports a bill in Congress that would extend tax credits for alternative fuels, pushing technology to produce jet fuel for the equivalent of $40 a barrel -- way below current oil prices.
Major coal mining companies in the United States , which has more coal reserves than Saudi Arabia has oil, are investing in ways to develop fuels derived from carbon.
The technology of producing a liquid fuel from coal or natural gas is hardly new. The Fischer-Tropsch process was developed by German researchers Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch in 1923 and used by Germany and Japan during World War II to produce alternative fuels. Indeed, in 1944, Germany produced 6.5 million tons, or 124,000 barrels a day.
And coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuel is already in use elsewhere, like South Africa , where it meets 30 percent of transportation fuel needs.
In addition to being cheaper than oil, advocates point out that the fuel is environmentally friendlier and would also help America wean itself of foreign oil imports...
..."The program ... is the first step in opening up new horizons for sourcing fuel for military purposes," said Bill Harrison, a fuels expert with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio .
The flight test was part of the Department of Defense's Assured Fuel Initiative to develop secure domestic sources for the military's energy needs. The Pentagon hopes to reduce its use of crude oil and foreign producers and get about half of its aviation fuel from alternative sources by 2016.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061217/bs_nm/coal_fuel_dc_1
Wind farms 'are failing to generate the predicted amount of electricity'
12/10/2006- The claimed benefits of wind energy are called into question today by a study that finds few wind farms in England and Wales produce as much electricity as the Government has forecast...
...Despite millions being spent on wind turbines, the study by the Renewable Energy Foundation shows that England and Wales are not windy enough to allow large turbines to work at the rates claimed for them.
(shouldn't the "experts" have figured that out before they spent the money?)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml
PARK PC'D BY GRINCHES
December 18, 2006 - - A Westchester grandfather called Briarcliff Manor officials "grinches" yesterday after they not only refused to put up a Nativity scene in a village park - but took down all holiday symbols that were already there.
Henry Ritell, 80, sued the village to force it to install the Nativity scene, which he had purchased, in Law Park , where a menorah and a tree decorated with Christmas lights were standing.
On Friday, a federal judge ruled in his favor.
He instructed the village to either remove the menorah, "a symbol of Jewish faith," or include Ritell's Nativity scene...
[Rather than install the Nativity scene] ...The next day, all holiday symbols, including the tree's lights and star, were removed...
British Stewardess 'banned from taking bible on plane'
12/19/2006 -An air stewardess is claiming religious discrimination against an airline which she says banned her from taking the Bible to Saudi Arabia .
The stewardess has been told by BMI that it is against the law of the insular Middle Eastern country to bring in religious books other than the Koran.
The woman, who is understood to be a committed Christian, takes her bible everywhere she goes and is now set to take the airline to an industrial tribunal claiming discrimination on religious grounds.
BMI, formerly British Midland Airways, said today it was merely following the Foreign Office advice that no non-Islamic materials or artefacts are allowed into the country... (Gee, where is the UN when you need them...)
"She is saying she wants to carry her bible with her. We are saying we can't start designing rules around individuals when we've got several hundred members of staff. To take every personal preference into account would be impossible."
...The case follows that of British Airways worker Nadia Eweida, also committed Christian, whose objection to BA rules which forbade her visibly wearing a cross led to a review by BA of its uniform policy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/19/ubible119.xml
EU report: Muslims face 'Islamophobia'
(as opposed to "westernphobia" we face at the hands of Muslims?)
ATHENS, Greece - Muslims across Europe are confronting a rise in "Islamophobia" ranging from violent attacks to discrimination in job and housing markets, a wide-ranging European Union report indicated Monday...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061218/ap_on_re_eu/europe_muslims
Jews attacked 4 times more than Muslims, police say
Dec. 18, 2006 LONDON -- Jewish people are four times more likely to be attacked in Britain because of their religion than Muslims, according to figures compiled by the police.
...Police forces started recording the religion of faith-related hate-crime victims only this year. They did so on the instruction of the Association of Chief Police Officers, which wanted a clear picture of community tensions around the country, following reports of Muslims being attacked after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the July 7 London bombings last year.
However, the first findings, for the July-September period, obtained by the Sunday Telegraph under freedom of information legislation, show that it is Jews who are much more likely to be targeted because of their religion.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20061217-110724-7282r.htm
Can you say “desensitize”?
New program featuring Arabic signs aims to dispel fears about Muslim community
RICHMOND , Virginia : The small beige signs bearing black Arabic script have been appearing all over town on buses and at colleges.
Are they secret messages from terrorists? one panicked bus rider asked. Should the FBI be contacted? What do they mean?
Actual translation: "Paper or plastic?"
The signs, which below the Arabic script carry English translations and comments that indirectly caution against jumping to conclusions, are part of a campaign by A More Perfect Union, a program of the Virginia Interfaith Center , and are aimed at dispelling some of the public's fears toward the Muslim community…
"As people see Arabic, they immediately make an association with terrorism," said the Rev. C. Douglas Smith, executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center , a nonpartisan coalition of faith communities that work for change through education and advocacy. " (yeah, and with good reason)
Along with the "paper or plastic" sign, there are two others — one which is the Arabic version of the "I'm a little tea pot" rhyme and the other roughly translating to the English equivalent of "rock, paper, scissors." Accompanying the translations at the bottom of the posters are comments such as, "Misunderstanding can make anything scary," and "What did you think it said?"
...The transit company has already fielded several calls from concerned riders, said Gretchen Schoel, executive director of A More Perfect Union, a program to promote diversity...
"It's so great that we're getting feedback, even if it is negative, because it shows that people are looking, they're thinking," Schoel said. "And it really proves the point that this script right here conjures up certain ideas in our heads that we have to work with."
Bias toward the Muslim community is a continuing problem across the country and in Virginia , said Imad Damaj, president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs.
"There's so many lazy, unexamined assumptions about all of us and how we react to people," Damaj said. "We need to challenge ourselves."
(So how often has this dude visited Islamic countries and tried to change Muslim attitudes towards Christians and Jews? Christians and Jews are tortured and killed everyday in Middle Eastern countries, change them first and you’ll see the “irrational fear towards Muslims in the US vanish!! )
Schoel said history has proven that Americans can learn to let go of irrational fears toward other cultures.(I guess 9-11 was irrational... When the stated purpose of Islam is to “subdue” then it’s no longer irrational but prudent to be vigilant when we see unusual things in Arabic writing . We don’t need to change, the Muslim community must demonstrate that they are no threat. I see no outrage from the Muslim community when atrocities are committed or the Holocaust denied.
Has this "interfaith" group ever tried to carry their personal Bible in their brief case or luggage into Saudi Arabia? Do they know what happens in Muslim countries when someone converts to Christianity? Have they ever tried to build a church in a Muslim country or run relief efforts that helps people of all faiths? What religion still practices slavery/? The Muslims in the US have nothing to complain about.
I don't hate or dislike Muslim people, Islam is another critter all together and I pray that they'll repent, change their ways and worship the true God, just as the Ninevites did in the days of Jonah. That’s what your efforts should be focused on.
If Muslims want to come to the US to assimilate and to learn to speak and write English that is one thing. If they want to come and not assimilate but change us, that is another thing altogether. Running around acting like Nevell Chamberlain will get you the same result.)
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/18/america/NA_GEN_US_Arabic_Signs.php
Good commentary on previous article:
Arabic Signs Panic Virginians
http://www.publiusforum.com/hustonmuslimsigns.html
Mystery Surfaces Over Apartment of Kofi Annan
December 19, 2006- As Secretary-General Annan prepares to leave his post at the United Nations, a mystery is surfacing surrounding his apartment on Roosevelt Island, subsidized by New York taxpayers, which is still in use by the family of his brother, Kobina Annan.
The apartment was where Mr. Annan and his wife lived before 1997, when he became secretary-general. The Roosevelt Island home is part of an estate of low-rent state-regulated housing. For years, the Annans saved considerable sums by occupying an apartment meant to help financially strapped low- to moderate-income New York families.
One question Mr. Annan has never addressed is why he and his wife felt comfortable availing themselves of this generous arrangement. Another is how it is that, since Mr. Annan and his wife left that Roosevelt Island apartment 10 years ago to move into the rent-free residence on Sutton Place supplied to the secretary-general, their former low-rent apartment was handed over to be occupied by the family of Mr. Annan's brother.
This kind of apartment, part of a state-regulated housing development program called Mitchell-Lama, is subject to strict eligibility requirements, involving family size and financial ceilings on combined family income. There is also a requirement that the leaseholder make continuous use of the apartment as a primary residence...
http://www.nysun.com/article/45403
Kindergartner Accused Of Knife Threat In Joliet
PLAINFIELD , Ill. The Plainfield School Board will be meeting Monday night to discuss the case of a kindergarten student accused of threatening another student with a penknife at Charles Reed Elementary School in Joliet .
The boy hasn't been in school since the incident occurred nearly two weeks ago. According to state law, he could be expelled for as long as two years, but the board could opt to send him to an alternative school.
Principal Joan Woolwine says that on Dec. 5, the boy brought a small penknife to school, opened the knife and used threatening language to another student while holding the open knife. A third student received a very minor cut from touching the knife blade.
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_352080949.html
Lock Down!!! Normally I ascribe to the old saw “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime” however in this case I would have just scared the crap out of the kid for a day and been done with it.
British Lord Stings Senators Rockefeller and Snowe: 'Uphold Free Speech or Resign'
Dec 18 WASHINGTON, -- Lord Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley, has sent an open letter to Senators Rockefeller (D-WV) and Snowe (R-Maine) in response to their recent open letter telling the CEO of ExxonMobil to cease funding climate-skeptic scientists.
(http://ff.org/centers/csspp/pdf/20061212_monckton.pdf).
Voices on the political left have called for the arrest and prosecution of Global Warming deniers
12/19/2006 …Lord Monckton, former policy adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, writes: "You defy every tenet of democracy when you invite ExxonMobil to deny itself the right to provide information to "senior elected and appointed government officials"; who disagree with your opinion."
In what The Charleston (WV) Daily Mail has called "an intemperate attempt to squelch debate with a hint of political consequences," Senators Rockefeller and Snowe released an open letter dated October 30 to ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson, insisting he end Exxon's funding of a "climate change denial campaign."
The Senators labeled scientists with whom they disagree as "deniers," a term usually directed at "Holocaust deniers." Some voices on the political left have called for the arrest and prosecution of skeptical scientists. The British Foreign Secretary has said skeptics should be treated like advocates of Islamic terror and must be denied access to the media.
Responds Lord Monckton, "Sceptics and those who have the courage to support them are actually helpful in getting the science right. They do not, as you improperly suggest, "obfuscate"; the issue: they assist in clarifying it by challenging weaknesses in the "consensus" argument and they compel necessary corrections ... "
more at
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/18/prnw.20061218.DCM029.html
It isinteresting that those who support current “manmade global warming” call those who support the idea that it is normal for the earth to go through heating and cooling periods “Global Warming Deniers.” Of course they are slyly equating us to “Holocaust Deniers.” Yet they are the same people who on the stem cell debate front refuse to consider the merits and demerits of both embolic and adult stem cell research. They are also the same ones who want to silence all but evolutionary supported science at the exclusion of Intelligent Design and Creation science.
The Al Gore/Lord Monckton debate
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2006/12/the_al_gorelord_monckton_debat.html
Also read http://ff.org/centers/csspp/pdf/20061212_monckton.pdf
Firm designs nasal spray to fight obesity
Italian village basks in winter sunlight thanks to giant mirror
Dec 17 ITALY- Sun-deprived humans might consider moving to the northern Italian village of Viganella , basking in sunlight thanks to a giant mirror.
"I've waited for this moment for seven years," when an architect friend began pondering solutions for the sun-challenged hamlet nestled in the Ossola valley, mayor Pierfranco Midali said in remarks carried by Italy's ANSA news agency.
The village's 185 residents are plunged in chilly darkness during winter months as surrounding mountains cut off direct sunlight.
The answer: A towering eight-by-five meter (26-by-16 feet) mirror installed on the flank of one bluff and computer-driven to follow the sun's path and cast its rays back on Viganella.
"It wasn't easy, we had to find the proper material, learn abut the technology and especially find the money," mayor Midali said of the nearly 100,000-euro (131,000-dollar) operation which has spawned envy from Swiss and other Italian mountain villages.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/061217190902.0j3m358f.html
The mother of all surprises, Iraq 's economy is growing strong, even booming in places.
Newsweek International- Dec. 25, 2006 - Jan. 1, 2007 issue - Civil war or not, Iraq has an economy, and-mother of all surprises-it's doing remarkably well. Real estate is booming. Construction, retail and wholesale trade sectors are healthy, too, according to a report by Global Insight in London . The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports 34,000 registered companies in Iraq , up from 8,000 three years ago. Sales of secondhand cars, televisions and mobile phones have all risen sharply.
Estimates vary, but one from Global Insight puts GDP growth at 17 percent last year and projects 13 percent for 2006. The World Bank has it lower: at 4 percent this year. But, given all the attention paid to deteriorating security, the startling fact is that Iraq is growing at all...
...there's a vibrancy at the grass roots that is invisible in most international coverage of Iraq . Partly it's the trickle-down effect.
However it's spent, whether on security or something else, money circulates. Nor are ordinary Iraqis themselves short on cash. After so many years of living under sanctions, with little to consume, many built up considerable nest eggs-which they are now spending. That's boosted economic activity, particularly in retail. Imported goods have grown increasingly affordable, thanks to the elimination of tariffs and trade barriers. Salaries have gone up more than 100 percent since the fall of Saddam, and income-tax cuts (from 45 percent to just 15 percent) have put more cash in Iraqi pockets. "The U.S. wanted to create the conditions in which small-scale private enterprise could blossom," says Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk at Global Insight. "In a sense, they've succeeded."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16241340/site/newsweek/
What will they ban next?
By John Stossel December 20, 2006
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2006/12/20/what_will_they_ban_next
David Bennett <><
posted by David Bennett | 6:07 PM
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