IMHO VBG

IMHO=In My Humble Opinion VBG=Very Big Grin

This blog is devoted to topics that interest me and perhaps I'll post information that "the mainstream media" chooses to ignore or deemphasize. The point here is not to debate what I post, just consider it another point of view if you disagree with it, you know, be "open minded" and "tolerant."

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

Saturday, February 17, 2007

IMHO 8 Feb

Moving Big Rocks
Wally Wallington can move anything.
Wally Wallington has demonstrated that he can lift a Stonehenge-sized pillar weighing 22,000 lbs and moved a barn over 300 ft. What makes this so special is that he does it using only himself, gravity, and his incredible ingenuity:
http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/moving_big_rocks/

Bull Sharks Sink Boat Off Fla. Coast
2/6/2007
FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. -- A crew aboard a shrimping boat were rescued after a group of bull sharks rammed and bit the vessel until it eventually sank off the Florida coast, according to an Associated Press report.

Captain Roger Schmall said a group of sharks had been slamming into the Christy Nichole's hull for four days. But then a 14-foot bull shark broke the boat's tail shaft, leaving Schmall and his crew of two adrift about 100 miles off the coast.

Schmall radioed for help, and another vessel picked the crew up about two hours later...
http://www.local6.com/news/10942485/detail.html

and yet another shark attack...
Wild eagles attack paraglider
CANBERRA, Feb 2 - Britain's top female paraglider has cheated death after being attacked by a pair of "screeching" wild eagles while competition flying in Australia.

Nicky Moss, 38, watched terrified as two huge birds began tearing into her parachute canopy, one becoming tangled in her lines and clawing at her head 2,500 meters (8,200ft) in the air.

"I heard screeching behind me and a eagle flew down and attacked me, swooping down and bouncing into the side of my wing with its claws," Moss told Reuters on Friday.

"Then another one appeared and together they launched a sustained attack on my glider, tearing at the wing."


...Veteran Australian paraglider pilot Godfrey Wenness said eagle attacks were rare, but Moss had been flying in an area where the birds were not accustomed to human pilots.

"Eagles are the sharks of the air. But if you're a regular they just treat you pretty indifferently," he said...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070202/od_nm/australia_eagles_dc

So much for reducing her carbon footprint...
Speaker Nancy Pelosi Gets Big Jet
Feb. 6, 200

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will have access to an Air Force jet larger than the one used by her predecessor so she can fly nonstop between Washington and her San Francisco district...

...As NewsMax reported earlier, Pelosi’s office has been pressing for routine access to military aircraft not only for herself and her staff, but for relatives and other members of the California delegation as well.

As of Monday, the Air Force had not informed Pelosi’s camp as to who can travel with her, the Contra Costa Times in California reported...

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/2/6/95058.shtml?s=ic

Quit blaming America: We didn't earn Islamofascists' hatred
Chicago SunTimes ^ | February 5, 2007
February 5, 2007

...But what good are facts when emotions -- or politics -- are involved? Many Americans simply believe that the global war these Islamofascists are waging is all our fault...

...In the Quran, Islam's holy book, the Prophet Muhammad tells his followers to offer non-Muslims three things: Conversion, second-class citizenship, or war.

We Americans, our lifestyles, our support of Israel, our protection of Afghanistan, our actions in Iraq, didn't cause Islamofascists to hate us. They hate us because we are not Muslims. They hate us because they do not rule us. They hate us because we live with freedom and equality. They hate us because, to them, we are infidels, renegades from their true religion of Islam.

They're not offering us conversion. They are offering us war. They declared it loud, explosively and deadly in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. That's something to remember in your next discussion with friends, relatives, or co-workers.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/laney/242780,CST-EDT-LANEY05.article

Swapped Malay baby: I'm not Muslim
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- An ethnic Chinese Malaysian mistakenly given by doctors to a Malay Muslim couple at birth nearly three decades ago is bracing for a possible legal battle so he can renounce Islam, an action that can be considered a crime in parts of Malaysia.

Zulhaidi Omar, 29, who now goes by the name Eddie to his family and friends, said he discovered his true identity by chance and met his biological parents in 1998 after years of being teased about his Chinese features...

...Zulhaidi, a sales executive raised in an ethnic Malay Muslim family, said he was revealing his story only now because he wants to take a Chinese name and change his religion to Buddhism…

...The constitution does not allow Muslims to renounce their religion, and doing so is considered apostasy and punishable by jail in several states, though not in Johor.

...It is not clear how long a resolution might take and the case could eventually be handed to the Islamic Shariah court, which presides over religious issues involving Muslims, Tay said…

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/05/malaysia.babyswap.ap/index.html

Hawaii Cold Spell

Feb 6, 2007
HONOLULU (KHNL) - Spring is nearly upon us, but a chill is sweeping the state.

With temperatures dipping into the 50's in some neighborhoods people are talking about the cold spell...

...Joann Matsuo admits it was so cold this morning she stayed in bed until noon. "It's actually warmer in here than out there. I am freezing. I heard tomorrow is going to be the coldest day of the winter. And I have a heating blanket I bought so hopefully that will be sufficient."

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=6035185

Ice packs (and polar bears) thwart Iceland fishing
06 February, 2007

FISH merchants on the Humber may be throwing up their hands in frustration at the worrying decline in fish supplies from Iceland since the beginning of the year. But the underlying cause is something they would never have guessed at - a massive deep freeze around the west coast of the country.

While the rest of the world shudders at the prospect of global warming and all that it threatens to bring in the form of floods and soaring temperatures, Iceland has been bucking the trend - and it is having a dramatic effect on fishing activity around the island.

Thick packs of ice, which have not been seen for almost 40 years, have been moving into the western fjords across some of the best fishing grounds, followed by bitter winds and plummeting temperatures. The ice has proved to be a serious handicap (not to mention a shipping hazard) for fishermen who supply the Humber and other important centres in Western Europe, simply because they have been unable to put to sea. This has led to a marked drop in catches, a fact that has been noticed on the markets of Grimsby and Hull since they re-opened after Christmas.

Communities living around the fjord of Dryafjordur, have noticed that their inlets have been filled with ice in recent weeks - ice drifting in from Greenland and carrying dozens of polar bears on their floes.

When chunks break off the bears become stranded, drifting helplessly on the floes. There have been a number of stories of bears making land around Iceland and having to be shot because they pose a danger to humans and livestock.

The return of pack ice to Iceland goes against all the forecasts of doom of global warming, although some forecasters think it may just be a climatic aberration.

http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/6564/Ice_packs_(and_polar_bears)_thwart_Iceland_fishing.html

Inconvenient Kyoto Truths


"President Clinton and his earnest vice president knew better than to seek ratification of Kyoto by a Senate that had passed its resolution of disapproval 95-0. Fifty-six of those 95 senators are still serving. Two of them are John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. That is an inconvenient truth."

By George F. Will
Newsweek

Feb. 12, 2007 issue - Enough already. It is time to call some bluffs. John Kerry says that one reason America has become an "international pariah" is President Bush's decision to "walk away from global warming." ... Barack Obama says "the world" is watching to see "what action we take."

...In 1997 (Clinton was President), when the Kyoto Protocol's essential provisions were known, a "sense of the Senate" resolution declared opposition to any agreement that would do what the protocol aims to do. The Senate warned against any agreement that would require significant reductions of greenhouse-gas emissions in the United States and other developed nations without mandating "specific scheduled commitments" on the part of the 129 "developing" countries, which include China, India, Brazil and South Korea—the second, fourth, 10th and 11th largest economies. Nothing Americans can do to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions will make a significant impact on the global climate while every 10 days China fires up a coal-fueled generating plant big enough to power San Diego. China will construct 2,200 new coal plants by 2030.

The Senate's resolution expressed opposition to any agreement that "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States," which the Senate correctly thought Kyoto would do. The Senate said any agreement should be accompanied by "a detailed explanation of any legislation or regulatory actions that may be required to implement" it, and an analysis of the agreement's "detailed financial costs and other impacts" on the U.S. economy...

...Our largest foreign source of oil is turbulent Canada. Our second largest is Mexico, which is experiencing turbulence because of the soaring cost of tortillas. They are made from corn, which is ... well, read on.)

Ethanol produces just slightly more energy than it takes to manufacture it. But now that the government is rigging energy markets with mandates, tariffs and subsidies, ethanol production might consume half of next year's corn crop. The price of corn already has doubled in a year. Hence the tortilla turbulence south of the border. Forests will be felled (will fewer trees mean more global warming?) to clear land for growing corn, which requires fertilizer, the manufacture of which requires energy. Oh, my.

President Clinton and his earnest vice president knew better than to seek ratification of Kyoto by a Senate that had passed its resolution of disapproval 95-0. Fifty-six of those 95 senators are still serving. Two of them are John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. That is an inconvenient truth.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16960409/site/newsweek

GLOBAL WARMING: A Boon to Humans and Other Animals
Thomas Gale Moore, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
http://www.stanford.edu/~moore/Boon_To_Man.html

Oregon Gov Fires Global Warming Skeptic

February 7, 2007 In the face of evidence agreed upon by hundreds of climate scientists (and disagreed with by thousands), George Taylor holds firm. He does not believe human activities are the main cause of global climate change.

Taylor also holds a unique title: State Climatologist...

“Most of the climate changes we have seen up until now have been a result of natural variations,” Taylor asserts.

Taylor has held the title of "state climatologist" since 1991 when the legislature created a state climate office at OSU The university created the job title, not the state...

...In an exclusive interview with KGW-TV, Governor Ted Kulongoski confirmed he wants to take that title from Taylor. The governor said Taylor's contradictions interfere with the state's stated goals to reduce greenhouse gases...

“He is Oregon State University's climatologist. He is not the state of Oregon's climatologist,” Kulongoski said.

Taylor declined to comment on the proposal other than to say he was a "bit shocked" by the news. He recently engaged in a debate at O.M.S.I. and repeated his doubts about accepted science.

In an interview he told KGW, "There are a lot of people saying the bulk of the warming of the last 50 years is due to human activities and I don't believe that's true." He believes natural cycles explain most of the changes the earth has seen...

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_020607_news_taylor_title.59f5d04a.html

Texas could punish 'truant' parents

Feb 1, AUSTIN, Texas - Parents beware: Miss a meeting with your child's teacher and it could cost you a $500 fine and a criminal record.

A Republican state lawmaker from Baytown has filed a bill that would charge parents of public school students with a misdemeanor and fine them for playing hooky from a scheduled parent-teacher conference.

Rep. Wayne Smith said Wednesday he wants to get parents involved in their child's education...

...Under Smith's bill, schools would send parents a notice for a meeting with three proposed dates by certified mail. Parents who don't respond or who schedule a meeting and don't show up without notice could be punished.

Parents could avoid prosecution if they have a "reasonable excuse" for not showing up. State education officials or local school districts would probably be responsible for defining reasonable.

Fines collected would go to the district for teacher pay raises...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_re_us/parents_fined

Who's Blocking Debate on Iraq War?

February 07, 2007 ...Senate Democrats are furious with Republicans for blocking a vote on a "no confidence" resolution criticizing President Bush's troop-surge strategy. (Republicans on Monday refused to let that resolution, cosponsored by Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, proceed to a vote.)

Republicans insist they certainly do want a full debate on the issue -- but not just on the no-confidence resolution. Republicans complain that Democrats themselves are refusing to debate two other resolutions dealing with the Iraq war.

One of those nonbinding resolutions says the Senate will not cut off funding for the war. But Democrats apparently want to avoid taking a position on war funding.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told the Senate on Tuesday that the U.S. mission in Iraq is the most important issue facing the country.

"And this means, of course, that the men and women of this body have no higher duty than to express ourselves openly and honestly on this issue -- to take a stand on where we stand."

McConnell said the best way to do that is for the senators to "express themselves on whether to fund or not fund the war in Iraq."

McConnell said by blocking a vote on the war funding resolution, Democrats are blocking a vote on the "essential question...Do we oppose this war to the point of action, or do we simply want to make a point?"

...Let's have a vote on more than just the president's plan, Republicans insist...

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200702/POL20070207c.html

David & Karen Bennett <><
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

IMHO Feb 17

Have you ever noticed when the maimstream press reports news it's always in the most negative terms? For example when reporting the stock market they'll say the DOW "plunges" 50 points, but when there is positive news they'll write the DOW "edges” higher 150 points...

Study:Men Hard-Wired to Ignore Wives

February 14, 2007

When a man fails to help out around the house, his poor performance might be related to a subconscious tendency to resist doing anything his wife wants, a new study suggests.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251966,00.html

On-the-job naps might cut risk for heart problems

2/12/2007

CHICAGO (AP) — New research on napping provides the perfect excuse for office slackers, finding that a little midday snooze seems to reduce risks for fatal heart problems, especially among men.

In the largest study to date on the health effects of napping, researchers tracked 23,681 healthy Greek adults for an average of about six years. Those who napped at least three times weekly for about half an hour had a 37% lower risk of dying from heart attacks or other heart problems than those who did not nap...

...It's likely that women reap similar benefits from napping, but not enough of them died during the study to be sure, said Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, the study's senior author and a researcher at Harvard University and the University of Athens Medical School….

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-02-12-naps-heart_x.htm

New Mexico orders 500 Talking Urinal Cakes

(Do we flush once for English and twice for Spanish?)

February 14, 2007

New Mexico is taking its fight against drunken driving to men's restrooms around the state. The state has ordered 500 talking urinal cakes that will deliver a recorded anti-DWI message to bar and restaurant patrons who make one last pit stop before getting behind the wheel.

"Hey there, big guy. Having a few drinks?" a female voice says a few seconds after an approaching male sets off a motion sensor in the device. "It's time to call a cab or ask a sober friend for a ride home."

...The state spent $21 for each talking urinal cake for the pilot program but will ask bars and restaurants to pay for future orders if the idea catch on, Mahesh said.

The cakes have enough battery power to last about three months... (OK, your job is to change the batteries in the urinal cakes this month...)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070214/ap_on_fe_st/dwi_urinals

Grandma got run over by a hybrid...walking home from our house Christmas Eve… Some people are just never satisfied...

Group Says Hybrid Cars Are Too Quiet, Threaten Pedestrian Safety

February 14, 2007

Hybrid cars have been hailed as the answer to a litany of problems in the U.S., from global warming to gas prices. But now one group is labeling them as something else: a threat.

According to the National Federation of the Blind, hybrid cars, which run on an energy efficient mix of gasoline and electricity, are problematic for children, elderly pedestrians and the blind.

Why? Hybrids are much quieter than their conventional counterparts, so silent that the NFB says that they can be difficult to hear coming down the street. The group conducted tests to try to prove their point...

...In order to make the cars more audible and safer, the NFB would like to see manufacturers of the vehicles emit a signal or sound that would alert pedestrians and others of an oncoming car....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251998,00.htm l

so much for reducing noise pollution…

Study: Office Desks Havens for Bacteria

Feb 15 TUCSON, Ariz.-- Your office desk harbors far more bacteria than your workplace restroom, and if you're a woman, chances are your workspace has more germs than your male co-workers', a new research report shows.

Women have three to four times the number of bacteria in, on and around their desks, phones, computers, keyboards, drawers and personal items as men do, the study by University of Arizona professor Charles Gerba showed...

...Women's desks typically looked cleaner. But the knickknacks are more abundant, and cosmetics and hand lotions make prime germ-transfer agents, Gerba said. Makeup cases also make for fine germ homes, along with phones, purses and desk drawers.

Food in desk drawers also harbors lots of microorganisms, and it is more abundant among female office workers. Gerba found 75 percent of women had munchies in their desks…

...the worst overall office germ offender is men's wallets.

...The average office desktop has 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat, Gerba said. (I've heard this before and find it hard to believe... I’ll still take my chances with desk)

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/15/D8NA5FH00.html

I could have told them this without a study. What did they think would happen when the wolves were "reintroduced"?

Study: Wolves alter elk breeding pattern

Feb 16 BILLINGS, Mont. - The presence of wolves in and around Yellowstone National Park has led to changes in elk breeding patterns, likely a significant factor in the decline in elk populations…

… In addition to depredation by wolves, those herds regularly targeted by packs produced fewer pregnancies and calves, the study found...

...The reintroduction of wolves to the Yellowstone ecosystem more than a decade ago has led to numerous studies of the effects of the predators on everything from moose and beavers to willow trees and other plants.

[prior to reintroduction] ...no one had looked at how wolves might affect pregnancy rates...

(opps!!!!)

… Between 1994 and 2004, the elk count fell from 19,035 to 8,335... (That’s over 65%)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070217/ap_on_sc/wolves_and_elk

The wolf reintroduction is brought to you by the same type of environmental-whackos who are screeching about global warming...

UN report says US, UK 'worst places for children'

FEBRUARY 14, 2007

Britain and the United States are the worst places in the industrialised world for children to live, according to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). (Something to remember the next time kids come by colling money for UNICEF...)

They ranked among the bottom third in the study which looked at overall well-being, health and safety, education, relationships, risk and their own sense of well-being.

The study said that child poverty - defined as the percentage of children living in homes with incomes below 50 per cent of the national median - remains above the 15 per cent mark in Britain, the US and Ireland, as well as Spain, Portugal and Italy…

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FA0A688B-23CF-4A63-8AA0-C06FA3A7689E.htm

The study said that child poverty - defined as the percentage of children living in homes with incomes below 50 per cent of the national median… On this basis the kids in Mexico and any poor country are much better off than the kids in the US.

US, UK are worse than Sudan? The bottom 2% in the US still live better than 90% of the global population.

'Natural family' called derogatory to 'gays'

February 15, 2007 A special session of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is being held today at the Stanford University Law School where lawyers are arguing whether the words "natural family, marriage and family values" constitute "hate speech" that could intimidate city of Oakland workers.

The words were used by two city employees who wanted to launch a group of people who shared their interests and posted a notice on a city bulletin board after a series of notices from homosexual activists were delivered to them via the city's e-mail system, bulletin boards and memo distribution system.

But Robert Bobb, then city manager, and Joyce Hicks, then deputy director of the Community and Economic Development Agency, ordered their notice removed, because it contained "statements of a homophobic nature" and promoted "sexual-orientation-based harassment."

more at:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54265

Public school lawyers say parents have no say if public schools teach homosexuality

'State interest' argued in teaching homosexuality

February 14, 2007

Lawyers representing a Massachusetts school district named as a defendant in a parent's civil rights complaint have said teachers at Estabrook Elementary School have a "legitimate state interest" in teaching the homosexual lifestyle, and parents have no input into those decisions.

The arguments came in a recent hearing on the district's motion to dismiss the complaint filed by David Parker, a parent whose concern over the school's promotion of the homosexual agenda to grade-schoolers prompted a meeting with school officials, for which they had him arrested for trespassing...

...the school district argued...explained to the judge that, in their opinion, parents have no right to control what ideas the school presents to elementary schoolchildren, and if parents disagree with that dictate, they can take their children elsewhere.

"Once I have elected to send my child to public school, my fundamental right does not allow me to direct what my child is exposed to in the public school," said the school's lawyer...

Parker was represented by lawyers...who argued before Judge Mark Wolf that what the school calls "diversity training" more accurately would be called "indoctrination," since several viewpoints were absent from the school's presentations, and only the pro-homosexual position was present...The elementary curriculum promoting homosexuality, he said, was specifically intended to change a child's outlook of the world to something that his parents didn't teach him.

An ACLU lawyer, however, told the judge that "it is a tremendous bonus" for children to be given information of which their parents wouldn't approve, and that teaching children homosexuality when their parents' Biblical beliefs do not support that has nothing to do with a violation of religious freedom, according to the MassResistance.org reports...

...The brief filed earlier by the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders in support of the school's homosexual promotions said parental rights "have never meant that a parent can demand prior notice and the right to opt a child out of mere exposure to ideas in the public schools that a parent disapproves of."

...Parker was arrested and jailed in Lexington in April 2005 over his request – and the school's refusal – to notify him when adults discuss homosexuality or transgenderism with his elementary-age son. The school took that position despite a state law requiring such notification.

Then in April 2006 the same school chose to present the same single-perspective information, and again refused to notify Parker, who followed with the federal civil rights lawsuit.

Just days later, David Parker's son, Jacob, was beaten up at the school, officials said. MassResistance said a group of 8-10 kids surrounded him and took him out of sight of "patrolling aides," then pummeled and beat him...

...The school is claiming a state law permitting parents to pull their children applies only to classes in which such sensitive topics are the main focus, and the books promoting homosexuality were not the main focus...

...The European Human Rights Court several months ago concluded in a case involving similar objections that parents do not have an "exclusive" right to lead their children's education and any parental "wish" to have their children grow up without adverse influences "could not take priority over compulsory school attendance."

That court said a German family had no right to provide homeschooling for their children. The family had argued the public school endangered their children's religion beliefs and violated the family's Christian faith.

Irrelevant, said the court. "The parents' right to education did not go as far as to deprive their children of that experience," it said..

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54241

Analysis: Al Gore Ducks Northeast Blizzard

...The world's oceans are being heated by underwater tectonic activity — underwater volcanic eruptions and blisteringly hot magma seeping up from cracks in the sea floor.

The heated ocean water creates high levels of CO2 that it sends aloft along with huge amounts of moisture. That moisture becomes precipitation — rain in the spring, summer, and fall, and snow in the winter. Increased amounts of moisture in the upper atmosphere equals increased amounts of precipitation.

The hotter the oceans, the more water vapor sent heavenward and the heavier the precipitation. This explains the large number of record-breaking rainfalls we've been seeing in the past couple of years — with as noted above, areas of the United States getting 20 inches of rain in a day or so...

...The befuddled Gore keeps blathering about how the oceans are being heated by global warming, instead of the warming being created by the oceans, as the facts clearly show.

On his Web site www.iceagenow.com , Robert W. Felix provides the following information about ocean warming as a result of hydrothermic activity under the seas....

more at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/2/14/151325.shtml?s=lh

Scientific consensus - except for those other scientists

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/02/scientific_consensus_except_fo.html

Drop in smoking means less tax revenue

Feb 15, (That’s the fallacy of taxing ciggies. The purpose of taxes is to either raise revenue or discourage a certain behavior. I’ve always said they can’t have it both ways).

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - Roland Henkel quit smoking in September and has been doing the math ever since: A week added to his life. More than 2,100 Marlboro Lights he hasn't smoked. And more than $400 he didn't spend on cigarettes...

...The state of Minnesota has been doing the math, too, and isn't quite as delighted.

Because of quitters like Henkel, Minnesota's tobacco tax revenue is expected to go into a gradual slide later this year — a drop that may grow even steeper with the expected passage of a statewide smoking ban.

Across the country, states are putting their treasuries under pressure by adopting smoking restrictions as well as higher cigarette taxes, which appear to be discouraging people from lighting up, as many health activists had hoped would happen.

State Sen. David Tomassoni, a Democrat who opposes a statewide smoking ban, said he worries about the lost tax dollars.

"The taxes on smoking are being used to fund education, they're being used to fund health care, they're being used to fund real things. Now, if we eliminate smoking, does it mean that those things go away?" Tomassoni said.

...It is clear that states could see some medical savings from reduced smoking, but it is difficult to say how much, and whether those savings might offset the lost tax revenue...

...Because of the downturn, states levied taxes on 2.8 billion fewer packs in 2005 than they did just five years earlier.

...Similarly, the federal cigarette tax has been bringing in less money each year since 2002. The amount dropped from $8.1 billion in 2002 to $7.7 billion in 2005, according to the same study...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070215/ap_on_re_us/smokers__money

It's always been about the money...if the governments really cared about your health they'd have banned smoking years ago, but they just couldn't let the $$ go. So much for caring!

Makes you wonder what the Muslims are finding, and destroying…

Muslims Dig Under Temple Mount, Don't Want Jews Digging Nearby

February 16, 2007

Jerusalem- Amid an ongoing storm over an Israeli archeological excavation near Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a top Islamic official declared Thursday that all digging in the city should be stopped - but an Israeli archeologist pointed out that the biggest excavation in the entire area has been carried out by Muslims, unauthorized, underneath the Mount itself…

...The Mount - the location of the biblical Temples - is Judaism's most revered site, but although Israel maintains overall sovereignty of the area, it allows an Islamic authority, the Waqf, to administer the site.

Below and to the west of the Mount, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) is conducting excavations, about 100 meters (325 feet) from the mosque.

The IAA says the work is taking place now because archeologists want to recover artifacts before construction begins on a new bridge leading up to the Mughrabi Gate - the only entrance used by non-Muslims to access the Temple Mount. (Muslims use other entrances.)

...Israeli archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University said it was "cynical" for Husseini to call for all digging in the city to cease, as Muslims themselves have dug extensively beneath the Temple Mount.

In the late 1990s, the Waqf received a permit to open an emergency exit from a subterranean mosque below the Temple Mount. Instead, the Muslim authority carried out a massive building project, creating what has been called the largest mosque in the Middle East, the al-Marwani mosque, located beneath the Mount itself.

During that process, there was no archeological supervision, and tons of dirt containing artifacts from previous generations was dumped, archeologists said at the time. Israel chose not to intervene for fear of setting off a worldwide Islamic backlash, but many experts fear the unauthorized work may have destabilized the platform...

...She said the current IAA dig was "very important," having already yielded items dating back some 3,000 years to the first Jewish Temple period…

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200702/FOR20070216a.html

Homeschoolers fight bogus poisoning claim

Another family accused of letting children 'eat Cheerios dry' and listening to Christian music

February 16, 2007

..the Marrero family...were shocked when a social worker from the local Division of Children and Family Services visited, informing the family only that he was investigating them for alleged abuse and neglect of their children.

He later elaborated that he knew that the family's 12-year-old daughter had tested positive for abnormally high levels of arsenic...

..the Marrero family attorney Thomas Schmidt confirmed to the social worker that the test results indicating arsenic in the child's blood were anomalous because of a simple math error.

No matter, said the social worker, the case will go on because of "other" allegations, which turned out to be claims of Munchausen by Proxy syndrome...

...the entire investigation was based on a lab error, and the HSLDA would have various doctors testify that all medical testing and evaluation of the children gave no evidence of Munchausen by Proxy," the organization said...Weeks later, and after contacting the social worker's supervisor, the case was closed, officials said.

A second case arose a short time later, when a family in the Port Huron, Mich., area, whose name was withheld, was confronted by a social worker at their front door demanding entry.

The social worker crumpled up a document the mother handed her explaining why she wouldn't allow her entry into the home, then yelled that she would "come in now" and do a strip search of one of the children.

The tirade had been triggered by an anonymous tipster, who accused the family of "only allowing their two boys to listen to Christian music." The tipster also said the children "ate their Cheerios dry" and got nearly all their "socialization through their church."

...Then the tipster struck again, and the social worker jumped into action, renewing her demands for a strip search of the children.

When the social worker threatened she would seek a court order, Klicka noted that anonymous tips do not rise to the level of probable cause legally, so no court order was available.

The family later was notified the investigation was being dropped.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54292

Home School Legal Defense Association

http://www.hslda.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1

David Bennett <><

IMHO 14 Feb

Valentine bouquets 'are bad for the planet'

2/10/2007

The Valentine's Day bouquet has become the latest bête noire among environmental campaigners.

Latest Government figures show that the flowers that make up the average bunch have flown 33,800 miles to reach Britain. (How could that be? The earth is only 25,000 miles around...)

Environmentalists warned that "flower miles" could have serious implications on climate change in terms of carbon dioxide emissions from aeroplanes.

Andrew Sims, the policy director of the New Economics Foundation, said: "Air freighting flowers half way round the world contributes to global warming...You can argue the planes would be flying anyway but the amount of greenhouse gases pumped out depends on the weight of the cargo."

...The figures also revealed that imports of roses from Ethiopia have grown from zero to 130 tons a year since 2003.

Kenya is the second biggest exporter of flowers after the Netherlands, followed by Colombia and Spain.

In total, Britain imports more than £315 million of flowers, with the typical Briton spending £39 a year on them.

"That's very little when you think what we spend on CDs, coffee and even lipstick," said a spokesman for the Flowers and Plants Association.

He said the boom in Third World flowers would help poorer countries to build schools and boost the economy.

(Who cares about those people in the Third World? We must reduce our carbon footprint at any cost, at least according to Al Gore…)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/10/nbouquet10.xml


Winter storm cools Valentine's ardor

Wed Feb 14,

CHICAGO - Winter iced romance across the northeastern United States on Wednesday as a Valentine's Day storm disrupted the annual hearts and flowers festival from the Midwest to the Atlantic shore.

"I'm afraid I'll go out of business. I have $38,000 worth of flowers, but I've only sold $7,000 worth," said Karen Pell of Flowerama, a florist shop in snowy Indianapolis...

...For some, dining by candle light was a cold necessity, not a romantic option. Power companies said 100,000 customers were left without electricity from Virginia to New Jersey, and outages were reported in Ohio.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-02-14T175411Z_01_N13159180_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-WEATHER.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

SAVE IT FOR A WARMER DAY

2/14/2007 Maryville Univ. in St. Louis area cancelling screening of Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' because of a snowstorm...

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Read the UN's report on the 10 most polluted places on Earth. None in the US, a couple in China, 3 or 4 in Russia.

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HEARING ON 'WARMING OF PLANET' CANCELLED BECAUSE OF ICE STORM...

Feb 13 2007

The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”

http://drudgereport.com/flash8.htm

We may be living in cold, historic times

The Roanoke Times

February 14, 2007

...Through Monday, Roanoke's average temperature for February was 29.2 degrees. If the month had ended Monday, this would be the coldest February on record at Roanoke...

...We're nearly halfway through the month on a pace to challenge the record for coldest February. And the upcoming weather pattern might give that record a chance of coming to fruition...

...So we will be nearly two-thirds through the month by early next week with temperatures quite likely still averaging below 30 for the month. The Arctic pattern is likely to relax next week, but even average cold would keep us within striking distance of a record cold month...

...But as of yet, this extreme cold snap has had little snow to show for it outside of last week's quick thump. The repeated Arctic air masses have crushed storm systems trying to move through them...

http://www.roanoke.com/weather/wb/wb/xp-104449

Study: Glacier melting can be variable

Feb 13

BOULDER, Colo., Feb. 13 -- A U.S. study suggests two of Greenland's largest glaciers are melting at variable rates and not at an increasing trend.

The study, led by Ian Howat, a researcher with the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center and the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory, shows the glaciers shrank dramatically and dumped twice as much ice into the sea during a period of less than a year between 2004 and 2005.

But then, fewer than two years later, they returned to near their previous rates of discharge.

Howat says such variability during such a short time underlines the problem in assuming glacial melting and sea level rise will necessarily occur at a steady upward trajectory.

"Our main point is that the behavior of these glaciers can change a lot from year to year, so we can’t assume to know the future behavior from short records of recent changes," he said…

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/13/upiUPI-20070213-100336-9529R.html

A Skeptic's Take on Global Warming

Human Events ^ | 02/14/2007

Timothy Ball is no wishy-washy skeptic of global warming. The Canadian climatologist, who has a Ph.D. in climatology from the University of London and taught at the University of Winnipeg for 28 years, says that the widely propagated “fact” that humans are contributing to global warming is the “greatest deception in the history of science.”

Ball has made no friends among global warming alarmists by saying that global warming is caused by the sun, that global warming will be good for us and that the Kyoto Protocol “is a political solution to a nonexistent problem without scientific justification."

Needless to say, Ball strongly disagrees with the findings of the latest report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which on Feb. 2 concluded that it is “very likely” that global warming is the result of human activity.

The mainstream media would have us believe that the science of global warming is now settled by the latest IPCC report. Is it true?

Timothy Ball: No. It’s absolutely false. As soon as people start saying something’s settled, it’s usually that they don’t want to talk about it anymore. They don’t want anybody to dig any deeper. It’s very, very far from settled. In fact, that’s the real problem. We haven’t been able to get all of the facts on the table. The IPCC is a purely political setup.

(Excerpt) Read more at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=19409

‘Blame cosmic rays not CO2 for warming up the planet’

The impact of cosmic rays on the climate could be greater than scientists suspect after experiments showed they may have a pivotal role in cloud formation.

Researchers have managed to replicate the effect of cosmic rays on the aerosols in the atmosphere that help to create clouds. Henrik Svensmark, a weather scientist in Denmark, said the experiments suggested that man’s influence on global warming might be rather less than was supposed by the bulk of scientific opinion.

Cosmic rays — radiation, or particles of energy, from stars, which bombard the Earth — can create electrically charged ions in the atmosphere that act as a magnet for water vapour, causing clouds to form.

Dr Svensmark suggests that the Sun, at a historically high level of activity, is deflecting many of the cosmic rays away from Earth and thus reducing the cloud cover.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1368920.ece

Global Hot Air Part I

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute

February 13, 2007

…Back in the 1970s, the environmental hysteria was about the dangers of a new ice age. This hysteria was spread by many of the same individuals and groups who are promoting today's hysteria about global warming…

It is not just the sky that is falling. Government money is falling on those who seek grants to study global warming and produce "solutions" for it. But that money is not as likely to fall on those skeptics in the scientific community who refuse to join the stampede.

There are all kinds of scientists, from chemists to nuclear physicists to people who study insects, volcanoes, and endocrine glands -- none of whom is an expert on weather or climate, but all of whom can be listed as scientists, to impress people who don't scrutinize the list any further. That ploy has already been used.

Then there are genuine scientific experts on weather and climate. The National Academy of Sciences came out with a report on global warming back in 2001 with a very distinguished list of such experts listed. The problem is that not one of those very distinguished scientists actually wrote the report -- or even saw it before it was published.

One of those very distinguished climate scientists -- Richard S. Lindzen of MIT -- publicly repudiated the conclusions of that report, even though his name had been among those used as window dressing on the report. But the media may not have told you that...

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2007/02/13/global_hot_air

Global Hot Air: Part II

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute

February 14, 2007 Read the article at:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2007/02/14/global_hot_air_part_ii

New York Town May Have Hit Snow Record

Feb 12 (note: two days ago)

REDFIELD, N.Y. -- The snow just won't stop. Intense lake-effect snow squalls that buried communities along eastern Lake Ontario for nine straight days diminished Sunday _ then started up again early Monday.

Unofficially, the squalls have dumped 12 feet, 2 inches of snow at Redfield. If accurate, that would break the state record of 10 feet, 7 inches of snow that fell in nearby Montague over seven days ending Jan. 1, 2002, said Steve McLaughlin, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Buffalo.

Midwest Storm Hits Northeast As Blizzard

Feb 14

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Sleet stung the faces of pedestrians and snow and ice coated windshields and streets Wednesday as the Valentine's Day blizzard shut down schools and air travel and turned highways into skating rinks.

Hundreds of thousands of people had lost electrical service in the cold weather. At least 11 deaths were blamed on the huge storm system.

Thousands of schools were closed in states from Maine to Kentucky, some in the Midwest for a second day, and in Washington the federal government decided to open offices two hours late...

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/14/D8N9JF7O1.html

City to Open Arabic Public School in Brooklyn

(While we are a melting pot of cultures that use to mean that everyone eventually assimilated and became Americans. How much assimilation do you think will happen with Arabic schools… we’ve surrendered as a nation…)

2/14/2007

The Department of Education says that it will open a public school next fall dedicated to Arabic language and culture.

The Khalil Gibran International Academy is one of 40 new schools that will their debut in the city next September.

Education officials say that although half the classes at the school will be taught in Arabic, they want to enroll a diverse student body.

The school is set to open in Brooklyn

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=66778

Utah gunman, 18, was Muslim from Bosnia

The 18-year-old gunman who killed five people in a crowded Utah shopping mall was a Bosnian Muslim refugee who was prepared to kill many more, say investigators…

David & Karen Bennett <><
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

IMHO Feb 10 Global warming and other stuff

America Supports You: Military Channel’s ‘Operation V-Day’ Nears
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2007 – Friends and family back home will have a chance to see their service members in action and hear their personal messages via video thanks to the efforts of a cable network dedicated to the military.

Beginning at 6 a.m. on Feb. 14, Discovery Communications’ Military Channel plans to launch “Operation V-Day,” a 24-hour commercial-free airing of messages from troops around the world to their loved ones in the states.

The channel also plans to begin airing troop-recorded videos for a new feature showing the personal stories of the men and women stationed overseas.

“The Military Channel is dedicated to all military subjects – and most certainly that means men and women in uniform themselves,” said Jill Bondurant, organization publicist.

More info at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=2959

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The space program may be troubled now, but it did produce some cutting-edge breakthroughs in astronaut comfort: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17034568/site/newsweek/

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Men jailed for being on public sidewalk
February 8, 2007

Two men who are members of Gideons International, the Christian organization that is famous for, among other ministries, placing Bibles in motels and giving them to children, have been arrested after trying to hand out Bibles on a public sidewalk in Florida, according to a law firm....


...Jeremy Tedesco, one of the ADF's lawyers on the case, confirmed to WND that the organization's clients were on a public sidewalk when they were handing out Bibles and school officials summoned police...


..."Neither man entered school grounds," the law firm said. "After the school's principal called police, a Monroe County sheriff's officer asked the men to leave immediately or face trespassing charges. As the men prepared to leave, the officer decided to arrest both individuals."

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54150


JOHN EDWARDS HIRES TWO ANTI-CATHOLICS (amazingly foul-mouthed witches)

Catholic League ^ | 2/6/2007 | Bill Donohue

Catholic League president Bill Donohue is demanding that presidential hopeful John Edwards fire two recently hired anti-Catholics who have joined his team: Amanda Marcotte as Blogmaster and Melissa McEwan as the Netroots Coordinator. Here’s why: “Writing on the Pandagon blogsite, December 26, 2006, Amanda Marcotte wrote that ‘the Catholic church is not about to let something like compassion for girls get in the way of using the state as an instrument to force women to bear more tithing Catholics.’ ...on June 14, 2006, she offered the following Q&A: ‘What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit,’ to which she replied, ‘You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.’

http://www.catholicleague.org/07press_releases/quarter_1/070206_Edwards.htm

Edwards to keep bloggers who regret anti-Catholic postings

WASHINGTON | Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Thursday he was personally offended by the provocative messages two of his campaign bloggers wrote criticizing the Catholic church, but he's not going to fire them.

Edwards issued a statement and answered questions about the fate of Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen, two days after the head of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights demanded they be fired for messages they wrote before working on the campaign...

...An angry Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League that counts 350,000 members, criticized Edwards for not firing the two bloggers…

"When Mel Gibson got drunk and made anti-Semitic remarks, he paid a price for doing so. When Michael Richards got angry and made racist remarks, he paid a price for doing so. ... But John Edwards thinks the same rules don't apply to him, which is why he has chosen to embrace foul-mouthed, anti-Catholic bigots on his payroll," Donohue said....

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070208/APN/702082927

New Genetic Study: Boys and Girls are Basically Different

February 8, 2007 Swedish News (short translated article)

The same gene that in certain circumstances increases the risk of alcoholism and anti-social behavior in boys protects girls from the same dangers and vice versa. This surprising discovery has been reported by a group of Swedish researchers.

Their study of a population of 16-19 year olds, gives new hope for treatment of depression and alcoholism. Lars Oreland, a member of the discovery team told a Swedish newspaper; “I dare say that we are on the verge of a revolution.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1781554/posts

So, it took a study to determine that boys and girls are basically different… I’m in the wrong business.

Cold discomfort: Globe not warming
By Michael Graham
Thursday, February 8, 2007

...take this quick true-or-false quiz:

1) Global temps are rising.

2) Oceans are warming.

3) The Arctic is warmer today than it’s been in at least a century.

You guessed it: They’re all false. False “facts” that the average American assumes are true.

My source for refuting these assumptions is...the United Nations... The U.N.’s new climate change study refutes the climate models used for its 2001 effort, which said we would see a measurable rise in Earth temperatures by now.

Instead, according to the U.S. National Climate Data Center, there has been no measurable warming in the past five years.

One reason might be the cooling of the oceans that began in 2003 (despite contrary predictions from the U.N. weather models). And this may contribute to the fact that no matter what Al Gore tells you, the Arctic was warmer in 1940 than it is today....

...By the way, George Will points out that, regardless of how many American jobs we destroy to do the “right” thing, China is scheduled to open a new coal-burning power plant every 10 days...

http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articleid=181675

NANCY PELOSI, CARBON CRIMINAL
February 8, 2007
...the new speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, is demanding her own personal Pentagon-provided jet.

...The speaker has decided that she needs a personal shuttle between Washington, D.C., and her home out on the Left Coast.

Historically, House speakers flew commercial. Then, after 9/11, Speaker Dennis Hastert cited security reasons in switching to a military-provided plane.

But that was a small jet: It sat 12 passengers, with a crew of five.

In contrast, Pelosi is said to want a top-of-the-line, Air Force passenger jet - the military version of the Boeing 757 - which features 42 business-class seats and a 16-member crew, plus a fully enclosed stateroom, entertainment center, private bed and state-of-the-art communications center...

...As for the taxpayers, they stand to get clipped for $300,000 per trip...

...This is the same woman who declared last month: "I promise to do everything in my power to achieve energy independence . . . and to stop global warming."

Just two weeks ago, she added, "The science of global warming and its impact is overwhelming and unequivocal." Then she dedicated a select House committee actually to do something about global warming.

Which, if one accepts the current "science of global warming," she certainly is.

She's making it worse...

...The conventional view is that emissions of carbon dioxide - a greenhouse gas - are a major factor in warming. And the jet Pelosi is demanding produces more than 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per hour - far more than the commuter plane Hastert used.

Gingrich has a point when he says, "It is useful for members, including the speaker, to go through airport security, just like everybody else."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02082007/postopinion/editorials/nancy_pelosi__carbon_criminal_editorials_.htm \
Hot House Science

February 6, 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released last week... ...Readers should be aware that the IPCC Summary for Policymakers was not exactly the work of disinterested scientists completely divorced from politics. Manning explained that the final draft was based on peer-reviewed research, then reviewed "line by line by government delegates."

...The IPCC summary issued a prediction for how much sea level would rise -- by 7 to 23 inches by 2100 -- a big drop from the 20 feet that former Vice President Al Gore warned about in "An Inconvenient Truth." Where's the scorn?

And it's not as if scientists are infallible. In 2004, scientist Hwang Woo Suk published a paper in the journal Science in which he claimed that he had cloned a human embryo and extracted stem cells from it. Hwang was a fraud, but big biotech and top scientists believed him -- because they wanted to believe him...

Note that the IPCC report ...puts off setting goals for emissions reductions until later this year.

Of late, green pols such as Gore and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have claimed that fighting global warming will be good for the economy. Magazine articles tell Americans about the little things they can do to fight climate change -- buy eco-friendly light bulbs and only pack paperbacks on the plane.

The public is in for a shock. What would a good target be? I asked Manning. His answer: "If one wants to really stabilize, then we actually have to decrease in the end the carbon-dioxide emissions in the atmosphere by more than 50 percent, maybe to 10 percent" although "that doesn't have to happen overnight."

It's one thing to argue that, if there is even a chance global warming is manmade, Americans should cut back when you think you will have to make minor lifestyle changes. It's another thing to make that argument when your job, your industry, your car, your home -- electricity itself -- may be at stake. Then you want a more honest debate.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DebraJSaunders/2007/02/06/hot_house_science

David & Karen Bennett <><>