February 27, 2007

New ratings slash hybrids’ mileage figures
February 25, 2007
Fuel-saving gasoline-electric hybrid cars don't save as much fuel as thought, according to new government fuel-economy ratings available to the public for the first time...

...Toyota's Prius, the best-known and best-selling gas-electric car in the United States, drops to 48 miles per gallon in the city from a 60 m.p.g. rating under the current system -- a 20% decline. Its highway mileage rating falls about 12% to 45 m.p.g.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070225/BUSINESS01/702250577/1014

Lottery can become a game of no chance

AUSTIN — There are long odds and there are impossible odds. The Texas Lottery Commission is striking it rich selling impossible odds.

In some cases, the lottery is selling scratch-off tickets where virtually all of the prize money has already been claimed.

So anyone spending $5 on a Deal or No Deal scratch-off Friday might entertain hopes of winning the $1 million top prize advertised on the ticket. But it'd be pure fantasy.

All three of the top prizes have been claimed. So have all four of the $100,000 prizes. And all 10 of the $50,000 prizes. They've been gone since Dec. 9.

It's an unfair game," said Dawn Nettles, an unofficial, unpaid watchdog of the lottery commission.

In fact, of the 52 $10,000 prizes that were offered for that game, only one remained unclaimed Friday. Taken as a whole, more than 96 percent of the prizes and 99 percent of the money for Deal or No Deal is no longer available — yet the game continues to be sold statewide...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4578036.html

Here we go again… Easter must be around the corner
New film claims Jesus buried in Talpiot

Jerusalem Post ^ | Feb. 25, 2007
The Israeli-born, Canadian-based filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici is reigniting claims, first made over a decade ago, that a burial cave uncovered 27 years ago in Talpiot, Jerusalem, is the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family…

But Bar-Ilan University Prof. Amos Kloner, the Jerusalem District archeologist who officially oversaw the work at the tomb in 1980 and has published detailed findings on its contents, on Saturday night dismissed the claims. "It makes a great story for a TV film," he told The Jerusalem Post. "But it's impossible. It's nonsense."

Kloner, who said he was interviewed for the new film but has not seen it, said the names found on the ossuaries were common, and the fact that such apparently resonant names had been found together was of no significance. He added that "Jesus son of Joseph" inscriptions had been found on several other ossuaries over the years.

"There is no likelihood that Jesus and his relatives had a family tomb," Kloner said. "They were a Galilee family with no ties in Jerusalem. The Talpiot tomb belonged to a middle-class family from the 1st century CE."

…Kloner said the [Israel Antiquities Authority] IAA had been "very foolish" to agree to the loan. "The left hand there doesn't know what the right hand is doing," he said…

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1171894508893&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Scholars Criticize New Jesus Documentary

Feb 26 2007

JERUSALEM -- "The Lost Tomb of Christ," which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries _ small caskets used to store bones _ discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family, according to a press release issued by the Discovery Channel…

In 1996, when the BBC aired a short documentary on the same subject, archaeologists challenged the claims. Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television.

"They just want to get money for it," Kloner said.

…Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film's hypothesis holds little weight.

"I don't think that Christians are going to buy into this," Pfann said. "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."

…Pfann is even unsure that the name "Jesus" on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it's more likely the name "Hanun."

Kloner also said the filmmakers' assertions are false.

"It was an ordinary middle-class Jerusalem burial cave," Kloner said. "The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time."

Archaeologists also balk at the filmmaker's claim that the James Ossuary _ the center of a famous antiquities fraud in Israel _ might have originated from the same cave. In 2005, Israel charged five suspects with forgery in connection with the infamous bone box…

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/26/D8NHFDRG3.html

Sun's Output Increasing in Possible Trend Fueling Global Warming
March 20, 2003

In what could be the simplest explanation for one component of global warming, a new study shows the Sun's radiation has increased by .05 percent per decade since the late 1970s.

The increase would only be significant to Earth's climate if it has been going on for a century or more, said study leader Richard Willson, a Columbia University researcher also affiliated with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

The Sun's increasing output has only been monitored with precision since satellite technology allowed necessary observations. Willson is not sure if the trend extends further back in time, but other studies suggest it does.

"This trend is important because, if sustained over many decades, it could cause significant climate change," Willson said.

In a NASA-funded study recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, Willson and his colleagues speculate on the possible history of the trend based on data collected in the pre-satellite era.

"Solar activity has apparently been going upward for a century or more," Willson told SPACE.com today.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/sun_output_030320.html

Gore home's energy use: 20 times average

Tennessee think tank presents former veep's own 'inconvenient truth'

February 26, 2007

The former vice president's mansion in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, says the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/page.php ), citing data from the Nashville Electric Service....

...the average American household consumed 10,656 kilowatt-hours last year, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 – more than 20 times the national average...

...Since the release of Gore's film, the former vice president and presidential candidate's energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kilowatt-hours per month in 2005, to 18,400 per month in 2006...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54450

Gore Responds to Charges His House Uses Too Much Electricity

02/27/2007

The former vice president ...said he buys carbon offsets — a service that tries to reduce the net carbon emissions of individuals or organizations indirectly, through proxies that reduce their emissions and/or increase their absorption of greenhouse gases.

"What Mr. Gore has asked is that every family calculate their carbon footprint and try to reduce it as much as possible," said Thinkprogress.org. "Once they have done so, he then advocates that they purchase offsets, as the Gores do, to bring their footprint down to zero."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,254908,00.html

So what Al Gore is saying is, if you are rich enough you can consume as much energy as you want by purchasing "offsets." The bottom line is he is consuming more energy than he use to. The offsets don't offset anything, that’s just paying someone not to consume energy they were not going to consume anyway.

"Carbon offsets”

Aug 3rd 2006 From The Economist print edition

…THE sale of indulgences by the Catholic church in the early 16th century, whereby people could, in effect, purchase forgiveness of past sins [and future sins] by handing over enough money, was condemned by Martin Luther and other reformers. Today, some environmentalists are denouncing the offsetting of carbon emissions in similar terms. A company that wants to declare itself carbon neutral calculates how many tonnes of carbon it emits, and then offsets the emissions by paying someone else not to emit that amount of carbon on its behalf.… "

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7252897
Al Gore might have known this if he didn't flunk out of divinity school[and law school]… Just a way for guilt ridden liberals to write a check and make their "enviro guilt" go away.

Stop Gorebal Warming.
Put a cork in Al

U.N. data show U.S. greener than EU

February 23, 2007

Finger-pointing critics often vilify Americans as the sole cause of global warming. But the typical image of SUV-driving, energy-hogging Yankees may be bogus -- a new analysis of U.N. data reveals that U.S. efforts to reduce greenhouse gases actually beat European policies.

"Despite constant criticism from environmental activists at home and across Europe claiming the U.S. government is doing nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, new evidence suggests America's efforts are more effective than those of Europe's," according to a study by H. Sterling Burnett of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute.

The United States has spent more than any other country on research and technologies to reduce emissions, Mr. Burnett wrote, and the business-led efforts are paying off.

"The U.S. is doing a far better job reining in its emissions than Europe, even though it has a faster-growing economy and population," Mr. Burnett said. "Rather than signing treaties that look good on paper but do nothing to really bring about reductions, U.S. industry has taken the lead as a business matter, reducing emissions as a matter of efficiency -- saving costs and improving the bottom line."

Mr. Burnett's scrutiny of data from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report released Feb. 2 revealed that the U.S. rate of growth in carbon dioxide emissions from 2000 to 2004 was eight percentage points lower than from 1995 to 2000. The original 15 nations of the European Union increased emissions by 2.3 percentage points.

From 2000 to 2004, greenhouse gas emissions from the EU countries grew at nearly double the U.S. rate. During the same time period, the U.S. economy grew by almost $1.9 trillion, "the equivalent of adding Italy to the U.S. economy," Mr. Burnett wrote in the analysis, released Wednesday.

The U.S. population increased by 11.3 million people, more than the population of Greece, he found.

"U.S. businesses are succeeding where European bureaucracy is failing," Mr. Burnett said.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070222-111037-4654r.htm

Delaware global warming skeptic stands pat

State climatologist on opposite side of governor in court case

February 1, 2007

Delaware's state climatologist has found himself in the middle of a political squall after taking skeptical stands on global warming and climate change -- in one case directly contradicting the state's own policy.

David R. Legates, a University of Delaware geography professor, co-wrote a "friend of the court" brief that opposed Delaware's position in a multi-state U.S. Supreme Court case...

...Legates, a Ph.D. climatologist who received the title of state climatologist in 2005 from Daniel Leathers, now the head of the University of Delaware's geography department...

"It is simply impossible to conclude that the net effect of greenhouse gases endangers human health and welfare," the brief said.

...The appearance of Delaware's climatologist on the other side of the court case left some state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control officials frustrated.

...As state climatologist, a position the state doesn't fund, Legates collects and shares climate data with the National Climatic Data Center, the Northeast Regional Climate Center and the National Weather Service office in Mt. Holly, N.J. Similar positions exist in 41 other states and Puerto Rico, generally staffed by state employees or university staffers...

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20070201&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=702010363&Template=printart

State's Climatologist Global Warming Skeptics Shunned In Oregon, Delaware, Virginia

February 08, 2007

Oregon - ....A dispute erupted this week in Oregon, where Gov. Ted Kulongoski is considering firing the state's climatologist George Taylor, who has said human activity isn't the chief cause of global climate change.

That view is not in line with the state policy of Oregon to reduce "greenhouse gases," which are considered by many researchers to be the chief cause of global warming.

And Taylor is not alone...

"It seems if scientists don't express the views of the political establishment, they will be threatened and that is a discomforting thought," said Alabama state climatologist John Christie, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Christie told Cybercast News Service that while research has not been politicized in his state, he's concerned about others. State climatologists in Virginia and Delaware as well as Oregon have faced scrutiny from state government officials for their views on global warming...

...In Virginia, Gov. Tim Kaine has sought to distance himself from state climatologist and global warming skeptic Patrick Michaels by noting that he is not a gubernatorial appointee.

But Michaels, a professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia, was appointed in 1980 by then-Gov. John N. Dalton (R), according to press reports. Nonetheless, Kaine insists that Michaels is speaking only as a research professor and not on behalf of the state....

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200702/CUL20070208c.html

Obese survive heart attacks better than lean

Times of India ^ | 1/11/07 | K Sinha

NEW DELHI: It's a well-known paradox that had little evidence to support it, until now. Doctors from UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine have, for the first time, successfully demonstrated that obese patients actually fare better and have better chances of survival when hospitalised for acute heart failure than their leaner counterparts.

In the first-ever large scale study to assess the relationship between Body Mass Index and survival in patients hospitalised with acute heart failure, doctors have found the obesity paradox — BMI being inversely associated with long-term mortality in chronic heart failure — to be real.

The study has found that by weight category, in-hospital mortality rate was 6.3% for underweight, 4.6% for healthy weight, 3.4% for overweight and 2.4% for obese patients.

Researchers also found that for every five-unit increase in body mass, the odds of risk-adjusted mortality fell 10%, irrespective of the patients age, sex, blood urea nitrogen, blood pressure and additional prognostic factors.

Speaking to TOI, Gregg Fonarow, the school's director and lead author of this study, said, "The study suggests overweight, obese patients may have a greater metabolic reserve to call upon during an acute heart failure, which may lessen in-hospital mortality risk. Prior studies in outpatients with chronic heart failure had shown overweight patients had better chances of survival compared to patients who were normal weight, the so called obesity paradox."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Obesity_not_always_harmful/articleshow/1129114.cms

Are the obese required to purchase Al Gore Carbon Off Sets?

Reports of Jesus' grave 'a sideshow'

Critic: Movie maker 'least qualified to render determination of biblical truth'

February 27, 2007

A Hollywood filmmaker whose new movie reports on the "discovery" of the Jerusalem grave of Jesus Christ is nothing more than "a modern day circus sideshow," according to a prominent Christian leader in the United States.

...said Rev. Rob Schenck, the president of the National Clergy Council... "a Hollywood director is the least qualified to render any determination of biblical truth. Not only so, but the people Mr. Cameron has partnered with completely lack credibility. One has been discredited by experts as a charlatan. This is nothing more than a modern day circus sideshow…

"All of Jesus' contemporaries recorded Christ rose after being dead for three days and ascended into Heaven. For 2,000 years people of faith along [with] countless scholars have pored over the Scriptures, confirming their veracity," Schenck said.

Rev. Schenck holds degrees in Bible and Theology, Christian Ministry and has completed additional postgraduate work in Christian History. He is chairman of the Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance and president of the National Clergy Council in Washington.

...a coalition of leading biblical and archeological scholars issued a statement calling Cameron's logic "full of holes, conjectures and problems." Ben Witherington, author of "What Have They Done With Jesus?" said the production is just "old news with a new interpretation."

...He and the others said the film is without substance because:

• There is no DNA evidence that this is the historical Jesus of Nazareth
• The statistical analysis is untrustworthy
• The name "Jesus" was a popular name at that time, appearing in 98 other tombs and on 21 other ossuaries
• There is no historical evidence that Jesus was ever married or had a child
• The earliest followers of Jesus never called him, "Jesus, son of Joseph"
• It's unlikely Joseph, who had died earlier in Galilee, would have been buried in Jerusalem
• The Talipot tomb and ossuaries probably would have belonged to a rich family, which is not a historical match for Jesus
• Fourth-century church historian Eusebius makes quite clear the body of James, brother of Jesus, was buried alone near the temple mount.
• The two Mary ossuaries do not mention anyone from Migdal, but just Mary, a common name
• By all ancient accounts, the tomb of Jesus was empty, making it unlikely that any body was moved, allowed to decay for a year, then be put into an ossuary.

…Another blogger at BibleProbe.com agreed the new movie is just another way to make a buck. "Why is it, nobody seems to have any interest in doing the same thing to Islam, rabbinic Judaism, Hinduism or Buddhism?" he asked.

And he challenged the simple logic that the movie proposes. "Consider this: James, the half-brother of Jesus and author of the book of James, the early leader of the church in Jerusalem, was martyred for his faith. Why does James make no mention in his letter that Jesus was not bodily resurrected? When he was about to die why didn't he just recant his beliefs and say, 'Okay, okay! My brother didn't rise from the dead. Here's where we took him. Here's where his bones are. Here's our family tomb. We made the whole thing up?' People will generally not die for a lie when they know it's a lie. … Why would James die perpetuating a lie when it would have been so easy to disprove?" he asked...

...The movie purports to have documentation from DNA supporting the idea that the bone boxes were for Jesus and his family.

But even bloggers discounted that. "DNA comparison only works if you have something to compare the bones to. Last I checked, no one had a Jesus hair follicle in their bathroom hair brush. Sure, someone might claim to have DNA that definitely belonged to the Christ, but there's no way to prove it. And without absolutely proof positive Jesus DNA to compare those bones to, I don't see how Cameron can prove anything," wrote Joshua Tyler...

...Discovery said its "scientific analysis" provided "credible new information that the tomb once may have held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family."

"It doesn't get bigger than this," said Cameron. "We've done our homework; we've made the case; and now it's time for the debate to begin."

...Schenck said the whole publicity stunt may backfire on Cameron, and encourage people to dig deeper into the reasons they believe the way they do. "In the end ... the truth will be told," he said.

He cited a favorite Bible verse: "What the devil means for destruction God will turn for good."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54446

If you're not a liberal when you're 20, you have no heart, but if you're not a conservative by the time you're 40, you have no brain --Winston Churchill

Mexican wives seek ouster of husbands from U.S.

February 26, 2007

The women of Tecalpulco, Mexico, want the U.S. government to enforce its immigration laws because they want to force their husbands to come back home from working illegally in the United States.

They have created an English-language Web page where they identify themselves as the "wetback wives" and broadcast their pleas, both to their men and to the U.S. government.

"To the United States government -- close the border, send our men home to us, even if you must deport them (only treat them in a humane manner -- please do not hurt them)," it reads…

It's a stark reminder of an often forgotten voice in the U.S. immigration debate -- the wives, children, parents and villages left behind as millions of workers come to the U.S., many of them illegally. The plea also underscores the dual effects of migration on Mexico: Its economy needs American jobs as an outlet for workers, but determined, able-bodied workers get siphoned out of Mexico.

More than 10 million Mexican-born people, or nearly one out of every 10, was living in the United States in 2005. And as a percentage of the work force it's even higher: One in seven, or 14 percent, were here, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The institute said 77 percent of Mexican workers in the U.S. were younger than 45, and 70 percent were men.

Villages devoid of men between 20 and 50 are common in many parts of the country. The stories of single mothers struggling to raise their children are just as frequent...

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070226-010345-3459r.htm

David Suzuki vs. Michael Crichton

February 21, 2007

Last Thursday, environmentalist guru David Suzuki stormed out of a Toronto AM640 radio interview with host John Oakley because Oakley dared to suggest that global warming might not be the "totally settled issue" Suzuki insisted it was.

Oakley only reported a fact: Many accredited scientists -- some full professors from top universities, including Nobel prize winners and a former president of the National Academy of Sciences -- would argue that "global warning is at best unproven and at worst pure fantasy," according to novelist and independent scientific researcher Michael Crichton, author of the best-selling 2004 environmental techno-thriller, State of Fear.

Crichton, one of the first to expand on the theme of environmentalism-as-religion, would doubtless see Suzuki's gesture as a result of confusion of his role as environmental advocate with that of chief of Morals Police. Suzuki's very public censure of Oakley for his perceived blasphemy is disquieting because it smacks of the totalitarian impulse to silence and humiliate the dissenter --or even, as in this case, the dissenter's messenger...

Suzuki would have better served his cause if he had addressed skeptics' actual concerns. Such as:

- Why was climatologist James Hansen -- the father of global warming--off by 200% in his prediction that temperatures would increase by 0.35 degrees Celsius by 2008 (the actual increase has been .11 degrees); and why did he (and colleagues) say in 2001 that "the longterm prediction of future climate states is not possible"?

- Of the world's 160,000 glaciers, some are shrinking. But many --in Iceland, for example --have "surged" in the last few years, while most of Antarctica is getting colder; if warming is "global," why?

- Why haven't sea levels risen to the extent predicted? Why have the waters off the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean not only experienced no rise over several centuries, but an actual fall in the last 20 years?

- Where is the predicted "extreme weather?" There has been no global increase, and in many cases a decrease, of extreme weather patterns.

- From 1940-70, carbon dioxide levels went way up, but temperatures went down so abruptly that a new Ice Age was the prevailing fear; wherefore this disparity?

- The Sahara Desert is shrinking--purportedly due to the greening effects caused by man-made global warming; but isn't the greening of the desert a good thing? I know to ask these questions only because I've read State of Fear. And as the environmental hysteria burgeons, I continue to press the book on everyone I know. Forget the silly (but riveting) plot, which is to the embedded environmental science in the novel as blini to caviar. You cannot read State of Fear with an open mind and continue to believe global warming is a "totally settled issue."

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.html?id=55f4dc45-f308-4b34-80af-011a0cf38fed

David & Karen Bennett <><

http://www.freewill-predestination.com