Mood:  spacey

Clinton urges start of Iraq pullout in 90 days

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the early front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has called for a 90-day deadline to start pulling American troops from Iraq.

Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, has been criticized by some Democrats for supporting authorization of the war in 2002 and for not renouncing her vote as she seeks the U.S. presidency in next year's election.

"Now it's time to say the redeployment should start in 90 days or the Congress will revoke authorization for this war," the New York senator said in a video on her campaign Web site, repeating a point included in a bill she introduced on Friday.

In October 2002, Congress authorized President George W. Bush to take military action in Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003.

Republicans blocked the Senate on Saturday from considering a nonbinding measure, adopted on Friday by the House of Representatives, denouncing Bush's decision to send another 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq.

In offering what she called a roadmap out of Iraq, Clinton said a visit there last month had made her more determined to start what she called a long overdue withdrawal.

Clinton's bill would cap the number of troops in Iraq at the January 1 level, prior to Bush's decision to add 21,500 to the approximately 130,000 soldiers already there.

The buildup is part of a push to quell growing sectarian violence but comes as opinion polls show the majority of Americans disapprove of Bush's decision to send more troops.

Clinton's bill would require congressional authorization to exceed her proposed cap on U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Bush, announcing the troop increase on January 11, said stepping back prematurely would collapse the Iraqi government, tear the country apart "and result in mass killings on an unimaginable scale."

"If George Bush doesn't end the war before he leaves office, when I'm president, I will," Clinton said in the video.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, another Democratic presidential hopeful, said last week it was unclear how Clinton planned to end the conflict. Obama has called for a phased withdrawal to be wrapped up by the end of March 2008.

At a January 17 news conference after visiting Iraq, Clinton repeated her call for a phased redeployment as a way of pressing the Iraqi government to shoulder more responsibility for security. But she stopped short then of proposing a deadline for doing so.

Reuters Photos of Hillary ~ by Katie McMahon 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
Reuters ~ Jim Wolf ** Clinton urges start of Iraq pullout in 90 days

Not only do Demented-crats like Shrillary want to "protect the troops"... they want to protect our enemies, and lose the central battle in the war on terror.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:45 PM EST

Updated: Sunday, 18 February 2007 4:06 PM EST

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Ed Schultz, Air America, Liberal Talk Radio Hosts

LIBTALKER VS LIBTALKER

In Weird Dispute, Hosts Turn Against Each Other

After so many recent affiliate losses for liberal talk radio, was it inevitable that so- called "progressive" hosts would eventually turn against one another?

Considering that Air America Radio's slow and painful disintegration has also damaged the careers of unaffiliated lefty talkers, it was probably only a matter of time before tensions reached the boiling point.

Though the mainstream media still refuses to admit to the accelerating loss of stations carrying liberal talk (Reuters still falsely claims Air America has 81), with new format changes in both Sacramento and Fresno, among other locales, it's been a tough week.

Because non- AAR talkers Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller have had moderately more successful results to date, it's hard not to have a bit of sympathy for them, given station losses that were caused by Franken & Co's failure to generate a substantial audience. Both are syndicated by JonesMediaAmerica of Denver.

Oddly, however, Schultz and Miller get little credit from the left for their better performance, with the former actually the target of Internet conspiracy theories about his backers and real political leanings.

In recent days, the sniping between Air America's hosts and Schultz have become especially heated, with the on- air battle generating a great deal of attention on lefty blogs. As far as we're aware, Miller has not joined in on the fun.

From the Daily Kos, here's contributor Diana04:

Jesus H. Crist

I'm getting really sick of the back-and-forth public bickering between and among Air America Radio hosts and progressive hosts on other networks. It's really unprofessional and it's getting WAY out of hand.

My Clear Channel-owned progressive station carries a variety of hosts from different networks. I like and listen to many of them. I like Al Franken, Ed Schultz, Sam Seder and Rachel Maddow.

What these self-centered personalities don't seem to realize is that many of us are fans of BOTH AAR and hosts on other networks. They are all part of the same line-up! It's obvious that they are all battling for power and influence, and it is getting really frustrating as a listener.

I've heard my local (liberal) Clear Channel hosts beat up on Air America, because one of the guys wants his own show and hasn't gotten it. I've heard Randi Rhodes beat up on Al Franken. Mike Malloy (whom I can't stand) beats up on Ed Schultz.

Sam Seder has been publicly attacking Ed Schultz (according to both Ed and his callers), so Ed Schultz finally blew a gasket on his show today and has been railing against Air America for the last hour:

"Air America sucks! Their programs are horrible. Their business practices are an embarrassment. They can't sell a single advertisement! They haven't made a dime! Al Franken leaving is the best thing that could have happened to talk radio."

WAAYY overboard, Ed. Simmer down.

We're all on the same side here. Can't you just get along?

Enough is enough, from all of you. Grow up!

TC of Leather Penguin points to this audio clip of Schultz ripping Air America's hosts to shreds.

For Schultz, Miller and other libtalkers who have never been a part of Air America, the loss of these stations could prove career- ending, as there soon may not be enough outlets remaining to justify the expense of syndication and attract advertisers.

Some Radio Equalizer emailers have speculated that this might be the reason why Schultz recently returned to hosting a local show in Fargo, which he had dropped after taking on the national program.

If any additional stations drop libtalk in the next several weeks, this could get even uglier.

Classic AAR image: David A Lunde
Technorati tags: talk radio liberal talk radio ed schultz al franken stephanie miller air america radio jonesmediaamerica sam seder air america bankruptcy

The Radio Equalizer ~ Brian Maloney ** In Weird Dispute, Hosts Turn Against Each Other
Related: The list of affiliate losses for libtard radio just keeps getting longer...
Air America and other lefty programming canned in Sacramento and Fresno

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EST

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from posts, aim for U.S.

They leave their overseas positions in search of asylum in U.S.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- In his quest to reach the United States, Ariel Perez slipped away from Cuban informants, evaded Venezuelan border guards and kept his distance from Colombian guerrillas.

But Perez, a Cuban physician who fled to Colombia from Venezuela last year, faces one final hurdle: U.S. bureaucrats.

That's because Perez and dozens of other Cuban defectors who have fled from Venezuela have been waiting for months for permission from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota to emigrate to the land of their dreams.

"I want to be free," said Perez, 36, who lives in a slum in the Colombian capital with two other Cuban defectors. "But I don't know how long it will take."

Dispatched by Fidel Castro's government for humanitarian work in exchange for oil and other badly needed supplies, a small but growing number of Cuban medical personnel are using their foreign postings as stepping stones to the U.S.

The Bush administration is encouraging the defections. Last year, the Homeland Security Department, which oversees immigration services, modified rules to speed the doctors' requests for political asylum.

Experts say the number of Cuban health workers abandoning clinics in Venezuela and other countries could rise as word spreads of the U.S.program, which began in August. So far, at least 45 Cubans have made their way to Colombia.

"The floodgates will definitely open," said a spokeswoman for Solidarity Without Borders, a Miami-based group that helps Cuban physicians emigrate. "We've had calls from Cubans as far away as Namibia."

About 360 doctors, dentists and physical therapists have applied under the new Cuban Medical Professional Parole program. About 160 have been accepted, while most other cases are pending, said Ana Carbonell, chief of staff for Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., a longtime advocate for Cuban exiles.

Hurting the poor?
All told, about 31,000 Cuban medics, dentists and sports trainers have been sent abroad, mainly in Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez has forged close ties to Castro.

"Ultimately, this is about physicians having the right to live in freedom rather than as hostages of a totalitarian regime," Carbonell said.

But some critics contend that, in its drive to embarrass the Castro government, the Bush administration is sabotaging health programs in poorer countries such as Bolivia, Pakistan and Venezuela, which have accepted the Cuban doctors.

"This is an evil and mean-spirited effort to undermine health services for the poor," said the Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, a human rights group that opposes U.S. policy towards Cuba and organizes humanitarian aid convoys there.

In Venezuela, about 15,000 Cuban health workers staff 8,000 clinics located in the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods of Caracas and other cities, where local doctors traditionally refused to go. In exchange, Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil producer, provides energy-starved Cuba with 93,000 barrels of low-cost oil per day, worth nearly $2 billion annually.

"I was really proud of my work," said Perez, who spent three years treating patients for such issues as migraines and stab wounds at a clinic in central Miranda state. "People were so grateful."

'Doctor Diplomacy'
Castro's "doctor diplomacy" has a long history.

To win hearts and minds for his revolution as well as economic support, Castro first sent physicians abroad in 1963. He even offered to dispatch 1,600 physicians to hard-hit areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but the U.S. government refused.

Once some Cubans leave the island, however, they develop itchy feet.

"I always planned to escape," said Perez, who added that he grew weary of the seven-day-a-week shifts and $200 monthly salary. He made his move in May.

Fearing fellow Cubans at the clinic would rat on him, Perez told them he was going shopping in Caracas.

Instead, he boarded a bus for the Colombian border. He snuck across a bridge past immigration guards -- putting aside his fears of rebels who roam the countryside -- then jumped on a bus to Bogota.

"You hear so much about violence in Colombia," said Perez, who made it to the capital unscathed and applied for asylum at the U.S. Embassy.

Finding a loophole
The new Homeland Security program speeding entry applications for Cuban medical professionals is partly Castro's own doing, according to Carbonell, the congressional staffer.

Through the years, at least 600 doctors in Cuba who had received U.S. permission to emigrate were denied exit visas by Havana, she said. As a result, the new program allows Cuban health workers to apply at U.S. embassies in third countries for permission to live and work in the U.S.

The goal is to approve requests within a few months, yet delays are common.

Each applicant must pass a background check. Cubans who are turned down by the U.S. Embassy in Bogota must leave Colombia within 30 days. But returning to Cuba isn't an option because defectors face eight years in prison.

"What am I going to do?" said Yovany Ciero, a Cuban sports trainer and physical therapist whose application was rejected by the U.S. Embassy in January. "I'm in limbo and I'm scared." The embassy and Homeland Security officials in Washington declined to comment about Ciero's case.

The waiting game
Colombia, which shares a 1,400-mile border with Venezuela, is wary of receiving a wave of Cuban refugees.

Its president, Alvaro Uribe, is Washington's closest ally in Latin America but he also wants good relations with Castro, in part, because Cuba is hosting peace talks between Colombian officials and the National Liberation Army, a rebel group that took up arms in the 1960s.

Perez was one of the first Cubans to apply for the medical parole program, filling out paperwork six months ago. But he has heard nothing from the U.S. Embassy since then.

He and his two roommates share a cramped, $75-a-month apartment furnished with donated sofas and mattresses. To kill time, they volunteer at a local clinic and dispense medical advice to their neighbors, much as they did in Venezuela.

One of Perez's roommates, dentist Nora Garcia, tells of her husband, a psychiatrist, who made the dangerous crossing in the Straits of Florida on a raft last year and was granted asylum in the U.S.

He now lives in Florida, and she waits to join him.

"I want to be able to do what I want with my life," said Garcia, 46, "without other people deciding everything for me."

john.otis@chron.com
Houston Chronicle ~ John Otis ** Cuban medical workers defect from posts, aim for U.S.

Why oh why would they ever want to escape from the workers paradise of Cuba? Or maybe the better question is why don't they just jump over the border, get a bank account from Bank of America, and get pubic housing and free education for their kids? Everyone else does.

It always astounds me how the useful libiots on the libtard left ignore these stories, which are proof that Communism isn't even fit for a dog, so how is it fit for human beings? Please pray for Cuba to be free from this terrible oppression called Communism.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:16 AM EST

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Cultural Marxism

By Linda Kimball

There are two misconceptions held by many Americans. The first is that communism ceased to be a threat when the Soviet Union imploded. The second is that the New Left of the Sixties collapsed and disappeared as well. "The Sixties are dead," wrote columnist George Will ("Slamming the Doors," Newsweek, Mar. 25, 1991)

Because the New Left lacked cohesion it fell apart as a political movement. However, its revolutionaries reorganized themselves into a multitude of single issue groups. Thus we now have for example, radical feminists, black extremists, anti-war ‘peace' activists, animal rights groups, radical environmentalists, and ‘gay' rights groups. All of these groups pursue their piece of the radical agenda through a complex network of organizations such as the Gay Straight Lesbian Educators Network (GSLEN), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), People for the American Way, United for Peace and Justice, Planned Parenthood, Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), and Code Pink for Peace.

Both communism and the New Left are alive and thriving here in America. They favor code words: tolerance, social justice, economic justice, peace, reproductive rights, sex education and safe sex, safe schools, inclusion, diversity, and sensitivity. All together, this is Cultural Marxism disguised as multiculturalism.

Birth of Multiculturalism
In anticipation of the revolutionary storm that would baptize the world in an inferno of red terror, leading to its rebirth as the promised land of social justice and proletarian equality-Frederich Engels wrote,

"All the...large and small nationalities are destined to perish...in the revolutionary world storm... (A general war will) wipe out all...nations, down to their very names. The next world war will result in the disappearance from the face of the earth not only reactionary classes...but...reactionary peoples." ("The Magyar Struggle," Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Jan. 13, 1849)

By the end of WWI, socialists realized that something was amiss, for the world's proletariat had not heeded Marx's call to rise up in opposition to evil capitalism and to embrace communism instead. They wondered what had gone wrong.

Separately, two Marxist theorists-Antonio Gramsci of Italy and Georg Lukacs of Hungary-concluded that the Christianized West was the obstacle standing in the way of a communist new world order. The West would have to be conquered first.

Gramsci posited that because Christianity had been dominant in the West for over 2000 years, not only was it fused with Western civilization, but it had corrupted the workers class. The West would have to be de-Christianized, said Gramsci, by means of a "long march through the culture." Additionally, a new proletariat must be created. In his "Prison Notebooks," he suggested that the new proletariat be comprised of many criminals, women, and racial minorities.

The new battleground, reasoned Gramsci, must become the culture, starting with the traditional family and completely engulfing churches, schools, media, entertainment, civic organizations, literature, science, and history. All of these things must be radically transformed and the social and cultural order gradually turned upside-down with the new proletariat placed in power at the top.

The Prototype
In 1919, Georg Lukacs became Deputy Commissar for Culture in the short-lived Bolshevik Bela Kun regime in Hungary. He immediately set plans in motion to de-Christianize Hungary. Reasoning that if Christian sexual ethics could be undermined among children, then both the hated patriarchal family and the Church would be dealt a crippling blow. Lukacs launched a radical sex education program in the schools. Sex lectures were organized and literature handed out which graphically instructed youth in free love (promiscuity) and sexual intercourse while simultaneously encouraging them to deride and reject Christian moral ethics, monogamy, and parental and church authority. All of this was accompanied by a reign of cultural terror perpetrated against parents, priests, and dissenters.

Hungary's youth, having been fed a steady diet of values-neutral (atheism) and radical sex education while simultaneously encouraged to rebel against all authority, easily turned into delinquents ranging from bullies and petty thieves to sex predators, murderers, and sociopaths.

Gramsci's prescription and Lukacs' plans were the precursor to what Cultural Marxism in the guise of SIECUS, GSLEN, and the ACLU--acting as judicially-powered enforcers--later brought into American schools.

Building a base
In 1923, the Frankfurt School-a Marxist think-tank-was founded in Weimar Germany.  Among its founders were Georg Lukacs, Herbert Marcuse, and Theodor Adorno. The school was a multidisciplinary effort which included sociologists, sexologists, and psychologists.

The primary goal of the Frankfurt School was to translate Marxism from economic terms into cultural terms. It would provide the ideas on which to base a new political theory of revoltuion based on culture, harnessing new oppressed groups for the faithless proletariat. Smashing religion, morals, It would also build a constituency among academics, who could build careers studying and writing about the new oppression.

Toward this end, Marcuse-who favored polymorphous perversion-expanded the ranks of Gramsci's new proletariat by including homosexuals, lesbians, and transsexuals. Into this was spliced Lukacs radical sex education and cultural terrorism tactics. Gramsci's ‘long march' was added to the mix, and then all of this was wedded to Freudian psychoanalysis and psychological conditioning techniques. The end product was Cultural Marxism, now known in the West as multiculturalism.

Additional intellectual firepower was required: a theory to pathologize what was to be destroyed. In 1950, the Frankfurt School augmented Cultural Marxism with Theodor Adorno's idea of the ‘authoritarian personality.' This concept is premised on the notion that Christianity, capitalism, and the traditional family create a character prone to racism and fascism. Thus, anyone who upholds America's traditional moral values and institutions is both racist and fascist. Children raised by traditional values parents, we are told to believe, will almost certainly become racists and fascists. By extension, if fascism and racism are endemic to America's traditional culture, then everyone raised in the traditions of God, family, patriotism, gun ownership, or free markets is in need of psychological help.

The pernicious influence of Adorno's ‘authoritarian personality' idea can be clearly seen in some of the research that gets public money.

"In Aug., 2003, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the results of their $1.2 million tax-payer funded study. It stated, essentially, that traditionalists are mentally disturbed.  Scholars from the Universities of Maryland, California at Berkeley, and Stanford had determined that social conservatives...suffer from ‘mental rigidity,' ‘dogmatism,' and ‘uncertainty avoidance,' together with associated indicators for mental illness." http://www.edwatch.org/  ‘Social and Emotional Learning" Jan. 26, 2005)

The Orwellian cast of the pathologies named shows how far Gramsci's long march has led us.

A corresponding and diabolically crafted idea is political correctness.  The strong suggestion here is that in order for one not to be thought of as racist or fascist, then one must not only be nonjudgmental but must also embrace the ‘new' moral absolutes: diversity, choice, sensitivity, sexual orientation, and tolerance. Political correctness is a Machiavellian psychological ‘command and control' device. Its purpose is the imposition of uniformity in thought, speech, and behavior.

Critical theory is yet another psychological ‘command and control' device.  As stated by Daniel J. Flynn,

"Critical Theory, as its name implies, criticizes. What deconstruction does to literature, Critical Theory does to societies." (Intellectual Morons, p 15-16)

Critical Theory is an ongoing and brutal assault via vicious criticism relentlessly leveled against Christians, Christmas, the Boy Scouts, Ten Commandments, our military, and all other aspects of traditional American culture and society.

Both political correctness and Critical Theory are in essence, psychological bullying. They are the psycho-political battering rams by which Frankfurt School disciples such as the ACLU are forcing Americans to submit to and to obey the will and the way of the Left. These devious devices are but psychological versions of Georg Lukacs and Laventi Beria's ‘cultural terrorism' tactics. In the words of Beria,

"Obedience is the result of force...Force is the antithesis of humanizing actions.  It is so synonymous in the human mind with savageness, lawlessness, brutality, and barbarism, that it is only necessary to display an inhuman attitude toward people to be granted by those people the possessions of force." (The Russian Manual on Psychopolitics: Obedience, by Laventi Beria, head of Soviet Secret Police and Stalin's right-hand man)

Double-thinking ‘fence-sitters', otherwise known as moderates, centrists, and RINOs bear the imprint of these psychological ‘obedience' techniques. These people-in some cases literally afraid of incurring the wrath of name-calling obedience trainers -- have opted to straddle the fence lest they be found guilty of possessing an opinion, one way or another. At the merest hint of displeasure from the obedience-trainers, up goes the yellow flag of surrender upon which it is boldly written:

"I believe in nothing and am tolerant of everything!"

Cultural Determinism
The linchpin of Cultural Marxism is cultural determinism, the parent of identity politics and group solidarity. In its turn, cultural determinism was birthed by the Darwinian idea that man is but a soulless animal and therefore his identity is determined by for example, his skin color or his sexual and/or erotic preferences. This proposition rejects the concepts of the human spirit, individuality, free will, and morally informed conscience (paired with personal accountability and responsibility) because it emphatically denies the existence of the God of the Bible.

Consequently, and by extension, it also rejects the first principles of our liberty enumerated in the Declaration of Independence. These are our "unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Cultural Marxism must reject these because these principles of liberty "are endowed by our Creator," who made man in His image.

Cultural determinism, states David Horowitz, is

"identity politics-the politics of radical feminism, queer revolution, and Afro-centrism-which is the basis of academic multiculturalism...a form of intellectual fascism and, insofar as it has any politics, of political fascism as well." (Mussolini and Neo-Fascist Tribalism: Up from Multiculturalism, by David Horowitz, Jan. 1998)

It is said that courage is the first of the virtues because without it fear will paralyze man, thus keeping him from acting upon his moral convictions and speaking truth. Thus bringing about a general state of paralyzing fear, apathy, and submission-the chains of tyranny-is the purpose behind psychopolitical cultural terrorism, for the communist Left's revolutionary agenda must, at all costs, be clothed in darkness.

The antidote is courage and the light of truth. If we are to win this cultural war and reclaim and rebuild America so our children and their children's children can live in a ‘Shining City on the Hill' where liberty, families, opportunity, free markets, and decency flourish, we must muster the courage to fearlessly expose the communist Left's revolutionary agenda to the Light of Truth. Truth and the courage to speak it will set us free.

Additional References
Slouching Toward Gomorrah, by Robert H. Bork
Intellectual Morons, by Daniel J. Flynn

Related Articles
Trotsky's ‘Permanent Revolution' in America
Exposing America's Enemies, Part 2: Communist Progressive Democrats
Exposing America's Enemies: the ‘Social Justice Seeking' Communist Left

Linda Kimball writes on culture, politics, and worldview.
American Thinker ~ Linda Kimball ** Cultural Marxism

This article is very insightful (and well written) taking a historical look into the development of how the libtard, left-wing movements of today came to be and as to what thier political and cultural ties are with past varied Marxists.

Marxism has always been a an immoral ideology that works towards a state control and true total Socialistic Nationalism that has the Elite State politicians dictate right and wrong and equality in every regard. They seek to control the people's morality in everyway.

Marxism is alive and well today and is possibly the greatest threat we face as a nation.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EST

Updated: Friday, 16 February 2007 1:15 AM EST

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al-Qaida in Iraq Leader Wounded

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was wounded and an aide was killed in a clash Thursday with Iraqi forces north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry spokesman said.

The clash occurred near Balad, a major U.S. base about 50 miles north of the capital, Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.

Khalaf said al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri was wounded and his aide, identified as Abu Abdullah al-Majemaai, was killed.

Khalaf declined to say how Iraqi forces knew al-Masri had been injured, and there was no report on the incident from U.S. authorities.

Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal said he had no information about such a clash or that al-Masri had been involved.

Al-Masri took over the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq after its charismatic leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike last June in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

My Way News ~ AP ** al-Qaida in Iraq Leader Wounded
Also at: MSNBC.com ~ NBC News, Associated Press **
Iraqi official: Al-Qaida in Iraq leader wounded
Related: Anti-American Cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr Reportedly Flees Iraq for Iran

Posted by yaahoo_ at 11:18 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 15 February 2007 11:30 PM EST

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Antarctic temperatures disagree

with climate model predictions

COLUMBUS , Ohio -- A new report on climate over the world's southernmost continent shows that temperatures during the late 20th century did not climb as had been predicted by many global climate models.

This comes soon after the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that strongly supports the conclusion that the Earth's climate as a whole is warming, largely due to human activity.

It also follows a similar finding from last summer by the same research group that showed no increase in precipitation over Antarctica in the last 50 years. Most models predict that both precipitation and temperature will increase over Antarctica with a warming of the planet.

David Bromwich, professor of professor of atmospheric sciences in the Department of Geography, and researcher with the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University, reported on this work at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at San Francisco.

"It's hard to see a global warming signal from the mainland of Antarctica right now," he said. "Part of the reason is that there is a lot of variability there. It's very hard in these polar latitudes to demonstrate a global warming signal. This is in marked contrast to the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula that is one of the most rapidly warming parts of the Earth."

Bromwich says that the problem rises from several complications. The continent is vast, as large as the United States and Mexico combined. Only a small amount of detailed data is available – there are perhaps only 100 weather stations on that continent compared to the thousands spread across the U.S. and Europe . And the records that we have only date back a half-century.

"The best we can say right now is that the climate models are somewhat inconsistent with the evidence that we have for the last 50 years from continental Antarctica.

"We're looking for a small signal that represents the impact of human activity and it is hard to find it at the moment," he said.

Last year, Bromwich's research group reported in the journal Science that Antarctic snowfall hadn't increased in the last 50 years. "What we see now is that the temperature regime is broadly similar to what we saw before with snowfall. In the last decade or so, both have gone down," he said.

In addition to the new temperature records and earlier precipitation records, Bromwich's team also looked at the behavior of the circumpolar westerlies, the broad system of winds that surround the Antarctic continent.

"The westerlies have intensified over the last four decades of so, increasing in strength by as much as perhaps 10 to 20 percent," he said. "This is a huge amount of ocean north of Antarctica and we're only now understanding just how important the winds are for things like mixing in the Southern Ocean." The ocean mixing both dissipates heat and absorbs carbon dioxide, one of the key greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

Some researchers are suggesting that the strengthening of the westerlies may be playing a role in the collapse of ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula.

"The peninsula is the most northern point of Antarctica and it sticks out into the westerlies," Bromwich says. "If there is an increase in the westerly winds, it will have a warming impact on that part of the continent, thus helping to break up the ice shelves, he said.

"Farther south, the impact would be modest, or even non-existent."

Bromwich said that the increase in the ozone hole above the central Antarctic continent may also be affecting temperatures on the mainland. "If you have less ozone, there's less absorption of the ultraviolet light and the stratosphere doesn't warm as much."

That would mean that winter-like conditions would remain later in the spring than normal, lowering temperatures.

"In some sense, we might have competing effects going on in Antarctica where there is low-level CO2 warming but that may be swamped by the effects of ozone depletion," he said. "The year 2006 was the all-time maximum for ozone depletion over the Antarctic."

Bromwich said the disagreement between climate model predictions and the snowfall and temperature records doesn't necessarily mean that the models are wrong.

"It isn't surprising that these models are not doing as well in these remote parts of the world. These are global models and shouldn't be expected to be equally exact for all locations," he said.

Contact: Ohio State University -David Bromwich (614) 292-6692; Bromwich.1@osu.edu
EurekAlert.org ~ David Bromwich - Ohio State University **
Antarctic temperatures disagree with climate model predictions

Related: LIBTARD GLOBAL WARMING ALERT
Yahoo News ~ Reuters ** Kathmandu gets first snowfall in 63 years
Also: My own, latest column... Libtard lies, manipulation, "consensus," and hot air

Posted by yaahoo_ at 10:45 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 15 February 2007 11:00 PM EST

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Anti-American Cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr Reportedly Flees Iraq for Iran

WASHINGTON -- Anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has fled his Baghdad stronghold for the friendly confines of Iran's capital, FOX News can confirm via a senior United States official.

Al-Sadr left Iraq within the past few weeks out of fear for his safety and security and is with family in Tehran, where he has visited before, the official said.

His move comes as coalition forces crack down on the insurgency in Baghdad and ahead of the arrival of 21,500 U.S. troops sent by President George W. Bush to quell sectarian violence.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. monitoring activities, said fractures in al-Sadr's political and militia operations may be part of the reason for his departure. The move is not believed to be permanent.

Word of al-Sadr's departure coincides with an announcement that Iraq will close its borders with Iran and Syria for 72 hours, starting at some point in the next two days, as part of the drive to end the violence that has threatened to divide the capital along sectarian lines.

The U.S. official said it is not clear how firmly the radical Shiite cleric is controlling his organization and the associated Mahdi Army militia from exile.

"The question for us is to what extent his organization is going to participate in the political process," the official told The Associated Press, referring to al-Sadr's on-again, off-again relationship with the fragile democratic government in Baghdad.

Al-Sadr's departure was reported by several television networks Tuesday.

Al-Sadr's militia is widely seen as the main threat to Iraq's unity and high on the list of targets for the Baghdad security operation.

A ragtag but highly motivated militia that fought U.S. forces twice in 2004, the Mahdi Army is blamed for much of the sectarian strife shaking Iraq since a Shiite shrine was bombed by Sunni militants a year ago.

U.S. officials have for months pressed Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to move against the militia, but he has so far done little to comply, largely because he does not want to lose al-Sadr's support.

Al-Sadr rose from obscurity in the aftermath of the ouster of Saddam Hussein to lead a movement of young, underprivileged Iraqis united by opposition to U.S. military presence as well as hunger for Shiite domination.

The cleric, who is in his mid-30s, is a master of street politics, and his young lieutenants can rally tens of thousands of protesters at short notice. Once wanted in the 2003 killing of a key cleric, al-Sadr gained much influence when his parliamentary bloc of 30 of 275 deputies was instrumental in al-Maliki's election.

Dismissed by older Shiite politicians as a dangerous upstart, al-Sadr set up the Mahdi Army militia in 2003. It is suspected of being behind the abduction and murder of thousands of Sunnis in what are known as death squad killings.

Two key members of al-Sadr's political and military organization were gunned down last week, the latest of as many as seven key figures in the al-Sadr organization killed or captured in the past two months.

The deaths and captures came after al-Maliki, also a Shiite, dropped his protection for the organization.

Shiite leaders insist that the Shiite militias flourished because the U.S. and its allies could not protect civilians. They say if the Sunni insurgents were crushed, the threat from Shiite hard-liners would go away.

Shiite politicians have long maintained that Sunni militants pose a greater threat to Iraq's stability. Thousands of Shiite civilians have been killed in bombings and suicide attacks carried out by Al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni groups.

Thousands regularly cross the porous Iraq-Iran border, and Iran has been a popular destination for elite Shiite Iraq exiles. In Saddam's time those exiles included al-Maliki, who like other educated and politically active Shiites feared for his safety in Iraq.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Fox News.com ~ Associated Press **
Anti-American Cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr Reportedly Flees Iraq for Iran

You mean a brave terrorist leader who sends others to blow themselves up and take out as many innocents as possible is RUNNING AWAY???

I guess the Iraq/Iran border is as wide open as the USA/Mexico border is.

But we've been told that the 20,000 troops we'll be sending over will only serve as more casualties for the US without any positive result otherwise, yet this dirtbag is running in anticipation of the arrival of the forthcoming troops?

Could the Demented-crats and the lamestream media possibly have been wrong with their negative projections?

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 14 February 2007 12:38 AM EST

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I tried to read through this ridiculous article today, I couldn't get past the first paragragh without laughing...

The turning point on global warming

By John McCain and Joe Lieberman -- The Boston Globe
[Excerpt]

There is now a broad consensus in this country, and indeed in the world, that global warming is happening, that it is a serious problem, and that humans are causing it. The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded there is a greater than 90 percent chance that greenhouse gases released by human activities like burning oil in cars and coal in power plants are causing most of the observed global warming. This report puts the final nail in denial's coffin about the problem of global warming.

Full Story:
The Boston Globe ~ John McCain and Joe Lieberman ** The turning point on global warming

Fucktard McCain - political pandering at it's finest. As for global warming, duct tape fixes everything. Simply duct tape the mouths of libtards and all the hot air will cool right off. Probably start another mini ice age.

How does "90% sure" put the final nail in the coffin. Shouldn't 100% sure put the final nail in the coffin? LOL, How does this sound:

Me: I am 90% sure my neighbor stole my car.

Officer: OK, that's all the proof I need is 90% sir. We are are sending your neighbor straight to jail without a trial.

Would you stand in the middle of the road in front of an incoming truck and stay put even if you're 90% sure that he's not going to hit you?

"Consensus" IS NOT SCIENCE. There was a CONCENSUS by doctors that leaches cured diseases, there was a CONCENSUS by scientists that the earth was the center of the universe, there was a CONCENUS that witches could cause bad weather in order to make crops fail. The Scientific Method replaced CONCENSUS as the gold standard of proof a 100 years ago. Get with the times people.

The science doesn't support the myth that is man made global warming, because those that push that myth can't answer why there were global warming periods hundreds of years before the industrial revolution, can't answer why the famed "hockey stick" left out important warming data from 1000 years ago, when Greenland was actually green, etc. What they can and are doing is trying to smear anyone that doesn't agree with them, fire them from their positions if they don't agree with it, or want their certifications revoked if they deny it. That doesn't sound like open debate, or that the science actually supports their conclusions. Nope, what we get instead is a "preview" paper that isn't the entire report and is meant for politicians, and those politicians are telling us that the report, that isn't finished yet, is saying that there is a 90% certainty that the sky is falling.

Also, they are saying that the debate is closed, that the 90% certainty is good enough to close the debate. My question is: Why? There is plenty of evidence that the "consensus" is wrong, but those scientists are being bullied into silence, or begrudging agreement with the chicken littles. Consensus isn't science, it's politics. I remember the global freeze of 30 years ago, I remember the food shortage by the year 2000, I remember the oil shortage by the turn of the cenutry, I remember the rainforest disappearing by 2002, all conclusions that were reached by consensus based on abitrary numbers, or junk science.

My favorite was last years severe storm and hurricane predictions that were all the rage based on the one scientists models that were taking into effect the man made global warming models. Funny, those predictions were "adjusted" several times during the season because the doom and gloom wasn't happening the way it was supposed to, based on the models.

Face it, they can't predict what is going to happen next week, next year, or in 20 years, no matter what new natural disaster movie comes out (the Day After comes to mind, as well as Ferngully)

What I'm certain of is that we are a very arrogant bunch to think that little 'ol us are powerful enough to change the planet with our fossil fuel burning internal combustion engines. Remember Mt. Pinatubo??? Threw more crap into the atmosphere when it blew it's cork, than man has polluted since the beginning of time, yet we're still here and so is the earth.

The Polar Bear Pic They Won't Show You

Any Demented-crat that takes global warming seriously shuld be proposing changes that will really change global climate.

All airplanes grounded. No flights within the country or in and out of the country.
No fuel powered ships allowed in US ports. All cargo comming into and leaving the country must be shipped via clipper ship.
Ban cars, trucks, trains, anything that transports people or cargo via burning of any fules. Horse and buggy only.
Shut down all power plants that use coal, oil, natural gas. Stock up on candles and lantern fuel.
Wait a minute, candles and lanterns algo generate CO2!
Demolish concrete buildings and plow up most roads. They retain heat and help heat up the earth.

Time Magazine: Jun. 24, 1974 ---- Another Ice Age?

Cram this "90% sure" argument back in their faces with Saddam Hussein's WMD program. Lurch Heinz Kerry, Shrillary Clintax, Bubba Clintax, Senate Demented-crats, France, the UN, etc. were all 100% certain Saddam had WMDs and that Saddam needed to be disarmed back in 1998 and beyond. NOW, they can't back peddle fast enough.

Update: The latest irony in a long line of hilarious fanatical libtardation...
HEARING ON 'WARMING OF PLANET' CANCELED BECAUSE OF ICE STORM
Also: SAVE IT FOR A SUNNY DAY: Maryville Univ. in St. Louis area cancelling screening of Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' because of a snowstorm.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:43 PM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 14 February 2007 1:17 AM EST

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MYSTERY WEAPONS SURFACE IN IRAQ

From Michael Yon's website

The recent loss of five helicopters in Iraq has caught the attention of the media. Also in the media is all the new talk of Iranian influence on weapons in Iraq, although my readers learned all about that issue more than a month ago in Walking the Line (Part Two of Three).

In the face of all this "new" controversy about "foreign" weapons in the battle space, I recalled some of the many photos I've taken of caches of weapons captured by Iraqi and American forces in Iraq. The photo above is from one of these.

None of the military persons who've seen the photo were able to identify the weapon depicted in it.

Do you know what it is?

Do you know where it came from?

Filed by Michael Yon in Iraq

Yon is a former U.S. Special Forces soldier, and currently serves as a writer and photographer covering the war front.

Drudge Report Exclusive ** Mystery Weapons Surface in Iraq

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:02 AM EST

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Insulting Allah Now a Crime at SFSU

By Little Green Footballs.com

At San Francisco State University, you can do anything you want to a US flag or a Christian religious symbol: burn it, deface it, submerge it in bodily fluids. It’s all good.

But step on paper copies of Hamas and Hizballah flags, and you’re in a world of hurt. (Hat tip: zombie.)

Not because they’re flags, though. Because they contain the world “Allah.”

This story starts with an “anti-terrorism rally” held last October on campus by the College Republicans. To emphasize their point, students stomped on Hezbollah and Hamas flags. According to the college paper, the Golden Gate (X)Press, members of Students Against War and the International Socialist Organization showed up to call the Republicans “racists,” while the president of the General Union of Palestinian Students accused the Repubs of spreading false information about Muslims.

In November, the Associated Students board passed a unanimous resolution, which the (X)Press reported, denounced the California Republicans for “hateful religious intolerance” and criticized those who “pre-meditated the stomping of the flags knowing it would offend some people and possibly incite violence.”

Now you know that there are students who are opposed to desecrating flags on campus -- that is, if the flags represent terrorist organizations.

But wait -- there’s more. A student filed a complaint with the Office of Student Programs and Leadership Development. OSPLD Director Joey Greenwell wrote to the College Republicans informing them that his office had completed an investigation of the complaint and forwarded the report to the Student Organization Hearing Panel, which will adjudicate the charge. At issue is the charge that College Republicans had walked on “a banner with the world ‘Allah’ written in Arabic script” -- it turns out Allah’s name is incorporated into Hamas and Hezbollah flags -- and “allegations of attempts to incite violence and create a hostile environment,” as well as “actions of incivility.”

At an unnamed date, the student panel could decide to issue a warning to, suspend or expel the GOP club from campus. ...

The university’s response? Spokesperson Ellen Griffin told me, “The university stands behind this process.”

And: “I don’t believe the complaint is about the desecration of the flag. I believe that the complaint is the desecration of Allah.”

To visit Charles Johnson's weblog, click here.
Frontpage Mag.com ~ Little Green Footballs.com **
Insulting Allah Now a Crime at SFSU

Posted by yaahoo_ at 7:00 AM EST

Updated: Monday, 12 February 2007 7:22 AM EST

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