Mood:  don't ask

My beloved, crippled IBM Thinkpad laptop was officially pronounced dead on Tuesday, March 27, 2007. It succumbed after a long, hard fought battle with "won't turn/stay onney" disease.

It left behind a microphone, and old mouse, and a power cord as it slipped from the surly bonds of this world (wide web).

Flowers, condolences, and charitable donations can be sent to my latest business address:

carbon_credits4sale@yahoo.com

Another "blog vacation" in full effect, indefinitely. I need to take time offline to mourn the loss.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:50 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 31 March 2007 7:24 AM EDT

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Conservatives create own wiki site: Conservapedia

The mainstream media, or MSM, has been a favorite target of conservatives, but it is not alone.

Welcome to the Web site Conservapedia.com, founded by Andrew Schlafly, son of conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. The site describes itself as "a much-needed alternative to Wikipedia, which is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American."

Even when the heart of the definition is the same, Wikipedia and Conservapedia differ on the delivery.

On each other
Wikipedia: Conservapedia is a wiki project to construct an encyclopedia with articles that are pro-American, socially conservative and supportive of conservative Christianity.

Conservapedia: Some users feel that despite the site's claims of a "neutral point of view," there is a consistent anti-American and anti-Christian bias in Wikipedia entries (going beyond a mere absence of pro-American and pro-Christian bias). There are many examples of bias in Wikipedia because it is edited primarily by liberal atheists who lack basic understanding of logic.

On evolution
Wikipedia: Evolution has left numerous signs of the histories of different species. Fossils, along with the comparative anatomy of present-day organisms, constitute the morphological, or anatomical, record.

Conservapedia: The current scientific community consensus is no guarantee of truth. The history of science shows many examples where the scientific community consensus was in error or currently has little or no empirical basis.

On global warming
Wikipedia: Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation.

Conservapedia: Global warming is a phrase which commonly refers to a scientific theory and to political proposals that follow if the theory is accepted. The scientific theory is widely but not universally accepted within the scientific community.

On the Democratic Party
Wikipedia: The Democratic Party is divided on the subject of same-sex marriage.

Conservapedia: Many Americans are also wary of the Democratic support for the homosexual agenda, including forcing gays to marry thereby weakening the institution of marriage. The Republican Party has been a strong defender of marriage, with President Bush trying to rewrite the Constitution to defend marriage.

On the Scopes trial
Wikipedia: After eight days of trial, it took the jury only nine minutes to deliberate. Scopes was found guilty on July 21 and ordered to pay a $100 fine. Bryan offered to pay it.

Conservapedia: Thanks to Bryan's victory in the Scopes trial, Tennessee voters have been educated without oppressive evolution theory for 75 years. Free from the liberal indoctrination, Tennessee voted against native son Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election probably the only time a candidate has lost the Presidency due to losing his home state.

On the missing link
Wikipedia: In 1912, the Piltdown man was believed to be the "missing link" between apes and humans by the majority of the scientific community. ... Eventually, more advanced dating technologies scientifically proved that this skull was actually a fraud.

Conservapedia: The Piltdown Man was one of many frauds perpetrated by promoters of the theory of evolution.

If evolutionists knew that there were problems with the Piltdown Man, why did they keep it secret from the public until 1953? Such silence begs more questions than it answers. How many scientists today recognize the theory of evolution to be fraudulent but keep quiet about it?

On kangaroos
Wikipedia: A kangaroo is any of several large animals of the Macropodidae, a marsupial family that also includes the wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons and the Quokka, some 63 living species in all.

Conservapedia: According to the origins model used by creation scientists, modern kangaroos, like all modern animals, originated in the Middle East and are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard Noah's Ark prior to the Great Flood.

On dinosaurs
Wikipedia: Dinosaurs were vertebrate animals that dominated terrestrial ecosystems for over 160-million years, first appearing approximately 230-million years ago.

Conservapedia: Of those Christians who reject evolution, the Young Earth Creationists believe, based primarily on Biblical sources, but also drawing on archeological and fossil evidence, that dinosaurs were created on the 6th day of the Creation Week approximately 6,000 years ago; that they lived in the Garden of Eden in harmony with other animals, eating only plants; that pairs of various dinosaur baramins were taken onto Noah's Ark during the Great Flood and were preserved from drowning; that fossilized dinosaur bones originated during the mass killing of the Flood; and that some descendants of those dinosaurs taken aboard the Ark still roam the earth today.

On the Gospels
Wikipedia: The Gospel of John is the fourth gospel in the canon of the New Testament, traditionally ascribed to John the Evangelist. Like the three synoptic gospels, it contains an account of some of the actions and sayings of Jesus, but differs from them in ethos and theological emphases.

Conservapedia: The greatest writing in the history of the world is the Gospel of John, the Apostle whom Jesus loved the most.

On the net: Conservapedia --- Wikipedia

Contra Costa Times ~ St. Petersburg Times - John Cotey ** Conservatives create own wiki site

FYI, in the current issue of Fast Company magazine, Wikipedia founder Jim Wales counts Jimmy Carter as one of his "buddies".

Posted by yaahoo_ at 1:37 AM EDT

Updated: Monday, 26 March 2007 12:42 PM EDT

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I've been typing and voicing in chat for a while now, the new politically correct term for "lesbian" is, "vagina-tarian"...

Lesbian Asks Court to Ban Gay Adoptions

ATLANTA -- Sara Wheeler's life has become a contradiction. Once a proud lesbian, she's now a pariah in the gay community. Once in a committed relationship with a female partner, she's rethinking her sexuality.

And now she's doing something she once would have considered unthinkable -- arguing that gays don't have the legal right to adopt children.

Wheeler is coming to grips with the fact that she's become an outcast for taking this step in a custody fight for her child. But she says that isn't what her fight is about: "It's about motherly rights."

Wheeler, 36, and her partner, Missy, decided to start a family together and share the Wheeler last name. In 2000, Sara Wheeler gave birth to a son, Gavin, through artificial insemination. Two years later, they decided Missy Wheeler should adopt the child and legally become his second parent.

Georgia law doesn't specifically say whether gay parents can adopt a child, so the decision was up to a judge in the Atlanta area's DeKalb County. After an adoption investigator determined that both partners wanted it, the judge cleared the request.

The couple's relationship later soured. Missy Wheeler wouldn't comment for this story, but her attorney, Nora Bushfield, said Sara became involved with someone else and wouldn't let Missy and Gavin see each other.

Sara Wheeler acknowledged the other relationship, saying "regardless of my action, it doesn't make me a bad mother."

Sara and Missy Wheeler had split by July 2004, and Missy was fighting for joint custody of the boy.

The two sides do agree about one thing: The case is about a mother's rights.

"Everybody seems to forget we're not talking about lesbian rights," Missy Wheeler's attorney says. "We're talking about a child who's been bonded with a mother."

Sara Wheeler made the legal argument that, since nothing in Georgia law specifically allowed gay adoption, the adoption should be tossed out.

Her first lawyers warned her the case could set gay rights back a century.

She hired a new attorney and asked the DeKalb County court to toss the adoption that she had previously pushed for, claiming it should never have been approved because it runs afoul of state law.

News of the tactic whipped up Atlanta's gay community, one of the largest in the South. Lambda Legal, a gay rights group, made a legal filing with the Georgia Supreme Court supporting Missy Wheeler. "There's something about this case that's just tragic," said Greg Nevins, a lawyer for the group.

Laura Douglas-Brown, editor of Southern Voice, the city's main gay newspaper, penned a column accusing Sara Wheeler of "self-hating."

"We owe it to each other not to lash out in ways that damage the entire gay community," she wrote. "Your own family may be destroyed, but don't destroy ours, too."

Sara said she felt like she had no choice.

"I'm not doing anything else a mother wouldn't do to fight for her son," she said. "Some people may think it's the unthinkable, but if they were put in my shoes, they'd do the same thing."

It didn't go so well. Her lawsuit seeking to throw out the adoption was rejected by the DeKalb County judge and then the state Court of Appeals.

Then the Georgia Supreme Court, in a 4-3 vote in February, declined to hear the case. Only months earlier the court had upheld the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage, which Georgia voters overwhelmingly approved in 2004.

Justice George H. Carley, who voted with the minority in the gay adoption case, declared he was "at a loss to comprehend" why the court refused to consider a case of such "great concern, gravity and public importance."

Sara Wheeler is asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider her case. Such a request rarely succeeds, but the narrow vote gives her hope that one justice might be swayed.

"There's nothing that states this is an acceptable adoption," she said. "If Georgia wants to allow it, it needs to make proper laws."

As the legal motions flew back and forth, the two women established a workable routine. The 7-year-old boy goes to Missy Wheeler's place every other weekend and on Tuesday nights. The rest of the time Sara Wheeler ferries him to karate practice, plays tag with him outside her apartment and takes him out for pizza every Friday.

The case has taken a toll on Sara.

Aside from a few gay friends, she has turned away from the gay community. She no longer dates, and doesn't go to gay clubs or events any more. She said she is rethinking whether she is still a lesbian or whether she should abandon dating for good.

"I just don't feel comfortable in that scene," she says. "I'm just trying to figure it all out."

She knows she's seen as a betrayer; but in a sense, she feels she was the one betrayed.

"Before I'm anything -- gay or lesbian -- I'm a mother," she says. "And the most important thing is to make sure my son has a relationship with his biological mother."

Breitbart.com ~ Associated Press - Greg Bluestein ** Lesbian Asks Court to Ban Gay Adoptions

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Monday, 26 March 2007 1:21 AM EDT

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Mood:  cool

Looks like the enviro-mental whackjob libtards have some more brainwashing to do...

Global warming on trial

Sixth-graders decide that humans aren’t to blame

LONGMONT -- Humans don’t cause global warming, a jury of sixth graders at Trail Ridge Middle School concluded Thursday after hearing opposing arguments from their peers.

“They’re pretty young for this kind of thinking. They did great,” paleontology teacher Ken Poppe said after the 40-minute “trial” in his classroom.

With Earth’s warming accepted as a tenet, pre-teen “lawyers” and “scientists” debated whether humans have caused it.

Eleven jurors listened intently as prosecutors and defendants flashed contradictory graphs tracking global temperatures, carbon dioxide levels, polar ice cap statistics, volcanic activity and sea surface temperatures -- all of which were found Wednesday in the school’s computer lab.

“The earth has warmed and cooled over many years. If it’s caused by CO2, why haven’t the charts shot up?” Poppe’s son and lead prosecutor Caleb argued during a rebuttal.

In a climax that sent half the class to its feet and forced the judge to call for order, opponent Monique Nem slapped a contradictory graph onto the prosecution’s table.

“We’ve proven you wrong! The CO2 levels have shot up,” she said.

The jury responded more warmly, however, to Caleb Poppe’s response: The graphic cited a Hawaiian source; Hawaii has volcanoes; volcanoes emit CO2.

In closing arguments, Alexia Hegy said global temperatures actually decreased in the 1960’s, while the global population rose. Humans cannot be at fault, she concluded.

With the final word, defense attorney Sarah Steed countered: “It all comes back to us, the people -- not the sun, not the weather. We need to turn off lights when we don’t need them. Bikes can work. The environment can be richer.”

Seven of 11 jurors decided humans are not to blame, but everyone agreed classroom debates make for fun learning.

“It was a hard decision, because both sides made good points,” said student Samantha Roberts.

Ken Poppe said he let students choose which side of the debate to argue. Poppe personally believes global warming is cyclical and not affected by humans, while his Colorado State University student aide David Richards believes the opposite. Both, however, said they presented both sides equally to the students leading up to Thursday’s debate.

“What I think is not the issue. It’s what the students dig up and how they present the case,” Poppe said.

Only one parent questioned Poppe’s decision to hold a global warming debate. That mother expected him to present Al Gore’s global warming movie “An Inconvenient Truth” as indisputable facts, Poppe said. After he explained his neutrality in the classroom, the mom allowed her child to participate in the debate, he said.

“You don’t understand someone’s position until you can argue it to their satisfaction,” Poppe said, quoting a famous physicist. “I don’t believe in Darwinism either, but I can argue it as well as any Darwinist.”

Ben Ready can be reached at 303-684-5326, or by e-mail at bready@times-call.com.
Longmont FYI ~ Daily Times-Call - Ben Ready ** Global warming on trial

Posted by yaahoo_ at 1:05 PM EDT

Updated: Monday, 26 March 2007 12:47 AM EDT

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Mood:  party time!

Buried by By Media: Photos of Iraqis in Baghdad Amusement Park

Photos of what libtards call "civil war" in Iraq, the Baghdad Carnival ~ Ferris wheel and train rides for the kiddies

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: A SCENE OF NORMALITY

Holiday brings life back to park

In Baghdad, picnic sites and a train for children help residents celebrate New Year's and put aside the war for a day.

BAGHDAD -- Families spread picnic blankets under the trees. An orange-and-white-striped train ferried wide-eyed children around a lake. Teenage boys tried to catch the eye of pretty girls. And roller-bladers weaved through the crowds.

For a few brief hours Wednesday, life returned to Zawra Park as families gathered to celebrate Nowruz, the New Year holiday, in the heart of war-torn Baghdad.

Outside the park's wrought iron gates, there were the usual threats of gunfire and mortar blasts, and in Baghdad alone police recovered 33 bodies, apparent victims of sectarian killings.

But inside the park, the scene was breathtaking for its normality.

"If I had a wish, it would be to see Iraq like this every day," said Ahmed Khalil, who with his friend Haidar Ismail was busy trying to collect girls' phone numbers.

The two young men ambled through the park, scanning the scene with deliberate nonchalance.

As one especially pretty girl walked by amid a cluster of chattering, veiled women, Khalil whispered under his breath, "I wish I were always in your eyes."

Without missing a beat, she shot back, "May God poke out your eyes."

Undeterred, the two young men pressed on.

"I haven't been lucky so far," Khalil admitted with a laugh.

Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq four years ago, there have been precious few opportunities in Baghdad for young couples to meet.

Anxious parents keep their children close to home, fearful of the daily bomb blasts and gunfire. Khalil's 19-year-old buddy, Ismail, dropped out of a teachers training course to avoid the dangerous commute.

But Wednesday was different.

Encouraged by the latest U.S. and Iraqi security crackdown, Kurdish and Arab families thronged to Zawra Park to mark Nowruz, which is celebrated on the first day of spring, particularly among Kurds.

It also is an important festival in Iran and other neighboring countries.

Since the security plan was launched Feb. 13, new police checkpoints and patrols are readily evident across the city, providing people with a sense of safety.

At the park, a long line of cars was carefully searched before the vehicles were allowed into the jammed parking lot. Men and women were then directed into separate lines for a quick pat-down.

Even at the height of Saddam Hussein's oppression of the Kurdish minority, Arab families often joined their Kurdish compatriots in celebrating Nowruz. Since the fall of Hussein, a Sunni Arab who persecuted the nation's Kurds and Shiite Arabs, the day also has become an expression of Kurdish pride and freedom.

According to Kurdish myth, this was the day that Kawa the blacksmith defeated the Assyrian tyrant Dehak and liberated the Kurdish and other peoples. Kawa is said to have led a popular rebellion and surrounded Dehak's palace. He then rushed past the guards, struck the king on the head with a hammer and dragged him off his throne. Kawa signaled his victory by lighting a fire on the mountaintop, a gesture Kurds recall with fireworks today.

For many Baghdad families, Wednesday was the first time in months that they were able to get together with relatives who live across town. They greeted each other with delighted hugs and kisses in the warm afternoon sun.

Picnicking families dotted the park's unkempt lawns. Some stretched out under the trees. Others crowded together under gazebos as their children played on a jungle gym, slide and swings.

The biggest crowds were gathered at the small amusement park, where children clamored to get on a rickety merry-go-round and gliding cups and saucers, oblivious to the peeling paint and rusty joints.

"I haven't seen so many people come out to celebrate," said Mohammed Hameed, 51, who sat on a blanket, snacking on cake and chips with his wife and children.

Before the U.S.-led invasion, many Kurdish families traveled to their homeland in the north to celebrate the holiday.

Sahla Zuhair, who had put on a glittery purple dress with matching veil for the occasion, beamed as she recalled the feasts, the music and dancing of those grand celebrations in the Kurdish hills.

"Most of my relatives are here in Baghdad, but we all used to travel to Irbil and celebrate amid the beautiful nature there in order not to forget our roots," Zuhair, 35, said as she waited in line with three excited children for their turn at a ride on the merry-go-round.

Few dare make the trip now on Iraq's treacherous roads, which are riddled with bombs and bandits.

"I long for the security of those days but dreaded Saddam's government so much," Zuhair said.

"It's all about give and take, and the current situation, as dreadful as it may seem, can't last forever."

At 3:30 p.m., families were still arriving to steal a few hours of fun before nightfall.

Two U.S. Army medical evacuation helicopters clattered above the peaceful scene, a jarring reminder of the war outside the park.

In addition to the 33 bodies found in Baghdad, at least 13 people were killed Wednesday and scores were injured in violence across Iraq.

The toll included eight people killed in a mortar barrage in Madaen, a town on the southern outskirts of the capital.

In Baghdad, one person was inadvertently killed when police set off a controlled explosion as they destroyed a massive truck bomb.

The truck was parked yards from the Finance Ministry, which was mostly empty because of the holiday.

A large quantity of explosives was discovered in the vehicle, hidden under crates of vegetables, police said.

Explosives experts were brought in, and security forces moved the vehicle to an open area.

But the blast was so powerful it killed the onlooker, injured seven others and damaged part of a major highway, police said.

PHOTO GALLERY (May require registration)

zavis@latimes.com
Times staff writers Salar Jaff and Suhail Ahmad in Baghdad and special correspondents in Baghdad, Hillah and Basra contributed to this report.
LA Times ~ Alexandra Zavis, Said Rifai ** Holiday Brings Life Back To Park

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Monday, 26 March 2007 12:35 AM EDT

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Good God, is there 'anything' the Drive-bys won't spin into bad news??? It's like Global Warming, if it's hot it's a sign of Global Warming, if it's cold and snowing like crazy, that's Global warming too. Now it's "the Militias' falling apart which will make things WORSE," but you can bet if they weren't falling apart it would be "they're more united than ever, we're DOOMED!!!"

Shiite Militia May Be Disintergrating

BAGHDAD -- The violent Shiite militia known as the Mahdi Army is breaking into splinter groups, with up to 3,000 gunmen now financed directly by Iran and no longer loyal to the firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, adding a potentially even more deadly element to Iraq's violent mix.

Two senior militia commanders told The Associated Press that hundreds of these fighters have crossed into Iran for training by the elite Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and Muslim fighters in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

The breakup is an ominous development at a time when U.S. and Iraqi forces are working to defeat religious-based militias and secure Iraq under government control. While al-Sadr's forces have battled the coalition repeatedly, including pitched battles in 2004, they've mostly stayed in the background during the latest offensive.

The U.S. military has asserted in recent months that Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Quds force have been providing Shiite militias with weapons and parts for sophisticated armor-piercing bombs. The so called EFPs - explosively formed penetrators - are responsible for the deaths of more than 170 American and coalition soldiers since mid-2004, the military says.

In the latest such attack, four U.S. soldiers were killed March 15 by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad.

At the Pentagon, a military official confirmed there were signs the Mahdi Army was splintering. Some were breaking away to attempt a more conciliatory approach to the Americans and the Iraqi government, others moving in a more extremist direction, the official said.

However, the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name on the topic, was not aware of direct Iranian recruitment and financing of Mahdi Army members.

The outlines of the fracture inside the Mahdi Army were confirmed by senior Iraqi government officials with access to intelligence reports prepared for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The information indicates a disintegrating organization yet a potentially even more dangerous foe, they revealed, on condition that their names not be used.

The militia commanders and al-Maliki's reports identify the leader of the breakaway faction as Qais al-Khazaali, a young Iraqi cleric who was a close al-Sadr aide in 2003 and 2004.

He was al-Sadr's chief spokesman for most of 2004, when he made nearly daily appearances on Arabic satellite news channels. He has not been seen in public since late that year.

Al-Sadr has been in Iran since early February, apparently laying low during the U.S.-Iraqi offensive, according to the U.S. military. He is not known to be close to Iran's leadership or Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

While Al-Sadr's strategy appears to be to wait out the government offensive and preserve his force, his absence has left loyal fighters unsure of his future and pondering whether they had been abandoned by their leader, the commanders said.

Al-Sadr tried to return to Iraq last month but turned back before he reached the Iraqi border upon learning of U.S. checkpoints on the road to Najaf, the Shiite holy city south of Baghdad where he lives.

"Conditions are not suitable for him to return,'' said an al-Sadr aide, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. "His safety will not be guaranteed if he returns.''

The Mahdi Army commanders, who said they would be endangered if their names were revealed, said Iran's Revolutionary Guards were funding and arming the defectors from their force, and that several hundred over the last 18 months had slipped across the Iranian border for training by the Quds force.

In recent weeks, Mahdi Army fighters who escaped possible arrest in the Baghdad security push have received $600 each upon reaching Iran. The former Mahdi Army militiamen working for the Revolutionary Guards operate under the cover a relief agency for Iraqi refugees, they said.

Once fighters defect, they receive a monthly stipend of $200, said the commanders.

Alireza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for an Iranian dissident group, told reporters in New York on Tuesday that Iraqi Shiite guerrillas and death squads were being trained in secret camps in Iran with the blessing of top Tehran government leaders and at least three senior Iraqi political figures.

Inside Iraq, the breakaway troops are using the cover of the Mahdi Army itself, the commanders said.

The defectors are in secret, small, but well-funded cells. Little else has emerged about the structure of their organization, but most of their cadres are thought to have maintained the pretense of continued Mahdi Army membership, possibly to escape reprisals.

Estimates of the number of Mahdi Army fighters vary wildly, with some putting the figure at 10,000 and others as many as 60,000.

The extent of al-Sadr's control over his militia has never been clear. Like many of Iraq's warring parties, it's a loosely knit force. The fiery cleric inspires loyalty with his speeches and edicts, and the Shiite gunmen are also bonded by the goal of maintaining Shiite dominance in a country long controlled by the rival Sunni Muslims, most recently Saddam Hussein.

Commanders thought to have disobeyed Mahdi Army orders or abused their power are publicly renounced during Friday prayers, a move that has forced them to quit their posts or go into hiding.

Mahdi Army militiamen also could be attracted by the cash promises of the splinter group. They don't receive wages or weapons from al-Sadr, but are allowed to generate income by charging government contractors protection money when they work in Shiite neighborhoods.

The two Mahdi Army commanders blamed several recent attacks on U.S. forces in eastern Baghdad on the splinter group. The commanders also said they believed the breakaway force had organized the attempt last week to kill Rahim al-Darraji, the mayor of Sadr City.

Al-Darraji, who is close to the Sadrist movement, was involved in talks with the U.S. military about extending the five-week-old Baghdad security sweep into Sadr City, the Mahdi Army stronghold in eastern Baghdad that was a no-go zone for American forces until about three weeks ago.

Al-Darraji was seriously wounded and two of his bodyguards were killed when gunmen ambushed their convoy in a mainly Shiite district near Sadr City. There was no claim of responsibility.

The commanders said recruitment of Mahdi Army gunmen by Iran began as early as 2005. But it was dramatically stepped up in recent months, especially with the approach of the U.S.-Iraqi security operation which was highly advertised before it began Feb. 14. Many Mahdi Army fighters are believed to have crossed the border to escape arrest.

Calls by the AP to seek comment from the Iranian Foreign Ministry have not been returned.

The Iranian recruitment of the Mahdi Army fighters appears to be an extension of its efforts to exert influence in Iraq, in part to keep the U.S. bogged down in a war that already has stretched into its fifth year. Iran already has the allegiance of the Badr Brigade, a Shiite militia founded and trained in Iran in the 1980s that maintains close links to Iraq's ruling Shiite politicians.

The Bush administration has carefully not ruled out military action against Iran, but the war in Iraq keeps U.S. ground forces at least stretched thin.

Associated Press military writer Robert Burns contributed to this report from Washington.
Iran va Jahan ~ Associated Press - Hamza Hendawi ** Shiite Militia May Be Disintergrating
Original article:
UK Guardian ~ Associated Press - Hamza Hendawi ** Shiite Militia May Be Disintergrating

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:56 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 22 March 2007 1:13 AM EDT

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WASHINGTON, DC -- Former Vice President Al Gore refused to take a “Personal Energy Ethics Pledge” today to consume no more energy than the average American household.  The pledge was presented to Gore by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, during today’s global warming hearing.

Senator Inhofe showed Gore a film frame from “An Inconvenient Truth” where it asks viewers: “Are you ready to change the way you live?”

Gore has been criticized for excessive home energy usage at his residence in Tennessee. His electricity usage is reportedly 20 times higher than the average American household.

It has been reported that many of these so-called carbon offset projects would have been done anyway. Also, carbon offset projects such as planting trees can take decades or even a century to sequester the carbon emitted today. So energy usage today results in greenhouse gases remaining in the atmosphere for decades, even with the purchase of so-called carbon offsets.

“There are hundreds of thousands of people who adore you and would follow your example by reducing their energy usage if you did.  Don’t give us the run-around on carbon offsets or the gimmicks the wealthy do,” Senator Inhofe told Gore.

“Are you willing to make a commitment here today by taking this pledge to consume no more energy for use in your residence than the average American household by one year from today?” Senator Inhofe asked.

Senator Inhofe then presented Vice President Gore with the following "Personal Energy Ethics Pledge:

As a believer:
· that human-caused global warming is a moral, ethical, and spiritual issue affecting our survival;

· that home energy use is a key component of overall energy use;

· that reducing my fossil fuel-based home energy usage will lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions; and

· that leaders on moral issues should lead by example;

I pledge to consume no more energy for use in my residence than the average American household by March 21, 2008.”

Gore refused to take the pledge.

See Senator Inhofe’s Opening Statement from today’s hearing

CONTACT: MARC MORANO 202-224-5762 marc_morano@epw.senate.gov
MATT DEMPSEY 202-224-9797 matthew_dempsey@epw.senate.gov
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works ~ Matt Dempsey, Marc Morano **
Gore Refuses To Take Personal Energy Ethics Pledge

Skeptics_Guide.pdf | 2.3 MBs ~ A Skeptic's Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism

Related: Tenn. mine enriched Gore, scarred land

Posted by yaahoo_ at 9:17 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 21 March 2007 9:32 PM EDT

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Democrats 0 for 6 in Congress; agenda sidetracked by Iraq war

None of the elements of the newly minted Democrats' congressional agenda have made it to President Bush's desk, and the prospects of signature bills such as federal funding for stem-cell research or homeland-security improvements becoming law any time soon are doubtful.

Much of the Democratic agenda -- dubbed "Six for '06" -- sailed out of the House with bipartisan support, but all of it has stalled in the Senate as leaders scramble to deal with the Iraq war.

"I don't think they've gotten anything done," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio said of the Democrats. "How many bills have they sent to the president? None? Somewhere around there."

A minimum-wage increase, which seems the most likely of the Democratic plans to get Mr. Bush's signature, has not yet been sent to the president because House and Senate leaders are still bickering over its specifics.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland last week grumbled over what he called a "slowdown" in the senate, while acknowledging his counterpart in that chamber has an uphill battle to pass legislation in a closely divided body.

"I would like to have passed them all by now," he said. "I'm frustrated by it, yes."

Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada responded later that day: "Steny is my friend, and he hasn't spent much time in the Senate. They [the House] have expedited procedures on everything."

Mr. Reid noted Democratic successes in his chamber, adding, "I think we've done really, really well."

Yesterday, the Senate leader said his chamber will consider a bill to federally fund stem-cell research the second week of April, which is "as soon as we can," given all the other items on the agenda.

"We're moving down the road on what we've set out to do," he said.

However, Mr. Bush has promised to veto the stem-cell bill, identical to one passed by both chambers last year under the Republican Congress.

A bill that has passed both chambers -- implementing the remaining recommendations of the September 11 commission -- also has drawn the president's ire. The measure that overwhelmingly passed the House triggered a veto threat from Mr. Bush when the Senate attached a provision allowing airport screeners to collectively bargain. Republicans say they will back the president, making it impossible for either chamber to override a veto.

Mr. Hoyer seemed especially irritated that his signature issue, increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour, has been bogged down as the House and Senate negotiate a possible tax break for small businesses to offset the cost of raising the wage.

"I cannot understand why anybody would want to trap hardworking people in the richest country on the face of the earth working 40 hours a week in a framework of 1997 wages," he said.

Senate Republicans have attached the tax package to their chamber's version of the bill. The House passed a $1.3 billion tax cut for small businesses as a compromise, but the two chambers must still come up with a final conference report before the bill can be sent to Mr. Bush.

The sluggish Senate is nothing new on Capitol Hill, but the speed of the House's initial actions -- leaders there passed their 100 hours agenda in less than 50 hours -- highlights the stalled agenda.

What's more, Iraq has dominated everything lawmakers are trying to do.

Senators spent weeks negotiating resolutions on Mr. Bush's troop surge to Iraq, and House actions slowed to a crawl as Democrats offer smaller bills while huddling to come up with an Iraq plan.

Now House leaders are building support among Democrats for the strategy, in the form of a troop-withdrawal timetable attached to a $124 billion war supplemental spending bill.

Any spirit of compromise the Democrats and Mr. Bush felt in January has further eroded as the president sends down veto threats and as the new majority party challenges his administration's every move.

Mr. Hoyer noted the difficulty Mr. Reid faces in a body where 60 is the magic number to pass any legislation and he controls only 51 members, but he made sure to add that "on almost every one" of the elements of the Democratic agenda passed the House with 60 percent of the vote or more. "We averaged 62 Republicans," he said.

The remaining "Six for '06" bills cut the interest rate on student loans, make changes to the Medicare prescription-drug plan and roll back the subsidies for big oil companies.

"I think the student-loan bill has overwhelming votes I'm sure in the Senate as it did here," Mr. Hoyer said. "We'd like to see it move."

Democrats are also quick to quell any discontent at the lack of action, and point to what they label the "Do Nothing Congress" run by Republicans in recent years.

Both Democratic leaders assailed their Republican predecessors for failing to pass the appropriations bills last year, and applauded themselves for passing a continuing resolution to fund the government in both chambers.

Washington Times ~ Christina Bellantoni ** Democrats 0 for 6 in Congress; agenda sidetracked by Iraq war

Libtards will just keep holding hearings, hoping to convince people that the Bush White House may be almost 1/1000th as corrupt as Clintax's. They're sidetracked by their unrelenting hatred for the country, conservatives and the president.

Latest Gallup approval/disapproval ratings:
Congress: 28% / 64%
Bush: 35% / 61%

Posted by yaahoo_ at 8:34 PM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 21 March 2007 9:07 PM EDT

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Mood:  suave

Moonbats gone wild in Milwaukee

Moonbats vandalize recruiter's station with human excrement
Libtards burned, dragged around a US soldier in effigy

Jessica McBride sends an alert about a despicable report of anti-war thugs vandalizing and apparently spreading human waste at a military recruitment office:

Police have arrested four people and are questioning about 20 more in connection with vandalism that took place at an east side Army recruiting office tonight.

Officers were called to the 3100 block of Oakland Ave. around 8 p.m. were Iraq War protesters clad in black, carrying torches and wearing ski masks were reportedly setting off smoke bombs and throwing paint as they approached an Army recruiting center on the block, said Sgt. Eric Pfeiffer, of the Milwaukee Police Department.

Someone threw an object through the recruitment center's window and spread what appears to be human waste inside before running off, Pfeiffer said.

Four people were in police custody and nearly 20 more were being questioned nearby about their involvement in the vandalism, Pfeiffer said.

Any Eagles/Protest Warriors/Rolling Thunder members/Nam Knights in Milwaukee who can counter these guerrillas and support the recruiters?

Michelle Malkin.com ** Moonbats gone wild in Milwaukee
Origional source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ** UPDATE: Arrests made in war protest
Related: Michelle Malkin.com ** Portland loves its anarchist thugs
Michelle Malkin.com ** Witness to a US soldier effigy burning
To paraphrase The Sapper Lounge: They support the troops...from the end of a rope.
Reader Rachel in Arizona notes that anti-war thugs also dragged around a US soldier in effigy at the Phoenix protests (via Arizona Republic):

Here's a good antidote (hat tip: Instapundit): Myrna Blyth and Chriss Winston's How to Raise an American: 1776 Fun and Easy Tools, Tips, and Activities to Help Your Child Love This Country.

Libtards burning effigies of soldiers, burning our flag, throwing human waste at our recruiting stations, and calling our Sgts. douche bags. Can you feel the love for our troops?

These tardsticks are demonstrating what passes for the common denominator in their abilities to discuss things. If the height of their discussion is burning things and throwing human waste then they are about on par with spider monkeys.

Monkeys sling dung, and so do the moonbats!

Posted by yaahoo_ at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 21 March 2007 1:12 PM EDT

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Mood:  d'oh

Tenn. mine enriched Gore, scarred land, 3 decades of mining, $500.000 for Gore

Tenn. mine enriched Gore, scarred land

No major pollution violations, but threat remains

CARTHAGE, Tenn. -- Al Gore has profited from zinc mining that has released millions of pounds of potentially toxic substances near his farmstead, but there is no evidence the mine has caused serious damage to the environment in the area or threatened the health of his neighbors.

Two massive white mountains of leftover rock waste are evidence of three decades of mining that earned Gore more than $500,000 in royalty payments for the mineral rights to his property.

New owners plan to start mining again later this year, after nearly four years of inactivity. In addition to bringing 250 much-needed jobs to rural Middle Tennessee, mine owners will resume paying royalties to some residents who, like Gore, own land adjacent to the mine and lease access to the zinc under their property.

Gore has yet to be approached by the new owner, Strategic Resource Acquisition, said his spokeswoman Kalee Kreider, and he and wife, Tipper, have not decided whether they will renew their lease. It was terminated when the mine closed in 2003.

Last week, Gore sent a letter asking the company to work with Earthworks, a national environmental group, to make sure the operation doesn’t damage the environment.

“We would like for you to engage with us in a process to ensure that the mine becomes a global example of environmental best practices,” Gore wrote.

Victor Wyprysky, the company’s president and chief executive officer, did not respond to requests for comment on the letter.

The letter was sent the week after The Tennessean’s Washington bureau posed questions to the former vice president about his involvement with the mine.

Previous mine owners released toxic substances into waterways above the allowable levels several times in the eight years before the mine closed.

But state regulators consider those permit violations minor, and monitoring reports provide a clean bill of health for the surface water in the area. Community leaders and health officials recall no health problems ever associated with the mining.

But now that the mine is reopening and Gore’s status as an environmentalist has grown, some of Gore’s neighbors see a conflict between the mining and his moral call for environmental activism.

“Mining is not exactly synonymous with being green, is it?” said John Mullins, who lives in nearby Cookeville. A conservative, Mullins welcomes the resumption of mining for the benefits it will bring the community. But he says Gore’s view that global warming is a certainty is arrogant and that by being connected to mining, Gore is not “walking the walk.”

At the same time, the Caney Fork Watershed Association, which works to conserve and improve the waterways near the mine, has heard no concerns from its members about the mine’s reopening.

“The operation has a record of vigilance in not operating to harm the environment, and we certainly hope that the renewed operation will maintain this record,” John Harwood, with the association, said in a written response to questions. “It is important that this waste material … be permanently secured from causing environmental contamination.”

And Earthworks president and chief executive Stephen D’Esposito said Gore’s involvement with mining doesn’t bother him “in any way, shape or form.”
“We are going to have mining. The question is doing it in the right place and the right way,” said D’Esposito, who has not studied the Carthage mines.

Gore’s mining history
Al Gore Jr.’s involvement in mining can be traced to Sept. 22, 1973.

Former U.S. Sen. Albert Gore Sr. bought about 88 acres along the Caney Fork River from Occidental Minerals, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, for $160,000. Included in the deal was the subsurface area. The rights to the minerals below ground were then leased back to Occidental.

On the same day, Gore Sr. sold the land and subsurface area to his 25-year-old son and daughter-in-law for $140,000. The mineral lease to Occidental was put in their names.

Kreider said the terms of the 30-year agreement provided the Gores “no legal recourse” even if they had wanted to cancel it, Kreider said.

The Gores, she said, would not comment on whether they tried to pursue legal action to void the lease. “There is a certain zone of privacy once people go into private life.”

Gore received $20,000 a year for 27 years and $10,000 a year for three years, making a total of $570,000 in lease payments. Kreider said the Gores never considered selling the land.

She said the lease has to be viewed in a “1973 context, not a 2007 context.”

“There was a different environmental sensibility about all sorts of things,” she said.

Emission from the mine
The mine is a complex of several interconnected sites known as the Gordonsville Mine and Mill, the Cumberland Mine and the Elmwood Mine, which is the closest to Gore’s property. In addition, previous mine owners operated a refining plant in Clarksville.

Through the years, mining operations expanded as the facilities went through several ownership and name changes. Horizontal shafts, called drifts, extend under the Gore property, Kreider said, although the Gores don’t know their number and location.

By 1983, the Elmwood-Gordonsville complex was the largest zinc-producing mine in the country and Tennessee the largest zinc-producing state. The Elmwood-Gordonsville mine kept the title every year until 1990, except for 1984.

Zinc is used primarily to protect steel from corrosion. Other metals released during the mining process - such as lead, mercury and copper - are necessary to a modern economy. But human exposure to high levels of these metals can cause health problems.

The Environmental Protection Agency began reporting toxic releases from metal mining operations for the first time in 1998. The mining industry objected to being included in the reports because of the sheer size of the emission numbers and the fact that much of what is reported is the naturally occurring substance - in this case zinc - that is being mined.

In the five-year period from 1998 to 2003, before the mines were shuttered, 16.6 million pounds of toxic substances were released into the air, water and land at the Gordonsville site, according to the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory data, and 2.6 million pounds were released at the Cumberland site. Most of that was the zinc pulled from ground during mining.

In its last year of full operation in 2002, the Gordonsville-Cumberland mines ranked 22nd among all metal mining operations in the U.S., with about 4.1 million pounds of toxic releases. The top releasing mine, Red Dog Mine in Alaska, emitted about 482 million pounds that year. In 2002, Smith County ranked 39th out of more than 3,000 U.S. counties for lead compound releases and 21st for cadmium releases, according to tallies by Scorecard, a Web site run by environmentalists that compiles federal data.

Even Gore noted in his letter that, according to Scorecard, “pollution releases from the mine in 2002 placed it among the ‘dirtiest/worst facilities’ in the U.S.”

How much was released in the previous quarter century when the mines were in their heyday is unknown.

The Clarksville processing plant emitted more than 26 million pounds of pollutants in 2004, ranking Montgomery County 21st among all U.S. counties for the amount of toxic releases discharged into the environment.

Water discharge violations
While all the sites have systems in place to protect nearby rivers and streams, the state discharge permit records for the Carthage area mines show several examples in recent years of releases of toxic substances into waterways above the allowable levels set under the federal Clean Water Act. The majority of samples taken found acceptable levels of the various substances being tested.

Violations cited were:
• Gordonsville Mine and Mill. Sampling at one site where the mine discharges into a tributary of the Caney Fork River found 23 violations of the limit on zinc levels out of 30 samples taken between October 1995 and August 2000, according to permit documents. Nineteen of those readings above permit limits occurred between December 1995 and March 1997 and caused the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to issue three notices of violation to Savage Zinc Inc., the mine owner then.

Because the company worked to correct the problem, state officials said the department did not take tougher action such as a fine. The other four violations, between January 1998 and August 2000, were considered minor, officials said. Two other notices of violation were issued in 1997 for zinc limit violations at a nearby discharge point.

Two other zinc violations were found in samples in 2003; one for high levels of solids that year and in 2004; and one for copper in a 2003 sample.

• Elmwood Mine. State inspectors found a permit violation in January 2000 that was caused when a valve failure on a pipe carrying lime slurry from the Gordonsville mine caused it to bypass a treatment structure and empty into a tributary of the Caney Fork. Higher than permitted zinc levels were found in one sample each in 2000 and 2001.

• Cumberland Mine. Violations of the solids levels were found twice in 2002, and one sample that year contained excessive zinc.

“We think those violations (are) considered minor,” said Paul Schmierbach, environmental program manager for the state’s Division of Water Pollution Control.

The most recent permit for the Clarksville plant includes no permit violations. But very high zinc levels were found in many samples taken from 2001 to 2005 at two sites where storm water flowed into a tributary of the Cumberland River. The Clarksville permit did not set limits for storm water runoff so those were not counted as violations.

Water quality OK, for now
Test samples taken of the surface water in the Caney Fork and Cumberland rivers near the mine sites in recent years show no readings of dangerous substances above the legal limits.

“I don’t see anything here that indicates a water quality issue,” said Greg Denton, manager of the planning and standards section in the Division of Water Pollution Control, after reviewing testing data compiled by The Tennessean’s Washington bureau.

And state and county health officials, along with community leaders, can recall no reports of unusual health problems in the area.

At the same time, the state counts the two water systems in Smith County that draw from the Caney Fork and Cumberland downstream from the mines as highly susceptible for contamination, according to the Tennessee Source Water Assessment Report issued in August 2003, the most recent report done.

That is in part because of the mines and other facilities that discharge into the rivers, according to the report. The report scored nearly half of the state’s 457 community water sources as having “high susceptibility” for contamination.

In addition, state environmental officials said in a 2006 report that Tennessee needs a more accurate picture of the health of its underground water supply.

According to the report, the state:
• Has not done a systematic statewide study of its aquifers.

• Requires that public water systems sample only the treated water they provide to customers, not raw ground water samples.

• Does not require routine sampling of private wells and springs.

Smith Utility District, one of the two water treatment plants in the area, draws from the Caney Fork, which Gore used as a backdrop in his Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The other, Carthage Water System, takes its water from the Cumberland.

Only a few violations of safe drinking water regulations have been found in recent years during tests at the Smith, Carthage and other water systems in the area. Most are monitoring violations, and the only health-related ones are for high levels of the chemicals used to disinfect the water.

Marcus Kemp, plant and distribution superintendent for the Smith Utility District plant, said he never had problems with discharges from the mines during his 28 years with the district, nor has Don Taylor, who runs the Carthage water plant.

Still, Kemp is concerned about what will happen when the new owners pump out the water that has filled the mine since it was shut down.

“That is going to be a different issue,” Kemp said of the restart of mining. “Water went into all the cracks and crevices.”

Mining set to restart
Community leaders see no problem with Gore, or the hundreds of other landowners in the area, reaping the benefits of owning property rich in zinc. In 2002, a previous mine owner held 355 leases in the area, totaling 16,339 acres, or more than 25.5 square miles.

“I don’t think he would want to stand in the way of economic development of a community,” said Michael Nesbitt, mayor of Smith County, where the mines are located.

Nesbitt and others are excited about the jobs the mine will create for some of the county’s nearly 19,000 people whose per capita personal income was below the state’s in 2003, the most recent county data available.

Strategic Resource Acquisition, the Canadian company that will operate under the name Mid-Tennessee Zinc, estimates it will take a year to reactivate the mines. Mining itself should begin in the third quarter of this year, said Wyprysky, the CEO. The mill should begin putting out ore ready for shipping to refining plants in the first quarter of 2008.

In an interview prior to Gore’s letter being sent, Wyprysky declined a request for a tour of the mining sites and declined to comment on their connection to Gore. He said the company was still in the process of negotiating lease agreements with the surrounding property owners.

The Gores won’t speculate on whether they will refuse to renew their lease if the new owners don’t follow their request to work with the environmental group, Kreider said. They do plan, she said, to encourage their neighbors to join their effort.

Also to be decided is what to do about the leases on two parcels owned by Albert Gore Sr., which Gore eventually will inherit when his parents’ estates are settled.

The company said the mine already has produced 2.6 billion pounds of zinc metal, and still contains 26 million tons of zinc material containing
3.25 percent zinc.

That means that mining there could continue for years, creating an ongoing environmental threat to Gore and his neighbors in the rolling hills of Middle Tennessee.

“The real protection,” said Harwood of the Caney Fork Watershed Association, “lies in the good faith and diligence of the mine operators, and of the state regulators.”

Contact Bill Theobald at wtheobal@gns.gannett.com.
The Tennessean ~ Bill Theobald ** Tenn. mine enriched Gore, scarred land

As long as it didn't release evil CO2 in the atmosphere that's okay. And just think how much good Gore will do with that money, like a sequal to his fake-u-mentry.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:48 PM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 20 March 2007 1:47 AM EDT

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