Mood:  chatty

 Huge Story Alert!

Bad Guys Want Cease-Fire in Iraq?

Big, big news the Drive-Bys and Democrats want to ignore: The enemy is talking cease-fire in Iraq.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: "U.S. military commanders are talking with Iraqi militants about cease-fires and other arrangements to try to stop the violence, the No. 2 American commander said Thursday. Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said he has authorized commanders to reach out to militants, tribes, religious leaders and others in the country that has been gripped by violence from a range of fronts including insurgents, sectarian rivals and common criminals. 'We are talking about cease-fires, and maybe signing some things that say they won't conduct operations against the government of Iraq or against coalition forces,' Odierno told Pentagon reporters in a video conference from Baghdad. 'It's just the beginning, so we have a lot of work to do on this,' he said. 'But we have restructured ourselves to organize to work this issue.'"

Now, this is a huge. If you're talking about a cease-fire here, this is something that results from strength. It is not something that results from weakness. I'll tell you what the Democrats are going to say. I know how they're going to spin this. We'll probably get a statement from Dingy Harry, if they even refer to this. They may not, since the Drive-Bys are doing their best here to keep this news story sequestered. But I think what Dingy Harry will say, "Well, this shows the weakness of the US position. We have to negotiate cease-fires with the enemy to stop our brave soldiers from being killed. We can't defeat them, and this proves it." That's what he'll say. That's what they're trying to spin right now. Then of course somebody might add, "they will break the cease-fire."

Of course, Dingy Harry won't say that because our enemies are honorable. We're not. But if Dingy Harry does say something like this he's going to further go down the road of being a pathetic laughingstock. It's when you negotiate from strength, that's the road to victory. If they're going to reach out -- I guess they already have reached out for a cease-fire to stop the violence in Iraq. I guarantee you this is not our idea. We're not the ones offering the cease-fire. We're going to see if they want to because apparently some signals have been sent from the bad guys that that is what they want to do.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Theresa in Waukegan, Illinois. Isn't that where Jack Benny was from?

CALLER: I believe so.

RUSH:  How are you?

CALLER: I'm fine. Thank you, Rush. I am so excited to be able to talk to you. I tell you whenever I'm down about the country, all I have to do is wait until Rush comes on every afternoon Monday through fry and I'll feel better about our country.

RUSH: I appreciate your saying that. What is it that makes you down on the country, or makes you feel that way? What happens to make you start thinking that way?

CALLER: Well, because of the idiotic things that you hear that our leaders are doing and our Congress, our president, the military leaders -- which is why I was calling -- and all these yahoos out here who have got everybody convinced of all the things you've been saying about Hillary, and I'm, like, going, "I'm the one who's stuck in the middle. You guys want to take my money. You guys want to take our money. What's left to feed my family?" and me, I worry about the terrorists. I have to take care of my own kids because the government isn't going to take care of it. (groan)

RUSH: But, see, it's working. They are trying to make you feel as miserable as they do.

CALLER: Well, that's why I listen to you because --

RUSH: Well, thank goodness you have me, because if you didn't have me, this stuff would overtake you and you'd be throwing up your hands in frustration, wondering, "What's the point of it all?"

CALLER: Exactly! Exactly. That's why I was calling, because now I hear, who are these military commanders who are talking to the terrorists? I mean, what kind of military strategy is that? I thought --

RUSH: Wait. You're talking about this cease-fire business?

CALLER: Yeah!

RUSH: Now, wait. When you saw that story, what was it that made you think that's happening because the United States has a weakened position there?

CALLER: Oh, I didn't think we had a weakened position. I didn't understand why they were because we are on the good side, you know? We are the strong one.

RUSH: Do you understand how huge this is, that the bad guys want to talk cease-fire?

CALLER: Yeah, I think that maybe we ought to go down there and beat them some more until they scream some more, you know?

RUSH: Oh, okay, so you want to wipe 'em out now that they're talking cease-fire and you don't understand --

CALLER: Oh, yeah!

RUSH: Okay.

CALLER: Oh, yeah! That's a sign that they're ready to give up. That's just a sign for us to be harder.

RUSH: Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn't go so far as to say it means they intend to give up, but it does indicate a much weaker position that they are holding than is being reported, of course, by the Drive-Bys.

CALLER: Exactly. But wer'e talking to them. Well, why don't the police just talk to the criminals and say, "Hey, why don't we just... You know, let's not have any more gang bang murders, okay?" They don't do that. They go out there and arrest them. That's what our military should be doing! They shouldn't be talking to these criminals and terrorists.

RUSH: (Chuckles.) You befuddle me. We have a situation here. You can't compare this to local crime. We have declared hostilities here.

CALLER: Yes, but I read that same article --

RUSH: Wait. Wait a minute, now. In previous wars that we've had, when the bad guys wanted to surrendered, we talked to them.

CALLER: Uh-huh.

RUSH: We issued terms of surrender and so forth, and that's what's being discussed here. There are terms of surrender being determined and thought about, how they could be proposed and so forth. Now, in past -- like in World War II -- the Japanese surrendered after we did do what you suggest we do here, you know, Nagasaki, so forth and so on. The big difference with this is that this indicates a show of weakness. We're trying to preserve the Iraqi government and have it grow and so forth. The big thing here to me is that this runs totally counter to what the daily Drive-By news is every day, and that is that we're getting shellacked, that we're getting creamed, and it's hopelessly lost. Dingy Harry has already said so. We can't win this thing -- and all of a sudden the bad guys want to talk about a cease-fire.

CALLER: Yeah, exactly.

RUSH: It may be a trick, but the reason they're talking about a ceasefire is because we're doing what you want; it just isn't being reported. We must be kicking butt big time! It just may not be reported in a way that you know about it, but they're not coming along and saying, "Okay, we'll talk ceasefire," because they're winning. It's just the opposite. This kind of stuff happens when you occupy the position of strength. I fully expect the Democrats to spin this and to suggest that the administration "wants to give up and admit defeat. It's the only way to save our brave soldiers from dying," and all that. I'm waiting for that to happen, by the way.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Folks, there is another possibility for this cease-fire, a little float that the terrorists are engaging in here in Iraq, and it could simply be this. It could be something totally unrelated to our analysis up to this point. The terrorists suggesting that they're interested in talking cease-fire could simply be their way of telling the Democrats in this country that they're unhappy with the Democrats providing more funding without a withdrawal timetable. The terrorists might have looked at the latest vote in the House where the Democrats retreated from retreat and surrendered from surrender and said, "Well, my gosh, we've lost our allies in Washington. As long as we're going to support 'em, we're going to hang tough over here. We're going to try to beat Bush for them," and so forth, as long as they come up with a definite withdrawal date to get the army outta here. But now the Democrats have caved, and so the terrorists are saying, "Well, we don't know where bin Laden is. Zawahiri is a nonfactor. We're all over the place in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Jihad is not the organized thing it used to be. Now we've lost our big allies, the Democrats, what are we going to do?" It could be that, ladies and gentlemen.

END TRANSCRIPT
Read the Background Material...
Breitbart: Cease-Fire Eyed to Stop Violence in Iraq
*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.
RushLimbaugh.com ** Bad Guys Want Cease-Fire in Iraq?

Posted by yaahoo_ at 8:03 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 31 May 2007 8:44 PM EDT

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Algore Wants Chavez-style Fairness Doctrine

Listen To It! WMP | RealPlayer  Audio clips available for Rush 24/7 members only -- Join Now! BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: CBS, on the Early Show today Harry Smith was talking to former vice president Algore.  Gore says, "The element of television that I think has been troubling for democracy, now that it's become the most dominant media by far even with the rising importance of the Internet is that it's one way."  Harry Smith says, "Radio is one way. If you look back, some of the greatest presidents of our democracy or the republic happened during the age of radio.  That was one way." GORE:  Simulates two-way communication by having -- having call-ins, but you're quite right, that radio preceded television as the first broadcast medium. SMITH:  Right. GORE:  And the first concerns among defenders of democracy arose with radio, and that's why the equal time provision and the Fairness Doctrine and the Public Interest Standard were put in place here.  Those protections were almost completely removed during President Reagan's term. RUSH:  I've had this in the stack for a while here, and it's time to get to this.  Gore makes this false claim that, "radio is two-way now, simulates two-way communication by having call-ins, and but quite right, radio preceded television, and the first concerns among defenders of democracy arose with radio. That's why the equal-time provisions and the Fairness Doctrine," and all that were put in.  Robert Tracinski, Real Clear Politics, back on May 23rd had a piece called, "Al Gore's Insolent Assault on Reason."  It's about his book, which, by the way, has been outsold the first week by Ronald Reagan's diaries.  Reagan's diaries, the latest book scan, outsold Algore's book by five copies, which means that the Algore people will no doubt be demanding a recount on this.   "Early coverage of Al Gore's new book, The Assault on Reason, has focused on the fact that the book is largely an assault on the Bush administration. But they have glossed over the most significant and alarming theme that Al Gore has taken up: his alleged defense of 'reason' includes a justification for government controls over political speech.  Judging from the excerpts of Gore's book published in TIME, his not-so-subtle theme is that reason is being 'assaulted' by a free and unfettered debate in the media--and particularly by the fact that Gore has to contend with opposition from the right-leaning media."  Now, this piece goes on and on and on.  I'll tell you, it makes the point that I've tried to make over and over and over again about liberals.  To them there is no debate; there is no alternative point of view.  Anybody who expresses one is simply a gnat or a fly that has to be swatted away, not engaged.  You don't debate your opposition because there isn't any.  They are just a bunch of kooks.  And they, the opposition, me, we are the ones getting in the way of reason.   "Developing a dangerous theme that the left has been toying with for years, Gore says that reason is being suffocated by 'media Machiavellis' -- that's a veiled reference to Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and Bush political advisor Karl Rove, the twin hobgoblins of the left. According to Gore, these puppet-masters take advantage of 'the clever use of electronic mass media' to 'manipulate the outcome of elections.'"  It's sort of like Time magazine back in 1994 did a cover story with me, of course, on the cover, "Is there too much Democracy in America?"  Can there be too much democracy?  Meaning, all of a sudden the libs have lost their monopoly, and here come these alternative points of view.  "No, that's not what we're thinking. That's just getting in the way here.  Too much democracy." "Now here's the really ominous part. This 'manipulation' is rendering our representative government 'illegitimate' because it only has the public's 'consent' -- he repeatedly puts 'consent' in scare quotes, just to emphasize the point that this consent is not, in Al Gore's superior judgment, genuine or legitimate. As he puts it, 'the "consent of the governed" [has become] a commodity to be purchased by the highest bidder.'"  He simply doesn't like the arena of ideas.  He doesn't like people in the arena of ideas competing and trying to win the day on ideas.  His ideas are what should dominant and anything that threatens them must be swatted down with government control.  That's why he is for the Fairness Doctrine.   "His new argument doesn't do anything to reverse that impression. His basic theme seems to be: if the left isn't winning in the marketplace of ideas, there can't possibly be anything wrong with their ideas. It must be the marketplace itself that is 'broken,' and the left needs to use the power of government to fix it--in both senses of the word 'fix.'  This is by no means a new theme on the left; Noam Chomsky has been peddling this stuff for years. We only think that we are free to write and to speak and to make our minds up for ourselves, the left tells us. But behind the scenes we're being manipulated by the big corporate media, so the votes we cast and the consent we give to those who govern us is artificially 'manufactured.' We need to be liberated -- by having the left take control of the media and manage it in our best interests."

So that's the way to translate this sound bite from Algore.  What's really bugging him here is that there is an alternative point of view that's gaining traction, and it's persuading a lot of people that his global warming hoax, which is his latest religion, is having trouble getting traction with the majority of the American people.  So his idea is not to go out there and continue to try to persuade people he's right, his idea is to shut down the people who are standing in the way of reason.  He, of course, is reason, nobody else is, and by the way, he's not alone.  This is pretty much the attitude of most liberal Democrats today, be they elected or not. This is Dave in Lynnwood -- what is that, Michigan?  Is that right?  Welcome, Dave.  Nice to have you on the EIB Network. CALLER:  Rush, it's an honor. RUSH:  Thank you, sir. CALLER:  Hey, Rush, if Algore wants to cite Ronald Reagan to sell the case for the Fairness Doctrine, I think we ought to bring our former president on posthumously, and I think he could clean his clock. RUSH:  Oh, there's no question, if you ran Reagan as a corpse, you mean? CALLER:  Well, you know, let's have powerful media types start it out.  You know, let's run some spots with Reagan citing government as being the problem and, you know, whatever -- RUSH:  At first I was saying, what is this?  We're not going to run corpses here, but you have raised an interesting point.  The point is, the antidote to all these Democrat candidates is Reaganism, which is conservatism.  All these guys, Obama and Hillary and whoever else, are going to raise taxes, want to grow the government, not to mention what they're trying to do with this immigration bill.  They want to increase the redistribution of wealth.  They want people to be poorer.  They want to take wealth and opportunity for income away from people, and the antidote to this is exactly the kind of things Reagan said.  It's mystifying to me that so many Republicans today remain unwilling or maybe even embarrassed -- well, it's not totally mystifying, whether embarrassed to invoke Reaganism, it's simply the Drive-By just kills them in Washington.  In fact, we have some JFK quotes that precede Reagan.  JFK I guess in '62 made a speech in the fall of the Economic Club of New York making the case for his big tax cuts.  I swear if you listen to these, you're convinced you're listening to Ronald Reagan.  We've played those sound bites over the course of this program's many, many stellar years of broadcast service to mankind, and when we do, liberal Democrats call here and are outraged, and they tell me that I don't have the right to play JFK's words.  "Who are you?  You're a Republican.  You can't take his words and appropriate them for yourself."  I'm an American, he was the president, and he was right.  They just don't want to hear Democrats talk that way.  It's funny.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Stockton, California, this is Robert.  You're next on the EIB Network.  Hello. CALLER:  Good program, Rush. RUSH:  Thank you. CALLER:  You know, do you find it kind of interesting that Algore's comments come, as well as the Fairness Doctrine, all this is coming just as Hugo Chavez is shutting down media in Venezuela? RUSH:  Oh.  Oh, let me tell you something about this.  You will not be able to believe this story.  The Drive-By Media is making excuses for what Chavez is doing because this TV station has ripped him and supported a coup against him.  Here it is.  It's Bart Jones, who spent eight years in Venezuela, mainly as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press.  And he says this.  "Would a network that aided and abetted a coup against the government be allowed to operate in the United States?"  Well, yes, it happens every day.  What do you think the Drive-By Media has been trying to do for five years, if not sponsor some kind of a Democratic coup against George W. Bush?  But this guy goes on to praise Hugo Chavez for standing up to this TV station because they tried to oust him, they tried to run a coup against him.  Well, what do you expect?  So he has a lot of support, and the Democrat Party in this country has a lot of support.  Because he hates Bush.  And they hate Bush.  So any friend of theirs, anybody hates Bush, whether they're an enemy of the country or not, is a friend of the Democrats and a friend of liberals.  But you're right.  What Hugo Chavez is doing nationalizing TV stations and shutting them down is the Venezuelan version of Algore's Fairness Doctrine.

END TRANSCRIPT

Posted by yaahoo_ at 5:49 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 31 May 2007 7:05 AM EDT

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After Crash, Boy Had No Time For Tears,

9-Year Old Saves Lives of Sister, Mother

By Christine Byers

Chase Ringwall (front), 9, sister Maya, 2, (center) and mother Susan.

DITTMER -- Chase Ringwall, a 9-year-old who rescued his mom and baby sister from a car accident, remembers the sound of his mom's SUV crashing into the ground nose first.

"It sounded like 15 cannons," he said.

It was 10:30 a.m. Saturday and he, along with his 2-year-old sister, Maya, and mother, Susan Ringwall, were on their way to the Grandview School District campus so Chase could get his baseball league pictures taken.

Less than a mile from the school, the front right tire of their vehicle slipped off Highway C in west-central Jefferson County.

Chase remembers his mom trying to regain control of the Jeep Cherokee. Instead, she swerved onto a curve in the road that acted more like a ramp, propelling the SUV over a barbed wire fence.

She lost consciousness when the vehicle hit the ground, but Chase remembers everything. The car rolled over and came to a stop on its roof.

Chase screamed: "I'm alive! I'm alive!"

His mother was dangling by her seat belt. "Her head was in a pool of blood," he said. "I thought she was dead."

The stereo, however, didn't miss a beat. A Sublime CD still was playing.

"And there was an unexplainable mist everywhere," Chase said, adding that he now thinks it was residue from the air bags.

He knew he had to do something.

"Are you OK, Maya?" he asked his sister.

"Yeah," she said.

Chase unfastened his seat belt, and then crawled under his sister's seat, unfastened her belt and let her fall onto him instead of the broken glass that had collected beneath her.

She then crawled on top of her brother's outstretched arms out of the car through a window. He told her to stay put. And she listened. "I was so surprised I didn't cry, because I wanted to the whole time," Chase said. "But I'm even more surprised that Maya cooperated. She never, ever, ever, ever cooperates with me."

He then tried but couldn't free his mother.

So he ran up the embankment and began waving to drivers for help. A couple, whom the family still doesn't know, stopped.

"The man had a pocket knife and cut her seat belt off," Chase said.

Susan Ringwall regained consciousness in the field near the car, but was confused and couldn't remember where she was going or what the date was.

An ambulance took the family to Jefferson Memorial Hospital. Within about five hours, all were released and back home in Dittmer. Police interviewed witnesses who talked about Chase's actions after the crash.

Chase returned to school Monday. He has a bruise on his neck from the seat belt. And his neck and back are sore. His mom has about five stitches holding together a 2 1/2-inch gash on the back of her head. Maya has only a few bruises.

And Chase's father, Leif Ringwall, said he has a lot to be proud of.

"I drove by that site, and what scares me is that there were no skid marks and no one was there to see it," he said.

"I could have very easily driven past it and never known there was an accident. I believe my son saved their lives because no one would have known they were down there."

"Yeah," Susan Ringwall said. "He really saved the day."

"No," her husband said. "He saved your life."

Robert Kelly of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
cbyers@post-dispatch.com | 636-500-4106
St. Louis Post-Dispatch ~ Christine Byers ** After crash, boy had no time for tears

Way to go, Chase!   

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:17 AM EDT

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Terror leader arrested while having car sex near Arafat's grave,
The Goat was unable to be reached for comment...

Terror leader arrested having car sex near Arafat's grave

Israeli forces raid jeep of longtime wanted militant caught in compromising position

RAMALLAH -- Israel today arrested a longtime wanted terror leader here in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

According to Israeli security officials and Palestinian sources in Ramallah speaking to WND, the terrorist was arrested while having car sex just a few hundred feet from late PLO leader Yasser Arafat's gravesite.

Khaled Shawish, an officer in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Force 17 presidential guards, was captured by undercover Israeli police forces following scores of shooting attacks he is suspected of carrying out. Shawish, who doubles as the Ramallah chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, previously boasted of involvement in a West Bank shooting attack in December 2000 that killed Israeli ultranationalist leader Benjamin Kahane and Kahane's wife, Talya.

The Brigades is the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party.

After the Kahane murder, Shawish was extended refuge by Arafat to live in the late PLO leader's Ramallah compound, widely known as the Muqata. Arafat is buried at the entrance to the Muqata.

Shawish continued the past seven years to live in the Muqata, from which, according to Israeli security officials, he directed the Brigades to carry out scores of shootings against Israelis driving on West Bank roads.

Several years ago Shawish sustained an injury during a gun battle with the Israel Defense Forces and has since been confined to a wheelchair, although he is still able to drive.

According to Israeli security officials and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades sources in Ramallah, Shawish was arrested after the Israeli police stormed his jeep, which was parked in a lot outside the Muqata, about 200 feet from Arafat's grave. The sources said at the time of his arrest, Shawish was having intercourse in the back seat of his jeep with a Palestinian woman, whose identity is being withheld by WND. The woman was not his wife.

The Brigades, founded by Arafat, largely considers the late PLO leader's resting place to be a sacred site.

Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, is known for his regular interviews with Mideast terror leaders and his popular segments on America's top radio programs.
World Net Daily ~ Aaron Klein ** Terror leader arrested having car sex near Arafat's grave

Uhm... Maybe they were playing 'Hide the Pipe Bomb'... Just couldn't wait for those 72 virgins, I guess.

I wish there was a picture of the woman, so her neighbors could see her, invoke sharia law and stone her to death. Jihad martyrs deserve their martyrdom!

Posted by yaahoo_ at 6:07 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 29 May 2007 6:24 AM EDT

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Kim Jong-ill...

Rumors Say Kim Jong-il's Health Deteriorating

South Korean intelligence officials are investigating information that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health has deteriorated recently, a source said.

"The National Intelligence Service has obtained information that the reclusive leader Kim's diabetes and heart disease have been worsening. This information is more reliable than former rumors," a government official said.

"It is known that U.S. intelligence officials are also looking into similar information," the official added.

Kim was born in 1942 and is 66 years old this year. He has conducted official activities 23 times from January 1 to May 27 this year, which is half the number of activities he led by this time last year.

The North Korean leader's most recent official activity was a visit to a military base on May 5, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. But since North Korean media usually report Kim's activities later than when they actually occur, it is believed that Kim has not been involved in any official activities since the beginning of this month.

Many experts say Kim's worsening health will ignite a fierce power struggle between his sons, Kim Jong-nam, who was born to the late Sung Hae-rim, and Kim Jong-chul and Kim Jong-woon, both born to the late Ko Young-hee.

(englishnews@chosun.com)
Digital Chosun Ilbo ** Rumors Say Kim Jong-il's Health Deteriorating

Posted by yaahoo_ at 4:23 PM EDT

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CHARLIE SHEEN RETHINKS NUTTY 9/11 FILM

Support for the loopy 9/11 documentary "Loose Change" - which argues that the World Trade Center terror attack was part of a secret U.S. government conspiracy - is quickly losing steam.

A source tells us Charlie Sheen "is having second thoughts" about being involved in an updated version of the flick, which has a huge following on YouTube. As Page Six reported in March, Sheen had agreed to narrate the ridiculous flick, presumably to give it some needed Hollywood sizzle.

The conspiracy documentary got a further boost earlier this month when Virgin Atlantic announced it would offer the current, narration-free version as an in-flight movie choice. But just days later, it scrapped the idea. "After Virgin announced it, bloggers went nuts and there was so much negative feedback that [the airline] a few days later nixed it," the source said.

After we revealed Sheen's participation, the "Two and a Half Men" star told Extra: "It's a story that needs to be told. It's a story about the truth, and the truth needs to be exposed. It's not just me, not just the Hollywood community [that] is standing up saying what you have given us doesn't make sense. We just want better answers." As for Sheen now pulling his support, the star's flack, Stan Rosenfield, did not return calls over two days.

Another proponent of the "Loose Change" theory is Rosie O'Donnell, who trumpeted her feelings about it on "The View" and her blog, making ABC brass nervous and infuriating some viewers.

O'Donnell reportedly had booked the film's producers, Korey Rowe and Dylan Avery, on Thursday's show. But after getting into a fight with Elisabeth Hasselbeck Wednesday, and after her chief writer was caught defacing Hasselbeck's photos with mustaches, O'Donnell left the show.

"Loose Change" pushes the widely debunked "controlled demolition" theory, which claims the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center were blown up from within. It alleges the jet-fuel fires inside the towers weren't hot enough to melt the buildings' steel beams.

Those claims were soundly refuted by Popular Mechanics magazine, which meticulously shot down every single one.

New York Post ~ Page Six ** Sheen Rethinks Nutty 9-11 Film

I wonder why Sheen would pull out. Perhaps he was afraid that he'd have to go on
"The View" to promote the film, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck would challenge him.
Or maybe Rosie O'Donut was behind it.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 3:44 AM EDT

Updated: Monday, 28 May 2007 3:49 AM EDT

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Growing unrest shows Chinese one-child policy in tatters

Beijing -- Recent unrest in Guangxi is a sign that China’s population is less and less willing to put up with the one-child policy so much so that is ready to take to the streets. Many voices in the country’s scholarly community are also calling for a policy overhaul for the sake of society but also the economy.

Riots broke out in several towns in Bobai County last weekend when thousands of people stormed a local government office, smashing furniture and destroying vehicles. Some even tried to set the building alight. All of them are fed up with government officials and police trying to enforce the one-child policy, reportedly using violence in some cases.

Many families were hit with arbitrary fines for violating the policy. Those who could not pay had their homes ransacked by officers. The residents also accused the authorities of forcing women to have abortions in order to fulfil the annual newly-born quotas the central government has set for each city. Last April 61 women were forced to have an abortion in Youjiang County (Guangxi), two in the ninth month of pregnancy.

Such is the situation that the government has been forced to station police units to protect the hospital where abortions were performed.

Last September legal scholar Teng Biao and blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng slammed the authorities in Linyi (Shandong) for using violence against families with “illegal” children.

In Gaoping (Hunan) in the last four years, officials took away 12 children from their families in order to get them to pay the fine because they failed to respect quotas.

Also in Hunan province, the authorities forced unmarried women to under go “pregnancy checks” making the test compulsory for any woman seeking a share of community land-sale revenues and voting rights.

The one-child policy is likely to fuel further social unrest as human rights activists have pointed out. Increasingly people are unwilling to accept the unfairness of a system that allows rich people -- for example, actors, landowners and business men -- to have more than one child because they can afford the fine whilst others cannot. The one-child policy is thus feeding into the debate over the growing gap between rich and poor and the rising corruption scandal among rank and  file party officials, too ready to turn a blind eye on extra children in order to collect taxes and money.

Officials at the State Family Planning Office are the first to be aware of the danger of unrest since they are caught between the government’s demands and threats against their job and the increasingly dissatisfied and belligerent population.

China’s one-child policy came into being in the late 1970s as part of a strategy to put the country on a path of economic growth. However, it runs against the grain of Chinese mentality, which considers generational ties and ancestor worship the bases of the family unit.

Ye Tingfang, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said that only about 35 per cent of the population has observed the policy, and that it is increasingly criticised because of its many social and economic side effects like an ageing population and gender imbalance.

Another CASS member, Prof Zhang Yi from the Institute of Population and Labour Economics, said that the country is ageing faster than expected and that the situation will worsen as the number of retired workers grows and the pool of people paying into pension funds shrinks.

As fewer rural workers stream into the cities, labour shortages are starting to appear in booming coastal regions. “In the beginning, it was believed that our big population would be a hindrance to our economic development. But over the past decades, experience has told us otherwise,” said Professor Ye. “Japan, for instance, has little in the way of resources and boasts one of the highest population densities in the world, but it is a thriving economy and one of the richest nations. Labour is the most important source of wealth.”

Asia News.it ** Growing unrest shows one-child policy in tatters

Ah, the wonders of government enforced abortion. Of course here in the United States we have Planned Parenthood which is subsidized and protected by the federal goverment but the ends are the same. Kill the unborn and solve all your problems. Now we face a labor shortage (according to our politicians) and need to have an endless supply of illegal aliens to meet that demand, and to fund Socialist Security, Medicare and the rest of the entitlements.

It's political / social / economic libtard bedlam in Washington D.C. just as it is in Peking, Beijing or whatever they call it now.

What I find interesting about this, aside from Chinese people openly revolting about this one-child quota, is that for several years, the Chinese government has officially stated that by having less children, China is contributing to controlling global warming.

And in the USA, some libtards endorse the limitation of families to one or two kids to reduce global warming by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Libtards have been espousing the population control agenda for long time (hidden under the guise of "family planning"). The global warming hoax just provides them with another poison arrow.

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:04 AM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 27 May 2007 2:10 AM EDT

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15-Year-Old Outsmarts U.N. Climate Panel, Predicts End of Australia's Drought

By Noel Sheppard

Last week, NewsBusters readers were introduced to Portland, Maine’s fabulous fifteen-year-old, Kristen Byrnes, whose website “Ponder the Maunder” marvelously takes on anthropogenic global warming myths including those being advanced by soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore.

As will be revealed post haste, this newest – and likely youngest – member of the growing list of folks skeptical about man’s role in climate change actually walks the walk better than she talks the talk.

Yet, despite her youth and precocious scientific acumen, it seems quite unlikely that she’ll be sitting down with Matt Lauer or Diane Sawyer any time soon to discuss her research concerning one of the most popular subjects on the media’s front-burner. Why?

Because a prediction that she made last month concerning Australia's drought has marvelously borne fruit making the scientists employed by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change look a bit foolish.

To set this up, here’s what the IPCC Summary for Policymakers report released on April 7 predicted regarding Australia (emphasis added):

As a result of reduced precipitation and increased evaporation, water security problems are projected to intensify by 2030 in southern and eastern Australia and, in New Zealand, in Northland and some eastern regions. ** D [11.4]

[…]

Production from agriculture and forestry by 2030 is projected to decline over much of southern and eastern Australia, and over parts of eastern New Zealand, due to increased drought and fire.

About two weeks later, in an Internet discussion group which I belong to that deals exclusively with anthropogenic global warming issues, Byrnes wrote the following to an Australian participant (emphasis added, released with her permission and that of her parents):

I was just looking at my ENSO 3.4 chart when I was responding to Eduardo's email. It looks like the ENSO has been positive for 95% of the last 6 years. Since Austrailia [sic] experiences warm and dry conditions during positive ENSO, six years of drought would not surprise me. But it is headed negative very quickly now, so you might want to dust off your umbrella.

Well, just last week, there were signs from Australia that the six-year-old drought might be over. As reported by News.com.au on May 18 in an article deliciously titled “Drought Could Be Ending”:

THE El Nino weather system has run its course and the weather bureau says the worst drought in a century could be coming to an end, as heavy rain soaked parched southeastern Australia.

Inland NSW and north-east Victoria enjoyed heavy rainfall today, with reports from 20-30mm falling in some areas and as high as 53mm in country Victoria, Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) senior forecaster Phil King said.

[…]

Mr King said the rainfall reflected a shift in weather patterns back to a more normal situation following an end to the drought-making El Nino and signs emerging of its opposite, a La Nina, which brings rain.

"The El Nino is over,'' he said.

"The global patterns are indicating there are more neutral and natural conditions and with the rainfalls, there are signs we have returned to more normal patterns.''

Certainly great news for Australians, wouldn't you agee? And, the Canberra Times reported Wednesday (emphasis added):

Winter has arrived early on the Snowy Mountains in spectacular fashion.

A blanket of snow has covered much of the high ranges of the Kosciuszko National Park over the past two days and hopes are running high for the coming ski season.

After spending much of the summer season enduring the drought and feeling the threat of climate change, the residents of Jindabyne are alight with anticipation of a good season. The town, at the foot of the national park, almost triples in size during the snow season and relies heavily on the tourist dollar.

"Don't you worry, this season will be a good one, this is a big one. You'll see, we can feel it," one long-time resident said.

As for agriculture, The Age reported Thursday:

A good wet season in northern Australia has put Queensland-based cattle producer Australian Agricultural Co Ltd (AAco) on track for an improved performance this year.

AAco managing director Don Mackay said recent rain in some parts of southern states had also boosted prospects.

And, News.com.au reported the following on Thursday as well (emphasis added):

Recent storms over the northeast Top End put the icing on the cake for the Nothern [sic] Territory's rain totals, which have been more than 5 times the May average in some areas.

Places such as Batchelor Airport in the north, and Kulgera in the Alice Springs district have had more than 500% of their average monthly rainfall.

Lajamanu has done particularly well with more than 7 times their average monthly rain. Most of that was from a heavy downpour of 44mm. 20mm of that fell within 1 hour.

On Thursday storms crossing the eastern Top End drenched Nhulunbuy, with 41mm recorded from this event. Showers will continue on Friday in moist, unstable easterly winds, with falls heaviest in the east.

Obviously, Kristen’s April 20 suggestion that folks in Australia better dust off their umbrellas was rather prescient. Just imagine if this 15-year-old’s prediction supported the Global Warmingist-in-Chief Al Gore’s position on man’s role in climate change. Think she’d be Matt, Meredith, and Diane’s guest tomorrow?

Regardless of the answer, here’s what Kristen saw in the climate data that the global warming alarmists working for the U.N. either didn’t recognize or chose to ignore as shared with me by e-mail:

There are certain rules in climate. One of them is that when there is an El Nino, there is dry weather in Australia, especially during their summer. Here is a map of what I am talking about:.

and during their winter:

Australia has been in drought for about 6 years because there have been positive ENSO conditions for most of the past 6 years.

ENSO stands for El Niño/Southern Oscillation; more information on this indicator is available here and here. Kristen continued her explanation:

This is the NOAA Oceanic Nino Index. There are many different ENSO indexes. I use this one because it is updated all the time.

NOAA also publishes ENSO forecasts. They are usually pretty good a few months in advance but not perfect. Last month the La Nina was starting much faster but it has slowed down. This means that Australia will have normal rainfall for the planting season. The forecast for ENSO can be found here.

Kristen then addressed why so much of the alarmism is based on specious science:

The reason that computer climate models do not work is because they cannot predict volcanoes, ENSO and solar variance. They also do not understand how water vapor and clouds work.

Another rule in climate is that El Nino warms the average global temperature and La Nina is the opposite. During normal conditions the trade winds at the equator blow cool water off the coast of Peru to the east and cause warm water to pile up near Indonesia, the wind pressure actually causes sea water levels to be higher there. During La Nina, the winds blow even harder and pile the water up even more. During El Nino the winds slow down and the warm water flows back to Peru.

The result is, during La Nina (cool event) the cold water coming from the bottom of the ocean near Peru is blown across the surface to Indonesia. The Earth's normal circulation that takes heat from the equator towards the poles has less heat to move to the poles.

On the other hand, when there is an El Nino, the warm water spreads across the surface back to Peru. More warm water is in contact with the air above and the Earth's circulation takes that heat toward the poles.

From about 1944 to 1976 the ENSO was mostly negative and solar increased then decreased. Temperatures during this time cooled a little. Since 1976 the ENSO has been more positive. This along with increasing solar activity has combined to warm the globe. What is expected over the next few years is for the ENSO to move back to a negative phase and for solar activity to level off then go down. That is why the weather guy said that in 5 years global warming will be a joke.

Kristen was referring to a NewsBusters' article about New Zealand's favorite weatherman, Augie Auer, who was quoted last week as saying that over-hyped fears regarding climate change are "all going to be a joke in five years."

Kristen continued:

I am already seeing signs that the climate is cooling. Since 2001 the oceans have not warmed. 2005 was supposed to be the warmest year on record but ENSO went a little negative that year. That means the base temperature (the oceans) was as warm as it is going to get because 2006 was an El Nino year and it was the 6th warmest on record. Keep in mind that for the last 70 years there has been an 11,000 year solar high. It takes time for all that heat to build up in the oceans, but it seems that the oceans are as warm as they will get from this 11,000 year solar high. This year will be cooler than last year because it will be an ENSO negative year and the solar cycle still has not started yet.

Also keep in mind that just because there is no El Nino or La Nina, there is still heating or cooling. ENSO positive that does not get to the level of El Nino will still warm the climate, just a lot less. Same with ENSO negative that does not make the level of La Nina.

So, what does all this tell us?

Well, if the drought in Australia and New Zealand is indeed ending – and, certainly, early-season rains and snowstorms do not yet prove this – one must question the models being used by the IPCC to forecast climate change in the future.

After all, if a long-range forecast issued April 7 ends up being wrong five weeks later, why on earth would we trust these folks from the U.N. to be able to accurately predict what’s going to happen next year, or fifty to a hundred years from now?

Maybe more important, should we actually enact policy changes that could negatively impact the economy on the recommendations of a group that can’t accurately predict events beyond just a month and a half?

Of course, the other likely more pivotal side of this revelation is whether the scientists involved are just incompetent, or willfully malfeasant. As Kristen wrote in her e-mail message to me, “They were probably trying to scare the people of Australia into signing Kyoto.”

Well, if this is the case, then aren’t all involved participating in a shameful scam?

Think about it. If this is indeed about getting developed nations to agree to the Kyoto Protocol, isn’t the U.N. best served by predicting calamitous climate events regardless of their merit in order to scare the public into complacent support?

If there is evidence to suggest that this is indeed the case – for example, proof of errant predictions by the IPCC – shouldn’t the veracity and integrity of the information emanating from this organization be much more thoroughly scrutinized?

Sounds like questions good journalists should be asking, wouldn’t you agree?

So, why aren’t they?

Noel Sheppard's blog | login or register to post comments
Categories: Al Gore | An Inconvenient Truth | Environment | Global Warming | Weather

News Busters ~ Noel Sheppard ** 15-Year-Old Outsmarts U.N. Climate Panel, Predicts End of Australia's Drought
Related: 15 Year-old Student Challenges Al Gore’s Enviro-mental Alarmism

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:49 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 26 May 2007 3:11 AM EDT

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Mood:  sharp

Iraqis Taking The Lead At Al Suleikh

Capt. James Peay was starting to feel like a third wheel.

Peay, a battery commander with the 82nd Airborne Division from Nashville, Tenn., was accompanying Iraqi police chief Lt. Col. Ahmed Abdullah on a combined engagement patrol through the east Baghdad neighborhood of Suleikh.

Whenever they stopped to speak with people on the street, Ahmed did most of the talking. Peay stood off to the side, listening as his interpreter translated. His comments were mostly limited to hellos, goodbyes, and thank-yous.

This was Ahmed's show, and Peay was more than happy to give him the spotlight. It's not that he is shy, Peay said later, it's that, ultimately, stability in Iraq depends on the Iraqi security forces - and people like Lt. Col. Ahmed - taking the lead.

Successfully negotiating that difficult transition has become one of the major focuses of the entire war effort, especially since the kick-off of the new security plan for Baghdad, which has placed thousands of additional U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad communities, often living together in the same compounds.

Peay commands one of those new shared bases - the Suleikh Joint Security Station. For more than three months, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division have been living and working side-by-side with the Iraqi police and Iraqi army at the JSS to coordinate security efforts in Suleikh.

The paratroopers from Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, man the JSS 24 hours a day.

They have a cramped section of the building to themselves, stacked high with boxes of canned food, water and other supplies. The police stay on the other side of the same building, and the Iraqi soldiers stay in another part of the complex. At least once a day, liaisons from the three units meet in the conference room to discuss operations.

When the JSS was first established, the area was so dangerous that the police rarely left the station. Some days, they went out only to pick up one of the dead bodies regularly dumped in the neighborhood.

Three months later, things changed. The U.S. presence helped bring the level of violence down significantly. At the same time, it emboldened the ISF to raise their profile in the area - particularly the police.

"They know we're here to support them, but at the same time, they're getting to a point where they know security as a whole is in their hands," said 2nd Lt. Jesse Bowman, an Alpha Battery platoon leader from Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

The difficult part, now, will be to maintain the security while the U.S. forces step back and the ISF step up.

Peay's patrol with Ahmed, May 18, his first as the new battery commander, gave an encouraging glimpse of the future.

Before the patrol started, platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Nichols, of Lewisburgh, W.V., went over tactics and procedures with the Iraqis. When he was satisfied everyone was on the same page, the patrol moved out.

With a phalanx of police and paratroopers around them, Peay and Ahmed spent several hours walking a loop of the neighborhood around the JSS. They talked to people in their houses, outside washing their cars, on their way to work or anywhere else they found them.

Almost everyone complained about sewage or electricity, which, in the big scheme of things, Peay found promising.
"If they're complaining about the power, security must be pretty good," he said.

Sometimes people came right out of their gates to talk with Ahmed in the middle of the street, an act that newly-arrived platoon leader, 1st Lt. Larry Rubal, from Old Forge, Pa., found incredible. At his old unit, people were afraid to be seen talking to U.S. or Iraqi security forces.

"I was very surprised by how willing people here were to come out and talk to us in the middle of the road," he said. "They were just very open."

Peay rarely had to ask a question. Ahmed was running the show. At one point Rubal asked his interpreter to make sure a man they were talking to received a pamphlet with the number of a crime tip line. The man produced one from his pocket. Ahmed had already given it to him.

"You're too quick," Rubal said to Ahmed, laughing. Ahmed shrugged.

"He really took the lead and got out there," Peay said afterwards.

Peay said he'd like to build on the day's success by conducting more joint patrols and joint operations. And whenever possible, he'll continue to keep the U.S. in the background.
"I'd rather our guys just stand outside and have (the ISF) do everything," he said.

In the meantime, Peay has another patrol scheduled with Lt. Col. Ahmed. And as the ISF continue to make gains in securing the streets of Baghdad, it looks like Peay will have to get used to being the third wheel.

Source: Multi-National Force-Iraq
NewsBlaze, Daily News ** Iraqis Taking The Lead At Al Suleikh

Posted by yaahoo_ at 2:09 AM EDT

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