Saturday, January 31, 2015

Grand Kiddie and His Mommy...

...are here to see me. Grand kiddy doesn't like me. He's grumpy. But I like him.

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Big Pharoah Answers A Question I Have Been...

...wondering about for years.

Why there won’t be an anti-terrorists million man march in the Arab/Muslim world

His headings?

  • Denial
  • Sense of victimhood
  • Lack of religious reformation
Well worth a read.

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Friday, January 30, 2015

Just What I've Always Wanted

Interesting, to Say the Least

Marine Le Pen Leads French Presidential Poll

"The leader of France's far-right National Front party came out on top in a new poll on potential 2017 presidential candidates. The survey, published in Marianne on Thursday, pitted Marine Le Pen against French President Francois Hollande, former President Nicolas Sarkozy and other potential candidates."
I wonder why? /sarc

""If the first ballot would take place today," the magazine wrote, " she would gather between 29 and 31 percent of the votes, depending on the adversaries."

According to the poll, former President Nicolas Sarkozy would come in second if the elections took place today. French President Francois Hollande, who has battled low approval rates throughout his first term, would not make it to the second round.

The poll comes weeks after the deadly terror attacks on the office of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in Paris by three radicalized Muslims. While Marianne details that it's unclear what effects the attacks had on the results of the poll, Le Pen and the National Front, known for their proposals to reduce the number of immigrants in France and their criticism of Islam, have used the assaults to draw attention to their program.

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From My Newest Hero, Joe Bastardi

The Grand Slam of Climate

"I introduced something on the O'Reilly Factor several years ago called the “Triple Crown of Cooling.” I called it that because back in 2007 I thought a 20-30 year period of cooling would start, resulting in global temperatures returning to 1978 levels by 2030. I also introduced the concept that this cooling may cause a “time of climatic hardship” — in other words, the natural process of cooling after a process of natural warming could produce an uptick in extreme events. The increase in this is not clear, though one can argue it is occurring off the East Coast. The Atlantic still is in its warm cycle and will be for several more years, so the coastal water is warm. It is the reason I am very worried about the East Coast with hurricanes similar in magnitude to storms of the 1950s, though it has not yet occurred. That’s right – Irene, Sandy and Arthur can’t hold a candle to eight major hurricane hits in seven years. None of the aforementioned storms was major."
[---]
"Quantifying CO2’s effect, with its increase of only one molecule out of every 10,000 molecules of air over a 100-year period, against the grand slam of climate, especially in light of the earth having had ice ages at 7,000 PPM and warmer times at 250 PPM, is grasping at straws at best. [Emphasis mine] Then again, desperate people zealous about another issue would do that if they felt this would help them get their way."

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Has the Civil War Begun?

Previously.

Open Jihad Declared in Egypt Following State Dept. Meeting with Muslim Brotherhood-Aligned Leaders

Although it doesn't come right out and say it, I presume the "State Dept." is the American State Department. If so, Barack Obama's presidency has reached new depths. We live in very scary times..

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Thursday, January 29, 2015

You Go Girl!!!

No Comment

Human and Neanderthal love affair is traced back to Israel, 55,000 years ago

Suffice it to say, archeaologists are fighting over the implications of an ancient human-like skull found in a cave in Greece, which, apparently, threatens to throw the theory of human origins in Africa on its head.

Who knew? Neanderthal was Greek?

Or was it Israeli?

First Neanderthal-Human 'Love Child' From Israel

Related: Mark of the Neanderthal

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Arrrrrrrgh!!!

Blogspot is screwing up again. The font is extremely small and there doesn't seem to be any way to correct that.

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One of My Favourite Poems

...from one of my favourite poets:

On Children

"Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

 

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

 

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable
."
We named our son after him.

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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Keep It Up Folks

Liberals and NDP Oppose Life Sentences for dangerous offenders.

I smell an election coming, and we will remember.

 

 

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You Go Harper!!

Here's an Excellent Piece on the Idea of "Race"

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Yup

Diplomacy...

Great Discussion on the Middle East

Israel and Arabs

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The Middle Ages

Here's a Couple Of Blasts From the Past...

...songs that I really liked when they were new, and still do:



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New York Prepares for a Woppimg...

...dose of global warming...


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Monday, January 26, 2015

The Power of Nature

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Obama Gets A Well Deserved Snb...

Initiation rite...

Could Say the Same...

...about Canada's universities:

Eleven free speech controversies at American universities

Note the "free speech for me but not for thee" stance taken by the
(you guessed it) Muslim Student's Association.

The article describes the attempts to shut down freedoms of expression at each of the universities.

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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Auld Lang Syne

Kurds get Snubbed

Listen Up People...

...warmanistas. Here a little lesson in correlation versus cause and effect:

Spurious Correlations

"US spending on science, space, and technology correlates with
suicides by hanging, strangulation and suffocation"

"People who drowned after falling out of a fishing boat correlates with marriage rate in Kentucky"

"Number people who drowned by falling into a swimming-pool correlates with Number of films Nicolas Cage appeared in"

"Divorce rate in Maine correlates with per capita consumption of margarine (US)"

"Honey producing bee colonies (US) inversely correlates with
Juvenile arrests for possession of marijuana (US)"

"Age of Miss America correlates with Murders by steam, hot vapours and hot objects"

"Total revenue generated by arcades (US) correlates with Computer science doctorates awarded (US)"

"Worldwide non-commercial space launches correlates with Sociology doctorates awarded (US)"

"Number of people who died by becoming tangled in their bedsheets
correlates with Total revenue generated by skiing facilities (US)"

"Per capita consumption of chicken (US) correlates with Total US crude oil imports"

"US crude oil imports from Norway correlates with Drivers killed in collision with railway train"

"Per capita consumption of sour cream (US) correlates with motorcycle riders killed in noncollision transport accident"

"Divorce rate in Mississippi correlates with murders by bodily force"

"Total number of Political Action Committees (US) correlates with
people who died by falling out of their wheelchair"

"Number people who drowned while in a swimming-pool correlates with
power generated by nuclear power plants (US)"

"Number of people who were electrocuted by power lines correlates with marriage rate in Alabama"

Autism and organic food sales

Circumcision and autism

Got it now? Correlation does not prove cause and effect and correlation is all you've got.



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OOOPS!!

I forgot to post something about this yesterday. In the spirit of "It's never too late" here goes:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6Ucci97cEmL4fBEFsoHrdbDr7GCUHvteV_hLDw-U6-OFMiJhquoCmUXt-scH2t7ODuIFhLdOxLNLRRQFRciH7oPQvLt-puXfhNVJNf-3vvB0_xCIy6PmlAF6g4KfvcuxfaB7/s1600/Winston+Churchill+on+Islam.jpg

10 of Winston Churchill's Best Quotes

1. "I like pigs. Cats look down on you; dogs look up to you; but pigs treat you like an equal."

2. "We have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy."

3. "History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days."

4. "[I]t has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

5. "If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time."

6. "For myself, I am an optimist—it does not seem to be much use being anything else."

7. "Now we have 'adequacy.' What is adequacy? Adequacy is no standard at all. It is simply what His Majesty's Ministers at any given moment, surveying what they have got, choose to say is adequate.

8. "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."

9. "It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time."

10. "In the course of my life I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet."

As for me, I like # 1 the best.

And then there was his speech in the Canadian House of Commons:



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Who Knew??

Genetically modified foods are "more ecofriendly"

Regular old food is destroying the environment, apparently. /sarc

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Saturday, January 24, 2015

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

It's Taking A Long Time To Die...

Where Are Those Nukes?

Canada's embassy belongs in Jerusalem

"This is what some $650 million in aid to the Palestinians over two decades has bought the people of Canada.

The ostensible reason for the violent demonstration is the Canadian administration’s support for Israel. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has unquestionably become the Jewish state’s most steadfast and outspoken ally, having most recently forcefully denounced both the Palestinians’ statehood initiative at the UN Security Council and any subsequent accession to the International Criminal Court. In 2012, Canada was among the few countries that voted against the Palestinian bid to become a non-member state at the United Nations General Assembly."

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The Mind Boggles

Let's face it. They are insane.

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An Interview...

...in which Stephen Harper disappoints:

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Round Up!

I'm not such a news junkie as I use to be, so I've never heard of this guy, but this sounds good:

Sen. Inhofe takes charge of Environment Committee

Sen. Inhofe Uses Heartland Poster to Debunk Climate Alarmism

Mitch McConnell Did Something Last Night to Senate Dems That Has Them Furious

Mitch McConnell Cut Off Keystone XL Debate So Republicans Can Meet With The Koch Brothers

===========================================
Speaking of good news:

ISIS Suffers Heaviest Defeat in Iraq in a Single Day

===========================================
Back to the bad news:

ISIS Executes Haruna Yukawa, One of Two Japanese Hostages

And now for something really cute.






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Did You Know?

I've been wondering how many old laws are still on the books in Canada, but are no longer enforced. Here's a few of the more absurd sort:
  • "You may not park a car in such a way that it is blocking your own driveway."

  • "When raining, a person may not water his/her lawn."
  • "If you are released from prison, it is required that you are given a handgun with bullets and a horse, so you can ride out of town."
  • "It’s illegal to climb trees on city property in Oshawa, Ontario"
  • "The Queen Elizabeth Hotel must feed your horse freely when you rent a room." 

    They get pretty weird.

    More here, here and here.

    Some of the best:

  •  "Horses are not allowed to stand on Edmonton streets for longer than 20 minutes"
  • "In Fort Qu' Appelle, Saskatchewan all teenagers walking down the main street must have their shoes tied."

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    Headlines That Make You Go...

    ...ooooookay:

    Six naked soldiers catch frostbite in Norway

    I know those Norwegians are a hardy lot, but...(or should that be butt?).

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    "It's a Myth"

    Watch for it at 38.00 minutes, or thereabouts:

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    And Another One...

    ...from the "you can't make this shit up" file:


    Mt. Holyoke, The Vagina Monologues, and why “The Coming College Decline” is a good thing


    "Ronald Brownstein, in a National Journal article entitled “The Coming College Decline,” has noticed that the college bubble is getting near bursting. He thinks that’s a bad thing for racial reasons. According to him, the ones dropping out of college are minorities, who will be the youthful majority in a couple of decades. When that time comes, we’ll be back to a pre-baby boom society, one in which the largest share of working adults have not gone to college. To Brownstein, this demographic change is a reason to take Obama up on his offer to give people “free” community college. We know, of course, that only the moon and stars are free; for everything else, someone’s got to pay.

    I have to part ways with Brownstein. I think that it would be a wonderful thing if the bubble collapsed and fewer Americans went to college. Why? Because colleges don’t teach anymore, they corrupt."
    Emphasis mine.

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    From the...

    ..."you can't make this shit up" files:

    German court rules that men can urinate while standing

    "A court in Germany has ruled in favour of a man's right to urinate while standing up after his landlord demanded money for damage to the bathroom floor.

    The landlord, who was seeking €1,900 (£1400; $2,200), claimed the marble floor had been damaged by urine."
    They just need to aim better.

    (Shamelessly stolen from Snoopy the Goon.}

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    Thursday, January 22, 2015

    No Wonder...

    ...those old sexually repressed members of the Muslim Brotherhood wanted those ancient Egyptian monuments covered up:



    There was no peadophilia involved.

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    ARRRRRRG

    Luv It!!!

    Wednesday, January 21, 2015

    Why is This Woman...

    ...doing her campaigning in Canada?

    Hillary Clinton says Canada, world must fight terrorist propaganda

    Maybe she's being paid by the Liberals to annoy the Cons. Maybe the Liberals are stupid enough to think this would work.



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    Tuesday, January 20, 2015

    Ain't Democracy Grand!



    Another brawl in a parliament. This time it's Nepal.

    Here's an incomplete list.

    South Africa.

    More here, and of course Canadian style.

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    Brrrrrr!

    Weather Bulletin:
    People Freeze While Climate Alarmists Fiddle

    While You Freeze, Remember This Was the Warmest Year on Record

    The usual crowd cannot be reached for comment and I doth protest. I so wanted some of that hot air.


    BHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Global warming devastates America
    "See that white stuff floating down past the orange trees and landing on your alligators and manatees, Florida? That's global warming, that is.

    See that frozen white thing by the harbor that used to look a green woman with a spiky headdress, New York? That's global warming, that is.

    See that chilling solid yellow stream extending upwards from the snowy ground to your shrivelling blackened member after you made the very wrong call to take an al fresco leak, Chicagoans? That's global warming, that is."

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    Virgins on Standby

    Speaks for Itself

    Another One Bites the Ice Floe

    Faux polar bear figures

    "1960s - 5,000 polar bears

    Today - 25,000+ polar bears"

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    Monday, January 19, 2015

    More About the Other Refugees


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    I Take It Back


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    Not So Much

    Is Islam the religion of peace? Hah!



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    Hirsi Ali -"IsNeeds a Reformation"

    Sunday, January 18, 2015

    Egyptian Update

    'Egypt's Al-Sissi deserves the Nobel Prize for speech on Islamic extremism'

    You know that won't happen. The Nobel Prize is reserved for only the most frivolous and ridiculous of recipients.

    Al-Sisi Ascendant


    "WHEN he addresses the UN General Assembly on September 25th, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will surely have reason to feel pleased. The former field-marshal’s first 100 days as president, following a strong electoral win in June, have brought economic and diplomatic advances as well as hope to Egyptians wearied by years of political turmoil. Yet the health of the most populous Arab state remains fragile. Full recovery will take more time and less of a few things, not least reliance on heavy-handed police to silence dissent."

    I have to confess, that I have some reservations about how he seized power. Even though the Muslim Brotherhood, the previous government, was bad news all around, their rise to power was more or less democratic and al-Sisi's seizure was anything but. Still, strongman tactics are sometimes necessary when a rotten to the core regime needs to be taken down.

    Still, and all, I have to agree with Bolton on this one:

    Egypt's president is a courageous warrior who has the guts to confront radical Islam.

    "When Egyptian President Anwar Sadat traveled to Jerusalem in 1977, he shattered decades of isolation and war with Israel to search for peace. No single act in the former general’s remarkable career showed more courage. In 1981, Muslim Brotherhood assassins made Sadat pay with his life for standing against the pan-Arabist conventional wisdom of his era.

    This New Year’s Day, Egypt’s current president (also a former general), Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, followed directly in Sadat’s footsteps. At Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, he spoke forcefully against today’s Western conventional wisdom regarding Islam and terrorism.

    Just days later, on Jan. 6, Christmas Eve for Coptic Christians, Al-Sisi spoke at Egypt’s principal Coptic church, an unprecedented appearance by an Egyptian president.

    Whether the Muslim Brotherhood or other radicals will make Al-Sisi pay the same price as Sadat remains to be seen. But Al-Sisi’s gestures, for audacity and surprise, are historic. And they demand the West’s recognition and support."
    [---]
    "They also present us with a stark contrast. In 2009, Al-Azhar, a noted center of Islamic teachings, co-hosted President Obama’s famous speech to the Muslim world. There, and in countless other speeches, Obama demonstrated an unwillingness to frontally criticize Islamicist terror — and connect it to a significant thread of radical religions faith — perhaps for fear of being seen as attacking Islam itself

    Egypt’s president has destroyed this debilitating misconception, demonstrating that clear-thinking Muslims fully understand how radical Islamicists and the all-too-common religious ideology they espouse constitute a mortal danger to Muslims themselves."

    Egypt: Abdul Fattah al-Sisi profile
    "Mr Sisi appears to be genuinely popular. Far from being a stern military figure, he has a softly-spoken but charismatic presence, often seen smiling and known for emotional speeches. At a concert in 2012, his words famously had artists on the stage with him in tears.

    Many Egyptians see in him the strong leader needed to overcome the instability that has beset Egypt since the mass protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square ended Hosni Mubarak's long rule in 2011.

    But his ascendancy has left some worrying that it heralds a return to the authoritarian security state that prevailed under Mr Mubarak, rendering the Tahrir Square revolution a brief experiment in democracy."


    Egyptian President Al-Sisi Delivers Speech That May Change the World Forever


    "In a speech delivered at Al-Azhar at the end of 2014, Egyptian President Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi called to combat extremist ideology and said: “We need to revolutionize our religion.” Calling for “religious discourse that is in keeping with its times,” Al-Sisi warned that “the Islamic nation is being torn apart and destroyed” by extremism."




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    Payback Breaks Out All Over

    ROTFLMAO!!!!!

    Fascinating...

    ...history of planet earth. Kinda drives home the real possibility that some day we will be extinct.

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    Good Question

    And The Hits Keep Coming

    The UK Made a Huge Move Against the Muslim Brotherhood… It Puts Obama to Shame
    "That British investigation found something that many people have long suspected: The Muslim Brotherhood is not an independent political organization, but has deep connections to other suspicious groups.

    “A senior source close to the inquiry said its report — compiled but not yet published — had identified ‘an incredibly complex web’ of up to 60 organisations in Britain,” continued the report.
    [---]
    "While the United Kingdom takes the lead in holding the radical group responsible, conservatives here in the U.S. have also been trying to bring attention to suspicious Islamic organizations.

    Republican lawmakers including Michelle Bachmann and Trent Franks have requested that the Muslim Brotherhood be investigated, but they were largely ignored.

    It goes without saying that the Obama administration isn’t willing to touch the issue. They have instead tried to pretend that radical Islam does not exist or isn’t a threat.

    America should be the world leader in dealing with this issue, not a follower behind the United Kingdom.

    It’s time to take extremist groups seriously. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away — yet that’s exactly what Obama is foolishly trying to do."

    'Asterix' Comic Artist Comes Out Of Retirement To Pay Stunning Tribute To Charlie Hebdo

    View image on Twitter

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    My Politically Incorrect 2 Cents Worth

    There is a solution and this is it. Henceforth, every Friday, just as prayers are underway in Mosques around the world, a bombing campaign must begin in earnest. This campaign must continue until every last mosque in the world has been obliterated. Kitman and Taqqyia optional.

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    Charlie Farquhson is Dead!!

    Saturday, January 17, 2015

    A Little More of This Might Be In Order

    And not just in Belgium:

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    Friday, January 16, 2015

    Yet Another Thing....

    ...the climate models don't take into account:

    Earth’s Dominate Methane Emitter? Deep Ocean Vents and Fault Systems

    "When President Obama said he will cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector up to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, geologist James E. Kamis remarked that methane from either man-made or natural sources is poorly monitored or not monitored at all. Not acknowledging that we know very little about methane emissions or their origins further promotes junk science and arbitrary restrictions. "Kamis, a regular contributor to Climate Change Dispatch, supplied the following list of geological sources that emit methane, none of which are being actively monitored:

    1. Continental volcanoes as indicated in the latest MIT Study: These volcanoes also emit methane along with sulphur.

    2. Deep-ocean hot vents: Two basic kinds of oases are now known from the oceans. Hot vents, first discovered in 1977, are now known to exist in deep oceans world wide. These sea floor geysers belch out seawater heated up to 400°C and laden with nutritious chemicals. Dramatic colonies of large clams, giant tubeworms, and other exotic life-forms have been discovered around some hot vents. Recent advances in satellite imaging techniques have allowed scientists to accurately map thousands of here to for unknown deep ocean volcanoes and vents.

    3. Deep-ocean cold seeps: The second broad category of chemosynthetic oasis is the "cold seep," which usually involves the upward seepage of methane dissolved in water or as small bubbles. Mud volcanoes and related cold-seep features form over great sediment accumulations in which bacteria digest buried organic matter, producing methane as a waste product. Specially evolved bacteria oxidize the methane, forming the foundation of a food chain. Different bacteria have evolved to oxidize the foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide, itself the waste product of yet other bacteria living below the ocean floor, which oxidize sulfate ions of seawater origin. The conspicuous and, by bacteria standards, large sulfur bacteria (Beggiatoa spp.) form thin, snow-like mats on the seafloor where seepage takes place. Bacterial mats form at hot vents also, but Beggiatoa is common at cool oceanic seeps and some non-seep environments where hydrogen sulfide rises close to the seafloor and oxygen is present in the water.

    4. Rift Systems: Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge. NASA Satellite showed huge methane release after deep ocean earthquake along Gakkel Ridge portion of Rift. It was a 1,000-mile-long methane release.

    5. Biogenic gas release from non-coal rock formations, not wetlands, whereby actual rock layers emit natural gas at surface.

    6. Surface coal seams: Miners know this, concentrations are higher at depth, but surface coals emit natural gas.

    7. Shallow-ocean shelf-edge sediments: Largest methane seep in the world found off the eastern coast of U.S.

    According to Kamis, this list is not necessarily even a complete one, but they have one thing in common: none are being monitored. And many have only been recognized in recent times. Combined, they have the potential to dwarf the effect of man-made methane emissions a hundred-fold."

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    Have You Ever Wondered Why...

    ...there are two kinds of lice that infest the human body? Pubic and head lice.

    This has been the subject of scientific investigation. I kid you not. Watch for it about the 23:45 minute mark:

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    The World Reacts: Islam On the Attack

    Europe Cracks Down on Terrorism Suspects

    Belgium terror raids: Killed suspects had police uniforms, Kalashnikovs and bomb-making kit

    20 sleeper cells operating in Europe

    15 arrested in anti-terror sweep across Europe

    Boko Haram crisis: Chad sends troops to help Cameroon

    Chad Sends Troops to Cameroon to Widen War Against Islamists

    German police arrest two Salafist suspects in raid

    Baird decides not to visit Muslim holy site on trip to Jerusalem

    Iraqis want ISIS fight increased

    Publishers and bookshops are defiant as they go digital.

    The House of Saud recoils:

    Saudi Arabia postpones activist's flogging: source, Amnesty

    And John Kerry admits that the Obama administration sucks:

    John Kerry apologises to France for missing Charlie Hebdo rally

    Then they go out of their way to prove it: US Consulate Training, Arming Palestinians as Guards

    Only 300 copies of latest Charlie Hebdo issue available in U.S.

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    Thursday, January 15, 2015

    It's the Flying Purple People Eater!!

    Exit One Terrorist...

    Score One For The Good Guys

    Two dead in anti-terrorism raid in Belgium

    Three dead in Belgium anti-terror raid: report

    2 terror suspects dead, 1 in custody after Belgium raid


    Putting aside that the media can't decide whether there were two or three killed, I would like to say "Well done!" and "About time!"

    More counterterrorism raids reportedly underway in Belgium after police thwart 'Belgian Charlie Hebdo' attack


    Related: Fanaticism hurts Muslims: Hollande Ya' think!!!

    France sees 19,000 cyberattacks since terror rampage

    Palestine plans to present new draft resolution to UN: Abbas

    "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas proposed on Thursday formation of a Kuwait-led Arab committee to study going back to the UN Security Council (UNSC) with a new draft resolution to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

    Addressing an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League headquarters here in Cairo, Abbas voiced willingness to resume peace talks with Israel provided that they have a clear content and a specific strategy "so as not to be a waste of time.""

    I figured something like this would happen. We'll see whether it will end any differently than so many, many attempts in the past.

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    Do You Believe It?

    The Last Words Of The Pilot Of The Crashed AirAsia Plane Was “Allahu Akbar!”

    I do. There's been too darn many in the same region for it to be mere coincidence.

    Mind you, a pilot may shout those words just prior to what he knows is certain death, but still....

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    Yawn

    Wednesday, January 14, 2015

    Cruising With Cruz

    I Wonder If That Comes With a Side...

    Nearly Fifteen Years Ago

    Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past

    Now: 100 DAYS OF HEAVY SNOW: Britain now facing worst winter in SIXTY YEARS warn forecasters

    Latest winter weather models show UK faces MONTHS of heavy snow


    UK Weather: Britain prepares for worst weather in 200 years with temperatures colder than Lapland

    "...with temperatures dropping to -8°C, with a wind chill making it colder than Lapland."

    "The previous low of the year was set on February 17 in Altnaharra, Scotland. It was a low of -7.7°C but overnight we could see the temperature drop as low as -8°C in parts of Scotland, around the Braemar area.

    "Temperatures will be cold across the country and we could see still temperatures dropping into minus figures in London and the south of England, with lows of around minus -1°C expected.""


    Oh, the humanity.

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    "France arrests 54 for defending terror. Announces Crackdown"

    "Charlie Hebdo's defiant new issue sold out before dawn around Paris, with scuffles at kiosks over dwindling copies of the satirical newspaper fronting the Prophet Muhammad."

    Canada, too.

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    Wanna Give Your Scroll Button a Good Run?

    Here's a whole new perspective on the Solar System.

    Requires patience and a good scrolling finger.

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    BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

    Tuesday, January 13, 2015

    "'fuck off if you don't like freedom"

    "Dutch Mayor tells fellow Muslims that they can 'f--- off' if they don't like freedom."

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    Monday, January 12, 2015

    Things We Don't Want To Know


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    Sunday, January 11, 2015

    Sticky

    Je suis Charlie by esttroptard - "Je suis CHARLIE" means that everybody is a little bit like the newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

    The Whole World is Rallying

    Paris attacks: Rallies across Canada support French victims

    That title is a bit misleading. The article actually covers rallies that took place in Britain, Germany, Israel, Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney (Australia), Tokyo, New York, Madrid, Beirut, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. This has been a serious blow to would-be terrorists.

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    Something Tells Me a Corner Has Been Turned

    Million people pour throught (sic) streets of Paris in historic tribute march
    "World leaders have linked arms in unprecedented scenes of solidarity during an historic march against terrorism in Paris involving more than a million people.

    Walking arm in arm alongside President Francois Hollande were a string of leaders including British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    They were joined on the front line by arch nemeses Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, who were positioned just four people apart."
    Emphasis mine.


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    It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than That

    Paris march sees ‘unprecedented’ turnout, with up to 1.5 million people flooding streets

    Looks like no one is coming to poor old John A.'s birthday party. On google.news.ca there's one article about his birthday and eight, or more, about the Paris attack and several about what appears to be copy-cat attacks in numerous other places:

    Ashton Larmond and Carlos Larmond appear in court on terrorism charges

    Condemnations of n. Lebanon attack pour in


    Attack on German newspaper raises tension before anti-Islam rally

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    'Nuff Said

    BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

    Paris attack designed to shore up France’s vassal status: Roberts

    Brought to you by Press TV, the Mad Mullah's official propaganda organ.

    Related:






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    Updated

    I've been removing dead links from the sidebar. That process is now done. Most are still active.  Do visit them from time to time.

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    Saturday, January 10, 2015

    “This is what civilization looks like, you barbarous apes”

    What's The Problem?

    Think you might be able to find a problem here?
    (Again from Facebook.)

    The Bali bomber was a Muslim
    The Shoe Bomber was a Muslim
    The Beltway Snipers were Muslims
    The Fort Hood Shooter was a Muslim
    The underwear Bomber was a Muslim
    The U-S.S. Cole Bombers were Muslims
    The Madrid Train Bombers were Muslims
    The Bafi (sic) Nightclub Bombers were Muslims
    The London Subway Bombers were Muslims
    The Moscow Theatre Attackers were Muslims
    The Boston Marathon Bombers were Muslims
    The Pan-Am flight #93 Bombers were Muslims
    The Air France Entebbe Hijackers were Muslims
    The Iranian Embassy Takeover, was by Muslims
    The Beirut U.S. Embassy bombers were Muslims
    The Libyan U.S. Embassy Attack was by Musiims
    The Buenos Aires Suicide Bombers were Muslims
    The Israeli Olympic Team Attackers were Muslims
    The Kenyan U.S, Embassy Bombers were Muslims
    The Saudi, Khobar Towers Bombers were Muslims
    The Beirut Marine Barracks bombers were Muslims
    The Besian (sic) Russian School Attackers were Muslims
    The first World Trade Center Bombers were Muslims
    The Bombay & Mumbai India Attackers were Muslims
    The Achille Lauro Cruise Ship Hijackers were Muslims
    The September 11th 2001 Airline Hijackers were Muslims'
    Think of it:
    Buddhists living with Hindus = No Problem
    Hindus living with Christians = No Problem
    Hindus living with Jews = No Problem
    Christians living with Shintos = No Problem
    Shintos living with Confucians = No Problem
    Confusians (sic) living with Baha'is (sic)= No Problem
    Baha'is (sic) living with Jews = No Problem
    Jews living with Atheists = No Problem
    Atheists living with Buddhists = No Problem
    Buddhists living with Sikhs = No Problem
    Sikhs living with Hindus = No Problem
    Hindus living with Baha'is (sic)= No Problem
    Baha'is (sic) living with Christians = No Problem
    Christians living with Jews = No Problem
    Jews living with Buddhists = No Problem
    Buddhists living with Shintos = No Problem
    Shintos living with Atheists = No Problem
    Atheists living with Confucians = No Problem
    Confusians (sic) living with Hindus = No Problem
    Muslims living with Hindus = Problem
    Muslims living with Buddhists = Problem
    Muslims living with Christians = Problem
    Muslims living with Jews = Problem
    Muslims living with Sikhs = Problem
    Muslims living with Baha'is (sic) = Problem
    Muslims living with Shintos = Problem
    Muslims living with Atheists = Problem
    MUSLIMS LIVING WITH MUSLIMS = BIG PROBLEM
    **********SO THIS LEAD TO *****************
    They’re not happy in Gaza
    They're not happy in Egypt
    They're not happy in Libya
    They're not happy in Morocco
    They're not happy in Iran
    They're not happy in Iraq
    They're not happy in Yemen
    They're not happy in Afghanistan
    They're not happy in Pakistan
    They're not happy in Syria
    They're not happy in Lebanon
    They're not happy in Nigeria
    They're not happy in Kenya
    They're not happy in Sudan
    ******** So, where are they happy? **********
    They're happy in Australia
    They're happy in England
    They're happy in Belgium
    They're happy in France
    They're happy in Italy
    They're happy in Germany
    They're happy in Sweden
    They're happy in the USA & Canada
    They're happy in Norway & India
    They're happy in almost every country that is not Islamic! And who do they blame? Not Islam... Not their leadership... Not themselves... THEY BLAME THE COUNTRIES THEY ARE HAPPY IN!! And they want to change the countries they're happy in, to be like the countries they came from where they were unhappy and finally they will be get hammered
    !!!!
    Islamic Jihad: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    ISIS: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Al-Qaeda: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Taliban: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Hamas: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Hezbollah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Boko Haram: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Al-Nusra: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Abu Sayyaf: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Al-Badr: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Muslim Brotherhood: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Lashkar-e-Taiba: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Palestine Liberation Front: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Ansaru: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Jemaah Islamiyah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    Abdullah Azzam Brigades: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
    AND A LOT MORE!!!!!!!

    See a pattern, ya think?

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    Farmers Almanac...

    ...is predicting a warmer than average summer. They were right about the exceptionally cold winter we're having. I swear I will not complain, if they are right about a hot summer. Only trouble is, they also predicted above average snowfall, which hasn't materialized - yet.

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    Another Joke

    Rest Your Mind

    I know you have been lying awake at night wondering why baby diapers have brand names such as "Luvs", "Huggies" and "Pampers", while undergarments for older people are called "Depends".

    While, here is the lowdown on the whole thing.

    When babies crap their pants people are still gonna "Luv" 'em, and "Hug" 'em and "Pamper" em. When old people crap their pants, it "Depends" on who's in the will!

    Glad I got that straightened out so you can rest your mind.

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    Luv It!!!

    'Paris est Charlie' (Paris is Charlie) is projected onto the Arc de Triomphe in Paris today in tribute to the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack
    In Solidarity With a Free Press: Some More Blasphemous Cartoons

    These Are The Charlie Hebdo Cartoons That Terrorists Thought Were Worth Killing Over

    Charlie Hebdo’s Most Controversial Religious Covers, Explained


    Hate it! The cowardice of some (Canadian, included) media:

    New York Times editor in fiery Facebook attack on critic of Charlie Hebdo stance
    "The editor of the New York Times, Dean Baquet, took to social media on Friday to vigorously defend his paper’s decision not to publish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, calling a critic of the policy an “asshole”."

    No Canadians should publish Charlie Hebdo cartoons: Mallick

    Public editor: Why The Globe didn’t publish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons

    And there seems to be major hypocrisy (or is it reading of the writing on the wall?) on display in the Arab world:

    Hezbollah leader on Charlie Hebdo: ‘Extremists more offensive to Islam than cartoons


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    A Shitload of Offensive Cartoons...

    ...that no one went on a murderous rampage about:

    7 Offensive Images The New York Times Wasn’t Afraid to Publish

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    Friday, January 09, 2015

    Seems I Just Can't Leave This Topic Alone

    ‘Fears of man-made global warming exaggerated’
    "Two of three scientists at a session on climate change and society at the Indian Science Congress on Tuesday felt fears of man-made global warming were greatly exaggerated. Their presence at the conference was particularly significant in light of the current 'development-versus-environment' debates.

    "While I agree that glaciers are melting because of global warming, if this is because of man, then what was the reason for the melting of the glaciers in the Gondwana period long before man arrived on the planet?" asked Dhruv Sen Singh, Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow."
    [---]
    ""The Cretaceous period 65 million years ago was the hottest in the history of the earth. Man was not around at the time," he added.""
    RTWT

    Retired professor turns whistleblower on climate change
    "While much of the debate over climate change surrounds whether or not it is occurring, one glaciologist and retired professor says the real issue is that the topic is being used as a political pawn to siphon money and votes.

    Dr. Terry Hughes, in an interview with The College Fix, said researchers want to keep federal funding for climate change alive, and politicians want to earn environmentalist votes, and both predict global pandemonium to that end."
    [---]
    "Hughes, a professor emeritus of earth sciences and climate change at the University of Maine, said for years his colleagues urged him to be in lockstep with former Vice President Al Gore – “the drum major in the parade denouncing global warming as an unmitigated disaster,” he told The College Fix.

    But Hughes – who believes global warming is actually a good thing because more carbon dioxide is good for the environment in many ways – said he does not want to march to that beat.

    “Too many (the majority) of climate research scientists are quite willing to prostitute their science by giving these politicians what they want,” he said."
    More than Six Years Later, Keystone XL Is Still a Good Idea

    RTWT


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    More Evidence of Global Warming



    As the caption under the pic says, this happened in Revelstuck, BC.

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    Going Down in a Blaze of Glory

    Suspects In Paris Magazine Attack Killed
    "Several blasts and gunfire are heard at a building where the armed brothers were surrounded - their hostage is free."
    [---]
    "The Kouachi brothers had been surrounded at the print works by special forces officers for several hours.

    They took refuge in the building with a hostage after being forced off the road into Paris by a police roadblock.

    Earlier in the day they broke cover from an area northeast of the capital and stole a car, before heading towards Paris.

    A police chase took place and they were forced off the road close to the city's outskirts."

    Yay! Let's hear it for the good guys.

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    Thursday, January 08, 2015

    Vive La France!!! Vive La France!!!



    And, I might add, Death to Political Correctness!!

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    It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

    Paris shooting: Leaving Islam behind

    "With every terror attack, Islamic nations are further marginalized—becoming the world’s problems, not partners.

    Today, Muslim gunmen walked through the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo screaming, “the Prophet is avenged!” as they killed. At that very moment, by coincidence, 330 km above, the International Space Station (ISS) orbited silently over Paris.

    Consider that for a moment.

    Terrorists commit an act of tribal savagery in the name of a prophet who lived 1,400 years ago while right above them, gliding through space, was the most sophisticated example of mankind’s ability to transcend ignorance and fear with hope and reason.

    There are 25 nations who have come together to build the space station. They include old enemies, cold-war rivals and countries who fought each other for centuries over God and gold. But there are no Islamic nations on the ISS."

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    Lefties are Tripping All Over Themselves...

    Dodging the Payback

    Leading Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan: Attack on Paris Magazine "a Pure Betrayal of Our Religion"

    Tariq Ramadan is one of the leading Islamofascists. He's not feeling betrayed, but rather implicated - and on the run.

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    Yawn

    '97% Of Climate Scientists Agree' Is 100% Wrong

    "If you’ve ever expressed the least bit of skepticism about environmentalist calls for making the vast majority of fossil fuel use illegal, you’ve probably heard the smug response: “97% of climate scientists agree with climate change” — which always carries the implication: Who are you to challenge them?

    The answer is: you are a thinking, independent individual–and you don’t go by polls, let alone second-hand accounts of polls; you go by facts, logic and explanation.

    Here are two questions to ask anyone who pulls the 97% trick.

    If you’ve ever expressed the least bit of skepticism about environmentalist calls for making the vast majority of fossil fuel use illegal, you’ve probably heard the smug response: “97% of climate scientists agree with climate change” — which always carries the implication: Who are you to challenge them?

    The answer is: you are a thinking, independent individual–and you don’t go by polls, let alone second-hand accounts of polls; you go by facts, logic and explanation.

    Here are two questions to ask anyone who pulls the 97% trick.

    1. What exactly do the climate scientists agree on?

    Usually, the person will have a very vague answer like “climate change is real.”

    Which raises the question: What is that supposed to mean? That climate changes? That we have some impact? That we have a large impact? That we have a catastrophically large impact? That we have such a catastrophic impact that we shouldn’t use fossil fuels?

    What you’ll find is that people don’t want to define what 97% agree on–because there is nothing remotely in the literature saying 97% agree we should ban most fossil fuel use.

    It’s likely that 97% of people making the 97% claim have absolutely no idea where that number comes from.

    If you look at the literature, the specific meaning of the 97% claim is: 97 percent of climate scientists agree that there is a global warming trend and that human beings are the main cause–that is, that we are over 50% responsible. The warming is a whopping 0.8 degrees over the past 150 years, a warming that has tapered off to essentially nothing in the last decade and a half.

    Even if 97% of climate scientists agreed with this, and even if they were right, it in no way, shape, or form would imply that we should restrict fossil fuels–which are crucial to the livelihood of billions.
    Because the actual 97% claim doesn’t even remotely justify their policies, catastrophists like President Obama and John Kerry take what we could generously call creative liberties in repeating this claim.

    On his Twitter account, President Obama tweets: “Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree: #climate change is real, man-made and dangerous.” Not only does Obama sloppily equate “scientists” with “climate scientists,” but more importantly he added “dangerous” to the 97% claim, which is not there in the literature.

    This is called the fallacy of equivocation: using the same term (“97 percent”) in two different ways to manipulate people.

    John Kerry pulled the same stunt when trying to tell the underdeveloped world that it should use fewer fossil fuels:...

    RTWT There are some nifty graphs and charts in the original, too.

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    Israel and Arabs - Truth Telling

    timap

    "It should be remembered that in 1918, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France were handed more than 5,000,000 square miles to divvy up and 99% was given to the Arabs to create countries that did not exist previously. Less than 1% was given as a Mandate for the re-establishment of a state for the Jews on both banks of the Jordan River. In 1921, to appease the Arabs once again, another three quarters of that less than 1% was given to a fictitious state called Trans-Jordan."

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    Terrorism Unites Us

    #JeSuisCharlie: Thousands gather around the world in solidarity with #CharlieHebdo terror victims [pics]

    "Huge vigils are being held in Berlin, London and Paris tonight to stand in solidarity with the victims of today’s horrific terrorist attack against the French magazine Charlie Hebdo that claimed the lives of 12 people."

    French police converge on small town after Paris attack suspects seen

    Les Gendarme will "Get their man".

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    Al-Sisi Continues...

    ...to inspire:

    Sisi becomes first Egyptian leader to attend mass at Coptic church

    I hold by my prediction, though. He will be assassinated. Or at least assassination attempts will be made.

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    The World Reacts

    Of course, The One's press secretary is in denial:

    Islam ‘is a peaceful religion’ – White House Press Secretary on terrorist attack in Paris

    That's certainly puke-worthy.

    The British Telegraph follows suit:

    Charlie Hebdo attack: Europe has a terrorism problem, not a Muslim problem

    At least The Jerusalem Post gets it right:

    French Jews see Islamist terror as main threat

    No surprise there. Israelis are very familiar with terrorism.

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    The Egyption Sandmonkey...

    ...has not lost his mojo: Cheating Reality

    "2) It’s been said that the only way for Morsy to leave power is through spilling blood. Ironically, that’s the only way Sisi will be able to keep his. Jails and cemeteries are about to become growth industries around here. Invest in that."

    4) Egyptians are far too lazy a population to engage in a civil war, so don’t worry too much about our stability. Chaos is kind of our thing, anyway."

    And that's just a taste.

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    From Michael Yon...

    ...on Facebook. (Sorry, but there doesn't seem to be a way to cut and paste or embed it.)
    "Whatever the company published that sparked this attack, we should identify it and all republish it every Friday for a month."
    Great idea.

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    This One...

    Wednesday, January 07, 2015

    Cartoons

    Alright!!!!

    Cool Facts About Canada

    10 Mind-Boggling Facts About Canada

    The very first one shows a picture of Saskatoon, although the "mind-boggling fact" has nothing to do with that fair city. Some of those cool facts include:
    "If you walked and walked and never stopped — not to eat, not to rest your feet, not to get some sleep— it would take you four and a half years to walk the length of Canada's coastline. While our country might not conjure up images of blue waters and white sandy beaches, Canada has the world's longest coastline, bordered on three sides by three different oceans: the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific. To put that in perspective, Canada has 202,080 of the world's total 356,000 kilometres of oceanfront property. The only other country that even comes close is Indonesia, which has 54,716 km of coastline."
    and
    "Canada is so big that even our parks are bigger than countries. Just look at Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories: not only is it a sight to behold with massive waterfalls, it's also an incredible 30,050 square kilometres — bigger than Albania and Israel. Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta and the Northwest Territories is even bigger at 44,807 square kilometres, which makes it bigger than Denmark and Switzerland."
    and
    "...we also have more lake area than every other country in the world? It's true. The Great White North has 563 lakes larger than 100 square kilometres. The Great Lakes alone contain about 18 per cent of the world's fresh lake water. That's a lot of water."
    and
    "The vastness of our great country seems to be a little known secret to outsiders. Here are some facts to put Canada's size in perspective: It's bigger than the entire European Union (33 times bigger than Italy and 15 times bigger than France), more than 30 per cent larger than Australia, five times as big as Mexico, three times as big as India and about the same size as 81,975 Walt Disney Worlds put together."

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    Tuesday, January 06, 2015

    Very, Very Interesting!!! And Then Some

    Archaeologists unearth new tombs in Egypt, identifying unknown queen

    Queen Khentakawess III's tomb found in Egypt

    I wonder what the phrase "identifying unknown queen" means in the PBS report? Obviously, the BBC knew her name. Perhaps it means this was a queen who was previously unknown, but then again, how did BBC manage to name her? I any case, having been to Egypt many years ago, I have been interested in these ancient tombs and the treasures they contain. I find it more than interesting to compare the status of women in modern Islamic Egypt compared to ancient Egypt. I wonder if al-Sisi knew about this find before he spoke yesterday?

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    Believe It When You See It

    UPDATED AND BUMPED:

     Egypt’s Sisi Slams Islamism, Calls for ‘Religious Revolution’

    Seems he's causing a bit of a stir. This will be very interesting to watch.

    ===============ORIGINAL STARTS HERE===============
    ‘THE LION OF EGYPT’ President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi doubles down on his call for a total “reformation of Islam”

    Egypt has been a leader in the Arab world for a long time, but this sounds too good to believe. All I can say is, tourism, one of Egypt's largest sources of revenue, must be suffering. But, if he's serious, be ready for a civil war in the land of the pharaohs, and pray that it spreads.

    More here: Egypt's Sisi turns Islam on the Islamists
    ""I see that the religious discourse in the entire Islamic world has cost Islam its humanity," Sisi said in an interview televised on May 5. "This requires us, and for that matter all leaders, to review their positions.""
    [---]
    "Yasser Abdel Aziz, a columnist who has met Sisi and followed his comments on religion, describes Sisi as a typically "moderate Egyptian" Muslim, distinguishing his approach, for example, from the puritanical Wahabism of Saudi Arabia.

    Sisi would "strengthen the role of religious discourse in public institutions and in public life", but would not involve religion in government, he said. "He sees Islam as a force for good and work," he said."
    [---]
    "Dawa Salafiya, more radical than the Brotherhood in calling for an Islamic state after the 2011 uprising that brought down Mubarak, now says it sees Sisi as best qualified to lead the state. It and its political arm, the Nour Party, have been give space to continue their activities, unlike the Brotherhood.

    "Sisi is personally interested in 'true Islam' and 'correct Islam' and undermining the Islamist movements," said Ashraf El-Sherif, a lecturer in political science at the American University in Cairo (AUC). "It's part of his personal mission.""

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    Brrrrrrrrrrr!!

    Where is that global warming?????

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    Update (sorta) on Keystone

    Jobs, Prosperity and Security via Oil Exports
    "The midterm elections underscore how much Americans value energy, job and economic revival – and how much they want less Washington control of their lives, livelihoods, and dreams for their children and grandchildren. They also reflect the waning influence of radical Obama and Steyer climate change and anti-energy environmentalist elites. If ever there was a time to end the ban on oil exports, it’s now. With U.S. demand for oil products falling, production rising, and myriad studies making a strong case for selling American crude abroad, the president and Congress should terminate the ban as soon as possible. The nation’s demand for crude oil fell by 3.5% in September versus the same month a year ago. Gasoline demand fell by 3.0% because of efficiency gains in cars and trucks, coupled with a still weak economy, abominable 62.8% labor force participation rate, and too many people forced to work part-time, for lower wages and fewer benefits. Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production soared in September, climbing to its highest level in 29 years – and demolishing claims that we are rapidly exhausting Earth’s petroleum. During September, the United States produced 8.8 million barrels of oil per day – an increase of nearly 14% over the previous year and 58% since 2005. In fact, the United States has now replaced Saudi Arabia as the world’s #1 oil producer."

    Obama’s Keystone Confusion
    "In his appearance last week on The Colbert Report, President Obama restated his approach to the Keystone XL pipeline decision, a mindset that can only be described as confused.

    The president summarized his strange dilemma as follows: “[Keystone] could create a couple of thousand potential jobs in the initial construction of the pipeline, but we’ve got to measure that against whether or not it is going to contribute to an overall warming of the planet that could be disastrous.”

    But this thinking hinges on three key — and false — assumptions.

    First, that whatever carbon dioxide or pollution (note that I did not say “or other pollution” since CO2 is plant food, not pollution) would be generated in the building or operation of Keystone will not be generated in whatever other method ends up being used to transport oil from Canada through the United States.

    Second, the usual climate alarmist assumptions, namely that humans are having a substantial impact on the climate and that a warming of the planet is likely to be harmful.

    Third, and most important, the implicit assumption that climate change — even if you believe the alarmists’ claims — is the only risk worth considering."
    [---]

    Obama Administration Kicks the Oil-and-Gas Industry While it is Down
    "For the past six years, the oil and gas industry has served as a savior to the Obama presidency by providing the near-lone bright spot in economic growth. Increased U.S. oil-and-gas production has created millions of well-paying jobs and given us a new energy security. The president often peppers his speeches with braggadocio talk about our abundant supplies and decreased dependence on foreign oil.

    So now that the economic powerhouse faces hard times, how does the Administration show its appreciation for the oil-and-gas industry boon to the economy over the past six years?

    By introducing a series of regulations—at least nine in total, according to the Wall Street journal (WSJ)—that will put the brakes on the US energy boom through higher operating costs and fewer incentives to drill on public lands."


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    Monday, January 05, 2015

    The More You Sweat, The Less You Bleed

    A French Soldier's View of US Soldiers in Afghanistan
    "They have a terribly strong American accent - from our point of view the language they speak is not even English. How many times did I have to write down what I wanted to say rather than waste precious minutes trying various pronunciations of a seemingly common word? Whatever State they are from, no two accents are alike and they even admit that in some crisis situations they have difficulties understanding each other. Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins and creatine- they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to them - we are wimps, even the strongest of us - and because of that they often mistake us for Afghans. And they are impressive warriors! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how."
    [---]
    "Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting: they just charge! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later - which cuts any pussyfooting short.Honor, motherland - everything here reminds of that: the American flag floating in the wind above the outpost, just like the one on the post parcels. Even if recruits often originate from the hearth of American cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold high and proud the star spangled banner. Each man knows he can count on the support of a whole people who provides them through the mail all that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location: books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission. And that is a first shock to our preconceptions: the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention."
    [---]
    "Anyone with a passing knowledge of Kipling knows the lines from Chant Pagan: 'If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white/remember it's ruin to run from a fight./ So take open order, lie down, sit tight/ And wait for supports like a soldier./ This, in fact, is the basic philosophy of both British and Continental soldiers. 'In the absence of orders, take a defensive position.' Indeed, virtually every army in the world. The American soldier and Marine, however, are imbued from early in their training with the ethos: In the Absence of Orders: Attack!"
    [---]
    "For much of this article, the various veterans reading will go 'Well, duh. Of course we do our 'camp chores' and stand our posts in good order. There's a reason for them and if we didn't we'd get our heads handed to us eventually. And, yeah, we're in shape. Makes battle easier. The more you sweat, the less you bleed.' What is hard for most people to comprehend is that that attitude represented only the most elite units of the past. Current everyday conventional boring 'leg infantry' units exceed the PT levels and training levels of most Special Forces during the Vietnam War. They exceed both of those as well as IQ and educational levels of: Waffen SS, WWII Rangers, WWII Airborne and British 'Commando' units during WWII. Their per-unit combat-functionality is essentially unmeasurable because it has to be compared to something and there's nothing comparable in industrial period combat history."
    [---]
    "This is 'The Greatest Generation' of soldiers.

    They may never be equalled."

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