Death From Afrolantica

The PJ Tatler » The Hatred of Derrick Bell’s Afrolantica Legacies: "The 28-year-old Barack Obama on Derrick Bell in 1990:

He hasn’t done it simply because of the excellence of his scholarship. Although his scholarship has opened up new vistas and new horizons and changed the standards of what legal writing is about. … Open up your hearts and minds to the words of Professor Derrick Bell.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah wasn’t about sex. It was about idolatry. When secular critics relate the war stories from the Old Testament of the Jewish conquests of Canaan, here’s what they don’t tell you: these other tribes the ancient Israelites went to war against practiced child sacrifice. That’s why they couldn’t be tolerated then and why we must win the war against them today.

Human sacrifice is the end result of any idolatry taken to its conclusion. Worship something other than a variant of the God of ethical monotheism and you’ll end up doing evil things. Worship nature, man-made images and ideas, people and politicians, Harvard professors, one’s own ego… and the result is that people become what they worship — they become death."

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Salby Strikes - A Reminder

While we're starstruck, a reminder that we're planet-struck as well:

What – you mean we aren’t controlling the climate? | Watts Up With That?: "The narrative of the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming has been challenged at many levels but this presentation by Professor Murry Salby, Chair of Climate at Macquarie University rips up the very foundations of the story.

The talk (in the video below) was given at the Sydney Institute 2nd Aug 2011

He elegantly shows that there is a solid correlation between natural climate factors (global temperature and soil moisture content) and the net gain (or loss) in global atmospheric content when the latter is averaged over a two year period. The hanging question remains, if natural factors drive more than 90% of the growth in CO2 how significant is the contribution of human generated emissions. The answer is simple… not very."

Click through and watch the vid.

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Starstruck

Did exploding stars help life on Earth to thrive?: "Prof. Svensmark looked back through 500 million years of geological and astronomical data and considered the proximity of the Sun to supernovae as it moves around our Galaxy, the Milky Way. In particular, when the Sun is passing through the spiral arms of the Milky Way, it encounters newly forming clusters of stars. These so-called open clusters, which disperse over time, have a range of ages and sizes and will have started with a small proportion of stars massive enough to explode as supernovae. From the data on open clusters, Prof. Svensmark was able to deduce how the rate at which supernovae exploded near the Solar System varied over time.

Comparing this with the geological record, he found that the changing frequency of nearby supernovae seems to have strongly shaped the conditions for life on Earth. Whenever the Sun and its planets have visited regions of enhanced star formation in the Milky Way Galaxy, where exploding stars are most common, life has prospered. Prof. Svensmark remarks in the paper, "The biosphere seems to contain a reflection of the sky, in that the evolution of life mirrors the evolution of the Galaxy.""

And wait for it...:

The data also support the idea of a long-term link between cosmic rays and climate, with these climatic changes underlying the biological effects. And compared with the temperature variations seen on short timescales as a consequence of the Sun's influence on the influx of cosmic rays, the heating and cooling of the Earth due to cosmic rays varying with the prevailing supernova rate have been far larger.

The director of DTU Space, Prof. Eigil Friis-Christensen, comments: "When this enquiry into effects of cosmic rays from supernova remnants began 16 years ago, we never imagined that it would lead us so deep into time, or into so many aspects of the Earth's history. The connection to evolution is a culmination of this work."

Calder has a great write-up of course including this:

Didn't realize that the alarmists are actually deniers of evolution on a cosmic scale, did you? When you look into the eyes of an alarmist, you are looking into the eyes of a dinosaur. Or a bird brain if you prefer.

UPDATE: I remembered a comment from a previous post on WUWT re the CERN CLOUD experiment and have a modification:

It's the suns, stupid!

Heh.

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Brittle

Why Airport Security Is Broken—And How to Fix It - WSJ.com: "Airport security in America is broken. I should know. For 3½ years—from my confirmation in July 2005 to President Barack Obama's inauguration in January 2009—I served as the head of the Transportation Security Administration.

You know the TSA. We're the ones who make you take off your shoes before padding through a metal detector in your socks (hopefully without holes in them). We're the ones who make you throw out your water bottles. We're the ones who end up on the evening news when someone's grandma gets patted down or a child's toy gets confiscated as a security risk. If you're a frequent traveler, you probably hate us.

More than a decade after 9/11, it is a national embarrassment that our airport security system remains so hopelessly bureaucratic and disconnected from the people whom it is meant to protect. Preventing terrorist attacks on air travel demands flexibility and the constant reassessment of threats. It also demands strong public support, which the current system has plainly failed to achieve.

The crux of the problem, as I learned in my years at the helm, is our wrongheaded approach to risk. In attempting to eliminate all risk from flying, we have made air travel an unending nightmare for U.S. passengers and visitors from overseas, while at the same time creating a security system that is brittle where it needs to be supple."

Du'O.

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Another Tinfoil Apocalypse Update

Iranian Navy | Saber Rattling | Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi | The Daily Caller: "The Islamic Republic of Iran said Tuesday that it has the ability to position a naval vessel within three miles of the East Coast of the United States.

“The power of our naval forces is such that we have a presence in all the waters of the world and, if needed, we can move to within three miles of New York,” Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said Tuesday during a speech to the students of the University of Yazd in Iran. His remarks were quoted by an Iranian student news agency.

This naval saber rattling represents a stark escalation in Iran’s war rhetoric, as the West weighs the question of whether to impose new economic sanctions or directly attack the Islamic regime’s illicit nuclear facilities."

As Gagdad has pointed out:

It's pretty odd when you can be less than five years away from the nuclear bomb but more than five centuries away from the nuclear age.

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So That's OK Then

The Corner - National Review Online: "So the more Afghan soldiers Nato soldiers train, the more Nato soldiers Afghan soldiers kill. But as long as it’s proportional it’s no big deal:

“Quite often people resolve their personal problems by resorting to the use of a weapon. It’s more of a cultural thing here.”

So that’s okay then.

This seems as good a time as any to dust off Burke’s line that “men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” Which is not un-germane to Andy, Mario and Mark K’s back-and-forth on whether, in the Arab world, the Muslim Brotherhood is the path to democracy. “Democracy” – as in a polling station and ballot box – is the last piece of liberty’s puzzle. What comes first are property rights, legal systems, freedom of speech and of conscience, a civil society rather than a tribal one. Absent those, the “cultural thing” will out."

Hmm. Do we have a civil society in the U.S. anymore? Whoops.

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Team Tactics?

Aerial Armada Assembles Off Iran: "The mix of old and upgraded F-15s and ultra-modern F-22s is no accident. When the Pentagon stopped producing the nearly $400-million-a-copy Raptor after 187 units — half as many as the Air Force said it needed — the flying branch committed to keeping 250 F-15Cs in service until 2025 at the earliest. Pilots began developing team tactics for the two fighter types.

“We have a woefully tiny F-22 fleet,” said Gen. Mike Hostage, the Air Force’s main fighter commander. So the flying branch worked out a system whereby large numbers of F-15s cover for small numbers of Raptors that sneak in around an enemy’s flank in full stealth mode. “Our objective is to fly in front with the F-22s, and have the persistence to stay there while the [F-22s] are conducting their [low-observable] attack,” Maj. Todd Giggy, an Eagle pilot, told Aviation Week."

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Yup

Moonbattery » Open Thread: "Via TonyRogers.com, on a tip from Wingmann."

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Bartering QOTD

Michael Krieger On The Rebirth Of Barter | ZeroHedge: "One of the most important articles I have read this week comes from Forbes contributor Gordon Chang.  In it he states that China is preparing to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iran by paying for oil with gold.  Not only that but he also mentions that China has already been bartering with Iran to get a hold of petroleum."

And as a bonus we have a twofer QOTD embedded in the post:

Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government, a bureaucratic elite which believes our Constitution is outmoded.- Senator William Jenner(1908-1985) U.S. Senator (IN-R)

The Final Act of the Uruguay Round, marking the conclusion of the most ambitious trade negotiation of our century, will give birth – in Morocco – to the World Trade Organization, the third pillar of the New World Order, along with the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund.- Government of Morocco April, 1994 Source: New York Times, full page ad by the government of Morocco

But what do Moroccans and Republican curmudgeons know?

Silly. The man and the dog aren't working together you paranoid sheep, you...

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QOTD: HLM

Guest Post: H.L. Mencken Was Right | ZeroHedge: "“The men that American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest the most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.”  HLM"

Any questions?

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Tools

A Bad Day In Court for the Obama Administration | Power Line: "JUSTICE SCALIA: So we have to — we have to enforce our laws in a manner that will please Mexico. Is that what you’re saying?

GENERAL VERRILLI: No, Your Honor, but what — no, Your Honor, I’m not saying that –

JUSTICE SCALIA: Sounded like what you were saying.

So the Obama administration had a tough day in court today, and deservedly so. Let’s hope that the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in this case delivers President Obama the stinging rebuke that he so richly deserves.

UPDATE: Ironically, the Obama administration’s sheer incompetence is the one factor now mitigating our illegal immigration problem–an unintended consequence of the fact that Obama completely fails to understand economics:"

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Plus More .. And Then Some

Which Came First - The Spending Or The Debt? | ZeroHedge: "In a wonderfully succinct clip, Professor Antony Davies addresses the oft-cited perspective that Government has a debt problem. While correct in fact, he examines the data and summarily notes that debt is caused by deficits leaving the question of what's to blame - too much spending or too little tax revenues? The dramatic rise in spending per-capita by the government is exponentially larger than the rise in price levels over the last few decades and while so much time is spent on Healthcare costs - even that pales in significance relative to the rise in Federal Government spending. The lesson, he notes, is that we don't have a debt problem, we don't even have a deficit problem, what we have is a spending problem - leaving a tax solution impotent. An interesting conclusion on the day when the Fed once again promises to keep rates low forever implicitly supporting a government budget via its low interest expense..."

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Haavaad Maath (Part 1,493,841)

TaxProf Blog: Hubbard: Obama's Budget Means 11% Tax Increase on Those Earning: "Finally, the president would limit certain tax deductions for individuals with incomes over $200,000. This would net $584 billion over the next decade.

Now let's review the math. All these tax increases on upper-income taxpayers are projected to raise $148 billion per year. Viewed next to proposed additional spending of roughly $500 billion per year, or this year's federal budget deficit of $1.3 trillion, the president's budget faces an arithmetic challenge.

How big is that challenge? Maintaining the president's higher spending will require raising taxes for all Americans. Assuming the president favors raising marginal tax rates over broadening the tax base (consistent with his failure to consider the tax proposals from Bowles-Simpson), an across-the-board tax increase of 11% for taxpayers with incomes under $200,000 would be required to raise the money the president proposes to spend."

And of course there's the inevitable comment:

Ah, but he doesn't intend to raise as much revenue as he spends. He plans to continue to spend many more times as much as he takes in. Then when the bill comes due 5 or 10 years from now, he won't be POTUS any more. It won't be his problem. It will be yours and mine, and that of our children and grandchildren. He doesn't care, because he doesn't need to care.

Posted by: Robert Hanson | Apr 25, 2012 4:36:00 PM

System broken? Much?

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Prelude

George Zimmerman: Prelude to a shooting | Reuters: "The 28-year-old insurance-fraud investigator comes from a deeply Catholic background and was taught in his early years to do right by those less fortunate. He was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather - the father of the maternal grandmother who helped raise him.

A criminal justice student who aspired to become a judge, Zimmerman also concerned himself with the safety of his neighbors after a series of break-ins committed by young African-American men.

Though civil rights demonstrators have argued Zimmerman should not have prejudged Martin, one black neighbor of the Zimmermans said recent history should be taken into account.

"Let's talk about the elephant in the room. I'm black, OK?" the woman said, declining to be identified because she anticipated backlash due to her race. She leaned in to look a reporter directly in the eyes. "There were black boys robbing houses in this neighborhood," she said. "That's why George was suspicious of Trayvon Martin.""

Well look-ee here. It appears that Reuters has decided to put their reporters in the crossfire also. And make no mistake they now are.

God help us all.

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Big BrO Is A Mental Case

Child Labor Laws | Farming | Department of Labor | The Daily Caller: "A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district members of Congress. But now it’s attracting barbs from farm kids themselves.

The Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families’ land.

Under the rules, children under 18 could no longer work “in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials.”"

You're going to be starving in the dark. This is triple insurance on the starving part.

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Returning The Maldives

Grope and Change - National Review Online: "And yet the more guys on the payroll, the less anyone does. For all the hooker-cavorting among a bored entourage with time on its hands, there was no one to proofread President Obama’s speech. So he stood up in public and attempted to pander to the Latins by referring to the sovereign British territory of the Falkland Islands by the designation of its temporary Argentine usurpers 30 years ago: “Las Malvinas.” Except that his writers got it wrong. So the president of the United States called it “the Maldives,” an entirely different bit of British Commonwealth real estate half a world away in the Indian Ocean. Were the speechwriting staff also face down in the hooker bar? “Jush a minute, baby. Hic. The preshhhiduh wansh a couple rewrites. ‘I call on London to return British Columbia to Colombia.’ Thash should do it. Lesh go back to my room and I’ll show you my prompter.”"

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O Onions & Oil

How Will Obama Protect Us From Onion Speculators? - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine: "President Obama last week pledged to end the speculation in oil futures that even he doesn’t claim has made the price of gas more expensive. According to Obama’s politics – which amount to a stubborn belief that Americans are as ignorant of the law and easily propagandized as they were in 1935 – this is a smart move. But it's a vacuous proposal that will not stop price swings in oil, and it could even make oil pricing more erratic."

How's them for onions? RTWT.

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predatOrs

Instapundit » Blog Archive » HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: To Pay Off Loans, Grads Put Off Marriage, Children. Between the …: "Deferring payments to avoid default is costly, too. Danielle Jokela of Chicago earned a two-year degree and worked for a while to build savings before deciding to pursue a dream by enrolling at age 25 at a private, for-profit college in Chicago to study interior design. The college’s staff helped her fill out applications for $79,000 in government and private loans. “I had no clue” about likely future earnings or the size of future payments, which ballooned by her 2008 graduation to more than $100,000 after interest and fees.

She couldn’t find a job as an interior designer and twice had to ask lenders to defer payments for a few months. After interest plus forbearance fees that were added to the loans, she still owes $98,000, even after making payments for most of five years, says Ms. Jokela, 32, who is working as an independent contractor doing administrative tasks for a construction company.

By the time she pays off the loans 25 years from now, she will have paid $211,000.

Any other industry that did this sort of thing would be denounced as predatory, but government and higher education get a pass.

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 10:52 pm"

Sheep on stilts.

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Reducing You

Instapundit » Blog Archive » THAT’S THE “NONPARTISAN CBO” SPEAKING: CBO: Obama Budget Would Reduce Economic Growth. “Larger de…: "THAT’S THE “NONPARTISAN CBO” SPEAKING: CBO: Obama Budget Would Reduce Economic Growth. “Larger deficits caused by the budget would cause the government to issue more bonds, sucking up private capital to finance its debts and thereby reducing the funds businesses could use to expand and hire, the CBO said. An increased tax on capital gains included in the president’s plan would also tend to reduce private capital, it says.”

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 7:51 am"

Which goes nicely with this:
And this video has the COTD:

climate change = wrath of god

energy use = sin

carbon tax = penance

al gore = priest

rothschild environmental bank = gold plated vatican wealth (which helps glorify god, honest)

wind turbines = crucifixes, church spires

green enforcers = spanish inquisition

scientific data = heresy

Same old oppressive, controlling, thieving, manipulative bullshit, run by the same crowd of criminal psychopaths... just slightly updated for a more technological age, that's all. Wake up, smell the coffee.

theawecabinet 11 minutes ago 4

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Which Has Worked For Democrats In The Past

Asinus Aureus Update - By Kevin D. Williamson - The Corner - National Review Online: "You have to go pretty far back in the Romney family tree — nearly to the 19th century, in fact — before you find a polygamist. His father was monogamous. His grandfather was monogamous. His great grandfather was not. But Helaman Pratt is not on the ballot, having contracted a severe case of death in 1909, nearly 40 years before Mitt Romney was born. ...

Given that there is nothing of substance to be learned about Mitt Romney from the habits of his long-dead great grandfather, the only possible conclusion is that Schweitzer and other Democrats are actively cultivating bigotry for political gain. Which has worked for Democrats in the past:"

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