Heavy-Handed Politics: December 30, 2007

A cold spell soon to replace global warming

MOSCOW. (Oleg Sorokhtin for RIA Novosti) – Stock up on fur coats and felt boots! This is my paradoxical advice to the warm world.

Earth is now at the peak of one of its passing warm spells. It started in the 17th century when there was no industrial influence on the climate to speak of and no such thing as the hothouse effect. The current warming is evidently a natural process and utterly independent of hothouse gases.

The real reasons for climate changes are uneven solar radiation, terrestrial precession that is, axis gyration), instability of oceanic currents, regular salinity fluctuations of the Arctic Ocean surface waters, etc. There is another, principal reason-solar activity and luminosity. The greater they are the warmer is our climate.

Astrophysics knows two solar activity cycles, of 11 and 200 years. Both are caused by changes in the radius and area of the irradiating solar surface. The latest data say that Earth has passed the peak of its warmer period, and a fairly cold spell will set in quite soon, by 2012. Real cold will come when solar activity reaches its minimum, by 2041, and will last for 50-60 years or even longer.

Carbon dioxide cannot be bad for the climate. On the contrary, it is food for plants, and so is beneficial to life on Earth. Bearing out this point was the Green Revolution-the phenomenal global increase in farm yields in the mid-20th century. Numerous experiments also prove a direct proportion between harvest and carbon dioxide concentration in the air.

Carbon dioxide is not to blame for global climate change. Solar activity is many times more powerful than the energy produced by the whole of humankind. Man's influence on nature is a drop in the ocean. Read more.

Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin, Merited Scientist of Russia and fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, is staff researcher of the Oceanology Institute.

CELEBRATING BLUE, CO2, AND THE RENDEZVOUS

Dr. Jack Wheeler
TTP Intelligence Bulletin

"Hear that wonderfully melodious sound? It's the crack-up of Global Warming, the Left's crazed attempt to seize global power after the failure of Marxism crashing and burning. 2008 is starting off just right.

A tip off that it's over for the eco-wackos was the announcement of the Pantone color mavens that green is passé for 2008, that the hip color is blue - as in blue skies, no clouds, no rain, just sunshine and deep blue sky.

Then on New Years Day, the liberal bastion itself, the New York Times, scandalously ridiculed glowarmers, calling them "availability entrepreneurs," sneering at them as "the activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels."

When the New York Times laughs at glowarmers - well, it's like Global Warming is so over. So it's time to start celebrating CO2. I have a really good suggestion on how to do so.
Read more.

McCain Grabs Lead in New Hampshire

Zogby Tracking: McCain Leads Romney

Republican John McCain has leapt into first place in the GOP primary race in New Hampshire, while Clinton holds on to a six-point edge in the first three-day Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby telephone tracking poll of likely voters shows.

Huckabee Wins Iowa with Evangelical Turn Out

Will There be an Iowa Bounce?

The Romney campaign also speculated late yesterday that it would be a close race. Gentry Collins, the full-time Romney campaign manager told HUMAN EVENTS White House Correspondent John Gizzi "I hope we win in Iowa, and New Hampshire, but we don't have to." "If any candidate comes within a few points of winning, it's a victory," said Collins. Unfortunately for the Romney campaign -- it was more than just “a few points.”

Romney made a statement after many networks projected Huckabee as the winner that this was only "the first inning in a 50-inning ball game." Spending much more than Huckabee -- $10 million -- Iowa proved to be an expensive inning, Romney’s strategy didn’t work in Iowa, but may not prove a failure altogether. Romney still appears to be the “national candidate” since he is likely to go head to head with Sen. John McCain in New Hampshire. On the flip side, if Romney loses again in New Hampshire his campaign will be in real trouble. In frozen New Hampshire, Romney will feel the heat.

A tie for third with Thompson is great news for McCain who spent little to no time in Iowa campaigning and still proved to be an effective candidate. McCain will still look forward to a close race and possible win in New Hampshire next week. Thompson with 13% is still a contender and scored well enough in Iowa to squash bogus rumors that he will drop out of the race.

McCain the Big Winner?

Robert Novak and Timothy P. Carney
Special Iowa Report: McCain the Big Winner; Hillary Suffers; Romney Devastated

The surprising results of last night's Iowa Republican caucus were devastating for former Gov. Mitt Romney and vindicating for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, but the biggest winner may have been Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

Romney's distant second-place finish is devastating to the candidate who flooded Iowa with money, staffers, ads, and mailings. He outspent Huckabee by an order of magnitude, and still got only 25 percent to Huckabee's 34 percent.

None of the other Republicans had nearly as much riding on Iowa as Romney and Huckabee, except former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.).

We predicted Thompson's third-place finish on the strength of his late blitz in Iowa, spending the final 18 days in the Hawkeye State. He did manage to finish third, but with a disappointing 13 percent, just a few hundred votes ahead of McCain. His late surge was not as dramatic as we had expected because Huckabee's support was more concrete than we thought.

Thompson appeals to many Republicans as the most thoroughly conservative candidate. If Romney's star fades significantly, Thompson could pick up his slack. He stayed alive in Iowa, but his campaign was hardly impressive enough to suggest he can make a comeback.

HILLARY ON THE ROPES

BY DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
New York Post

The amazing victories by Obama and Huckabee in Iowa are truly historic. They demonstrate the impact and viability of a message of change in both parties. In the Democratic Party, Obama, winning in a totally white state, shows that racism is gone as a factor in American politics. On the Republican side, Huckabee's win shows how a truly compassionate conservative can win by harvesting voters who want the message of concern for the poor and for values to prevail.

But what of Hillary? She's down but she's not out. Hillary Clinton, in the first really contested election of her own political career, lost dismally-- outclassed, outdrawn, and outpolled by Barack Obama.

Her campaign professionals (including Bill) decided to stress experience, precisely the wrong message in a Democratic primary. Prematurely appealing to the center and abandoning the left, she fell between two chairs - not sufficiently centrist to win independents or liberal enough to attract Democrats.

On the Republican side, Huckabee brought a new phenomenon into politics. A New Testament Christian politician, he takes the Biblical message to the center-left, clothing the naked and feeding the hungry. His refusal to indulge in negative advertising sent a message to Iowa voters showing his strength under fire.

Clinton and Dobbs Spar Over Who’s Full of 'Hot Air' on Immigration

From NewsBusters:
By Noel Sheppard

Despite recent campaign flubs that have significantly challenged the inevitability of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) winning the Democrat nomination for president, the supposedly smartest woman in the world continues to go after prominent media members.

After highly-publicized attacks on NBC's Tim Russert and David Gregory last year, Hillary has now set her sights on CNN's Lou Dobbs, referring to "commentators who are doing well for themselves by making [immigration] a hot issue," while asking "does all that hot air solve anything?"

On Wednesday's "Lou Dobbs Tonight," the host marvelously struck back by stating that "candidates that pander to both extremes, are, as far as I am concerned, abject fools" who "will pay a price for it in the general election when they have to answer to the great center of the country......" Read more.

Heh, heh. You gotta' love it.

John Edwards Claims He 'Calmed' Pakistan

On this morning’s Today show, NBC’s David Gregory challenged Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards about his vote for the Iraq war, his relative lack of experience, and his divisive us-vs-them rhetoric. But Gregory had absolutely no reaction when Edwards grandly claimed that his phone call to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in the hours after the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto “was a calming influence” that helped stabilize an “international crisis” and was proof he is “ready for the Presidency.” Read on.

NY Times: Global Warming Claims Bogus

Critics are calling it clear evidence that the climate of opinion on alleged global warming is shifting in favor of skeptics, especially since it comes from the New York Times, until now a fervent acolyte of climate change guru Al Gore and his doctrine of ongoing and disastrous climate change.

In his Times column for the first day of the new year, "In 2008, a 100 Percent Chance of Alarm," columnist John Tierney took a close look at the global warming debate and found that the climate change scenario being peddled by Mr. Gore and his legion of followers is anything but the settled scientific fact they claim, with the sole doubters being the equivalent of those who believe the earth is flat. Tierney, critics say, has nailed the climate alarmists and exposed their propaganda!

Read on.

Why the Left Hates Democracy

Dinesh D'Souza
Why the Left Hates Democracy

Commenting on Benazir Bhutto?s assassination, I recently commented that there are three groups that oppose democracy in the Muslim world.

Give Me Back My Party

Matt Towery
Give Me Back My Party

If you want to know why no one -- including my firm -- can poll the Iowa caucus with any sense of certainty, it's because Iowa Republicans are demoralized and unenthusiastic.

Ballot Box Integrity v. Voters without Borders

B y Ken Blackwell
Ballot Box Integr ity v. Voters without Borders

On January 9, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments for one of the biggest election law cases in years. This case might decide who becomes president of the United States in a close election, and shape the future of the country.

Interpreting Huckabee

Michael Medved says:

Mike Huckabee may fall short in his drive for the GOP nomination, but his upstart campaign has already benefited both his party and his country.

Cynical voters long assumed that presidential campaigns required big money, but without personal wealth or corporate backing, Huckabee has waged a formidable fight against lavishly-funded rivals. He's also demonstrated that it's a lie to claim the Republican Party is controlled by all-powerful elites--there's been no establishment endorsement of outsider Huckabee, yet he's managed to connect with an open-minded public and to take the lead in many states.

Finally, his campaign has exploded the myth that the so-called "Christian Right" is monolithic and easily manipulated. It's true that many Evangelicals support Huckabee, but many others back Romney, Thompson, McCain or even Giuliani--just ask Pat Robertson.

Huckabee's race shows the Republican Party is more open--and the Christian conservative movement is more diverse--than conventional wisdom had ever supposed.

"We lay it down as a fundamental, that laws, to be just, must give a reciprocation of right; that, without this, they are mere arbitrary rules of conduct, founded in force, and not in conscience."

-- Thomas Jefferson

Kenya on the brink amid 'genocide' claims
Telegraph

The Kenyan president has accused his political opponents of unleashing "genocide" as violence in the wake of his disputed re-election spirals out of control and threatens to plunge the country into civil war.

State to sue EPA over greenhouse gas regulations
Los Angeles Times

SACRAMENTO -- California plans to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today for denying its first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and SUVs, challenging the Bush administration's conclusion that states have no business setting emission standards.

UK to assist Bhutto investigation
BBC NEWS

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has said UK investigators are to assist in the inquiry into the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Estimate of Iran changes, U.S. policy doesn't
USATODAY.com

WASHINGTON — A new intelligence estimate that reverses previous U.S. claims that Iran is developing nuclear weapons will not change the Bush administration's policy of tough sanctions and diplomacy.

"That was our policy … and that's our policy going forward," said Stephen Hadley, the president's national security adviser. "We have the right strategy."

U.S. will hold North Korea to nuclear commitment
(Reuters)

Pakistan postpones election until February 18
(Reuters)

Greed, Need and Money

Walter E. Williams
Greed, Need and Money

Demagoguery about greedy rich people or greedy corporate executives being paid 100 or 200 times their workers' salaries is a key weapon in the politics of envy.

John Edwards: The Hater

Rich Lowry:
John Edwards: The Hater

John Edwards is angry, and he wants people to know it. Republicans complain of Democratic class warfare all the time. It's usually an overwrought charge. But Edwards is the real thing.

Time to Step Up, Fred

David Limbaugh
Time to Step Up, Fred

It's time to step up, Fred. Conservatives need a leader about whom we have no major reservations.

"[W]here there is no law, there is no liberty; and nothing deserves the name of law but that which is certain and universal in its operation upon all the members of the community."

-- Benjamin Rush, 1788

RINGING IN 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL !!
HOPIN' 2008 - IS JUST GREAT !!

Bloomberg Prepares to Run

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is seriously moving toward a decision to run for president as an independent in 2008 and his aides are already laying the groundwork for a Bloomberg campaign.

"If we resort for a criterion to the different principles on which different forms of government are established, we may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior."

-- James Madison

No Terror Attacks, No Accident

As we finish another year without a terrorist attack, it's a good time to think about why. The media and liberal politicians will tell you it's an accident or a matter of luck. They are dead wrong. More.

What's the Matter With Iowa?

The caucuses are anything but a Norman Rockwell exercise in small-town democracy.

OpinionJournal
John Fund

The trouble with the Iowa caucuses isn't that there's anything wrong with Iowans. It's the bizarre rules of the process. Caucuses are touted as authentic neighborhood meetings where voters gather in their precincts and make democracy come alive. In truth, they are anything but.

Caucuses occur only at a fixed time at night, so that many people working odd hours can't participate. They can easily exceed two hours. There are no absentee ballots, which means the process disfranchises the sick, shut-ins and people who are out of town on the day of the caucus. The Democratic caucuses require participants to stand in a corner with other supporters of their candidate. That eliminates the secret ballot.

There are reasons for all this. The caucuses are run by the state parties, and unlike primary or general elections aren't regulated by the government. They were designed as an insiders' game to attract party activists, donors and political junkies and give them a disproportionate influence in the process. In other words, they are designed not to be overly democratic. Primaries aren't perfect. but at least they make it fairly easy for everyone to vote, since polls are open all day and it takes only a few minutes to cast a ballot.

Little wonder that voter turnout for the Iowa caucuses is extremely low--in recent years about 6% of registered voters. Many potential voters will proclaim their civic virtue to pollsters and others and say they will show up at the caucus--and then find something else to do Thursday night. Read more.

N. Korea calls on U.S. to end 'hostile' policy, urges peace pact
(Kyodo)

North Korea misses deadline for nuclear declaration
(Reuters)

McCain's Crowds Swell in N.H.
CBS

MERRIMACK, N.H. --Something has shifted here in NH. As we got off the bus and headed into another town hall, we get word from McCain’s advance team that the room is packed.

“Good luck getting in there,” campaign staffer Justin Stevens yelled to the press as he ushered the Senator off the bus.

For the second time in a row today, McCain’s events were mobbed by voters and press. This morning he addressed about 500 people in a church basement - one of the largest crowds he's had in a while.

Fred's Message to Iowa Voters

Download Uproar:

Record Industry Goes After Personal Use
Washingtonpost.com

In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.