Refusing Debate

Bonner R. Cohen, senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, has an op-ed up over at TCS Daily wondering why Al Gore will not debate his global warming beliefs with actual experts. Not just one or to times, but every, single time debate is offered.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who addressed the General Assembly on climate change September 24, is but the latest global warming skeptic to receive the cold shoulder from Gore. In ads appearing in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Times, Klaus has called on Gore to face him in a one-on-one debate on the proposition: "Global Warming Is Not a Crisis." Earlier in the year, similar challenges to Gore were issued by Dennis Avery, director of the Center for Global Food Issues and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and Lord Monckton of Brenchley, a former adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. All calls on the former vice president to face his critics have fallen on deaf ears.

The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free-market think tank, launched the debate campaign in April, using ads, press releases, and other tactics to prod Gore into confronting those who reject his alarmist views on global warming.

For his part, President Klaus has not minced words on what he sees as the real agenda of those promoting climate hysteria. In an op-ed in the Financial Times (June 13, pointedly titled "Freedom, Not Climate, is at Risk," Klaus said: "Let us not scare ourselves with catastrophic forecasts, or use them to defend and promote irrational interventions in human lives." Arguing that the issue of global warming "is more about social than about natural sciences and more about man and his freedom than about tenths of a degree Celsius changes in average global temperature," Klaus rejected the notion of a "scientific consensus" on climate change as an effort by a "loud minority" to impose its will on a "silent majority."

Al Gore, who has a substantial financial stake in promoting global warming, since he will get very rich of his investments if the world embraces his theory, is taking a pass on talking to anyone who does not fawn over his pronouncements. And really, that should not be a surprise. Gore promotes alternative fuels - which not only do not work - but actually make things worse. In fact, Jane Goodall just publicly denounced the biofuel craze as bad for the planet. But his sycophants keep pushing Gore's agenda. One which has nothing - whatsoever - with actually saving the planet. His refusal to debate proves that.  

Rushing Into Madness

I have waited to offer any comments about the latest ruckus being promoted over Rush Limbaugh's remarks. Partly, I wanted to wait until the dust settled a little, mostly I figured Rush - who I do not listen to - could handle himself. But I think Callimachus called it correctly last night.

From there, the next dot connected was active-duty soldiers who have written and spoken eloquently in their criticism or condemnation of the reasons and tactics of the U.S. effort in Iraq.

But it is not at all clear to me from that jumbled conversation that Limbaugh didn't mean proven "phony soldiers" who have been embraced and touted by the anti-war movement, like Jesse Macbeth. Whatever he meant (we'll never know) in that moment, Limbaugh at least has that cover to shelter behind.

Limbaugh has released the entire clip of what was said including the follow on to the "phony soldiers" remark (cut completely by Media Matters) that proves he was, indeed, talking about the Jesse Macbeths that the left puts forth and genuflects to - until they are exposed as frauds. Whereupon the left changes the subject and never acknowledges that they pimped for a liar.

Personally, I'm inclined to believe that this is yet another action by the man behind the curtain. The Anchoress sums it up best:

It can’t feel good to realize you have been played by George Soros and pals, and while you were being played, you weakened your president, lost a good deal of power in Congress (not that your party was using it, but still…) and drew inflexible battle lines flanked by impossible demands and pipe dreams, while - in the end - nothing actually changed. Played by a master, your party became divided, some of you literally became one-issue haters of everything and everyone who did not join in your daily chant; “illegal is illegal.” And in being played, you’ve managed to make a fast-growing segment of the voting populace suspicious of conservatives on the eve of an election wherein literally every vote and every voter is going to count. And where fraud may well be rampant.

I have been loath to write about the ‘08 election because the campaigns began too soon. But it is not too early to say that I cannot recall a more urgent or important election in my lifetime. The ‘08 election is going to be the one that determines whether the America you love will be recognizable in twenty years. I know I’m not alone in thinking so.

Once upon a time you could say, “who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes,” with a wry smirk and appreciate the irony. It’s not so ironic, anymore. Now we are in the third act of Hamlet, the King - his conscience pricked - is crying out and the castle is in uproar and Hamlet declares, “believe none of this,” which is good advice. Maybe all of history has been a staged production, but I don’t believe that. Sadly in American politics, circa 2007, very little is real, very few are motivated by selfless love of country, and illusionists are everywhere.

A lot of people are falling into the trap right about now. Some are not. The MoveOn smear of Petraeus damaged that organization in the minds of average voters - not the true believers, but average Americans. This is a payback. An attempt to play gotcha in a one up way. We all - every one of us - needs to be careful not to allow ourselves to be suckered into playing a game we cannot win. I think they fooled a lot of people with this. Both on the left and on the right.

Hillary Offers To Buy Votes Outright

This is the worst thing I think I have ever heard a candidate offer as a reason to elect that politician. Hillary Clinton:

"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that downpayment on their first home," she said.

The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.

Well, this is easy, isn't it? The magic number is 20. As in $20,000,000,000. Twenty billion dollars. If she wins and enacts this, that would be 80 billion in one term. If she plays a bit of smoke and mirrors and issues a "baby bond" that earns compound interest at only 5% annually - to be paid out in 18 years, the $5,000 becomes just under $11,500. That would pass an unfunded liability to the next generation of almost $46 billion for the first year or $183 billion for a full four year term.

Buying votes with populist insanity - and total fiscal stupidity - will bankrupt this country.

UPDATE: Wow. I had completely forgotten this debacle from 1972:

George McGovern, who was crushed by Richard Nixon in a landslide in 1972, has gone down in history as one of our most feckless Presidential candidates. McGovern ran on a far-left platform that included a proposal that at the time was deemed risible–the "demogrant." The demogrant program was simple: the federal government would write a check for $1,000 to every American. In 1972, that idea was so widely ridiculed as over-the-top pandering, as well as economically pointless–even Hubert Humphrey savaged it–that McGovern quietly abandoned the idea.

The Powerline guys calculated the inflation out - and the "Demogrant" of $1,000 in 1972 dollars becomes almost exactly the "Hillarygrant" of $5,000 in 2007 dollars. Everything old is new again. Bad ideas never die, they just get a coat of new paint every now and then.

Burma Update

The latest report from the Associated Press about the situation in Burma is bleak. The military junta has been aggressively attacking and demonstrations they find on the streets. They are also raiding the Buddhist monasteries and arresting the monks to keep them off the streets.

YANGON, Myanmar - Soldiers clubbed and dragged away activists while firing tear gas and warning shots to break up demonstrations Friday before they could grow, and the government cut Internet access, raising fears that a deadly crackdown was set to intensify.

Troops also occupied Buddhist monasteries in a bid to clear the streets of Myanmar's revered monks, who have spearheaded the demonstrations.

The government said 10 people have been killed since the violence began earlier this week, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he believed the loss of life in Myanmar was "far greater" than is being reported. Dissident groups have put the number as high as 200, although that number could not be verified.

Witnesses said security forces aggressively broke up a rally of about 2,000 people near the Sule Pagoda in the largest city, Yangon. About 20 trucks packed with soldiers arrived and announced over loudspeakers, "We give you 10 minutes to move out from the road. Otherwise we will fire."

A group of about 10 people broke away from the main crowd and rushed toward a line of soldiers, who were dressed in green uniforms with red bandanas around their necks, holding shields and automatic weapons. The people were beaten up, and five were seen being hauled away in a truck.

Soldiers dispersed the other protesters, beating them with clubs and firing shots in the air.

"People in this country are gentle and calm. (But) people are very angry now and they dare to do anything," said a shopkeeper, who witnessed the clash and did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

Elsewhere, riot police played cat-and-mouse with smaller groups of die-hard activists, sometimes shooting into the air.

Agam, blogging from Thailand, reports that internet communications appear to be completely out now but has a fascinating item from Indian media:

The India-based news service also has some intriguing military news today. Sources have told Mizzima that troops from central Burma, belonging to Central Command and South East Command, are presently moving toward Rangoon. It is not known whether these are reinforcements, or whether it may indicate a split in the military. A further report states that military aircraft from Matehtilar base have been scrambled and are now airborne. A "commotion" is reported in Light Infantry Divisions 33 and 99 of the Burma Army, with no further details.

This would be the perfect time to launch an internal coup, wouldn't it? Or, if this indicates that the military is fragmenting, it might be good news for the people of Burma.

The Invisible Frogs Are Coming!

Researchers in Japan have taken the first steps toward producing an invisible frog. So far, they have achieved a see-through frog, but it's only a matter of time.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese researchers have succeeded in producing see-through frogs, letting them observe organs, blood vessels and eggs under the skin without performing dissections.

"You can see through the skin how organs grow, how cancer starts and develops," said the lead researcher Masayuki Sumida, professor at the Institute for Amphibian Biology of state-run Hiroshima University.

"You can watch organs of the same frog over its entire life as you don't have to dissect it. The researcher can also observe how toxins affect bones, livers and other organs at lower costs," he told AFP…..

…….Sumida said his team, which announced the research last week at an academic conference, had created the first transparent four-legged creature, although some small fish are also see-through.

The researchers produced the creature from rare mutants of the Japanese brown frog, or Rena japonica, whose backs are usually ochre or brown.

Two kinds of recessive genes have been known to cause the frog to be pale.

Sumida's team crossed two frogs with recessive genes through artificial insemination and the offspring looked normal due to the presence of more powerful genes. But crossing the offspring led to a frog whose skin is transparent from the tadpole stage.

This will give the Animal Uprising™ a huge edge in surveillance abilities. Hordes of invisible frogs will soon be everywhere. Heck, there's no telling how many invisible beavers they already have! Worse yet: what if they start using invisible toilet frogs?

Monkeys Behaving Badly

The police in Cambodia have placed a bounty on the heads of gangster monkeys that are terrorizing tourists at the Wat Phnom pagoda. The marauding macaques have been biting the tourists and stealing the laundry of local residents as well.

At least three of the large macaques, which have been biting tourists at the famed Wat Phnom pagoda and also tearing up Internet lines, are being targeted, deputy district governor Pich Socheata told AFP.

"There are more than 200 monkeys there, but only three monkeys that behave badly… they behave like gang leaders," she said.

"The other monkeys are afraid of people. But these monkeys are not — they are scaring tourists visiting Wat Phnom."

Authorities tried several times to get the unruly monkeys to eat eggs laced with sleeping pills, but had always been outsmarted, she said, hence the bounty.

Word is that American production companies are in negotiations with the gang leaders to film a reality television series about the monkeys behaving badly. They figure that if people will watch Dancing With the Washed Up Has-Beens, they'll watch Monkeys Gone Wild.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Charles Krauthammer notes the huge change in French foreign policy toward both the United States and Iran. He also notes the change in Congress, which is even more important. The recognition that Iran is acting against the US in Iraq is a huge first step in actually confronting Tehran.

WASHINGTON — Ahmadinejad at Columbia provided the entertainment, but Sarkozy at the U.N. provided the substance. On the largest possible stage — the U.N. General Assembly — President Nicolas Sarkozy put Iran on notice. His predecessor, Jacques Chirac, had said that France could live with an Iranian nuclear bomb. Sarkozy said that France cannot. He declared Iran's nuclear ambitions "an unacceptable risk to stability in the region and in the world."

His foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, had earlier said that the world faces two choices — successful diplomacy to stop Iran's nuclear program or war. And Sarkozy himself has no great hopes for the Security Council, where China and Russia are blocking any effective action against Iran. He does hope to get the European Union to join the U.S. in imposing serious sanctions.

"Weakness and renunciation do not lead to peace," he warned. "They lead to war." This warning about appeasement was intended particularly for Germany, which for commercial reasons has been resisting U.S. pressure to support effective sanctions…….

……..The French flip is only one part of the changing landscape that has given new life to Bush's Iran and Iraq policies in the waning months of his administration. The mood in Congress also has significantly shifted.

Just this week, the House overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for very strong sanctions on Iran and urging the administration to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist entity. A similar measure passed the Senate Wednesday by 76-22, declaring that it is "a critical national interest of the United States" to prevent Iran from using Shiite militias inside Iraq to subvert the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad.

A few months ago, the question was: Will the Democratic Congress force a withdrawal from Iraq? Today the question in Congress is: What can be done to achieve success in Iraq — most specifically, by countering Iran, which is intent on seeing us fail?

This change in mood and subject is entirely the result of changes on the ground. It takes time for reality to seep into a Washington debate. But after the Petraeus-Crocker testimony, the reality of the relative success of our new counterinsurgency strategy — and the renewed possibility of ultimate success in Iraq — became no longer deniable.

It is completely obvious that the United Nations is unable to do anything about thuggish regimes - whether they want to build nuclear weapons or not. Russia and China are blocking any increased sanctions against Iran. The only way pressure can be brought to bear is if France and the US can get Europe on board. Sarkozy sees the reality, "Weakness and renunciation do not lead to peace. They lead to war." (Something I have been saying for a long time now.) It appears that Congress sees the same thing.

Nobody wants a war with Iran. But if real pressure is not brought down on Tehran soon, that war is inevitable. With the UN useless, the only way to accomplish that pressure is for the US and Europe to act unilaterally. I, for one, hope they can do it quickly.

The International Green Light For Thugs

Vaclav Havel, a man who knows a bit about having the boot of the state on his neck, points out the disastrous effect on human rights the ineffectual United Nations is having around the world, but especially in Burma.

I fear that, with only a few exceptions, most countries have been surprised and caught off guard - once again - by the rapid course that events have taken in Burma. So they seem to be completely unprepared for the crisis and thus at a loss as to what to do.

How many times and in how many places has this now happened? Worse, however, is the number of countries that find it convenient to avert their eyes and ears from the deathly silence with which this Asian country chooses to present itself to the outside world…….

…….On a daily basis, at a great many international and scholarly conferences all over the world, we can hear learned debates about human rights and emotional proclamations in their defense. So how is it possible that the international community remains incapable of responding effectively to dissuade Burma's military rulers from escalating the force that they have begun to unleash in Rangoon and its Buddhist temples?

For dozens of years, the international community has been arguing over how it should reform the United Nations so that it can better secure civic and human dignity in the face of conflicts such as those now taking place in Burma or Darfur, Sudan. It is not the innocent victims of repression who are losing their dignity, but rather the international community, whose failure to act means watching helplessly as the victims are consigned to their fate.

The people of Burma and especially the monks who are leading the protests are in serious trouble. The governments of the world and the UN are milling about doing nothing. It is a green light for the thugs who run that benighted country. Other thuggish regimes see just how effective the United Nations is in dealing with anti-democratic, brutal regimes and learn the lesson well. Burma is only the latest. Darfur, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Kosovo. All are, or have recently been, the victims of the ineffectual "international community." The lesson to the thugs of the world is very, very clear.

Burma Junta Cuts Off Internet Access

Well, the media made much of the fact that things had changed in Burma since the last bloody crackdown in 1990. Now the internet connected Burma to the world they said. Which just gave the military junta a clue on what to get rid of before the next round of violence. They have cut off the internet saying a cable got damaged. Gee, sorry.

As I noted the other day, Burmese bloggers have been crucial whistleblowers and eyewitnesses to history–supplying the world with round-the-clock coverage and photos of their oppressive regime’s crackdown. Now, just as the Western press is lauding their role, the military junta has reportedly cut off Internet access:

Myanmar’s government appeared to have cut public Internet access and troops occupied key Buddhist monasteries on Friday, witnesses and diplomats said, in an effort to end demonstrations against the ruling junta.

The moves raised concerns that the military government may be preparing to intensify a crackdown on civilians that has killed at least 10 people in the past two days. The Internet in particular has played a crucial role in getting news and images of the pro-democracy protests to the outside world.

According to AFP, government officials are blaming a “damaged underwater cable.”

As noted yesterday, the dictatorships that have fallen to popular pressure have done so by failing to ruthlessly put down protests. I was afraid then that the junta would grasp that lesson. The news today makes me pretty sure they have.

Jane Goodall: Biofuel Destroys Rainforests

Match of the titans. It is the icon of real environmentalism versus the Johnny-come-lately preacher of environmental salvation. Jane Goodall is denouncing the rush to produce biofuels - because that new, Gore-endorsed gold rush is denuding the planet of rainforests.

NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Primate scientist Jane Goodall said on Wednesday the race to grow crops for vehicle fuels is damaging rain forests in Asia, Africa and South America and adding to the emissions blamed for global warming.

"We're cutting down forests now to grow sugarcane and palm oil for biofuels and our forests are being hacked into by so many interests that it makes them more and more important to save now," Goodall said on the sidelines of the Clinton Global Initiative, former U.S. President Bill Clinton's annual philanthropic meeting…….

…….But critics say demand for the fuels has led companies to cut down and burn forests in order to grow the crops, adding to heat-trapping emissions and leading to erosion and stress on ecosystems.

"Biofuel isn't the answer to everything; it depends where it comes from," she said. "All of this means better education on where fuels are coming from are needed."

It isn't like regular readers will find this is new. I have been warning that a lot of people are worried about the real damage being done to the real environment by the "do Something" zealots. Well, "something" is usually really, really bad for the planet as a whole. Maybe Jane Goodall will finally get some rational people to realize that certain rich, energy-guzzling, holier-than-thou pedagogues with serious financial interests in the acceptance of "global warming" might be really advocating the destruction of the planet.

May I See Your Cigarette Papers, Please?

You really have got to be joking. Tennessee has just hit police state status over cigarettes. I wish to heck I was making this up:

NASHVILLE — Starting today, state Department of Revenue agents will begin stopping Tennessee motorists spotted buying large quantities of cigarettes in border states, then charging them with a crime and, in some cases, seizing their cars. (Emphasis added)

Critics say the new “cigarette surveillance program” amounts to the use of “police state” tactics and wrongfully interferes with interstate commerce. But state Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr says his department is simply doing its job, enforcing a valid state law while protecting Tennessee retailers who properly pay state taxes.

Agents have already been watching out-of-state stores that sell cigarettes near the Tennessee border to “get a feel where problem areas are,” Farr said.

While declining to be specific, the commissioner said “problem areas” are generally along interstate highways with exits near the Tennessee border.

The idea is for the monitoring agent to spot a person buying cigarettes in volume at an out-of-state market, then departing in a vehicle with Tennessee license tags. Starting today, monitoring agents spotting such a suspect will call an arresting agent who will stop the car when it enters Tennessee, he said.

The agents will work “in roving teams at random times,” he said.

“This shows once again that Reagan Farr and the Department of Revenue are more interested in turning Tennessee into a police state than doing their job of collecting taxes,” said Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

The reason? Tennessee went to a 62 cent per pack tax from a 20 cent one - and every state around them has substantially lower tax rates. So this is the response. Sending out spies across state lines and taking citizen's cars for daring to defy the mighty state.

This is not America. This is, frankly, jack-booted thuggery dressed up with good intentions.

Consumption taxes are absolutely regressive. They impact the poorest much more than the better off. Every time, no matter what the product. But the state of Tennessee feels it can spy on its citizens - across state lines - and then take their cars from them if they violate the regressive tax. So a person who wants or needs tobacco (maybe a "habit" but a legal one) who is also not well off may want to cross the border to avoid a punitive tax. The better off shrug and pay it. But the state drops the hammer on the working stiff who wants a smoke at a fairly reasonable price.

Get this straight - whether you smoke or not, this will impact you. Because when the revenues fall - and they will - the state will tax something else. Something you hold dear. And they have set the standard for how they will enforce it.

By placing a boot on your neck. Welcome to Tennessee, the volunteer to be subjugated to the government state.

UPDATE: Others:  Rook's Rant, QandO, David Harsanyi's Blog, The Agitator, Hot Air, The Oxford Medievalist,

Notice what's missing? That is the full list commenting on this that is up over at Memeorandum.  Not. One. Lefty. Blog. You know, the folks who howl that terrorists deserve civil rights. The ones who screech about the erosion of civil liberties. The ones who are frauds.

UPDATE: Correction. Rook's Rant is a left-libertarian blog. And as of this update the only one commenting.

Translation Of “Gotcha”

The ruckus started yesterday, but I didn't post about it then. The Editor & Propagandist site touted a machine (Google) translation of a Spanish newspaper as a "smoking gun" that President Bush was bent on war no matter what:

Bush purportedly said he planned to invade Iraq inf(sic) March "if there was a United Nations Security Council resolution or not….We have to get rid of Saddam. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March."

From there, Juan Cole was off and running:

The transcript, it seems to me, provides a whole rack of smoking guns that could be a basis for impeaching George W. Bush. The transcript shows that Bush consciously intended to go to war without a United Nations Security Council resolution.

But Jose Guardia, Pajamas Media Senior Editor speaks the language (he lives there) and translated it a bit differently than Google's automatic software did:

What it says is that the US would be in Iraq in mid-March whether there was a second UN resolution or not, one that Bush said he would try to get by all means, which is an entirely different matter.

The specific translation:

As for me, from now on I’ll try to use the softest rhetoric I can, while we look for the resolution to be approved. If some country vetoes [the resolution] we’ll go in. Saddam is not disarming. We must catch him right now. We have shown an incredible amount of patience until now. We have two weeks. In two weeks our military will be ready. I think we’ll achieve a second resolution.

A tempest in a mistranslation then. But just for fun we took that last quote and ran it through Babelfish from English to Spanish and back:

As far as me, now ignited of me I will try to use the smoothest rhetorician I bark, whereas we looked for the resolution of being approved. If the resolution enters some vetoes of the country [ ] we. Saddam is not disarming. We must take it now. We have demonstrated an incredible amount of patience until this moment. We have two weeks. In two weeks our military will be ready. I think that we will reach one second resolution.

From there we took that last translation and went from English to French and back again:

As for me, now lit of ego I will try to use what is smoother rhetoric beat, while we seek the resolution to be approved. If some vetoes of the country enter the resolution ]. Saddam does not disarm. We must now take it. We showed an incredible quantity of patience until this moment. We have two weeks. In two weeks our soldiers will be ready. I think that we will reach one second resolution.

But the real kicker was when we translated that from English to Dutch and back:

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Ain't playing gotcha fun?

Competing Analyses

There are two interesting analyses of the situation in Burma right now. One from the old media, the other from the new. Let's start with Denis Gray from the Associated Press. He is the AP bureau chief in Bangkok, Thailand, and has reported on Myanmar since the mid-1970s. (He reported on the 1988 uprising where thousands were gunned down in the street.)

Every sign of dissent over the decades has been crushed, including a major uprising in 1988 that ended when troops gunned down thousands of peaceful demonstrators and imprisoned the survivors.

The world has changed in many ways since 1988. The Iron Curtain fell a year later, showing freedom can emerge if authoritarian regimes aren't ruthless. Globalization brought increasing economic integration to Asia, including investment in a poor place like Myanmar. The Internet has made it increasingly difficult for governments to control information and dissent.

But in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, there are no outward signs of any change in the cardinal principle of the generals: Retain power at all costs, no matter international pressure and condemnation.

"The risk of not cracking down is infinitely greater than risk incurred in cracking down," said Mary Callahan, an expert on Myanmar at the University of Washington. "What we've seen in the last two days is a very clear message they are moving to put down what they consider a threat to the nation."……..

……By Myanmar standards, the crackdown so far has been muted. Though the military will not be satisfied until it has won, several restraining forces may be at work that would prevent a replay of 1988 and indicate some willingness to make compromises later.

One is the rise of neighboring China — the regime's leading trade partner and military supplier. Beijing has recently made low-key but telling statements urging the rulers to reconcile with the opposition and restore stability.

Gray's take is that the odds are heavily stacked against the uprising. He really does not see this working out well for democracy.

But there are no signs the generals, ensconced and safe in the remote new bunker-like capital of Naypyitaw, intend to relinquish any of the real power they have held since the last civilian government was toppled in 1962.

Questions have been being raised about whether soldiers — who are virtually all from the Buddhist ethnic Burman majority — would defy the taboo on mistreating monks and other countrymen. Most Burmese males spend at least a token few weeks as monks as a show of devotion.

However, there are no signs of cracks among the military's rank and file. Soldiers have shown no sympathy for protesters, and none has changed sides as happened in 1988 when some air force personnel joined demonstrations. Troops are kept isolated in barracks; their families get free housing and medical care.

"Judging from the nature and habit of the Myanmar military, they will not allow the monks or activists to topple them," said Chaiyachoke Julsiriwong, a Myanmar scholar at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

The junta keeps an army of 400,000. That is pretty darn large for a small country and absent foreign enemies, it can only be for one reason - to hold power internally. Switching them to new media, Richard Fernandez, Pajamas Media Sydney editor reports thusly:

The most important development in Burma over the last 24 hours is that the protest movement has not retreated before the government crackdown. The blogger Jotman reports that many thousands gathered at the Sule Pagoda yesterday, September 27. The government responded by opening fire killing several people, including a Japanese journalist.

If the Burmese government thought this would end things they were wrong. The protesters quickly picked themselves off the floor and immediately afterward, as the Irrawaddy reports, crowds continued through the city defying the curfew.

Crowds defied the curfew in several parts of Rangoon on Thursday evening. A 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew was clamped on the city on Wednesday, but as darkness fell on Thursday crowds of protesters still roamed the streets. At Hledan junction, security forces fired warning shots after the crowds ignored orders to disperse and go home.

The lastest report from Irrawaddy dimly hints that it is the generals who may be starting to crack. Unconfirmed reports from a Western diplomat speculate that the government may try opening negotiations with the opposition and that Senior General Maung Aye, not the nominal paramount General Than Shwe is now in charge.

One western diplomat in Rangoon has speculated that army chief vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye may meet the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi soon in an attempt to ease increasing tension in Burma. The source added that Maung Aye calls the shots for the moment.

Whether or not this is true, the generals are under increasing pressure.

I hope the protesters can get the upper hand. But if other brutal regimes have fallen by failing to act ruthlessly to suppress dissent, I also hope the Burmese junta has failed to learn that lesson. If they did, the uprising is in trouble. Agam in Thailand has more.

“Labour Brainwashing”

A British father is asking a court to intervene in what he is calling brainwashing by the Labor government in Britain. Specifically, he wants them to stop distributing copies of Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which he asserts contains quite a lot of convenient lies.

Lorry driver and school governor Stewart Dimmock is seeking a court order quashing the Govern-ment's decision to distribute the documentary and four short films to 3,500 schools and also to declare that decision unlawful.

Mr Justice Burton, who must decide whether to allow a judicial review of the policy, asked if Mr Dimmock was interested in climate change.

Mr Paul Downes, Mr Dimmock's counsel, replied: "Lots of parents have written to him supporting his application. They do not want our children brainwashed in this way by the New Labour Thought Police."

Mr Downes also pointed to one of the short films in the pack, Champions' Diaries, which was produced by the farming and environment department Defra.

In it children are represented as fervent converts to the Government's agenda, said Mr Downes. He added: "Religious language is used, such as 'spread the word' and 'spread the news'. It's all designed to spread the Government gospel."

David Miliband, who was environment secretary when the school packs were announced in February, said at the time: "The debate over the science of climate change is well and truly over."

Mr Downes told Mr Justice Burton - who has not yet seen the Al Gore film - that it was "half scientific, 30 per cent pure politics and the other 20 per cent is what I would describe as sentimental mush".

He added: "The mush is there to soften up the viewer for persuasion. Of the half of the film that is scientific, the majority is either false or vastly exaggerated."

Well, yes it is. The 20 foot sea rise is nonsense as even the IPCC has pointed out - and they are not even close to being an uninterested party in all this. Many others have pointed out - repeatedly - the very bad science in Gore's film.

Meanwhile in other Gore news, word has been sent to the Nobel Prize committee that unless Darth Gore wins a prize, he fully intends to cash out earth's balance.

If This Is Thursday, This Must Be Turtle Day

We have a turtle trifecta today! First it was the earlier item about the snapping turtle in a British pond. Well, it was in the pond, now it's in a turtle soup kitchen, so to speak. No, we don't mean it is being made into soup, it is in a shelter getting three squares a day. Now we see that turtle and raise it by two. Two heads, that is.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — A rare and bizarre creature has made its way from Florida to a Pennsylvania aquarium store. The two-headed turtle has a head on each side of its shell.

The creature also has four front legs and two back legs.

Experts said the yet-to-be-named reptile is just an odd freak of nature.

Hmmph. Shows how much the media knows. Obviously, this is a bit of genetic engineering by the Animal Uprising™. These dreaded "duo-turtles" will soon be eating twice their weight in food daily. And when they reach full growth, they'll be able to swallow human swimmers in two bites - at the same time!

Moving right along, college students in Florida went searching for turtle nests at the seashore. They didn't find any. But they did find copious quantities of pot.

The students, who follow crawl signs to locate and protect nests, discovered plastic bags of marijuana washed ashore at the north end of the barrier island, said Julie Meeks, acting superintendent at the national seashore. The drugs were turned over to the Camden County Sheriff's Office because the National Park Service has no secure storage facility to hold the estimated 30 to 40 pounds of marijuana, Meeks said.

"All indications were the bags were not in the water that long," Meeks said.

Since the discovery, however, Meeks said more plastic bags containing marijuana have washed ashore "all over the island," including three more bags Thursday after high tide.

We're pretty sure that was the turtle's stash the students found.