Pope Denounces Climate Change Doomsayers

Those of us who harbor doubts about the climate change/global warming hysterics just got a powerful ally. Pope Pope Benedict XVI has just made a very strong attack on the global warming true believers and did not mince any words.

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.

His remarks will be made in his annual message for World Peace Day on January 1, but they were released as delegates from all over the world convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change talks.

The 80-year-old Pope said the world needed to care for the environment but not to the point where the welfare of animals and plants was given a greater priority than that of mankind.

The Pope's entire message can be read on the Vatican website. The relevant portion is entitled The family, the human community and the environment.

7. The family needs a home, a fit environment in which to develop its proper relationships. For the human family, this home is the earth, the environment that God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for the environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion. Human beings, obviously, are of supreme worth vis-à-vis creation as a whole. Respecting the environment does not mean considering material or animal nature more important than man. Rather, it means not selfishly considering nature to be at the complete disposal of our own interests, for future generations also have the right to reap its benefits and to exhibit towards nature the same responsible freedom that we claim for ourselves. Nor must we overlook the poor, who are excluded in many cases from the goods of creation destined for all. Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow. It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances. If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations. Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions aimed at strengthening that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.

8. In this regard, it is essential to “sense” that the earth is “our common home” and, in our stewardship and service to all, to choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions. Further international agencies may need to be established in order to confront together the stewardship of this “home” of ours; more important, however, is the need for ever greater conviction about the need for responsible cooperation. The problems looming on the horizon are complex and time is short. In order to face this situation effectively, there is a need to act in harmony. One area where there is a particular need to intensify dialogue between nations is that of the stewardship of the earth's energy resources. The technologically advanced countries are facing two pressing needs in this regard: on the one hand, to reassess the high levels of consumption due to the present model of development, and on the other hand to invest sufficient resources in the search for alternative sources of energy and for greater energy efficiency. The emerging counties are hungry for energy, but at times this hunger is met in a way harmful to poor countries which, due to their insufficient infrastructures, including their technological infrastructures, are forced to undersell the energy resources they do possess. At times, their very political freedom is compromised by forms of protectorate or, in any case, by forms of conditioning which appear clearly humiliating.

I'm guessing that Al Gore won't welcome this message from the Pontiff. The fact is, as I have documented over and over again on this site, that more environmental damage is being done right now than is tolerable. Rainforests burned, orangutans slaughtered, humans put into virtual serfdom by western global warming zealots. I think the Pope just threw a monkey wrench in Al Gores little money-making machine. (And yes, I believe Al Gore has a huge personal financial stake in getting his histrionics accepted as policy.)

Barbarism In Canada

A 16-year old Canadian girl has been murdered by her own father in Mississauga, Ontario. Her offense? Refusing to wear a hijab, the scarf that has been imposed upon Muslim women.

A 16-year-old girl is dead and her father has been charged with murder after an attack in a Mississauga home.

Aqsa Parvez, a student at Applewood Heights Secondary School, had been on life support in hospital since yesterday morning.

Police went to the family's two-storey home on Longhorn Trail about 8 a.m. yesterday after receiving a 911 call in which a man allegedly claimed to have killed his daughter.

Paramedics found Aqsa with a faint pulse and rushed her to hospital. She was later transferred to a Toronto hospital and placed on life support.

Peel police said this morning that she died overnight.

Friends at the victim’s school said she feared her father and had argued over her desire to shun the hijab, a traditional shoulder-length head scarf worn by females in devout Muslim families.

Homicide investigators had been standing by, as it soon became clear the young girl wouldn't survive the attack.

Muhammad Parvez, 57, has been remanded in custody and was to make his first court appearance today in a Brampton court.

The victim's brother, 26-year-old Waqas Parvez, was also arrested on a charge of obstructing police.

I read things like this and I despair for the west and for the cultural relativism that refuses to call this what it is - barbarism. Canada is, of course, far, far down the road of political correctness and will only send this filicide to prison. But there has to be a special place in hell for one who would murder his own daughter over a scrap of cloth. Michael Goldfarb at the Worldwide Standard points out that the left wing over at the Huffington Post is busily defending the veil and applying an appalling cultural relativism comparing the oppression of women in some Muslim countries to "oppression" in the west.

There's something deeply troubling about the left's embrace of the veil. It's obvious that not all of these women want to wear the veil, and it's obviously the West isn't just as oppressive towards women. But in light of today's news, that last question, which Crittended felt compelled to answer for her left-wing audience, is absurd on its face. We aren't the ones threatened by the veil–the threat is to 16-year-old girls who don't want to wear it, and risk death at the hands of their own family should they refuse to do so. "Culturally different from our customs" is, in this case, nothing more than a euphemism for barbaric.

I don't think western culture is superior to this barbarism.

I know it is.

Digging In The Cellar

NBC is having to take the extraordinary step of refunding advertising payments to make up for failing to reach guaranteed audience targets. Other networks are also having to make good on declining audience numbers, but NBC is in the cellar and digging deeper. Part of it is lack of hit programs, but there may be other factors at work here as well.

NEW YORK (Media Week) - Fourth-ranked broadcaster NBC has quietly begun reimbursing advertisers an average of $500,000 each for failing to reach guaranteed ratings levels, the first time a network has taken such a step in years, media buyers said.

Networks usually offer make-goods — free advertising slots — in the event of such shortfalls. But NBC has none to give. In fact, no broadcast network has much ad inventory left between now and year's end — except for, perhaps, a handful of units the week between Christmas and New Year's, and that doesn't do much for advertisers chasing holiday shoppers.

CBS, ABC and Fox also are doling out make-goods, primarily for the first quarter. They have blamed softness on a new ratings formula, but media agencies disagree. None of the networks would comment.

The networks' problems emerged even before the Writers Guild of America went on strike November 5. The networks had enough first-run shows to get them through November, and repeats and replacement programming will not begin in earnest until January — when their problems will likely start to worsen…..

…..NBC program planning president Vince Manze countered that the network will air more scripted shows in the first quarter than it did a year earlier, so the perception that NBC is moving more heavily into reality is wrong.

"We will have about 85 hours of original, scripted, first-run programming in the first quarter," Manze said, citing the return of dramas "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (which previously aired on NBC's sister cable net USA Network) and "Medium."

In February, NBC will premiere midseason drama "Lipstick Jungle." It also has first-run episodes of "Law & Order: SVU," "ER," "Chuck," "Friday Night Lights," "Las Vegas," "Scrubs" and "My Name Is Earl" yet to air.

Perhaps it is the right time to pitch my idea for a television show. Called Law and Order: SUV, it stars an ensemble cast (a Hummer, an Escalade and a Rav-4) running down crimes in the Big Apple.

Hey, it couldn't possibly do any worse than they are right now.

The Collapse Of The FEC?

The Washington Post is alarmed, George Will is ecstatic. Three recess appointments to the six member Federal Elections Commission board will expire when Congress adjourns. Senate Democrats placed a hold on the Republican (the other two are Democrats). The Republicans have responded by saying it is all three or none for confirmation. Will surveys the turmoil and pronounces it a good thing.

Four Senate Democrats decided to block the Republican, Hans von Spakovsky. Republicans have responded: "All three or none." If this standoff persists until Congress adjourns, the three recess appointments will expire and the FEC will have just two members — a Republican vacancy has existed since April. If so, the commission will be prohibited from official actions, including the disbursement of funds for presidential candidates seeking taxpayer financing.

Democrats oppose von Spakovsky partly because when he served in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department he overruled staffers in the voting section who wanted to block a Georgia law requiring voters to present a government-issued ID before voting, as Americans do before boarding airplanes, entering many buildings, renting movies, etc. Von Spakovsky's critics say the law is a way of suppressing voting by poor, mostly minority, citizens. Eighty percent of Americans — racists all? — favor such laws. The Supreme Court probably will settle the issue in a case concerning Indiana's voter ID law.

Democrats oppose von Spakovsky also because, as The Post's editorial says, "he blocked career staffers who wanted to stop a Texas congressional redistricting plan; a divided Supreme Court later rejected part of the plan." "Part," indeed. The court affirmed the constitutionality of 31 of the 32 districts involved — affirming von Spakovsky's legal judgment that those "career staffers" opposed.

The Post primly says: "Six former voting section employees asserted that Mr. von Spakovsky participated in politicizing the Civil Rights Division." Who are these "career staffers" who supposedly recoiled from politics?

Will goes on to detail some of the history of the six former career staffers. Many of them are now working for left-wing or left affiliated groups. It is not exactly rocket surgery to figure that there is an agenda in the objections. Yet, as Will points out, one of the Democrats with a hold on the nomination of von Spakovsky is none other than Barack Obama. The paralysis of the FEC would mean no matching funds would be distributed to other Democratic candidates who are accepting public funds. No agenda there, either?

The political paralysis in Washington is becoming rather ridiculous at this point. Will is happy about this instance because he dislikes the FEC's limitations on political free speech. But it's hard for me to applaud yet another case of gridlock just because I might dislike that particular agency or program. We have a massively dysfunctional legislature at this point. That is nothing to cheer about.

A History Of Lies

Stuart Taylor Jr. from The National Journal has a handy-dandy history of the lies, distortions, misrepresentations and dissembling of Hillary Clinton throughout her White House years. Put together this way, it is extraordinary - and highlights the insanity of the Clinton Campaign trying to attack the integrity of other candidates.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is supposed to be smart. But how smart is it for a woman with such a bad reputation for truthfulness and veracity to put those character traits at the center of the campaign?

The irony of her potshots at Barack Obama's character has hardly gone unnoticed. Nor has the idiocy of her December 2 press release breathlessly revealing that "in kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President.' " (Emphasis added.) This, the Clinton release explained, gives the lie to Obama's claim that he is "not running to fulfill some long-held plans" to become president. Hillary was not, it appears, joking.

At a campaign stop the same day, Clinton added: "I have been, for months, on the receiving end of rather consistent attacks. Well, now the fun part starts." Indeed.

I will not excavate Clinton's own kindergarten confessions. Nor will I compare the honesty quotient of her campaign-trail spin with the dreadful drivel dutifully uttered by Obama and other candidates to pander to their fevered primary electorates.

The list is long and damning. Time after time Hillary Clinton was caught out speaking what turned out to be completely false statements. Taylor's list is a nightmare for the Clinton campaign and it tends to highlight that infamous tin ear that Hillary has. She acts as if none of these events exist or can be easily looked up in this day and age. If she becomes the Democratic candidate for the presidency, I can see this entire history turning up in a campaign commercial.

The Glory Of Freedom

The Arizona Republic has an editorial out that recognizes Ayaan Hirsi Ali as a voice that risks her very life for the words she speaks. Hirsi Ali received the annual Goldwater Award for Liberty from the The Goldwater Institute last Friday and spoke out again when accepting the award in Phoenix.

The hazards of expressing a controversial view in The Arizona Republic opinion sections run to outraged phone calls, indignant e-mails and caustic Internet comments. For protection, all a writer needs is a thick skin.

The risks couldn't be more different for Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an outspoken feminist and critic of Islamic extremism.

She needs bodyguards and an armored car.

In 2004, an Islamist brutally shot and stabbed Theo van Gogh, her collaborator on a short film about Muslim women. The attacker thrust a knife into van Gogh, pinning a note to his body that threatened Hirsi Ali.

She didn't back off. She published a manifesto for Muslim women and a personal memoir. As recently as last week, she wrote a scathing op-ed about Sudanese authorities who arrested a British woman for naming a teddy bear Mohammed.

Forced into hiding, Hirsi Ali still speaks out because "there are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice."

The Goldwater Institute recognized her extraordinary commitment to freedom on Friday with its annual Goldwater Award for Liberty.

It would be hard to find a better choice.

Hirsi Ali represents one of the best examples of freedom of expression. She is incendiary, passionate and not about to mince words. She wants the West to reject a "cultural relativism" that leads us to tolerate regimes that oppress women in the name of Islam and that support Islamic schools with radical agendas.

Speaking at Friday's award ceremony in Phoenix, she said, "We have to believe in the glory of freedom to compete with the glory of martyrdom."

I've expressed my admiration for Ayaan Hirsi Ali before. The Netherlands was foolish to turn her away. The Goldwater Institute has an audio interview with Hirsi Ali up at their website.

Heartland On Ice

A huge winter weather pattern is hammering across the United States, with a massive ice storm planted firmly across parts of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.

The entire system slashes right across the country, virtually from coast to coast. The bad news is that today is looking like a relatively mild day compared to what they are predicting for tomorrow.

Some lightning and thunder could accompany regions receiving ice, which would not be expected by most people. This occurs because a warm layer of air in the midlevels of the atmosphere will be sandwiched between two layers of cold air.

Meanwhile, the cold snap continues across the West and the northern tier of the nation, and this will allow for snow to blanket regions from northern Arizona to central Michigan. A large area is expected to have 1 to 3 inches of snow. Today, more snow is expected to fall in the Four Corners region, which was hit the hardest through Monday and Monday night.

Some drenching rain is also expected today. The corridor of heavy rain will encompass a large area from the southern Plains to the Ohio Valley. The air will be mild with a warm and moist flow out of the Gulf.

Pittsburgh, Pa., and Washington, D.C., will both reach into the 50s today, which is about 10 degrees above normal for both cities. The overnight lows will also be rather warm, and will not drop off too much from the daytime highs.

As the warm, moist air penetrates the East, many areas will be blanketed by a dense fog. Traffic will be slowed due to visibilities being greatly reduced. Remember to turn your headlights on and allow extra time on the roads this morning.

Ugly weather across much of the US for a while longer.

Who Is Really Acting In Bad Faith?

Congressional Democrats are complaining and running to the media protesting that they aren't getting enough pork, so they won't fund the troops. To people like David Obey in the House and Robert Byrd in the Senate, this is all the Republican's fault.

A Democratic deal to give President Bush some war funding in exchange for additional domestic spending appeared to collapse last night after House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) accused Republicans of bargaining in bad faith.

Instead, Obey said he will push a huge spending bill that would hew to the president's spending limit by stripping it of all lawmakers' pet projects, as well as most of the Bush administration's top priorities. It would also contain no money for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Absent a Republican willingness to sit down and work out a reasonable compromise, I think we ought to end the game and go to the president's numbers," Obey said. "I was willing to listen to the argument that we ought to at least add more for Afghanistan, but when the White House refuses to compromise, when the White House continues to stick it in our eye, I say to hell with it."….

…."If anybody thinks we can get out of here this week, they're smoking something illegal," he said.

Obey's proposal would ax about 9,500 home-district and home-state projects worth a total of $9.5 billion, according to Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group. Republicans inserted about 40 percent of those projects. Not all of that money could be eliminated, however. The budget of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is parceled out as home-district projects, and Congress has no intention of eliminating the Army Corps.

Obey would not specify where the remaining billions would come from to reach Bush's bottom line, beyond saying the money would be shaved from the president's priorities. One possibility would be funding for abstinence education. Other targets could be nuclear weapons research and development in the Energy Department, NASA programs and high-technology border security efforts that have come under criticism for being wasteful and ineffective, said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

I pointed out the other day when Steny Hoyer was sent out to draw fire on this omnibus spending bill idea that it was a trial balloon. Obviously, it didn't fly. I will point out, once again, that the Republicans learned the bitter lesson that holding up the budget was politically painful when they did it under the Clinton administration. I suspect the Democrats will find out the same thing, but too late. Trying to use funding for the troops as a shield for pork is also going to become a real problem for the Democrats, very, very soon. Voters are seeing improvements in Iraq and are now watching the Democrats cutting off money - they'll remember this.

The Federal budget is now three months overdue and counting. What was that line from 2006? Oh, yeah. The 'do nothing' Congress. The last Congress is beginning to look like a model of productivity compared to this one.