Venezuelan Assets Frozen

In a stinging move against (T)Hugo Chavez's attempt to steal nationalize the investments of foreign companies, Exxon Mobil has won court orders freezing $12 billion in Venezuelan assets pending the outcome of arbitration over the seizures.

 NEW YORK (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) has won court orders freezing up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets around the world as it fights for compensation for operations lost to President Hugo Chavez's nationalization drive.

The largest U.S. company sought the asset freeze to guarantee repayment should it win arbitration over the Cerro Negro heavy oil project.

The move is the boldest challenge yet by an international oil major against any of the governments around the world that have moved to increase their holds on natural resources as energy and commodity prices have soared.

"To me it sounds like a very aggressive tactic," said Stephen Zamora, professor of international law at the University of Houston Law Center.

"I can't really say that I'm aware this has been used in other investment disputes. They may be trying to get the government to settle."….

…. The news comes as a tough blow to Chavez, who suffered a stinging defeat in a December referendum that would have let him run indefinitely for reelection and enshrine socialism as the OPEC nation's economic system.

PDVSA is already facing growing debt and increasing operational problems that analysts attribute to underinvestment caused by the company's massive contributions to Chavez's social programs.

But the near-term effect of the Exxon legal maneuver on PDVSA's day-to-day operations was not immediately clear.

The South American nation has an extensive overseas refining network, including the Citgo refining and marketing branch in the United States.

Notice that one fact? PDVSA is having greater problems producing oil because they are not taking care of the infrastructure. This is why socialism simply does not work. The money is not simply there for the taking – it has to be produced from something. That requires investment. Instead, the socialist system attempts to grab all that lovely money but fails to recognize that part of that money must be reinvested. Here is a prediction for you. There is going to be a major – and I mean really major – catastrophic failure at a Venezuelan oil production facility. It will not be due to any outside factor, either. It is going to happen because they failed to do some routine maintenance. 

Exxon is smart to get those court orders.  

Tim Blair Recovering And Blogging Again

This is overdue. Tim Blair has started blogging again following his cancer surgery. In typical Blair style, he is cracking jokes about his experiences as he recovers.

• Overconfident, a few days ago I attempted to take a bath. Unable to haul myself out – no exit strategy – I was forced to call on the only other person in the house: my dear old mother. During an intensely awkward bath-extraction pas de deux, it was silently agreed that we must never speak of this again.

• The level of cancer with which I was diagnosed: T3. Not the worst.

• Weight before surgery: 82 kilograms (180 pounds). Present weight, after several days on solid food: 75 kilograms (165 pounds).

• I’m informally banned from driving lest sudden braking cause sudden breakage of slow-mending abdominal wounds and subsequent hilarious organ spillage. My mother – a former nurse – once saw this happen.

Hilarious organ spillage is a classic. Welcome back, Tim. Get well soon.  

Gordon Brown Slaps Sharia Law In Britain

Contrary to the views of Rowan Williams, Gordon Brown has slapped rather hard at the idea of Sharia law being installed in Britain. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury caused consternation yesterday by calling for Islamic law to be recognised in Britain.

He declared that sharia and Parliamentary law should be given equal legal status so the people could choose which governs their lives.

This raised the prospect of Islamic courts in Britain with full legal powers to approve polygamous marriages, grant easy divorce for men and prevent finance firms from charging interest.

His comments in a BBC interview and a lecture to lawyers were condemned at a time when government ministers are striving to encourage integration and stop the nation from "sleepwalking to segregation".

The Prime Minister rapidly distanced himself from Dr Williams's view. Gordon Brown's spokesman said: "Our general position is that sharia law cannot be used as a justification for committing breaches of English law, nor should the principles of sharia law be included in a civil court for resolving contractual disputes.

"The Prime Minister believes British law should apply in this country, based on British values."

Dr Williams's words opened a chasm over Islam between senior leaders of the Church of England, who are already trying to deal with an Anglican war over gay rights which broke out after he was appointed archbishop.

Williams, who I have referred to as the Archbishop of Culture Buried,  will be remembered as the most misguided person ever to have held the office. He appears to be determined to shatter the entire religious community he is supposedly leading. He appears to be succeeding. 

I'm not familiar with Anglican rules, but is the Queen, as head of the Church of England able to remove an Archbishop? Because this guy is a piece of work. But he is one cruddy Archbishop. 

Climate Gulag

Well, they're right out in the open now.

David Suzuki has called for political leaders to be thrown in jail for ignoring the science behind climate change.

At a Montreal conference last Thursday, the prominent scientist, broadcaster and Order of Canada recipient exhorted a packed house of 600 to hold politicians legally accountable for what he called an intergenerational crime. Though a spokesman said yesterday the call for imprisonment was not meant to be taken literally, Dr. Suzuki reportedly made similar remarks in an address at the University of Toronto last month.

The proposal has lit up many conservative blogs since it was first reported by the McGill Daily on Monday.

Addressing the McGill Business Conference on Sustainability, hosted by the Faculty of Management, Dr. Suzuki's wide-ranging speech warned against favouring the economy to the detriment of the ecology — the tarsands in Northern Alberta being his prime example.

"You have lived your entire lives in a completely unsustainable period," he told students and fans. "You all think growth and [climate] change is normal. It's not."

Toward the end of his speech, Dr. Suzuki said that "we can no longer tolerate what's going on in Ottawa and Edmonton" and then encouraged attendees to hold politicians to a greater green standard.

"What I would challenge you to do is to put a lot of effort into trying to see whether there's a legal way of throwing our so-called leaders into jail because what they're doing is a criminal act," said Dr. Suzuki, a former board member of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

"It's an intergenerational crime in the face of all the knowledge and science from over 20 years."

Green jackboots are still jackboots. The current departure from normal snow cover for the entire northern hemisphere is here . Note the blue areas and how large they are. Here is the current southern hemisphere sea ice anomaly . Note that is is quite a lot higher than "average." Here is the current northern hemisphere ice. Here's a comparison of northern ice areas with historical records for February 6, 1980 and the same date this year. Pay particular attention to the west coast of Greenland. 

Back Off Or I’ll Change Your Channel

An Australian man has been sentenced to a year's probation for threatening to blow up Brisbane. With a television remote control.

CANBERRA (Reuters) – A drunken man's threat to blow up half a city with his television remote control forced Australian police to declare a state of emergency at a luxury golf resort, a local court heard on Thursday.

Geoffrey Martin Fryatt, 57, a resident of the Fairways Golf and Lifestyle Retreat in Brisbane, was arrested by elite paramilitary police after terrifying neighbours with a knife and threatening to detonate a store of chemicals with the TV remote.

"One push of the button will blow up half of Brisbane," Fryatt shouted in the standoff last May before police in the Queensland state capital opened fire with rubber bullets.

Fryatt's lawyer told the Brisbane District Court that his client lost control after losing much of his life savings in a fraud carried out by his finance broker, local media said.

The judge was less than amused at Mr. Fryatt's threat. He also was unmoved by the defendant's complaint that probation might interfere with plans to do aid work in a third world country.

"Let's get you right before we send you off to a third world country," the judge said.

Apparently Fryatt's brightness control didn't work any better than his "detonate" button did. (Frankly, I'm surprised at the light sentence.)

Atlantis Reaches Orbit

STS-122 carrying the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module has attained orbit. Despite earlier  concerns about the weather, Atlantis lifted off at 2:45 EST.

With Atlantis safely attaining orbit, NASA mission managers gave the command to proceed with main engine cutoff, or MECO, and the giant orange tank that provided fuel for the climb into space has been jettisoned. As the tank falls away and descends toward Earth, its onboard cameras record the process.

Atlantis' next stop: the International Space Station.

Cheers and shouts could be heard throughout the space center as Atlantis, carrying the STS-122 crew and Columbus Laboratory, roared off the launch pad into the mid-afternoon sky to begin the 24th mission to the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Steve Frick commands a crew of six, including Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love and the European Space Agency's Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts. This is the first spaceflight for Poindexter, Love and Melvin.

Third time's the charm.

Text Of John McCain’s Speech To CPAC

Real Clear Politics provides the published text of the Speech John McCain delivered to CPAC today.

Go read it, I won't try to excerpt it. I think it was pretty well done. (No video yet that I can find).

Springing Into The Sky

We find this a bit hard difficult to believe. But an Israeli newspaper is reporting that the Israeli Air Force may soon be giving its pilots Viagra to improve their performance. In the air, that is.

JERUSALEM (AFP) – It might harm their reputation, but Israel's air force is considering giving its combat pilots Viagra to improve their performance — in the air.

A recent study conducted by Israeli doctors among mountain climbers in Africa found a link between erectile dysfunction drugs and improved performance in high altitudes, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot reported on Thursday.

The active ingredient in the drugs was found to make climbers perform better in an environment with less oxygen, which causes fatigue and dizziness.

This has led army doctors to consider giving jet fighter pilots — who can fly at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet (15,000 metres) — the same drug, the report said.

Gives a whole new meaning to "stiff resistance." Must resist stick joke. Must resist……. (Sometimes even I find the comment policy difficult to deal with……)

Classy, Classy, Classy

Mitt Romney live at CPAC right now:

I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror. If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters… many of you right here in this room… have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming President. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country.

Full remarks are here – he's delivering them really well. He's a bit higher up the page at this moment. I want to watch the reaction to the section I excerpted.

UPDATE: Hot Air has the video. 

Romney Folding?

Might be. The Corner:

We are beginning to see signs that Mitt Romney might be preparing to pull out of the Republican race.

Everyone is looking for tea leaves from the campaign, and we'll know more about the governor's state of mind when we hear from him at CPAC today. But in the last 24 hours, I have noticed a dramatic drop-off in the number of emails I have received from Team Romney. This is no small thing. Every reporter will tell you they receive reams of emails from the Romney campaign. But the last one I got was at 1:47 p.m. yesterday, advising me of Romney's campaign schedule in Maryland. Before that, I last received on at 8:37 a.m., advising me of Romney's CPAC speech.

Normally in that time period, I would have received lots of emails telling me, among other things, that John McCain's Straight Talk Express had taken a detour. For example, I would have expected to receive one about McCain's "calm down" remark. But nothing from the Romney camp. I wondered whether the campaign is dialing back its aggressiveness in preparation for a Romney withdrawal.

A few moments ago, I spoke to someone in the Romney camp. Would I be crazy to read that into the email traffic? "You would not be crazy to read that into it," he said. "There have been a lot of discussions going on about whether there is a path to victory, and not wanting to look destructive at what might be the end. You are reading the right thing into it."

Actually a classy move if he is dropping out.  

UPDATE: The Associated Press is reporting it as straight fact. Romney will either drop out or will at least suspend his campaign.  

This Interplanetary War Is Sponsored By The Beatles

The Daily Mail reports that some people are worried that sending messages Across the Universe could lead to A Hard Day's Night. Or something like that.

It's not as though Nasa is beaming out the Cheeky Girls back catalogue or the collected works of Florence Foster Jenkins.

Nevertheless, scientists warn that transmitting songs into deep space could put the Earth at risk of an alien attack.

They voiced fears that advertising humanity's place in the universe – as happened last week when Nasa broadcast a Beatles track towards the North Star – could attract the attention of aliens who are less friendly than ET.

Dr Douglas Vakoch of the SETI Institute, which has been leading the search for extraterrestrials, told New Scientist magazine: "Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open discussion about the potential risks."

They voiced fears that advertising humanity's place in the universe – as happened last week when Nasa broadcast a Beatles track towards the North Star – could attract the attention of aliens who are less friendly than ET.

Dr Douglas Vakoch of the SETI Institute, which has been leading the search for extraterrestrials, told New Scientist magazine: "Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open discussion about the potential risks."

A recording of the Beatles' Across the Universe was last week beamed in the direction of Polaris, also known as the North Star, by Nasa.

SETI – the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – plans more broadcasts from its base in Mountain View, California. 

Some people worry that the creatures that listen in would be a lot like those in Alien. Others are hoping for E.T..  We here at Blue Crab Boulevard agree that there is no sense in provoking a War of the Worlds. Therefore, we respectfully request that Kenny G. be banned from the airwaves immediately.

Nightfall In Britain

Here's a news item coming out of Britain that should shock and appall everyone, regardless of political affiliation. The Archbishop of Canterbury is calling the imposition of Sharia law on Britain "unavoidable ." His "reasoning", such as it is should outrage you.

The Archbishop of Canterbury says the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law in the UK "seems unavoidable".

Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4's World at One that the UK has to "face up to the fact" that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.

Dr Williams argues that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social cohesion.

For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court.

He says Muslims should not have to choose between "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty".

In an exclusive interview with BBC correspondent Christopher Landau, ahead of a lecture to lawyers in London later on Monday, Dr Williams argues this relies on Sharia law being better understood. At the moment, he says "sensational reporting of opinion polls" clouds the issue.

He stresses that "nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that's sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states; the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well".

But Dr Williams says the argument that "there's one law for everybody… I think that's a bit of a danger".

The concept that one law applies to everyone is dangerous? A concept that people have campaigned for for centuries needs to be thrown away and a religious law imposed?  That quaint little ideal of equal treatment is now outmoded?

Only to the likes of the Archbishop of Culture Buried. Williams has been a source of major stupidity before, but this takes some sort of prize.  Not a good prize, either.

UPDATE: Others: Samizdata.net, Biased BBC, Wake up America, Bookworm Room, Hot Air, JammieWearingFool, Tim Blair, Neptunus Lex, Cold Fury, Poligazette, Black Shards, Opinionator,

Many thanks to all who linked this post. 

Changed Game

Michael Barone notes a very interesting fact today. Every, single candidate, regardless of party, is exactly the same in one major respect: all of their initial campaign strategies failed outright. No exceptions. He details each candidate and their failed strategies then asks why this has happened.

For a decade from 1995 to 2005, we operated in a period of trench-warfare politics, with two approximately equal-sized armies waging a culture war in which very small amounts of ground made the difference between victory and defeat. It was pretty clear what the major issues were, what strategies were necessary to win a party's nomination, how to maximize your side's turnout on election day (and, increasingly, in early voting).

But times change. Somewhere between Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and the bombing of the Samarra mosque in February 2006, I believe we entered a period of open-field politics, in which voters and candidates are moving around — a field in which there are no familiar landmarks or new signposts.

Democrats entered this cycle assuming that cries for immediate withdrawal from Iraq would be rewarded. But the success of the surge has penetrated even Democratic skulls; Mr. Edwards, the precipitate withdrawer, is out and Mrs. Clinton, the most cautious of the withdrawers, is ahead. Mr. McCain's surge in the polls owes something as well to his advocacy, going all the way back to 2003, of an Iraq surge strategy. His standing in the polls nationwide, and in key primary states, rose over the Christmastime polling pause — a gain that may have to do with voters' response to the news of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27, when polling resumed.

Mostly absent from political coverage, and even from many of the candidate debates, has been discussion of public policy. Voters lacking signposts in this open field have responded in ways that don't make much sense: Republicans concerned about the economy tilted toward Mr. McCain, who once said he didn't know much about the economy, and Democrats eager to withdraw from Iraq tilted toward Mrs. Clinton. The ideas vacuum in campaign 2008 still remains to be filled, and opinion may still take sharp and unpredicted turns.

If Barone is right – and I rather suspect that he is in many ways – then the game has changed in a fundamental way. At the start of the Second World War, the French hunkered down in the bunkers of the Maginot line, expecting that the old rules of the Great War and trench warfare would repeat. That didn't exactly turn out to be a winning strategy.

It would be a good idea to start thinking outside the trench, so to speak.

Total Lunar Eclipse February 20

Space.com reports that a total lunar eclipse will be visible over most of North and South America on February 20. Totality will occur at 10:01 EST. It looks to be a very good one, indeed.

Mark Wednesday, Feb. 20, on your calendar as "Lunar Eclipse Night," for if the weather is fair you should have no difficulty observing a total eclipse of the moon.

The eclipse will be visible wherever the moon is above the horizon during the time frame that the eclipse is taking place. As it turns out, North and South America will turned toward the moon and will be in excellent position for this sky show.

Europe, Africa and a part of western Asia will also be able to see the eclipse, although for these regions the event will take place in hours just before sunrise on the morning of Feb. 21.

All told, given clear skies, about three billion potential eclipse viewers will be able to partake in the spectacle of the full moon becoming completely immersed in the Earth's shadow.

This will be the third total lunar eclipse within the past year. The previous two favored different parts of North America, but this one will be readily visible from start-to-finish across much of the continent, weather permitting.

I just hope it's a little warmer than it has been. Right now, standing outside for any length of time is difficult. 

Play The Cards You’re Dealt

Daniel Henninger is adding his voice to the growing chorus of people trying to talk conservatives off the ledge. In his column today, he reminds conservatives of their accomplishments over the years – and how they made a difference. He also urges them not to sell themselves short by dealing themselves out of the game.

Conservatives, for whom any glass is always half full, have sold themselves short. Notwithstanding the moderate pedigrees of the three major GOP candidates on entry, all emerged from the debates as Reagan conservatives on what matters: taxes, spending, regulation and national defense. Most of the worrisome moderate positions were in the past.

When Reaganomics appeared in the late 1970s, the Republican establishment mocked it. Voodoo economics, someone said. Today for a Republican presidential candidate, it's gospel.

This is an achievement.

Some will say the debate promises were just politics. As opposed to what? Presumably moving people toward one's position is the point of all this daily political heavy-lifting. To now call a candidate's embrace of your ideas unacceptable is churlish and self-defeating. Conservatives won a decades-long debate in their party. Bank it. The demand now that Sen. McCain repudiate that old vote on the Bush tax cuts is an attempt at public humiliation. Ain't gonna happen. If life doesn't work for you without public penance, join a monastery.

Most of the distrust of the McCain candidacy is rooted in personal ill will. He's a hard case, and activists are often brittle. The fear is that one of the strongest impulses in a McCain presidency will be payback, and that he might sell out conservatives on taxes and the judiciary. That is possible, though by now it would require an act of deep duplicity by Mr. McCain. Here again, the conservatives should show more self-confidence.

The big lesson of the failed Harriet Miers nomination is that a real establishment on judicial nominations exists now in Washington. Throwing another David Souter over the transom and onto the Court is nearly impossible. A participant in this process who has discussed it with Sen. McCain tells me that he says his advisers on major judicial nominations will include Ted Olson, Sam Brownback and Jon Kyl. Miguel Estrada, a victim of the Gang of 14 senators on the judicial filibuster, has endorsed Mr. McCain.

Sen. McCain's capos on economics and taxes are Phil Gramm, the probable Treasury nominee, and Steve Forbes, a GOP Hall of Famer who in the 1996 and 2000 campaigns kept Reaganomics alive. By now, the coming sellout is reaching Himalayan proportions. One may still assume the worst. Conservatives always do, not without reason. It is politically obstinate, though, to ignore the presence of this ballast. (For those who still insist on sitting it out over immigration, global warming or stem cells, there is no hope.)

Read it all, because there are a lot more points to ponder there.

Conservatives have made a huge difference to the Republican party by working in opposition within the party. Reagan was derided by many of the insiders when he arrived on the national scene. Yet he stuck, played the hand he was dealt and changed the world. Reagan was a very pragmatic conservative. He gave ground on many issues while cutting taxes and building up the nation's defenses. It would be a good thing to remember that. Reagan learned to play the hand that was dealt him exceedingly well and fundamentally changed things as a result of staying in.

You can't change or influence things if you throw the cards down and refuse to play. Insisting on ideological purity is something I deride on the left. I hate seeing the right trying to use the same tactics. In the end, requiring ideologues instead of politicians is self- defeating. Who can really measure up to your own internal yardstick? Why, only you, of course.

Refusing the cards and walking away from the game will cost some conservatives their place at the table. Ronald Reagan Would be appalled at that tactic.