Our newly reelected President used his Inaugural Address and the State of the Union to advocate that we must take action to combat man made global warming. He said there have been increases in droughts and violent storms. I’m frustrated because those statements are easily proven to be false. Most of the media have once again simply ignored the fact that the President is speaking from beliefs not supported by facts. George Will is one exception. His latest article, which focused on the nonsense of having a State of the Union address, mentions comments about climate change. “Data are unkind to his assertion that climate change is causing storms to become more violent and drought to become more prevalent.” “Hurricane and other tropical cyclone activity are at a three-decade low, and Nature journal reports that globally ‘there has been little change in drought over the past 60 years’.” Continue reading
Category Archives: Current Events
Benghazi–What Difference Does It Make
I have been astonished at the lack of attention given by several major media outlets to the attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed four Americans, including our ambassador to that country. I understand that many in the media did not want anything to distract the voting public from re-electing Mr. Obama. They apparently now do not want anything to get in the way if Hillary Clinton chooses to run in 2016. Perhaps that’s why there was little media criticism when Clinton responded to a question whether the attack was a spontaneous protest or an organized terrorist attack. “Was it a protest or is it because of guys out on a walk one night and they decide they would go kill some Americans?”What difference, at this point, does it make?” The media celebrated the “brilliance” and emotion of her response. I was appalled at her response. Continue reading
United States Had Hottest Year Ever
Fans of global warming have been celebrating that the U.S. had the highest average recorded temperature in 2012, and the national media was full of stories about the horrors to come. Reports that indicate there is no global warming trend were displayed less prominently. One report mentioned that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that the average temperature for the entire world barely made it into being one of the top ten years. The average was 58 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a full degree above the twentieth century average.
Another article that did gain a rather large headline on page 19A of the January 6, 2013 Denver Post reports that China is experiencing unusually cold weather. The national average temperatures are the lowest in almost three decades. Snow and ice have created havoc and knocked out power in several provinces. That information should be remarkable to advocates of the theory that global warming is being caused by man’s carbon dioxide emission, since China has been busy outstripping the U.S. in those emissions. Continue reading
Looming Demographic Disaster
The first paragraph in an article authored by Bill Frezza is disconcerting, to understate the level of concern it should cause. “If demography is destiny, democracy is toast-at least those democracies where citizens can vote themselves a living at someone else’s expense. It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to see that governments’ addiction to intergenerational income redistribution is not sustainable unless someone keeps supplying babies at an accelerating pace.” The last sentence of the article is, “The problem with entitlement democracy is that you eventually run out of other people’s babies.” (I’m guessing this is a slight theft of Margret Thatcher’s famous quote that, “The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.)
The gist of the article is that we are facing a self-imposed financial disaster. “The root cause of the economic disaster that lies ahead is the kamikaze drive of democratic governments to displace the functions of the family, including the care of relatives in their old age.” Continue reading
Russian Adoption Politics
The posting last week was about Russian politicians retaliating against a U.S. law imposing human rights requirements on Russia. The Russian law, which would include banning adoptions of Russian children by Americans, is moving closer to reality. The law has been passed and Vladimir Putin has indicated he will approve it. A Reuters article by Nastassia Astrasheuskaya and Alissa de Carbonnel reports the law would cancel the placement of 46 Russian orphans in U.S. homes. There were 956 Russian Children adopted by Americans last year. An Associated Press article by Nataliya Vasilyeva and Mansur Mirovalev on Yahoo reports that more than 60,000 Russian children were adopted by Americans in the past 20 years.
The Russian law has sparked outrage in both Russia and the U.S. because the children “…aren’t offered to foreigners until they get a certain number of (adoption) refusals from Russians…” Many of them have difficulty being adopted because they have severe health problems or disabilities. There are “…about 740,000 children without parental care in Russia…” and many live in severely overcrowded orphanages.
It would seem the willingness of Americans to adopt Russian children, especially those with disabilities, would be welcomed. However, it is more complicated than just a political spat. The new Russian law is named Dima Ykolevlaw “…after a Russian-born toddler who died of heat stroke after his American adoptive father left him locked in a sweltering car.” There was another disturbing case of a Russian-born child being raped by the American pedophile adoptive father. Continue reading
Russian Bill Retaliates Against New U.S. Law
The “reset button” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave to the Russians early in President Obama’s presidency with the hopes of improving relations between the U.S. and Russia is still failing. Business Week reports that Russian legislators have given initial overwhelming approval to a bill that would impose sanctions on Americans accused of human rights violations.
The U.S. bill that caused the newest dust-up was intended to open new export opportunities for Americans wanting to do business in Russia. However, there is one section named after Sergei Magnitsky. He was an activist lawyer who was jailed and refused medical treatment until his death. He was arrested after he accused that police officials had engaged in multi-million dollar tax fraud. Russian rights organizations point out that no one has been prosecuted and that some officials he had accused have been promoted.
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a statement after President Obama signed the U.S. bill into law saying it was “odious” and “blatant interference in our internal affairs.” The most troubling part of the story is the uncertainty about “what criteria would be used to assess human rights violations. The spokesman said “…targets could include people who abuse adopted Russian children and people responsible for creation of secret prisons.” I’m guessing that people in the U.S. considering adopting Russian children might want to know more about the law and the intent.