Human-induced global warming is real, according to a recent U.S. survey based on the opinions of 3,146 scientists. However there remains divisions between climatologists and scientists from other areas of earth sciences as to the extent of human responsibility.
Against a backdrop of harsh winter weather across much of North America and Europe, the concept of rising global temperatures might seem incongruous.
However the results of the investigation conducted at the end of 2008 reveal that vast majority of the Earth scientists surveyed agree that in the past 200-plus years, mean global temperatures have been rising and that human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures.
The study released today was conducted by academics from the University of Illinois, who used an online questionnaire of nine questions. The scientists approached were listed in the 2007 edition of the American Geological Institute's Directory of Geoscience Departments.
Two questions were key: Have mean global temperatures risen compared to pre-1800s levels, and has human activity been a significant factor in changing mean global temperatures?
About 90 percent of the scientists agreed with the first question and 82 percent the second.
The strongest consensus on the causes of global warming came from climatologists who are active in climate research, with 97 percent agreeing humans play a role.
Petroleum geologists and meteorologists were among the biggest doubters, with only 47 percent and 64 percent, respectively, believing in human involvement.
"The petroleum geologist response is not too surprising, but the meteorologists' is very interesting," said Peter Doran associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and one of the survey's authors.
"Most members of the public think meteorologists know climate, but most of them actually study very short-term phenomenon."
However, Doran was not surprised by the near-unanimous agreement by climatologists.
"They're the ones who study and publish on climate science. So I guess the take-home message is, the more you know about the field of climate science, the more you're likely to believe in global warming and humankind's contribution to it.
"The debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific basis of long-term climate processes," said Doran. Of course.
#1
The debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the funding process and the warm feelings that it endows.
#4
Human-induced global warming is real, according to a recent U.S. survey based on the opinions of 3,146 scientists. However there remains divisions between climatologists and scientists from other areas of earth sciences as to the extent of human responsibility.
As meaningful as asking proctologist his 'expert' opinion on a particular brain surgery protocol.
#7
Importantly, even if you distinguish between weather and climate, climate data is almost exclusively provided by three source providers: NASA and its subsidiary GISS, and NOAA. And all three are not just agenda driven, but reliant on each others data. An inc*stuous relationship.
A superb example of this is the infamous "Mann hockey stick" fraud, which repeatedly uses the meme of, "supported by a dozen independent studies". Not so independent after all, if you check out the authors of the studies:
Briffa et al [2001] with coauthor Jones
Jones et al [1998] with coauthor Briffa
Jones and Mann [2004]
Mann and Jones [2004]
Mann, Bradley and Hughes [1998, 1999]
Bradley and Jones [1993]
Hughes and Diaz [1994]
Bradley, Hughes and Diaz [2003]
The bottom line is that a small cabal is responsible for self-supporting data. 'A' creates a study that is confirmed by 'B'. 'B' creates a study that is confirmed by 'A' and 'C'. Then 'B' and 'C' creates a study confirmed by 'A'.
#12
One key question they left out is this:
How much of global warming (if it exists) is due to human activity and how much to other processes?
Man may very well be A cause, but not THE cause, or perhaps not even a primary cause, and still generate the answers they got. (Though I do buy the grant whore hypothesis too.)
#13
the take-home message is, the more you profit fromknow about the field of climate science, the more you're likely to believe in global warming and humankind's contribution to it.
#14
The survey says 3146 "scientists" participated in the survey. How many were actually scientists that had any degree of understanding of macroclimatology? My bet would be 2-3 AT MOST. SEPP gave a list of 10,000 scientists, including more than 2200 climatologists and atmospheric physicists, who had signed a petition claiming anthropogenic global warming was a hoax. Theories based on the solar cycle, sunspot activity, and the electromagnetic fields of the Earth and the Sun have proven significantly more reliable in predicting surface temperatures, and capable of explaining past warmings and coolings, which have existed as long as the Earth has. Those "scientists" who have tied their careers to manmade global warming are beginning to realize that they've climbed out on a very rotten limb, and others are rapidly sawing through it. Fred Singer said it best: "how can manmade global warming be real when it's based upon increases to atmospheric carbon dioxide? Man's contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide accounts for 2% of all CO2 in the atmosphere. CO2 accounts for about 4% of all greenhouse gasses. It's not feasible that 2% of 4% of ANYTHING could totally dominate the earth's atmospheric physics, as manmade global warming claimants insist."
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/20/2009 18:02 Comments ||
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#15
Actually OP, it's worse than that.
Mankind's contribution to the global output of CO2 every year is less than 1/3 of 1%.
Then, when you factor in the fact that CO2 isn't a poison, it's a nutrient, well the whole thing starts to get pretty silly. There are far more plants consuming CO2 than there are people creating it, even counting Al Gore and his $4,000 a month electric bill.
#2
Mr. Soros was extremely involved (negatively) in the Southeast Asia currency crashes of the late 1990s. Maybe he was just practicin'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/20/2009 14:00 Comments ||
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#3
Sounds like the classic hedge fund 'Jedi Mind Trick'.
You buy up a huge short position in a company, then go on tv and say that you have information that it is going to tank. Viola! Self-fulfilling prophecy.
#5
Get rid of leverage (100-400X for Forex), get of rid of the ability of speculators to destroy a currency. Same for stocks, financials and commodities.
Posted by: ed ||
01/20/2009 15:51 Comments ||
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#6
Soros made his money when the Pound was forced out of the EMS. There is no EMS this time and the UK wants a depreciating currency. It allows it to export its competitive problems.
This time around it's Ireland, Spain, Greece and probably Italy that need to depreciate and are stuck in the Euro. Interest rate differentials across Euro countries say the Euro (zone) may break within weeks.
I see what you're saying but it's not the same thing. "Educated" folks combined a currency and monetary policy but not fiscal policy. How did they plan on controlling growth and inflation in every country?
With the US and Mexico it is just the result of a semi failed state at the border of one not-yet-there.
The speech is getting positive reviews from a lot of people in the loyal opposition. Mr. Judd is always something of a contrarian, but I think his critique is at least worth considering.
even heading in with low expectations, I think it's fair to say that today's inaugural address wasn't just prosaic rather than poetic, as we anticipated, but actually fell flat. Indeed, what seems to have been a conscious decision to drain the occasion of soaring rhetoric and sweeping vision was so inappropriate to the requirements of the day and the role he now assumes that we may question whether he understood either.
The speech he gave was reminiscent of one of those Bill Clinton State of the Union's, where you drone on about various specifics, ticking off a laundry list of items. It can at least be argued that such a speech is suitable to Congress, where you're basically advancing a legislative agenda and/or trying to shape theirs. But an Inaugural is quite a different beast. It is, or ought to be, a president's vision of where we are, where we've been, and where we're going. It's a time for sweeping strokes, not pointillism. And where we usually have a fairly good handle on who a new president is, Mr. Obama has remained unusually obscure through an election season where he studiously avoided ideas, presenting himself and the fact of his race as the primary reason to elect him. So it would have been an especially appropriate moment for him to enunciate the personal philosophy that guides him, to position that philosophy within the flow of American ideas and ideals, and to suggest where that philosophy is likely to lead him and us. (Of course, in order to do that, he first has to have a personal philosophy that guides him.)
Bad enough to have whiffed on the historical context of the Inaugural Speech in general, he also got wrong what was needed from him at this specific time. While it is a good idea for him to tamp down the unreasonable expectations of the Left, which read into his silence a Progressivism that nothing in his career and candidacy supports, and of the World, which sees in him a departure from prior American presidents, even as he apes his predecessors, the sort of workmanlike tone of the address suggested a role for his presidency that no president can fill. Meanwhile, he eschewed the one role that he is particularly adapted to filling successfully. While it is self-flatting to pretend that you take on the burden of office at a uniquely difficult point in the nation's history and that will only be by your own semi-miraculous leadership that things improve, the reality is that most of the heavy-lifting on both the war and economic fronts has already been done for him. Over the next couple years he will be responsible for the orderly withdrawal of forces from the Middle East, but unless he has the unexpected good sense and moral drive to regime-change Syria, there isn't much left for him to do on the battlefield. Likewise, while he inherits an economy softened by a credit crunch, artificially high gas prices, mistakenly high interest rates, and nativism, the only one of these that hasn't yet been ameliorated is the anti-immigration problem. For the rest he can sit back and reap what's already sown.
More importantly, even if there were some sort of existential crisis of the liberal democratic capitalist West, it's not as if rolling up his sleeves and hammering out legislative Rube Goldberg schemes with Congress would do anything to address that. We've had our share of presidents who descend into the details in that way and they are--without exception--failures. It isn't just that the solutions to life's problems aren't to be found in the innards of congressional actions, but that it is a waste of a president's political and personal capital to try fine-tuning such imperfect devices.
What our successful presidents have done is used their office as a bully pulpit, to summon the national will to do certain things, to pressure the Congress to respond, and to establish broad frameworks to which the eventual solutions should roughly correspond. They have also used their leadership and moral and political authority to move America and Americans to overcome mere crises of confidence and moments of fright, without necessarily tying the words to legislative programs. This is where Mr. Obama could have been useful, but instead exacerbated the problem. Whether rational or not, people across the planet have greeted the coming of the Obama presidency with enormous hope and optimism. At a moment in time where we have little to fear but our funk itself, he should have drawn upon this reservoir of good will and sought to snap everyone out of it. Rather than giving such a downer of a speech and kind of covering his own butt in advance, just in case things aren't better four years from now, he should have reveled in all that is right and good and summoned us all to greater heights. Instead he asked us all to wallow with him in depressing self-indulgence about how tough times are.
One hates to say it, but if you look back through recent presidential history the speech that comes closest to this one is Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech--the defects of which we've analyzed previously. It would not be all that surprising if someone as inexperienced as Mr. Obama already fears that he has taken on a job that it too big for him, as Mr. Carter's speech revealed the recognition that he was in way over his head. But to be treading so close to the edge of despair before you actually have the responsibilities is not a hopeful sign.
In fairness, Mr. Obama is such a neophyte that this grievous error in tone may just be symptomatic of the steep learning curve he faces. But, jiminy-cricket, we'd better all hope and pray he's a quick learner.
N.B. On the bright side, it was certainly more poetic than the official poem, which seemed to have been read off of a Scrabble board for all the sense it made....
I thought maybe I was being unduly harsh until even CNN and NPR correspondents sounded disappointed and then Hendrik Hertzberg just hammered it.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/20/2009 15:36 ||
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#1
First day on the job and Barak Obama has already made history. The worst Inaugural Day stock market performance ever.
Posted by: ed ||
01/20/2009 16:17 Comments ||
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#2
I looked at the ticker on a stockbroker's building that I pass on the way home from work and burst out laughing, ed.
Not that it's funny or anything.... :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/20/2009 18:09 Comments ||
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#3
Perhaps it was the cold weather, but I would regard the Bam-Man's speech and appearances this day as lackluster - I think CNN recognized this as it kept trying to routinely divert or refocus on Obama's surroundings + guests, etc. and NOT concentrate on Obama's statements.
#4
Obama is going to be in a haze all through his "Presidency". The world will have to get used to it. America's military will need to be prepared for it, because America's enemies will feel America is weak because of it and will do what they can to capitalize on it.
That is what you get when you have a media darling celebrity in the oval office. Haze, haze and more haze.
As with all empty suits, you have
to aim "low" to hit the common denominator...
Posted by: Ming the Merciless ||
01/20/2009 21:11 Comments ||
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#8
Watch the hands and not the mouth. Speeches are like the blank screen with Hope and Change projected on it. The meaning is whatever the beholder wants it to mean.
Watch appointments. Watch legislation coming down the congressional sewer pipe. Watch the actions and you will see where we are really headed, and then you can formulate countermeasures, if you need to.
Our congress has sold its collective soul, and does not represent the people any more. There will be an orgy of spending that you cannot believe, then we will be totally bankrupt.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/20/2009 21:15 Comments ||
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#9
A tedious and pedestrian speech. The heads were anticipating one that would go down in the annals, and probably come off well compared to Lincoln's. Not to be.
The market started to tank about five sentences into his speech, and rolled over harder as the afternoon played out. Even the short covering at the end didn't generate a decent rally.
Now we're about to see who Barack Obama really is. We won't any longer have to rely on parsing his speeches, looking for clues and deciphering the contradictions. We'll still get speeches - he delivers good ones - but presidents don't get to vote "present" when the question on the table is what to do about a collapsing economy or terrorists plotting mayhem on New York City.
We'll learn exactly what he means by "change." So far his administration looks more like a Clinton Restoration than anything anticipated by the embittered cult on the far fringes of the nutcake left. That's better than some of us expected. But Nancy Pelosi, the dowager queen of the San Francisco Democrats, and some of her congressional acolytes still dream of resurrecting Nuremberg and putting George W. and Dick Cheney in the dock, like Hermann Goering. She's disappointed that the new president so far shows scant appetite for marching his predecessor to a hanging tree, or watching him abused under a hail of designer omelet pans thrown by a giddy Lavender Hill mob at a gallows erected at the San Francisco City Hall.
Mr. Obama, like all his predecessors, must disappoint somebody. So far it's only the nuts who can't imagine life beyond a rant against what, after today, will be the past. The list kept on the left of his grievous offenses is already a long one: He brings to heel a few moderately conservative pundits, briefly stiff-arms the noisy gay-rights lobby with his choice of preachers to pray at his inauguration, makes John McCain purr with vague promises of an important job, perhaps as chairman of Clean-Up, Paint-Up, Fix-Up Week, and promises comity and civility along with whatever change he can forge in Washington. He basks in the creepy adulation of the moment, straining the senses and fortitude of the sane, the sound and the sensible, but it's only fair to keep in mind that the man and his cult are not necessarily the same thing.
The anticipation rocking the capital is surely alarming to the man, because he understands if no one else does that expectations are exaggerated, unreasonable and often foolish. The governor-general of Canada, where January weather sometimes does weird things to the brain, calls Mr. Obama "a major step" in the evolution of humanity. The London Daily Telegraph clearly agrees, observing that Mr. Obama "redefines the male physique," and offers a photograph of him emerging from the ocean surf, demonstrating how far the amoeba has come. In Hollywood, Demi Moore organizes movie stars to promote sacrifice and to lead by example. One twinkler promises to drink no more water from plastic bottles, another bravely promises to ride the subway the next time she's in New York. (It's sometimes hard to lead, but somebody's got to do it.)
Alas, the honeymoon ends at noon.
George W. leaves an economy virtually owned by the state, and sinking. The new president is dreaming if he thinks that six months hence the recession (or depression if it comes to that) will be regarded as George W.'s. The Israelis accomplished their mission in Gaza, leaving everything neat and tidy (considering the time and place) for the new beginning.
But the incoming president got a pointed reminder Sunday morning of what lies just ahead. Ignoring his mentor-turned-nemesis, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was preaching in a Washington pulpit, Mr. Obama took his family instead to an old-line Baptist congregation, there to hear the pastor tell of the saga of Queen Esther, the Jewish queen of ancient Persia - now Iran - who by wit and wile saved ancient Israel from destruction. Said the pastor, the Rev. Derrick Hawkins, to the man seated on the second row: "Perhaps, just perhaps, you are where you are for just such a time." No one could miss the point of the sermon.
Given the creepy adulation, Mr. Obama may be tempted to believe the conventional wisdom that nothing succeeds like success. What he will learn is that nothing recedes like success. Friends become disappointed adversaries, adversaries become angry enemies and the cult becomes a mob, looking for revenge and a rope. "If you want a friend in Washington," Harry S. Truman once said, "get a dog."
But Barack Obama, who likes to read and who has studied history, knows all this. This is his day, and he's entitled to the heartfelt best wishes of one and all. Here's my prayer for God to shower His blessings on the president of the United States. He's going to need every one of them.
#1
Cant do it. The best I can muster is a neutral response. The left has behaved too badly to be excused for a long, long time. I don't wish harm or failure on him, but don't expect me to stand up and cheer.
#5
Oh, not me. After ordering my collector cards from QVC I went to the local yum foods and got me a changychonga and a large hopesi. On my way home I peed myself just to soak in the moment.
#8
as I said in another thread - for the sake of my family & the country - I wish him the best of luck in doing the right thing. Other then that, f*ck him - pretentious empty suited socialist.
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West -- know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."
America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2009 12:58 ||
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#1
I don't like at all thses words about "America helping the weak". The weak can be a bastard dreaming of murder, looting and rape but who hasn't the strength to implement them. The Palesos are a prime example.
#2
Gathering clouds, raging storms, midst of crisis, weakened ecomomy, greet, irresponsibility, collective failure, hard choices, lost homes, jobs shed, businesses shuttered, failing schools, sapping of confidence, nagging fear, inevitable decline, lowered sights, serious challenges, petty grievances, false promises, recriminations and worn out dogmas, strangled politics, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, common dangers, storms and tests, deep water, only hope survives, wrong side of history, clenched fists......
#4
"Childish things" > HMMMMMMMM, well, in Cold War COMMIE/LEFT-SPEAK referred to such pro-democratic/libertarian ideas as PERSONAL-NATURAL FREEDOMS, MATERIALISM OR WEALTH, VOTER CONSENT = POPULAR VOTE, etc.
* "To shape An uncertain destiny" > Again, the 2009 - 2012 [2016] POTUS OBAMA PERIOD WILL "MAKE OR BREAK" ANY DESIRED US-LED OWG-NWO [including GLOBAL SOCIALIST ORDER]; OR EMPOWER NUCLEAR ISLAMISM-JIHADISM + TERROR, i.e. RISE OF AN ISLAMIST NUCLEAR [proto]SUPERSTATE/CALIPHATE.
The above includes SLOW BUT DE FACTO WEAKENING AND ROLLBACK OF US-SPECIFIC GEOPOLITICAL POWER.
Radical Islam is rampaging and attempting to break up the Cold War ASIAN ORDER [Russ, China, India, etc] as we speak, plus acquire strategic nuclear miltechs = nuclearization.
#6
"and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."
-umm, wasn't your father allowed in the country in order to pursue an advanced educational degree? Jim Crow was bullshit & it's good that it's gone but let's not get dramatic One-der boy. You have more in common w/the Clinton's then you do w/the Cosbys. You are, in fact, not a descendent of slaves no matter how many ignorant blacks & the lying msm think that you are.
#7
If I were to mention the ghosts of Normandy, then perhaps also Midway? Guadalcanal?
I might have been impressed if he had mentioned the name of the Capital during the War for Independence. And since we are in an era where the previous stuff is null - BH6 is absolutely right.
This must be when white gets right, green gets mean, argile gets servile, and the Red Man is a non-believer, Man.
#8
When my mother was at university in New York City in the latter part of the 1940s, she briefly dated an black African classmate. She couldn't understand that he would not take her out because no place that would serve her would also serve him. So it is quite probable that Barack Obama, Sr. would not have been served in local restaurants, no matter how fancy his education or passport.
An airheaded gossip columnist achieves the insight which most of the mighty op-ed solons of the august established media have yet to even approach...
...I can't help but wonder: are we Americans one big Bridezilla, focused on the wedding, and not on married life?
Not to harsh your Barack Obama buzz, but after all the dresses are shipped to the Smithsonian and Bono jets back to Ireland and Malia and Sasha put up their Jonas Brothers posters, our new president is faced with one heck of an overflowing ashtray to empty: wars, stock market jitters, a recession, bailouts, Bernie Madoff fallout, Gaza, tax increases, unemployment.
And it's not all George Bush's fault, either. Wait til you figure that one out ...
And like the giddy bride who married Mr. Right Now, something tells me our beloved groom is going to be sleeping on the couch before the inaugural champagne has lost its fizz.
And whose fault is it? Look in the mirror....Um, aren't we going all Disney princess on the man? Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Barack Obama is just a man, not a fairy-tale concoction....
Posted by: Mike ||
01/20/2009 08:46 ||
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#1
More looney left wing attempts at expectation management.
Magnums of Cavasia to the 'B' deck please. Captain Smith Obama has everything under control.
#2
for the sake of my family and America, I wish him the best of luck. Other then that, I wouldn't walk across the street to piss in the dude's ear if his brain was on fire.
#3
I think she's the first commentator to put it into terms the Obamanauts can understand. Too bad it was after the election (not that most of them would have listened anyway).
#4
I wish the best for the man, since him making really crappy decisions will be bad for this country.
Either way, I'm still watching him with wariness.
#6
I have been listening to the ceremony on radio. If "HE" gets it right, I am a member of the loyal oppostion. If "HE" gets it wrong, I am a member of the Resistance.
I'm listening. Correct me if I am wrong, but did The One just fuck up the simple oath of office? I think he did. Yes he did.
What a bitch. No teleprompter for the oath.
A simple oath. "HE" fucked it up.
January 19, 2009: The new Israeli combat tactics in Gaza were a great success. Between January 3rd, when Israeli ground forces first entered Gaza, until Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on January 18th, Hamas fighters were useless against Israeli ground troops. So far, 13 Israelis and 1300 Palestinians have died in the fighting. Hamas combat units tended to be quickly wiped out. The Israelis were much more aggressive than they were two years ago in southern Lebanon, and this was largely the result of a training course all Israeli troops had to go through before entering Gaza, and growing anger at the ceaseless Hamas rocket attacks on Israel..
Two years ago, Israel opened a new urban warfare training center. The complex consists of 500 structures, including several multistory ones, duplicating what soldiers would encounter if they had to fight in, say, Gaza. The new center cost $40 million and was built with the help of the U.S. Army (which has a lot of recent experience fighting Arabs in urban areas). Israel already has several smaller urban training centers, built to give new troops some experience in what they might encounter in the Palestinian territories. But the 2006 operations in Lebanon showed that many reservists not only lacked urban warfare training, but also training tailored for conditions in Lebanon or Gaza. The new training center allows entire battalions to train together, as they would in an urban environment. The complex is covered with over a thousand sensors, mostly small vidcams, which capture the activities of the troops for playback and critique. American style MILES (laser tag) equipment is used to realistically recreate the effects of weapons. Other troops and local civilians are used to play the enemy, and civilians, in the training exercises. Although Israel doesn't use women soldiers in combat, women do serve as instructors for combat skills. In the new training center, they often play the role of the enemy, and the Israeli troops usually know when this is the case, because the women soldiers are quite good.
Most of the troops that went into Lebanon in 2006, had been pulling peacekeeping duty in the West Bank for the last few years, and were trained for that. This meant that the different kind of training required for Lebanon or Gaza had not been done for a long time. The Israeli troops in Lebanon adapted, but that took time. But there wasn't a lot of time and the war up there was soon over. It's different in Gaza. The troops go in knowing what to do and how to quickly do it. Moreover, the Lebanon operation was a surprise, no one expected it. But Israelis have been demanding for years that something be done to stop the thousands of rockets being fired out of Gaza. Israelis were pissed, and the troops went aggressively and determined to do something about it. The Gaza operations was the result of months of planning. For the Israelis, there were no surprises.
Continued on Page 49
January 19, 2009: Pakistan has turned into a dangerous place for al Qaeda. The terrorist organization has been in the region since it moved to Afghanistan in the late 1990s. In late 2001, most surviving al Qaeda members fled to Pakistan. There, many of them married women from Pushtun tribes. While some of the newly married remained in the terrorism business (either in Pakistan or farther away), the rest sought to make a living locally. This brought them into conflict with their new neighbors. Partly because the al Qaeda men sought to impose their Islamic conservative customs on their neighbors, and partly because al Qaeda men were competing with, or stealing from, their neighbors. Over the last three years, this has led to increasing hostility between the al Qaeda foreigners and local Pushtun tribes. Hundreds of al Qaeda men have been killed by angry tribesmen.
And then there's the matter of ethnic tensions. One of al Qaeda's weaknesses is that it is dominated by Arabs. This often causes resentment when the non-Arabs find themselves left out of decision making, or on the short end when it comes to distribution of resources. This was first seen in Afghanistan, where the al Qaeda Arabs made themselves very unpopular several years before September 11, 2001. Now the bad feelings have spread to Pakistan. There, the hundreds of al Qaeda members hiding out in tribal areas along the Afghan border, have split along ethnic lines. The Arab al Qaeda, who still have access to lots of cash, have made themselves very unpopular with the al Qaeda members from Central Asia. The Central Asians, particularly Islamic radicals from Uzbekistan, always felt this was their turf, and that the Arab al Qaeda should recognize that, and not throw their weight, and money, around in a disrespectful (to the Uzbeks) manner. Over the last few years, Pakistani and U.S. intelligence operatives were able to use these bad feelings to get information on where al Qaeda leaders were hiding out. These men were either captured in Pakistan, or killed by American UAVs firing Hellfire missiles.
The Arabs do have an attitude problem. In Afghanistan, they viewed the Afghans as a bunch of uneducated hicks, and the Afghans picked up on this. It's true that many of the senior Arab al Qaeda were well educated, much better than the average Afghan, but they would have been wise to keep any feelings of superiority to themselves. But they didn't, and while there appear to have been attempts to act more diplomatically after al Qaeda survivors were driven into Pakistan, this didn't last. The basic problem was self-preservation. The Pakistani army and intelligence forces came down hard on al Qaeda after the terrorists declared war on the Pakistani government in 2002, killed hundreds of Pakistanis in terrorist attacks and made several assassination attempts on the Pakistani president. When the Pakistani army showed up in the tribal territories four years ago, many of the tribes were no longer willing to host the terrorists.
Continued on Page 49
I just watched Bill OReilly interview one of the survivors of the US Airways crash on Fox. . . . Like most people, OReilly was absolutely convinced that there must have been panic and mayhem aboard the flight. He repeatedly questioned the survivor, a man who had barely dried off from a crash landing in the Hudson several hours before, about whether people were screaming and pushing on the plane. When the man explained that no, people had been generally calm and helpful, OReilly was amazed. He asked again and again why people had not become violent and hysterical, until the survivor agreed it was shocking indeed.
The truth is, in almost every disaster I have studied, people treat each other with kindness and respect. Violence and panic are extremely rare. An instant camraderie springs up between strangers--on a sinking ship or a bombed-out subway car. That is the rule, not the exception. . . .
Why dont we turn into raving maniacs? Because it is in our interest to be nice to each other. Under threat, we need each other more than ever.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/20/2009 12:35 ||
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#1
Another reason. If you panic, you die.
I wonder how many babies O'Reilly woulda stepped on to get outta that plane. Whatta douchebag.
#4
O'R kept asking, because the reports are many that some people were jumping over seats to get out, others were grabbing carry on's and purses. One persons "pandimonium" is anothers "orderly evacuation.
On my most recent flight, now that it costs $15 to check a bag, 70% are carrying everything they own on the flight. I was pinned to the window seat by 2 women, on a cross country flight who didn't take off full lenght wool coats. Each had a carry on bag they put under the seat, and a purse, no saddle bag filled with crap they kept on thier lap. I offered to help put all this "unsecured junk" in the overhead, while it was still open. "Oh no, I need my books" they replied.
Mid flight, the middle one gets up to go to the bathroom, dumps the contents of her saddle bag on the floor, which is already cluttered with her carry on...
Call me heartless, but in an critical situation I would have not "waited" for these two to gather their self induced clutter.
There were cases of this on the US Air flight; However there was also a good number of "leader/passengers" who kept the crowd calm while the Flight Attendents performed their real task- passenger safety.
#5
You are NOT "heartless." US domestic air travel has become a torturous national embarrasment. The ICE train from Kaiserslautern to Paris or other destinations is reasonably priced, roomy, clean, and comfortable. Europe has the right answer, they've had it for years and it's trains.
#7
Not really, when that Ethiopian Airline was made
to crash by it's drunken muslim Hijackers,
the Captain loudly warned the passengers
NOT to inflate their life vest before exiting the
airplane. However, the voice recorder sounded hundreds of "pops" as idiots still inflated their vest, got stuck on the ceiling as the broken plane sunk and drowned.
I understand the crew wrung the neck of the
muslim sand monkeys before exiting the cockpit...
GOOD JOB, GUYS!!!
Posted by: Ming the Merciless ||
01/20/2009 22:09 Comments ||
Top||
#2
How can GDP keep going up if manufacturing is going down the crapper? We now have more blood sucking lice than we do workmen who actually turn out a product. My mind boggles.
#5
Question: of those employed in government, how many work for the U.S. military, the FBI, CIA, or Homeland Security, which have been upsizing since 9/11? For that matter, how many are employed by local/state police, fire departments, etc. I'm pretty sure I want those people to stay on the job, and even hire more, despite the fact that not one contributes directly to the gross domestic product.
#6
Trailing wife. Activity in government employees is accounted for the amount of the salaries when computing GNP. You can think they are improductive but military, police and your friendly IRS employees contribute to the GNP.
#8
"You can think they are improductive but military, police and your friendly IRS employees contribute to the GNP."
Only by taking money from other people's pockets, JFM.
Their work may well be useful to the nation (well, maybe not the IRS), but they are paid only by confiscating money from the public (as, in fact, are all gummint workers). They don't produce anything.
Unlike businesses and workers that make their profits by persuading other people to willingly fork over their cash in return for what the businesses/workers produce.
My problem isn't with the military, police, etc.; it's with the tens of thousands of totally unnecessary bureaucrats who apparently exist to make life miserable for the people who are actually paying their salaries, and are impossible to fire.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/20/2009 18:06 Comments ||
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#9
Barbara Skolaut
I will not discuss it, I just pointed at one of the technicalities of GNP calculation.
Now, baically your employees are also taking your money but the activity of your company is measured by the value added (difference between sales and raw materials) and that is usually higher than salaries (otherxwise you should close shop, fast). For government agencies it is accounted by how much they spend on salaries (or is it their total spending, I don't remember) because for many of them there are no good ways to measure what they do in economic terms. How do you measure in economic terms the activity of your fire department?
BTW,, the option of accounting all government activity as zero was what was done in Soviet national accounting.
Required reading: a word from my favorite deflationists bond investors that have beaten all others handily, at Hoisington Investment Management (.pdf). They agree with my view that most of the actions taken by our government are useless or even counterproductive. They cite Kindleberger, Schumpeter, Minsky and Kondratieff. I would add in the Austrians. High levels of debt and debt complexity lead to large recessions/depressions eventually.
High levels of debt and debt complexity rob an economic system of flexibility. So long as the debt is increasing, there can be one tremendous boom. But when the asset cash flows can no longer carry the debt, the system goes into reverse, with falling asset values. During that time, monetary policy is useless, and fiscal policy is useless, until the debt levels are reconciled.
#1
Asset deflation causes inflation. As asset values deflate less is invested in new productive assets and the supply of consumables from those productive assets decreases causing inflation.
We going to see an enormous inflationary surge as the supply gaps hit from the many chip factories, car plants, metal mines, etc which are currently being closed or not built.
#2
Neither inflation nor economic growth will work this time, unlike in the past 60 years when they did work, because the easy credit economy has been stretched far beyond its limits. Artificial economic edifices were created that should not have been, and cannot continue to exist on their own. They have to collapse.
Most policy makers, and even many economists, have become convinced that money is just created by fiat, out of thin air, and can be done so indefinitely. What an amazing yet improbable notion. One that does not stand up with examination.
The best we can hope for now is that the real economy, of goods and services is protected during the collapse of the imaginary, leverage economy. And in doing so, people, Americans, are not neglected and come to serious harm by not having shelter and food.
States should be encouraged to create provisional script currencies (not legal tender), as stable complementary currencies to the USD, which may be whipsawed by deflation, hyperinflation, and even bank paper runs.
Kept under strict control, they keep commerce flowing, allow USDs to be pooled to buy things the State doesn't have in abundance (imports from other States), protect local and State tax revenues, and overall mitigate a recession or depression in that area.
In a time of deflation, a State currency provides a common currency for trade, acting as a substitute of scarce dollars, easing deflationary pressures. While a pound of hamburger may cost only a US nickel, yet nobody has nickels, it may alternatively cost 1SC scrip, like a dollar, that many people have. Thus hamburger can be bought and sold, and nickels are under less pressure.
In a time of hyperinflation, when a pound of hamburger costs $100, it still alternatively only costs 1SC scrip. So people don't have to dash to the store with their paycheck to buy before the prices jump again. Again, taking pressure off inflation.
The iron rule of currency is that "bad money pushes out good". This means that people want to save good money, but spend bad money as quickly as possible. But a complementary currency biases this iron rule, because it is an artificially bad currency.
A SC scrip is functionally worthless, that is, it is not legal tender. However, when the dollar is under deflationary or inflationary pressure, or just shortage pressure, it gives an SC scrip value, and in turn, the scrip normalizes the dollar.
That is, what is the bad currency and what is the good currency? It actually fights with the USD, and forces it to take the opposite side of the iron rule than it should, which helps it considerably.
So right now, States should be encouraged to create the enabling legislation they need to create a SC, under an emergency order by their governor. It will both protect them, and help the USD recover as well.
#3
If consumers keep their money tight then the consumer sector is not going to witness hyper inflation. Even with prices at the pumps radically down from just a couple of months ago, it appears the public is not going back to its previous level of consumption. Neither did the public bite on the hyped pseudo sales before and after Christmas. If indeed thrift has infected enough of the population, there still won't be more money chasing fewer goods as the behavior and priorities of consumption has changed.
#5
Anonymoose,
I think you are right about a few things, but we don't need state issued currency when we have gold.
I'm not a gold bug, but I think I may change my views in the near future. Gold and Silver specie are the only money that really have any value in my mind.
#6
While we're on the subject of spending/saving habits, do you think this 'crisis' has been/will be bad enough to permanently change Americans' spending/saving/borrowing habits like the depression did to the following 2 generations?
My guess is it has not yet, but if the economy does what I fear it might, it probably will.
#7
Unquestionably this crisis will change the habits of the American people. Or more properly the young people (my children) who come of age during this crisis (which will not end soon) will acquire habits of frugality they will retain throughout their lives as their spendthrift debtor parents (my peers) leave the population after declining into poverty and the American people will have changed. It has all happened before and it will again. Read this book to understand why.
#8
The government has set an example regarding living beyond its means so it is a surprise that many Americans followed? Don't get me wrong, credit is wonderful and makes things far easier, but every high school should have some basic courses on never getting into debt and having a couple months salary saved away in case.
I am strong.
I am big and well made.
I am sick of a nations stenches.
I am sick of propertied czars.
I have dreamed my great dream of their passing.
I have gathered my tools and my charts.
My plans are finished and practical.
I shall roll up my sleeves and make America over.
The traditional incentives, hope of money-making and fear of money-loss, will be weakened, and a kind of civil-service loyalty and fervor will need to grow gradually into acceptance.
#10
Remember 70% of the US economy depends on consumers consuming (not on their saving). Shrinking that part of the economy & replacing it with saving/production will be extremely painful.
#11
Also, consider how / where / what savers save. If it's put in the wrong kind of savings, the gummint can expropriate it any time in the name of "the national good." REAL money in the mattress, bars on windows, crates of .223 ball looking better all the time. How to protect the garden out back, I know not...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/20/2009 14:29 Comments ||
Top||
#12
M Murcek "How to protect the garden out back" Male dogs, dont have to be danes, main use is to sound the alarm, your job is to respond with a weapon (12 gage shotgun preferably)
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/20/2009 16:07 Comments ||
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#13
An excellent article at the pdf link. It illustrates the split between economists (at least from my amateur POV) On one side you have Fisher's debt-deflation analysis. When excess debt occurs deflation/depression will occur until the excess of debt is washed out of the system (after many years of pain)
On the other side you have Friedman's THEORY, as opposed to Fisher's real life analysis(he himself went bankrupt during the depression)
Friedman postulated that it was a contraction in money supply which caused the depression. Bernanke is a follower of Friedman and will maintain or increase money supply.(How, I've got no idea, he has used up his monetary options and is only left with fiscal options. So unless there is massive cuts in government expenditure, nothing much is going to happen there.
So Fisher's depression/deflation V. Friedman's recession/inflation.
Interesting times ahead.
#14
Temporarily restrict legal immigration (and, of course, the other kind, too), and buy American.
Don't laugh. Leftists who think they're liberals (progressives, anyone?), a la those currently now in control, can be very draconian when their power is threatened.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Human-induced global warming is real, according to a recent U.S. survey based on the opinions of 3,146 scientists. However there remains divisions between climatologists and scientists from other areas of earth sciences as to the extent of human responsibility. 
