The line of reasoning that voters might prefer competence to likability got a boost from, of all people, former White House chief-of-staff Bill Daley, though he obviously didn’t mean to. In a Chicago speech, Daley said, “The president has a very difficult time with the business community. Most people in business and most people who are successful are Republican. That’s just a fact of life.”
Considering that fact of life, who would you rather have in the White House, a charisma-deprived guy from the party of success or the likeable guy from the party of, well, not success?
Among non-Koolaid drinkers, anyone who votes for Obama will vote for him because they prefer his positions on one or two issues and will ignore the things they don't like about.
The same will go for those who vote for Romney.
Among the Koolaid drinkers, those on the right will vote for Romney because they don't like Obama. Those on the left will vote for Obama because they despise the GOP.
You sound serious. I believe you are going to do so.
We had a guy in high school I knew pretty well. First thing off after graduation he went to Alaska and sat in a igloo for a couple of years. It's great he said. Father was at the U. Guy was really smart. Joined TM and has been at it all his life.
Ex-Israeli spy boss attacks Netanyahu and Barak over Iran PM and defence chief not fit to lead Israel and are misleading the public over Iran, warns former Shin Bet boss Yuval Diskin Share485
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 April 2012 07.58 EDT Article history
Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin criticises Netanyahu and Barak over Iran. Link to this video Israel's former security chief has censured the country's "messianic" political leadership for talking up the prospects of a military stike onIran's nuclear programme.
In unusually candid comments set to ratchet up tensions over Iran at the top of Israel's political establishment, Yuval Diskin, who retired as head of the internal intelligence agency Shin Bet last year, said he had "no faith" in the abilities of the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the defence minister, Ehud Barak, to conduct a war.
The pair, who are the foremost advocates of military action against Iran's nuclear programme, were "not fit to hold the steering wheel of power", Diskin told a meeting on Friday night.
"My major problem is that I have no faith in the current leadership, which must lead us in an event on the scale of war with Iran or a regional war," he said.
"I don't believe in either the prime minister or the defence minister. I don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings. Believe me, I have observed them from up close ... They are not people who I, on a personal level, trust to lead Israel to an event on that scale and carry it off.
"They are misleading the public on the Iran issue. They tell the public that if Israel acts, Iran won't have a nuclear bomb. This is misleading. Actually, many experts say that an Israeli attack would accelerate the Iranian nuclear race.”
{…} Government aides described Diskin's comments as irresponsible and motivated from personal frustration.
Diskin's remarks followed a furore over comments made on Wednesday by Israel's serving military chief, Benny Gantz, which starkly contrasted with Netanyahu's rhetoric on Iran. Gantz said he did not believe the Iranian leadership was prepared to "go the extra mile" to acquire nuclear weapons because it was "composed of very rational people" who understood the consequences.
In what was seen as a veiled rebuke to the prime minister, Gantz added: "Decisions can and must be made carefully, out of historic responsibility but without hysteria."
The chief of staff later attempted to gloss over suggestions of a breach between the military and political leaderships, telling reporters there was "really no distance" between his view and the prime minister's.
Neither Netanyahu nor Barak have moderated their rhetoric. The prime minister recently said that those who downplayed the threat from a nuclear Iran "have learned nothing from the Holocaust". He added: "The Iranian regime is openly calling for our destruction and working frantically for the development of nuclear weapons as a means to that end."
On Thursday, Barak said the chances of Iran halting its nuclear programme in response to international sanctions appeared low. Iran, he said, was not "rational in the western sense of the word".
Diskin's comments also put him in agreement with the former head ofthe Mossad, Meir Dagan, who has said that attacking Iran was "the stupidest thing I have ever heard" and that the Iranian regime was rational.
Netanyahu is a skunk. He is a phony and a charlatan. He is obsessed with his political career and his last day in office will be a great day for Israel, sanity and the security of the US. I only hope it comes soon enough before the treachorous US Congress gets on their hands and knees for him once more.
A dentist pulled out all her ex-boyfriend’s teeth after he dumped her for another woman – who has now left him because he is toothless.
Anna Mackowiak, 34, is facing jail after taking her revenge on 45-year-old Marek Olszewski when he turned up at her surgery with toothache just days after breaking up with her.
She gave him a heavy dose of anaesthetic and plucked his teeth out.
She then wrapped his head and jaw in a bandage to stop him opening his mouth and said there had been complications and he would need to see a specialist.
The dentist, who works in Wroclaw, Poland, said: ‘I tried to be professional and detach myself from my emotions.
'But when I saw him lying there I just thought, "What a b******".'
Mr Olszewski said: 'I knew something was wrong because when I woke up I couldn’t feel any teeth and my jaw was strapped up with bandages.
Flipped back and forth to the White House Correspondent's Dinner during commercials.
Observations:
Michelle looked good.
Obama, as usual, was one of the best dressed guys there.
I noticed, though I really used to be a big fan of George Clooney, I am now getting tired of seeing this guy everywhere (award shows, protests, movies, getting arrested, other stars weddings, in the tabloids, ad nauseum). After seeing him and Brad Pitt during the build up to the Oscars, I was glad to see the French guy get the prize.
After the dinner, the cameras were panning the audiance for celebrity's and came across this nice little old lady who was talking to a tall black lady in a green dress (my wife tells me the black lady is Oprah's girlfriend) with an impressive decolletage (Bob might just say she had big bazongas). At any rate, every few seconds, the little old lady's eyes kept dropping to the other lady's boobs and she had a look on her face that reminded me of the look Sophia Loren had in a picture taken at a dinner party as she was staring at Jane Mansfield's nipple popping out of her dress.
Kimmel mentioned that the difference between Rush Limbaugh's comments on women and those of Bill Maher is their audiances; Bill Maher's audiance realizes that he is an asshole.
In commenting on Keith Olberman, Kimmel mentioned Al Gore's TV channel, Current. He said he has never seen Current TV because his TV doesn't get channel 1,000,000.
Best comical moment: A video of Romney that Obama's team pulled together. In one frame, Romney is standing next to Air Force One and you can see it has a dog house tied to the top.
Moment I found amusing: Jimmy Kimmel, in pointing out one of the GOP candidates was old fashioned, mentioned the only time he was aware of the term 'tweet' was when Barbara Walters offered one to her dog.
The amusing part was they panned to BABA WAWA and she didn't crack a smile.
Speaking of which, none of the secret service guys seemed to want to smile at the numerous jokes aimed at them.
Jimmy Kimmel wasn't too bad. He seemed to be an equal opportunity insulter.
I find the ass in compound with the major part of your syllables. Thou art only mark'd for hot vengeance and the rod of heaven. Truly thou art damned, like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side. Thou unmuzzled fool-born scut!
Finally, and perhaps most damning, corporate insiders are dumping their holdings in droves, selling $6.8 billion in February, the most in 11 months and 13 times the level of insider buying, which is way above the norm of 8.6 times.
Nice economy you got there. Be a shame if something happened to it.
Sometimes a great Notion.
The money changers take top honors in the race to the bottom. These guys makes politicians look like Bill Cosby's school girls 'drunk texting' on their cell phones.
The Democrats (and Republicans back in the day when they still spoke to each other) gave this country what, in an historical context, must be called 'good things.' My list includes SS, EPA and civil rights. Washington incumbency is a problem but the money changers have taken it so far that I doubt a 'political solution' makes much difference.
The film had a “Godfather Effect” on American culture. As noted by film analyst and author Tom Santopietro, The Godfather was a turning point in American cultural consciousness. With its emphasis on proud ethnicity, The Godfather changed not just the way Italian Americans saw themselves, but how Americans of all backgrounds viewed their individual and national self-identities, their possibilities, and attendant disappointments.[51]
The ‘’Godfather Effect’’ had a broader philosophical dimension, as well. As noted by Santopietro, "what Puzo and Coppola delivered - brilliantly - was nothing less than a disquisition on the madness, glory, and failure of the American dream. " [52] The movie starts with the words “I believe in America. ” It then depicts a nation where the Mafia and big business are two sides of the same coin: both are corrupt, tell the truth selectively, and do exactly as they wish.[53]
This insight is bluntly stated by Michael Corleone, who recommends that Italian Americans “must learn from the philanthropists like the Rockefellers – first you rob everybody, then you give to the poor.[54]
The Emigrants is our Swedish is our 'Godfather Effect', if there is such a thing.
I'll always remember the scene where the father slays and guts the ox and puts his son inside carcass to keep him from freezing in the storm. Comes back and gets the kid the next day.
"Some people claim that I blame too much on my predecessor. But I remind them that so did President Bush. [paraphrase]" - Obama at the subject dinner.
None of my business and I have no insight but Clooney strikes me as conflicted - someone who wanted to be a political player but his face dropped him in Hollywood instead. Not that he's complaining - made several public statements appreciative of his fan base and his fortune in general. While Angelina gets all the UN appointments. Was the current girlfriend in attendance?
I predict Matt Damon runs for public office in ten years. I alos suspect that the political operatives who engage in long-term planning actively recruit and groom selected Hollywood candidates for public office - and probably some other choice assignments. LeCarre was notable for observing that actors make the best spies - ability to memorize, extemporize, and disguise at will.
RE The Godfather
The casting calls described on the wiki page are pretty fascinating. Try to imagine if this movie would have made it to all time no.2 (behind Citizen Kane) with some of the alternative actors under consideration - or without Coppola for that matter.
Pew's survey found that people ranked the news media as their No. 1 source of trusted information ... ahead of the Obama administration, corporations, and Congress.
So you know those fundraising deadlines that force the staff around here to work crazy hours and fill your inboxes with emails?
They used to come around every three months. But now that we're in an election year, we're required to report to the FEC monthly.
That means even more coffee and takeout for the team here.
Will you chip in $3 or more to support President Obama before the April 30th deadline?
When you do, you'll be automatically entered to meet the President at George Clooney's house next month.
Monthly deadlines also mean that your support is more crucial than ever, because everyone watching -- from the press, to the public, to the Romney campaign itself -- has three times more opportunities to see what we're made of.
But we'll get through it together. Tomorrow night is our big April deadline -- the first of the general election.
If you can, please give today:
https://donate.barackobama.com/April-Deadline
Thanks,
Rufus
Rufus Gifford National Finance Director Obama for America
That was Gayle King in the green dress. I can sort of see why the older gal was staring.
Overall rating for the girls - maybe 4/10. Not impressed. Michelle Obama however very nice. Prints should be avoided like the fashion plague they are but that one was festive and event-appropriate.
Actually the Bakken is a lot less than initially meets the eye.
Bakken isn't oil at all, but rather a precursor to oil called kerogen. It takes a lot of energy to extract and transform kerogen into a usable product and all that energy has to be deducted from the amount produced to arrive at a NET energy figure. This is what is most important, NET energy NOT barrels produced. When looked at in this manner, Bakken probably only holds perhaps a six month supply of oil at present US consumption rates even using the optomistic technically recoverable figures. What can actually be produced will certainly be quite a bit less than that.
There was some noise about piping some of the Bakken product in the Keystone XL line. My first thought was that you can't mix the tar sands "dilbit" with another product without contamination. A "dilbit" line must be single-purpose - in fact I would guess that might be true for all oil products regardless of the distillate being conveyed.
I expect Rufus is right. My point was that people (Keystone people) were lying about Bakken and second, to inquire about carrying different distillate in one pipeline.
Actually, dilbit is "diluted bitumin." The bitumin is Diluted with "condensate" which, as often as not is imported, which means, "technically" the dilbit shouldn't qualify for NAFTA, tariff-free status.
Since ethics has somehow drifted into the bar, I thought I'd put this up. Not pay a prostitute? Drunken sailors know better....the curse of the unpaid prostitute --
Ethical Advice From a Drunken Sailor So this is what it has come to. The Washington Post has an op-ed piece by Roberto Loiederman, "a merchant seaman from 1966 to 1974," which offers the following advice to the Secret Service:
The worst sin of all [is] not paying a whore. . . . In my day, seamen were convinced that this was such a serious infraction it could threaten a ship's survival. More than once I saw fellow crew members, who'd come back to the ship so drunk they couldn't remember where they'd been, make superhuman efforts to send money to a woman ashore in a desperate attempt to avoid the curse of the unpaid prostitute.
I thought about this while reading about the scandal in Cartagena. It appears that getting drunk and going back to the hotel with the women wasn't, in itself, what got the Secret Service personnel into trouble. What got them busted was that someone in their group refused to pay an escort the pre-arranged price. One of the escorts wanted $800. She said that a Secret Service agent offered her $30. . . .
If the Secret Service personnel involved in this scandal had played by the same rules and followed the same ethical standards as the drunken sailors I used to work with, there would have been no confrontation, and they might still have their jobs.
I wouldn't go that far. Last night I said judgment. Today I'm thinking manners. The species has some housecleaning to do before pondering the infinite.
Pew's survey found that people ranked the news media as their No. 1 source of trusted information...
It appears the bar for "trusted information" is set pretty low judging from other polls. Of course, people pretty much hear what they want to hear (and in most cases, only read what they want to read).
With regards to prior comments on the Correspondents Dinner,
I find the ass in compound with the major part of your syllables. Thou art only mark'd for hot vengeance and the rod of heaven. Truly thou art damned, like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side. Thou unmuzzled fool-born scut!
I can only comment
You besotted poltroon, unholy spawn and misbegotton product of some ill-mated coupling in the sticks of depression era Idaho, being neither Jewish nor a boy scout you flaunt your ignorance of the proper way of roasting an egg.
Forfend your noisome gasconading you mooncalf, you tiresome popinjay. Slink back to your windrows and leave intelligent conversation undisturbed with your betters.
Well Campbell didn't, and I've passed upwards, ever upwards, from genital organization, from age if not spirituality. I've often argued here ere now Quirk is still struggling to arise from Chakra 1, that dull place twixt his asshole and balls, and have tried, in my own small way to encourage the process.
Stacy was a wrestler fore she was a dancer. I used to watch her on world wrestling federation or some such.
In an interview, artist and Beijing critic Ai Weiwei cited the notion that both a human-rights activist and Wang Lijun, the former police chief of Chongqing, sought out U.S. protection as evidence that Chinese people across the political spectrum had lost faith in the government.
Mr. Wang was once an ally of Bo Xilai, the ousted Communist Party high-flier, and his flight in February to the protection of the U.S. consulate in the city of Chengdu began that process that led to Mr. Bo's downfall. "One is the top gun of the stability maintenance machine and the other is the victim of that machine and both of them were seeking safety with the U.S. It could not be more ironic," Mr. Ai said.
Reminds me of Deuce commenting about Heidi Klum's nice ... hands.
Stacy has what looks to be an 11 on a scale of 10 body, but her smile is ... authentic. Very much like Kate Middleton's. And very much unlike Elisabetta Canalis.
The Senior Swindle provides a further reminder of the unseemliness of Obamacare, a preview of the politicizing of medicine that Obamacare would spawn, and an example of the unprincipled side of our politics. But mostly it offers a testament to the Founders’ wisdom in making our government leaders accountable to the people.
The American people have now been living under the looming specter of Obamacare for more than two years. In the fall, they will finally get to issue their verdict on its architect.
The bet here is that $8.35 billion in unscrupulously—and perhaps illegally—allocated diversionary funds won’t be enough to keep the citizenry from voting Obama out of office in November and insisting on the repeal of Obamacare in January. In fact, it might serve as a catalyst.
Ed Balls, the shadow Chancellor, said attempts to blame the eurozone for pushing Britain back into recession "just won't wash". "Britain's recovery was choked off 18 months ago – well before the recent eurozone crisis," he said.
...
Sources insisted his public comments were not an attempt to deflect attention from the government problems ahead of this week's local elections but an attempt to raise awareness of a problem that has not gone away even if it is not in the headlines.
"Frankly, the fundamental problems faced by the eurozone are as bad, if not worse, than they were," they said. "What the Prime Minister was trying to get across was that this has a significant impact on the British economy too."
With more than 1.3 billion people (1,336,718,015 as of mid-2011), China is the world's most populous country.
As the world's population is approximately 6.7 billion, China represents a full 20% of the world's population so one in every five people on the planet is a resident of China.
*****************************
I've been wondering about the ability of China's polity/military to hold together a population that large. Eventually critical mass will overtake Tiananmen Square. 1.3 billion people is a lot of people to hold together. Four times the USA population - where civil war is contemplated every third year or month or so.
One of the "stories" out of China right now is that the Party is competing against the military for control of the country. Numerous analyses describing the internal institutional struggle. Alternatively hang out at the BC China threads and you'll get the Cliff's Notes version. Right now it's 50-50.
On the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, there are several pieces of good news.
...
Ward Economic Development Corp. president Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker has long held a certain fascination for me for coining the phrase "economic referendum" to describe the 1992 events. (Apparently "civil unrest" isn’t politically correct enough for everybody.)
...
This description of her comments at a 2007 event marking the riots’ 15th anniversary paints a striking picture of a community busybody unwilling to assess whether her efforts are effective for or even wanted by the people she thinks she’s helping:
Jackie DuPont of Ward Economic Development Corp. talked about the disconnect that can occur between community and community leaders: "Sometimes you can do so much so long for the people that they think you are doing it to the people." The community, she said, must be part of the process…
In an excerpt from an email, the manager asked the engineer: "Are you saying that these are URLs [Web addresses] that you sniffed out of Wifi packets that we recorded while driving?" The engineer confirmed the practice in a subsequent email.
...
U.S. and European regulators are now investigating how Google bypassed the privacy settings of millions of users of Apple Inc.'s AAPL -0.77% Safari Web browser, a practice that was discovered earlier this year. In that instance, Google used special computer code to install tracking files known as cookies on some people's computers even if the device was set to block such tracking.
Google says it has removed such "cookies" and never collected personal data.
Nope, I'll check the movie out. Last movie I liked was War Horse, though no farmer would even try to plow that dried out ground. The old boy had been out there 40 years, he'd know to wait for the rain.
Oh hell, why not. I copied this screed because I was jealous not to have written it.
Posted by "Tee"@BC sometime this year:
***************************
62. Radag Brown – 4. It would be nice to have a Tea Party friendly president, but it looks like that ain’t gonna happen this time around. We can live with that so long as a President Romney can be pulled in the direction of Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Jim DeMint, Allen West, et al.
We, indeed. After years of striving for party purity, it seems that party purity doesn’t have quite the purchasing power that you thought. Now you’ll deign to board the ship, provided that you can chart the course. I wouldn’t count on it, Mr. Brown. The Tea Party movement is in the toddler stage, and its chief business these days is creating divisions on its own side, tearing down its front-runner because everyone except a Tea Party Patriot is really a “cultural Lefty”, and Lefties must be opposed at all costs. The costs include losing elections, and there appears to be a side business in rationalizing the potential losses: it’s better than winning, it’s honorable, it’s necessary, for the sake of the country.
This is complete horseshit. Whatever this bastardized ideology is that makes lobbyists from LoanMax look principled, that swaps God and Country for Free Market and Low Taxes at the drop of a hat, and equates those who support Social Security with anti-war groups and Cuban guerrillas…not everyone’s buying it. If you adopt it as your own, you deserve to get fleeced.
And that’s a little preview of what you’ll be seeing in the months ahead.
Been wondering what Madeline Albright has been reading?
Madeleine Albright: By the Book Published: April 25, 2012
What book is on your night stand now?
There are three: “Catherine the Great,” by Robert Massie; “Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood With Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour,” by Lynne Olson; and “Steve Jobs,” by Walter Isaacson.
When and where do you like to read?
At home on weekend afternoons or on planes and trains.
What was the last truly great book you read?
Truly great? At the risk of being boring — “War and Peace” (the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky), as an e-book.
Are you a fiction or a nonfiction person? What’s your favorite literary genre? Any guilty pleasures?
More nonfiction than fiction. Innocent pleasure: Walter Mosley.
What was the best book you read as a student?
“Pride and Prejudice” (I even played Mr. Bennet, complete with mustache, in my high school play); and “Sister Carrie,” by Theodore Dreiser.
If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be? What book would you require all heads of state to read?
“The Art of the Impossible,” Vaclav Havel at his deepest, wittiest and most eloquent.
Wind farms can cause climate change, finds new study Wind farms can cause climate change, according to new research, that shows for the first time the new technology is already pushing up temperatures.
{…}Usually at night the air closer to the ground becomes colder when the sun goes down and the earth cools. But on huge wind farms the motion of the turbines mixes the air higher in the atmosphere that is warmer, pushing up the overall temperature. Satellite data over a large area in Texas, that is now covered by four of the world's largest wind farms, found that over a decade the local temperature went up by almost 1C as more turbines are built. This could have long term effects on wildlife living in the immediate areas of larger wind farms. It could also affect regional weather patterns as warmer areas affect the formation of cloud and even wind speeds.
It is reported China is now erecting 36 wind turbines every day and Texas is the largest producer of wind power in the US. Liming Zhou, Research Associate Professor at the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at the University of New York, who led the study, said further research is needed into the affect of the new technology on the wider environment. "Wind energy is among the world’s fastest growing sources of energy. The US wind industry has experienced a remarkably rapid expansion of capacity in recent years,” he said. “While converting wind’s kinetic energy into electricity, wind turbines modify surface-atmosphere exchanges and transfer of energy, momentum, mass and moisture within the atmosphere. These changes, if spatially large enough, might have noticeable impacts on local to regional weather and climate.”
n 1999, a cover story in The Weekly Standard was headlined “Ex-Con: The Remarkable Second Career of Chuck Colson.” Having been interviewed, Colson knew a story was coming.
But when he took that week’s issue from his mailbox, he was surprised to find on the cover a drawing of himself looking joyful. He called me that same day.
It's the vibrations into the ground from the whirling windmills that needs to be worried about. This disturbs the reproduction pattern of the earthworms, not to mention various insects. Bees often nest in the ground. When the earthworms go the soil becomes sterile, and with the insects, pollination is degraded. It's madness what we are doing to ourselves.
There are other options. The German Chancellor is not wrong to stress fiscal co-ordination and strict controls on borrowing.
But if all cut back at once it will suck the life out of the whole European economy, as we are already seeing. While those countries that are struggling to stay afloat have no option but to slash their spending, their more solvent counterparts – such as Germany and the Netherlands – should be upping their borrowing, boosting demand and helping pull the whole bloc out of recession, throwing a political lifeline to debt-reduction plans in the process.
Until then, the storms in Europe are far from over.
Well this will make you laugh -
ReplyDeleteInterview of the Year from down Sam's way
b
I know an old rodeo guy, and I know what he would call that -
Delete"pussywhipped"
b
Another laugher from the Chicago Sun-Times -
DeleteThe line of reasoning that voters might prefer competence to likability got a boost from, of all people, former White House chief-of-staff Bill Daley, though he obviously didn’t mean to. In a Chicago speech, Daley said, “The president has a very difficult time with the business community. Most people in business and most people who are successful are Republican. That’s just a fact of life.”
Considering that fact of life, who would you rather have in the White House, a charisma-deprived guy from the party of success or the likeable guy from the party of, well, not success?
b
.
DeleteThink it through bobbo.
What do you think Bill Daley's idea of 'success' is?
.
Certainly it is probably different than mine, and I can't hazard a guess. We're talking this worldly politics here, I assume.
DeleteWhat do you figure?
b
.
DeleteI figure they're all dicks.
Both major parties suck.
Most politicians suck.
Among non-Koolaid drinkers, anyone who votes for Obama will vote for him because they prefer his positions on one or two issues and will ignore the things they don't like about.
The same will go for those who vote for Romney.
Among the Koolaid drinkers, those on the right will vote for Romney because they don't like Obama. Those on the left will vote for Obama because they despise the GOP.
Vote NLP.
.
You sound serious. I believe you are going to do so.
DeleteWe had a guy in high school I knew pretty well. First thing off after graduation he went to Alaska and sat in a igloo for a couple of years. It's great he said. Father was at the U. Guy was really smart. Joined TM and has been at it all his life.
b
Ex-Israeli spy boss attacks Netanyahu and Barak over Iran
ReplyDeletePM and defence chief not fit to lead Israel and are misleading the public over Iran, warns former Shin Bet boss Yuval Diskin
Share485
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 April 2012 07.58 EDT
Article history
Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin criticises Netanyahu and Barak over Iran. Link to this video
Israel's former security chief has censured the country's "messianic" political leadership for talking up the prospects of a military stike onIran's nuclear programme.
In unusually candid comments set to ratchet up tensions over Iran at the top of Israel's political establishment, Yuval Diskin, who retired as head of the internal intelligence agency Shin Bet last year, said he had "no faith" in the abilities of the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the defence minister, Ehud Barak, to conduct a war.
The pair, who are the foremost advocates of military action against Iran's nuclear programme, were "not fit to hold the steering wheel of power", Diskin told a meeting on Friday night.
"My major problem is that I have no faith in the current leadership, which must lead us in an event on the scale of war with Iran or a regional war," he said.
"I don't believe in either the prime minister or the defence minister. I don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings. Believe me, I have observed them from up close ... They are not people who I, on a personal level, trust to lead Israel to an event on that scale and carry it off.
"They are misleading the public on the Iran issue. They tell the public that if Israel acts, Iran won't have a nuclear bomb. This is misleading. Actually, many experts say that an Israeli attack would accelerate the Iranian nuclear race.”
{…} Government aides described Diskin's comments as irresponsible and motivated from personal frustration.
ReplyDeleteDiskin's remarks followed a furore over comments made on Wednesday by Israel's serving military chief, Benny Gantz, which starkly contrasted with Netanyahu's rhetoric on Iran. Gantz said he did not believe the Iranian leadership was prepared to "go the extra mile" to acquire nuclear weapons because it was "composed of very rational people" who understood the consequences.
In what was seen as a veiled rebuke to the prime minister, Gantz added: "Decisions can and must be made carefully, out of historic responsibility but without hysteria."
The chief of staff later attempted to gloss over suggestions of a breach between the military and political leaderships, telling reporters there was "really no distance" between his view and the prime minister's.
Neither Netanyahu nor Barak have moderated their rhetoric. The prime minister recently said that those who downplayed the threat from a nuclear Iran "have learned nothing from the Holocaust". He added: "The Iranian regime is openly calling for our destruction and working frantically for the development of nuclear weapons as a means to that end."
On Thursday, Barak said the chances of Iran halting its nuclear programme in response to international sanctions appeared low. Iran, he said, was not "rational in the western sense of the word".
Diskin's comments also put him in agreement with the former head ofthe Mossad, Meir Dagan, who has said that attacking Iran was "the stupidest thing I have ever heard" and that the Iranian regime was rational.
Obvious Jew haters.
ReplyDeleteNetanyahu is a skunk. He is a phony and a charlatan. He is obsessed with his political career and his last day in office will be a great day for Israel, sanity and the security of the US. I only hope it comes soon enough before the treachorous US Congress gets on their hands and knees for him once more.
ReplyDeleteThey definitely have a disagreement going. I don't see how anyone can be proven right or wrong. They will be watching our elections closely.
Delete"Sin bravely" - on either side of the question.
Cause you might be wrong.
b
Once again Deuce spews his venom.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me of the evil underbelly of this blog that I almost forgot...
from UK Mail Online -
ReplyDeleteA dentist pulled out all her ex-boyfriend’s teeth after he dumped her for another woman – who has now left him because he is toothless.
Anna Mackowiak, 34, is facing jail after taking her revenge on 45-year-old Marek Olszewski when he turned up at her surgery with toothache just days after breaking up with her.
She gave him a heavy dose of anaesthetic and plucked his teeth out.
She then wrapped his head and jaw in a bandage to stop him opening his mouth and said there had been complications and he would need to see a specialist.
The dentist, who works in Wroclaw, Poland, said: ‘I tried to be professional and detach myself from my emotions.
'But when I saw him lying there I just thought, "What a b******".'
Mr Olszewski said: 'I knew something was wrong because when I woke up I couldn’t feel any teeth and my jaw was strapped up with bandages.
b :)
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ReplyDeleteFlipped back and forth to the White House Correspondent's Dinner during commercials.
Observations:
Michelle looked good.
Obama, as usual, was one of the best dressed guys there.
I noticed, though I really used to be a big fan of George Clooney, I am now getting tired of seeing this guy everywhere (award shows, protests, movies, getting arrested, other stars weddings, in the tabloids, ad nauseum). After seeing him and Brad Pitt during the build up to the Oscars, I was glad to see the French guy get the prize.
After the dinner, the cameras were panning the audiance for celebrity's and came across this nice little old lady who was talking to a tall black lady in a green dress (my wife tells me the black lady is Oprah's girlfriend) with an impressive decolletage (Bob might just say she had big bazongas). At any rate, every few seconds, the little old lady's eyes kept dropping to the other lady's boobs and she had a look on her face that reminded me of the look Sophia Loren had in a picture taken at a dinner party as she was staring at Jane Mansfield's nipple popping out of her dress.
Kimmel mentioned that the difference between Rush Limbaugh's comments on women and those of Bill Maher is their audiances; Bill Maher's audiance realizes that he is an asshole.
In commenting on Keith Olberman, Kimmel mentioned Al Gore's TV channel, Current. He said he has never seen Current TV because his TV doesn't get channel 1,000,000.
Best comical moment: A video of Romney that Obama's team pulled together. In one frame, Romney is standing next to Air Force One and you can see it has a dog house tied to the top.
Moment I found amusing: Jimmy Kimmel, in pointing out one of the GOP candidates was old fashioned, mentioned the only time he was aware of the term 'tweet' was when Barbara Walters offered one to her dog.
The amusing part was they panned to BABA WAWA and she didn't crack a smile.
Speaking of which, none of the secret service guys seemed to want to smile at the numerous jokes aimed at them.
Jimmy Kimmel wasn't too bad. He seemed to be an equal opportunity insulter.
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I find the ass in compound with the major part of your syllables. Thou art only mark'd for hot vengeance and the rod of heaven.
DeleteTruly thou art damned, like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.
Thou unmuzzled fool-born scut!
b
Michigan's Peaceful Muslims
ReplyDeleteMichigan's Peaceful Muslims Continued
Preaching against Pam Geller in the mosque.
All these moslems need is a little more male compassion and a few more decades here and that should do it. A little more acculturation ought to do it.
b
Finally, and perhaps most damning, corporate insiders are dumping their holdings in droves, selling $6.8 billion in February, the most in 11 months and 13 times the level of insider buying, which is way above the norm of 8.6 times.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet...the market keeps on rising.
Link
Nice economy you got there. Be a shame if something happened to it.
ReplyDeleteSometimes a great Notion.
The money changers take top honors in the race to the bottom. These guys makes politicians look like Bill Cosby's school girls 'drunk texting' on their cell phones.
The Democrats (and Republicans back in the day when they still spoke to each other) gave this country what, in an historical context, must be called 'good things.' My list includes SS, EPA and civil rights. Washington incumbency is a problem but the money changers have taken it so far that I doubt a 'political solution' makes much difference.
no justice , no peace.
ReplyDeleteThe Godfather Effect
ReplyDeleteThe film had a “Godfather Effect” on American culture. As noted by film analyst and author Tom Santopietro, The Godfather was a turning point in American cultural consciousness. With its emphasis on proud ethnicity, The Godfather changed not just the way Italian Americans saw themselves, but how Americans of all backgrounds viewed their individual and national self-identities, their possibilities, and attendant disappointments.[51]
The ‘’Godfather Effect’’ had a broader philosophical dimension, as well. As noted by Santopietro, "what Puzo and Coppola delivered - brilliantly - was nothing less than a disquisition on the madness, glory, and failure of the American dream. " [52] The movie starts with the words “I believe in America. ” It then depicts a nation where the Mafia and big business are two sides of the same coin: both are corrupt, tell the truth selectively, and do exactly as they wish.[53]
This insight is bluntly stated by Michael Corleone, who recommends that Italian Americans “must learn from the philanthropists like the Rockefellers – first you rob everybody, then you give to the poor.[54]
first you rob everybody, then you give to the poor
DeleteThe Rockefellers, the mafia, the government......three sided coin.
The Emigrants is our Swedish is our 'Godfather Effect', if there is such a thing.
DeleteI'll always remember the scene where the father slays and guts the ox and puts his son inside carcass to keep him from freezing in the storm. Comes back and gets the kid the next day.
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"Some people claim that I blame too much on my predecessor. But I remind them that so did President Bush. [paraphrase]" - Obama at the subject dinner.
ReplyDeleteNone of my business and I have no insight but Clooney strikes me as conflicted - someone who wanted to be a political player but his face dropped him in Hollywood instead. Not that he's complaining - made several public statements appreciative of his fan base and his fortune in general. While Angelina gets all the UN appointments. Was the current girlfriend in attendance?
I predict Matt Damon runs for public office in ten years. I alos suspect that the political operatives who engage in long-term planning actively recruit and groom selected Hollywood candidates for public office - and probably some other choice assignments. LeCarre was notable for observing that actors make the best spies - ability to memorize, extemporize, and disguise at will.
RE The Godfather
The casting calls described on the wiki page are pretty fascinating. Try to imagine if this movie would have made it to all time no.2 (behind Citizen Kane) with some of the alternative actors under consideration - or without Coppola for that matter.
Pew's survey found that people ranked the news media as their No. 1 source of trusted information ... ahead of the Obama administration, corporations, and Congress.
ReplyDeleteLink
Laurence Olivier as Vito Corleone.
Ryan O'Neal as Michael Corleone.
ReplyDeleteBrad Pitt or Don Johnson heh
DeleteHERE IS THAT FOREIGN THING ASKING FOR MONEY -
ReplyDeleteHey --
So you know those fundraising deadlines that force the staff around here to work crazy hours and fill your inboxes with emails?
They used to come around every three months. But now that we're in an election year, we're required to report to the FEC monthly.
That means even more coffee and takeout for the team here.
Will you chip in $3 or more to support President Obama before the April 30th deadline?
When you do, you'll be automatically entered to meet the President at George Clooney's house next month.
Monthly deadlines also mean that your support is more crucial than ever, because everyone watching -- from the press, to the public, to the Romney campaign itself -- has three times more opportunities to see what we're made of.
But we'll get through it together. Tomorrow night is our big April deadline -- the first of the general election.
If you can, please give today:
https://donate.barackobama.com/April-Deadline
Thanks,
Rufus
Rufus Gifford
National Finance Director
Obama for America
from Dale
Ah come on Rufus, you've joined the campaign?
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The Fashion Runway (Link)
ReplyDeleteFor those who are interested.
That was Gayle King in the green dress. I can sort of see why the older gal was staring.
Overall rating for the girls - maybe 4/10. Not impressed. Michelle Obama however very nice. Prints should be avoided like the fashion plague they are but that one was festive and event-appropriate.
Bakken Said To Be Much Larger Than Previously Thought
ReplyDeleteA dissenter chimes in:
walker10
Actually the Bakken is a lot less than initially meets the eye.
Bakken isn't oil at all, but rather a precursor to oil called kerogen. It takes a lot of energy to extract and transform kerogen into a usable product and all that energy has to be deducted from the amount produced to arrive at a NET energy figure. This is what is most important, NET energy NOT barrels produced. When looked at in this manner, Bakken probably only holds perhaps a six month supply of oil at present US consumption rates even using the optomistic technically recoverable figures. What can actually be produced will certainly be quite a bit less than that.
b
That dissenter is totally wrong. The Bakken yields light-sweet crude. It's the Marlstone out in the Green River Formation that is kerogen.
DeleteRE Bakken
DeleteThere was some noise about piping some of the Bakken product in the Keystone XL line. My first thought was that you can't mix the tar sands "dilbit" with another product without contamination. A "dilbit" line must be single-purpose - in fact I would guess that might be true for all oil products regardless of the distillate being conveyed.
I think Rufus is right. I read the same.
DeleteI expect Rufus is right. My point was that people (Keystone people) were lying about Bakken and second, to inquire about carrying different distillate in one pipeline.
DeleteActually, dilbit is "diluted bitumin." The bitumin is Diluted with "condensate" which, as often as not is imported, which means, "technically" the dilbit shouldn't qualify for NAFTA, tariff-free status.
DeleteI believe light sweet could be transported in the same pipeline as dilbit.
DeleteI'll go with 4,7,10 and 12.
ReplyDeleteWonderful sounds of a toilet flushing at the beginning. Set the tone for whole get together.
Deleteb
Sticky with your day job, b.
DeleteYou do have a day job don't you?
(Pardon my French but The LiLo's garb was a fashion blow job.)
Since ethics has somehow drifted into the bar, I thought I'd put this up.
ReplyDeleteNot pay a prostitute? Drunken sailors know better....the curse of the unpaid prostitute --
Ethical Advice From a Drunken Sailor
So this is what it has come to. The Washington Post has an op-ed piece by Roberto Loiederman, "a merchant seaman from 1966 to 1974," which offers the following advice to the Secret Service:
The worst sin of all [is] not paying a whore. . . . In my day, seamen were convinced that this was such a serious infraction it could threaten a ship's survival. More than once I saw fellow crew members, who'd come back to the ship so drunk they couldn't remember where they'd been, make superhuman efforts to send money to a woman ashore in a desperate attempt to avoid the curse of the unpaid prostitute.
I thought about this while reading about the scandal in Cartagena. It appears that getting drunk and going back to the hotel with the women wasn't, in itself, what got the Secret Service personnel into trouble. What got them busted was that someone in their group refused to pay an escort the pre-arranged price. One of the escorts wanted $800. She said that a Secret Service agent offered her $30. . . .
If the Secret Service personnel involved in this scandal had played by the same rules and followed the same ethical standards as the drunken sailors I used to work with, there would have been no confrontation, and they might still have their jobs.
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RE Ethics
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go that far. Last night I said judgment. Today I'm thinking manners. The species has some housecleaning to do before pondering the infinite.
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ReplyDeleteRegarding ethics:
Pew's survey found that people ranked the news media as their No. 1 source of trusted information...
It appears the bar for "trusted information" is set pretty low judging from other polls. Of course, people pretty much hear what they want to hear (and in most cases, only read what they want to read).
Gallup Poll on Ethics and Honesty in Professions
Of course, those who analyze and comment on the polls bring in their own biases as they interpret the results for us.
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Looks like Stacy Keibler went to Washington but not the dinner.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to prior comments on the Correspondents Dinner,
I find the ass in compound with the major part of your syllables. Thou art only mark'd for hot vengeance and the rod of heaven.
Truly thou art damned, like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.
Thou unmuzzled fool-born scut!
I can only comment
You besotted poltroon, unholy spawn and misbegotton product of some ill-mated coupling in the sticks of depression era Idaho, being neither Jewish nor a boy scout you flaunt your ignorance of the proper way of roasting an egg.
Forfend your noisome gasconading you mooncalf, you tiresome popinjay. Slink back to your windrows and leave intelligent conversation undisturbed with your betters.
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I doubt bob even knows who Stacy Keibler is.
ReplyDelete.
DeleteHave to admit I didn't know who Stacy Keibler was until I looked her up on WIKI just now. When I want to know who some celebrity is, I ask my wife.
From her bio, I see Keibler was on DWTS, so Bob probably does know who she is. He's rather shallow and superficial and is into things like that.
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DeleteIn the future I will be looking for Stacy.
I saw in WIKI she is noted for her long legs and I was always a leg man.
[And I would argue that that is not being shallow or superficial.]
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At least bob's not anal retentive. Tell him something once and he immediately forgets.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone really take Freud seriously anymmore?
Although, I guess the opposite of anal retentive is anal expulsive and Bob does tend to throw a lot of shit around.
.
Well Campbell didn't, and I've passed upwards, ever upwards, from genital organization, from age if not spirituality. I've often argued here ere now Quirk is still struggling to arise from Chakra 1, that dull place twixt his asshole and balls, and have tried, in my own small way to encourage the process.
ReplyDeleteStacy was a wrestler fore she was a dancer. I used to watch her on world wrestling federation or some such.
She's a looker all righty.
Time for my daily Mall walk.
It's exciting.
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In an interview, artist and Beijing critic Ai Weiwei cited the notion that both a human-rights activist and Wang Lijun, the former police chief of Chongqing, sought out U.S. protection as evidence that Chinese people across the political spectrum had lost faith in the government.
ReplyDeleteMr. Wang was once an ally of Bo Xilai, the ousted Communist Party high-flier, and his flight in February to the protection of the U.S. consulate in the city of Chengdu began that process that led to Mr. Bo's downfall. "One is the top gun of the stability maintenance machine and the other is the victim of that machine and both of them were seeking safety with the U.S. It could not be more ironic," Mr. Ai said.
"Nobody believes in the system here anymore."
Reminds me of Deuce commenting about Heidi Klum's nice ... hands.
ReplyDeleteStacy has what looks to be an 11 on a scale of 10 body, but her smile is ... authentic. Very much like Kate Middleton's. And very much unlike Elisabetta Canalis.
Go Stacy.
Stacy's got the 36/46 proportions.
DeleteThe Senior Swindle provides a further reminder of the unseemliness of Obamacare, a preview of the politicizing of medicine that Obamacare would spawn, and an example of the unprincipled side of our politics. But mostly it offers a testament to the Founders’ wisdom in making our government leaders accountable to the people.
ReplyDeleteThe American people have now been living under the looming specter of Obamacare for more than two years. In the fall, they will finally get to issue their verdict on its architect.
The bet here is that $8.35 billion in unscrupulously—and perhaps illegally—allocated diversionary funds won’t be enough to keep the citizenry from voting Obama out of office in November and insisting on the repeal of Obamacare in January. In fact, it might serve as a catalyst.
Ed Balls, the shadow Chancellor, said attempts to blame the eurozone for pushing Britain back into recession "just won't wash". "Britain's recovery was choked off 18 months ago – well before the recent eurozone crisis," he said.
ReplyDelete...
Sources insisted his public comments were not an attempt to deflect attention from the government problems ahead of this week's local elections but an attempt to raise awareness of a problem that has not gone away even if it is not in the headlines.
"Frankly, the fundamental problems faced by the eurozone are as bad, if not worse, than they were," they said. "What the Prime Minister was trying to get across was that this has a significant impact on the British economy too."
"Nobody believes in the system here anymore."
ReplyDelete****************************
With more than 1.3 billion people (1,336,718,015 as of mid-2011), China is the world's most populous country.
As the world's population is approximately 6.7 billion, China represents a full 20% of the world's population so one in every five people on the planet is a resident of China.
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I've been wondering about the ability of China's polity/military to hold together a population that large. Eventually critical mass will overtake Tiananmen Square. 1.3 billion people is a lot of people to hold together. Four times the USA population - where civil war is contemplated every third year or month or so.
What role do you see the military playing in holding it together in China? Something similar to their role at Tiananmen?
DeleteOne round and then do some research.
DeleteOne of the "stories" out of China right now is that the Party is competing against the military for control of the country. Numerous analyses describing the internal institutional struggle. Alternatively hang out at the BC China threads and you'll get the Cliff's Notes version. Right now it's 50-50.
On the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, there are several pieces of good news.
ReplyDelete...
Ward Economic Development Corp. president Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker has long held a certain fascination for me for coining the phrase "economic referendum" to describe the 1992 events. (Apparently "civil unrest" isn’t politically correct enough for everybody.)
...
This description of her comments at a 2007 event marking the riots’ 15th anniversary paints a striking picture of a community busybody unwilling to assess whether her efforts are effective for or even wanted by the people she thinks she’s helping:
Jackie DuPont of Ward Economic Development Corp. talked about the disconnect that can occur between community and community leaders: "Sometimes you can do so much so long for the people that they think you are doing it to the people." The community, she said, must be part of the process…
In an excerpt from an email, the manager asked the engineer: "Are you saying that these are URLs [Web addresses] that you sniffed out of Wifi packets that we recorded while driving?" The engineer confirmed the practice in a subsequent email.
ReplyDelete...
U.S. and European regulators are now investigating how Google bypassed the privacy settings of millions of users of Apple Inc.'s AAPL -0.77% Safari Web browser, a practice that was discovered earlier this year. In that instance, Google used special computer code to install tracking files known as cookies on some people's computers even if the device was set to block such tracking.
Google says it has removed such "cookies" and never collected personal data.
NEW SUNNY TV VIDEO HERE!!!
ReplyDeleteSunny infiltrates the Tea Party!
This is her first time out of the gate without her bike.
Big step.
(best if you've watched all here videos, or some references might escape you, too bad for you)
b
Original Sin
ReplyDeleteAnthony Banderas and Angelina Jolie (2001)
A movie bob might like.
(You hooked up to Netflix? Available for direct download straight to your computer.)
Nope, I'll check the movie out. Last movie I liked was War Horse, though no farmer would even try to plow that dried out ground. The old boy had been out there 40 years, he'd know to wait for the rain.
Deleteb
Antonio Banderas, of course.
DeleteHusband of Melanie Griffith.
Daughter of Tippi Hedrin.
Whom Alfred Hitchcock tormented mercilessly.
Look into Netflix bob.
DeleteValue.
Oh hell, why not. I copied this screed because I was jealous not to have written it.
ReplyDeletePosted by "Tee"@BC sometime this year:
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62. Radag Brown – 4. It would be nice to have a Tea Party friendly president, but it looks like that ain’t gonna happen this time around. We can live with that so long as a President Romney can be pulled in the direction of Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Jim DeMint, Allen West, et al.
We, indeed. After years of striving for party purity, it seems that party purity doesn’t have quite the purchasing power that you thought. Now you’ll deign to board the ship, provided that you can chart the course. I wouldn’t count on it, Mr. Brown. The Tea Party movement is in the toddler stage, and its chief business these days is creating divisions on its own side, tearing down its front-runner because everyone except a Tea Party Patriot is really a “cultural Lefty”, and Lefties must be opposed at all costs. The costs include losing elections, and there appears to be a side business in rationalizing the potential losses: it’s better than winning, it’s honorable, it’s necessary, for the sake of the country.
This is complete horseshit. Whatever this bastardized ideology is that makes lobbyists from LoanMax look principled, that swaps God and Country for Free Market and Low Taxes at the drop of a hat, and equates those who support Social Security with anti-war groups and Cuban guerrillas…not everyone’s buying it. If you adopt it as your own, you deserve to get fleeced.
And that’s a little preview of what you’ll be seeing in the months ahead.
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I hope Lugar loses. I hope Hatch loses.
DeleteBoth have been around too long.
Hatch has hit eighty.
But for that age he sure looks in great shape.
b
I had asked, who is to supervise the chaperones?
ReplyDeleteTurns out they had 'supervisors' but it didn't work out very well.
HERE
b
Drudge is stirred up. Not usually so peptic on a Sunday night.
ReplyDeleteBBC: The head of the UN observer mission to Syria has warned that even 1,000 unarmed observers could not end the violence in the country on their own.
ReplyDeleteWhat a surprise! More observers or more arms? Dare we suggest both? Splendid idea. Splendid.
Been wondering what Madeline Albright has been reading?
ReplyDeleteMadeleine Albright: By the Book
Published: April 25, 2012
What book is on your night stand now?
There are three: “Catherine the Great,” by Robert Massie; “Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood With Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour,” by Lynne Olson; and “Steve Jobs,” by Walter Isaacson.
When and where do you like to read?
At home on weekend afternoons or on planes and trains.
What was the last truly great book you read?
Truly great? At the risk of being boring — “War and Peace” (the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky), as an e-book.
Are you a fiction or a nonfiction person? What’s your favorite literary genre? Any guilty pleasures?
More nonfiction than fiction. Innocent pleasure: Walter Mosley.
What was the best book you read as a student?
“Pride and Prejudice” (I even played Mr. Bennet, complete with mustache, in my high school play); and “Sister Carrie,” by Theodore Dreiser.
If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be? What book would you require all heads of state to read?
“The Art of the Impossible,” Vaclav Havel at his deepest, wittiest and most eloquent.
Original Sin?
ReplyDeleteJust asked my daughter about it.
Said it basically sucked, all sex, no horses.
So, I've scratched it off my list.
But thanks anyway.
b
How old is the daughter?
DeleteThe lessons of forgiveness do not come early in life, if ever.
DeleteThe quality of mercy is not strained
DeleteIt fallest like the gentle rain from ...
........
Maybe Daughter can fill in the blanks.
OMG, there is no free lunch!
ReplyDeleteWind farms can cause climate change, finds new study
Wind farms can cause climate change, according to new research, that shows for the first time the new technology is already pushing up temperatures.
{…}Usually at night the air closer to the ground becomes colder when the sun goes down and the earth cools.
ReplyDeleteBut on huge wind farms the motion of the turbines mixes the air higher in the atmosphere that is warmer, pushing up the overall temperature.
Satellite data over a large area in Texas, that is now covered by four of the world's largest wind farms, found that over a decade the local temperature went up by almost 1C as more turbines are built.
This could have long term effects on wildlife living in the immediate areas of larger wind farms.
It could also affect regional weather patterns as warmer areas affect the formation of cloud and even wind speeds.
It is reported China is now erecting 36 wind turbines every day and Texas is the largest producer of wind power in the US.
Liming Zhou, Research Associate Professor at the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at the University of New York, who led the study, said further research is needed into the affect of the new technology on the wider environment.
"Wind energy is among the world’s fastest growing sources of energy. The US wind industry has experienced a remarkably rapid expansion of capacity in recent years,” he said. “While converting wind’s kinetic energy into electricity, wind turbines modify surface-atmosphere exchanges and transfer of energy, momentum, mass and moisture within the atmosphere. These changes, if spatially large enough, might have noticeable impacts on local to regional weather and climate.”
That blows.
ReplyDeleteYes it does.
DeleteAs in green monkey dicks.
I'll let Rufus take first crack at it but I'm guessing that the argumentative vulnerabilities are not all that subtle.
n 1999, a cover story in The Weekly Standard was headlined “Ex-Con: The Remarkable Second Career of Chuck Colson.” Having been interviewed, Colson knew a story was coming.
ReplyDeleteBut when he took that week’s issue from his mailbox, he was surprised to find on the cover a drawing of himself looking joyful. He called me that same day.
He was appreciative and also very, very humble.
- Fred Barnes
Sounds like hot air.
ReplyDeleteThe whole state of Texas has warmed about that much in the last ten years.
ReplyDeleteGraph
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DeleteLord, it's worse than reported.
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It's the vibrations into the ground from the whirling windmills that needs to be worried about. This disturbs the reproduction pattern of the earthworms, not to mention various insects. Bees often nest in the ground. When the earthworms go the soil becomes sterile, and with the insects, pollination is degraded. It's madness what we are doing to ourselves.
Deleteb
There are other options. The German Chancellor is not wrong to stress fiscal co-ordination and strict controls on borrowing.
ReplyDeleteBut if all cut back at once it will suck the life out of the whole European economy, as we are already seeing. While those countries that are struggling to stay afloat have no option but to slash their spending, their more solvent counterparts – such as Germany and the Netherlands – should be upping their borrowing, boosting demand and helping pull the whole bloc out of recession, throwing a political lifeline to debt-reduction plans in the process.
Until then, the storms in Europe are far from over.
So with all that in mind, let's turn our attention to what has actually happened since Obama took office.
ReplyDeleteSunPower, after receiving $1.5 billion from DOE, is reorganizing, cutting jobs.
First Solar, after receiving $1.46 billion from DOE, is reorganizing, cutting jobs.
Solyndra, after receiving $535 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
Ener1, after receiving $118.5 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
Evergreen Solar, after receiving millions of dollars from the state of Massachusetts, filed for bankruptcy protection.
SpectraWatt, backed by Intel and Goldman Sachs, filed for bankruptcy protection.
Beacon Power, after receiving $43 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
Abound Solar, after receiving $400 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
Amonix, after receiving $5.9 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
Babcock & Brown (an Australian company), after receiving $178 million from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
A123 Systems, after receiving $279 million from DOE, shipped some bad batteries and is barely operating. It cut jobs.
Solar Trust for America, after receiving a $2.1-billion loan guarantee from DOE, filed for bankruptcy protection.
Nevada Geothermal, after receiving $98.5 million from DOE, warns of potential defaults in new SEC filings.
And that's a partial list. Can Obama and the DOE pick 'em, or what? And all those bankruptcies have an effect on green jobs that Obama promised.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/obamas_epic_green_fail.html#ixzz1tVaXR8fO
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