Did Hollywood Today Plagiarize American Power on Tareq Salahi's Palestinian Ties?

Look, the New York Times first broke the news that Tareq Salahi, the White House gate-crasher now under investigation for the massive state dinner security breach, had ties to Palestinian rights organization, ATFP.

After I saw that, I looked into it, and published my report, "Tareq Salahi, Gate-Crasher at White House State Dinner, Tied to ATFP, America-Bashing Palestinian Group Calling for Power-Sharing With Hamas!"

Jules Crittenden linked to the piece last night at his snarky entry, "O Presidency Shark Jumped." And Ruby Slippers, also citing my post, emphasizes the potentially catastrophic nature of Salehi's intrusion in "It's Not Easy to be a Reality Show Star these Days."

So folks might understand my peeve at this entry from Hollywood Today, "Palestinian Organization Tied to White House Gate Crashers, Hollywood Today Confirms."

Okay, sure, sounds good. But where'd Hollywood Today "confirm" Salahi's ties to ATFP? From my blog? The Hollywood Today author, Jeffrey Jolson, doesn't indicate a personal interview with any of the sources cited at the piece. But the giveaway is the cut-and-paste prose at Jolson's essay:

The couple that crashed a State Dinner at the White House had ties to the American Task Force on Palestine, Hollywood Today has confirmed.

Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who may have been there posing as a team from Bravo TV, (the husband-wife team has been auditioning for a role on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Washington D.C.”), so Bravo should either hire them as resourceful, or more likely turn over all correspondence to the Secret Service under threat of abetting potential terrorists and revoking Bravo’s FCC license – if the network was involved in the set-up.

The way it works, according to former White House press aide Edward Lozzi, is that the White House sets up the guest list well in advance. The Secret Service then vets the individuals. It is not a rock concert, you can’t sneak a peek at the guest list and use someone’s name or slip in a backdoor.

Already, various Arab groups are making the Salahis heroes of the anti-U.S. or anti-Israeli causes on the Internet.

So why were the Salahis allowed on the list? True, the Palestinian organization they both have ties to, the American Task Force on Palestine, claims only the most peaceful intents – so maybe the couple was invited by someone in the White House who believes this. We do not dispute AFTPs insistence of peaceful goals without proof one way or another, yet in the recent past, the AFTP has been accused of America-bashing and promoting power-sharing with self-acknowledged terror group HAMAS.

So why is Tareq’s image on the ATFP webpage gone, as are most references to him and his wife? They are scuttling even faster than Bravo to distance themselves from what they may figure is a time bomb. The ATFP picture shows Tareq as a board member of their group a week ago. He has been deleted now.

Did Jolson speak to Lozzi directly? It's not clear. But no matter. The phrases "America-bashing" and "power-sharing" at Hollywood Today are almost surely drawn from my post, "Tareq Salahi, Gate-Crasher at White House State Dinner, Tied to ATFP, America-Bashing Palestinian Group Calling for Power-Sharing With Hamas!" Note this passage at my conclusion:

In addition, and ominously, it turns out that Tareq Salahi, the polo-playing intruder, is a Palestinian nationalist with ties to the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) , a pro-Palestine lobby demanding the "right of return" for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants. The "right of return" has long been considered the backdoor to Israel's destruction. But not only that: ATFP President Ziad Asali is an America-basher who blamed 9/11 on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Asali was a lead U.S. official to PLO terrorist Yassir Arafat's funeral in 2004. And in a position paper in 2007, the ATFP called for a power-sharing agreement at the Palestinian Authority, which would have included the State Department's designated-terrorist group, Hamas.

And, a few minutes after publishing I updated the post to indicate that ATFP had dropped Salahi's picture from their website, and I linked to an essay at KABOBfest, "Tarek Salahi: Coolest Arab of the Moment."

That's all it takes, a quick link to serve as a citation for your sources. Even near-verbatim paraphrasing is cool as long as you link back to your source as a courtesy.

Hollywood Today has not done so, however. And not just to my essay, but to KABOBfest's as well, which includes the screencap of ATFP's website with Tareq Salahi's picture on it prior to the gate-crashing incident:

Norms for citation are obviously lax on the net, and folks snag a lot of graphic material, pictures and stuff, under reasonable claims of fair use.

But Hollywood Today is passing off online investigative research into THE SIGNIFICANCE of Salahi's Palestinian ties as its own. And that's what bugs me. I'm just another blogger out there, but when I dig up and analyze a good bit of information, whether a big deal in the end or not, I wish to be credited, at the least.

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UPDATE: Linked at the Astute Bloggers, "TAREQ AND BARACK: BWAHAHAHAHA!" Plus, Three Bears Later links to my initial entry on Salahi's Palestinian ties. See, "Obama Party Crasher Anti-American Palestinian Activist!"

Grad Students Bailing on Climate Science? Judith Curry Responds

Graduate students in the climatological sciences are questioning their professional choices in the wake of the Climaquiddick controversy. Climate Progress has posted a response from Dr. Judith Curry, a research professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Judith Curry, Georgia Tech professor and climate modeling expert, shows projections of the coming climate shifts during the opening session of Mercer's conference "Caring for Creation: Ethical Responses to Climate Change," on Feb. 27.

*****

Note the sample letter from a graduate student:

Hi Dr. Curry,

I am a young climate researcher (just received my master’s degree from xxx University) and have been very troubled by the emails that were released from CRU. I just want to applaud and support your response on climateaudit.org [95% of it ]. Your statement represents exactly how I have felt as I slowly enter this community. The content of some of the emails literally made me stop and wonder if I should continue with my PhD applications for fall 2010, in this science. I was so troubled by how our fellow scientists within the climate community have been dealing with opposing voices (on both sides). I hope we can all learn from this and truly feel that we are going to need voices like yours to fix these problems in the coming months and years.

Now, you'll want to read the whole entry from Dr. Curry. It's a pretty thoughtful and open-minded response to climate skeptics. But while she expresses a sincere affirmation of scientific integrity and the need for open and democratic replicability of scientific research, she in fact barely mentions the essence of Climaquiddick itself.

It's going to take a lot more than a few letters like this to restore any kind of integrity to the global warming field. In fact, it's nowhere near my field, but I wouldn't advise students to enter the profession of climate science, not unless they were totalitarian radicals themselves, and then of course they wouldn't be asking for my opinion in the first place.

Global warming is a scam. It's an industry that's bent on impoverishing the world in an attempt to implement one-world governmental control. The CRU leak of just the tip of the iceberg on this, for sure. See, for example, Vincent Gray, an IPCC expert reviewer, "There Was Proof of Fraud All Along."

Photo Credit: Mercer University, "Climate Change a Moral Challenge For All People."

Obama Administration Closely Monitoring Dubai Debt Default

The New York Times has the main story, "Dubai Debt Troubles Push Down Stocks in U.S. and Asia" (via Memeorandum). And Max Boot's account of the crisis is worth a look, "The Middle East Needs Dubai." But check, "Obama Administration Closely Monitoring Dubai Debt Outlook." And it should be too, considering how administration's helped stir Dubai's sharia finance scam. See, "Dubai in Meltdown":

Dubai was a classic bubble. It was also largely a facade. Billed as a playground for Western tourists and a financial center, the truth about Dubai and the rest of the UAE is rather different.

All along, the Islamists were working behind the scenes and, if a Westerner strayed outside the facade and committed a terrible crime like kissing his girlfriend in public, authorities would in fact act.

And then there is the whole disturbing problem of ties between UAE (of which Dubai is a part) royals and Al Qaeda. Long forgotten is the testimony of then-CIA director George Tenet before the 9/11 Commission that a US strike on an Al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan thought to contain Osama Bin Laden was called off because of the presence of numerous UAE royals in the compound with Bin Laden. It seems that Bin Laden and the UAE royals were falconry buddies and they often visited him.

Why in the world would ANY Westerner trust these scoundrels???

Well, who knows? Better ask the White House, where the crack financial advisors there basically helped GE finance its sharia bond buys, "GE Capital Plans $1 Billon Islamic Bond." See, "Obama’s Hidden Bailout of General Electric," and "Does G.E. Stand to Gain From the Obama Administration?"

More at Memeorandum.

Defense Claims 'Mental Incompetence' in 9/11 Terror Trials; or, WTF is 'Persecutory Disorder'?

Well, the news has it that Islamist groups are floating the meme that Nidal Malik Hussein's a "victim" of "modern-science fiction style psychological warfare" (with obvious implications for the prosecution); so there should be no surprise what defense attorneys are arguing for the 9/11 terror-trial defendants. From the Wall Street Journal, "Mental State Cited in 9/11 Case":

When five defendants are brought before a New York federal judge to face charges for the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the first question may be whether some of them are competent to stand trial at all.

Military lawyers for Ramzi Binalshibh, an accused organizer of the 9/11 plot, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, the conspiracy's alleged paymaster, say their clients have mental disorders that make them unfit for trial, likely caused or exacerbated by years of harsh confinement in Central Intelligence Agency custody.

The issue already has arisen in military-commission proceedings at the military's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. According to an August ruling by a military judge, prosecutors have made an "apparent concession" that Mr. Binalshibh "suffers from a delusional disorder-persecutory type" disorder. Mr. Binalshibh has been prescribed "a variety of psychotropic medications used to treat schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder, including Haldol, Abilify, risperidone and Ativan," according to commission records.

Damn!

Haldol, Abilify, risperidone, and Ativan! Geez, who who needs ObamaCare insurance reform? Folks can head down to the jihadis' pharmacies at Club Gitmo!

See also:

* Atlas Shrugs, "Going Mental: The Jihadis' Joke on America has begun, thanks to President MO and Hijab Holder."

* Jihad Watch, "9/11 Plotters Start on Their Road to Freedom: Lawyers to Argue They're Incompetent to Stand Trial."

* Snooper Report, "Terror In NYC and Our Constitution."

* Yid With Lid, "NUTS!!!!: Will Two 9/11 Attackers Be Declared Mentally Unfit For NY Civilian Trial ?"

Wal-Mart Shuts Down Upland, California, Store: Hundreds Inside; FIGHTING BREAKS OUT as Mob Tears Open Shrink-Wrapped Merchandise!

I need to update my earlier report, "Black Friday Launches Amid Consumer Retreat: Green Groups Seek to Shut Down Shopping; Wall Street Eyes Markets!"

My wife slept in late, having been out in the wee hours of the morning to scope out deals. My wife and son decided to skip Toys-R-Us a long line of customers went around to the Best Buy store down the lot. Toys-R-Us had security patrolling out front, and store personnel were allowing about 30 customers in at a time -- then doors were locked until the next batch of bargain-hunters were admitted.

It's not fun waiting out front, but at least Toys-R-Us had a workable plan. Perhaps not so much at Wal-Mart, where fighting broke out in Upland as crowds went totally barbarian in the hunt for sales. From the Los Angeles Times, "Black Friday: Wal-Mart in Upland Temporarily Closes After 'Fighting Inside'":

Black Friday brought out the rowdy side of Wal-Mart shoppers early this morning when the Upland location shut down for more than two hours after customers caused a ruckus inside.

Store management called Upland police at 2:44 a.m., asking for assistance in dealing with customers who were “fighting inside,” said Lt. Jim Etchason.

About 300 people were in the store, which had remained open all night as a security precaution after a Wal-Mart worker on Long Island, N.Y., was trampled to death last year on Black Friday when a surging, impatient crowd rushed the doors after the store opened.

But in Upland, employees said, customers began tearing into merchandise that had been shrink-wrapped and were supposed to be opened at 5 a.m.

“This was without a doubt the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said one employee, who said she has worked a dozen Black Fridays.

“They wouldn’t let people line up,” she added. “They were belligerent. They just bombarded the store.”

More at the link.

Taliban Propaganda Channel on YouTube: Mujahideen Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Jihad Against American Puppets, Zionist Intruders

From Jawa Report, "The next time the Taliban kill an American, thank Google's YouTube service for helping spread their vile propaganda."

Yep, it turns out YouTube hosts a Taliban Mujahideen channel that publishes all kinds of videos documenting attacks on American forces in Afghanistan. One video, "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - Mujahideen Statement - 17-09-2009," renounces the "puppet government" of Hamid Karzai, repudiates democratic elections, and calls for the destruction of the "Zionist plan."

And there's more, for example, "Taliban Mujahideen Raiding Military Camp of the Apostate Puppet Army in Zabul," and "U.S. Base Annihilated in Afghanistan by the Taliban Mujahideen Oct. 2009."

At the "Mujahideen Statement" above, the video lists the URL for globalislamicrevival.wordpress.com, which is been taken down for terms of service violations. But Blogger hosts Global Islamic Revival, or I should say kinda hosts, because clicking around at the blog brings up an error page. No doubt these jihadi websites post Taliban beheadings of the infidels, good for firing up the madrassas. Plus, a quick Google check turns up more Islamist extremism. Friends of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, you think?

But you know, of course, leftists will say it's all an American neo-imperialist campaign. We have no interests in Afghanistan. Bring the troops home. We can "invest" in pent up demands domestically. Hey, how about imposing a war "surtax"! That'll teach those pesky warmongers!

Sure, no problem, while we're at it we can turn a blind eye to the totalitarianism sweeping the barbaric periphery. But at least the Obama adminstration's on the job! These people deserve civilian trials:

Black Friday Launches Amid Consumer Retreat: Green Groups Seek to Shut Down Shopping; Wall Street Eyes Markets!

My wife and oldest boy went shopping at midnight last night.

It turns out the much heralded "Black Friday" launch of the holiday shopping season kicked off at midnight Friday monring at Wal-Mart stores around the country. (Wal-Mart stores actuallly stayed open 24-hours, kind of like a preemptive strike against other merchants. Not far behind, Kohl's stores were open as early as 4:00am, and next year we'll again see the shopping season kick off in the Sandman hours.) A Wal-Mart in Upland, California, closed for a couple hours, following a heavy crush of customers looking for super hot deals. Recall last year one worker at a Wal-Mart stampede was killed, so you'd think there'd be some gracious restraint.

In any case, ABC News reports that a sales boom may be a hard sell, as shoppers have cut holiday budgets by 50 percent. See, "Black Friday Blues: Half Plan Cuts in Holiday Spending."

On top of that, environmental groups are playing Grinch this year, pushing to foment a backlash against consumption:

The day after Thanksgiving is known for shopping sprees, but “Black Friday” is getting blacklisted by environmentalists — and they’re hoping President Barack Obama will back them up.

“In the climate change sense, it’s not that every other retail day isn’t bad. This just happens to be the worst day for the environment,” says Bill Sheehan, executive director of the Product Policy Institute, a nonprofit that aims to prevent waste through better design ....

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference coming up next month, Sheehan and other activists want Obama and world leaders to step up attention to the effect of packaging. The administration has made energy-efficient buildings and power sources one of its top environmental priorities, but those areas account for only 21 percent of the nation’s emissions.

Perhaps these climate change freaks don't read the Internet: Global warming's a hoax, don't you know.

In any case, enviro-Nazis or not, Wall Street's watching closely to see if Black Friday bring a boom to markets and economic growth. See, "Black Friday's Big Question: Hoping for Heavy Traffic."

Cross-posted from American Power.

'Climaquiddick'

From Transterrestrial Musings, "Nomenclature":

Some have noted, and I agree that it’s a misnomer to call this “ClimateGate.” In addition to the fact that simply adding “Gate” to a scandal is so late twentieth century, calling it a “Gate” would imply that it’s something that the media will go into a frenzy over, because it’s a scandal about something politically incorrect (e.g., Nixon). No, a better name for it (again, not original with me — I think it showed up in comments at one of the PJM pieces) is “Climaquiddick.” In other words, expect the media to try to whitewash and minimize it.

Check the post for numerous updates, with citations for the term's growing usage.

It's the whitewashing and minimizing that's really kind of sickening. So far I haven't seen much on the denialist-left that's been worth quibbling with (mostly just stupid stuff, really); but I can't say that about this whopper of a post at Open Left, "The Puke Funnel is Trying to Disrupt Copenhagen; the CRU Hack Story Continues."

Take a couple of minutes and read through that entry. Then you'll see why there's unlikely ever to be any real "bipartisan compromise" in our lifetimes. Melanie Phillips said it best, in "Green Totalitarianism," where she suggests:

Which is the more terrifying and devastating: if people are bent and deliberately try to deceive others, or if they are so much in thrall to an ideology that they genuinely have lost the power to think objectively and rationally?

That's the first thing that came to me when reading Open Left's unbelievable psychological projection. It's truly derangement - and remember, the folks involved in the CRU scandal aren't first year graduate students. I cited today Kevin Trenberth - the lead scientist at the U.N.'s IPCC - but to hear the crazed commie ghouls at Open Left, someone with Trenberth's unimpeachable credibility is blown off as "meritless."

It's truly totalitarian, that kind of leftist ideological rigidity; and that's why I get almost sick to the stomach, since I know dealing with these people will be a lifelong battle, fought for preserving a good, viable future for our children. I have to admit: It's actually kind of scary. Not only do we have a press that's in the tank for the progressive radicalism eminating from the Obamunist (remember John Holdren, the extremist at the White House, is in on the e-mail scandal), but the media elites are practically biological predetermined to nihilism. As Dr. Sanity notes, some "people, groups, and nations" are so committed to denial that their "entire sense of identity is dependent on a certain view of the world and they would rather die than relinquish that view."

Anyway, be sure to check Air Vent for lots more devastating (and scientifically rigorous) developments in "Climaquiddick":

Plus, see James Delingpole (still calling it "ClimateGate"):

AGW is about raising taxes; increasing state control; about a few canny hucksters who’ve leapt on the bandwagon fleecing us rotten with their taxpayer subsidised windfarms and their carbon-trading; about the sour, anti-capitalist impulses of sandal-wearing vegans and lapsed Communists who loathe the idea of freedom and a functioning market economy.

We know it’s all a crock and we’re not going to take it.

More at Memeorandum. Also, Iain Murray, "Climategate — or Climaquiddick?"

Hat Tip: Five Feet of Fury.

Tareq Salahi, Gate-Crasher at White House State Dinner, Tied to ATFP, America-Bashing Palestinian Group Calling for Power-Sharing With Hamas!

A New York Times report out this afternoon confirms my warnings from this morning. See, "Great News! President Obama and Prime Minister Singh Were 'Never in Any Danger' - Yeah, Lucky Tareq and Michaele Salahi Weren't Jihadis!."

At the post I snarked, "Yeah, gotta cut that Secret Service detail some slack. The couple just belonged there! Man, if they could just cruise in so casually, it's not far-fetched to think that someone, somehow, could have stashed a cache of small-arms weapons."

But in fact, security experts are suggesting that potentially catastrophic quantities of anthrax, or other WMD-type biotoxins, could have been been secretly introduced at the gala:

White House officials maintained that even though the pair got into the state dinner without an invitation, they did have to go through all the metal detectors that everyone passes through when entering the White House.

Other security experts described the episode as very serious.

“It’s crazy to say that, because there’s a reason they do background checks and there’s a reason they make sure to only let in people who have been pre-approved,” said Ronald Kessler, author of “In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect” (Crown).

Indeed, he said, an intruder could have sneaked something dangerous into the crowd.

“A serial killer or terrorist or agent of Iran or North Korea could come in and release anthrax, for instance, and that’s not going to show up in a metal detectors,” Mr. Kessler said. He added that the Secret Service, in particular, should have been extra vigilant because threats against the president have increased by 400 percent since George W. Bush was in power.

In addition, and ominously, it turns out that Tareq Salahi, the polo-playing intruder, is a Palestinian nationalist with ties to the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) , a pro-Palestine lobby demanding the "right of return" for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants. The "right of return" has long been considered the backdoor to Israel's destruction. But not only that: ATFP President Ziad Asali is an America-basher who blamed 9/11 on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Asali was a lead U.S. official to PLO terrorist Yassir Arafat's funeral in 2004. And in a position paper in 2007, the ATFP called for a power-sharing agreement at the Palestinian Authority, which would have included the State Department's designated-terrorist group, Hamas.

ADDED: ATFP has removed Tareq Salahi from its website's board of directors page.

Have a Glorious Progressive Thanksgiving!

As you gather around your vegan holiday table in your "Ojamas" (pictured below), recall these warm greetings from our good friends (comrades) at the People's Cube from last year, upon the ascension of Dear Leader to his omipotent office of proletarian power in Washington:

I was just sitting here today mulling over the inspiring story of the first group of Community Organizers that made it here on the Mayflower so many years ago. I am in awe of the collective farms that they first enacted would have been able to feed the whole world had it not been for the global ice age that those capitalist bandits from Spain created in their reckless destruction of the earth in the search for gold and their introduction of horse flatulence that had never been exposed in this paradise before. I think of the good fortune they had to be welcomed by the original socialist collective, the peace loving native-American, a group that were hyphenated before it was even cool to be hyphenated. These brave Community Organizers set to work bringing the People together, that is until the second year here when they were perverted by insidious republican conservatives that led to capitalist exploitation and corruption and genocide that continued till we finally fought back and won the State Given Right for guaranteed outcomes, equal distribution of health and wealth, and non-critical thinking among many. So as we sit down tomorrow to our traditional State dinner of boiled, broiled, or fried rats, beet stuffing and imitation polar bear gravy, candied carrots, and fresh 2 day old bread, give thanks to the One. By the way, any one heard what time the state will be bringing us our dinner?

And here's our message from the Great Organizer-in-Chief:

And for your most up-to-date progressive historicism, see "Thanksgiving's Surprising Civil War Roots" (via Memeorandum).

'Where the Heck is Global Warming?' - Kevin Trenberth, Lead Scientist at U.N.'s Climate Change Panel, Admits Scientific 'Travesty' of AGW Theory

Look, a "travesty" is a "grotesque imitation," and that's how Kevin Trenberth - who was the lead scientist of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change studies in 2001 and 2007 - describes the bogus claims of global warming science in an e-mail just a month ago.

The image here is from the Daily Mail, "Climate Change Scandal Deepens as BBC Expert Claims He Was Sent ‘Cover-Up’ Emails a Month Before They Went Public."

Here's Trenberth's e-mail right here:

And scrolling down we see this:

Well I have my own article on where the heck is global warming? We are asking that here in Boulder where we have broken records the past two days for the coldest days on record. We had 4 inches of snow. The high the last 2 days was below 30F and the normal is 69F, and it smashed the previous records for these days by 10F. The low was about 18F and also a record low, well below the previous record low. This is January weather (see the Rockies baseball playoff game was canceled on saturday and then played last night in below freezing weather) ...

The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't. The CERES data published in the August BAMS 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are surely wrong. Our observing system is inadequate.

This can't be more devastating.

Here's Melanie Phillips on the scandal, "Green Totalitarianism":

This material has revealed what has been described as ‘Nixonian-style paranoid plotting’ by these scientists to defraud the public. Actually, I think it reveals something even worse.

What appears to be the case is that these scientists did not set out to mislead the world so much as try to force data which did not correspond to their ideology of anthropogenic global warming to support that ideology. For me, one of the most telling emails was this one from Phil Jones on the Medieval Warm Period (MWP):

Bottom line - their is no way the MWP (whenever it was) was as warm globally as the last 20 years. There is also no way a whole decade in the LIA period was more than 1 deg C on a global basis cooler than the 1961-90 mean. This is all gut feeling, no science, but years of experience of dealing with global scales and varaibility. (My emphasis)

In other words, despite the fact that science (or history) tells us that the Medieval Warm Period was warmer than today, thus destroying the basis of the AGW myth that we are living through an unprecedented warming of the climate caused by carbon dioxide arising from industrialisation, it cannot be true – because the Hadley CRU Director’s ‘gut’ tells him so.

All the manipulation, distortion and suppression revealed by these emails took place because it would seem these scientists knew their belief was not only correct but unchallengeable; and so when faced with evidence that showed it was false, they tried every which way to make the data fit the prior agenda. And those who questioned that agenda themselves had to be airbrushed out of the record, because to question it was simply impossible. Only AGW zealots get to decide, apparently, what science is. Truth is what fits their ideological agenda. Anything else is to be expunged.

Which is the more terrifying and devastating: if people are bent and deliberately try to deceive others, or if they are so much in thrall to an ideology that they genuinely have lost the power to think objectively and rationally?

I think that the terrible history of mankind provides the answer to that question. Nixon was a crook. But what we are dealing with here is the totalitarian personality. One thing is now absolutely clear for all to see about the anthropogenic global warming scam: science this is not.

Plus, Melanie links to Nigel Lawson (Lord Lawson, who was Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer from June 1983 to October 1989) at the Times of London, "Copenhagen will fail – and Quite Right Too":

Even if the science was reliable (which it isn’t), we should not force the world’s poorest countries to cut carbon emissions.

But President Obama will give the opening lecture in Copenhagen anyway, "Obama Will Go to Copenhagen."

Lots more at Memeorandum.

Great News! President Obama and Prime Minister Singh Were 'Never in Any Danger' - Yeah, Lucky Tareq and Michaele Salahi Weren't Jihadis!

You can't have a bigger security breach, and if this were a Republican White House the press would be hammering the administration for it's near-catastrophic security lapse, but there's almost a breathless fawning over Michaele and Tareq Salahi, who crashed the White House state dinner on Tuesday night. See the New York Times, "At the First Obama State Dinner, the First Crashers," and the Washington Post, "Off the List, But Somehow on the South Lawn."

But this blogger is kind breatless:

Tareq and Michael Salahi of Virginia dressed in a formal Indian gown, and tuxedo respectively, and walked right past security, high-fiving one reporter, and mingled and snapped pictures with various high profile dignitaries in attendance. Among the many who did have their pictures taken with the Salahis were Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of staff, and Vice President Biden. Reportedly, the President and the Prime Minister were never in danger.

The Times' report notes that the couple "went through magnetometers and other levels of security, as did all guests attending the dinner." But the Post's piece is fawning:

On a rainy night like Tuesday, with a crowd of 300-plus arriving, security might have lost track of or granted a modicum of sympathy to a pair who certainly looked as though they belonged there. If their IDs didn't send up any red flags in the screening process, they would be sent through the magnetometers and into the White House.

Yeah, gotta cut that Secret Service detail some slack. The couple just belonged there! Man, if they could just cruise in so casually, it's not far-fetched to think that someone, somehow, could have stashed a cache of small-arms weapons.

But we don't want to jump to any conclusions.

More at Memeorandum, plus some of the news reports:

Priceless? Well No, Actually: Campus Occupations Could Cost UC Hundreds of Thousands

It's a clever advertisement. Communications students at UCSD are pulling the heartstrings with this mock-Master Card ad featuring a young student eating Cup O Noodles for dinner. But it's been the campus occupations that've generated the most media attention, and the childish protesters may end up costing the university system hundreds of thousand of dollars in damages. See, "UCSC Demonstrators Say They're Not done; Damage From Kerr Hall Occupation Tops $50K":

As campus officials continue to clean up the mess left behind by the three-day occupation of Kerr Hall at UC Santa Cruz, student organizers are rallying support and planning their next move.

Protesters have said university officials have been too quick to criminalize their actions and that the focus on the damage, not the students' message, is disappointing.

Early damage estimates top $50,000, but no one has been arrested or otherwise sanctioned for the demonstration, UCSC spokesman Barry Shiller said Tuesday.

The university has posted pictures as well, "Re: Kerr Hall Protest ends; Cleanup May take Days."

Students destroyed tables and telephone conferencing systems, and refrigerators were used to barricade the doors. It looks like a disaster area. Obviously, students demonstrated absolutely no concern for school property during the "occupation," an action of course designed to extort even more resources from a public the students clearly disdain. It's shameful.

And we're not just talking about UC Santa Cruz, ultimately. No doubt cleanup and replacement costs will be even higher at Berkeley and UCLA, and remember law enforcement units came from the Highway Patrol in Los Angeles, and the Oakland P.D. in Berkeley. It all costs money. The student shakedown artists conveniently left those details out of their unlimited list of demands.

And the response of some advocates of direct action is for students to clean up after themselves? Too bad we don't have someone like Ronald Reagan in office.

RELATED: From Inside Higher Ed, "Unnatural Enemies."

Obama's Special Thanksgiving Message to Muslims on the Hajj; Plus, Grandmother Obama to Make the Pilgrimage!

From the Los Angeles Times, "Obama Issues Special Message to World's Muslims on Hajj":

Statement by the President on Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha, as provided by the White House

Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year, and to Muslims in America and around the world who are celebrating Eid-ul-Adha. The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major religions.

Read the whole thing at the link.

The president also noted that:

This year, I am pleased that the Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with the Saudi Health Ministry to prevent and limit the spread of H1N1 during Hajj.

Hey, that's great!

The U.S. is partnering with the Saudis to prevent the spread of virulent, highly lethal influenza scourge!

No doubt that will help stem, er, that other virulent, highly lethal scourge that's also killing untold numbers of Americans.

Added: From Atlas Shrugs, "Obama's Grandmama is in Mecca for "Hajj" Ceremony."

Gotta say a good word for family, you know, Muslim family, of course.

Brad Blog, Media Matters Refuse Bill Sparkman Retractions; Blame Michelle Malkin and 'Friends' for Making 'Ugly, Dangerous World'

In a September post on the Bill Sparkman investitgation, the Brad Blog published an image of a hanging body labled "feds," with the tagline "they reaped what they sowed." The names of Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, and Rush Limbaugh appear at the image, with the implication that conservatives were responsible for a "climate of hate" leading to the murder of Bill Sparkman. Brad Blog, at the post, lays out various hypotheses for the murder, but concludes by leaving no doubt about ultimate responsibility:

With all of that in mind, however, it's admittedly damned difficult not to look back at the kind of wildly-irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric being slung casually across the airwaves to millions of viewers and listeners every day by folks like Bachmann, Beck, O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, and all the rest, without pondering questions such as: "What the hell are these people thinking?" and "Do they not realize that people are actually out there paying attention to what they have to say?"

We've long suggested on these pages that it would be remarkable if the rightwing Summer of Teabagging didn't eventually result in somebody's death. It's still too early to jump to direct conclusions here ... But it's very difficult to avoid wondering if that's exactly what may now have happened.

If the killer or killers are ever found, anybody here want to bet that they are found to be avid fans of wingnut media?

Now Brad Blog not only refuses a retraction of any sort for the smears, but redoubles the allegations of hatred against Michelle Malkin, "We Smeared Michelle Malkin, Michelle Malkin Says":

We're more than happy, even eager, to offer corrections and, as needed (and it's only been needed once) retractions to anything that we get wrong here. While we appreciate Malkin's desperation to find someone out there who screws up so spectacularly as she does on such a regular basis --- such hilarious failures have damned near become her meat and potatoes at this point --- this story hardly appears to be the one on which she should, pardon the tasteless pun, hang her hate hat on.

In the meantime, as the drumbeat continues from the Right to foment still more domestic terror than we've already seen from their ilk, including even calls for the assassination of Barack Obama, as former Rightwing evangelical Frank Schaeffer has detailed on these pages (see the previous link for the latest such example), we can only hope it won't be necessary someday to call for Malkin's retraction of her silly story calling for a retraction. My god, has she and her friends made this world an ugly, and dangerous one in which to live.

Right. And this is the same blog that wrote this after the the Fort Hood Massacre:

Michael Moore tweeted within the past hour, in response to yesterday's shooting spree at Fort Hood:

After a shooting like this it's very important that no one jump to conclusions and take out any revenge against doctors or psychiatrists.

But check the Soros-backed Media Matters as well, "Is Michelle Malkin Really the Best Person to be Demanding Retractions?"

These people will never stop the campaign of evil demonology. When there is violence and killing, you call it out for what it is. Leftists never take responsibility for the devastation their campaign of politically correct terror-enabling. Dozens of jihadi attacks have taken place in the U.S. since 9/11, and Fort Hood saw the peak in the violence - it was the biggest domestic terror attack in the decade.

But for the radical left, it's the "teabaggers" who're making the country a "more dangerous one in which to live."

Got that?

Chinese 'Hot Girls' Blog Takes Down Crude Image of Michelle Obama: Google Apologizes, But Racist Picture Remains Available Online

It's really awful, and I'm not publishing it. You can see it the Michelle "Monkey" Obama image at Politics Daily, which links to a "jpg" image link hosted at FlyStyleLife.

And there's quite a bit of reporting on this at the moment:

At ABC News, "Blog Removes Offensive First Lady Image That Topped Google." And, from CNN, "Google Apologizes for Results of 'Michelle Obama' Image Search." (But earlier, at the Los Angeles Times, "Google Won't Exclude Distorted Michelle Obama Image From its Site.")

And see also, "Chinese 'Hot Girl's' Blog Issues Apology for Offensive Michelle Obama Image." There's a link to the Hot Blog there, which includes this apology in sketchy English:

I am very sorry for this article, and that this is the program automatically issued a document from the article. Do not the subject of race and politics make the discussion too radical and sincere hope that the world is very peaceful.

More at Memeorandum.

Photo Credit: Google Image Search.

Matthew Yglesias Equates GOP Filibusters With First-Degree Murder

While he never once mentions GOP filibusters, Matthew Yglesias clearly has Republican obstructionism in mind while writing this passage:

One of the lost elements of history is how new the idea of the filibuster as a routine supermajority requirement is. David Mayhew, the Yale political scientist, published an excellent article on this subject back in 2003 (so you can hardly say he was motivated by Democratic partisanship) called “Supermajority Rule in the U.S. Senate”. His argument is basically that while filibustering was always possible, it was also sharply constrained by tradition. After all, a lot of things are possible in our system. To the best of my understanding, nothing is stopping Rahm Emannuel from sauntering onto the floor of the Senate, murdering Republicans from states with Democratic governors in cold blood, having them replaced by new Democrats, and then getting a pardon from Barack Obama.

But that would obviously be a sharp break with the traditions of our government! And filibustering was, historically, an extraordinary measure.

We do have Yglesias' piece at Newsweek last week, "You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me." Discussing legislative "holds," a procedural move to slow legislative action, which requires that interested senators request from the Senate leadership that items be blocked from consideration on the floor. And Yglesias argues that it was "was usually Republicans who were" issuing holds to prevent Democratic judicial nominations "from coming to the floor for a vote."

Hence, for Yglesias, as practiced by the GOP, the hold, which "originates from the Senate's self-conception as something more like a tony gentleman's club than a parliamentary body," is tantamount to premeditated murder.

And note that Yglesias is joining the chorus of Ezra Klein and Josh Marshall who've been putting the pressure on for a change in Senate rules to abolish the filibuster. Frustrated they don't have 60 votes, they're trying to weaken the rules and norms that have evolved in recent decades to protect against majority tyranny.

So, keep that point in mind: Democrats for tyranny, that's who these folks really are, and although it's pretty obviousy, we see new demonstrations of it from time to time.

Know them, resist them, and fight your partisan enemies. These are bad people.

NBC Won't Run PETA's Extremist 'Go Vegan' Thanksgiving Ad

The Feministing community is down with PETA's vegan extremism:

File this under encouraging positive behavior:

I really like PETA's newest ad regarding Thanksgiving Turkeys. It is totally cringe worthy but without their regular sexist crap! They stay on message and stage it in a scenario that many of us will be taking part in this Thursday. I don't know if it makes up for all the other stuff they have done, but at least it's a step in the right direction.

But NBC wasn't amused, "4 NBC Stations Ban PETA's Thanksgiving Day Ad":

Four NBC affiliates broadcasting the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade are banning a commercial promoting veganism sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

PETA spokesman Michael Lyubinsky said Tuesday the organization wanted to air the commercial during the parade but stations in Raleigh, N.C., Columbia, S.C., Savannah, Ga., and Little Rock, Ark., had banned it.

The commercial depicts a young girl saying grace at Thanksgiving, giving thanks for "the turkey farms where they pack them into dark, tiny little sheds for their whole lives."

The ad encourages viewers to "Go vegan."

PETA's entry is here, "Thanksgiving: Disgrace for Turkeys."

Meanwhile, here's Patrick Martins from an old classic at the New York Times, "About a Bird":

When you sit down to your Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, waiting for the main attraction to be brought in on a platter, take a moment to think about where it came from and how it found its way to your table. After all, your turkey is not the same wily, energetic, tasty bird that struck our ancestors as the perfect centerpiece for an American holiday.

Most Americans know that the turkey is a native game bird, and that Benjamin Franklin thought it would have been a better national symbol than the bald eagle. For good reason: in the wild, Meleagris gallopavo is a fast runner and a notoriously difficult prize for hunters. Even after they were domesticated, turkeys remained spirited, traditionally spending the bulk of their lives outdoors, exploring, climbing trees, socializing and, of course, breeding.

Now consider the bird that will soon be on your plate. It probably hatched in an incubator on a huge farm, most likely in the Midwest or the South. Its life went downhill from there. A few days after hatching -- in the first of many unnatural if not necessarily painful indignities -- it had its upper beak and toenails snipped off. A turkey is normally a very discriminating eater (left to its own devices, it will search out the exact food it wants to eat). In order to fatten it up quickly, farmers clip the beak, transforming it into a kind of shovel. With its altered beak, it can no longer pick and choose what it will eat. Instead, it will do nothing but gorge on the highly fortified corn-based mash that it is offered, even though that is far removed from the varied diet of insects, grass and seeds turkeys prefer. And the toenails? They're removed so that they won't do harm later on: in the crowded conditions of industrial production, mature turkeys are prone to picking at the feathers of their neighbors -- and even cannibalizing them.

After their beaks are clipped, mass- produced turkeys spend the first three weeks of their lives confined with hundreds of other birds in what is known as a brooder, a heated room where they are kept warm, dry and safe from disease and predators. The next rite of passage comes in the fourth week, when turkeys reach puberty and grow feathers. For centuries, it was at this point that a domesticated turkey would move outdoors for the rest of its life.

But with the arrival of factory turkey farming in the 1960's, all that changed. Factory-farm turkeys don't even see the outdoors. Instead, as many as 10,000 turkeys that hatched at the same time are herded from brooders into a giant barn. These barns generally are windowless, but are illuminated by bright lights 24 hours a day, keeping the turkeys awake and eating.

These turkey are destined to spend their lives not on grass but on wood shavings, laid down to absorb the overwhelming amount of waste that the flock produces. Still, the ammonia fumes rising from the floor are enough to burn the eyes, even at those operations where the top level of the shavings is occasionally scraped away during the flock's time in the barn.

Isn't there a saying that "if you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made." Well, make that laws and turkeys, and have a nice Thanksgiving dinner.

P.S. As radical as old Ezra Klein is, at least the guy serves a bird for the holidays.

Added: Dr. Melissa Clouthier links, "PETA Speech: I Think Liberal Networks Should Air Liberal Ads."

Navy SEALs Face Court-Martial (And Some 'Red on Red' Controversy About U.S. Forces Thrown Under the Bus)

Fox News has the story, "Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist." It turns out that the SEALs who captured the lead terrorist in the horrendous killings of the four Blackwater contractors in Fallujah are facing court-martial.

Pamela has an analysis, with pictures, "Obama's Latest Attack on America: Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist":

Obama ought to step in and halt this persecution of brave patriots immediately. But he won't. He's not fit to wipe their boots.

The enemy is O's friend and America is O's enemy. He is painfully unqualified. The man never worked a real job. He scammed the system the radical leftist way, he never served in the military, never lived one day as a proud American, and surrounds himself with America haters and agitators. These SEALs are cooked.

But for bloggers still figuring out the lay of the rightroots land, take heed at the controversy surrounding Allahpundit's post yesterday, "Three Navy SEALs Court-Martialed After Giving Most-Wanted Iraqi Terrorist a Fat Lip" (Allah suggests they'll get a "wrist slap").

Smitty at The Other McCain has a report, "'Cleanup Team to HotAir.com'." Also, Jawa Report, "Throwing Navy Seals Under the Bus."

But check Uncle Jimbo himself, "Allahpundit Sows His A** Ref SEALs":

I do my best to avoid red on red fire, but sometimes it is absolutely called for. Noted beta male and "many moons ago" entertaining blogger Allahpundit at Hot Air throws three Navy SEALs under the bus just to appease people who are only safe to be appeased, himself included, because of these rough men. No link from me ....

Let me explain something to you amigo. That wrist slap would be a career-ender in Spec Ops for these men. You understand? We take three guys who accomplish more in a lazy afternoon than you have in your entire anonymous, snarking-from-the-sideline, existence and we put them out of work making dead tangos. And that sounds like what should have happened to this ass clown. If he dies during the take down we have no problems.

I know you have no earthly clue just how god-awful complicated it is to actually perform a raid and scarf up a bad guy, let's just say it rates up there with trying to conduct a Beethoven Symphony with your orchestra in free fall, screaming towards Earth like a phalanx of freaking lawn darts. That is why we like to send a f**king Hellfire down on them and last time I checked that leaves a little more than a god damn bloody lip. And yes I am saying I don't care if he got it once he got to base. What if the guy who clocked his murderous ass knew Scott Helverson, who this bastard helped kill, burn and then defile his corpse? Do you really want to be on record saying he should be made an example of? Do you remember what Kos said about the four men this scumbag killed you dumbass? I'll remind you "F**k them". You are sure in illustrious company.

I realize you get paid to say controversial shite all day long. Every once in a while you ought to take a gander at who gives you the freedom to flap your freakin' gums and think twice before you decide that zero-tolerance demands that your betters suffer for some bullshit like this. Don't offer the PC losers cover, ever. They will use it against my friends.

There's more commentary at Memeorandum. I'm off to work for a few hours but will check back in here shortly, perhaps with an update.

But boy, that's a smokin' "red on red" debate.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Newsweek?

From Noemie Emery, one of my favorite writers, "When Did Newsweek Stop Doing News?"

It's a good thing Newsweek stopped covering news, or it would have to notice such things as the Republican sweep in the 2009 midterms, and the swing of independents back to the GOP corner. News, however, is beneath the new Newsweek, which fancies the kind it makes up.

The whole thing is at the link.