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What They've Thought
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What They Thought July 9, 2006 Alan
Caruba Click here for columnist bios |
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A little ice to cool a drink on a hot summer’s day is nice, but when you think of it as an Ice Age, it becomes an inexorable force of Nature more to be feared than any fictional global warming. In a recent memoir, marine biologist Trevor Norton recalls growing up “beside a sullen sea” and drawn to the “bluer oceans beyond the horizon, salt-scented and transparent.” As a young boy, Norton marveled at the fact that both he and the world were seven-tenths salt water—that his blood had almost the identical chemical composition as the sea and that, in the womb, he’d even had gills. We came from the oceans and, to an extent that few but those who have studied them understand, the oceans play a critical role in the Earth’s climate cycles. It is those cycles that reveal what is really happening and what is going to happen as a new, inevitable Ice Age begins to signal its emergence. As June drew to a close, my daily newspaper reported, “Jerseyeans evacuate as river swells toward 50-year high.” Unusual flooding occurred from Washington, D.C. up through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. What could be causing such torrential rain? Would you believe volcanoes? No, not the ones you can see, but the ones beneath the oceans of the world that you cannot. In a prescient book, “Not by Fire, but by Ice”, Robert W. Felix shares his years of independent research to warn of the next Ice Age that is, meteorologically speaking, just around the corner. There are two factors at work. One is the established, known cycles of climate change. The other is the unknown number of undersea volcanoes. “Marine geophysicists about the research vessel Melville recently discovered 1,133 previously unmapped underwater volcanoes about 600 miles northwest of Easter Island,” Felix notes in his book. That would put them about 2,300 miles west of Chile in the South Pacific. “And they’re huge.” Since only about five percent of the ocean floor has been mapped, there is no way of knowing how many volcanoes exist, “pumping awesome amounts of heat into the seas.” Global warming, based heavily on computer models is, after twenty-five years of endless eco-bloviating, only now being aggressively debunked by a growing body of scientists. They have begun to fear that science itself is being debased by the torrent of false claims. As Felix says, “It’s not global warming, it’s ocean warming, caused by underwater volcanoes.” The Earth has always been a dynamic planet producing all manner of change. The recent earthquakes in the Indian Sea area, unusually heavy snowfalls, and the severity of hurricanes are testimony to the constant change that has always occurred. Among the changes is the realization that the northern hemisphere is undergoing cooling, not warming. You don’t have to be a climatologist to understand why. As the oceans and seas are subject to the unseen volcanic activity, they are sending huge amounts of moisture up into the atmosphere where it returns as a heavy rain in spring, summer and fall. In the winter, it returns as snow. When those warm air fronts from the equatorial regions move north and volcanic activity increases their heat, they hit the cold air fronts coming from the pole and the result are more violent storms. You get the kind of torrential rains that occurred in late June on the East Coast. You get blizzards that blanket a region with snow that is increasingly deeper in winter. The key to understanding what is really occurring on Earth is to understand that there are known cycles. As Felix notes, “there is an ice-age cycle known as the Milankovitch cycle; one that returns like clockwork. I believe it is now time for the next beat of that cycle.” “Warming seas and colder skies…a deadly combination,” says Felix. We are coming to an end of the current interglacial period of approximately eleven to twelve thousand years. When you put increased amount of moisture into the air as the result of warming oceans and seas, you get snow. “Unimaginable amounts of snow.” It’s the kind of snow that trapped ancient mastodons in their tracks, freezing them so swiftly that, when thawed out thousands of years later, the food in their stomach could be identified. Despite what the scaremongering Global Warming snake oil salesmen are telling you, the ice and the snow packs of both the Artic and Antarctic are thickening. That means it is getting colder in both these regions. Combine that with increasing underwater volcanic activity that is warming the oceans and seas, plus the Milankovitch cycle, the end of the current interglacial period, and you get the next Ice Age. It could occur so swiftly that it would create chaos among the populations of the northern hemisphere. Either way, slow or quick, the early warning signs of storms with increasing severity, heavier rainfalls, blizzards that leave deeper snow in their wake, and floods all over the globe are all there for anyone to see. We could stop all industrial activity and require all cars and trucks off the roads of the world and it would not make a single bit of difference. It is not manmade carbon dioxide that is bringing about these changes. It is active volcanoes, some a mile or more high, yet entirely hidden from view under the oceans. Nature doesn’t care where you live or what you drive. Note: To learn more, visit www.iceagenow.com. |
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No column this week. R.A. Hawkins Web Site Contact Back to Top |
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Thomas Jefferson: Hey, Madison. Check it out. Only one more guy ahead of us, and we will finally be able to sink our wooden teeth into genuine Philadelphia cheesesteaks. James Madison: Sweet. I hope these things are all they’re cracked up to be. Ben Franklin: Oh, they are, they are. Trust me, gentlemen. You won’t be sorry you waited four hours and a couple of hundred years for them. As I always say, "Cheesesteaks are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Geno’s Owner Joey Vento: Next! Franklin: Oh, crap. Okay, Madison, that’s you. Now, remember what we talked about in the car on the way over. They’re very particular about how you order your food around here. If you want a cheesesteak with onions, you have to order a “cheese, wit”—otherwise they won’t serve you. Madison: Please. I wrote the freaking United States Constitution, Ben. You think I can’t order a cheesesteak? Watch me. Vento: Next, I said! Madison: [Steps up to the ordering window.] Yes, hi. I’m James Madison, and I would like to order one cheesesteak with onions, please. Vento: Next! Madison: Perhaps I should try that again. My name is President James Madison, and I -- Vento: Next! [Madison steps to the side in a state of apparent dejection.] Franklin: I’m telling you, Jefferson. Learn from Madison’s mistakes. Don’t get creative. Jefferson: Don’t worry. I got it. [Steps up to the ordering window.] Gimme a cheese, wit, please. Vento: Hey listen, pal. You and your alien buddy over there want cheesesteaks? Read the goddam sign. Jefferson: [Reads the goddam sign posted on the window.] “This is America. When ordering, speak English.” Well, I don’t understand. I -- Vento: Next! Jefferson: But -- Vento: Next! [Now Jefferson joins Madison in a state of apparent dejection off to the side.] Franklin: [Steps up to the ordering window.] Good tidings, sir. Vento: For God’s sake, this is the third one in a row already. Can’t you aliens read? No habla Espanish. This is America. Speak English. Next! Franklin: But, sir, my friends and I are speaking English. Vento: Well, it’s no kind of English I’m familiar with. Franklin: But you just understood every word that I said. Vento: No, I didn’t. Franklin: See? You did it again! Vento: Look, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, pal. Next! [Franklin steps away.] Unnamed Spanish-Speaking Customer No. 1: Un filete del queso con las cebollas, por favor. Vento: Coming right up. Jefferson: Hey, now, wait a minute. That guy wasn’t speaking English whatsoever. Madison: Worse yet, he seems to have written his single line of dialogue using the English-to-Spanish feature on Alta Vista’s Babel Fish language translator. Franklin: Come on, guys. We don’t need to put up with this. Philly’s a big city. Let’s go run up the Art Museum steps like Rocky or something. Jefferson: Speak for yourself, Ben. I’ve not yet begun to fight. Excuse me… Mr. Vento? [Just then a big cloud of smoke appears. As it dissipates, a man in a button-down shirt is revealed.] Franklin, Madison, and Jefferson: George W. Bush?! George W. Bush: That’s right. It worked so well in Iraq, I thought I’d make a surprise visit to the corner of 9th and Passyunk in Philly. [Taps the counter at the ordering window.] You’re doing an outstanding job, General Geno. Vento: Vento. Bush: Whatever. Gimme a Whiz, wit. [Just then a second cloud of smoke appears across the street in front of Geno’s hated rival, Pat’s King of Steaks. As the smoke clears, another shadowy figure reveals himself.] Franklin, Madison, and Jefferson: John F. Kerry: That’s right. It’s me. John F. Kerry. Gimme a Swiss, wit! Madison: Good Christ. Presidents and would-be presidents appearing out of thin air? What kind of country is this? Kerry: I’ll tell you what kind of country this is. This is a Pat’s King of Steaks kind of country. Give us your tired, your poor, or that other thing it says on the Statue of Liberty. We don’t care what language they speak or what color they come from. America serves one and serves all. And I served in the army. That’s the kind of country America is. A free healthcare and candy kind of country. Am I right or am I right, people? [The crowd outside Pat’s comes to its feet and cheers.] Bush: My opponent wants to divide this street corner by uniting this street corner in the belief that Geno’s is dividing this street corner. Today is July 4th. A lot of good men died for today to be July 4th. My opponent wants division by subtraction to rule this country. But it’s fuzzy math. Four plus four equals eight. And every man is created equal. If you’re not with Geno’s Steaks, you’re against Geno’s Steaks. And if you’re against Geno’s Steaks… well, then I guess this means war. [Now all of Geno’s patrons cheer and shake their fists, too.] Jefferson: People, please! Take a good look at yourselves. A war over cheesesteaks? It doesn’t make sense! Madison: This never would have happened when we were alive. Franklin: Unfortunately, I think you two are missing the point. [A hush comes over both angry crowds.] Franklin: Don’t you see? Nothing Bush and Kerry are saying makes any sense whatsoever. They might as well be pulling random translations off of Alta Vista’s Babel Fish -- Bush: Posso parlare Spagnolo perfetto. Unnamed Russian Customer No. 1: That’s Italian for “I can speak perfect Spanish”! Franklin: My point exactly. It doesn’t matter what these men say. They could be speaking in baby sounds and people here would still understand them. Yet look at us. We founded this country, and we can’t even order a cheesesteak because nobody here understands us and everyone treats us like aliens. It doesn’t matter what language people speak. What matters is what they’re saying, and whether their words are consistent with life and liberty. Would it be preferable if everyone spoke from the same dictionary? Yes. But actions speak louder than words sometimes. And that’s all these modern political leaders are doing: Acting. If that’s the only kind of leadership a society understands, then their language doesn’t really matter at that point. Because whatever their backgrounds, they’ve already been reduced under the universal language of lies. Kerry: I’m sorry. Did anyone understand a word of what he just said? Bush: Got me. Vento: Sorta confused over here, too. Franklin: Well, I guess you were right, Jefferson. The people of Earth weren’t ready for us after all. Jefferson: You gave it a shot, Ben. Let’s get out of here before they kill us. Vikdlk sdlwnjyra qwaqqqhba. Madison: Vikdlk sdlwnjyra qwaqqqhba, indeed. See you folks again in another 230 years. [The Founding Fathers turn into three swarms of glowing outer space beetles, and disappear without cheesesteaks into the sky.] Jonathan David Morris Web Site Contact Back to Top |
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The United Nations is holding a conference beginning this week in New York that ironically coincides with our national 4th of July holiday. It’s ironic because those attending the conference want to do away with one of our most fundamental constitutional freedoms—the right to bear arms The stated goal of the conference is to eliminate trading in small arms, but the real goal is to advance a worldwide gun control movement that ultimately supercedes national laws, including our own 2nd Amendment. Many UN observers believe the conference will set the stage in coming years for an international gun control treaty. Fortunately, U.S. gun owners have responded with an avalanche of letters to the American delegation to the conference, asking that none of our tax dollars be used to further UN anti-gun proposals. But we cannot discount the growing power of international law, whether through the UN, the World Trade Organization, or the NAFTA and CAFTA treaties. Gun rights advocates must understand that the forces behind globalism are hostile toward our Constitution and national sovereignty in general. Our 2nd Amendment means nothing to UN officials. Domestically, the gun control movement has lost momentum in recent years. The Democratic Party has been conspicuously silent on the issue in recent elections because they know it’s a political loser. In the midst of declining public support for new gun laws, more and more states have adopted concealed-carry programs. The September 11th terrorist attacks and last summer’s hurricanes only made matters worse for gun control proponents, as millions of Americans were starkly reminded that we cannot rely on government to protect us from criminals. So it makes sense that perhaps the biggest threat to gun rights in America today comes not from domestic lawmakers, but from abroad. For more than a decade the United Nations has waged a campaign to undermine Second Amendment rights in America. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on members of the Security Council to address the “easy availability” of small arms and light weapons, by which he means all privately owned firearms. In response, the Security Council released a report calling for a comprehensive program of worldwide gun control, a report that admonishes the U.S. and praises the restrictive gun laws of Red China and France! It’s no surprise
that UN officials dislike what they view as our gun culture. After all,
these are the people who placed a huge anti-gun statue on American soil
at UN headquarters in New York. The statue depicts a pistol with the
barrel tied into a knot, a not-too-subtle message aimed squarely at
the U.S. How can we as a
nation justify our membership in an organization that is actively hostile
to one of our most fundamental constitutional rights? What if the UN
decided that free speech was too inflammatory and should be restricted?
Would we discard the First Amendment to comply with the UN agenda? Rep. Ron Paul Web Site Back to Top |
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Sometimes, overwhelmed, I find myself unable to begin any task. After opening and closing the refrigerator several times, pacing the rooms of my house, and generally feeling sorry for myself, I assess the state of affairs. Beginning slowly at first, I organize my environment (vacuum the dog fur out of my carpeting so that I can breathe) and honestly appraise the situation to determine what needs to be addressed next. Upon starting this process, I find myself able to think more clearly and life moves forward. Once again, I can see the forest despite all the trees. Securing our country from illegal immigrants must pose the same kind of dilemma from people who realize how many holes must be plugged in order to affect the circumstances. All the screaming about the situation must make it that much more difficult to think clearly and form a plan of action. While reading about this problem, in my mind I hear all the arguments in very loud voices and I find it difficult to truly listen to what people are saying because of all the shouting. I want to tell everyone concerned, please just calm down, be quiet, just listen to the silence for a moment so that we can regroup. Now, one at a time, everyone will have a chance to be heard and we shall not jump to any hasty decisions. There are three major concerns at play: securing our borders so that terrorists cannot enter our country, enforcing the existing laws regarding non citizens residing in our country, and maintaining smooth relations with our neighbors to the north and south. Unfortunately, all three issues become tangled up into a big “quagmire” and therefore the solutions do not adequately deal with what needs to be taken into consideration. First, in order to address the current illegal aliens living in this country, it must be taken into consideration that there is no feasible way to deport 12 million people. However, if businesses were required to cross check Social Security numbers and report stolen identities we could deport those in violation of our laws in a more manageable manner. Furthermore, if there was enforcement of the law which requires some sort of visa in order to obtain employment, the wages for unskilled labor would not be so low. This being the case, there would be no more reason to hire an illegal worker over a legal worker. A natural attrition would take place. Finally, there should be a law passed to disallow automatic citizenship for those born in this country. Next, securing our borders must take priority. Whether building a fence in order to physically construct a blockade against those who would enter our country illegally is the solution, I honestly am not sure. That is not a vote against this method; it is simply a question of whether there is a more viable alternative. While a fence might keep out a number of people, I still don’t believe that airports and ports of entry have been secured and those two avenues of egress pose an equally large threat to our population. Yes, we have a missile defense system in case of attack from rockets half way across the globe, but can we track radioactive materials which have another means of entry? There will soon be elections held in Mexico for a new president, and the PAN party fielding Felipe Calderon and currently represented by Vicente Fox, is trailing behind the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. When Vicente Fox came to our country this past May to discuss an open border policy, many people did not give him any consideration and he was portrayed in the news as the “Mexican Meddler” and “Arrogant Chief Reconquistador” even though he and the PAN party he represents are more inclined toward the United States and our own President Bush than the PRD or any other potential leaders of Mexico. It is much easier to negotiate with friendly neighbors than with those who disagree with our policies. President Fox would like to see a solution that doesn’t decimate the Mexican economy and President Bush would like to enact a solution that leaves the U.S. economic situation intact. Certainly, it is in the best interests of both our countries to work together toward a solution. What if Mexico and the U.S. could work together to repel terrorists? All the yelling and screaming and name calling is taking us nowhere. Bills should be constructed which deal with each aspect of border control, illegal immigrants, and foreign policy separately. Only then, can this country begin to once again take control of the situation. Nancy
Salvato
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©2004-2006 by their respective authors. Reprinted by permission. |
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