 |
What They've Thought
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
What They Thought October 8, 2006 Alan
Caruba Click here for columnist bios |
||||||
This nation of ours is home to some of the best meteorologists using some of the best technology available. This does not mean they have any idea what the weather will be two weeks from now. With this in mind, I offer you part two of my April ruminations on the 2006 hurricane season. In April I reminded people that hurricanes have been showing up off the East and Gulf coasts for millennia. It wasn’t until millions of people started jamming themselves together in those scenic areas that the damage wrought by hurricanes became a problem. The ocean views are wonderful, but not when they’re in your living room. Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University has gained a reputation as a predictor of hurricanes and I pointed out that in 2005 he had concluded there would be 13 named storms with 7 becoming hurricanes. In 2005, there were 28 storms and 15 of them became hurricanes. One of them flattened New Orleans and a huge swath of Mississippi for good measure. In April 2006, however, Dr. Gray was back, predicting 17 storms powerful enough to be named, of which 9 would become hurricanes. By early October, he downgraded his forecast predicting only one more hurricane this year and two more named storms. He did not anticipate any intense hurricanes like Katrina. So far, the Atlantic basin has seen 9 named storms and 5 hurricanes. None have represented a significant problem to coastal residents. Dr. Gray says he’s less worried about a really big, bad hurricane. Call me a cynic, but I would say it’s probably time for everyone on the East and Gulf coasts to buy an inflatable rubber boat. Okay, I admit it, I am picking on this distinguished scientist, but I am also amused and informed by the way Mother Nature pays no attention to his calculations, computations, informed assumptions, and ultimately his predictions. Why did he downgrade his 2006 prediction? A weather cycle called El Nino in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. Turns out that November activity during El Nino years is very rare, thus reducing the prospect of more storms and hurricanes. Meanwhile, in the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a big fight broke out over a position paper authored by some of its scientists suggesting a link between hurricanes and global warming. Conrad Lautenbacher, the administrator, did not want NOAA associated with the paper because it contained, in his words, “no new science.” Considering that the “science” surrounding global warming has been taken out behind the shed and spanked for being very bad, one can only congratulate Conrad for not wanting NOAA to contribute to the stinking pile of pseudo-science that keeps insisting the Earth is doomed when in fact it has warmed barely one degree Fahrenheit between 1850 and 1950, and not at all since then. The paper the NOAA administrator resisted reportedly “conveyed a consensus opinion that global warming could lead to more intense hurricanes.” Return now to Dr. Gray’s most recent downgrade of his predictions. Not global warming, but the El Nino cycle. Not more and worse hurricanes, but less this year. As they say, “Who you gonna believe? Global warming advocates or your lying eyes?” The endless blather about global warming should be consigned to a thick file in the same cabinet as the Piltdown man and other famous hoaxes. |
||||||
|
No column this week. R.A. Hawkins Web Site Contact Back to Top |
||||||
A couple of months ago, the State of New Jersey decided its taxes just weren’t high enough. In order to correct this situation, the state introduced a new 7 percent sales tax, which was recently extended to a number of previously untaxed goods and services, such as: tanning; tattooing; landscaping; self-storage; and music downloads. As if these new fees weren’t already reason enough to be outraged, Garden State legislators have secretly approved a number of other new taxes, set to begin within the coming months. If you disagree with any of these taxes, you are urged to either contact your legislators or sit back and do absolutely nothing. Now here’s a quick look at what they will tax: 1. Skeeball Winnings: Yes, unbeknownst to innocent skeeball players, a new hidden fee awaits their return to Point Pleasant and other boardwalks next summer. Just paying for the privilege of tanning on New Jersey beaches wasn’t enough for the State of New Jersey. Now, when skeeball players earn tickets at any of the state’s roughly 9,671 skeeball arcades, they’ll have to surrender a full 7 out of every 100 tickets to state police. While this tax may seem like small potatoes to all those elitists in Trenton, this is only because those elitists are elitists and therefore already have all the potatoes they could ever desire. For the ordinary man, the new skeeball tax means the difference between a handful of spider rings and a pair of really hilarious sunglasses. 2. Unplanned Homosexual Encounters at Highway Rest Stops: Call it the James McGreevey Memorial Luxury Vice Tax. In the coming months, New Jersey citizens will once again pay for the sins of their leaders as the state begins taxing chance gay encounters at Joyce Kilmer and other Turnpike rest areas. What kind of country are we living in when a grown man with a wife and two kids can’t pull over, pay for overpriced gas, and tear the shirt off another grown man in a public bathroom… without getting charged for it? Isn’t this supposed to be America? What’s next? The Red Sox winning the World Series? Paying a dollar for a single pack of gum? 3. The Sales Tax: That’s right. You read that correctly. For the first time in American history, the State of New Jersey will soon introduce a sales tax on its very own sales tax. Now, when you purchase a taxable item, you will pay not only 7 percent of the price but an additional 7 percent of the 7 percent. New Jersey legislators are also discussing a possible sales tax on the sales tax on the sales tax, which, theoretically speaking, means New Jerseyans may soon pay the price of an item plus 7 percent plus 7 percent of the 7 percent plus 7 percent of the 7 percent of the 7 percent. Unfortunate as they may be, these new tax hikes will be necessary in order to pay legislators for doing their job. 4. Coming from the State of New Jersey: Beginning next spring, the Garden State will introduce a new tax on previous residents, forcing former New Jerseyans such as myself to pay the equivalent of 7 billable hours for every 100 spent living outside the state’s borders. This particular increase is designed to discourage New Jersey residents from leaving New Jersey, which, in a roundabout way, probably makes it pro-business. 5. Complaining: After imposing each of the four taxes listed above, the State of New Jersey will finally impose a new tax on complaining about those four taxes. The bad news is, it’s yet another tax. But the good news is, you can pay it in food stamps. Jonathan David Morris Web Site Contact Back to Top |
||||||
A recent article in the Houston Chronicle discusses the problem of so-called anchor babies, children born in U.S. hospitals to illegal immigrant parents. These children automatically become citizens, and thus serve as an anchor for their parents to remain in the country. Our immigration authorities understandably are reluctant to break up families by deporting parents of young babies. But birthright citizenship, originating in the 14th amendment, has become a serious cultural and economic dilemma for our nation. In some Houston hospitals, administrators estimate that 70 or 80% of the babies born have parents who are in the country illegally. As an obstetrician in south Texas for several decades, I can attest to the severity of the problem. It’s the same story in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. And the truth is most illegal immigrants who have babies in U.S. hospitals do not have health insurance and do not pay their hospital bills. This obviously cannot be sustained, either by the hospitals involved or the taxpayers who end up paying the bills. No other wealthy, western nations grant automatic citizenship to those who simply happen to be born within their borders to non-citizens. These nations recognize that citizenship involves more than the physical location of one’s birth; it also involves some measure of cultural connection and allegiance. In most cases this means the parents must be citizens of a nation in order for their newborn children to receive automatic citizenship. Make no mistake, Americans are happy to welcome immigrants who follow our immigration laws and seek a better life here. America is far more welcoming and tolerant of newcomers than virtually any nation on earth. But our modern welfare state creates perverse incentives for immigrants, incentives that cloud the issue of why people choose to come here. The real problem is not immigration, but rather the welfare state magnet. Hospitals bear the costs when illegal immigrants enter the country for the express purpose of giving birth. But illegal immigrants also use emergency rooms, public roads, and public schools. In many cases they are able to obtain Medicaid, food stamps, public housing, and even unemployment benefits. Some have fraudulently collected Social Security benefits. Of course many American citizens also use or abuse the welfare system. But we cannot afford to open our pocketbooks to the rest of the world. We must end the perverse incentives that encourage immigrants to come here illegally, including the anchor baby incentive. I’ve introduced legislation that would amend the Constitution and end automatic birthright citizenship. The 14th amendment was ratified in 1868, on the heels of the Civil War. The country, especially the western territories, was wide open and ripe for homesteading. There was no welfare state to exploit, and the modern problems associated with immigration could not have been imagined. Our founders knew that unforeseen problems with our system of government would arise, and that’s precisely why they gave us a method for amending the Constitution. It’s time to rethink birthright citizenship by amending the 14th amendment. Rep. Ron Paul Web Site Back to Top |
||||||
I find myself not wanting to waste precious time commenting on the mainstream news story about the Gwinnett County Georgia mom who wants Harry Potter books taken out of the elementary school because the series encourages “witchcraft and evil.” However, the fact that the school board is even considering her request compels me to write a column in order to lend some much needed perspective to this particular uninformed and inane distraction from larger concerns in the area of school reform and religious indoctrination. To begin, I must disclose that I wholeheartedly agree with Gwinnett County, Georgia Schools attorney Victoria Sweeny’s opinion that, “Harry Potter promotes reading and good values.” Furthermore, she is absolutely correct when she says that, “The major themes are good versus evil, overcoming adversity, loyalty, friendship and courage," which I believe are all important ideas for kids to consider during their formative years. More needs to be said, though, in order to frame this ridiculous issue in its proper context. We are facing clear and immediate dangers to our way of life and shouldn’t waste time entertaining the paranoid delusions of any person(s) declaring that Wicca is being proselytized through the Harry Potter series, especially anyone who hasn’t bothered to read an entire book. Indeed, from everything I’ve ever read about Wicca, it is a very peaceful practice. A good site to read more can be found here. Yet, one can conclude that another religious practice is spreading evil amongst us; those who believe in the inalienable rights of every person to pursue life, liberty, and happiness; and respect and defend the U.S. Constitution which protects these rights. As Mehdi Mozaffari explains on the History News Network website, Islamism is "an ideology bearing a holistic vision of Islam whose final aim is the conquest of the world with all means." Radical Islamists, in the name of Allah, will commit indiscriminate, non-selective and suicidal acts of terror, as has been demonstrated on American soil. Despite this, in our nation’s public schools, children are being taught about Ramadan and have been required to play act being Muslims. I find it perplexing that teachers are compelled to avoid explaining Judeo-Christian religious history and curriculum directors find it unnecessary to require teaching this aspect of our nation’s history, yet it’s acceptable to teach about Muslim traditions while removing the Ten Commandments from the public square. Even more curious is that those practicing extreme forms of this faith want to follow Sharia laws in our country. They want to be exempted from the “rule of law” which governs the sovereign citizens of our nation. When I was a kid, I loved Scott Corbett’s Trick books, in which the series begins (The Lemonade Trick) with a boy who helps out a witch on her evening constitutional; who then gives him a magic chemistry set which leads him into (and gets him out of) all sorts of trouble. Although I dearly wanted a magic chemistry set, I did not find myself wanting to become a witch. Instead, I was (unknowingly) drawn to books with Christian themes, like “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeline L’Engle. Undoubtedly, my love of fantasy and science fiction has never wavered. Not having the time to read for pleasure these days, most of my current reading focuses on education reform and other issues affecting our society. I credit my experiences as a child, reading for pleasure, for my current ability to read quickly, for meaning, and with being able to generalize the point of what was said. Thank goodness there are authors like J.K. Rowling, who can capture a child’s imagination and take a reader to places beyond any that they can experience in their immediate environment. After such an adventure, the underlying theme will continue to surface in many other books and real life occurrences. Being able to recognize good and evil is an important skill. Perhaps the mother in Georgia ought to begin with “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl. He’s written about witches and magic. Yet the goodness in all his characters prevails. Evil is usually disguised and sometimes hard to recognize when it’s right in front of you. Yet with lots of experience, it can be rooted out. To experience true indoctrination of children, watch the video clip on You Tube called “Children of the Future Jihad." This is what the mainstream media should be reporting. This is what parents should be worrying about. Harry Potter is a fantasy, and though no one is telling readers which characters are good and evil, it can be agreed that most kids fantasize about being Harry, the good guy, not Malfoy (the bad guy). Do the kids indoctrinated into radical Islam understand good and evil? They haven’t had enough experiences to recognize that they are being brainwashed. Let this be on what our energy is focused, not distractions like magic and witchcraft. Leave that to the imagination. Nancy
Salvato
Web Site Contact
Back to Top
|
||||||
©2004-2006 by their respective authors. Reprinted by permission. |
||||||
|
news | constitution | bill of rights | our view | your view | their view awards to win | awards we've won | resources | goodie shoppe our mission | about us | contact us | privacy policy | site map | home This page last updated on Sunday, October 15, 2006 4:46 PM Optimized for Microsoft Internet Explorer |
||||||
|
site content ©2002-2006 site design by |
||||||
