The Cool Blue Blog

He didn't inhale

From ABC in Chicago

Senator Obama said he was never in church when Reverend Wright made any of the incendiary remarks that have been made public in recent days.

Conflicted

Today, the UN is conflicted on the use of biofuels

The world's rush to embrace biofuels is causing a spike in the price of corn and other crops and could worsen water shortages and force poor communities off their land, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

Speaking at a regional forum on bioenergy, Regan Suzuki of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization acknowledged that biofuels are better for the environment than fossil fuels and boost energy security for many countries.

However, she said those benefits must be weighed against the pitfalls - many of which are just now emerging as countries convert millions of acres to palm oil, sugar cane and other crops used to make biofuels.

Cited among the problems are increased competition for farmland and water shortages in India and China because biofuel crops require large amounts of water.

"Particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, land availability is a critical issue," Suzuki said. "There are clear comparative advantages for tropical and subtropical countries in growing biofuel feed stocks but it is often these same countries in which resource and land rights of vulnerable groups and protected forests are weakest."

Meanwhile, scientists are conflicted about the effects of climate change on hurricanes. Where previously Al Gore and others predicted that warming climate would increase the number of hurricanes that hit the US, but now the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Miami Lab and the University of Miami say it will decrease the number of hurricanes

...researchers link warming waters, especially in the Indian and Pacific oceans, to increased vertical wind shear in the Atlantic Ocean near the United States. Wind shear - a change in wind speed or direction - makes it hard for hurricanes to form, strengthen and stay alive. So that means "global warming may decrease the likelihood of hurricanes making landfall in the United States," according to researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Miami Lab and the University of Miami. With every degree Celsius that the oceans warm, the wind shear increases by up to 10 mph, weakening storm formation, said study author Chunzai Wang, a research oceanographer at NOAA. Winds forming over the Pacific and Indian oceans have global effects, much like El Nino does, he said. Wang said he based his study on observations instead of computer models and records of landfall hurricanes through more than 100 years

Of course, this doesn't settle the matter

Critics say Wang's study is based on poor data that was rejected by scientists on the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They said that at times only one in 10 North Atlantic hurricanes hit the U.S. coast and the data reflect only a small percentage of storms around the globe.

Hurricanes hitting land "are not a reliable record" for how hurricanes have changed, said Kevin Trenberth, climate analysis chief for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

Trenberth is among those on the other side of a growing debate over global warming and hurricanes. Each side uses different sets of data and focus on different details.

I should point out two things about this, first this is a healthy scientific debate and two, no one knows a whole helluva lot about the consequences of climate change. One thing we do know for sure; the climate is going to change one way or another, with or without our help.

It turns out though that hurricanes themselves may contribute to global warming: and that's especially true for hurricane Katrina. A researcher who is assessing the damage to tree stands after Katrina found detestation that will result in massive carbon dioxide emissions

[Tulane University biology professor Jeff] Chambers ran programs to compare the two images, pixel by pixel. Each pixel covers about the size of a basketball court. He picked 25 of them that represent a range of forest damage.

Then he zoomed in on each of those pixels, determined their locations and sent his research team to count and measure the dead trees. He added this field data to the information from the satellite images, did a lot of number crunching and came up with a number of dead trees: 320 million. The amount of carbon dioxide they'll release: about 105 million metric tons....

Chambers stops at one downed tree that's covered with mushrooms. The fungus is consuming the dead wood, he explains.

"One of the waste products of carbon dioxide," Chambers said.

Chambers is not the only scientist who has tried to measure Katrina's carbon footprint. Steve McNulty of the Forest Service used field surveys and aerial photography to assess the carbon dioxide that will be released from trees damaged by both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He came up with a figure less than half as big as Chamber's estimate.

But McNulty doesn't quarrel with Chambers' findings.

"My estimates are probably somewhat conservative relative to the damage, just because you can't go out and survey all of the damage," McNulty said.

But a Yale study suggests that global warming could trigger an Ice Age

...could the rapidly accelerating warming that we       are experiencing actually hasten the onset of a new ice age? A growing       body of evidence suggests that, at least for the UK and western Europe,       there is a serious risk of this happening - and soon.

So in one scenario, fewer hurricanes will result in less tree damage which will result in less global warming which will increase hurricane activity and more damage to tress increasing global warming.

In the other, global warming increases hurricanes which destroys trees and continually increases global warming until it triggers a new Ice Age

Which is better?

I'm conflicted

One thing's for sure, something will happen sooner or later.

Wyoming caucus

In case you missed it

Romney, desperate to get his campaign back on track after being trounced by rival Mike Huckabee in last Thursday's Iowa caucuses, won eight of the 12 delegates up for grabs in the sparsely populated state.

Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson won three and California's Duncan Hunter won one, results on the Wyoming Republican Party website showed.

Go Fred!

Christmas in Iraq

Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards men. Let it begin in Iraq

Thousands of Iraqi Christians picked their way through checkpoints and along dusty streets lined with concrete blast walls, packing churches in Baghdad on Tuesday for Christmas Mass...

"We did not celebrate last year, but this year we have security and we feel better," said Rasha Ghaban, one of many women at the small Church of the Holy Family in Karradah, a mainly Shiite district in downtown Baghdad where many Christians live. "We hope our future will be better, God willing."

Families streamed into the church's courtyard, wrapped in heavy winter jackets to protect them from the early morning chill. Young children with neatly combed hair held their parents' hands, and women stopped by the front door to pick through a basket of small lacy headscarves, placing them over their hair before walking in...

The pews were almost full — women toward the back and on the right side of the church, the men on the left — and still more people streamed in. Outside, police armed with automatic rifles manned a checkpoint at the corner of the narrow street, searching every passing car for possible bombs.

Christians have often been the target of attacks by Islamic extremists in Iraq, forcing tens of thousands to flee. Many of those who stayed were isolated in neighborhoods protected by barricades and checkpoints. Less than 3% of Iraq's 26 million people are Christians — the majority Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with small numbers of Roman Catholics.

A coordinated bombing campaign in 2004 targeted churches in the Iraqi capital, and anti-Christian violence also flared last September after Pope Benedict XVI made comments perceived to be against Islam.

But this year, with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha coming just before Christmas, Iraq has been living through some of the most peaceful moments since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the ancient Chaldean Catholic Church and Iraq's first cardinal, celebrated Mass before about 2,000 people in the Mar Eliya Church the eastern New Baghdad neighborhood of the capital.

"Iraq is a bouquet of flowers of different colors, each color represents a religion or ethnicity but all of them have the same scent," the 80-year-old Delly told the congregation.

Muslim clerics — both Sunni and Shiite — also attended the service in a sign of unity.

And

The 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army (IA) Division invited Coalition forces to a Christmas Party at an Assyrian Christian School in Kirkuk, Dec. 15.

With Christians representing approximately two percent of the population here, according to military officials, the theme of this year’s celebration was ‘Ethnic and Religious Diversity’.

“Kirkuk is a good place to be for Christians … a place where all ethnic groups, Arab, Kurd, Turkman and Christian, are living in peace,” said the priest of the Christian school. He also ministers to 2-4 IA Soldiers who operate from Iraqi Army Base K-1 in Kirkuk.

Both IA and Coalition Soldiers, with the 2414 Logistics Transition Team (LTT) at K-1, came armed with presents, which they passed out to the children who were clothed in various ethnic dress to represent the cultures that are striving to bring back some semblance of normality to this ethnically diverse area of northeastern Iraq.

“We want to live and work with our neighbors in harmony … as Iraqis,” Maj. Zyad Junaid Omar, 2-4 IA Civil Affairs (CA) officer, said. Zyad, whose father is an Arab and mother a Turkman, said that he invites Coalition Soldiers along to show Iraqis that, “Americans are good people that want to help.” He also wanted the Iraqi public to see how well the IA and Coalition work together.

“Maj. Zyad is a patriot in the true sense,” said Lt. Col. Greg Markert, 2414 LTT. “He wants to make a difference. He is not concerned about the ethnic background of these children. He’s concerned about Iraq’s future … which they represent.”

The gifts the Soldiers handed out were contributed by employers, friends and family of Pennsylvania Guardsmen Sgt. 1st Class Ken “Gunny” Ganiszewski, 2414 LTT, and Markert, both of Philadelphia.  “What started out as a suggestion snowballed into 200 packages full of toys, candy, blankets … the response has been tremendous,” said the former Marine.

This was just one of the several ongoing civil affairs programs run by the 2-4 IA’s CA team.

             

About face

Yale's principles met reality recently when the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the institution

rejecting its argument that its right to academic freedom was infringed by federal law that said universities must give the military the same access as other job recruiters or forfeit federal money.

Yale, you see, doesn't like the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy famously instituted by President Clinton

Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh said in a prepared statement he was disappointed by the ruling.

"As a member of the Yale Law School community, I am proud that we defended our right to academic freedom and spoke up for the equal opportunity of all of our students to work for our military services. Yale Law School ... has an obligation to ameliorate the impact of discriminatory hiring practices..."

However, the certainty of losing Federal funding was enough incentive for the school to reverse its decision to not allow recruiters on campus.

When military recruiters come to campus next week, Yale Law will reluctantly waive its requirement that the military sign a nondiscrimination pledge. Students and professors are preparing to protest.

"We want to make it clear the military is here under the coercion of the cut-off of federal funds," said Robert Burt, a Yale law professor and plaintiff in the suit.

Right. Of course the school could uphold its principles by not accepting Federal funds.

Or, they could just accept the court's ruling, shut up, and try to change the policy legislatively which is the way things are supposed to be done.

The opinion by Second Circuit Judge Rosemary Pooler found that the Supreme Court's ruling last year upholding the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment most likely precluded all the legal arguments being raised by the Yale profs, but even if some had not been directly addressed, they were effectively trumped by that decision...

Although the Supreme Court did not specifically address the academic freedom argument, Judge Pooler found that its First Amendment ruling implicitly rejected that claim. But even if that were not the case, Pooler concluded that the professors' argument was without merit.

The judge emphasized that the Supreme Court has recognized First Amendment protection for the academic freedom of universities and their faculties in cases focused on curricular decisions and policies about student admissions and tenure, all of which relate in some fashion to the "free flow of ideas" on campus.

"The relationship between barring military recruiters and the free flow of ideas is much more attenuated," Pooler wrote. "The Solomon Amendment places no restriction on the content of teaching, the membership of teachers in organizations, the selection of students, or evaluation or retention of students."

She conceded that requiring campuses to allow anti-gay military recruiters access "may incidentally detract from the academic mission of inculcating respect for equal rights," but wrote, "this requirement undermines educational autonomy in a much less direct and more speculative way than do the policies addressed" in the prior cases.

Pooler could find no basis in the argument that the Supreme Court would extend the concept of academic freedom to the professors' policy of barring military recruiters, which the high court, in the FAIR case, "defined as conduct" rather than speech.

The professors also argued that they were seeking to engage in a boycott, a form of speech recognized by the courts as embodying political expression protected by the First Amendment. Pooler found that this argument was also clearly rejected by the high court.

"While boycotts motivated by principle certainly enjoy a degree of constitutional protection," she wrote, "the FAIR Court already has rejected the argument that the Solomon Amendment forces the plaintiffs to associate with the military." In turn, the professors, like the FAIR plaintiffs, have the right "to disassociate themselves from the recruiters by words and deeds."

Yes, academic freedom means that you have to hear voices with which you disagree. It's a lesson that some parents of students enrolled in Winston Churchill High School in Maryland have yet to learn

A protest by parents who sought to stop an Army recruiter from talking with students at a Montgomery County high school will not deter future visits by military representatives pitching a career in the armed services, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

Earlier this week, parents at Winston Churchill High expressed anger that a student had received a postcard from a recruiter who said he planned to visit the school Tuesday.

One parent wrote an e-mail to local recruiters provided to The Examiner warning that they would be met by protesters....

Pat Elder, a leader of PeaceAction Montgomery, which led Tuesday’s demonstration, said the group would continue to protest.

“It’s one thing for colleges to attempt to recruit 16- or 17-year-olds,” Elder said. “It’s another for the military to attempt to recruit 16- or 17-year-olds. The difference is the difference between life and death.”

Yeah right. It's ironic, don't you think, that such a response is occurring at a school named after the man who advocated and doggedly fought a war to defeat Nazism. A man who said "I was only the servant of my country and had I, at any moment, failed to express her unflinching resolve to fight and conquer, I should at once have been rightly cast aside."

He also said "One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything.

"Never!"

The Mayor resigns....

Progressive Democrat Mayor of Crawfordsville, Indiana John Zumer has resigned as Mayor.

He's not resigning because of a scandal.

He's not resigning to "spend more time with his family"; he doesn't have one.

No, the 42 year old Mayor is resigning to rejoin the Army.

"I never ran for office for a job, an office or a pay check. Some people see politics as a calling. There are other callings."

He said this at the City Council meeting where he shocked everyone with his announcement. He had 4 months left on his term, and he had been defeated by his own party in a primary for a second term.

He had served in Desert Storm as a Combat Engineer. Now he's trading in his job as mayor and will have the rank of Specialist. But now, instead of a Combat Engineer, he'll be a journalist.

Zumer said that his last day in office will be Sept. 23 and he has decided to reenlist on active duty in the United States Army.

"I have put a lot of thought into this," Zumer said. "I have enjoyed my time as mayor. I want to go back (to the army) while I still have the chance. Certain windows of opportunity were closing."

...He will leave Sept. 24 for Fort Sill, Okla. 

"I will be there long enough to get my equipment," Zumer said. "I will be there for four weeks for a refresher program. I can still be deployed anywhere."

Zumer was the first Democratic Mayor of this city in 20 years.

"We were all in complete shock," Councilman Chuck Fiedler said. "We all wish him well. He was a progressive mayor. He had a lot of progressive ideas. It will be an interesting last three months."

UN for Iraq

In a stunning turn of events, the UN Secretary General warns Democrats against their ill-advised war plans

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged U.S. policy-makers yesterday to exercise "great caution" in considering any rapid withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq.

"It is not my place to inject myself into this discussion taking place between the American people, government and Congress," said Mr. Ban, who was expected to repeat the message during meetings on Capitol Hill today.

"But I'd like to tell you that a great caution should be taken for the sake of the Iraqi people," he said at a U.N. press conference. "Any abrupt withdrawal or decision may lead to a further deterioration."

..."I hated the Iraq war, [but] a hasty withdrawal would be dangerous for Iraq, for the region and for U.S. interests," International Crisis Group analyst Joost Hiltermann said in Washington yesterday. He argued in favor of a regional approach to Iraq's problems.

Several Arab diplomats and leaders of relief agencies also have warned that Iraq would devolve into chaos with massive casualties if the American troops left too soon

But the Anti-War Left, and the Democrats are not really interested in the well-being of Iraqi's or the security of the USA for that matter.

The Anti-War Left wants the destruction of Capitalism.

And the Democrats want power.

By whatever means necessary.

Meeting with Dissidents

In Prague, President Bush addressed the Democracy and Security International Conference

The conference agenda is designed to explore the proposition that there exists a direct linkage between the promotion of democracy and the strengthening of security.

The conference was "attended by leading dissidents, human rights activists, academics and world leaders."

"In today's world of confrontation, there is no better weapon than the promotion of democracy," stated [political leader Natan Sharansky, founding chairman of the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies]. "We have every reason to believe that this can succeed because all people, without exception, want to be free. The people who can best convey this important message are the democratic dissidents themselves and that is why this conference is so unique. This conference gives those responsible for policy-making an important opportunity for direct dialogue with the dissidents themselves."

In addressing the attendees, President Bush said, in part

Tomorrow I attend the G-8 Summit, where I will meet with the leaders of the world's most powerful economies.  This afternoon, I stand with men and women who represent an even greater power -- the power of human conscience.

In this room are dissidents and democratic activists from 17 countries on five continents.  You follow different traditions, you practice different faiths, and you face different challenges.  But you are united by an unwavering conviction:  that freedom is the non-negotiable right of every man, woman, and child, and that the path to lasting peace in our world is liberty....

The most powerful weapon in the struggle against extremism is not bullets or bombs -- it is the universal appeal of freedom.  Freedom is the design of our Maker, and the longing of every soul.  Freedom is the best way to unleash the creativity and economic potential of a nation. Freedom is the only ordering of a society that leads to justice.  And human freedom is the only way to achieve human rights.

Expanding freedom is more than a moral imperative -- it is the only realistic way to protect our people in the long run.  Years ago, Andrei Sakharov warned that a country that does not respect the rights of its own people will not respond to the rights of its neighbors.  History proves him right.  Governments accountable to their people do not attack each other.  Democracies address problems through the political process, instead of blaming outside scapegoats. Young people who can disagree openly with their leaders are less likely to adopt violent ideologies. And nations that commit to freedom for their people will not support extremists -- they will join in defeating them.

For all these reasons, the United States is committed to the advance of freedom and democracy as the great alternatives to repression and radicalism.  (Applause.)  And we have a historic objective in view.  In my second inaugural address, I pledged America to the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.  Some have said that qualifies me as a "dissident president." If standing for liberty in the world makes me a dissident, I wear that title with pride.  (Applause.)

In addition to Islamic extremism, Bush named Communism as an enemy of Freedom

The communists had an imperial ideology that claimed to know the directions of history.  But in the end, it was overpowered by ordinary people who wanted to live their lives, and worship their God, and speak the truth to their children.  The communists had the harsh rule of Brezhnev, and Honecker, and Ceausescu.  But in the end, it was no match for the vision of Walesa and Havel, the defiance of Sakharov and Sharansky, the resolve of Reagan and Thatcher, and fearless witness of John Paul.  From this experience, a clear lesson has emerged: Freedom can be resisted, and freedom can be delayed, but freedom cannot be denied.

Meanwhile, outside the G-8 summit, Communists who act very much like terrorists, "protest".

Eight police officers were injured as they clashed with protesters who were trying to stop the beginning of the G8 summit which kicked off today in Germany. The protesters were all anti-capitalist and made a huge demonstration with over 10,000 strong all standing as one.

``There's a high level of violence at the fence, lots of stone throwing,'' police spokesman Manfred Luetjann said by telephone, adding that both entrances had been closed as ``several thousand'' protesters approached. Police deployed tear gas and water cannon to try and disperse the crowds, he said.

These are not dissidents for economic freedom, and without economic freedom, you don't have freedom at all.

France's Neo-Con

The election of Nicholas Sarkozy as President of France was widely seen as a Right turn for this country ruined by Socialism. His platform was to "Liberalize" the French economy "inspired by the American and British examples". Interestingly, in France they have the terms right: Liberal means advocates for more freedom through less government.

His opponent was Socialist Ségolène Royal. Claiming he would "restore the value of work, authority, merit and respect for the nation", Sarkozy won the election with more than 53% of the vote with 83% of the registered voters coming out to cast their ballot.

Now in charge, Sarkozy has made a right turn in foreign policy as well, nominating a prominant, well-liked French humanitarian that is also a proponent of the war in Iraq.

The new Foreign Minister is Bernard Kouchner, founder of Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans Frontières), student activist back in 1968, and life-long humanitarian who believes that taking direct action against dictators is justified to save people from oppression.

He is best known for developing the theory of “humanitarian intervention” to justify international action against dictators who flout human rights. In 2003 he was the only senior public figure in France to approve the intervention in Iraq. A staunch pro-European, he will implement Mr Sarkozy’s promises to “oppose tyrants and dictators” and inject more morality in France’s dealings with the world.

A life -long Socialist, he was has fallen into disfavor with that group

The Socialist Opposition, in whose governments Dr Kouchner had served as Minister for Health and Humanitarian Action, immediately denounced him as a traitor and expelled him from the party. François Hollande, the Socialist leader, said that Dr Kouchner had engaged in “a personal adventure in becoming one more minister in a right-wing government”. During the campaign Dr Kouchner attacked Mr Sarkozy as a “French Ber-lusconi” and a champion of dangerous right-wing ideas.

Let the purges begin.

For his part, Dr Kouchner has the appropriate response

“I am not betraying my camp,” Dr Kouchner said. “I intend to stay on the side of the oppressed.”

According to the BBC

Mr Kouchner remains a popular public figure in France, though not necessarily with his socialist colleagues, many of whom see his acceptance of the foreign minister's job under the right-wing government of Nicolas Sarkozy as a betrayal.

He has long had a complex relationship with the party, taking a more pro-American line than many French socialists and often calling for renewal and reform on the left...

In 2003, he was one of the very few French politicians to come out in favour of the US-led military intervention in Iraq, saying that he was against war but also against Saddam Hussein's regime, and that the US offensive had the merit of over-throwing "an evil dictator".

According to Francis Fukuyama, as a theory of International Relations,

neoconservatives, unlike realists, believe that “the internal character of regimes matters and that foreign policy must reflect the deepest values of liberal democratic societies.” And unlike liberal internationalists, who seem to believe that international law and institutions alone are sufficient to preserve peace, neoconservatives contend that there are certain problems that can be addressed “only through the prudent exercise of [American] power.”

Perhaps President Sarkozy is signalling with the installation of Dr Kouchner as Foreign Minister that France is willing to join the necoconservative movement and help the US and Britain further the spread of Liberal Democracies throughout the world.

Rosie says...

Famed intellectual and metalurgist claimed that fire can't melt steel.

Unfortuanately, the on-ramp to the Bay Bridge didn't get the memo

A speeding tanker truck with 8,600 gallons of gasoline slammed into a guard rail near the Bay Bridge early today, sparking an explosion and intense fire that collapsed the ramp from eastbound Interstate 80 to eastbound Interstate 580, the California Highway Patrol said....

The fire was sparked on the lower portion of the ramp where Mosqueda was driving from westbound Interstate 80 to southbound Interstate 880. The fire was so intense that it melted parts of the ramp above that carries traffic from eastbound Interstate 80 to eastbound Interstate 580.

And

"I've never seen anything like it," Cross said of the 250-foot chunk of the crumpled interchange that was twisted into a mass of steel and concrete. "I'm looking at this thinking, 'Wow, no one died — that's amazing. It's just very fortunate."

I suppose Rosie will be blaming Bush for this come Monday.