moderich's blog
Posted at 3:44am on Jul. 7, 2008 Immovable, oily object...
By moderich
Despite being very busy, I wanted to drop a note concerning just a couple of the many interesting developments of late.
Immovable object...
Conservatives Ready To Battle McCain on Convention Platform
The Washington Post, July 7, 2008McCain is "really out of step with the strong majority of his party," said Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which opposes McCain's positions on climate change. "He might get what he wants. And he might get a change. But I don't think it's going to sit well with a lot of Republicans."
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Posted at 4:09pm on Apr. 14, 2008 Maybe we deserve everything we get
By moderich
Sick of hearing me go on about the Saudis? Then give this Brit a listen. Pat Condell isn't afraid to speak the harsh truth - and quite eloquently too, I might add.
I just have this natural aversion to being bullied and pushed around by bigoted misoygnistic ignoramuses. And I say that with all due respect.
[see video]
Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 4:15pm on Mar. 26, 2008 John McCain, a realistic idealist
By moderich
The following is a portion of John McCain’s remarks as prepared for delivery at the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles, California, March 26, 2008 presented with relevant headlines.
...I am an idealist, and I believe it is possible in our time to make the world we live in another, better, more peaceful place, where our interests and those of our allies are more secure, and American ideals that are transforming the world, the principles of free people and free markets, advance even farther than they have. But I am, from hard experience and the judgment it informs, a realistic idealist. I know we must work very hard and very creatively to build new foundations for a stable and enduring peace.
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Posted at 9:33pm on Mar. 3, 2008 An honest conversation on GW (pt. 2)
By moderich
Following-up my initial discusion with Prof. Bob Geigengack, I asked the same question of Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu:
It seems to me much of this global-warming debate hinges on the likelihood that nature is solely responsible for CO2 levels doubling and the ratio of oceanic carbon isotopes (12/13/14) changing within a 150 to 200 year interval. Given the ice core data, the present change is singluarly anomalous in its brevity, would you agree? If so, man-made CO2 is a convenient explanation. Is there a solar process (or another) that is correspondingly anomalous relative to the ice core data?
Posted in Energy — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:57am on Feb. 21, 2008 An honest conversation on Global Warming
By moderich
A rather "simple" and straightforward question resulted in the following email correspondence between myself and U. Penn Professor Bob Giegengack in early February 2008.
It seems to me much of this global-warming debate hinges on the likelihood that nature is solely responsible for CO2 levels doubling and the ratio of oceanic carbon isotopes (12/13/14) changing within a 150 to 200 year interval. Given the ice core data, the present change is singluarly anomalous in its brevity, would you agree? If so, man-made CO2 is a convenient explanation. Is there a solar process (or another) that is correspondingly anomalous relative to the ice core data?
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Posted at 5:31pm on Feb. 15, 2008 States' Rights to Control Guns?
By moderich
Today, the NRA-ILA asked Hawaiians to contact members of the House Judiciary Committee to stop HB2999, a gun control bill.
HB2999, would ban the sale and possession of .50 caliber BMG rifles and ammunition, require firearms dealers to include a gun lock with every firearm sold, and ammunition purchasers would have to prove they own the firearm for which the ammunition is being purchased. The bill also would include unnecessary restrictions on gun shops, and a list of other restrictions.
Posted in Law — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:40pm on Feb. 1, 2008 See you in September
By moderich
On Wednesday morning it was official. My guy was out - Rudy Giuliani capped his bid for the White House and endorsed John McCain. I can't say I was surprised. Nor was I surprised by the ensuing anti-McCain response. The fire has fed the blogs, radio, and TV with some very powerful, and at times, raw emotion and extreme declarations. I understand.
Now that the contest is effectively between two, some have concluded that desperate measures are called for - and they have turned to ugly, spiteful tactics. And I must admit that at times both McCain and Romney have stooped lower than they should have. I understand.
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Posted at 9:02pm on Jan. 30, 2008 On unenumerated rights, Justice Scalia is dead wrong
By moderich
President Ronald Reagan once said that, "Our Constitution is a document in which 'We the people' tell the government what it is allowed to do. 'We the people' are free.'" to which I whole-heartedly agree. That's why I believe, on this one very important point, Justice Scalia is dead wrong on unenumerated rights:
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Posted at 3:54pm on Nov. 2, 2007 Cornell GOP & the nuanced view of the insurgency
By moderich
Prof. David Siddhartha Patel's lecture entitled, Islam and Insurgency in Iraq, was covered in today's edition of The Cornell Daily Sun. Having spent parts of 2003 and 2004 in Iraq, Patel argues that material incentives — power and money, rather than Islamic ideology — are responsible for the current violence in Iraq.
“When you hear President Bush or the military talk about [the Sunni Arab insurgency], they tend to lump it all together and call it, ‘al-Qaeda in Iraq,’ and that seems to be who we’re fighting.Posted in War — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 4:38pm on Oct. 31, 2007 Darth Vader arrives
By moderich
A seven minute video of King Abdullah's arrival in London -- including Buckingham Palace's infamous military band playing Darth Vader's imperial march whilst Queen Elizabeth greets the Saudi Monarch.
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Posted at 5:10pm on Oct. 30, 2007 British resolve stronger than American will
By moderich
A new report by the centre-right Policy Exchange (UK) entitled, The Hijacking of British Islam: How extremist literature is subverting Britain's mosques, says most of the extremist literature is published and distributed by agencies linked to the Saudi Arabian government. Anthony Browne, Director of Policy Exchange said, "The fact that the Saudi regime is producing extremist propaganda and targeting it at British Muslims must also be challenged by our own government."
Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 2:44pm on Oct. 29, 2007 Are you really surprised?
By moderich
Arif Babayev, a spokesman for the Azerbaijan National Security Ministry, announced today that "Several people belonging to a Wahhabi group have been detained. They were planning terrorist attacks near the U.S. Embassy in Baku." This should come as no surprise for those familiar with the situation in Azerbaijan. The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report 2007 said this
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Posted at 3:14pm on Oct. 19, 2007 Done the Math
By moderich
More than six years have lapsed since "the day the world changed," and today President George W. Bush issued the following Memorandum for the Secretary of State
I hereby certify that Saudi Arabia is cooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism and that the proposed assistance will help facilitate that effort, and hereby waive the application of such sections.You are authorized and directed to report this certification to the Congress and publish it in the Federal Register.
This proclamation comes less than 24 hours after the The US Commission on International Religious Freedom criticized Saudi Arabia for a lack of religious freedom and for schools that promote religious extremism.
Posted in National Security — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 5:56pm on Jul. 16, 2007 My problem with so-called "Hawks"
By moderich
I can't take it anymore! I'm sick of the bluff-and-bluster Hawks on TV talking tough on Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, etc. For all their bombast, these same "honchos" do a quick about-face and speak soft in muted-tones (or simply stay silent) when talk turns to Saudi Arabia.
Now I've heard it argued that Iraq is like a high-stakes poker tournament and the last thing a good player -- like the U.S. -- should do is announce an early departure from the game, because in this game, we won't just lose our shirts, but our lives. Yet imagine that your opponents, who don't have many chips in front of them, never go bust.
Read on…
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Posted at 4:34pm on Dec. 18, 2006 Picking up the Yellow flag
By moderich
In my previous entry I found Andrew Longman's highly charged and insulting attack on Rudolph Giuliani to be "unsportsman-like". Now I discover that this is not the first questionable article in Longman's career.
Read On...
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