Shades of 1989...

...as a one time member of the NZ branch of Solidarity in 1988/89, the above logo resonates with emotion. Polish Solidarity then was the cutting edge of the anti-Soviet resistance, and the movement that started in the Gdansk shipyard by Lech Walesa freed millions in Eastern Europe. I was very proud to support it.
The newly formed British Workers Union is fighting on behalf of workers threatened because of their allegiance to the British National Party. Sounds pretty reasonable... Doesn't The Universal Declaration of Human Rights say that everyone is entitled to freedom of belief ? Check the frightened response of the British TUC...here...
Seems like the natives are getting restless...more on The BNP here...

Thanksgiving...

...the real American dream, shared by humanity...

Green party fundraiser...

...genuinely progressive muso, will play for socially responsible causes...

Green is the new black...

...From Climate Resistance...Or is it more the case that green – being the colour of reinvention – is the colour chosen by parties who fail to make arguments for change without the drama provided to them by the idea of environmental catastrophe?...The (UK) Green Party, which began life as PEOPLE, formed by disgruntled conservatives in the 1970s, has attracted a rag-bag of misfits in search of a cause, many, if not most of them from the wreckage of the UK radical Left. Disoriented Reds and Blues alike have found refuge in the certainty offered by the prospect of the imminent collapse of the ecosphere. Note the startling logo of the Libertarian National Socialist Green party above...more here...
The way to challenge environmentalism is not to trace its origins back to Nazi Germany (though it is interesting to do so in its own right and it’s also a fun way of annoying Greens). Neither is it productive to cast environmentalism as the re-emergence of the Left. Contemporary environmentalism exists on a new axis. The values they espouse belong neither to the Left, nor Right, but Down...more, here...and for even more extreme psychotic green lunacy see The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement here...

Mick Jagger was right...

With thanks to Celestial Junk...While James Hansen continues to warn that "time is running out" to prevent global catastrophe from climate change, it's clear that time is certainly on the side of the sceptics. The fear of global warming catastrophe is abating as the world watches early and prolonged snowfalls, extended skiing seasons and no sign of the end of the world scenarios that have dominated the headlines for so long.

NZ offers an example of climate change response that is likely to be emulated worldwide. John Key as the new P.M. makes an obligatory formal bow in the direction of the fearful and promises action, while playing a delaying game at the behest of his cautious and analytical nature, and appeasing arch sceptic and new Minister Rodney Hide. It seems that Europe too will play the same game, and delay crippling economic climate change policy. Note too, the incoming President of the European Union, Vaclav Klaus, is a climate change sceptic who has called Al Gore "an apostle of arrogance". More here...and here.. It remains for President-elect Obama to determine the magnitude of sacrifice the US taxpayer must make to appease the powerful US green lobby. The signs are that the US is already indicating reluctance to agree to the binding emissions target set to be ratified in Copenhagen next year...More here...

The factors that will continue to delay the change so desperately required by the alarmists are the ongoing scientific studies to settle the AGW argument once and for all; (the ARGO and CLOUD studies and many others,) the worldwide economic recession that clarifies spending priorities, the contribution to the debate by China and India, and the ongoing scrutiny of the global sceptical community.

Work in progress...watch this space...

Time Magazine, Newsweek and the NY Times warn...

“There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production– with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth.” Newsweek
A headline in the New York Times reads: “Climate Changes Endanger World’s Food Output.” Here too is a quote from Time Magazine:
“As they review the bizarre and unpredictable weather pattern of the past several years, a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval.”
...All of this sounds very ominous. That is, until you realize that the three quotes were from articles in 1975 editions of Newsweek Magazine and The New York Times, and Time Magazine in 1974...more here...

A complete list of things caused by global warming...

...the disappearance of the Loch Ness monster, deaf fish, better beer, more sex for all, witchcraft executions...more, with links to them all (than you ever hoped for) here...

Water vapour confirmed as the major player in climate change...

"...This study confirms that what was predicted by the models is really happening in the atmosphere," said Eric Fetzer, an atmospheric scientist who works with AIRS data at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Water vapor is the big player in the atmosphere as far as climate is concerned." So, there's more to it than CO2...more, here... and here...

and here...The entire issue of water vapor feedback is very important in forming a view on whether increased CO2 content is a big or little problem. Both water vapor feedback and clouds have been identified as critical issues since at least as early as the Charney Report in 1979 and I suspect that much of the difficulty in making much (any) progress in reducing the uncertainties in climate models relates to the difficulty in reducing uncertainty in this area. If one were managing climate model engineering in the same way as space station engineering, I would really focus on this area... but of course the science is quite settled...

From Nigel Lawson to The House of Lords...

...There has been so much interest in the American presidential election that people have not looked as closely as they might have done to two other elections which have also taken place in recent weeks in English speaking democracies—in Canada and New Zealand...In New Zealand, a Labour Government, led by a very able woman Prime Minister, was in power for a very long time. Again, they said, “This is the big issue”. Although we may think that it is ridiculous for New Zealand to say that it is giving a global lead, it is no more ridiculous than us saying that. Having an elaborate system to cut back on emissions and having an emissions trading system was so unpopular that the Labour Party lost office... well, not exactly M'Lord, but we won't quibble...more here...

Cop bashing...a favourite PC kiwi pastime ...

...the continuing obsession with the Rickard, Shipton, Louise Nicholls rape is a reminder of our intolerant, introspective and infantile Kiwi mentality. Sure, it's only a PC media witch hunt, and we have learnt that our media are as hypocritical, prejudiced and intolerant of non-PC people as any in the world, but where is the disgust and disdain of Joe Public in the face of the persecution and victimisation of Rickard and Shipton? Has there ever been such a degree of media attention on any other offenders ? Is their crime (and Rickards was acquitted,) so loathsome that it deserves this degree of media hate ?
Louise Nicholls has had her day of expiation as a wanton teenager... wronged, raped and now sanctified as Woman of the Year. The perpretators of her rape have been publically lashed, humiliated and sentenced. So WTF is the reason for the on going, hysterical and self indulgent media fixation on Shipton, Rickard et al ? Answer ? The police have to become the guardians of the new non-sexist, non-racist PC state...and in the UK, the much love British bobby seems to have has morphed into an obedient Stasi member...more here...and here...
Here's one Kiwi who wishes the remaining good people in our police force and these blokes well, and who sympathises with them and their families as they try to put their lives back together...
And, now here's a surprise; (to me anyway) green co leader; the arch PC Russell Norman has publically defended Rickard, here...read the lambasting he gets from his comrades...

C'mon activists, get active...

...if green is cool, then this competition to "cool the earth" should really take off. The first prize is a super sexy bicycle seat, with bamboo springs and odour eating technology, second prize is two of the above; and for any other competitor an entry into the green assertiveness confidence course.
For those who are unsure of the morality of competitions PETA offers a self assurance course run by graduates of their world famed Hen House Expose...see more here...

How long before it all ends in tears...

...and hand wringing anguish from the left ?...And now, a new development...Islamist fighters warn pirates to free Saudi tanker... more here...Great ! Remembering the old Bedouin truism :The enemy of my enemy is my friend; I'd have to say C'mon the Pirates ! Let's hope for a good stoush...What about a trendy Black Ribbon Day to cheer them on ?
Paid a visit to Last of the Few yet ? You won't regret it...a sample...

Quote of the day...memo to John Key...

...We must learn to celebrate intelligence and creativity...says Chris Trotter 21.11.08... a post election analysis, blaming Helen's downfall on a misogynistic and evil electorate.
Written as always, with passion and clarity. Mark for this effort ? A definite B+. B of course for bollocks. The disdain Trotter feels for his fellow voters, and his genuine consternation and puzzlement at their rejection of Labour, shines through every word of his beautifully written essay. No matter that Government lies, ballooning and intrusive bureaucracy,farcical and ineffective prison sentencing, probation disasters, demoralised and impotent policing, community violence and child abuse at a horrific scale, threats from nanny policewoman state and a sneering Minister of Finance dominated our news for 9 years...Trotter is shellshocked and aghast...And as to his suggestion to celebrate intelligence and creativity - what better reason for tax cuts for the productive, whose efforts keep our economy alive ? ...well worth a read for insight into a leftie brain...
So to is the open letter from John Minto to Trotter after the police raids on the alleged Tuhoe terrorists... More from the Trotskyite here...

Sun spots, the Barycentric orbit and climate...

...The earth’s magnetic field, which acts as a shielding, is altered by the sun’s activity, which, in turn, is indicated by means of the number of sunspots. As the earth’s magnetic shield varies, so the cloud cover varies. Few sunspots mean a weaker earth shield, which means more cosmic rays, which mean more clouds, which mean a cooling earth.
The correlation for this effect, going back thousands of years, is good, remarkably so. Scientifically, this looks believable, and it is consistent with the theory and observation.
In contrast, the argument that man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) is causing warming does not fit the facts at all. Firstly, there was no industrial CO2 produced in vast quantities when the Roman Warming period occurred, or when the Medieval Warming period occurred. Both are well documented in various archives, such as the historical and archaeological...more here

...Also see the work of Dr Henrik Svensmark, here...

And from The NZ Climate Science Coalition, and Dr Jim Sprott, details of why the IPPC will have to reappraise its evidence, and backtrack...it's to do with the Barycentric orbit...The much-vaunted IPCC scenarios are patently wrong. The man-made climate change proposition fails. And with it fails the whole panjandrum of carbon trading; the Government’s Emission Trading Bill; Mr Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” which does not live up to its title. More to the point – the world’s climate will be cold and harsh for decades. And it’s started already!
So what effects will this inescapable cold period have on New Zealand? In a word, catastrophe...more here

ARGO asks scientists, bloggers and journo's to take note...

… and all the rest of you arguing over global warming. I have good news, and I have some bad news. Like it or not, consider what I’m about to disclose. I am an ARGO Buoy, my name is ARGO 4900781, and I was deployed on August 16, 2006 at Lattitude:31 (N) & Longitude: -55.555 (W). I am currently at Lat: 31.3815 & Lon: -64.2416. I am part of an oceanic data analysis program. There are about 3,000 of us traveling through the world’s oceans usually at a depth of about a mile, although we regularly go down to twice that depth before heading for the surface... more here...and here...

Please God save the Queen...

...for ever and ever Amen.

UN appoints Saudi Arabia to lead on religious tolerance...

...As if further proof were needed of the ineptitude, hypocrisy and perverse morality of the United Nations, their conference on religious tolerance was presided over by none other than Saudi Arabia.This is the Islamic kingdom that tortures ‘apostates’ and executes those who convert from Islam; the Islamic kingdom that bans all Bibles...more here, from the learned Cranmer...
and this fromALI H. ALYAMI
Executive Director
Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
Washington...

The first cuckoo...

...sounds its clear notes. The NZ Herald's Green Page has the standard alarmist headline..."World feeling the heat again in 2008", but then two separated sub-headings - 10th hottest year on record, but global warming may be worse than data shows (fittingly on the left of the page) and then, Greenhouse gases could help to avert a forecast freeze...reporting from Nature re the dawning of a new Ice Age.
Conclusion of the authors ? “...Presumably, future society could prevent this transition (to the next iceage) indefinitely with very modest adjustments to the atmospheric CO2 level... More here...

The first sign of new realism... Greenhouse gases could help...from our main stream media...and a precursor of more to come, once Rodney Hide starts to make his presence felt as a minister in the new administration...

and from the letters page...The green party in NZ is a vehicle for leftists to promote ideals which don't have a lot to do with the environment but a lot to do with controlling our lives. This election has shown them up as the frauds they are. Perhaps a more suitable colour would be red...

European muslims debate...should gays be executed ?

...while the death penalty for homosexuals is, indeed, an orthodox Islamic position — one about which the Fatwa Council’s head, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, has himself written sympathetically — Western Muslim leaders, in accordance with the Koran (and with good strategy), prefer in such controversial cases not to challenge infidel law. (There will, after all, be time enough to execute gays in the coming decades, as the Muslim population attains critical balance in one country after another — first, most likely, in France and Sweden and the Netherlands, and in Norway some time after that.)
It maybe only my misconception, but the GayRights/Aids activist lobby seems to me to be mainly leftwing. The war on terror probably wouldn't interest them much then I suppose...
More here...

Quadrant says...

...When viewed in historical context, and assessed against empirical data, the greenhouse hypothesis fails. There is no evidence that late-twentieth-century rates of temperature increase were unusually rapid or reached an unnaturally high peak; no human-caused greenhouse signal has been measured or identified despite the expenditure since 1990 of many billions of dollars searching for it; and global temperature, which peaked within the current natural cycle in 1998, has been declining since 2002 despite continuing increases in carbon dioxide emission. Therefore, science reality in 2008 is that the IPCC’s hypothesis of dangerous, human-caused global warming has been repeatedly tested and failed..more here...

Left wing Newspeak...

...PC words, slogans and catchphrases so beloved by our unlamented departed masters have got to be reclaimed and rehabilitated. There has never been an attempt by conservative politicians to take advantage of the distortion and debasing of our language by the left. Attention Rodney Hide and John Key... make copious use of the words progressive, caring and liberal ...not just to irritate the sanctimonious left, but to reclaim their true meaning. With regard to tax decreases and social welfare reform policies... precede your pronouncements about your intentions to decrease welfare dependency and increase NZ's prosperity by appealing to politically aware voters with a social conscience. For good measure promise a re-evaluation of our moribund anti-nuclear policy using the banner of environmental awareness and environmental responsibility...announce sustainability to be the cornerstone of your terms in office and the unsustainability of Labour's policies... but let's not start on gay......more here...

Clouds, cosmic rays and climate change...

From CERN, buried in deepest Switzerland, (or thereabouts) news of research into the "large uncertainties" and fundamental relationships between cloud formation, cosmic rays and water droplets that constitute our atmosphere and determine global temperature...In its Fourth Assessment Report, February 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) attributes more than 90% of the observed climate warming since 1900 to the rise of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere [1]. Aerosols and clouds are recognised as representing the largest uncertainty in the current understanding of climate change. The IPCC estimates that changes of solar irradiance (direct solar forcing) have made only a small (7%) contribution to the observed warming. However, large uncertainties remain on possible other solar-related contributions, such as the effects of changes of ultra violet radiation or galactic cosmic rays on aerosols and clouds. So far, no quantitative estimates of galactic cosmic ray-induced changes in aerosol and cloud formation have been reached. Experiments are planned for the CERN PS215/CLOUD facility to quantitatively address this discrepancy...See more here...and here...

Let's get one and see if it works...

NZ's hysterical, embarassing and flat tap loony anti-nuclear phobia (courtesy of ex PM Helen Clark's gang) is about to be put to the sword...as debate about climate change occupies the new administration. Might be time for me to resurrect my 1990 agent provocateur response, the formation of NNNAS; Nothing Nuclear not a Sausage...anyway, here we have technology's answer to the energy problem...
An Entrepreneurial Solution to Emissions Free Energy...
Hyperion Power Generation, a private company based in New Mexico is doing their part to create emissions free, energy alternatives. They have created a self contained, portable nuclear reactor that should be on the market in 5 years, complete with a $25 million price tag. The small reactor will create enough energy to supply power to 20,000 homes for up to 10 years. Municipalities seeking to reduce their carbon footprint should put their money where there mouth is and get on the waiting list for one of these tiny power plants...more here...and here...and here...

...bad cat, bad cat !

On Armistice day...

...as we that are left grow old......we must promise to continue to celebrate freedom while we still have it, and we must take heart from the human spirit and the medium of the blogosphere that helps to facilitate its expression. To act otherwise is to betray the sacrifices that have been made - and are being made - on our behalf... SEE this wonderful site...The Great War Archive...

Letter from a Tory to a Lefty blog post election...

...You ask for graciousness? You have no right.
You and Labour have dragged politics down to the gutter and beyond. The spite that you have introduced to the NZ political scene is going to be there for a very long time, and there is NO ONE else to blame but Labour and you, its obsessive, fanatical supporters.
The last few years of Labour have been unbearable... Labour have lied, cheated, defrauded, stacked the deck in their own favour, been unbelievably arrogant, committed only to power and self interest, and have achieved nothing in terms of legislation...more here...

...an interesting development...

...WHILE you were distracted by elections, crashing banks and clashing US senators, you may have missed a small environmental earthquake.
The price of carbon has collapsed.
In only three months, life has become a lot cheaper for polluters. The financial cost of warming the planet has plummeted in Europe's emissions trading system (ETS) and the effectiveness of such a volatile market mechanism in curbing carbon is being questioned...
More here...

Free at last...

...from 9 years of maternalistic, self righteous political smothering..."Helen Clark's uncharacteristic failure to read correctly the court of public opinion on Winston Peters and his party's litany of political abuses has received its jury vedict.
In sticking with NZ First to save itself Labour was guilty on all counts...When governments see power as an end to itself rather than a means to an end, voters usually withdraw it." NZ Herald 10.11.08.
Prime Minister elect John Key now needs to present the country with his timetable to implement his vision and his goals. Among those goals should be a rise in our OECD rankings, significant tax cuts, scrapping of the loathsome Electoral Finance Act, a review of MMP, a withdrawal from the Kyoto agreement and review of prison sentencing for violent crime. All up, the election result is almost perfect... if Stephen Franks had succeeded in Wellington Central total bliss would prevail...

Memo to John Key...a prayer before each Paliamentary session ?

How about this from the UK House of Commons ?

"Lord, the God of righteousness and truth, grant to our Queen and her government, to Members of Parliament and all in positions of responsibility, the guidance of your Spirit. May they never lead the nation wrongly through love of power, desire to please, or unworthy ideals but laying aside all private interests and prejudices keep in mind their responsibility to seek to improve the condition of all mankind; so may your kingdom come and your name be hallowed.Amen." More from Cranmer here...

Magnetic Power Incorporated !

From their website...Magnetic Power Inc’s mission is to supply the world with clean, abundant, and inexpensive electricity.
The company is developing Magnetic Power Modules. Based upon proprietary breakthrough discoveries, magnetic motors and generators are being designed to operate continuously, without fuel. The never before commercialized energy source is the Quantum Vacuum, sometimes referred to as the Zero Point Field, which exists everywhere in the universe. It is abundant, renewable and pollution free. When generators are mass produced, the cost of electricity is expected to be less than any competing form of power generation...more here...
Can you believe it Colin ?

David Bellamy and the BBC

....The thing that annoys me most is that there are genuine environmental problems that desperately require attention. I’m still an environmentalist, I’m still a Green and I’m still campaigning to stop the destruction of the biodiversity of the world. But money will be wasted on trying to solve this global warming “problem” that I would much rather was used for looking after the people of the world.Being ignored by the likes of the BBC does not really bother me, not when there are much bigger problems at stake. I might not be on TV any more but I still go around the world campaigning about these important issues. For example, we must stop the dest­ruc­tion of trop­ical rainforests, something I’ve been saying for 35 years. Mother nature will balance things out but not if we interfere by destroying rainforests and overfishing the seas. That is where the real environmental catastrophe could occur...more here...

The late Michael Crichton on the green religion...

...I have been asked to talk about what I consider the most important challenge facing mankind, and I have a fundamental answer. The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.

We must daily decide whether the threats we face are real, whether the solutions we are offered will do any good, whether the problems we're told exist are in fact real problems, or non-problems...more here...

Green Intiatives (referendums) slaughtered in California...

...but will anyone notice?...Californians by very wide margins defeated two green initiatives that anthropogenic global warming enthusiasts in the media and in legislative houses across the fruited plain should take heed...but will they?
To begin with, Proposition 7 would have required utilities to generate 40 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2020 and 50 percent by 2025.
Proposition 10 would have created $5 billion in general obligation bonds to help consumers and others purchase certain high fuel economy or alternative fuel vehicles, and to fund research into alternative fuel technology.
Much to the likely chagrin of Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his global warming sycophants in the media, these measures went down, and went down in flames...
More here...and here...and here.....oh for a binding Swiss/U.S. style initiative and referendum law...

President Barack Obama...

"IF there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference. It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America...
...I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he’s fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead...

...Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too..."
Full transcript here...

From John McCain..."I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited. Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that...A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the Presidency of the United States. Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth."

According to Justin Webb, the BBC’s North America correspondent, there has been a revolution:"As the SUVs pass - including several with the doors and back windows open, men with large automatic weapons looking out with keen hard glares - I catch just a glimpse of the children, of 10-year-old Malia and seven-year-old Sasha peering out. I think their mother was sitting in the middle.This is the true revolution. There have been, after all, prominent black politicians for decades now, men and women afforded the full protection and respect that the nation can muster. But seeing little black children gathered up into the arms of the secret service, surrounded by people who would die rather than let them die, is to see something that must truly make the racists of Americas past revolve in their graves.The real moment you will know that America has changed is not when he takes the oath, but when we see pictures of tiny people padding along the White House corridors - a black First Family - representing America and American-ness." More here...

From Iowahawk...I don't care whether you are a conservative or a liberal -- when you saw this inspiring young African-American rise to our nation's highest office I hope you felt the same sense of patriotic pride that I experienced, no matter how hard you were hyperventilating with deep existential dread...

Downloadable Guy Fawkes mask...

...a little late I know, but to resemble Guido Fawkes (the only honest man to ever enter Parliament) is a perennial honour. Isn't it in character for our present day rulers to downplay his glorious day ? No matter, pay tribute to the old geezer by downloading this remarkably lifelike facemask here.

Contact PKH for the gunpowder recipe...

Quote(s) of the day...

...The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened...
...To us Americans much has been given; of us much is required. With all our faults and mistakes, it is our strength in support of the freedom our forefathers loved which has saved mankind from subjection to totalitarian power...
Norman Thomas the Socialist standard-bearer and the party's Presidential nominee in every election from 1928 to 1948.

Thomas frequently spoke on the difference between socialism and Communism, explaining the differences between the movement he represented and that of revolutionary Marxism. His early admiration for the Russian Revolution subsequently turned into devout anti-Communism. (The revolutionaries thought him no better; Leon Trotsky, on more than one occasion, levelled high-profile criticism at Thomas.) He wrote several books, among them his passionate defense of World War I conscientious objectors, Is Conscience a Crime?, and his statement of the 1960s social democratic consensus, Socialism Re-examined. (Wikipedia)

The global warming crisis is over...

Global warming has stopped, writes Christopher Monckton. All four of the world’s major global surface temperature datasets show a seven-year decline in temperature reading...more here...and here...
...and see the other side of the coin here...

The nail in the coffin and the stake through the heart...

Where rugby is a national religion, Michael Jones and Va'inga Tuigamala are icons...their rejection of Helen Clark's Labour Party and their enthusiastic endorsement of John Key is a death blow to Labour's hopes. All that can save Labour now is a cobbled up minority coalition - and that would be in itself a death blow to our disastrous MMP voting system...a sea change has taken place in Kiwi consciousness...other endorsements here...

Sharia law in the UK cont...

...Dr Hasan, who is also a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain on issues of sharia law, says there is great misunderstanding of the issue in the West...
"If sharia law is implemented, then you can turn this country into a haven of peace because once a thief's hand is cut off nobody is going to steal," he says.
"Once, just only once, if an adulterer is stoned (to death) nobody is going to commit this crime at all.
"We want to offer it to the British society. If they accept it, it is for their good and if they don't accept it they'll need more and more prisons."
These sentiments, and the vast cultural gulf they expose, alarm many in the West and go to the heart of the debate about the level of integration among Muslims living in Britain and their acceptance of British values.
More here...
...and more from Azar Majedi...The status and rights of women in Islam is the Achilles' heel of this religion, and I must add, ideology. Misogynism is the trade mark of Islam. The veil is its banner and gender apartheid its main pillar. Moreover, today a very active reactionary political movement has based its ideology on Islam, namely political Islam. Anywhere they gain power they first and foremost victimize women, strip them of all their rights, force them under the veil and segregate them in society. The same movement that laments lack of tolerance for Sharia law in western societies is terrorizing the population in societies under its rule to obey Sharia Law, observe the veil and gender apartheid and punishes the defiant by flogging, cutting their limbs and execution...here
Also see Maryam Namazie here...

Quote for the day...

...Science is not a process of discovering the ultimate truths of nature, but a social construction that changes over time. The assumptions accepted by its practitioners are value-laden and reflect their places in both history and society, as well as the research priorities and funding sources of those in power. Carolyn Merchant --Radical Ecology

China opts out of international climate change cooperation...

From China Environmental Law...We are heading for a train wreck folks. Does anyone think (regardless of who wins the election next Tuesday), that the US Senate will ratify a treaty that commits a recession-plagued US to a treaty where it must undertake real GHG reduction limits, while a growing economic power house like China (associated now in US public perception with a spectacular and lavish Olympics and a Shenzhou space program complete with vanity space walks) gets to continue to increase its GHG emissions and gets lots of money and free technology to boot? More here...