You have to read the Reuters report, China Hopes for Post-2012 Kyoto Deal within 2 Years, carefully and to the end to figure out what’s really going on with China and global warming restrictions.

It might be because the story is posted on Planet Ark, a greenie-fest of a Web site where Reuters consolidates and runs all its enviro news. It was as if AP decided to run all its pro-DNC stories on a site called Donkey Time.

Anyway, the story poses China in a conciliatory pose:

China would like the world to agree a new framework for trading and investment in reductions of greenhouse gas emissions by 2008, and to see a longer-lasting commitment period, top policy officials said on Friday.

Sounds good … China’s in the warmie game, wants to reduce emissions and wants to commit to it for a long time. But read on … on and on … and find:

China is the world’s number two emitter of the gasses that cause global warming, but like India and other developing nations, its emissions are not capped under current Kyoto rules.

Beijing argues that as industrialised nations bear historical responsibility for the majority of carbon dioxide in the world’s atmosphere, and still have far higher per capita emissions than its population, it should be allowed to pursue economic growth without emissions limits.

It sounds like a varient on affirmative action or reparations. If global warming is such a crisis, how is there room for a “you guys were bad first, so we get to be really bad longer” philosophy. Besides, the argument is false because it focuses on industrialization as the sole source of warming.

For centuries, China’s large population has burned wood for fuel and used methane-emitting horses and oxen as their engines of industry, so their fingerprints are on global warming — unless, of course, you’re one of those who only count industrially produced greenhouse gasses and come up with elaborate studies to discount other sources.

“You cannot tell people who are struggling to earn enough to eat that they need to reduce their emissions,” Lu Xuedu, deputy director at China’s Office of Global Environmental Affairs, told a meeting on the [UN's global warming talks in Nairobi] sidelines.

The statement is a shameless exploitation of the Chinese people who, as a matter of fact, struggle more with obesity than they do with starvation.

We can demand that China reduce emissions, and we should. The Chinese people may be poor, but the Chinese government is rich. It just chooses not to allocate its wealth fairly. There is no reason not to force the Chinese government to clean up its air and its water now.

In fact, cleaning up China would be much easier than cleaning up America, were disproportionate amout of greenhouse gas emissions come from non-point sources, primarily cars, trucks and locomotives. In China, the majority of the pollution still comes from point sources: factories, smelters, refineries and the like. These are owned by the government or government-owned corporations, not by poor people trying to eat (or eating too much!).

Will the world stand up to China and demand it to clean up its act? Don’t count on it.

Related Tags: Global warming, China

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A study conducted by the Paukeepsee Journal compared voting databases with databases of the dead and found that in New York a lot of dead people vote. Not suprisingly, voting dead Democrats outnumbered dead voting Republicans by more than 4 to 1.

One example:

One Bronx address was listed as the home for as many as 191 registered voters who had died. The address is 5901 Palisade Ave., in Riverdale, site of the Hebrew Home for the Aged.

In New York, “Jew” and “Dem” are pretty much synonymous, of course. But the GOP’s hands aren’t clean in this fraud; just cleaner.

Last week, I was talking to my doctor of 18 years, a Greek immigrant. We’ve gotten to know each other over the years … we know not to talk about the war in Iraq if we want a short office visit, for example … and I admire him as a man who thinks and cares deeply.

When we talked about voter fraud, we were on the same page. He cannot understand how we diminish our democracy, a democracy he worked hard to become a citizen of, by making it so easily corruptible. In Greece, he said, it’s some work to vote — getting registered, having an ID, taking it to the polls, where it’s checked rigorously by poll workers. But not here.

Voter reform has come down to this: Either you love democracy and want to save it, or you love your agenda and are willing to sacrifice democracy to attain it.

Why are we letting the latter group win? There is no excuse — other than the agendas of the electeds, not the electorate — for America not to have a universal photo voter ID by the 2008 presidential election. Sadly, there’s little expectation it will happen.

hat-tip: mememorandum. art: anti-john kerry
>Related Tags: Politics, DNC, GOP, Voting fraud, Election fraud

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Incredible Wife and I are off for a deluxe weekend shack-up to celebrate our 24 years of marital bliss. Understandably, Blogging will be light through the weekend.

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At 20, Incredible Daughter #1 has become quite the policy wonk. Here’s a letter the local OCRegister weekly ran from her:

AG Lockyer and auto lawsuit

Last month, Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a nuisance lawsuit on behalf of California against six major automobile manufacturers: Chrysler, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.

The press release on the lawsuit started: “their vehicles’ emissions have contributed significantly to global warming, and cost the state millions of dollars to address current and future effects.”

For those who don’t know what a nuisance lawsuit is, it is an action brought against someone for interfering with one’s use and enjoyment of property. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this state without an automobile.

Lockyer said, “Vehicle emissions are the single most rapidly growing source of the carbon emissions contributing to global warming, yet the federal government and automakers have refused to act. It is time to hold these companies responsible for their contribution to this crisis.”

However, five out of these six manufacturers make vehicles that the Environmental Protection Agency has rated green for their lowered emissions. He also seems to forget that the California Clean Air standards are higher than the federal government, so what do the federal standards have to do with California?

Why was the lawsuit even filed? The answer to that is in the press release from Lockyer. “Today’s filing comes as Lockyer fights the auto industry’s attempt to invalidate California’s landmark global warming regulations.” So your tax dollars are going to fight a feud that Lockyer has against the automobile manufacturers for believing that the new tailpipe emission standards break federal law. Lockyer’s name will be on the ballot Nov. 7 th as a candidate for Treasurer… I, for one, don’t want a man who brings frivolous lawsuits as a way to get back at those who disagree with him in charge of my money, do you?

Parental pride moment ….

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Islam … can’t live with it, and they won’t let us live without it.

Three weeks after giving a hot-headed, intolerant, mysogynistic Ramadan “sermon” in which he refered to Western women as “meat” fit for “eating” (raping), Sheikh Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly (left), the Mufti of Australia’s biggest mosque in Sydney, blithely blamed George Bush for the hot water his comments have put him in.

Australians of non-Muslim persuasion are understandably a bit miffed at the Mufti’s muff. And the fact that he doesn’t even see it as a muff miffs them more. Here’s the original “teaching” in which he was addressing the dressing habits of non-habit-wearing women:

“If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it … whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem.”

So, West, drop your ways and adopt our ways and cover your women head to foot in demeaning hijabs and burkhas, as if they are mere embarassments you’d rather not see. And if they don’t cover up and get raped, who’s fault is it but the woman’s? There’s an enlighted view for you!

The statement, which follows on an earlier Hilaly rant in which he praised the 9/11 terrorists and called their act a work of God, has brought criticism from the public, the prime minister and more moderate Muslims. Is that Hilaly’s problem? No! It’s George Bush’s.

Asked if he would resign his post — from which he’s temporarily suspended — Hilaly said:

“After we clean the world of the White House first.”

Those who think we can appease Muslims best think again. The only appeasement is accepting their unacceptable faith and practices.

Christianity teaches women should dress modestly — a teaching that is shamefully ignored at most contemporary Christian churches — but it understands the difference between “modesty” and “using clothes as a weapon of abuse.” Islam does not. Moderate Muslim women who dress in even modest Western clothes are beaten, yelled at, shamed.

And it’s W’s fault. Why? Simply because he acknowledges that he leads a Christian nation, a nation that will defend itself against people like Hilaly, who wish us harm.

The Aussies, unfortunately, have granted citizenship to Hilaly, so they can’t deport him. Let that be a lesson to them. Citizenship should be reserved for those who want to accept the nation they hope to become a citizen of, and should be revocable when new citizens begin advocating violence against their adopted nation.

That’s a lesson we’d best learn here, too.

Source: Reuters via Breitbart
Related Tags: Hilaly, Islam, Women’s rights, Human rights

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In between his Constitutional Law Class and an interview with three big-time evangelicals for his upcoming book,which will probe Mitt Romney and the electability of a Mormon president, Hugh Hewitt stopped by for a quick lunch with three friends, Sam, John and me.

Hugh said he is more excited about this book than any of his previous books, and immediately launched into some field research.

“As a Christian, would you vote for Mitt Romney?” he asked me.

“In a primary, assuming no one else running wasn’t more aligned with me than Romney, sure. In a general election, I’d certainly vote for him over a Dem.”

John answered the same, and Sam, who thinks Harry Truman was the last great president, said Romney’s Mormon faith wouldn’t keep him from voting for Mitt — if he were ever to vote GOP.

“But 30 percent of Christians say they’d vote against him simply because he’s Mormon,” Hugh said.

“Will your evangelicals say they’d vote for him?” I asked.

“I have no idea.”

Not surprisingly, that was the only thing Hugh had no idea about during the lunch, when the conversation seems stuck on fast-forward. At one point, the conversation turned to the subject before you now, Cheat-Seeking Missiles.

“How’s your traffic?”

“Well,” I spun … er, answered, “I’m always heartened by something you wrote in Blog, that if I have even 50 readers a day, I’m reaching more people than most pastors.”

He wasn’t buying. “I think it’s the name. Too hard to remember, too long a URL. It’s all about branding.”

Easy for a guy named Hugh Hewitt. Maybe if I were Vince Vincent it would be easy to consider changing the name.

But I have to say c h e a t s e e k i n g m i s s i l e s dot b l o g s p o t dot com is one heck of a nasty URL … especially since about the same amount of people know how to spell “missiles” as know how to spell “Ahmadinejad.”

What do you think? Let me know: Should I rename the blog?

Hugh/Indians art: Sharon Burns via Radio Blogger

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How big is the advantage Dems get from a left-biased media, Harry? Oh, about that big?

Yes, it’s true. Only the Foley story can withstand to the flitting attention of the leftward-charging media herd. The C-SM Media Bias Index is showing that all the other scandals are starting to slip from the media’s consciousness but — at least through the election — the Foley story appears to have the stuff to hang on.

Don’t confuse “stuff” with newsworthiness. This is not a newsworthy story — it just offers the enticing mix of prurient content and GOP-bashing. But as the index shows, newsworthiness has nothing to do with significance.

The oldie:
The Reid/Foley Index: Left 139

Foley’s count is down significantly, from 262 Nexis hits to 139, but because the media is really staying away from Harry Reid’s dual scadals, the index is actually up from yesterday’s Left 106. Today, only the Conservative Weekly Standard turned up on Nexis.

The adjustment:
The Reid/Weldon Index: Left 15

This index compares a financial scandal with a financial scandal; not a whiff of sex. As the media finally feel justified in pretending there are no Reid scandals, the Reid/Weldon index climbs from Left 6 to Left 15. MSM just won’t shake loose of this junior congressman’s financial misdoings. Who cares if Harry is the Dem’s senior senator and has run afoul of ethical standards? Not our “objective” media! Weldon: 15 stories, Reid: one.

The big one:
The Hanauer/Foley Index: Left Infinite (or Left 139 for the ilnumerate)

How many times greater is 139 than zero? There’s the mathematical cunundrum in today’s Bias Index, as the story about the alleged leaker of the story that roadblocked GOP momentum, put our soldiers at risk and violated the rules of the Intelligence Committee dropped off the media radar? Searching the English-language globe for mentions of Larry Hanauer, Nexis came up with nothing! This is not about news judgment; it’s about election-rigging.

* How the Index works: Perfect MSM balance yields an index of 0; in the Reid/Foley index for example, stories of Senate Minory Leader Harry Reid’s financial scandals would balance stories of Mark Foley’s homosexual lust scandals. Less coverage of Reid/more coverage of Foley yields a “left” score, indicating leftist bias, with the number preceding “left” indicating the number of times greater Foley’s coverage is. Greater Reid/lesser Foley coverage yields a “right” score with a similar multiplier. It’s the same with the other indices. The findings are from a qualified each Nexis search, i.e., “Harry Reid AND real estate OR gift,” when necessary.

Related Tags: Politics, Media bias, MSM, Reid, Foley, Hanauer, Weldon

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I’m leading a media training session this morning, then having lunch with three old friends … including a very prominent blogger you all know well … then coffee with someone who’s just starting an agency and needs to talk to an old fart mentor … then a much-needed haircut … then ….

So if it’s pretty light over here at C-SM today, you know why.

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Where else but in Babs Boxer’s own Marin County would they descend each year, like bio-fueled Monarch butterflies? Yes, the Bioneers are back in Marin for their twelth annual alt-fest. Not the keyboard key; the scientific lifestyle.

Prius, solar, alternative sewage disposal techniques, holistic medicines; it’s all there, and if we were there, we’d see the future … or at least the tiny part of it that didn’t end up on the junk heap of visionary but way, way wayward ideas. Most of what’s unveiled at Bioneers stays pretty much veiled, for good reason. Today’s NYT article on the alt-fest reveals:

• A small device capable of circulating five million gallons of water, using only a light bulb’s worth of electricity. “It’s all about flow…”
• The new buzz word, energy genocide for the “environmental exploitation of native lands for oil and gas development.”
• There’s a patent now on the mold state of the Cordyceps mushroom, which reportedly can kill 100,000 to 200,000 species of insects.

Call it hippies with business sense. Or at least wild business fantasies.

No doubt, from conclaves like Bioneers will come some great inventions, large and small, that will make our world a better place. The environmental movement can’t afford to remain in the hands of stop-everything litigators; it is time for it to create some value in the hands of idealistic capitalists.

But is anyone cautioning these folks? Just because the mold comes from a mushroom, for example, doesn’t mean it’s better than good old Spectracide? Organically grown spinach comes to mind. A lot of the complex chemicals (mushroom mold) and organisms (e coli) that nature produces are far more harmful than our chemicals, so let’s have a little skepticism blended into the dreaminess.

Like skepticism (alarm?) directed at the Napa olive grower who, thanks to last year’s Bioneers meeting, now has South African guinea fowl wandering his orchards, eating larvae, so he doesn’t have to spray chemicals.

I don’t know anything about guinea fowl from South Africa, but in my book it’s a non-native species. Think kudzo and mosquito fish and bunnies in Australia. A lot of bad happens in the name of good … but idealists are the last to see it.

Related Tags: Bioneers, Alternative energy

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This has got to be the most bizarre political story of the season. So bizarre it screams for a word more bizarre than “bizarre.”

Absurd, balmy, cockeyed, derisory, eccentric, fantastic, fatuous, foolhardy, foolish, goofy, half-baked, harebrained, idiotic, ill-conceived, impracticable, imprudent, inane, inappropriate, insane, irresponsible, imprudent, inane, inappropriate, loony, ludicrous, nonsensical, odd, outrageous, peculiar, potty, preposterous, puerile, quixotic, ridiculous, senseless, short-sighted, silly, strange, unworkable, wacky, wierd, wild. Thank you Mr. Roget.

Yesterday, the NYT ran a story that took not one but two effete Ivy school journalists to compile. It was a detailed analysis of the words Joe Lieberman has used not just during the campaign but since 9/11:

As the battle of interpretation continues, The New York Times sorted 362 of Mr. Lieberman’s war-related comments since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks into content-related categories, and found that he has alternated his arguments about the parties and the war’s prosecution, shifting tone at critical points as political circumstances have evolved.

No way! Really? The more newsworthy story would be if the NYT had found a single national politician who didn’t shift tone at critical points as political circumstances have evolved. I voted for the war before I voted against the war. Or was it the other way around?

Don’t worry it’ll be the other way around next year.

But the really big news in this story was … well, really big:

Never, in the statements reviewed, did Mr. Lieberman utter the words “stay the course.”

How painful it must have been for our two intrepid Lamont-lickers to write those words. How delighted they would have been if only they could have found Lieberman staying some course somewhere.

Well, guess what? This little expose, all tied up neat to give Ned Lamont a desperately needed boost, isn’t even the bizarre, goofy, inane, ludicrous, wacky, etc., story. That story ran today.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut has used the phrase “stay the course” several times in discussing the war in Iraq in recent years, echoing a key phrase of the White House, contrary to an article published Tuesday in The New York Times.

The angst! He REALLY did say “stay the course,” but to get that story out, the NYT had to run a complex, authoritative explanation of how their two highly trained reporters and their crack editing and fact-checking crews all screwed up:

It is unclear why, when the database was checked for the phrase before publication, three times, it did not come up.

How did the mistake get discovered? Readers called them. Even NYT readers are smarter than NYT reporters.

What the hell, they got to stretch a one-day Lieberman bashing into a two-day bashing.

… they just proved in the process that to support Lamont you’ve got to be kinda dumb.

Related Tags: Media bias, MSM, Joseph Lieberman, Ned Lamont, New York Times

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