Californian Sojourn

Climate Change/Global Warming - The Reality

I absolutely could not pass this up.  Here is Professor Bob Carter explaining hard data in regards to Climate Change including it's actual causes and effects.  What follows is four videos, via YouTube embedded, of his lecture:

Part One:

Part Two:

Part three:

Part Four:

I would say that is pretty damning, wouldn't you agree?

America and Rome: The Parallels And How It Really Will Go Down...

This, is just great.  Lays down what the US as the Roman Empire would look like AND outlines the blueprint for the POTUS to become Emperor.

Perfect.

Tip of the hat to Coming Anarchy, one of my favorite sites to visit lately.  In fact I should just make a post about them in general.

The State of Conspiracy Theories And Those Who Subscribe To Them

Once again Phil provides to us some great blogging, this time in regards to how conspiracy theories thrive even today when the normal person (and I totally agree with this assessment) should dismiss them as the ramblings of the not so sane.

Long have I been amused by conspiracy theories of politics and power feeling that they are a remarkable waste of time. Sure there may be some sort of half-truth buried in the midst of such ideas but in reality I have often felt that the only conspiracy theory that could possibly exist is the thoery of avoiding, or more correctly, glossing over the truth. This is where politicians and media, in order to keep voters and the public ignorant of the facts or issues so they don't have to deal with it, simply do not cover them. Instead they repeat consistently the same information (about i.e. the war, economics, the weather) so that they only have to focus on that information. With the Internet, and more prominently the blogosphere, this "control" is easily shattered as a wealth of knowledge and information made available to anyone is immense and as simply come upon as typing in www.google.com in your broswer and searching whatever may tickle your fancy. So basically when one decides to look into the facts, one can go beyond what the nightly news or morning newspaper may or may not tell you. Simple as that, no conspiracy theories, just the theory by those who don't want to deal with the issues and facts, that the ignorance of the public is bliss.

Agree, disagree, whichever you believe, just go read Phil's post and others he has on there. Great stuff coming to you regularly (cept when he's travelling).

UPDATE: Took my own advice and took a further look at Phil's blog and lo and behold only one post down I find yet another great post to link to. This one dealing with Susan Estrich's much dicussed around the blogosphere comments about "not being vicious enough" (or something like that) against those Republicans (who are evidently masters of vicious politics or something). Seems he found some interesting items from the DNC convention which, you may recall, happened several weeks before the so called hate-mongering RNC. Nope, no hypocrisy here. Like I said above, the pundits will tell you one thiing expecting you to take their word for it, you must look on your own often to find the truth on the matter.

The Argument For And Against In Defense Of Internment

Michelle Malkin has recently provided a rather exhaustive rebuttal to her critics Eric Muller and Greg Robinson that is worth a (albeit long) look over. Again I cannot provide my own commentary on the matter seeing as how I have not yet read the book but I will note that Malkin's rebuttal does seem rather concise and clear even though the claims made against her are questioning her work ethic and state of mind in terms of the work.

Once again I find this a touchy subject to dive head first into considering the potency of feelings on all sides. Seeing as how I may well find a future in Japanese/US relations I wonder if I'm going to find something posted here coming back to "haunt" me. Not that I am worried about anything I say, but seeing how politicians of today are judged by events many years in the past, I wouldn't be surprised. All I know is that I'll read the book and then make my opinion on the matter known. I think it is also important to note that all of this is supposed to be applied to the situation we face today in the War on Terror. As much as we can argue history (Lord knows I know the signifigance of it and how it applies to today) we must also think about the here and now and see what we can make of it.

"Socrates, rebuttal? Ten seconds."

And that lovely line is delievered to us via the witty mind of Phil from Shades of Gray in this post examining the state of discourse in today's times of sound bites and commercial breaks. I agree for the most part that argumentation today (the educational kind) is quite difficult to obtain via the television, especially when individuals are cut off every 20 or 30 seconds for someone else to chime in or to beat the commercial break. I do admit though that there are times when education can be had but I have only found it in one format, the hour long interview. And even then that is relative to the interviewee and the interviewer. Otherwise for my true educational needs I'll just stick with the books and whatever VDH happens to write.

Forgive me for cutting the post short and leaving it rather bare....it's LATE right now....

Did I happen to mention I am quite glad I found Phil's blog? Yet another gem in the blogosphere...

Moore's Own Medicine

I know I made mention to never post about Moore again but this post has a tinge of humor with it. Phil of Shades of Gray has a rather interesting post letting Moore have it. His beginning "interview" provides the humor and context for the rest of the post. After hearing how F 9/11 is being received in other countries (oh my the freaking love it) I had to make sure some more facts about Moore came out. If there is one thing that has managed to get my blood going since F 9/11 came out is how people just three of four months ago were declaring Moore unreliable and not worth giving the time of day and now these same people declare him the "truth-bearer" American so deseparately needs in this time of toil. B'ah! Needless to say I was hearing this mostly from those individuals who "lean Left." Sad I tell you.

Update: I also found this post entitled The Gentlemen's Dead? Needless to say it works off the motiff I have (you may have noticed) of what real men are and if the gentleman still exists. Seeing how Phil is a graduate student his commentary is a tad bit more focused and detailed then mine has been. It's a great read.

Update II: Seems Moore can't even do his own math either. Please people, Moore is full of it and as time goes by you are going to see more and more come out showing exactly how full that cupeth runneth overeth.

Ooops, it didn't take that long at all. 59 deceits already found...

The "Mentality" Of Anti-US Sentiment

In the comments section of my post about "The Greater Ally." my "mentality" for asking the question was said to be of the same kind that creates anti-US sentiment among the South Koreans (and I can only assume the rest of the world). I responded with the remark that I didn't care about how my mentality creates that anti-US sentiment because I've always found anti-US beliefs ignorant and rather paranoid. As I was going through my links on the left side today I came across a post by Steven Den Beste that perfectly sums up the ignorance and paranoia of the anti-US fever that is gripping the world today. In fact I like how Steven points out that the individual he originally quotes from in the beginning of the post (in this case Rob Foot) isn't giving into hyperbole as he also quotes from a Mr. Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey (who won't be linked from here) who views are rather extreme and considering the comments I have quoted from Michael Moore and taking a look at the Democratic Underground forums are not as fringe as one may believe. This is what the world gives into and this is why the US must remain strong no matter what the UN may think about us. I would think 8 years of Clinton giving into world and in return we received 9/11 would be enough proof to show that the US is strongest when it keeps it's own resolve and does not appease, does not give in.

Please also read this long and quite informative post on "world government" and a couple other issues of permission and capability.

Note that Steven is quite the intellectual and quite researched when he speaks up on issues. When I read him I am overwhelmed and yet all the much better informed. I LEARN from his blog, which is saying something.

Talk About Foresight

Reason Online is running an article that was first written back in February of '02 and it still speaks volumes 2 years later into our fight against terrorism. Though the article kind of breaks into two different topics, the inability of journalists to "get" the military and its members and the ever present need to change the way our military approaches the challenges of new forms of warfare, it still manages to cover all the bases. Today our journalists, even after being "embedded," know nothing of war or warfare and our military leadership still needs to recognize that the "conventional" army is no longer so conventional. Both issues are vital to how well America will do in this current war and future wars and cannot be left to a "generational" timeframe that has plagued both institutions of media and military.

I really need to make a change in the world. Hopefully at the end I can say more than "J'ai vecu." That's what the French will try and say though...

One Voice So Strong, Again And Again

Victor Davis Hanson does it yet again with his commentary regarding Man's weakness to go with the winner (or the perceived one at least) and how we fail to stick with it when the times are darkest. I believe I've linked to Hanson's commentary more than anyone else on this blog and there are so many reasons why. This is just another reason. While the pundits at the major newspapers and on the TV tell us doom and gloom, they tell us things are terrible and are not yet at the worst Hanson remains the strong and clear voice of the reality of the situation and how history has shown us the answers to the dark times again and again.

Tom Selleck plays General Eisenhower in a movie that will be shown tomorrow night and during one of the interviews he did for the movie he explains how he doesn't believe a D-Day operation could be launched in today's saturated media coverage world. I believe he's right. The thought of a possible casualty rate of 70% would be unthinkable today and would be rallied against in a fashion we cannot yet fathom. That's how it is today, what must be done cannot be done because of how our media shapes the common man's perspective. Our people, the American people, are in desperate need of a change in how we look at the world and war. Vietnam has scared our country and it is time those scars were healed. Though our enemy has no single flag under which they flock we must still recognize that our enemy is ever present, and we must be a vigilant nation that refuses to do anything but stay the course. No matter how dark it may look.

Read the article and come back and comment. I'd like my comment section to be an area of discussion for those who wish to speak on the issues, who have something to say. That and tell me my praise of Hanson isn't misguided...

Boy Will Be Boys...

Why don't we let them be boys? It's a serious question and one that's answer will have an impact on society, good or bad. I pray we realize the right way soon enough or there may be no men left...