Could it be the end of carbon offset trading?  Carbon offsets are the system whereby a consumer, a business or an industry could purchase ‘carbon offsets’ from a carbon trading firm which would promise to plant some trees to absorb those carbon emissions.   But not so fast there.  A new ’study’ suggests that Canada’s boreal forest may be releasing more greenhouse gases than it absorbs.  “It is now contributing to atmospheric (carbon dioxide) concentration.?   Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and release it when they burn or decompose.   Thus, forest fires are bad for the environment, or is a fire good for the environment?  

“Now, however, the direction of that flow has reversed. On average, the forest actually emits about two grams per square metre per year.

?(The forest) is actually contributing to rising carbon emissions,? Dr. Gower said.

The cause, he said, is forest fires. Climate change, according to most models, leads to increased forest fires because it creates hotter and drier conditions.”   More of this . . .

There it is.  Global warming was the cause of the California forest fires.

Now let me see if I can figure this out.  Environmentalists over the past decades have consistently worked hard to ban the cutting down of the trees in our forests, even to the clearing of the underbrush in the forests to protect natural habitats, and because of the absorption of carbon dioxides of the trees.   And since global warming is getting more severe with increased temperatures, there have been more forest fires destroying the natural habitats and the forests.   The earth needed the trees to absorb carbon dioxides and we animals needed to protect the species which might become endangered without the forests. 

But they were wrong, now the forests are releasing carbon emissions rather than absorbing them.  

So now, as global warming continues there will be more forest fires which will burn more of the trees, which they just discovered are releasing carbon rather than absorbing carbon, so now forest fires will be a good thing, and perhaps should be encouraged, so that more forest fires will limit the forests, so that less carbon emissions to reverse the effect of global warming, and then with fewer fires and less carbon dioxides in the atmosphere, more trees will grow, which at first absorb carbon dioxides, and as they grow they start to release those carbon dioxides causing global warming to increase again causing more fires.   I just got dizzy.  

For the time being until the circle turns again, perhaps the carbon offsets trading will purchase a match, to light a fire to burn a forest.   But that cannot be even considered because then habitats would be ruined.  So scientists then encourage emissions by leaving the trees to grow for the sake of animal habitats while humans pay for their own demise.  Dammed if the trees burn and dammed if the trees live. 

So go hug a tree today.  It’s called tree esteem.

Are you reaching that “tipping point?”  I am, and so is Senator Inhofe.  In a speech on the floor of the Senate on Oct 26th he spoke for two hours about the information that has recently emerged from scientists who are “taking away the basis for alarm.”  “An abundance of new peer-reviewed studies, analyses, and data-error discoveries in the past several months have prompted scientists to declare that fear of catastrophic manmade global warming–I am using their terms now, the scientists’ terms–”bites the dust” and the scientific underpinnings for alarm are “falling apart.”  

Further on Inhofe continues with this: “Objective, evidence-based science is beginning to crush hysteria. My speech today and these reports reveal that recent peer-reviewed scientific studies are totally refuting the “Church of Manmade Global Warming.”   Read it all.  

However, the democrats slept, as did the media and Hollywood too.  The work weeks have been too long and they are tired. 

As I see It.

What will your children learn in our public schools. Will they be able to count out change through the drive through window without seeing the amount on the register? Believe it or not, there was a time when a clerk had to subtract in their heads. Will our kids learn that the pursuit of happiness is not the same as having someone else fill out the forms so they can get a welfare check? Believe it or not there was a time without food stamps, and those generations survived. What are they learning now? Two examples today of our public schools gone to the dogs.

Go to Needham High School in the Boston suburbs. Last year the school stopped publishing the names of the honor roll students in the local newspaper. Why? Because of “its contribution to students’ stress level in “This high expectations-high-achievement culture.” Principal Paul Richards said “publishing of the honor roll represented “an unhealthy focus on grades.” He pointed out that there are lots of other ways that students achieve, such as in clubs, musicals, concerts, athletics and community service.”

Then, there would be no need for kids to go to that high school to achieve an education. No grades needed. Just show up. Send them all out to do community service. After being hired, the boss gives them the 90 day temporary status report. “What, I’m being graded?”

And now this just out about the same high school to further the stress reduction of kids. A committee has been formed, yep you guessed it, The Stress Reduction Committee. What they came up with is “less homework and more Yoga.” “This term, Mr. Richards is talking up the yoga classes that are required of all seniors. He has asked teachers to schedule homework-free weekends and holidays.”

Do you think this is just one crazy school administrator in the northeast? Guess again. “Mr. Richards is just one principal in the vanguard of a movement to push back against an ethos of super-achievement at affluent suburban high schools amid the extreme competition over college admissions. He has joined like-minded administrators from 44 other high schools and middle schools ? most in the San Francisco Bay Area but others scattered from Texas to New York ? to form a group known as S.O.S., for Stressed Out Students.”

Super achievers? Can’t have that, dumm them all down to under achievers. After being hired, the kid asks, “when is yoga time? You are stressing me out boss.”

And on to another of our educational institutions. This time a college where these stressed out kids in Boston may attend for further indoctrination and stress-free living. The University of Delaware. As part of their studies, they are offered “treatment” for any attitudes regarding class, gender, religion, culture and sexuality that does not meet the guidelines of the school. One on one sessions are conducted with the 7000 residents by RA’s (Resident Assistants) and a score card is passed on to a superior. “Treatment” is then advised for the student. One student when asked “when did you discover your sexual identity?” Replied: “that’s none of your damn business.” Very troubling to the school. Not meeting the standard. You need a treatment.

This school is really full of “white guilt” as they define a racist: “A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. ‘The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination?.’”

Now that sounds very stressful for the white administrators to carry the burden on themselves as being guilty for all the wrongs caused by Europeans of the world. I suggest they go to Needham High School in Boston for yoga classes.

Believe it or not, there was a time when stress was part of growing up. A time when having a little stress caused some adrenaline to flow, you got down to business, reached down inside for some stick-to-it-ness and the job was completed. Believe it or not, there was a time when attitudes were personal, and were nobody’s business, no one cared unless you let your attitude harm another.

Believe it or not, there was a time when kids expected to learn some skills in school that would help them in their adult life.

As I wish I did not see it.

“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and pursuit of the wind.”   So said a very wise old man of long ago.   King Solomon. 

Those were the thoughts that came to me this morning as I was browsing the news of the earth, the news of the Nation, of the States, the news of the cities and small communities.  Every bit of it is a result of man wishing to control other men, of a powerful tyrant pushing his power upon his little powerless people, of a small town mayor wrestling freedoms from his residents, of an activist ‘peace’ group protesting the peaceful freedoms of another group, of a governmental bureaucrat exceeding his reach, and not last, but just the last in this rant, an educational ‘expert’ wishing to right all the wrongs of yesteryear by creating another wrong with implications of far greater evil than history itself records.   It’s all vanity.  A pursuit of the winds.

Also from Solomon:  “That which is crooked cannot be made straight and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.”

Then the thoughts wandered over to our Declaration of Independence of the thirteen colonies. 

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, . . . “ 

Governments are formed to secure the rights of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  To secure those rights.  And then it gets all muddled down in specifics. How can the crooked be made straight.  There is a point.

And then, the preamble to our own constitution.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

And then back to the news of today.  How far this country of ours has strayed away from the original intent of the constitution, and the intent of those that penned it, and agreed to by the 13 States.  Today, all of the divisions among men are created by the vanity of powerful people pursuing the winds.

And also from Solomon:  “All things are full of toil; none can express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” 

It’s all become vanity gone wild.  Wannabe presidents attacking each other hoping to belittle.  Politicians dividing the country, neglecting the basic notions that addition means more and stronger, and division means less and weaker.  They see but do not hear.  News broadcasters and journalists slanting the news to fit preconceived notions, forgetting the pledge to report rather than interpret, and their eyes and ears are yet to be satisfied . . . till we are all filled with the folly.  Educators are brainwashing instead of instructing.  Educators holding kids to a greater compliance of behavior (zero tolerance) than they hold themselves to.  On and on it goes.  Vanity of vanities.  

Respect of another’s opinions and a civil discourse rarely happens anymore, anywhere, even in our higher educational institutions of learning where learning has become indoctrination in the pursuit of the winds having seen it all and heard it all.  Most certainly, respect in congress has gone with the winds.  A civil discourse?

As for our Congress.   How many times have you heard a lawmaker in congress cite the constitution as the basis for not voting on a proposed measure?   How many times does a congressperson cite the constitution as the basis for passing a law?   How many members of congress have read the constitution . . . this year?  Yet, they pursue a goal of equality for all, an equality of outcome, rather than defending an inalienable right.  How many journalists and reporters have ever read the constitution, instead they get mired down trying to count the wanting.  How many educators teach the constitution, instead they try to make straight the crooked.

All of it is vanity, man wishing for something new under the sun, the earth without the struggle of the pursuit, an earth of equal outcome without the toil, without satisfying the eye nor ears which govern the toil.

When is the tenth amendment recited as the basis for defeating a new law? 

Congress has earned it.  The approval rating for congress is at an all time low of 11%.  It is something they have brought upon themselves.  It is deserved, and a trophy should be awarded to them all, as they have all been pursuing the winds in their vanity and have done nothing.

I surmise that a do nothing congress pursuing the winds may be a good thing, as catching the winds is fruitless.  A dog chasing it’s tail.

As I see It.

You do know that Michael Yon is an ‘independent’ journalist who has been embedded, off and on, with our troops in Iraq since 2005.  Now independent means that there is no one back here in the states that oversee his reports before they are printed, not one single superior to change a word, a sentence, a paragraph or two here and there to turn the meaning into the politically correct mainstream media version of the war in Iraq.  Michael Yon tells it as he sees it.

He had an article published in the NY Post over the week-end.

INSIDE THE SURGE

HOW ORDINARY IRAQIS ARE TURNING THE TIDE OF WAR

I’ve selected a few remarks of Michael Yon’s story to highlight.

“From Anbar, I traveled back to Baghdad then to Diyala, where al Qaeda had announced to the world it would base its caliphate in the provincial capital Baqubah. I was embedded with soldiers who formed the spear point of the largest offensive operation since the invasion of Iraq, and I watched as people from all walks of life came forward to share information that saved the lives of American and Iraq soldiers and cleared the streets of the al Qaeda operatives.”

Over many embeds, stretching out over the course of three years, I’ve seen massacres occur before my eyes, and I’ve heard more stories about the brutality (and inanity) of al Qaeda than I can or want to remember.

But one stands out, from June of this year, when I was with U.S. and Iraqi forces in a small abandoned village near Baqubah. There, in a series of shallow graves, were the remains of murdered people, among them the discarded bodies of little children whose heads had been cut off. The stench was horrific. Even the stock animals were killed and left to rot in the sun. There was no human or animal left alive in the village.

The level of brutality against ordinary Iraqis throughout Diyala, often directed against women and children, is what prompted many Sunni insurgent militia groups to come forward and work with Coalition forces. Some groups, such as the 1920 Revolution Brigades, were formerly allied with al Qaeda, or at least willing to facilitate or ignore their attacks against Shia or Coalition forces.

The 1920s are deadly, and they had been worthy adversaries for us, but when al Qaeda control turned to indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians, the 1920s joined forces with the U.S. and Iraqi Armies and together they practically mopped the streets of AQI in Baqubah.

Read it all here.

And Michael has a new dispatch just out today called “The Perfect Evil: coming to Roost. 

“Iraq is looking better month by month. But at the current rate, surely we shall fail in Afghanistan:”

Support Michael any way you can. by sending the links to his stories to your friends, your congresspersons, your local paper, and all donations help to keep Michael Yon independently covering the Iraq situation in our fight to rid the area of Islamic fanatics.   Before they come here.

As I see It.

And now ladies and gentlemen listen up.  Those extra pounds you’ve added to your frame is not your fault and another stomach shrink is also not the answer to that extra baggage.  A new ’study’ indicates that obesity is caused by, you guessed it, global climate change.

Commissioned by Research Australia, “The Healthy Planet, Places and People report released yesterday, says mental health in rural areas is also likely to suffer from more frequent and more intense droughts.”   The study also concluded that “Instances of obesity, food poisoning, and mosquito-borne diseases such as the deadly Ross River fever are also likely to rise as climate change raises average and extreme temperatures.” 

“Research Australia — a group of organisations and companies committed to making health and medical research a national priority — commissioned 10 Australian scientists to do the study.”  

Try to digest all of this here.   But be careful, your immediate mental health may be affected by all the hot air.

Pretty soon Michael Vick will be vindicated because his dogs could not help themselves because of global climate change.  Hot air causes dogs to pant, their mental balance is disturbed, and thus, get thirsty for blood.

As I see the nonsense.

I need some feed back to this question.  It seems to be an issue among southern evangelicals that “under no circumstances” would they vote for Romney, because he is a Mormon.  An article written by Martin Frost on Fox news,  seems to think that Romney’s religion is a main struggling block for him.  I had been under the impression that the mainstream press was the guilty party for planting that division into the news to cause a turmoil within the republican base.  Martin Frost is a liberal democrat, so is he making this up?  Is it part of the democratic strategy?   Or, is it really a big thing among evangelicals?

If Romney was chosen as the republican nominee, would you vote for him in spite of his Mormonism, or would you stay home and not vote at all?  Or, would you vote for the democratic nominee which is going to be Hillary Rodham Clinton?  Those would be the only three options.

Feedback please.  Leave a comment in “responses” below.  No registration required,  but I do moderate and throw out offensive and crude remarks, so please be civil.   Spam is automatically thrown back into the stands.

As I see It.

Are any of the questions that reporters and/or the debate moderators ask of the candidates put in such a way to get them to simply state their core beliefs about any of the issues driving this coming election?   Not hardly.  This link to  a brief at American Thinker will provide you with the best overall simple core beliefs that divides conservatives and liberals, that define conservative and liberal thinking.  I’ll highlight a few to get you interested.  Perhaps someone could frame some candidate questions from these notes.

On Immigration.

Core Conservative Belief: Conservatives believe in immigration as an important part of American vibrancy.  They also believe that America is weakening itself by allowing illegal immigrants to stream into the country unchecked, both because this influx saps America’s sovereignty over her citizens and because the illegal immigrant pathways can also serve terrorists.

Progressive Belief: It’s racist to keep illegal immigrants out of the country.  For that reason, there should not be any hurdles in the illegal immigrant’s path to the full panoply of American rights and welfare services.

On Taxes.

Core Conservative Belief: Government is a bad money manager. People make money grow, and lower taxes allow for a livelier, growing economy.  The inevitable result of trusting people with their own money is that the government, despite lower taxes, sees increased revenue (which is nicely balanced out by lower costs).

Progressive Belief: People cannot be trusted to make the right decisions with their money. It’s better if the government takes and redistributes wealth, notwithstanding the fact that doing so slows the economy.

The rest of the issues are Abortion, The Iraq war, Islamic Terrorism, Religion, America, Government, Gun Control, The Nature of Human Beings, Multiculturalism and Climate Change.

Go ahead see where you fit into these core beliefs about the current issues facing America today.  Click here.

As I See It.

From the preamble of The United Nations Convention on the law of the sea. Link is here.

Recognizing the desirability of establishing through this Convention, with due regard for the sovereignty of all States, a legal order for the seas and oceans which will facilitate international communication, and will promote the peaceful uses of the seas and oceans, the equitable and efficient utilization of their resources, the conservation of their living resources, and the study, protection and preservation of the marine environment,

Bearing in mind that the achievement of these goals will contribute to the realization of a just and equitable international economic order which takes into account the interests and needs of mankind as a whole and, in particular, the special interests and needs of developing countries, whether coastal or land-locked,

Desiring by this Convention to develop the principles embodied in resolution 2749 (XXV) of 17 December 1970 in which the General Assembly of the United Nations solemnly declared inter alia that the area of the seabed and ocean floor and the subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, as well as its resources, are the common heritage of mankind, the exploration and exploitation of which shall be carried out for the benefit of mankind as a whole, irrespective of the geographical location of States,

Believing that the codification and progressive development of the law of the sea achieved in this Convention will contribute to the strengthening of peace, security, cooperation and friendly relations among all nations in conformity with the principles of justice and equal rights and will promote the economic and social advancement of all peoples of the world, in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations as set forth in the Charter,

From Section 2 Limits of the territorial Sea.

“Breadth of the territorial sea, Outer limit of the territorial sea, Normal baseline, Reefs, Straight baselines, Internal waters, Mouths of rivers, Bays, Ports, Roadsteads, Low-tide elevations, Combination of methods for determining baselines, Delimitation of the territorial sea between States with opposite or adjacent coasts, and finally Charts and lists of geographical coordinates.”

Gad zooks, this is scary. Scary in the fact that our national sovereignty, our ability to govern our own affairs would be strictly limited to the whims of a United Nations court. My memory has escaped as to where I read it, but it basically defined the term “navigatable waters” to include rivers and ports and channels which opened into the seas. Here in Oklahoma, we have the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System that starts here next to Tulsa, but finds it’s way into the Mississippi river which empties into the Gulf. Barges bring goods to Oklahoma through this channel. According to this treaty, this inland waterway could be totally governed by the UN.

Global tribunals to govern the Global economy, under Global rights, for the equal benefit of all peoples.

John Fonte of the National Review has an excellent review of this LOST at Sea Treaty.

“Will Americans rule themselves or be ruled by others ? this is to be a great question of the 21st century. An opening scene is currently being played out in the U.S. Senate concerning international courts and supranational institutions.”

“Let us examine the details. Under UNCLOS, disputes between the United States and other parties are settled by “mandatory” (i.e., forced) arbitration. The final decisions are made either by a permanent International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg or by an ad-hoc court. The Hamburg tribunal consists of 21 judges chosen by member nations, many of them unfriendly to the United States. An ad-hoc court would consist of five judges, two chosen by the U.S., two chosen by the other party. The crucial fifth judge is chosen either by the secretary general of the United Nations or the Hamburg tribunal. The decisions are “final” and “binding” with no appeal.”   Read more of John’s remarks. Just go ahead and read it all.

Another critique of the treaty exposing some of the committee’s political maneuverings can be found here.  Where has the media been in educating the public?  Why has there been a lack of testimony by critics?

Now who in our congress could possibly support a treaty that would give our sovereignty over own own waterways away to the UN.? “The Bush administration and the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are . . . “  That’s who.  Hard to believe. I don’t want to believe it. I would prefer to believe that our congress and administration would protect American interests first and foremost. Now there may be some elements of this treaty that would benefit the USA, but, but again, it’s the unintended consequences that always come back and bite us hard, real hard, slap us down and limit our own freedoms. That’s the danger of this treaty.  Reagan would not sign it. 

“The ultimate question of democratic politics is who “decides.” If LOST is ratified, the “deciders” will be foreign courts, not American elected leaders. At the deeper level, the battle over the Law of the Sea Treaty is another round in what promises to be a century-long conflict over the meaning of democratic decision-making between the forces of American self-government and the supporters of “global governance,” the so-called “transnational progressives.”

Write your senator.

As I See It.

What went wrong with the computer models?   They were wrong again.  Were not most all of the professional weather forecasters predicting a much higher concentration of hurricanes, cyclones, and tornadic activity this year because of man made global warming?

“Unless a dramatic and perhaps historical flurry of activity occurs in the next 9 weeks, 2007 will rank as a historically inactive TC year for the Northern Hemisphere as a whole. During the past 30 years, only 1977, 1981, and 1983 have had less activity to date (January-TODAY, Accumulated Cyclone Energy). However, the year is not over…”   That’s according to the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies.

Oh yes, the season is not over till it’s over.  It’s like a coach yelling at his team, which is down 24 points with just five minutes to play, to get back and there and fight, “Hey guys, it’s not over yet”, we’ve still got time to meet our global warming predictive goals. 

And then it’s something like the Chicago Cubs.  “Wait till next year.”

As I see It.

It must have been a quiet week for Associated Press-Ipsos poll takers when they had the time to ask over a thousand adults which of the presidential candidates “would make the scariest Halloween costume.”  That’s rather easy for republicans and democrats probably think the same but would come up with a different answer.   Yahoo News.

Hillary won it hands down.  37% of all responders named Hillary Clinton.

More exciting Hillary pictures available here at FreakingNews.

Hillary would be scary wearing a mask of snow white.