While the President of China visited the White House, a member of the press and member of a Falun Gong, stated to President Hu "... you days are numbered..."
Need to research Falun Gong.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Alarmists and Global Warming
An "alarmist" global warming article published by Reuters, April 11, 2006. The article says the study brings even more proof of the negative effects of global warming. Thousands and even tens of thousands of extinct plant and animal species. This would be due to many species not being able to "escape" to a closer proximity to the poles.
How many plant and animal species went extinct every 100 years prior to the 1940's (prior to massive industrialization globally)?
What if there was global cooling by 1 or 2 degrees over the next 100 years. Would this not cause similar extinctions. Plants and animals would have to cluster around the equators.
I believe animals will adapt quite well. The Armidillo, of which most people probably believe to be a warmer climate creature (Texas is the first state I think of when I think about Armidillos), has been adapting to cooler and cooler climates. Most recently it is adapting to Continental Climates, specifically Indiana. About 6 years ago, the first Armidillo was spotted in southern Indiana, near Evansville. About 5 years ago I saw my first Armidillo road kill in the suburbs of Indianapolis.
Granted, the summers in Indiana are hot and humid, so I believe the Armidillo would enjoy based on it's history, however the winters in Indiana are nothing less than brutal. Temps in the evenings consistently fall into the single digits and teens from typically December through Februrary. January will see a few weeks of negative single and double digits with windchill recorded in -20, -30 or colder.
Global Warming? Why then has Russia this past winter seen record colds country wide? Why has Phoenix, Arizona been unseasonably cool and rainy over the last 4 weeks? Why, when you take a tour of the Hoover Dam near Henderson, NV do the Rangers tell you, "We see typical 9 year drought, rain patterns. It has been the case since the dam was built. They anticipate the end of the southwest's drought in the next year or two.
Global Warming I surmize will be a topic only found in newspaper archives in the relatively near future.
How many plant and animal species went extinct every 100 years prior to the 1940's (prior to massive industrialization globally)?
What if there was global cooling by 1 or 2 degrees over the next 100 years. Would this not cause similar extinctions. Plants and animals would have to cluster around the equators.
I believe animals will adapt quite well. The Armidillo, of which most people probably believe to be a warmer climate creature (Texas is the first state I think of when I think about Armidillos), has been adapting to cooler and cooler climates. Most recently it is adapting to Continental Climates, specifically Indiana. About 6 years ago, the first Armidillo was spotted in southern Indiana, near Evansville. About 5 years ago I saw my first Armidillo road kill in the suburbs of Indianapolis.
Granted, the summers in Indiana are hot and humid, so I believe the Armidillo would enjoy based on it's history, however the winters in Indiana are nothing less than brutal. Temps in the evenings consistently fall into the single digits and teens from typically December through Februrary. January will see a few weeks of negative single and double digits with windchill recorded in -20, -30 or colder.
Global Warming? Why then has Russia this past winter seen record colds country wide? Why has Phoenix, Arizona been unseasonably cool and rainy over the last 4 weeks? Why, when you take a tour of the Hoover Dam near Henderson, NV do the Rangers tell you, "We see typical 9 year drought, rain patterns. It has been the case since the dam was built. They anticipate the end of the southwest's drought in the next year or two.
Global Warming I surmize will be a topic only found in newspaper archives in the relatively near future.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
EXXON Does Not Believe Global Warming
June 2005, This article was published. Today an MIT professor wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal questioning the legitimacy of Global Warming. Will try to find and link.
The voices of dissent is rising toward man-made temperature rises.
The voices of dissent is rising toward man-made temperature rises.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Has Global Warming Cooled?
According to an article written in the London Telegraph by Prof Bob Carter, geologist at James Cook University, Queensland. The temperature of the earth has been nearly stationary over the last 8 years. If measured with utmost accuracy, it has actually cooled slightly.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Quiet Lips Are Not Heard
Are there just as many Americans of Latino and Hispanic descent who disagree with the current rally's?
Today’s Arizona Republic posted an article on the front page. The article’s subject was one of a much different picture painted of the marches around the nation for “immigrant rights.”
In a 180 degree turn from other mass media, the AZ Republic wrote an article “Migrant issue divides Latinos”.
The article states there are Latino’s who oppose amnesty or anything near to it for illegal immigrants.
The articles speaks to a gentleman from the Center for Immigration Studies and a local Phoenix resident. They state many current, legal US citizens who are Latino are having to compete for jobs and houses. This is not the important issue here.
Today’s march in Arizona was expected to be between 50,000-100,000. Like previous marches for these same causes, there would be some who know why they are there and others just wanting to be a part of something without rhyme or reason. The core issues here are;
1) These folks are here by illegal means
2) Two weeks ago they marched with Mexican flags. Then realized it really t’d off legal citizens of the country, so for today’s march, coincidentally every flag was The Stars and Stripes.
3) Many of the illegal aliens are using our health care systems, costing taxpayers billions, most notable in California yet it is without argument a national cost which tax payer Joe is writing the check.
4) Now they march down our city streets protesting, demanding “immigrant rights”.
This country already has immigrant rights. It is called legal citizenship.
These protests in Phoenix today, made traffic more than difficult from before 12 noon to after 6pm for the entire city. The businesses (including restaurants and offices) were effected by this march have lost probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in business and man hours. People trying to get home on the interstate today in Phoenix will be taking longer to do so, this means less time with family. If these 100,000 people were at the rally, then they definitely were not adding to the economic engine from which they have the audacity to demand benefit.
I spoke with my father just a few minutes ago. He coincidentally reinforced the AZ Republic article in his experience this evening with marches in Indianapolis. He was not able to leave work for a half hour due to the rally. He stated it was peaceful. It was just causing disruption.
The AZ Republic bungled the sub-title, "Dissenting voices drowned out by pro-immigrant rallies". What is this really about? Is it not about citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants?
Whatever your opinion thus far on this issue, read Charles Krauthammer’s opinion.
Today’s Arizona Republic posted an article on the front page. The article’s subject was one of a much different picture painted of the marches around the nation for “immigrant rights.”
In a 180 degree turn from other mass media, the AZ Republic wrote an article “Migrant issue divides Latinos”.
The article states there are Latino’s who oppose amnesty or anything near to it for illegal immigrants.
The articles speaks to a gentleman from the Center for Immigration Studies and a local Phoenix resident. They state many current, legal US citizens who are Latino are having to compete for jobs and houses. This is not the important issue here.
Today’s march in Arizona was expected to be between 50,000-100,000. Like previous marches for these same causes, there would be some who know why they are there and others just wanting to be a part of something without rhyme or reason. The core issues here are;
1) These folks are here by illegal means
2) Two weeks ago they marched with Mexican flags. Then realized it really t’d off legal citizens of the country, so for today’s march, coincidentally every flag was The Stars and Stripes.
3) Many of the illegal aliens are using our health care systems, costing taxpayers billions, most notable in California yet it is without argument a national cost which tax payer Joe is writing the check.
4) Now they march down our city streets protesting, demanding “immigrant rights”.
This country already has immigrant rights. It is called legal citizenship.
These protests in Phoenix today, made traffic more than difficult from before 12 noon to after 6pm for the entire city. The businesses (including restaurants and offices) were effected by this march have lost probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in business and man hours. People trying to get home on the interstate today in Phoenix will be taking longer to do so, this means less time with family. If these 100,000 people were at the rally, then they definitely were not adding to the economic engine from which they have the audacity to demand benefit.
I spoke with my father just a few minutes ago. He coincidentally reinforced the AZ Republic article in his experience this evening with marches in Indianapolis. He was not able to leave work for a half hour due to the rally. He stated it was peaceful. It was just causing disruption.
The AZ Republic bungled the sub-title, "Dissenting voices drowned out by pro-immigrant rallies". What is this really about? Is it not about citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants?
Whatever your opinion thus far on this issue, read Charles Krauthammer’s opinion.
Monday, April 03, 2006
A Belgian Discussion
On a weekly ride on Saturday morning, the route is always through the “Foothills” neighborhood in Phoenix. It is South of South Mountain. The ride includes a Pecos Road which is a straight, but rolling 7.5 mile road. Typically the group does repeated loops in this area for the Saturday training ride.
On the ride this past April 1 was a Belgian triathlete named Lucky. He was participating in the April 9 Ironman Arizona in Tempe, AZ.
He joined the group on about the second lap. It was apparent he was competing in the event due to his specific bike and he had on racing wheels. Typically a cyclist does not do a lot of training on a set of “Zipp” brand wheels, especially if the rear wheel is a “disc”.
After a couple more laps with the group, Lucky and I decided we would continue on for 2 additional hours. As we rode on, we talked about the US and Belgium, comparing and contrasting.
It was interesting to know Belgians like just about everything American; cars, clothes, beer (some), TV shows.
“Lost” and “Pimp My Ride” are popular shows. It was surprising to him to see Digital TV with 200+ stations… he said in Belgium they may have 37 or so.
Lucky also thought was surprised to see so many Hummers. “In Belgium there may be 1 you see in a month.” He said “In the US, you see 10 each day.”
I told him Americans then compare to Belgians regarding goods. Americans typically like most anything made in Europe, wines, clothes, cars... Americans like Belgian beer.
Lucky said it is well known in Belgium, the Americans are close to or already making better beer than Belgians. I told him it is likely America is just changing and using similar recipes as the Belgians and other Europeans… this may be where we learned.. Lucky said though, it is known the Americans are making the beer better now…
Lucky is 33 year old who lives in a more affluent area in Belgium. We were comparing costs of living, taxes etc… He said Belgians pay close to 50% of their income in taxes. He also said the cost of living is pretty high. An average 3 room apartment would probably cost about $600/month. This appeared to be reasonable until he said this is about half of his take home income each month. He works for the Belgian government in some fashion. He said he makes a pretty good living for Belgium.
Belgium has socialized health care. He pays $10/visit to any doctor. Also pays small amount for prescriptions. I told him I pay 28% in federal taxes and combine probably pay 33-35% taxes. We agreed Belgians probably are still paying for their health care through the high tax rate.
He said many Belgians want to go to the US. They believe they can do better here than they are in Belgium. They think if they did something similar in the US as they are in Belgium, they would be more wealthy in the US.
After thinking about this more today, I think the pay may or may not be better for similar work, however the most important difference is two-fold, lower taxes and more choices. Any Belgian who spoke English as well as Lucky could come to American and choose from a seemingly infinite number of jobs.
We also discussed terrorism and the War in Iraq. Lucky said after 9/11, Belgians were probably just as scare as Americans. They all saw how vulnerable any country could be. He said the terrorists are absolutely crazy people. You can not discuss anything with them. They want to die and go to heaven for their religion. He agreed most Muslims are not like this, however enough terrorists are causing all to suffer.
He said he agreed with the decision to go to War in Iraq. He thought it was the right thing to do. He said many Belgians also thought it was the right thing to do. He also brought up how important it was for Belgium and Europe when the US saved them in WWI and WWII. He said it would be such a different world if it were not for the Americans. He says he thinks some people forget this.
He also agreed the US has a good track record. They are not emperialists. The US wants what is best for the US and this just so happens to coincide with what is typically best for all nations.
On the ride this past April 1 was a Belgian triathlete named Lucky. He was participating in the April 9 Ironman Arizona in Tempe, AZ.
He joined the group on about the second lap. It was apparent he was competing in the event due to his specific bike and he had on racing wheels. Typically a cyclist does not do a lot of training on a set of “Zipp” brand wheels, especially if the rear wheel is a “disc”.
After a couple more laps with the group, Lucky and I decided we would continue on for 2 additional hours. As we rode on, we talked about the US and Belgium, comparing and contrasting.
It was interesting to know Belgians like just about everything American; cars, clothes, beer (some), TV shows.
“Lost” and “Pimp My Ride” are popular shows. It was surprising to him to see Digital TV with 200+ stations… he said in Belgium they may have 37 or so.
Lucky also thought was surprised to see so many Hummers. “In Belgium there may be 1 you see in a month.” He said “In the US, you see 10 each day.”
I told him Americans then compare to Belgians regarding goods. Americans typically like most anything made in Europe, wines, clothes, cars... Americans like Belgian beer.
Lucky said it is well known in Belgium, the Americans are close to or already making better beer than Belgians. I told him it is likely America is just changing and using similar recipes as the Belgians and other Europeans… this may be where we learned.. Lucky said though, it is known the Americans are making the beer better now…
Lucky is 33 year old who lives in a more affluent area in Belgium. We were comparing costs of living, taxes etc… He said Belgians pay close to 50% of their income in taxes. He also said the cost of living is pretty high. An average 3 room apartment would probably cost about $600/month. This appeared to be reasonable until he said this is about half of his take home income each month. He works for the Belgian government in some fashion. He said he makes a pretty good living for Belgium.
Belgium has socialized health care. He pays $10/visit to any doctor. Also pays small amount for prescriptions. I told him I pay 28% in federal taxes and combine probably pay 33-35% taxes. We agreed Belgians probably are still paying for their health care through the high tax rate.
He said many Belgians want to go to the US. They believe they can do better here than they are in Belgium. They think if they did something similar in the US as they are in Belgium, they would be more wealthy in the US.
After thinking about this more today, I think the pay may or may not be better for similar work, however the most important difference is two-fold, lower taxes and more choices. Any Belgian who spoke English as well as Lucky could come to American and choose from a seemingly infinite number of jobs.
We also discussed terrorism and the War in Iraq. Lucky said after 9/11, Belgians were probably just as scare as Americans. They all saw how vulnerable any country could be. He said the terrorists are absolutely crazy people. You can not discuss anything with them. They want to die and go to heaven for their religion. He agreed most Muslims are not like this, however enough terrorists are causing all to suffer.
He said he agreed with the decision to go to War in Iraq. He thought it was the right thing to do. He said many Belgians also thought it was the right thing to do. He also brought up how important it was for Belgium and Europe when the US saved them in WWI and WWII. He said it would be such a different world if it were not for the Americans. He says he thinks some people forget this.
He also agreed the US has a good track record. They are not emperialists. The US wants what is best for the US and this just so happens to coincide with what is typically best for all nations.
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