I typically ignore the writings of newspaper columnists in the pacific northwest, as they tend to be as predictable as they are boring.  Every once in awhile, though, a piece just cries out for a response.

So, for reference, I give you Joel Connelly, from the Seattle PI, and his piece “Deniers of Global Warming harm us“.

Remember my post about CODE WORDS put forth from the left?  Well, DENIERS of Global Warming is replacing Sceptics.  Why? Read on…

From the outset, Mr. Conelly repeats that canard that “THE WORLD’S scientists near consensus on human causes of climate change”.  Even if this statement were true, it is necessary to point out that not all the worlds scientists are Climatologists, or in any field remotely related to the the study of earths climate now, or in the past.  One might, in the Connelly world, take a Podiatrists view on a Brain Tumor as authoritative. 

Mr. Connelly then spends a good piece of his article decrying the “deniers” temerity in daring to criticize the hypocrisy of the “oracles” of the glabal warming hysteria movement, and their oppulant lifestyles and personal modes of travel.  Mr. Connelly calls this “drive by shooting”, and posits that it is a means of distraction from having “real science” to back up the “deniers” position.  This fits in well with the general outlook of the left, of Do As I Say, Not As I Do.  They are above criticism because their hearts are pure.

The we get one of my favorite lines:

The deniers’ fallback position is to argue that what is happening is due not to human intervention but some sort of natural cycle.

He then goes on to disparage “a recent story” in the National Post (a “rightists paper” per Connelly) in Canada, that suggests a link between climate and sun spots (no great new revelation there; it has been know for decades that sun spots affect the suns output, and therefore, our climate).  What he did NOT say, is that the NP has been running a series on “deniers” and the science that backs them up.  And guess what?  These guys are Earth Scientists!

Then comes the magnum opus: 

Bluntly put, climate change deniers pose a greater danger than the lingering industry that denies the Holocaust.

That’s right!  Not only does he equate man-made Global Warming sceptics with Holocaust Deniers, but the sceptics are EVEN WORSE.  And this is why the new Code Word from the left is DENIER.  By calling the Man-Made Global Warming Sceptics DENIERS, we are as bad, or worse, than Holocaust Deniers.  Look for this phrasing to become prevelant in the main stream media in the weeks ahead.

What makes the global warming denial industry so dangerous?

It has the potential to preclude or delay necessary actions — caps on carbon emissions, development of new energy sources — that will assure human civilization’s future on the planet.

What this really means is that the sceptics interfere with the Lefts plans to increase their control of the economy, and the way you live, even while admitting:

Nobody is certain what will happen.

Connelly then goes on to cite a few example os the BAD effects of Global Warming.  I could respond tit-for-tat, but that would just bore my fellow sceptics, and would not persuade those that call us deniers, anyway.  What is more fun is when Connelly again does a drive by of his own:

One can argue that any country in which a large percentage of people believe that planet Earth was created in six days — and do not accept evolution — will believe anything.

Ahh, there’s that gratutious Christian bashing that no lefty column would be complete without.

And he sums with a CALL TO ARMS:

A belief that blocks or delays action is dangerous. No one will save us. We must save ourselves.

Save Ourselves, in the Connelly world, means drastic cuts in CO2 emmissions that will cripple industry, massive investment in alternative energies (like Wind Farms that kill birds, Bio Fuels that lead to starvation in thrid world countries, Solar that is massively inefficient - but NO NUKES!), and controls on your personal energy usage (through taxes or imposed caps).

A Moment of sanity is called for.  The science is NOT settled.  Practically evey day, some new piece of news floats up indicating that the Apocalypse is not upon us, that we are in the midst of what is, overall, part of the natural fluctuations of the climate.  Not you will find it in the mainstream media, or hear it discussed in Connelly’s elite circles.

Far better to spend our time and resources in preparing for the inevitable.  And keep wathcing and studying the climate.  After all, the Climate Scientist that predicted Global Cooling back in the 1970’s may still be proven right…

But when the purveyors of Man-Caused Global Warming resort to name calling, and mud-throwing, they harm their own argument, and they harm us all.

As I write this, there are reports that the Pakistani Government has finally had enough of the stand off in Islamabad at the Red Mosque, and has ordered a breach of the compound.

The clerics who run the Mosque have been attempting to impose Taliban like law in Islamabad.  After 6 months of confrontation, last week the Government had finally had enough, and decided that it was necessary to shut down the Mosque.  The Imams retaliated by shutting themselves in, with many hundred students, and defying the government forces.

Echoes of this standoff have been felt in other cities in Pakistan, where other radical clerics have turned out their supporters to protest the governments actions.

3 days ago, Gen. Musharraf, currently the Secular leader of Pakistan, survived an attempt to shoot down his aircraft, and this may have spurred his decision to conclude the siege at the the Red Mosque.

But the Red Mosque is not the only source of Islamic Radicalism in Pakistan.  In fact, at least half of the students in Madrassas in Islamabad are taught by radical sects aligned with the Red Mosque.

And on Pakistan’s frontier with Afghanistan, many of the tribal areas are either controlled by, or under threat from, the Taliban.  The Pakistani government essentially ceded these areas to the Taliban and Al Qeada earlier this year, in what were called Peace Accords, but were, essentially, a recognition that the Pakistani Government could not exert it’s authority in the region, short of massive military force, and agreed to leave the Radicals alone, if they would not promote their agenda in greater Pakistan.

Unfortunately, as always happens with appeasement, the radials now want more, and the Red Mosque siege gives them a vehicle:

…the mosque’s supporters in the Northwest Frontier Province have attacked the government. In Swat, a settled district in the Northwest Frontier Province, Maulana Qazi Fazlullah, a 28-year-old radical cleric, has called for his followers to strike at government agencies for taking action against the Lal Masjid. “In broadcasts on his FM channel on Tuesday and Wednesday, [Fazlullah] asked his supporters to take up arms against the government to avenge the action taken against Lal Masjid and carry out suicide attacks,” Dawn reported on July 4.

Fazlullah’s followers have carried out his call for violence. In the five days since the Red Mosque standoff began, four major attacks were carried out against police forces in the district. Six have been killed and thirteen wounded in shootings, roadside bombings and ambushes throughout the region.

North of Swat in the district of Dir, four soldiers were killed, including two officers, and another was critically wounded in an IED attack. The army convoy was reported to be heading into Swat in preparation for a possible “showdown between supporters of Maulana Fazlullah and law-enforcement agencies.”

The former President of Pakistan, General Zia Ul Haq, promoted the radical Madrasas as a source of mujahedin to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan.  It seems that the swords other edge is now becoming obvious, and those same madrasas are now turning warriors of god who aim to take down the Secular government of Pakistan, and create a new Taliban state in its place.

The possibility of Pakistan falling to the Taliban and Islamic Radicals should be chilling to the bone.  Pakistan has a modern military, with high tech weaponry (mostly US) and a proven Nuclear arsenal.

The only reasonable response of the Western World to this situation - indeed, the only response that will give Western Civilization any chance of seeing the next turn of the century - is to put our support squarely behind Musharraf; greatly increase the NATO mission in Afghanistan to fight the resurgent Taliban; and finish the job of pacifying Iraq.

Failure to stamp out the Taliban, Al Qeada, and Radical Islam is not a viable option.

The Dane links us to a great report by Robert E Rector of the Heritage Foundation, on the true costs of the Shamnesty Immigration Bill that failed in the Senate last week:

Heritage research has shown that low skill immigrants (those without a high school degree) receive, on average, three dollars in government benefits and services for each dollar of taxes they pay. This imbalance imposes a net cost of $89 billion per year on U.S. taxpayers. Over a lifetime, the typical low skill immigrant household will cost taxpayers $1.2 million.[4]

 Future taxpayer costs will be increased by policies which increase (1) the number of low skill immigrants entering the U.S., (2) the length of low skill immigrants’ stays in the U.S., or (3) low skill immigrants’ access to government benefits and services. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the Senate immigration bill does:

 The bill would triple the flow of low skill chain immigration into the U.S.

• By granting amnesty to at least 12 million illegal immigrants, the bill would greatly lengthen their stay in the U.S., particularly during retirement years.
• The bill would grant illegal immigrants access to Social Security and Medicare benefits and, over time, to more than 60 different federal welfare programs.
• Although the bill does not currently permit Z visa holders to bring spouses and children in from abroad, this would likely be amended at some future point on humanitarian grounds, resulting in another 5 million predominantly low-skill immigrants entering the country.

Heritage research has concluded that the cost of amnesty alone will be $2.6 trillion once the amnesty recipients reach retirement age.

This explains why the White Hoise and the Senate Democrats (and several Republicans) were trying to push this thing through so fast.  They didn’t want to give anyone tiime to read it, and do these kind of pencil figures on the cost and impact of shamnesty for 12 to 20 million illegals.

Thanks to the American Thinker, we learn that:

Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) has been a stalwart supporter of the American-Israel alliance. He recently introduced an amendment to the foreign aid bill that would prohibit groups that deny Israel’s right to exist from receiving American (taxpayer dollar) foreign aid. The amendment passed 390-30.

Of the 30 members of Congress who have no problem with giving money to groups that advocate and plan for the destruction of Israel, 27 of them were Democrats.