Greenpace admits a mistake... heck, we knew Greenpeace was a mistake

The outgoing leader of Greenpeace has admitted his organization’s recent claim that the Arctic Ice will disappear by 2030 was “a mistake.” Greenpeace made the claim in a July 15 press release entitled “Urgent Action Needed As Arctic Ice Melts,” which said there will be an ice-free Arctic by 2030 because of global warming.

Under close questioning by BBC reporter Stephen Sackur on the “Hardtalk” program, Gerd Leipold, the retiring leader of Greenpeace, said the claim was wrong.

“I don’t think it will be melting by 2030. … That may have been a mistake,” he said.
Sackur said the claim was inaccurate on two fronts, pointing out that the Arctic ice is a mass of 1.6 million square kilometers with a thickness of 3 km in the middle, and that it had survived much warmer periods in history than the present.

The BBC reporter accused Leipold and Greenpeace of releasing “misleading information” and using “exaggeration and alarmism.”

Leipold’s admission that Greenpeace issued misleading information is a major embarrassment to the organization, which often has been accused of alarmism but has always insisted that it applies full scientific rigor in its global-warming pronouncements.

Although he admitted Greenpeace had released inaccurate but alarming information, Leipold defended the organization’s practice of “emotionalizing issues” in order to bring the public around to its way of thinking and alter public opinion.

Leipold said later in the BBC interview that there is an urgent need for the suppression of economic growth in the United States and around the world. He said annual growth rates of 3 percent to 8 percent cannot continue without serious consequences for the climate.

What a dork.

Link

And I love this...

We will definitely have to move to a different concept of growth.

The guy has just confessed to stretching the truth and he moves to tell us we must redefine "growth." These people have no shame. They are true believers that should be isolated from the general population until we can get their meds regulated.

Plame Redux How the Left is exposing the CIA

The Justice Department recently questioned military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay about whether photographs of CIA personnel, including covert officers, were unlawfully provided to detainees charged with organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Investigators are looking into allegations that laws protecting classified information were breached when three lawyers showed their clients the photographs, the sources said. The lawyers were apparently attempting to identify CIA officers and contractors involved in the agency's interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects in facilities outside the United States, where the agency employed harsh techniques.

If detainees at the U.S. military prison in Cuba are tried, either in federal court or by a military commission, defense lawyers are expected to attempt to call CIA personnel to testify.

The photos were taken by researchers hired by the John Adams Project, a joint effort of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, to support military counsel at Guantanamo Bay, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry. It was unclear whether the Justice Department is also examining those organizations.

Link

Where is the public outcry from the Democrats? This, unlike the non-outing of Mrs. Wislon is a crime. The perps should be charged and tried.

The Mrs. Wilson affair met none of the following. The actions of the lawyers meet all of them.

At the threshold, the agent must truly be covert. Her status as undercover must be classified, and she must have been assigned to duty outside the United States currently or in the past five years. This requirement does not mean jetting to Berlin or Taipei for a week's work. It means permanent assignment in a foreign country. Since Plame had been living in Washington for some time when the July 2003 column was published, and was working at a desk job in Langley (a no-no for a person with a need for cover), there is a serious legal question as to whether she qualifies as "covert."

The law also requires that the disclosure be made intentionally, with the knowledge that the government is taking "affirmative measures to conceal [the agent's] relationship" to the United States.

Link

Time to man up, Repubs. Show us if you clank when you walk or just slither as you slide by. Inquiring minds want to know. Time for a SP.

Naked Passengers

I thought I would scare you.

Just heard that a Southwest flight from Oakland to St Louis has turned around and landed... seems two passengers got in a fight and one of them took their clothes off.....

I've heard of ugly people, but wow....

Besides, it sounds like at least one of the two was wanting to make up...

"Come over here... Let me touch ya..."

It seems like people act differently on airplanes. Could be the two or three or four drinks they have in the airport bar... could be the feeling of doing something that is bigger than them.. who knows. But from the naked person here to the person who took a dump in the snack cart, weirdness reigns...

I'm a friendly type but I used to dread the "This my life" types I would run into on a regular basis. I never wanted to hurt their feelings but I really didn't care that they were on there way to see their Grandmother who was dying... I mean I cared but I didn't want to hear about it for the next two hours.

Airlines and their business practices have always fascinated me. A few years back I was on my way to Los Angeles and was connecting via Delta's Salt Lake City hub. We got in way early and as I was looking for the nearest bar I discovered a gate with a flight to Los Angeles that was getting ready to board. Since my connection wasn't in the "legal" connect time I was on a flight some hour and half later. It was obvious that the flight wasn't anywhere near full so I went over and asked if they would put me on that one.

The guy looked at my discounted ticket and said it would cost me $75.00. I declined, expressing my best wishes to the idiots in charge. When my flight left it was over sold and they were giving away $250 certificates to anyone who would give up their seats and take a later flight.

I used to hate pilots who, at night, had to show everyone they could watch the TACAN needle and read a map. "Uh, that's Oklahoma City off the right hand side..." Give me two drinks and let me sleep...

But some do have a sense of a humor.. Years and years and years ago I was on a Continental flight, yes The Proud Bird With The Golden Tail, when there was a loud bang. In a few minutes the pilot came on and announced we would about 10 minutes late arriving in Denver... It was a 727 Trijet. About 30 minutes later there was another loud bang. A few minutes later the pilot came on and announced that we would be about 15 minutes late.... he finished by saying that if we heard another bang it might take longer than anticipated to get to Denver.

National Health Care - What could go wrong?

Let me get this straight. Obama's health care plan will be written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress which hasn't read it, signed by a president who smokes,funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes,overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that is nearly broke.

What could possibly go wrong? I ask you? What?

Hat tip to Grant M.

Hat tip link to Ellis.

AARP stacks a teleconference

So my morning paper said that yesterday (Monday) the AARP had set up a teleconference on health care for my Congressman. Since I am a member and knew nothing about it I called AARP to ask why.

After a bit the young lady on the phone bank said that it had been for 40,000 people in the district selected by random within the 50 to 64 age group.

That, of course, is age discrimination. I expect that from corporations looking to hire someone. I did not expect it from an organization I am a member of and is supposed to be looking out for my interests.

And the unstated reason is obvious. AARP wants one of the Obama planS to pass so they stacked the conference to keep out people on Medicare as Medicare clients have been the most vocal opponents of the bill because we see that taking $4 billion out of Medicare and reducing payments to Doctors and hospitals will reduce services and reduced services will lead to rationing as surely as night follows day.

And why does AARP want one of Obama's planS to pass? Because they want to sell the insurance that the voter will be mandated to buy. A market of some 46 million people.

Always follow the money when you want the truth.

Bump and update. My daughter tells me that yesterday around 7PM a call came in from the AARP but things were so screwed up on how to ask a question she hung up. (I wasn't home and she forgot to mention it.)

So the question is, since I am not between 50 and 64 and since my daughter is not either, why was I told that was the selection criteria?

Or does this just prove that being incapable of following the plan excuses you from coming up with the plan?

Okra aka candy

So far I have frozen about 10 meals and think I can get 10 more. That will be one or two a month until the 2010 crop comes in, that is assuming Global Warming doesn't delay the crop with unseasonably cold weather as it did this spring..

It will produce until frost but I will need a step ladder for the last of the crop.

All the cook has to do is dump the pre-breaded okra into the frying pan, stir everynow and then for even browning, lift out, drain and serve. Especially good on a cold winter day.

Of course I might need to advise the police in advance of what I am growing.

I thought you might like this story. My grandparents are transplanted Oakies. They moved to Modesto, CA in 1950. My grandpa as long as I can remember has had at least an acre of okra. Right after thay moved to Modesto my grandfather woke up one morning to find several Sheriff's officers tromping through the okra and stepping on the watermelon. He went out to see what was up. The Sheriff was convinced that my grandpa was growing pot in his garden and had never heard of, let alone seen okra. It took a couple cups of coffee and a few of last years pickled okras to send this law officer on his way. He later became a close friend of the family. Much like everyone who has ever crossed paths with grandpa. It just isn't summer without okra.

Link

A California sherrif who didn't know what pot looked like? Well, that's the story and they are sticking to it.

What will you do for your children?

This comes from Mike L.

Our generation just gets better with age!





Apparently, a self-important college freshman attending a recent football game took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen sitting next to him why it was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation.



'You grew up in a different world, actually an almost primitive one', the student said, loud enough for many of those nearby to hear. 'The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon. Our space probes have visited Mars. We have nuclear energy, ships and electric and hydrogen cars, cell phones, and computers with light-speed processing...and more.'



After a brief silence, the senior citizen responded as follows:



'You're right, son. We didn't have those things when we were young...so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little shit, what are you doing for the next generation?'



The applause was amazing