by Alex Gimarc                                Mon., January 5, 2009

Interesting Items 1/05 -

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy -

In this issue:

1. Sunspots
2. Cold
3. Point Thompson
4. Hamas
5. IDF
6. AirTran

1. Sunspots. For those of you out there who are fans of the actual science rather than endless data cooking from James Hansen and the frauds working on the public dime at NASA Goddard, I would point you to a few web sites. The first is ICECAP at: http://icecap.us/ . The second is Limbaugh’s Chief Meteorologist, Dr. Roy Spencer at: http://www.drroyspencer.com/ . A third for you solar astronomy fans is a web site on the new Solar Cycle 24: http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/RHESSI/napa2008/ . Lack of sunspots and long solar cycles correlate very well with cold weather here on e arth. 2008 ended with the second fewest days without sunspots since 1900, at 266 days. The worst year, one of three in the top ten years with the fewest sunspots from 1912-1914 had 311 days without any sunspots. The solar astronomers are still in the midst of an extended argument about what Solar Cycle 24 will end up being, as the four different prediction techniques are predicting either a very quiet next cycle or a very active one. According to a briefing given in Berkeley late last year, the solar astronomers believe they will know by 2010 and be able to analyze the differing theories and figure out why some were predictive and others were not. Regardless of what happens to the predictions, this year is shaping up to be a pretty cold one, if this winter so far is any indication. Unlike the global warming alarmists, the solar astronomers are doing actual science. There is no consensus. When the observations differ from the predictions, unlike Hansen and the boys and girls at Goddard, the do not cook or revise and scrub the data so that it meets their preconceived conclusions. And they don’t shut off funding from those that publish something different from what the powers that be want published. In other words, they do actual science. They observe. The compare observations and measurements with theory. And they modify theory to match the observations. What a concept. The global warming alarmists are the worst thing to happen to the scientific community since political correctness happened to the humanities or Lysenko happened to biological research inside the USSR during Stalin’s reign of terror.

2. Cold. Anchorage was hit with one of the coldest snaps in nearly a decade last week, with lows here in town getting down to -20 to -25 degrees F by weeks end. There are p arts of the state that are over fifty below zero. This is a bit unusual, as this sort of cold snap does not normally settle in until late January – February. It is a fitting end to a year with one of the coldest summers on record. The real unfortunate p art of the cold snap is that there is over two feet of snow on the ground here in Anchorage and the cross country ski trails are in superb condition – providing of course, that you can stand being outside at ten to twenty below zero – which quickly ends up being more work than fun. If this global warming keeps up, we are going to need thicker parkas up here.

3. Point Thompson. The Palin administration is in a food fight with Exxon – Mobil over development of an oil and natural gas field sitting between Prudhoe Bay and ANWR named Point Thompson. Exxon – Mobil has owned the lease to the field for over two decades without putting the lease into production. They have, however done extensive exploration in the field and as a result of that exploration have claimed that neither the technology nor the economics were sufficient to put the field into production until recently. It is thought to be primarily a natural gas field, and there are not facilities or infrastructure to produce or ship natural gas outside Alaska for sale at this time. The Murkowski administration st arted the process of pulling the lease from Exxon – Mobil shortly before they left office. The Palin administration completed the process and revoked the lease last year. They then st arted putting regulatory impediments in the way of Exxon – Mobil, which has spent substantial coin in the lease and now wants to produce it. Exxon – Mobil claims they still own the lease and have gone to court to defend their investment. Regardless of who is right in this one, it is terribly unfortunate that the Palin administration has managed to get itself into this position, for it is st arting to appear that Alaska is rapidly becoming an unfriendly place for oil and natural gas companies to invest, operate, and do business. Given the looming recession, the timing for these new impressions – accurate or not - could not be worse.

4. Hamas. After introducing Iranian-built rockets into the Gaza Strip and firing them nearly 30 miles into Israel, Hamas finally managed to trigger a war with Israel. Since taking office, they have fired around 6,400 rockets into Israel. They also allowed themselves to become yet another proxy of Iran. The Israelis, who are scheduled to have a national election next month, finally had enough of Hamas’ attacks against their civilian population and responded with significant military force. There were reports that the other Palestinian government on the West Bank, Arafat’s Fatah, was providing targeting and other intelligence on the ground. Hamas responded to these reports by rounding up a number of Fatah loyalists in Gaza and executing them for treason. Most of the governments in the Middle East are blaming the entire mess on Hamas. Iranian sponsored mobs in Europe and the US have st arted going after Jewish citizens on the streets of major western cities – so much for the Religion of Peace. By weeks’ end, the Israelis rolled the tanks into Gaza and are conducting a house to house search and destroy operation against Hamas and their supporters. If we are lucky, the Israelis will have learned their lesson from the abortive war against Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy in Lebanon in 2006, a war that was not fought with any intention to win, destroy the enemy, annihilate their supporters, or capture and control territory. Sooner or later, you have to destroy those that live their lives to destroy you. Otherwise, they will win by simply grinding you down until you are too tired to fight any more. Expect this to be going on when Obama takes the oath of office in a couple weeks, and expect it to provide Obama’s and Hillary’s first major foreign affairs embarrassment.

5. IDF. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has learned a little bit from the superb media propaganda operation conducted against them by Hezbollah in 2006. They learned to take their story directly to the web and have set up a YouTube channel with a bunch of IFD gun camera film of airstrikes in various places in Gaza. There have been videos of airstrikes against several mosques, complete with huge secondary explosions and the mosques, which also double as ammo dumps and ordinance build locations. YouTube, true to its reputation as a leftist friendly operation, has allowed Hamas-friendly commenters to get a large number of IDF videos pulled from the air. The use of YouTube by the IDF to get their side of the story out to the general public and anyone else who may be interested is hugely important in winning the PR battle of this war – which is the only advantage that Hamas has. It is also a strong lesson to those of us in the conservative community, who forever rail against the media bias against conservatives, for we absolutely must take our story to the general public here in the US – p articularly economics and civics education. YouTube is one such avenue, one that was used superbly by Obama and this leftist supporters. Congratulations to the IDF and the PR planners.

6. AirTran. Ed Morrissey in Hot Air Saturday reported a family of nine Muslims, dressed in traditional garb got kicked off an AirTran flight from Washington DC to Florida last week. They were overheard discussing security. Someone got nervous. The pilot removed all passengers from the plane and sent them back through security for yet another screening and the family were detained. The Muslims claimed they were discussing seating next to a window on top of the wing where you could see the jet engines. Expect lawsuits against both the airline and the whistleblower to be filed in very short order and expect the aggressors in this episode – the Muslims – to cry victimhood all the way to the bank. Congratulations to both the whistleblower and AirTran for doing the right thing.

More later –

           - AG

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.