Libertarian Vegan

Last month the Japan Society of Energy and Resources (JSER) released a major report that concluded global warming is not man-made.  Since then no major western media outlet has reported on the story.  British based website The Register commissioned a translation of the report, and key passages are available on their site.

The JSER is an academic society representing scientists from the energy and resource fields.  They act as a government advisory panel, much like the IPCC to the UN .  Yet the findings of the two groups could not be any more different.

The JSER report greatly criticized computer climate modeling, saying the U.S. temperature data set used to back man-made global warming is too nearsighted.

Kanya Kusano , program director and group leader for the Earth Simulator at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology , said climate research conducted by global warming scientists is “immature,” likening it to ancient astrology.

“Climate models are still in the phase of reliance on trial and error experiential models. There are still no successful precedents,” he writes. “[The IPCC’s] conclusion that from now on atmospheric temperatures are likely to show a continuous, monotonic increase, should be perceived as an unprovable hypothesis.”

The report states that recent warming has primarily acted as a “recovery” from the “little ice age” that occured around 1400-1800, and say it is part of a natural cycle.  Their conclusion holds that global warming has been due to solar activity, which the IPCC has dismissed.

Shunichi Akasofu , head of the International Arctic Research Center in Alaska , challenged the assertion that recent temperatures represent anything but a natural cycle:

“We should be cautious, IPCC’s theory that atmospheric temperature has risen since 2000 in correspondence with CO2 is nothing but a hypothesis.” Akasofu goes on to say “Before anyone noticed, this hypothesis has been substituted for truth… The opinion that great disaster will really happen must be broken.”

Sources: Infowars - Top Japanese Scientists: Warming is not caused by human activity February 27, 2009

World Net Daily - ‘Global warming’ data called ‘ancient astrology’ February 26, 2009

The Register - Japan’s boffins: Global Warming isn’t man-made February 25, 2009

You can tell a great deal about a person’s character by how they treat animals.  Here is a roundup of a small sampling of animal cruelty news from around the United States over the past few days:

Belle Glade, FL - Eric Jones charged with animal cruelty after his dog was found chained in a yard without food, water or shelter. Coco (seen below) weighed 20 lbs and could not walk or stand.

Ellenville, NY - Wendy Ayuso, former owner of the Fins and Feathers pet store plead guilty to charges of animal cruelty.  Investigators from the SPCA found rampant abuse and neglect - 480 animals and fish were seized, most were ill, many dying and some already dead.  She was sentenced to 30 days, a $250 fine and 75 hours of community service.

Canton, NC - Anna Marie Robinson arrested on animal cruelty charges.  Officers found a dead fox hound-mix dog, severely emaciated, with a pillow in its mouth it was trying to eat for food.  The dead dog and 13 neglected cats were removed.  Officers said the house was covered in garbage and smelled of animal feces.

Flomaton, AL - Dale Carnley was sentenced to 15 years for dogfighting.  After fighting his dog, Dale showed off its wounds while trying to sell it to undercover police.  Six dogs were seized, along with dog fighting paraphernalia.

Groveport, OH - Police looking for 24 year old Adam Brewer, who used a crossbow to shoot 2 arrows through his own pitbull.  City Prosecutor Bill Hedrick said “Dogs can’t choose their owners. We can choose to pursue those who don’t take animal ownership responsibly and don’t treat them appropriately. This was a pretty bad case of cruelty, and we are pursuing it.“

Humans are just highly evolved animals - well, as these stories show, some are more evolved than others.

According to new research from the World Cancer Research Fund , there is an easy, cheap, safe way to cut cancer rates - (ready?) - healthy food and exercise.  Who would have thought?

Yes, new research shows that simple changes in diet and exercise can prevent some 40% of breast and pancreatic cancers, 36% of lung cancers, 60% mouth cancers, 25% kidney cancers and 45% of bowel cancers.  Cancer is the #2 killer in the United States, after heart disease.

Meanwhile, President Obama wants $634 billion to begin national health care.  Personally I do not have health care at the moment because I cannot afford it.  However, I do everything in my power to stay healthy.  Eating healthy does not have to be expensive by any means.   Substituting a meal as simple as rice and beans in place of fast food brings you much greater nutrition at an even cheaper cost.

And….exercise is free.  Absolutely free.  You do not need to buy anything at all to exercise - no fancy machines, no gym membership, nothing.  Something as simple as parking farther away from the grocery store so you have to walk a greater distance increases your exercise and your health.

Yet, under nationalized health care my tax dollars would go to people who do absolutely nothing positive for their own health, as well as those that need help.  It seems that many people who advocate national health care are the ones eating crap while drinking and smoking themselves to death.  Now, if that is what you want to do with your life, more power to you, but it is absurd to say I should pay for the inevitable problems that result from such a lifestyle.

Certainly there are many people who need help paying valid health related bills, but it should be the responsibility of every individual to do whatever they can for their own health.

But America doesn’t want that.  They want to be taken care of like children and have a pill created for every disease (real and metaphorical alike).  There is no secret to being healthy - take care of yourself.  Of course unexpected things will come up, but there is so much that you can do in your everyday life to greatly minimize such events.

Source: Natural News - How to Slash World Cancer Rates by 9o Percent February 26, 2009

Bloomberg - Obama wants $634 million to start on health care February 26, 2009

The Senate Judiciary Committee is continuing to push forward with plans to create a commission to investigate torture under the Bush Administration.  Committee Chair Pat Leahy (D-VT) said a hearing would be announced soon to study different commission plans.

While there have been attempts to uncover the true scope of U.S. torture since 9/11, this would be the first concrete actions by Congress.

Taking charge of the effort to create such a commission is Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI-D), who has special insight from sitting on both the Judiciary and Intelligence committees.  When asked if there was still a lot the public doesn’t know, he replied, “Stay on this. This is going to be big.”

Last week Maj. Gen. Tony Taguba voiced his support for a commission, joining 18 rights groups and others.  Taguba, known for conducting honest investigations into prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib said such a commission must include a close analysis of claims from Bush Admin officials that abusive interrogations worked - “Some of those activities were actually not effective and those who thought so were in the academic or pristine settings of their offices.  What would they know?”

Meanwhile, Former President George W. Bush is all set to embark on a speaking tour next month.  He can be yours for the price of only $150,000 a speech.  However, if you happen to live close to Dallas, he will lower that to a mere $100,000.

Sources:  Salon - Senate will advance torture commission February 24, 2009

U.S. News & World Report - President Bush Embarks on First Speaking Tour - and He’s getting paid $150,000 a Pop February 25, 2009

Epping, New Hampshire policeman Bradley Jardis patrols the streets for drug criminals, but when he is off the clock, he speaks out against the very drug laws he enforces.  Prohibition has failed, he says, and it is time to legalize drugs.

Jardis insists that drug prohibition does more harm to society than drugs themselves - prohibition leaves dealers in control, creates a dangerous black market that leads to more crime and allows easy access to kids.  All of these arguments have been put forth by anti-drug war groups for years, but now they are becoming more prominent among the very people who have to enforce the laws.

In 2002, 5 founding members in Massachusetts created the group LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.  They now have 11,000 members in 90 countries around the world.  Jardis is one of 132 members in New Hampshire.  LEAP stresses that they are strongly against the use of drugs and state the need to educate children about the dangers of drug use.

Member Rick Van Wickler has been superintendent of the Cheshire County, New Hampshire Department of Corrections for 16 years.  He said about 13% of his inmates are nonviolent drug offenders.

“The bottom line is, this is a country that, through policies over the last 30 years, has spent over a trillion dollars to create a drug-free society. But we in law enforcement can’t find anybody who can even make believe that that’s a possibility,”Van Wickler stated.

“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem, and in the United States people are spending far too much money believing that they can.”

Just how much money is spent on drug prohibition?  On the federal level alone, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has a $14.1 billion dollar budget for 2009. In 2008 they had a budget of $13.7 billion - can anyone honestly say that $13.7 billion dollars worth of tax payer money did anything to “win” the War on Drugs?

Take the time to visit LEAP’s website.  Drug war proponents often use the argument of “you only want drugs to be legal so you can use them yourselves” against those of us who argue against prohibition.  The members of LEAP are the ones on the streets and in the jails who see firsthand the destructive nature of drug prohibition.  It makes it much more difficult to write them off.

It reminds me of Chicago Mayor William Dever, who served from 1923-27, during the height of alcohol prohibition.  He attempted strict enforcement of prohibition laws while speaking out against them.  Chicago was certainly on the front lines of prohibition, which directly led to the rise of Al Capone and the gang warfare that tore at the city.  Dever saw that this could happen only because alcohol was illegal.  However, he didn’t want to show disrespect for the law and so did what he could to enforce it.

Thankfully the city and nation woke up and ended the failed experiment of prohibition.  It is time for them to do it once again.

Source: The Union Leader - Opposing the drug laws they enforce February 21, 2009

The above graph, courtesy of the National Snow and Data Center shows “Daily total Arctic sea ice extent between 1 December 2008 and 12 February 2009 for Special Sensor Microwave/Imager SSM/I compared to the similar NASA Earth Observing System Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (EOS AMSR-E) sensor.” What that means is that reports we have received about Arctic sea ice during that period underestimated the amount of ice by 193,000 square miles, roughly the size of California.

The mistake was caused by a glitch in satellite sensors that scientists refer to as “sensor drift.”  According to the NSIDC, “Sensor drift, although infrequent, does occasionally occur and it is one of the things that we account for during quality- control measures prior to archiving the data.  Although we believe that data prior to early January are reliable, we will conduct a full quality check.’’

The Center normally uses Department of Defense (the blue line in the above graph) satellites for their data, rather than more reliable NASA ones (the red lines above) because the DOD’s have a longer period of historical data, allowing for more long term studies.

Sea ice is used as a measure of how temperture changes affect the Earth, and is one of the cornerstones of the global warming movement.  Last August, data from the NSIDC actually showed a dramatic increase of 434,000 square miles, which is more than twice the size of Germany.

Compared to the data from August 2007, the Artic ice actually grew about 13%, despite the dire predictions. Sorry Al.

Sources: Bloomberg - Arctic Sea Ice Underestimated for weeks due to Faulty Sensor February 20, 2009

DailyTech - Arctic sees massive gain in ice coverage September 3, 2008

Many civil liberties groups cheered the Obama Administration into office, and praised some of their early efforts.  However, Administration policies as of late have begun to garner praise from the circles that backed Bush’s War on Terror policies, including the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page.  Last week it stated that “it seems that the Bush administration’s antiterror architecture is gaining new legitimacy” with team Obama embracing team Bush’s strategies.

Recent confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan, nominee for solicitor general, and Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. saw the Obama nominees support a very broad interpretation of the “battlefield.”  Ms. Kagan said anyone suspected of helping to finance Al Qaeda should be held in indefinite detention without a trial, no matter where they are actually captured.

Meanwhile, CIA director nominee Leon Panetta said the Agency could continue its “extraordinary rendition” program, where agents seize terrorism suspects and take them to a third county, some of which are alleged to use torture, without extradition hearings.

The Obama Administration also embraced the Bush legal team’s argument that a lawsuit brought by former CIA detainees should be stopped because of the “state secrets” doctrine.    Two days after the appeals court hearing, a bipartisan group of lawmakers filed legislation to prohibit the use of the state-secrets doctrine to close an entire case, as opposed to just certain evidence.

Earlier this month, a British court refused to release info on the alleged torture of a U.S. held detainee, citing pressure from the U.S. In response, the Obama Administration sent the British government a thank-you note “for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security information.”

So how far removed are we really from the Bush doctrine? It is true that it is still very early in his presidency, but the signs certainly are not promising.  Already we have seen his transparency goals tossed aside and now we are seeing civil liberty concerns tossed aside.  What’s next?

The only real candidates for change in the presidential race were Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich. (They were also the only real anti-war candidates as well). This, Mr. Biden, is just “more of the same.”

 Source: New York Times - Obama’s War on Terror May Resemble Bush’s in Some Areas February 17, 2009

Harrison Schmitt , former astronaut and U.S. Senator, has openly declared his dissent from the theory of man-made global warming, saying, “I don’t think the human effect is significant compared to the natural effect.”

Schmitt, 74, is scheduled to speak at the International Conference on Climate Change being held next month in New York.  He was invited to speak when orgainizers heard he had resigned from The Planetary Society , a non-profit focused on space exploration, after they blamed humans for global warming.

Schmitt received his science degree from the California Instutute of Technology, studied geology at the University of Oslo in Norway, and received a doctorate in geology from Harvard.  He said that science has gotten mixed up with politics, severely undermining the debate - “It’s one of the few times you’ve seen a sizable portion of scientists who ought to be objective take a political position and it’s coloring their objectivity.”

Meanwhile, James Hansen, leader of the global warming fear monger camp, declared in last sunday’s Guardian that “coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet.”  In a rant far removed from the objectivity needed for valid science, he also refers to trains carrying coal as “death trains” and coal-fired power plants as “factories of death.”

While this may seem a little, this is actually toned down rhetoric from when he spoke in front of the Iowa Utilities Board in 2007:

If we cannot stop the building of more coal-fired power plants, those coal trains will be death trains - no less gruesome than if they were boxcars headed to crematoria, loaded with uncountable irreplaceable species.

 The idea of conjuring up images of Nazi death camps in order to push a “scientific” agenda should be offensive to even the most ardent man-made global warming fanatics.  Let us have an honest debate over the science, but there is simply no place for this nonsense on any side.

Sources: Boston Herald - Former astronaut speaks out on global warming February 15, 2009

The Guardian - Coal-fired power stations are death factories.  Close them.   February 15, 2009

Direct Testimony of James E. Hansen before the Iowa Utitilies Board 11/05/2007

President Obama’s promise that his administration will be the most transparent in history has already fallen by the wayside with the latest “stimulus.”  It was rushed through Congress without first publishing it online for the promised five days so that citizens can review it.

Also, the bill is some 11,000 pages…have any members of congress who argued so vehemently for it actually read it?  Any anyone?  But no matter, we are in an “emergency.” This is the exact same tactic that was used to push through the Patriot Act after 9/11, and countless other questionable legislation thoughout history.

Paul Jacobs, president of Citizens in Charge , summed it up well - “it would take bigger brains than the president has in his trust — or we have on tap on this spheroid we call Earth — to demonstrate why the spending is needed a mere five days earlier than his transparency promise would allow. Five days won’t add an appreciable kick to any alleged stimulus.”

Just go to the Recovery.gov website - here is the message you are met by:

They are kind enough to let us know that they will let us know what they are going to do with our tax dollars after it is too late for us to do anything about it.  This is what passes for “transparency”?

Source: Townhall - Government Emergency February 15, 2009

Investigations into the early days of the $125 billion reconstruction effort in Iraq have produced 35 convictions so far.  Most of them involved private contractors or mid-level officials.  Now for the first time top U.S. officials are under scrutiny.

Last month federal investigators subpoenaed personal bank records of Army Col. Anthony B. Bell.  Now retired, Bell was in charge of reconstruction contracting in Iraq during 2003-04, when the small operation became a huge undertaking.

Also under investigation is Air Force Lt. Col. Ronald W. Hirtle, who served as a senior contracting officer in Baghdad in 2004.  While both said they have nothing to hide, a number of recent cases indicate widespread corruption in the operation these two men helped to run.

Figuring prominently in all of this is information garnered form Dale C. Stoffel, an American arms dealer/contractor who was killed in Iraq in 2004.  He told authorities how tens of thousands of dollars were stuffed in pizza boxes delivered to American contracting offices in Baghdad, and that payoffs were made in paper bags throughout the Green Zone.

The investigations are being conducted by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the Justice Department, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, along with other federal agencies.

In perhaps the highest profile case to this point, Army Maj. John L. Cockerham pleaded guilty to taking almost $10 million in bribes from 2004-07, when he worked as a contract officer.

Last December, a 513 page report from Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction declared the $100+ billion U.S. led reconstruction effort was a complete failure.  By mid-2008, some $117 billion had been spent, $50 billion of it was U.S. taxpayer money.

Let us remember this conversation between then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Jay Garner, chief of the short-lived Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance:

“What do you think that’ll cost?” Mr. Rumsfeld asked of the more expansive plan.

“I think it’s going to cost billions of dollars,” Mr. Garner said.

“My friend,” Mr. Rumsfeld replied, “if you think we’re going to spend a billion dollars of our money over there, you are sadly mistaken.”

Sources: New York Times - Inquiry on Graft in Iraq Focuses on U.S. Officers February 14, 2009

New York Times - Official History Spotlights Iraq Rebuilding Blunders December 13, 2008