Did he say it? Did he? Say it?

"It is as it was."

FWIW, I think the pope said it. I think the archbishop was distraught to find out that the pope was being quoted around the world, and he decided it was better to deny the truth than to let the pope's words be taken as some sort of "official" endorsement of a movie — many people, alas, being unable to understand that the pope can actually have a merely personal, private opinion.

See 'Passion' and Intrigue and Did the Vatican endorse Gibson's film - or didn't it?

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 01/22/04 08:54:02 PM
Categorized as Religious.

It's Official: September the Eleventh Has Been Forgotten

Let me explain.

The first clue was when Al Gore took time out from freezing his butt off to deliver The Great Beacon Theater Address last week on the subject of "global warming".

Now, as I'm sure you remember, "global warming" was all the craze until September 10, 2001: the UN was pushing it, governments were pushing it, newspapers and magazines were pushing it. All the people were pushing it who think they know better than we do how to live our lives and who want, therefore, to be able to force us to live they way they want us to live. (Especially interesting were those driving around in their gas-guzzling SUVs to gatherings at which the driving around of gas-guzzling SUVs was condemned. But... like... well... that's different from ordinary people doing it.)

Then — KABOOM! September 11, 2001.

Suddenly, the threat of terroristic attacks tomorrow seemed a great deal more important than the supposed threat from what warmer weather five or seven or nine decades from now might possibly do.

"Global warming" pretty much vanished from the news. Not entirely, but pretty much.

Now, it seems that the "global warming" push is making a comeback. Al Gore's speech was a pretty big clue. Here are two more.

First, this Knight Ridder article at The Oklahoma Daily, Jan. 16:

It's cold comfort to people shivering in much of the United States right now, but 2003 tied for the world's second hottest year, according to new federal government data released Thursday.

In what meteorologists say is new evidence that global warming is real and worsening, the world's average temperature last year was 58.03 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. That's 1.03 degrees warmer than the 124-year world average.

Going into December, it looked as though 2003 would rank only third hottest, but a toasty last month tied the year with 2002 for second place since record-keeping began on Jan. 1, 1880, said Jay Lawrimore, the global data center's climate monitoring chief. The hottest year was 1998, with an average temperature of 58.14.

The five hottest years on record all have occurred since 1997, and the 10 hottest since 1990. It's been 221 months since the world recorded a colder-than-normal month.

The consensus of climate scientists is that the world is warming and will continue to get hotter because gases emitted from burning fossil fuels are trapping heat from the sun, causing the atmosphere to get warmer, as happens in a greenhouse....

Got that? It's been 221 months since the world recorded a colder-than-normal month. Which is much more important, we are supposed to understand, than It's been 29 months since any terrorists have been able to kill more 3,000 innocent civilians in one day.

Now, we have a Reuters story at Yahoo! News, yesterday, which my friend Paul called to my attention:

Parts of Europe and North America could get drastically colder if warming Atlantic ocean currents are halted by a surprise side-effect of global warming, scientists said on Wednesday.

The possible shut-down of the Gulf Stream is one of several catastrophic changes -- ranging from collapses of fish stocks to more frequent forest fires -- that could be triggered by human activities, they said in a book launched in Sweden.

"In the worst case it (the Gulf Stream) could shut down... it might even happen this century," said Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. "This would trigger a regional cooling, but not an Ice Age."

Climate models indicated a surge of fresh water into the North Atlantic from a melting of northern glaciers caused by global warming could stop the current that sweeps warm waters from the Gulf of Mexico toward Europe....

Do you see what's going on here? Folks in politically / socially / culturally significant areas — like NYC and DC — have been experiencing very cold, wet winter weather — so they are inclined to (rightly) laugh out loud at the whole idea that human activity is causing the Earth to heat up and parboil us and/or all our descendants.

So, what do The Folks Who Want To Run Our Lives have to do? Why, they have to come up with some way to get around peoples' common sense. And how do they try to do that? Why, they feed the "right" data into the "right" software and — voila! even cold weather proves "global warming"!

Neato, keeno, no?

I haven't quoted those articles in their entirety, so take my word for it that neither contains any hint that many scientists vigorously dispute the notion that human activity is causing "global warming".

Happily, The Oklahoma Daily ran a column yesterday in response to the Jan. 16 article.

In a recent article published in your paper entitled "What was hot in 2003? Weather," author Seth Borenstein correctly notes that the thermometer-based global temperature record has shown a warming of approximately 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 124 years. We also learn that 2003 was the second-warmest year on record and that recent years have been unusually warm when compared to the entire time series. The article makes the case that the ongoing buildup of greenhouse gases is the culprit, and that a continued warm-up is in the cards for the rest of our lifetimes.

As a long-time participant in the greenhouse debate, a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a professor of climatology at Arizona State University and an author of multiple books and articles on the subject, I am writing to point out the following facts:

(1) The global thermometer record is anything but global. We certainly have quality long-term records from the United States and Europe (adding up to less than 3 percent of the Earth’s surface), but there are massive areas of the Earth with no records whatsoever. Furthermore, imagine how many places had quality temperature measurements 124 years ago? To make matters worse, many of the long-term records come from airport and urban locations full of microclimatic effects associated with concrete, the lack of soil moisture and often the hottest place in the area.

(2) Polar-orbiting satellites carry equipment to far more accurately measure true global temperatures with full coverage of the planet. Those records exist for only 25 years, and indeed, they show 2003 to be a warm year, second only to 1998. However, the trend in the satellite-based record is only a fraction of the trend in the thermometer-based measurements.

(3) The temperature of the Earth has risen and fallen throughout the 5-billion-year history of the planet. Only 15,000 years ago, Canada was buried under a mile of ice—has warming since then been a bad thing? Approximately 500 years ago, the Earth plunged into the Little Ice Age with catastrophic consequences in Europe and elsewhere. Fortunately, the recovery started at about the same time the thermometer-based temperature record began—quite coincident with the 124-year timeframe mentioned in the Borenstein article. The observed warming may have occurred even without any interference from human activities.

I agree that the buildup of greenhouse gases undoubtedly had a warming effect over the past century, but climate scientists cannot quantify the effect with much confidence. Over this same period, the sun has become brighter, and believe it or not, a warming sun probably helped to warm the Earth. Climate scientists can list dozens of human-related activities that have warmed or cooled towns, regions, hemispheres or the globe, and they must disentagle the greenhouse fingerprint in a very complicated environment.

It is ironic that your article ran the very day many U.S. residents were experiencing record-breaking cold temperature. From my outpost in Arizona and your home base in Florida, it is painfully apparent that life in warmer climates is desirable by the bulk of the population. The fastest growing areas of our country curiously coincide with the warmest locations. There will be winners and losers should the world continue to warm, but the winners would far exceed the losers.

Climate change is a natural and to-be-expected part of winding-up on this planet—in the long history of human existence, no one has been exempt from this reality. In the mid-to-late 1970s, we all feared global cooling, and now the fear has shifted to warming. The 1-degree-Fahrenheit warming over the past century is trivial in a longer context, not out of the bounds of natural variability, and possibly not such a bad thing.

I am grateful that no human 15,000 years ago did anything to stop the warming that has made our planet such a wonderful place to spend a lifetime.

— Dr. Robert C. Balling Jr. is the director of the Office of Climatology and an associate professor of geography at Arizona State University. He is the author of The Satanic Gases: Clearing the Air on Global Warming (2000). He can be reached at robert.balling@asu.edu.

So, how long do you think it will take for "global warming" to vanish from the news again?

KABOOM?

See also Announcing NPRPS: The National Press-Release Publication Service and A Tale of Three Doctors: And What it Tells Us About the Environmental Movement.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 01/22/04 08:10:01 PM
Categorized as Most Notable & Social/Cultural.

Ending the Darkness of the Year

Surely, these are two of the s-l-o-w-e-s-t months in the calendar.

See The Darkness of the Year and The Brightness of the Year.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 01/22/04 06:12:05 PM
Categorized as Other.

Mel Gibson: Sedevacantist?

I'm not certain, but I strongly suspect that Rick Brookhiser may be referring to The Blog from the Core today. I did send him an e-mail about this a while back.

Or, I'm just engaging in shameless self-flattery. :-)

See Mel Gibson is Not a Catholic.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 01/22/04 12:34:35 PM
Categorized as Religious.

Thirty-One Years Of Abortion On Demand In The USA

Let us commend to the mercy of God the souls of our aborted children. And let us pray for the continuing conversion of hearts and minds to remove this abomination from our land.

See also these blogs from last year:

• More Timely Pro-Life Articles
• Thirty Years of Abortion on Demand in the USA
• Planned Parenthood "Celebrates" Thirty Years of Abortion on Demand: Some of Victor Lams' entries in a poster contest.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 01/22/04 07:43:25 AM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CXXXIII

Joel C. Rosenberg writes at NRO yesterday:

Watching the results of the Hawkeye Caucuses, I couldn't help but think of my eighth-grade French teacher, Mr. Murphy. He was a great guy, and a wonderful teacher. But he knew buptkus about politics. In late October of 1980, I interviewed Mr. Murphy for an underground school newspaper. He confidently predicted President Carter would win reelection for this reason and that. The day after the presidential election, I couldn't resist. My little article in The Rocciola Spitoon hit the hallways with this front-page headline: "MURPHY PICKS CARTER; IT'S REAGAN BY A LANDSLIDE."

Now, it's one thing, of course, for a middle-school French teacher to get a political prediction completely wrong. Heck, I've made some stunningly bad political predictions myself over the years. But neither Mr. Murphy nor I have ever been vice president of the United States before. Nor were we the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 01/22/04 07:10:32 AM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & Political.

SOTU 2004: The Democratic Response

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CXXXII

Text of comments by Rep. Nancy Pelosi & Sen. Tom Daschle.

Pelosi: The state of our union is indeed strong, due to the spirit of the American people – the creativity, optimism, hard work and faith of everyday Americans.

The State of the Union address should offer a vision that unites us as a people – and priorities that move us toward the best America. For inspiration, we look to our brave young men and women in uniform, especially those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their noble service reminds us of our mission as a nation: to build a future worthy of their sacrifice.

Tonight, from the perspective of 10 years of experience on the Intelligence Committee working on national security issues, I express the Democrats' unbending determination to make the world safer for America, for our people, our interests and our ideals.

Democrats have an unwavering commitment to ensure that America's armed forces remain the best trained, best led, best equipped force for peace the world has ever known. Never before have we been more powerful militarily. But even the most powerful nation in history must bring other nations to our side to meet common dangers.

The president's policies do not reflect that. He has pursued a go-it-alone foreign policy that leaves us isolated abroad and that steals the resources we need for education and health care here at home.

The president led us into the Iraq war on the basis of unproven assertions without evidence; he embraced a radical doctrine of pre-emptive war unprecedented in our history; and he failed to build a true international coalition.

Therefore, American taxpayers are bearing almost all the cost, a colossal $120 billion and rising. More importantly, American troops are enduring almost all the casualties – tragically, 500 killed and thousands more wounded.

As a nation, we must show our greatness, not just our strength. America must be a light to the world, not just a missile. Forty-three years ago today, as a college student standing in the freezing cold outside this Capitol building, I heard President Kennedy issue this challenge in his inaugural address: "My fellow citizens of the world," he said, "ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

There is great wisdom in that, but in it there is also greater strength for our country and the cause of a safer world.

Instead of alienating our allies, let us work with them and international institutions so that together we can prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and keep them out of the hands of terrorists.

Instead of billions of dollars in no-bid contracts for politically connected firms such as Halliburton, and an insistence on American dominance in Iraq, let us share the burden and responsibility with others, so that together we can end the sense of American occupation and bring our troops home safely when their mission is completed.

Instead of the diplomatic disengagement that almost destroyed the Middle East peace process and aggravated the danger posed by North Korea, let us seek to forge agreements and coalitions so that, together with others, we can address challenges before they threaten the security of the world.

We must remain focused on the greatest threat to the security of the United States, the clear and present danger of terrorism. We know what we must do to protect America, but this Administration is failing to meet the challenge. Democrats have a better way to ensure our homeland security.

One-hundred percent of containers coming into our ports or airports must be inspected. Today, only 3 percent are inspected. One-hundred percent of chemical and nuclear plants in the United States must have high levels of security. Today, the Bush administration has tolerated a much lower standard.

One-hundred percent communication in real time is needed for our police officers, firefighters and all our first responders to prevent or respond to a terrorist attack. Today, the technology is there, but the resources are not. One-hundred percent of the enriched uranium and other material for weapons of mass destruction must be secured. Today, the Administration has refused to commit the resources necessary to prevent it from falling into the hands of terrorists.

America will be far safer if we reduce the chances of a terrorist attack in one of our cities than if we diminish the civil liberties of our own people.

As a nation, we must do better to keep faith with our armed forces, their families and our veterans. Our men and women in uniform show their valor every day. On the battlefield, our troops pledge to leave no soldier behind. Here at home, we must leave no veteran behind. We must ensure their health care, their pensions and their survivors' benefits.

The year ahead offers great opportunity for progress and perhaps new perils still hidden in the shadows of an uncertain world. But you, the American people, have shown again and again that you are equal to any test. Now your example summons all of us in government, Republicans and Democrats, to a higher standard.

This is personal for all of us, in every community across this land. As a mother of five, and now as a grandmother of five, I came into government to help make the future brighter for all of America's children. As much as at any time in my memory, the future of our country and our children is at stake.

Democrats are committed to strengthening the state of our union, to reach for a safer, more prosperous America. Together, let us make America work for all Americans; let us restore our rightful role of leadership in the world, working with others for "the freedom of man."

I'm now proud to introduce my colleague, the outstanding Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle.

Daschle: Let there be no doubt: the state of our union is strong – stronger than the terrorists who seek to harm us and stronger than the challenges that confront us. At the same time, we know that our union can be stronger still.

The president spoke of great goals, and America should never hesitate to push the boundaries of exploration. But neither should we shrink from the great goal of creating a more perfect union here at home.

In his speech, the president asked us to make permanent the tax cuts already passed. He asked us to create more tax shelters for the wealthy, and he asked us to use Social Security money to pay for it. For the last couple of weeks, I've been traveling through my home state of South Dakota, visiting the people and small towns that are America's backbone. And the folks I met were asking something, too: "What about us? When do our priorities become America's priorities?"

Rather than a society that restricts its rewards to a privileged few, we need an "opportunity society" that allows all Americans to succeed. Our "opportunity society" has at its foundation good jobs, a solid education and quality health care that is affordable and available. We believe that we have to honor the promises we've made to the millions of families who worked hard, played by the rules and have earned a retirement of dignity.

Our first challenge is to strengthen the economy, the right way. The true test of America's economic recovery is not measured simply in quarterly profit reports; it's measured in jobs. The massive tax cuts that were supposed to spark an economic expansion have instead led to an economic exodus. To make up for the 3 million private-sector jobs that have been lost on President Bush's watch, the economy would have to create 226,000 jobs a month through the end of his term. Last month, the economy created only 1,000 new jobs. That's not good enough.

America can't afford to keep rewarding the accumulation of wealth over the dignity of work. Instead of borrowing even more money to give more tax breaks to companies so that they can export even more jobs, we propose tax cuts and policies that will strengthen our manufacturing sector and create good jobs at good wages here at home. We can also show our patriotism while strengthening agriculture and rural America by labeling all food products with their country of origin.

Education is the second key to our "opportunity society." Two years ago, the president signed a new education law. The heart of that law was a promise: The federal government would set high standards for every student, and hold schools responsible for results. In exchange, schools would receive the resources to meet the new standards. America's schools are holding up their end of the bargain; the president has not held up his. Millions of children are being denied the better teachers, smaller classes and extra help they were promised.

At the same time, the president's tax cuts have put states in such a bind that they're being forced to raise the cost of college. Since President Bush took office, the average tuition at a four-year public college has increased by nearly $600. The America our parents gave us was a place in which everyone had a chance to go to a good school, and then to college, community college or vocational school, regardless of family income. Our children deserve nothing less.

Third, our "opportunity society" is built on the belief that affordable, available health care is not a luxury, but a basic foundation of a truly compassionate society.

Today, 43.6 million Americans – almost all of them from working families – have no health insurance. That's over 3.8 million more than when President Bush took office. Those Americans lucky enough to have health insurance have seen their premiums go up each of the last three years. The increase in premiums that middle-income families have seen over the past three years is larger than the four-year tax cut they've been promised. This is an invisible tax increase on middle-class families.

Tonight, three years into his administration, the president acknowledged that the rapidly rising cost of health care and the increasing number of Americans with no health coverage are problems. But the solutions he proposed – more tax cuts – are not the right ones. More tax cuts will do little to make health care more affordable or reduce the number of people without insurance, and they will weaken health coverage for those who now have it.

When I was driving around South Dakota this summer, I met a nurse in Sioux Falls who has cancer. She told me that she couldn't afford the $1,500 a month her drugs cost. She told me that she was going to die, that she was a lost cause. But, she said, we must solve this problem; don't turn more people into lost causes.

We believe that the federal government should use the power of 40 million Americans to lower prescription drug prices and to allow us to get more affordable drugs from Canada instead of forbidding both. Drug companies and insurance companies are the only ones who benefit from that restriction, not the American people, and that's why we want to change it.

And in our vision of an "opportunity society," promises made to those who have worked a lifetime will be honored in retirement. That's why we believe that America's pension system needs to be strengthened, and Social Security's benefit should be a guarantee, not a gamble.

Only when every American who wants to work, can; when every child goes to a good school and has the opportunity to go further, only when health care is available and affordable for every American, when a lifetime of work guarantees a retirement with dignity, and when America is secure at home and our strength abroad is respected and not resented; only then will we have a union as strong as the American people. That's the America we want to build, because that's the union the American people deserve. Thank you for listening, good night, and God bless America.

(Source.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 01/22/04 07:04:09 AM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & Political & Speeches and Suchlike.

Fifth Day of Christian Unity Octave 2004

Please pray!

See First Day of Christian Unity Octave 2004 / January 18 through January 25, inclusive. / "My peace I give to you" (Jn 14: 23-31).

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 01/22/04 06:57:29 AM
Categorized as Religious.