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2008, the year man-made global warming was disproved

Telegraph UK | Christopher Booker | Dec. 31, 2008

The first, on May 21, headed “Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts” , reported that the entire Alpine “winter sports industry” could soon “grind to a halt for lack of snow”. The second, on December 19, headed “The Alps have best snow conditions in a generation” , reported that this winter’s Alpine snowfalls “look set to beat all records by New Year’s Day”.

Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects. [Read more…]

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Truth and Freedom

First Things | Michael Novak | Jan. 2, 2009

Human liberty depends on an accurate grasp of the human condition, not as we might like it to be, but as it is: “The truth shall set you free.”

Let us suppose, for instance, a situation in which truth is rendered servile by some contemporary enthusiasm. If truth is held captive by a powerful force of attraction, can the human beings who live under that force ever find a way to liberty? Only by luck, great courage, and long perseverance.

During the past hundred years, ideologies have often trumped the unimpeded search for truth. Here is where the sentence from Orwell becomes pivotal. “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” [Read more…]

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Green Comes Clean

Investor’s Business Daily | Jan. 2, 2009

The global warming alarmist in chief has unveiled the environmentalists’ real objective. And no, protecting the planet is not their top concern.

In a letter addressed to President-elect Obama and his wife, Michelle, James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, makes an appeal for a carbon tax, ostensibly as a means for cutting emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas that’s allegedly causing a dangerous greenhouse effect and warming trend.

Hansen suggests that the tax be levied “at the well-head or port of entry” from where it “will then appropriately affect all products and activities that use fossil fuels.” [Read more…]

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Hamas Legalizes Crucifixion

Jerusalem Post | Caroline Glick | Dec. 26, 2008

Both Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seems to have noticed. On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari’a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion.

Hamas’s endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time it renewed its jihad. Here, too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn’t feel neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday, Hamas lobbed a mortar shell at the Erez crossing point into Israel just as a group of Gazan Christians were standing on line waiting to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas. [Read more…]

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Nativity of Christ 2008

OCA | Metropolitan Jonah | Dec. 25, 2008

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

Lo, the time of our salvation draweth nigh! Make ready, O Cave! The Virgin approacheth to give birth! O Bethlehem, land of Judah, Adorn thyself and rejoice, For from thee hath our Lord shone forth! Hearken, ye mountains and hills, And ye parts of Judea, which lie round about, For Christ cometh, That He might save man whom He created, In that He loveth mankind! [Read more…]

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Looking Back on American Orthodoxy 2008

OCANews.org | George Matsoukas | Dec. 22, 2008

Reflecting back on the events in our Orthodox Church over the past year is hampered by the fact that our Church is jurisdictionally fragmented. Much good and dynamic work is being accomplished in all jurisdictions. At the same time, that work is not always easy to spot because they are buried in duplicated efforts, not supported by other jurisdictions, under-funded, and all the other problems our fragmentation fosters. [Read more…]

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The Light of Hope in Darkness

American Thinker | Bruce Walker | Dec. 23, 2008

In the Mumbai Massacre terrorists particularly targeted Jews, focusing special attention of the Chabad house. The Holocaust denial in Iran and the proliferation of literary outrages like The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion or monstrous tracts like Mein Kampf, are sad proof that hatred of Jews is not limited to terrorists operating in India. The chic Leftists of Europe unite with terrorists in their reflexive hatred of Israel and unspoken anti-Semitism.

Grimly, not just anti-Semitism found violent expression in the generally placid India. This year alone, more than 100 Christians have been murdered in anti-Christian riots on the subcontinent. The ancient Christian community in Iraq is facing slow extermination. The defamation of Christian faith in elite salons has never been more gleeful than now. [Read more…]

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Seattle refuses to use salt, roads snow packed by design

The Seattle Times | Susan Kelleher | Dec. 23, 2008

To hear the city’s spin, Seattle’s road crews are making “great progress” in clearing the ice-caked streets. But it turns out “plowed streets” in Seattle actually means “snow-packed,” as in there’s snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

“We’re trying to create a hard-packed surface,” said Alex Wiggins, chief of staff for the Seattle Department of Transportation. “It doesn’t look like anything you’d find in Chicago or New York.” The city’s approach means crews clear the roads enough for all-wheel and four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with front-wheel drive cars as long as they are using chains, Wiggins said. [Read more…]

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California Scheming, How Democrats Destroy a State

Investor’s Business Daily | Dec. 22, 2008

As the financial crisis in California gets worse, it’s pretty clear the real problem isn’t the budget at all, but a political system that has resulted in a dysfunctional one-party state.

California’s $41.8 billion budget deficit expected over the next two years is a record. No other state even comes close. But despite what the state’s politicians say, it’s not because of the recent economic downturn. It’s because of them.

The state has a budget crisis for the second time in a decade largely because the Democratic-held legislature has spent money wildly and without any real purpose. [Read more…]

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