As IF Times

link Expert: Security Checkpoints Near Soft Targets May Soon Become The Norm « CBS New York.

So for almost 10 years, the West has had to be extra vigilant for any signs of ongoing terror activity in their daily lives.  All kinds of cumbersome and debatable programs and techniques were implemented at airports and other public transportation hubs by government ‘experts’ purportedly to keep everyone safe.  All of this was necessary since the mastermind of the 9-11 terror attacks was still at large and could be plotting mayhem anywhere and at any minute.  People were told to go about living their normal lives in defiance of the terrorists, but just in case, keep looking over their shoulders and suspect everyone.  Even 6 year old girls and frail grandmothers could not be ruled out as pawns in the diabolical methods of the terrorists.  A whole new workforce of government employees was created to molest, harass and humiliate us…..in order to ensure our safety.

Well, now the 9-11 mastermind has apparently been killed. Yet somehow, the experts exhort us to be even more vigilant and sensitive to possible retaliatory attacks by Bin Laden’s fans.  !!!  So, were we better off with him at large plotting the west’s destruction when he was alive, or now with his lackeys pursuing revenge after his death?   As of now, it seems like a lose/lose scenario. 

This sounds vaguely familiar…oh I know where I’ve heard this before!  Global warming!  People may recall the earnest bleats that a decade of supposedly increasing average temperatures, over the earth’s life of over 10 million years, was convincing evidence of global warming.  Over the past year or more however, the climate has never been cooler with snowfall and cold temperatures setting low records all over the place.  The Global Warming crew see this as EVIDENCE of global warming, or as they now call it, climate change.  So now we have to redouble our efforts to fight this man caused disaster.

In the case of the terror alerts, how about we recognize that the West will always be targets for our way of life and for our conspicuous affluence.  Unless there is technology to inspect every stick of gum, every lining of every jacket and every stitch of bulky underwear and the contents of every single car on the planet, we will be subject to the efforts of the people that hate the west.   Pretending to live normal lives while inside a plastic bubble is institutionalized lunacy.  Unlike Western culture which attempts to be inclusive and tolerant of variant peoples, Middle Eastern culture is still largely stuck in the mindset of edicts created thousands of years ago with no revision.  In a famous poem, The Ballad of East and West,  Rudyard Kipling concluded as much. 

Classic wisdom it seems.  As time goes on, people may want to cast some skeptical eyes upon the on-going ‘security’ regimes imposed upon them.  Like the global warming scam, someone benefits and it’s not the public.  It’s easy to project the hysteria that will be fanned by a concerned government so that all kinds of security measures will be imposed upon the helpless people.  We’ll have people who are armed and “protecting’ us and the rest who are dependant on their presence.  Years ago,  Ronald Reagan stated that the most dangerous words ever uttered were, “We’re from the government and we’re here to help”.  If TSA practices are what we can expect as government continues to “help” us,  I think we’d be better off looking after ourselves.

link Op-Ed Contributor – We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change – NYTimes.com.

Our hero Albert Gore, rather than re consider his opinions based on the recent revelations surrounding erroneous and unproven data which were the foundations of  the Global Warming scam, instead is employing the time tested techniques of liberals: attack the detractors, not argue the facts.

“…  Some news media organizations now present showmen masquerading as political thinkers who package hatred and divisiveness as entertainment…”

A thinly veiled reference to Fox News, the only organization  not buying into Gore’s crackpot notions.  Naturally, those that don’t agree are divisive and hateful.  I”ll remember that line when anyone ever questions Canada’s hockey supremacy.  With the combination of record cold weather experienced by most of the world, in particular the U.S. northeast as well as scandalous revelations by IPCC scientists, one would think Al would be afraid to leave his 10,000 sq. ft. mansion to face the public.  How did he get past the torches and pitchforks?

As many may know, Gore is a lawyer by training, from Harvard no less and until recently, a politician by profession.  Now he’s making a name for himself in the Oracle business.  By any measure, he’s done well for himself, parlaying a political career and inventing the internet into riding the surf atop the big wave of environmentalism.  Being an ex VP of the U.S. makes him a valuable board member for corporations.  Hedge fund Kleinwort Perkins and tech companies Apple and Google thought so, thus, his name is on their roster.

Lawyers though, are trained for one thing in their professions; they are taught to win.  Facts and circumstances are inconvenient annoyances and merely obstacles to legal victory.  Think O.J. Simpson trial.  Scientists usually work the other way.  Once something is postulated, validation of empirical data is welcomed as a means of verifying a result.  Not only that, but the theories and models are continuously tested in real life. With the questionable practices that have come to light in the Global Warming business, an honest and rational person would at least stop and consider the new developments.  It’s as if despite the rocks brought back by the lunar astronauts, Gore still insists that the moon is made of cheese. A couple of bad samples don’t destroy his conviction.  Good if you’re a lawyer.  Not so good if you are in position of causing billions of dollars of wrong headed policies.  Never one to miss a chance to spice his rhetoric with dramatic hyperbole, he states that;

“…(we) face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it…”

Really?  Human civilization as we know it?  Someone’s been watching too much Lost In Space.  He goes on;

“…What is important is that the overwhelming consensus on global warming remains unchanged. It is also worth noting that the panel’s scientists — acting in good faith on the best information then available to them — probably underestimated the range of sea-level rise in this century, the speed with which the Arctic ice cap is disappearing and the speed with which some of the large glacial flows in Antarctica and Greenland are melting and racing to the sea…” 

Consensus by whom?  What does consensus have to do with fact?  Not that long ago, the consensus of medical practitioners was that bleeding a sick patient was the sure cure for maladies.  And remember, global cooling was all the rage 30 years ago.  You can’t blame Al for refuting the facts, his carefully crafted empire is melting like the ice floes that he claims.  Unfortunately the jig is not up.  The hot air racket is big business.  With the massive dollars spent to build machinery  to benefit from cap and trade nonsense, the nascent industry won’t just roll over.  However, if Al can show me some mooncheese, I’ll eat that and my divisive words with humble humility and give  money to liberal causes.  Shiver.