Americans should not fear talking -and listening to those whose views we loathe.

This is very well said. I for one thought the whole incident was over blown. I don't think I would have invited Ahmadinejad to speak at anything I was running, but I wouldn't protest him speaking anywhere either. But someone should accept this invitation to speak somewhere in Iran. Or maybe the President should write an open letter to the people of Iran and see how much of it gets published in Iran.

I think Ahmadinejad would soon realize that HE is the one that does not want an truly OPEN dialog between the people of the US and the people of Iran.

OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Judge Rules 2 Patriot Act Provisions Unlawful

FOXNews.com - Judge Rules 2 Patriot Act Provisions Unlawful - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

I this took a long time to come about..
I've never understood the need for warrantless searches when there was a secret court setup to approve secret searches. The FBI's own records shows this has been abused and court oversight would stop most of that. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

The Soros Threat To Democracy

Follow the money.....

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily - The Soros Threat To Democracy [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Space Germs are Deadlier

FOXNews.com - Germs Taken to Space Come Back Deadlier - Science News | Current Articles:

This is interesting... plus I may have worked on this in a small way at KSC... I'm trying to find out what the experiment name was... more later

It was an experiment named "Microbe" built by Bioserve
although the science may have been done by a different university [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Was John Paul II Euthanized?

The title is misleading, at least by my definition of "Euthanized", but according to the author it fits the official catholic definition. We'll never know for sure, and in this case, even knowing all the "facts" would still leave a lot up to opinion and judgment calls.

The point of the author appears not to be to criticize what was done by the Pope, but to criticize how the church deals with people in similar situations that do similar things.

Was John Paul II Euthanized? - TIME [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Ice age or Greenhouse?

This is by Global warming scare mongers have no credit in my view. They are too quick to jump on a "consensus" bandwagon. Too quick to blame human activity for what may be natural changes.

Want proof? Read this.

The 'Old' Consensus?

Computer models can give you any result you want them to, even if you don't realize you want a particular result. Maybe CO2 caused Global warming is true and is happening, but these early adopters don't get any credit for "guessing right this time" in my book. They keep throwing out predictions and when one finally comes true, they act like they are so smart and visionary.

No, they are scare mongers who, like a blind squirrel, may find a nut once in a while.


Update
Hansen was funded by George Soros [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Andrew Meyer is no Lemon

Maybe if I put "Andrew Meyer" on my blog, I'll get noticed too....
I mean, this IS a political blog, and I currently have no one to really "reason" with despite the blog's name.
So all I have to do is get tasered somewhere for a silly, non violent reason.... hummm.... think I'll pass....

From Hog On Ice

from http://www.imao.us/archives/008738.html

and originally from http://instapundit.com/archives2/009695.php [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Biofuels May Be Worse Than Oil

Well, it sounded like a good idea....

FOXNews.com - Study: Biofuels May Disperse More Greenhouse Gases Than Oil - Science News | Current Articles [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Sea Level Rise - Florida Maps

According to this... Titusville (My home town) will be BEACH FRONT property within 50-150 years.... I live about a mile from the intercostal waterway (aka "the river") but that will soon be the ocean. So I'll be 1 mile from the BEACH... wowhoo...

Of course I don't know where I'll be working since the Kennedy Space Center will be underwater....
DGESL : Research : Climate Change and Sea Level : Sea Level Rise : USA: Florida : Images

Story here...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RISING_SEAS?SITE=FLROC&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT [This Post Continues after the jump...]

What to do with my Home Movies?

I'll get away from my political and social postings... Here is something REALLY important.

What do you do with your home movies. In my case, the situation is even worse. I bought a digital camcorder right before I got married, but I went with the "Digital 8mm" tape format. This format will end much sooner than the MiniDV tape format and I'll soon be stuck with lots of unreadable tapes (once my 8 year old camcorder dies...)

So what should I do? I've thought of everything..
1 - I could copy everything to MiniDV tape.. A slow half realtime process that would require copying it to my PC and then to the new tape. Plus I would have to buy a miniDV camera.

2 - I could copy everything to a harddrive. It would take 13 gig per 1 hour tape, but that's doable. But is a harddrive safe enough? So I would have to have two drives just in case. Plus I don't know how long a harddive keeps its data when not used.

3 - I could copy to DVD but that would mean spillting the 13 gigs into 3 DVDs. Doable but time consuming.

4 - I have edited most of the best tapes and make good DVD's with menus and all and I've made several copies re-burn them when they start skipping in the DVD player. But DVD is lower quality than the original DV footage, but more accessible. So even this is a trade off.

My current solution has been to make DVD's of the most important videos. Burn several copies, keep them in different locations, and even keep an ISO or VOB files on my PC and an external harddrive (kept at work). The Digital8mm tape itself if a backup for a while longer. Even if my camera dies, I would probably buy a cheap playback only unit just in case.

Beware the tapeless camcorder | CNET News.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

MediaDefender's antipiracy woes

It makes me chuckle to see how much money the record labels were wasting on services like this.... Of course the fact that they HAVE this much money to waste proves that prices for CDs and downloads are too high (or their cut of them is too high).

Maybe, just maybe media companies are realizing the futility of this approach. I'm sure they will find an equally bad approach to try next.

MediaDefender and the Media companies are in a similar position. Both are trying franticly to prove they matter, to prove that they do anything worth the money they are paid. But they aren't and both will be out of business or have to drastically change there business model soon.

Leaked e-mails reveal MediaDefender's antipiracy woes | CNET News.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Maryland gets it right.

I haven't read the opinion yet, and probably won't because I have no one to really discuss it with, but from this and what I heard on NPR today, Maryland got it right.

This has nothing to do with weather gays SHOULD have the right to marry, it has to do with if the state constitution already gives them that right. Common sense and the state supreme court says it doesn't. No matter where you stand on this issue, I would hope you would agree that society has the right to make our own rules and laws. The constitutions of the US and the states protect a few rights from being infringed, but this protection was itself agreed to by a majority (or even a super majority) when the constitution was ratified. To come in decades later and reinterpret what basic rights the constitution protects is in my opinion a cop out, it short circuits the democratic process. I can guarantee you that the people who ratified the Maryland constitution never thought it would be used to force the acceptance of gay marriage.

Essentially I'm saying that the right to gay marriage needs to come from the legislature, not the courts. To claim that the right to gay marriage is "already in the constitution" is foolish and dangerous. If the language is that loose, then another group can find the right to just about anything "already" in the constitution. The abuse of "equal rights" or "equal protection" phrase is sickening in my option. There is nothing "unequal" about defining who one can marry. It is similar to defining who can park in disable parking places. I can't because I don't fit the definition of "disabled" but I'm not treated UNequally at all, because the definition is clear and applies to everyone equally.

Anyways, I'm rambling here so I'll just go to bed...


Maryland justices say no to marriage - Yahoo! News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

NYTimes Betrays Journalistic Integrity

But is anyone really surprised ???

TIMES GIVES LEFTIES A HEFTY DISCOUNT FOR 'BETRAY US' AD | By CHARLES HURT Bureau Chief | National News | US News | Current National News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Fair Use Worth More to Economy Than Copyright

ouch.... It's a bad day when your copyrighted work is worth more to others than to yourself. But that's the way it always has been.. What good is it if you write a great book, but no one knows about. You could talk yourself blue saying it's "great" but people see that as bias. So other people that have read your book must be allowed to write about it and even quote it (without paying you). This generates interest in you book and increases your sales, but it also may make money for the "reviewers". If the book becomes widely reviewed and quoted, it may actually make MORE money for the reviewers than it does for you. But if the copyright owner tries to get a cut of the money the reviews and other "fair use" users of his work make, then he's killing the goose that made his work so popular to begin with.

Fair Use Worth More to Economy Than Copyright, CCIA Says -- Copyright -- InformationWeek [This Post Continues after the jump...]

What Scientific Consensus on Global Warming?

This is indeed interesting.... maybe now we can start working on solving the real problems, mainly non-CO2 (i.e. old fashioned) pollution and our dependence on oil.

Challenge to Scientific Consensus on Global Warming: Analysis Finds Hundreds of Scientists Have Published Evidence Countering Man-Made Global Warming Fears - Press Release [This Post Continues after the jump...]

City puts bite in 'no barking' ordinance

With cities like this.... who needs Home Owner Associations....
(For those of you how don't get it... Cities = Friends (normally) while HOA = Enemy)

An outright ban on owning a dog would probably not be accepted, but this round-about-way to ban it is! I wonder why? I guess it is kind of like the frog that get cooked because it cannot sense a slow rise in water temperature. People just don't sense these encroachments on our rights.

The Daily Commercial | City puts bite in 'no barking' ordinance


UPDATE
http://www.wftv.com/news/14100550/detail.html
It seems people are in an uproar over this... as they should be! Which proves my point that "city government" is large enough to have enough diversity (of opinion if nothing else) to protect people's rights. Small HOA simply do not. I'm sure a rule like this would pass easily in a bunch of HOA across the country. People think "I don't have a dog" or "My small dog's bark can't be heard outside the house" so why should I care about and protect other people's rights. It's only when you have enough people, so of which that think "wait a minute, I have a dog, and he barks more than 3 times a day." that people are moved to protect their own and other people's rights.

The best quote form the above link: "I'm a little perplexed myself at how much publicity this has generated," said police chief Randy Scoggins."

Could this guy be any more clueless?? What did he think would happen with a law that tickets a dog owner for having a dog that does ..well it does what dogs do -- BARK.

Also - Mt. Dora's chief of police said he got a telephone call all the way from London, England. A reporter for the BBC believes the city's plan to quiet barking dogs goes too far. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

‘Feel Good’ vs. ‘Do Good’ on Climate

Keep in mind when you read this, that this is from someone who BELIEVES in global warming.... yet even he says Kyoto is worthless...

‘Feel Good’ vs. ‘Do Good’ on Climate - New York Times [This Post Continues after the jump...]

The Truth Project

This is an interesting video I'm watch at my Church... It's nothing really "new" to me in concept, but there is a lot to learn...

The Truth Project [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Iraq: The Facts

Many Americans who haven't been paying close attention have built up a false image of Iraq that meets their own personal or political needs and has only incidental contact with reality. The real Iraq is something else.

read more | digg story [This Post Continues after the jump...]

The Next Fifty Years in Space

an interesting look at Space Travel 50 years from now..... something that would be right at home see while waiting in line at Space Mountain.... 50 years just doesn't seem long enough for any of this, other than the moon stuff, to happen.

The Next Fifty Years in Space - Associated Content [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Music exec says business model is 'done'

The writing has been on the wall for years... it's good to see that the music industry has learn to read!!

The sooner they give up their insane and draconian attempts to hold on the the OLD business model, the better we ALL will be.

Music exec says business model is 'done' | Tech news blog - CNET News.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Public 'wary of green tax motives'

This is in Britain but I think the same would be true in the US. Except here we don't so much raise taxes for this as much as we put new costly regulations on industry. It has a similar effect though.

I need to find some US polls.

But for me the buggiest reason I oppose the efforts of the "global warming club" is that I get suspicious when they use future doomsday problems to try and justify some new law restricting something. I realize there needs to be balance and in deed some laws restricting certain industries are very important. But when they say something like "New York will be underwater if we don't raise the average gas mileage of US cars" I can't take them seriously...


Public 'wary of green tax motives' | the Daily Mail [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Human-animal embryos

And so we start down the slippery slope ......

I mean besides the obvious... "let's study nature by creating and then destroying something completely UNnatural" contradiction... what else is wrong with this?

I don't think history will look favorably this period and these decisions...

Human-animal embryo study wins approval | Science | The Guardian [This Post Continues after the jump...]