Mover Mike

Trial By Ordeal by Craig Parshall, Harvest House Publishers - Paperback $12.99, 330 pages

I received this book free from Active Christian Media on Thursday and finished the book Friday. I could not put it down. If you like thrillers, by Grisham, James Patterson, Michael Connelly and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, you will love this book. To quote the back cover:

Pursuing a good real-estate investment, the professor (Kevin Hastings) stumbles onto a prime chunk of property in downtown Chicago. It just has an old church building to be cleared away. But the dream deal turns into an ordeal when Kevin discovers he's signed a contract with the mob - one he can't deliver on.

Kevin's story is told from his viewpoint. He is a naive, definitely not street smart, kind of an ivory tower history professor, who is spiritually lost. When things get real tough for him he tries to rely on himself, then on lawyers, but discovers he is repelled by his lawyers morals, but doesn't know why.

He meets people, "Christ-ers", Born Agains, who invoke the Lord's name and that feels uncomfortable to him. It is like hearing too much information.

As a History professor, Kevin lectures on some interesting ways Medieval men could prove their innocence. You would grasp a red hot poker, walk 9 yards, your blistered hand would be bandaged, and three days later you would be examined. If, your hand was healed, you were innocent. Trial By Ordeal is Kevin's story of his ordeal to prove his innocence.

Regarding "Born Agains", in the book a Rabbi questions Jesus about this need to be born again to see The Kingdom of God.

How can a man be born when he is old? ...Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb?

But Jesus was talking about something else, something that whispers to us, blows past us like a winsome breeze, from beyond the observable, ..."Flesh gives birth to flesh," Jesus said, "but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

And for Kevin, finding a way through the ordeal starts with his spirit, inside, and determines his actions and comforts him.

Another passage spoke of the Mission where Kevin sought help, as peopled by

Men who wandered the streets of Chicago wearing clothes indelibly discolored with grime - men with faces that showed almost completely on the outside all the broken stuff on the inside.

Not just the hard life on their faces, but their broken stuff. A feeling to me that says if you change the inside, the outside will change.

Parshall wrote the mobster particularly well. I could see Tony Soprano in every scene, even the way Tony moves his head, all without using profanity. Trial By Ordeal ranks up there with The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille. Both books explore what it's like to have a mobster take an interest in you?

Five out of Five stare for me!

Trial By Ordeal Craig Parshall Book Review Mover Mike

Update:

It is interesting to me that since 6/24 there have been 62 75 earthquakes in the Salton City area of California and just today there have been 50 58 so far yesterday and 5 today at 8:49PM .

When I look at the map of Baja and lower California, I wonder how long it will be before the Sea of Cortez joins with the Salton Sea.

Salton City Earthquakes USGS Mover

Update:

The headline reads

Rice, Lavrov quarrel on Iraq

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking unknowingly into an open microphone, chastised her Russian counterpart yesterday for bemoaning the killing of five Russian diplomats in Iraq

Seems to me that Rice has been quarrelling more and more with Russian officials. I'm thinking there's growing conflict with Russia over how we deal with Iraq and Iran, the USD and the Rubel, Gold (via deliberate higher weighting of Gold in Russia's forex reserves). This is the second time that Condoleezza has had harsh words with Russian officials in a short time. Could be politics, showing how tough she is, but I sense something more.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Russia DiplomacyN Mover Mike

From MarketWatch

Tracinda Corp., the investment vehicle of investor Kirk Kerkorian, is recommending to General Motors Corp.

to from a global partnership. Tracinda, through a federal filing, sent a letter Friday to Rich Wagoner, the Detroit automaker's chairman, saying the two foreign car makers "are receptive to the concept of including" GM in a global partnership and purchasing a minority stake in GM. The deal could generate substantial synergies and cost savings, according to the letter. Tracinda owns about 10% of GM shares. GM shares jumped 11.8% to $30.69 in pre-market action on I-Net.

I would imagine GM's 10% shareholder can throw around a lot of weight. Sounds like a forced merger to me.

Tracinda GM Finance Mover Mike

Is this why the market surged, the USD swooned and Gold took off like a rocket?

Chart of the Day says

While the last Fed tightening cycle (gold dashed line) fell a touch short of average, this tightening cycle has already witnessed a run that is a touch more than average.

To me it means the FED has reloaded. We now are at a point where interest rates can be reduced, after all, that debt has to be repaid and interest is a big expense. When it comes down to a choice between an economic collapse or inflation, the FED is going to flood the world with liquidity. This is great for Gold, lousy for the USD!

USD Gold Mover Mike

With the confirmation of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the general thinking of this administration has changed from Treasury Secretary O'Neil

"in favor of a strong dollar(?) I can't imagine why anyone would think to the contrary."

to a weaker dollar would lower Americans' appetite for imports, make U.S. exports cheaper on global markets and therefore help shrink the deficit.

What Americans should expect is the inflation of rising prices. We have outsourced the manufacture of a large number of consumer items and we may never manufacture them again in this country. We will see prices rise on those items. A lower dollar is expected to shrink the deficit, when in fact it will rob value from foreigners who hold our debt.

Everyone in the financial arena knows the USD is going lower. The trick will be, manage it another 30% lower over time without inducing a panic to sell. We need to raise the temperature of the water gradually, so the "frogs" don't realize too soon that they're cooked. (Hat tip to Le Metropole Cafe)

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
U.S. Treasury Secretary O'Neil"
Gold Trade Deficit USD Mover Mike

Update:

Speaking of U.S. Treasury Secretarys, did you read what former U.S. Treasury Larry Summers said? Lawrence H. Summers has cautioned developing countries that the return "will be zero" on those Treasurys after inflation and currency changes!

Just got an email from Ray LaMontagne. He's coming to Portland, opening for Guster on October 4th at the Crystal Ballroom. I just signed up for tickets at $32.50 for General Admission. If you haven't heard LaMontagne go here to visit his web site.

His new CD is due out on the 29th of August!

Ray LaMontagne Guster Mover Mike

Strange market! The FED raises interest rates for the 17th time and signals more to come. "They" say rising interest ratwes are not good for Gold but Gold finished the first session at $586 up about $5 and in the afternoon it is now $597 up another $11. OIl is over $73, the USD should be up, is down and the stock market is up 180. Meanwhile Fed has raised the Fed Funds rate to 5.25 and the 10-year treasury is 5.20 down .04. Strange market!!!

FED Interest Rates USD Gold Mover Mike

Let me take a different tack with Global warming. Here's CO2 Science on Carbon Dioxide and Global Warming

There is little doubt the air's CO2 concentration has risen significantly since the inception of the Industrial Revolution; and there are few who do not attribute the CO2 increase to the increase in humanity's use of fossil fuels. There is also little doubt the earth has warmed slightly over the same period; but there is no compelling reason to believe that the rise in temperature was caused by the rise in CO2. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that future increases in the air's CO2 content will produce any global warming; for there are numerous problems with the popular hypothesis that links the two phenomena.

[...]

The observation that two things have risen together for a period of time says nothing about one trend being the cause of the other.

When I was a stockbroker, there was an amazing correlation between the direction of the stock market after the Super Bowl and the winner of the Super Bowl called the Super Bowl Effect.

According to the unconventional but surprisingly accurate indicator, stocks rise when a team from the National Football Conference or one from the pre-1970 National Football League wins the Super Bowl. It's worked for 26 of 29 Super Bowls.

However, just because there is correlation doesn't imply cause. CO2 Science goes to point out

In thus considering the seven greatest temperature transitions of the past half-million years - three glacial terminations and four glacial inceptions - we note that increases and decreases in atmospheric CO2 concentration not only did not precede the changes in air temperature, they followed them, and by hundreds to thousands of years! There were also long periods of time when atmospheric CO2 remained unchanged, while air temperature dropped, as well as times when the air's CO2 content dropped, while air temperature remained unchanged or actually rose. Hence, the climate history of the past half-million years provides absolutely no evidence to suggest that the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 concentration will lead to significant global warming.

Global warming CO2 Science Mover Mike

Update: Check out Maxedoutmama for a further discussion of the "crock" of global warming in Journalistic Scientific Malpractice

I didn't post anything at the time, just tossed it off as another bit of propaganda by Michael Milstein and Richard L. Hill of The Oregonian. But, this first paragraph in Sunday's front page story set my teeth on edge:

The debate over what to do about global warming remains divisive and politically charged. But few scientists dispute we live on a planet where average temperatures are higher than they were a century ago and will continue to climb. In the Pacific Northwest — a place defined by glacier-clad mountains, rivers and the sea — the effects are now seen and measurable.

Milstein earlier in the month interviewed Al Gore about his movie and there was this exchange:

Q: You recall in the film that when you started discussing global warming in Congress, you expected that everyone else would be as concerned as you were. But they weren't. Why do you think that is?

Al Gore: Yada, Yada, Yada

You know, I've been trying to tell this story for 30 years, and what's different in the last several years is the debate's over. There's no more debate. No more debate among serious people about five points. Number 1: Global warming is real. Number 2: We human beings are largely responsible for it. Number 3: The results are catastrophic. Number 4: We have to fix it, and we have to act quickly. And number 5: It's not too late. We still have time. (emphasis added)

Milstein doesn't challenge Gore on any of that false science. Then he and Hill follow with the Sunday piece on the front page!

Well, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works just issued a report accusing AP of bias and guess what they said:

AP chose to ignore the scores of scientists who have harshly criticized the science presented in former Vice President Al Gore’s movie "An Inconvenient Truth".

[...]

The AP also chose to ignore Gore’s reliance on the now-discredited “hockey stick” by Dr. Michael Mann, which claims that temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere remained relatively stable over 900 years, then spiked upward in the 20th century, and that the 1990’s were the warmest decade in at least 1000 years.

[...]

Gore’s film also cites a review of scientific literature by the journal Science which claimed 100% consensus on global warming, but Lindzen pointed out the study was flat out incorrect.

“…A study in the journal Science by the social scientist Nancy Oreskes claimed that a search of the ISI Web of Knowledge Database for the years 1993 to 2003 under the key words "global climate change" produced 928 articles, all of whose abstracts supported what she referred to as the consensus view. A British social scientist, Benny Peiser, checked her procedure and found that only 913 of the 928 articles had abstracts at all, and that only 13 of the remaining 913 explicitly endorsed the so-called consensus view. Several actually opposed it.”- Lindzen wrote in an op-ed in the June 26, 2006 Wall Street Journal.

I am sick and tired of newspapers and reporters treating this global warming propaganda as science and saying it is settled science. And, I am sick that our president, elected as a conservative, would cater to this hoax. Here's the Philippine News on June 28th saying

I don’t think many would dispute the impact global warming is having upon the world. Even Governor Schwarzenegger and President Bush have admitted its existence to some degree. I also understand the impact global warming is having but I have issues when it comes to some of the responses we have taken to lessen its impact because it goes against the theory of evolution.

This is propaganda, plain and simple. If you think James Frey's book should have been labeled "fiction", then Al Gore's movie should be called "An Inconvenient Fiction"!

Al Gore Global warming An Inconvenient Truth Mover Mike One more thing about that infamous "hockey stick" TCS has this to say:

In their attempt to not publicly scold Mann and his coauthors for questionable data analysis methods, the authors of the new report instead chose to restate the evidence for how warm the Earth has gotten recently. What the media didn't notice, however, is that the 1,000 year figure that was central to the whole hockey stick debate had now been replaced in the report by a figure of 400 years. Since most of the last 400 years was dominated by the "Little Ice Age," the warming during the 20th century should be welcomed by humanity.

The report says that surface temperature reconstructions before this period (about 1600) have "less confidence" and that "uncertainties...increase substantially backward in time..." for any of these proxy estimates of ancient temperatures. One review panel member told me that the statisticians on the panel were amazed when it was revealed that the method underlying the hockey stick had essentially no statistical skill when validated.

This is pretty harsh language for an NAS report written by review panel members, several of whom are equivalent to foxes guarding the hen house.(emphasis added)

And don't "uncertainties...increase substantially FORWARD in time...?"

Update:

Can this really be the answer to Iran's nukes?

US cannot accept Israeli nuclear weapons: Arab League chief

The United States cannot denounce Iran's nuclear program while accepting Israel's possession of nuclear bombs, Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa told the US Arab Economic Forum in Houston, Texas Tuesday.

[...]

"There is no moral and legal ground to distinguish them. Both are bad and all military nuclear programs or programs of weapons of mass destruction should not be allowed."

The difference is, Mr. Moussa, Israel doesn't threaten its neighbors as Iran does, by saying Israel should be wiped from the map. There is no moral equivalence!

Amr Moussa Israel Iran Mover Mike

Is the Senate finally getting it: From The Washington Times,

Key backers of the Senate immigration bill said yesterday they are willing to consider a compromise that would delay the guest-worker program and "amnesty" portions until the borders have been secured.

Border Security Mover Mike

Gold Digger Ordered to Fill Hole

All Henry Mora got was the shaft when he went digging for gold.

Volunteer accused of embezzling from bingo

The case against (Charlotte M.) Luciani unfolded Oct. 3, when bingo officials ``found discrepancies in cash amounts,'' namely that forms reporting the nightly revenue did not match up with the amounts shown on cash register tapes (while Luciana was on vacation!).

Gold Diggers' Lesson #1: Do not go on vacation!

Henry Mora (Charlotte M.) Luciani Mover Mike

Every Tuesday I get an email "tunesday" from musician Steve Porter from the UK. The email is a unique way to market one's music. I liked the tune today and I've played it more than once, already. It has a nice little hook that is remembered after the song plays. Check him out at his website where if you are so inclined can download other music and buy his CDs.

Steve Porter Music Mover Mike

Beavers win national championship. Congrats to a team that never quit. That come from behind win in game two against NC was thrilling, all the time the announcers saying it is very hard to come back if a team gets down 5-0.

Photo by the AP

The pitching in game three for both sides was exciting to watch. The game was so close, it came down to an error and an unearned run.

At stores, every day is like Christmas Eve.... "Retailers are doing wonderful, restaurants are doing wonderful, car dealers are doing wonderful".

In the NYT, (Registration is required) Tax Revenues Are a Windfall for Louisiana By LESLIE EATON, we learn that

more tax dollars than ever are pouring into the state's coffers as the budget year draws to an end.

[...]

Part of the upswing has come from gamblers dropping more dollars at casinos and video poker machines. Another part has come from higher oil and gas prices, which not only increase the state's taxes and royalties, but also increase profits in the petrochemical industry, which is a vital part of the Louisiana economy.

But the biggest surge by far has been in sales taxes, as hurricane victims have used federal aid, insurance proceeds and their savings to replace items as disparate as socks and S.U.V.'s. Officials forecast that the state will end up with almost $500 million more in sales tax revenue than they expected before the storms hit.

Politicians will be politicians however. Cautioned by the governor not to spend wildly, budget battles were muted, though there was money allocated for some of the member's pet projects. And not to be left out

A raise has been approved for teachers and other school workers...

Louisiana Tax Revenues Katrina Mover Mike

Update:

The following article is reprinted with permission via Minuteman HQ email.
An Update from the Minuteman Fence Project Manager

First, let me say thanks to the brave ranchers who are stepping up to put their lives on the line to stop the illegal invasion. They live and work within spitting distance of the Mexican border every day. These brave men and women are working side by side with Minutemen in this war zone they call home, allowing us to secure America.

Second, let’s be clear. Not every single mile of the border or every ranch or rancher is the same. The full-on Israeli-style Security Fence is our primary design and first choice for construction. However, when circumstances dictate adjustment to a Border Fence with barbed wire and a vehicle barrier or another design to meet local requirements, we will make the necessary adaptations—and keep building.

Our plan: Do the job until our government does its duty.

* Announce the need for the Minuteman Border Fence.
* Ask again that President Bush do his duty and secure the border.
* Schedule a groundbreaking to get the Border Fence launched.
* Begin raising the $55 million needed for 70 miles of fence in AZ.
* Work with ranchers to design fence to meet specific private landsite requirements.
* Get steel and contractors to manage the sites.
* Register and vet fencing volunteers.
* Build a Minuteman Fence Security Plan to patrol fencing.
* Set up Volunteer Crews administration and crew management
* Continue to build fence as fast as resources allow.
* Start more sites in TX, CA and NM as donations and volunteer capacity permit.
* Continue Border Watch and Fence Operations until the border is secure.

Click to view details of fence diagram.
A Comprehensive Design

Numerous fence design variations will be required to effectively deal with border crossings by illegal aliens, drug dealers and livestock. Derivation from the primary design is necessary to accommodate local ranchers’ specific terrain, topography, herds and other factors.

The important point to remember is that MCDC will not let Vincente Fox tell us or the US ranchers we are working with where or what we can build. No matter what the fence design, MCDC will erect a well-built fence—and fences work. We know they are effective, because we see the results; incursions reduced, and all of the opposition groups and open border supporters screaming to stop the fence.

1) Security Fence - Illegal alien crossing design: A physical barrier capable of stopping people and vehicles has been designed to fit the general terrain. It is also a daunting psychological deterrent that cuts illegal crossings by 95% or more. The security fence will not be easy to compromise by climbing over with a ladder, cannot be cut with wire cutters, breached by ramming with a vehicle, or tunneling under undetected. While no fence can be a 100% impenetrable barrier—the Minuteman Border Fence is an excellent design and will prove time-consuming enough that Border Patrol agents can be alerted and respond before the incursion can be completed.

Our fence plan will keep costs near $150 per foot.

2) Border Fence – Halting drug dealers, illegal aliens and livestock: This style of fence is necessary where full Security Fencing cannot be installed. A physical barrier with a 5 wire barbed wire fence 5' 6" high, a vehicle barrier with a horizontal steel barrier in 12’ sections welded to steel post 30” high and razor wire on the ground between the wire fence and the vehicle barrier. This barrier will stop vehicles and cattle and slow down illegal aliens.

This design similar to Border Patrol designs is intended to accomplish the following: Mexican drugs are coming across the border in vehicles and on the backs of mules. The steel barrier stops drug vehicles and is high enough to stop mules from walking over and low enough to keep them from going under. The barbed wire fence keeps Mexican livestock in Mexico. Thousands of diseased Mexican cattle are presently allowed to walk freely into the US unchecked, and MCDC is working with our ranchers to stop the spread of disease. This design is cheaper and faster to erect where urgent conditions warrant, especially in cases of diseased cattle incursions.

Schedule Facts:

April 20, 2006 – Chris Simcox announces the Minuteman Border Fence is to be built if President Bush does not send armed troops to secure the US – Mexico border by Memorial Day 2006.

May 27, 2006 - Successful groundbreaking was held in Arizona on Memorial Day weekend. First 2.5 miles of 10 miles of Border Fence erected. Continue fence fundraising through direct mail, email, national radio affiliates and national speaking tours.

May 27 to June 30 – Finished the first 2.5 mile section of fence, applied for permission on next 7.5 miles, repaired vandalized fence, ordered steel, finalized fence design/civil engineering specifications, retained two local Arizona contractors who hire legally, started vetting volunteers for work crews, completed volunteer delivery of donated construction truck, continue next 7.5 miles, acquire vehicle barrier steel, install vehicle barrier, test/install fence camera technology, plan and implement 24x7 fence security.

June 27 - Second site layout to be finished.

July 6-15 – Security Fence at second location starts.

Peter Kunz
Project Manager
MinutemanHQ.com Minuteman Border Fence

******************

MINUTEMEN CONTINUE BUILDING BORDER FENCE

A Successful Start on a Security Fence

The successful groundbreaking was held in Arizona on Memorial Day weekend, as President Bush refused to immediately deploy National Guard and reserve troops to secure America’s out-of-control southern border with Mexico.

Hundreds of volunteers—along with Minuteman Founder Chris Simcox, Ambassador Alan Keyes, Congressman Steve King, AZ gubernatorial candidate Don Goldwater, WeNeedAFence.com founder Colin Hanna and AZ Congressional candidate Randy Graf—dug holes, mixed concrete, put up fencing while opposition groups jeered and skeptics said it could not be done. Now MCDC continues with dedicated volunteers, engineers and contractors using LEGAL crews to work with local Arizona land owners in building mile after mile of border security fencing on private land along the border with Mexico. The first site is 10 miles long and the first 2.5 miles of Minuteman Border Fence already has been completed.
How can You Help?

Build the Minuteman Border Fence by sending donations and volunteering to participate in making the US border secure.

Donate to Build the Minuteman Border Fence

VOLUNTEER to Build the Minuteman Border Fence

Sign up as a volunteer and get access to the “Minutemen Border Cams” an active web based surveillance link on the fencing project. The Minuteman Border Fence is placing cameras which will be monitored via computer over the Internet by registered Minutemen across the country, so that Minuteman volunteers can observe and report illegal crossings from the computer in their living rooms 24/7.

The Border Fence is already making a difference.

Local reports indicate that drug and human trafficking has already been reduced. There are fewer vehicles in the area where the fence is under construction—proving again that having a presence and taking positive steps to do SOMETHING to secure the border reduces the flow of illegal aliens, potential terrorists, drug and human traffickers, murderers, rapists and thieves in these areas.

More than 1,500 have volunteered to build the fence.

Planning and organization continues as volunteers, materials and contractors are being coordinated in an unprecedented alliance with over 1,500 Minuteman Border Fence volunteers. In the true spirit of the Minutemen of the American Revolution these patriots have joined together to form an army of volunteers to secure our borders and protect America’s sovereignty, security and prosperity.

“The undertaking is monumental and historic” says Chris Simcox.

MCDC is beginning construction of the Israeli-style border security fence at a second ranch location in early July and later throughout the year in TX, CA and NM as more resources are marshaled. Two fencing companies that hire legally have been retained to run the jobs sites and coordinate volunteer construction crews as Minutemen volunteers are scheduled to provide labor and security. Crews of four to ten volunteers under the guidance of professional fence installers can install as much as 3 miles of fence in a week.

The nay-sayers are wrong. The reality is the Minutemen are here to stay, and this mission will be completed. In April of 2005, over 800 volunteer men and women took action to secure the border. This year there are more than 200,000 Minuteman Civil Defense Corps activists not only guarding the border but building fence, faxing our elected representatives, making phone calls, voting open border politicians out of office, starting local chapters and contributing their time, money and expertise. MCDC is an explosive grassroots effort enjoying the energetic support of political Democrats, Republicans and Independents—all American patriots who have earned the trust of the public by keeping our word to remain vigilant until our borders are secure.

The fencing will be built on private land with privately donated funds, engineering and labor. Its construction at every step will serve as an example to educate the public about the feasibility and efficacy of fencing to secure America’s borders from illegal invasion by aliens and international criminal cartels. An IRS-authorized charitable non-profit organization is facilitating, administering and reporting tax-deductible donations specifically and solely for construction of this Minuteman Border Fence project. Monetary and in-kind contributions for this effort will go directly into meeting hard costs such as building materials for this private fencing operation.

We have a monumental challenge ahead to raise $55 million. We urgently need your help for this effort to succeed. With your help MCDC can make America more secure by continuing to urge citizen volunteers to support the Minuteman Border Fence.

Be sure to send this to EVERYONE you know who wants to help STOP illegal aliens at the border! Thank you!

Donate to Build the Minuteman Border Fence

VOLUNTEER to Build the Minuteman Border Fence

Go www.minutemanborderfence.com and join with us TODAY.

Sincerely for America,

Chris Simcox, President
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps

_________________________________

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

From KATC3, Terror Ringleader has Louisiana Ties

"I couldn't believe it but its true - that's him I saw on TV," says Narcisse Batiste. Family members woke him up Thursday night when they saw his son - Narseal - was one of 7 suspects arrested for plotting Al-Queda like attacks.

Narseal Batiste and his five brothers and sisters grew up in both Marksville and Chicago. His father is a baptist preacher at a church in Bunkie. "They were brought up under strict supervision - church - school - they were taught to love everybody," says Narcisse Batiste. "I don't believe it - I don't believe my son's capable of doing it because he never showed anything bad in life."

Narseal converted to Islam in the early '90s. About five years ago he moved his wife and four children from Marksville back to Chicago. Since then, father and son have not spoken. Today, Narcisse Batiste has a lot of questions for his son. "Were you involved? What have you been doing? Your dad never taught you to do this."

As of Friday afternoon, Batiste still hasn't heard any official word from his son - or the government on the arrests. He's hoping to find the federal charges false.

Mover Mike

Dr Jack Wheeler in his latest edition of To The Point (by subscription only) tells the story of a fight between Condoleezza Rice and Dick Cheney that indicates Condi has joined the "dark side", the side of the appeasers.

At the center of the drama is one of the great unknown heroes of America’s victory in the Cold War, a geopolitical genius with the distinctive name of Enders Wimbush.

[...]

Enders Wimbush was the Director of Radio Liberty, broadcasting into the Soviet Union itself ...

He was determined to give a voice to those within the Soviet Union calling for freedom, rather than have Radio Liberty be like Voice of America, purveying left-slanted news and popular music.

...it was inconceivable that the Soviet Union itself would break apart.

But break apart it did – thanks in large part to the broadcasts of Enders Wimbush’s Radio Liberty.

[...]

So it was that Wimbush got a call from someone in touch with Dick Cheney’s office to inform him that the president of RFE/RL, Tom Dine, was retiring, and would he consider throwing his hat in the ring to be Dine’s successor?

“The Vice-President views Iran as one of the country’s most urgent national security threats,”...

[...]

The RFE/RL presidency is chosen by a vote of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all non-military US international broadcasting, including Voice of America and Radio Marti to Cuba. There are currently seven members (there are two vacancies), three of whom are Republican, three are Democrat, with the seventh being the Secretary of State, who normally designates a surrogate.

Condi’s designate on the BBG is Karen Hughes, George Bush’s closest political confidante next to Karl Rove, and Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy.

The vote took place in Prague (where RFE/RL is headquartered) on June 10th. It was a choice between Wimbush and Jeff Trimble, Tom Dine’s former deputy and now interim president. Trimble, as a left-wing liberal, was the candidate of the three Democrat board members – especially Jeffrey Hirschberg, a Washington attorney who is in Putin’s pocket with extensive business interests in Russia.

Hirschberg was so frantic to block Wimbush – who would have no qualms about broadcasting the flaws and fascism of Putin’s Russia – that a month ago he had begun a smear campaign against him so disgusting that Wimbush had his lawyer consider a character-defamation lawsuit.

At the Prague meeting, the three Republican members made it clear that Wimbush had the strong support of the office of the Vice-President, the office of the Secretary of Defense, and members of the President's National Security Council.

[...]

Now came the vote. Three for Wimbush. Three for Trimble. And then Karen Hughes cast the deciding vote – for Trimble.

Dr Jack Wheeler Condoleezza Rice Dick Cheney Mover Mike/a>

From The NY Daily News, NY is fighting a class-action lawsuit:

Fifty-seven Ground Zero workers have died and thousands of others have been sickened by exposure to a noxious mix of chemicals released when the World Trade Center was reduced to smoldering rubble...

[...]

The city is trying to beat back a class-action lawsuit filed by some 8,000 workers and the families of the dead who claim the city, in its haste to clear the site, exposed them to dangerous levels of asbestos, lead and other toxins.

Weren't the residents of NYC told that the air was ok to breathe? Was that true? Should they be included in the lawsuit?

Ground Zero 9/11 Lawsuit Mover Mike

First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

From the NRO, by Michael Ledeen,

An American al Qaeda operative who was a close associate of the leader of the July 7 bombers was recruited at a New York mosque that British militants helped to run.

British radicals regularly traveled to the Masjid Fatima Islamic Centre, in Queens, to organize sending American volunteers to jihadi training camps in Pakistan.

Investigators reportedly found that Mohammad Sidique Khan had made calls to the mosque last year in the months before he led the terrorist attack on London that killed 52 innocent people. ...

Mohammad Junaid Babar, one recruit from the Masjid Fatima Islamic Centre, has told U.S. intelligence officials that he met Khan in a jihadi training camp in Pakistan in July 2003. He claims that the pair became friends as they studied how to assemble explosive devices.

Babar, 31, a computer programmer, says that it was at the Masjid Fatima centre that he became a radical.

To date there are over 2,000 mosques in the United States of America.

location: Tempe, Arizona

Ledeen says

So mosques can be very dangerous places when the local imam preaches jihadism, as is done in the thousands of Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi mosques all over the world, including the United States.

So why is our money being sent by President Bush to Saudi Arabia contrary to the law passed by Congress?

The Bush administration was expected to dismiss a congressional ban on U.S. military aid to Saudi Arabia.

[...]

On June 9, the House voted 312-97 to cut $420,000 requested by the administration for Riyad to participate in U.S.-backed military and counter-terrorism training. Sponsors of the measure cited Saudi Arabia's failure to block financing to Al Qaida-aligned groups abroad.

I have so many questions about the application of the First Amendment as it applies to sedition within the mosques. Who among our elected leaders will say, "Enough!"

First Amendment Mosques Islam Mover Mike

Earthquake Prediction by Tiempe has predicted the following quake for Thursday the 22nd:

Scotts Mills, Oregon area (45.024 -122.555) then same area or Mount Angel, Oregon (45.038 -122.804) (Strong)

Apparently, Tiempe is a psychic who feels pain in parts of her body that she interprets as areas on the globe and uses that pain and its intensity to predict earthquakes.

Tiempe Scotts Mills, Oregon Earthquake Mover Mike

Update: The only quake that occurred was this one in Lyons, OR, but I would guess it would not qualify as a hit. It is too far from Scotts Mills:

MAP 1.8 2006/06/23 17:06:51 44.691 -122.631 25.3 9 km ( 6 mi) SSW of Lyons, OR

I am rooting for someone to be able to predict quakes. Tiempe does a good job, but she is not 100%.

There was a very important story on Sunday in the Washington Post, From the Embassy, a Grim Report. The story carried a "leaked" cable purportedly from Khalizad, either written by him or sent over his name. It paints a very grim picture of life outside the green zone in Iraq. The country seems to be going the way of a Islamic state with all its loss of freedom for women.

I saw the article today for the first time in Le Metropole Cafe. I searched Technorati to see if it had been written about by other bloggers. It didn't seem worth my while to rehash the same story again. I was struck by the lack of familiar bloggers and most of the bloggers appeared to be on the left, many anti-bush. Where were the conservatives? Here is a complete listing of the blogs posting something about the "Grim Report". They are listed from the oldest posting at the top to the most recent at the bottom. Only three six have the "#" sign to indicate they are blogs with huge followings. If I have missed your blog or misrepresented your readership, accept my apology, send me a link and I will include it in this list or add an "#".

SWJ Daily News Links
War and Peace
Everything Between
Pacific Views
Prometheus6
Arkansas Blog
"On Topic" With Doug Krile
An Analysis of US Foreign Policy
PostWatch
Our Emerging Majority
Middle Earth Journal
The Daily Background
The Emirates Economist
Needlenose
AMERICAblog.com
#TalkLeft
The Daily Freedom News
Later On
Loose Feathers
Craig Creslog
arredonald
Earth-Planet, Universe
Informed Comment
Independent Christian Voice
It's My Country, Too
Splasho
The Vermont Daily Briefing
UnTravel
tangents
Speaking Truth to Power
Starked
Daimnation!
Think Progress
Blog Left: Critical Interventions
E Pluribus Unum
Hootsbuddy's Place
Building A Pyramid
Booman Tribune
The Garlic
A Newer World
A Lie A Day
#The Left Coaster
Hot Air
The Carpetbagger Report
Midtopia
Truthdig
Have Coffee, Will Write
Plunderbund
#Andrew Sullivan
Martini Republic
Flagrancy to Reason
Phlip's Rants
Debsweb
Thiscenturysucks.com
Your Prayers Make the Real Gods Angry
BTC News
#First Draft
Jihad Watch
Todd and In Charge
End of Silence
Matthew Yglesias
Hey, You
d-day
Garish & Goodwin
Pudding Time!
Hullabaloo
Make Some Noise
News About Iraq
Meet the Facts
Jimmy Dog
Media Cynic
A Big Stick and A Small Carrot
on the virg
Napalm News
#Balloon Juice
Blogpulse Newswire
toirtap
Blue Aggies
Steconews
Just Inside the Beltway
Politics, Compassion, and Justice
History News Network
Tommywonk

I am still stunned that the following have not commented:

1.Instapundit.com
2.Michelle Malkin
3.Daily Kos: State of the Nation
4.Power Line
5.lgf: the lowest of the low
6.Captain's Quarters
7.Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall
8.Hugh Hewitt
9.Mudville Gazette
10.Wizbang: Explosively Unique...

Hey, maybe the cable is a fake!

From the Embassy, a Grim Report Washington Post Baghdad Embassy Cable Mover Mike

Update:

There occurred an interesting earthquake in Ohio, recently; a 3.4.

MAP 3.4 2006/06/20 20:11:17 41.843 -81.168 5.0 5 km ( 3 mi) NW of North Perry, OH

...researchers are particularly intrigued because it was the 10th and largest quake in northern Ohio this year. The second-biggest was a 3.0 magnitude March 11, 2006, also beneath the lake.

[...]

Scientists say Ohio's earthquakes are linked to an ancient scar six-thousand feet deep that is known as the Akron Magnetic Boundary. The fault runs diagonally through Summit County and into Geauga, Lake and Ashtabula counties and was formed when North America tried unsuccessfully to split a billion years ago.

Ohio is covered with glacial sediments, so faults are not visible on the surface. Oil drilling has given scientists clues as to the sub surface.

Some have theorized that the NA continent will split from the Great Lakes to Lousiana through the New Madrid fault. It is always interesting to watch the earthquakes for clues.

Ohio's earthquakes Akron Magnetic Boundary geology Mover Mike

I am a fan of the Medium which plays on NBC Channel 8 in Portland at 10:00 PM. I would watch it every Monday night until I started driving a school bus. 10:00 PM was too late when I needed to get up at 5:20 AM the next morning. I liked that the show was based on the life of a real woman, Alison DuBois, who claims she talks to the dead. In the show she works with the DA's office bringing criminals to justice. She doesn't always interpret her dreams accurately or her psychic insights can be misleading. That's where the conflict comes in; that, and trying to balance family with her ESP.

I bring this up because SacBee has an interview with Mrs. DuBois and it makes fascinating reading. She is asked

Why do the dead contact the living through you?

A: They want to make sure they can guide (living loved ones) and keep them from repeating the mistakes they themselves made in life. When children die, they still want to be around their parents and tell them they're OK. When parents die, they want to see their children grow up and accomplish things in life.

If you believe as I do that our souls live on after the "house" we live in dies, then this question and answer are enlightening:

Q: Have the dead shown you what awaits the living?

A: They've given me glimpses of what it looks like on the other side. An old lady lived in a house since she was a child, it was where she was happy and safe. That house in her reality still exists. I see that (the dead's) reality is parallel to ours.

There does seem to be a heaven-hell side, though. I've had a couple of instances reading women whose fathers had molested them. I so wanted these men to tell their daughters they were sorry, but they wouldn't do it. There was no remorse, and they were in a dark place, living in their own personal hell and stewing in their own energy. They are isolated, as they should be.

Everyone I know loves a good ghost story. Medium delivers one each week!

As you might guess Alison DuBois has a new book out. Her new book, "We Are Their Heaven", focuses mostly on her ability to serve as a conduit between this life and the next.

Alison DuBois Medium We Are Their Heaven Mover Mike

Here's more crap!

In todays NY Times, in a movie revue of Robert Edwards's satirical allegory, "Land of the Blind", NYT writer Stephen Holden betrays his political ignorance with this statement:

As the fable goes along, that nation swings from extreme right to extreme left; ... In its fascist phase (the movie's first half), this troubled Everycountry suggests Nazi Germany overlain with a banana republic in a multicentury, intercontinental time warp that alludes to everything from Iran under the Shah to prerevolutionary France. Its despotic ruler, Maximilian II, a k a Junior (Tom Hollander), is a demented little Caligula (or Napoleon) who has christened himself "president for life."

[...]

Under Thorne's (a shaggy leftist dictator) autocratic rule, Everycountry becomes a pastiche of Communist China, North Korea, Cambodia under Pol Pot and Iran since the Islamic Revolution. Frightened women huddle under burqas, book burnings commence and the professional class is purged in grim re-education camps. Thorne even insists the traffic signals be reversed so that red means go.

There are three states of nature: freedom, chaos, totalitarianism. There is no continuum from right to left as portrayed by Holden. There is a only freedom on one end and totalitarianism on the other, of which would include, socialism, communism, fascism, and statism.

Holden, your comparison makes a good set piece, but you sure failed political science!

Land of the Blind Stephen Holden Movie Review Mover Mike

What is this?

Breitbart has a story headlined on Drudge that says Trade Deficit Posts Surprising Improvement. Here's what the author Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer writes:

The deficit in the broadest measure of foreign trade, after setting an all-time high at the end of 2005, narrowed by an unexpectedly large amount in the first three months of this year.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that America's current account trade deficit fell to $208.7 billion in the January-March quarter, down 6.5 percent from a record $223.1 billion deficit set in the final three months of last year.

Hey, Crutsinger, they ought to take away your license to write for this story. You are comparing an after Christmas quarter - before tax time to the strongest retail quarter in the year. Many retail chains do more business in the fourth quarter than in the first three quarters combined.

Now if you did the work of a real reporter, you would dig out the real data and compare Q1 2006 to Q1 2005. Here are the numbers you could have found with a little effort:

Trade Deficit Seasonally Adjusted

Jan. 2005 56,637
Feb. 2005 57,523
Mar. 2005 53,948

Total 168,108

Jan. 2006 66,216
Feb. 2006 62,660
Mar. 2006 61,862

Total 197,048

That is almost a 14% increase year over year. And it didn't get any better in April:

Apr. 2005 57,010
Apr. 2006 63,426.
Another double-digit increase!

Martin Crutsinger Trade Deficit Economics Mover Mike

Update: Can you believe it? The same exact story is carried in the Washington Post in the business section!

Update:

From The Nation in Pakistan:

The editor of the Danish newspaper ‘Jyllands Posten’ was burnt to death when a fire mysteriously broke out in his bedroom, a Saudi newspaper claims.

According to the newspaper, the editor was sleeping in his bedroom when the fire ravaged his bedroom. He and his newspaper became controversial when it had published blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad

Either the Saudi newspaper or the Pakistani newspaper used the word "blasphemous" to characterize the cartoons, not Mover Mike.

Jyllands Posten Muslim caricatures Mover Mike

This stunned me:

The hundreds of empty containers stacked beside the rails near the Norfolk Southern Corp. Portlock rail yard in Chesapeake look ready to board ship here and head back to China, but they are going nowhere.

China is shipping so many goods to the United States that the Chinese often find it cheaper to build new containers with low-cost labor and leave their empty ones in the United States than send them home empty.

Containers China Mover Mike

Here's an example of junk investment advice.

From Mumba Mirror Business section:

Falling prices have well and truly dulled gold as a safe investment option. On Wednesday, gold prices touched a three-month low, ending at Rs 8,400 to Rs 8,500 per 10 gms, wiping out most of the gains created in the recent past.

A market analyst, who works with a leading consultancy, said that there were many reasons for the consistent drop in prices. “There is a direct co-relation between gold prices and the strengthening of the dollar. And the expectation that the US Federal Reserve will hike interest rates just kept on making the dollar stronger which further pushed down gold prices,” the analyst said.

Yes, the drop in Gold from $700+ to $540 wiped out gains that takes us back to March of this year (see chart), but we are still double off the lows of 2001. A double in 5 years is 14% compounded! Not bad!

As far as the relationship between the USD and Gold, there are more times when there is an inverse relationship, but since August of 2005 when the USD was strong , Gold gained $125.

The USD is not strong now (see chart). Since March it has dropped from 91+ to 83.4 in spite of rising interest rates by the Fed. We have had a 5% rise off the recent bottom, back to resistance at 86. So what!

The Fed is behind the curve on interest rates. If I am right that inflation is much higher than government statistics say, even with the Fed, we have negative interest rates, meaning you can borrow for less than the inflation rate and that is good for Gold. Finally, a rise in interest rates is not negative for gold.

What really pushed down prices then? Basically, the British bailed out their friends who were taking huge losses in commodities, like copper, by being short. Somewhere, enough Gold was found to nail the longs.

Nothing has changed:

1. The US Dollar is trash!

2. Gold has been out of favor for such a long time that we are running a supply deficit of 1,500 tons per year and that it will take 5 to 10 years to bring new mining production on-line.

3. The central banks and bullion banks are short 10,000 to 14,000 tons of gold and it will require much higher prices to cover the shorts.

4. The mumbo jumbo from the Mumba Mirror

Gold Inflation USD Mover Mike

From the SacBee,

A homeowner (in Montclair, Calif.) digging for gold in his front yard said he got "carried away" and ended up with a 60-foot-deep hole, authorities said.

Norm Enrique, 63, began digging 10 days ago after his gold detector reported a positive hit near his front patio. He told authorities he only intended to go down three or four feet.

It appears that Gold investors have found themselves in a deep hole as well. Gold has dropped from above $700 in May to $542 today; lows not seen since March of 2006.

I'm surprised that we have had this much of a pullback, however I still maintain we will see prices equal to or higher than the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The fire fighters who came to the hole said "You're done!" "It's amazing no one got killed." Let's hope that applies to Gold investors as well.

Norm Enrique Montclair, Calif. Gold Hunter Mover Mike

Update:

Paul Sperry offers this bit of information writing for FrontPage Magazine:

Last week, military brass — along with representatives from the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations — dedicated the first Muslim prayer center for the Marines as a symbol of the military's "religious tolerance" and "respect" for the faith the enemy uses to attack us. Already, plans are in the works to build by 2009 a bigger mosque (for 24 Muslims) at the Marine base in Quantico so Muslim service members can have a "proper place" to worship, and one that "honors their religious heritage," officials say, not realizing that the mosque can also be used by the enemy to build a Fifth Column inside the Marines.

Hat Tip to The Urban Grind

Quantico Islam Mover Mike

Update:

From the Canadian Free Press regarding Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth.

Scientists respond to Gore's warnings of climate catastrophe "The Inconvenient Truth" is indeed inconvenient to alarmists
By Tom Harris
Monday, June 12, 2006

"Scientists have an independent obligation to respect and present the truth as they see it," Al Gore sensibly asserts in his film "An Inconvenient Truth", showing at Cumberland 4 Cinemas in Toronto since Jun 2. With that outlook in mind, what do world climate experts actually think about the science of his movie?

Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention."

But surely Carter is merely part of what most people regard as a tiny cadre of "climate change skeptics" who disagree with the "vast majority of scientists" Gore cites?

No; Carter is one of hundreds of highly qualified non-governmental, non-industry, non-lobby group climate experts who contest the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing significant global climate change. "Climate experts" is the operative term here. Why? Because what Gore's "majority of scientists" think is immaterial when only a very small fraction of them actually work in the climate field.

Even among that fraction, many focus their studies on the impacts of climate change; biologists, for example, who study everything from insects to polar bears to poison ivy. "While many are highly skilled researchers, they generally do not have special knowledge about the causes of global climate change," explains former University of Winnipeg climatology professor Dr. Tim Ball. "They usually can tell us only about the effects of changes in the local environment where they conduct their studies."

This is highly valuable knowledge, but doesn't make them climate change cause experts, only climate impact experts.

So we have a smaller fraction.

But it becomes smaller still. Among experts who actually examine the causes of change on a global scale, many concentrate their research on designing and enhancing computer models of hypothetical futures. "These models have been consistently wrong in all their scenarios," asserts Ball. "Since modelers concede computer outputs are not "predictions" but are in fact merely scenarios, they are negligent in letting policy-makers and the public think they are actually making forecasts."

We should listen most to scientists who use real data to try to understand what nature is actually telling us about the causes and extent of global climate change. In this relatively small community, there is no consensus, despite what Gore and others would suggest.

Here is a small sample of the side of the debate we almost never hear:

Appearing before the Commons Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development last year, Carleton University paleoclimatologist Professor Tim Patterson testified, "There is no meaningful correlation between CO2 levels and Earth's temperature over this [geologic] time frame. In fact, when CO2 levels were over ten times higher than they are now, about 450 million years ago, the planet was in the depths of the absolute coldest period in the last half billion years." Patterson asked the committee, "On the basis of this evidence, how could anyone still believe that the recent relatively small increase in CO2 levels would be the major cause of the past century's modest warming?"

Patterson concluded his testimony by explaining what his research and "hundreds of other studies" reveal: on all time scales, there is very good correlation between Earth's temperature and natural celestial phenomena such changes in the brightness of the Sun.

Dr. Boris Winterhalter, former marine researcher at the Geological Survey of Finland and professor in marine geology, University of Helsinki, takes apart Gore's dramatic display of Antarctic glaciers collapsing into the sea. "The breaking glacier wall is a normally occurring phenomenon which is due to the normal advance of a glacier," says Winterhalter. "In Antarctica the temperature is low enough to prohibit melting of the ice front, so if the ice is grounded, it has to break off in beautiful ice cascades. If the water is deep enough icebergs will form."

Dr. Wibj�rn Karl�n, emeritus professor, Dept. of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Sweden, admits, "Some small areas in the Antarctic Peninsula have broken up recently, just like it has done back in time. The temperature in this part of Antarctica has increased recently, probably because of a small change in the position of the low pressure systems."

But Karl�n clarifies that the 'mass balance' of Antarctica is positive - more snow is accumulating than melting off. As a result, Ball explains, there is an increase in the 'calving' of icebergs as the ice dome of Antarctica is growing and flowing to the oceans. When Greenland and Antarctica are assessed together, "their mass balance is considered to possibly increase the sea level by 0.03 mm/year - not much of an effect," Karl�n concludes.

The Antarctica has survived warm and cold events over millions of years. A meltdown is simply not a realistic scenario in the foreseeable future.

Gore tells us in the film, "Starting in 1970, there was a precipitous drop-off in the amount and extent and thickness of the Arctic ice cap." This is misleading, according to Ball: "The survey that Gore cites was a single transect across one part of the Arctic basin in the month of October during the 1960s when we were in the middle of the cooling period. The 1990 runs were done in the warmer month of September, using a wholly different technology."

Karl�n explains that a paper published in 2003 by University of Alaska professor Igor Polyakov shows that, the region of the Arctic where rising temperature is supposedly endangering polar bears showed fluctuations since 1940 but no overall temperature rise. "For several published records it is a decrease for the last 50 years," says Karl�n

Dr. Dick Morgan, former advisor to the World Meteorological Organization and climatology researcher at University of Exeter, U.K. gives the details, "There has been some decrease in ice thickness in the Canadian Arctic over the past 30 years but no melt down. The Canadian Ice Service records show that from 1971-1981 there was average, to above average, ice thickness. From 1981-1982 there was a sharp decrease of 15% but there was a quick recovery to average, to slightly above average, values from 1983-1995. A sharp drop of 30% occurred again 1996-1998 and since then there has been a steady increase to reach near normal conditions since 2001."

Concerning Gore's beliefs about worldwide warming, Morgan points out that, in addition to the cooling in the NW Atlantic, massive areas of cooling are found in the North and South Pacific Ocean; the whole of the Amazon Valley; the north coast of South America and the Caribbean; the eastern Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caucasus and Red Sea; New Zealand and even the Ganges Valley in India. Morgan explains, "Had the IPCC used the standard parameter for climate change (the 30 year average) and used an equal area projection, instead of the Mercator (which doubled the area of warming in Alaska, Siberia and the Antarctic Ocean) warming and cooling would have been almost in balance."

Gore's point that 200 cities and towns in the American West set all time high temperature records is also misleading according to Dr. Roy Spencer, Principal Research Scientist at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. "It is not unusual for some locations, out of the thousands of cities and towns in the U.S., to set all-time records," he says. "The actual data shows that overall, recent temperatures in the U.S. were not unusual."

Carter does not pull his punches about Gore's activism, "The man is an embarrassment to US science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of whom know (but feel unable to state publicly) that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science."

In April sixty of the world's leading experts in the field asked Prime Minister Harper to order a thorough public review of the science of climate change, something that has never happened in Canada. Considering what's at stake - either the end of civilization, if you believe Gore, or a waste of billions of dollars, if you believe his opponents - it seems like a reasonable request.

Tom Harris is mechanical engineer and Ottawa Director of High Park Group, a public affairs and public policy company.

Al Gore An Inconvenient Truth Global Warming Mover Mike

I am told I need to see An Inconvenient Truth. She knows I am turned off right away by Al Gore's involvemment, and I frankly am familiar with the arguments for Global Warming (GW) and I, contrary to the masses, am not convinced that there is GW and if the case is made that there is GW, I am not convinced that humans, especially the residents of the US are responsible for it. But she says this is established fact. The scientists all agree, and if they don't then they are probably paid by Exxon or Halliburton.

So I go online to look for movie reviews that challenge the scientific "facts" in the movie. It doesn't take long to find credible challenges. Granted most of the reviews offer high praise, "A Must See!" We are a society that is brainwashed on the subject. According to all the usual sources, mainstream and leftist papers and television, we are amidst GW and we must do something. We can change the direction of the planet before it is too late. Why, Al Gore says that by 2100 the temperature can be 10° hotter than today.

First, BS! Second, I won't be around in the year 2100, nor will my children, and my grandkids will be 100 and 97. Third, why don't we do something that will have an immediate impact on our safety, like closing the borders and sticking up for our Judeo-Christian culture, instead of buying into all the PC crap.

She says I am preaching hate with my posts on

One more reason to close the border!

"It's About Equality NOT Equity"

Who is Zuhdi Jasser?

Who is Roya Tolouee?

and Guard the Borders Blogbursts.

I, Mike Landfair author of Mover Mike, pledge this will never be a blog of hate. This is a blog that is for the Constitution, for sound money, for limited government, and for secure borders. It is a Christian blog whose author believes in a loving God, values family, values critical thinking and responsibility for ones actions. This blog is neither Democrat nor Republican, two sides of the same team, but yearns for a new political solution that is pro-individual. The author of this blog believes in moral absolutes, reads widely, and will tip his hat to other blogs for news items. However, the author insists on viewing the source material and will link to the material wherever possible.

An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore Global Warming Immmigration Islam Christian Mover Mike

He is not refusing to serve anyone. He is not requiring "shoes and shirts for service". Geno’s Steaks, one of Philadelphia’s best-known cheesesteak joints has posted small signs telling customers:

For that Rachel Lawton, acting executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, may bring legal action against the second generation owner Joseph Vento, 66, whose grand parents came from Sicily.

We’re alleging that the sign itself is enough of an unwelcoming message that it may violate the Fair Practices Act, Lawton told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Look, government officials, if people take offense, his business will suffer and his competitors will pick up his customers. It is still his business and he can operate it anyway he wants. He even has the right to run it into the ground, if he chooses.

Geno’s Steaks Philadelphia Mover Mike

Update:

From the Kansas City Star,

The already grim outlook for the nation’s drought-ravaged winter wheat crop worsened in forecasts released Friday by the Agriculture Department.

With much of the harvest in full swing, production has plunged to lows not seen for decades, the monthly crop report said. The production forecast is down 16 percent from last year’s crop, to 1.26 billion bushels of winter wheat.

Quality may not fare as well farther north — dry weather last month in the northern Great Plains made the winter wheat condition deteriorate, the department said.

Drought Winter Wheat Mover Mike

This is news to me, from Pythias Online:

So you think that America's immigration problem isn't as bad as Europe's because immigrants to the US are mostly Central and South American, and thus mostly Christian, whereas Europe has been flooded by Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, many of whom bring their hatred of the West with them? Think again.

Every morning, Jackie Avelar wakes up to a predicament. On one side of her bed is a clock that sounds the Islamic call to prayer five times a day. On the other side is a statue of Mary. As a Muslim, she wants to remove it. As a Latina, she can't.

This is bizarre! One more reason to close the border.

Muslim immigrants Islam Mover Mike

Where were you when the war for your country started?

A Muslim group is demanding that the Baltimore County school system remove Jewish holidays from the 2006-07 school calendar.

[...]

Dr. Bash Pharoan, president of the Muslim council, said it is not fair for the county to recognize one religion while ignoring others. He said if the school board does not vote to allow the two Muslim holidays, then the Jewish holidays should be dropped.

[...]

The school system will add Muslim holidays when the county has more Muslim teachers and students. (emphasis added)

Muslim holidays Islam Mover Mike

Hat tip to Daniel Pipes for this item

Zuhdi Jasser of Phoenix announced a new service on April 10, whereby he keeps an eye on two local publications, the Arizona Muslim Voice and the Arab Voice. (The latter is in the Arabic language.) He has since documented articles that equate George W. Bush with Genghis Khan, spread disinformation against U.S. military, promote Hamas, and mock Jewish identification with Israel. Jasser's purposes are worth noting and celebrating.

Daniel Pipes Zuhdi Jasser Islam Mover Mike

Hat tip to Cutting Edge Of Ecstasy for this new law:'

(Euclid, Ohio) City Council has passed a law making it illegal to cover windows with blankets, garbage bags, newspaper or other unsightly items in place of curtains.'

'Shades, miniblinds and other conventional window coverings in houses and apartments must work...

'...and be hung properly, according to the law approved 8-1 on Monday. Sheets sewn to look like drapes also will be acceptable.'

Euclid, Ohio Window Coverings Home Decor Mover Mike

Driving a school bus has taken some of my time from posting and attending to my blogroll. I missed this news item, hat tip to Barcepundit:

A leading Iranian pro-democracy and women's activist, who was jailed (for 66 days) on trumped-up charges last year, has revealed how the clerical regime cynically deploys systemic sexual violence against female dissidents in the name of Islam.

Roya Tolouee, 40, was beaten up by Iranian intelligence agents and subjected to a horrific sexual assault when she refused to sign forced confessions. It was only when they threatened to burn her two children to death in front of her that she agreed to put her name to the documents.

But Islam is a religion of peace!

Roya Tolouee Islam Iran Mover Mike

John Bolton says he is “not much a carrots man”. He doesn't think much will come of the Condoleezza Rice diplomatic outreach to Iran. Meanwhile, the West has been talking with Iran since 2003 and Iran is farther along today toward nuclear enrichment.

Time is running out for the diplomatic effort to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme and Washington has no intention of striking a comprehensive “grand bargain” with Tehran, the US’s ambassador to the United Nations has warned.

John Bolton Iran nuclear enrichment Mover Mike

There's an interview of Aaron Russo maker of America From Freedom To Fascism on Google. He believes the overriding issue we as Americans face is ridding ourselves of the Federal Reserve. The urgency of this issue makes all other issues, like global warming or George Bush or Iran and Iraq, pale in comparison.

Aaron Russo America Mover Mike

Here's the story in the major newspapers:

The gap between what the United States sells abroad and what it imports rose to $63.4-billion (U.S.) in April. That was a 2.5 per cent increase from the March deficit of $61.9 billion, but it was significantly lower than the $65-billion trade gap that Wall Street had been expecting.

Well now that doesn't sound so bad does it? According to the news we might be getting a handle on this trade gap! That's what they want you to think. Take a look at the following chart:

We should not be comparing this month to last month, because as you can see the trade gap varies from month to month. The accurate comparison is apples to apples or April of 2005. The chart show the trade gap was about $57 Billion last year in April. Now $63.4-billion in April of 2006 compared to $57 Billion in April 2005 is an 11% increase not 2.5% increase. An 11% increase! Can we survive with a trade deficit that grows at 11% a year? In less than seven (7) years our trade deficit doubles from $716 billion to $1.4 Trillion or $110 Billion per month, if things continue on this course.

Who are those in the MSM repeating this 2.5% Spin?

The Globe and Mail in Canada
Kentucky.com
The Business Times in Singapore
Reuters
The NY Times buries this bit of information on the very last two lines of their story:

The trade deficit was about 3 percent wider in April than in March, and 12 percent wider than in April 2005. Its size has roughly doubled since early 2002. (emphasis added)

ABC News has this to say:

But even with two months of improvement, the deficit so far this year is running at an annual rate of $762.5 billion, 6.4 percent higher than the record of $716.7 billion set for all of 2005.

The China View repeats the same 2.5% increase nonsense, but adds

So far this year, the U.S. trade deficit is running at an annual rate of 762.5 billion dollars, 6.4 percent higher than the record of 716.7 billion dollars set for all of 2005.

The Khaleej Times repeats the 2.5% spin and adds

In the first four months of this year, the trade gap totaled $254.2 billion, on pace to surpass the record of $716.7 billion set for all of last year.

MarketWatch repeats the 2.5% spin and adds

Economists see no end to the large U.S. trade deficits and say the recent weakening of the dollar has had no effect.

"The key fundamental characteristic — relative growth — still implies the U.S. will continue to run large trade deficits for the foreseeable future," said economists at Lehman Brothers.

USA Today didn't repeat the 2.5% spin, and focused instead on inflation

"When you are in a period of inflation phobia, this is not good news. It's not raging inflation, but it's a little worse than expected," said Keith Hembre, chief economist at FAF Advisors in Minneapolis.

The Wall Street Journal has a nice little historical chart,

but repeats the spin. They do however add well down from the top of the article these two lines

But even with two months of improvement, the deficit so far this year is running at an annual rate of $762.5 billion, 6.4% higher than the record of $716.7 billion set for all of 2005.

MSNBC publishes the basic PR release.
as does Forbes, Business Week, and the Washington Post. Bloomberg doesn't tell us about the 2.5% or about deteriorating year over year comparisons, instead criticises China

Departing U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow, in a May 19 interview, repeated his criticism of China for not doing more to make its currency more responsive to market forces.

``China's got to move on this,'' Snow said. China's progress ``has been really inadequate'' since the July revaluation.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said June 5 that he expects Henry Paulson, President George W. Bush's nominee to replace Snow, to be ``very aggressive'' in pushing China on the issue.

It is very hard to find out how we did versus last year and most all the MSM repeat the spin.

April Trade Gap Spin Mover Mike

Update:

I have found the pdf that shows