Warning: unbridled national pride

A video about Navy SEAL snipers:

SEALs 4, Pirates 0. We are so cool.

(hat tip: Michelle Malkin)

 

Technorati tags: SEAL, USN, Navy, snipers, pirates

Thatcher on Browne: the Iron Lady is not amused

She sees a replay of mid-70s Britain in current-Prime Minister Gordon Browne’s wastrel ways:

BARONESS THATCHER has revealed that she is “appalled” by Gordon Brown’s handling of the economy, 18 months after he feted her at Downing Street.

She is said by a close confidant to view his response to the economic crisis as a rerun of history, echoing the events of 1976, when James Callaghan’s Labour government had to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout. Earlier this year David Cameron, the present Tory leader, warned that Britain might need another IMF rescue if Brown continued with his “irresponsible” financial recovery plan.

Thatcher rarely speaks publicly now; her concerns were relayed last week by Lord Lamont, the former chancellor in an interview in the political current affairs magazine Holyrood. “I can tell you exactly how she feels,” he said. “Mrs Thatcher is appalled by the current situation, very concerned about it indeed. I spoke to her very recently and her attitude is: this is how it always ends with Labour.”

Another close friend of Thatcher said the former leader believed Brown had spent beyond Britain’s means. “It’s an absolutely accurate description of every Labour government since the war,” he said. “They have always left office with a huge economic crisis – the public finances in a terrible state and the economy in disarray. She feels strongly about it because she came to power in 1979 after the Callaghan government had to go to the IMF. She sees it as a repeat of history.

As Crabbycon points out, one could replace "liberals" for "Labour" in that article and have an accurate description of Democratic policies since at least Lyndon Johnson. And Obama’s plans seem to be the worst of the bunch, with absolutely irresponsible spending, tax policies that will kill growth, not revive it, and ever-growing federal control over the economy that will only lead to a return of stagflation.

So, if Obama is our "Sunny Jim," does that make Sarah Palin potentially our Iron Lady?

I sure hope so.

(hat tip: Conservatives4Palin)

 

Technorati tags: Margaret Thatcher, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, fiscal conservatism, fiscal responsibility, Jim Callaghan

Excellent news

Captain Phillips has been rescued, and three of the four pirates holding him hostage have been sent to Hell courtesy of the United States Navy:

The captain of the Maersk Alabama was freed Sunday after being held captive since Wednesday by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told CNN.

The official said Capt. Richard Phillips is uninjured and in good condition, and that three of the four pirates were killed. The fourth pirate is in custody. Phillips was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship.

I said I’d give President Obama credit where he earned it, and this is one of those times: well done, Mr. President. That is how a commander-in-chief acts.

 

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, pirates, rescue operations, Richard Phillips, Maersk Alabama, Somalia

Wind power a matter of faith, not science

Via Blue Crab Boulevard, have a look at this article on the junk science of wind-power as an alternative source of energy. Environmentalists and cultists of the Church of Anthropogenic Global Warming have touted wind-power as one way we can get off our addiction to those nasty carbon-based fuels (Just don’t put any windmills in front of Ted Kennedy’s place.) Trouble is, as Michael Trebilcock points out, European examples show that wind-power not only does not cut fossil-fuel use, it can even lead to an increase in CO2, the bête-noire of Greenies everywhere:

There is no evidence that industrial wind power is likely to have a significant impact on carbon emissions. The European experience is instructive. Denmark, the world’s most wind-intensive nation, with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its electricity, has yet to close a single fossil-fuel plant. It requires 50% more coal-generated electricity to cover wind power’s unpredictability, and pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen (by 36% in 2006 alone).

Flemming Nissen, the head of development at West Danish generating company ELSAM (one of Denmark’s largest energy utilities) tells us that “wind turbines do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions.” The German experience is no different. Der Spiegel reports that “Germany’s CO2 emissions haven’t been reduced by even a single gram,” and additional coal- and gas-fired plants have been constructed to ensure reliable delivery.

Indeed, recent academic research shows that wind power may actually increase greenhouse gas emissions in some cases, depending on the carbon-intensity of back-up generation required because of its intermittent character. On the negative side of the environmental ledger are adverse impacts of industrial wind turbines on birdlife and other forms of wildlife, farm animals, wetlands and viewsheds.

But facts won’t matter, because the quest for salvation alternative energy sources has become part of the cult’s orthodoxy.

Don’t get me wrong. Eventually we are going to have to transition to power sources other than fossil fuels, but that time is decades away, if not generations. The science just isn’t there, yet. Until then, we’re going to have to use fossil fuels (and dig/drill for our own) and nuclear power intelligently, and stop fooling ourselves about magical cures that don’t work.

RELATED: Gaius has written a good introduction to wind-power.

 

Technorati tags: wind power, alternative energy sources, Michael Trebilcock, global warming, junk science, Flemming Nissen, energy policy

Religion of Misogyny watch

In Saudi Arabia, a court has upheld the marriage of a 47-year old man to an 8-year old girl:

A Saudi mother is expected to appeal a judge’s ruling after he once again refused to let her 8-year-old daughter divorce a 47-year-old man, a relative said.

Sheikh Habib Al-Habib made the ruling Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza. Late last year, he rejected a petition to annul the marriage.

The case, which has drawn criticism from local and international rights groups, came to light in December when Al-Habib declined to annul the marriage on a legal technicality. His dismissal of the mother’s petition sparked outrage and made headlines around the world.

The judge said the mother, who is separated from the girl’s father, was not the legal guardian and therefore could not represent her daughter, the mother’s lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said at the time.

The girl’s husband pledged not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili, who added that the girl’s father arranged the marriage to settle his debts with the man, who is considered "a close friend."

Emphasis added. Get that? A female child is property to be used to settle debts — and the law upholds that. This is another example of the miserable status of women under Islam, which may have represented an improvement for the 7th century, but is a scandal in the 21st. (Consider the status of rape victims under Islamic law, for one example.)

But, as Marisol points out at Jihad Watch, the court would have a difficult time ending the marriage, for to do so would be to disown the example of Muhammad himself, who married his wife Aisha when she was six and consummated that marriage when she was nine. As Muhammad is considered a beautiful example of proper conduct, it follows that marriage between a adult man and a female child must be okay, right? Hey, the husband of the girl in the story promised to wait until she had reached puberty before deflowering her, so what’s the problem? Even Islamic scholars of the current era, such as Ayatollah Khomeini, think child marriage is just fine.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has called the oppression of women one of the key pillars supporting Islam. She’s right, and there is no hope for Islam to reform and become a part of the modern world until it ends.

(Image courtesy of Hyscience)

Technorati tags: Islam, women’s rights, Sheikh Habib Al-Habib, Onaiza, child marriage, sharia, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ayatollah Khomeini, Aisha