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Restored New Testament Christianity

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What you need to know about alarmists

Roughly one person in two is concerned about man-made global warming. Why? Because vivid, alarming forecasts are persuasive only for a time. We’ve seen it all before. Take the alarm over mercury in fish.

In 2004, a United States Environmental Protection Agency employee warned that each year 630,000 babies were born at risk of brain and nervous system damage due to ”unsafe” levels of mercury in their mothers’ blood.

It turns out that ”at risk” meant having concentrations of mercury in the blood that were higher than unjustifiably low levels.

The Japanese consume a lot of fish and those ”at risk” levels are exceeded by 74 per cent of Japanese women of childbearing age and by centuries-old mummified remains.

Yet, there is no evidence that Japanese are mentally deficient, and only benefits have been reported from high levels of fish consumption, including good brain function and improved intelligence at age four.

The alarming forecast of harm from mercury in fish was derived by extrapolating known bad effects from high doses of mercury to predict toxic effects from even very low levels, without bothering to check for evidence.

Because of the alarm, expectant mothers and others were discouraged from eating fish, to the detriment of their and their children’s health. Bad forecast. Costly alarm.

With my colleague Scott Armstrong and suggestions from diverse experts, I identified 26 alarms that are analogous to the dangerous man-made global warming alarm.

You can find them and the mercury analogy on the PublicPolicyForecasting.com website. We were surprised to find so many. It seems alarms based on unscientific forecasts are a common social phenomenon.

All of the alarms turned out to be false, either completely or to such an extent that actions intended to be remedial caused much greater harm than the supposed problem.

When alarming forecasts are presented in the form of vivid scenarios seemingly realistic stories about the future people tend to ignore the low likelihood that they will come to pass. They want action.

This is especially so if they think the cost to them of action will be low, and if they can blame other people.

In modern times, when we are safer than we have ever been, clever and creative people become rich and famous by exploiting the public and media weakness for alarming scenarios, causing us to bounce around this way and that like frightened rabbits.

There is a recipe for persuasion in such cases, and fear induced by scary scenarios is part of it.

As Professor Stephen Schneider explained in making the case for global warming alarmism: ”So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have.”

Policy responses to the global warming and other environmental alarms are promoted in terms of social causes such as ”caring for the planet” or ”caring for our children”, which has the intended effect of deflecting hard questions about the substance of these claims, and of demonising people who ask them.

It isn’t immediately obvious that beneath the caring veneer are people who stand to gain from promoting the alarm, by advancing their careers and fortunes.

On the other side, the costs are diffused across many people and over time. But that doesn’t make the costs any less real as people are forced to cut back on heating and cooling and generally reduce their living standards.

As time passes and policies such as New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme are enacted, people come to realise that they will bear substantive costs as a consequence of policies enacted with the avowed purpose of combating ”dangerous global warming”.

People already face harder times with the current economic recession, and they hear scientists and politicians’ voice scepticism about the alarmist forecasts.

Observers are exposed to hints that there are glaring uncertainties and major disagreements in climate science.

Increasingly, people look for evidence.

When people become more involved in the issue, the persuasion recipe that initially works for alarmists breaks down.

People become less persuaded by appeals to trust the authorities, less susceptible to fear, less willing to accept emotional appeals from celebrities, less gullible. And this shows in the polls.

As have the other environmental alarms before it, the dangerous man-made global warming alarm will fade. It is already beginning to do so.

Unfortunately, policies that make most people worse off have been and will be implemented. Some at least of these polices are likely to continue indefinitely.

The news media will, by and large, devote little energy to reporting that the alarm was false, leaving people still feeling guilty that they are somehow causing harm as they go about their lives. Such are the forecasts from a structured analysis of analogies.

– The Dominion Post

America prepares to take back Obamaland

A touch of American patriotism

This about sums it up for the NZ Labour Party

The Leon Panetta scandal continues…

Rightsidenews.com reports:

Leon Panetta

Last Saturday and Sunday The Washington Post published two articles, with a total count of 2,192 words, about Sarah Palin’s emails. The Post had said in advance it wanted the help of the public in getting to the bottom of what was in them. I told The Daily Caller this was an example of a paper desperate for a Republican scandal and willing to exploit cheap or free labor. But if you get what you pay for, the Post got what it deserved. Palingate fizzled out.

But in the spirit of public service, which the Post is apparently encouraging, my friend and associate Trevor Loudon and I have dug into the background of CIA director and Secretary of Defense nominee Leon Panetta. It’s too bad that we didn’t have this material assembled before now, but better late than never. The evidence shows that Panetta had a close and personal relationship with a member of the Communist Party by the name of Hugh DeLacy, whose record included meeting with communist espionage agents. By any objective standard of journalism, this should be big news. But the question now is whether the media, liberal and conservative, will take time off from Weinergate to pay attention and examine the evidence.

Rather than have boxes of material dumped on us, as happened in the case of Palin, we have researched hard-to-find Congressional hearings, conducted interviews and examined clippings from decades ago, university archives and the Congressional Record. It’s the kind of reporting that Bob Woodward of the Post was known for during Watergate. Of course, the target then was a Republican President and former Congressman who had made history by helping to smoke out a Soviet agent in the State Department by the name of Alger Hiss. When the targets are prominent liberal Democrats, the media lose their passion for investigative reporting. As far as communists go, to even consider them a threat is “McCarthyism” to many in the media and not worthy of any attention at all.

This is why, however, we are supposed to have congressional panels from the Senate and House—and security agencies like the FBI—to conduct such background probes. Yet, we find no evidence that the Panetta-DeLacy relationship was ever examined by the FBI or the Senate when Panetta was being considered and confirmed for the post of CIA Director. The major media have been even more derelict, content to cover the Panetta hearings for Secretary of Defense in a cursory manner and then turn their attention back to something that is easier and more fun to cover and which is sure to attract interest—Weiner. You can bet that the Democrats would rather talk about Weiner than one of their own, a former Democratic Congressman turned CIA director, who is neck-deep in a scandal involving his relationship with a communist agent and an espionage ring.

It is an open question whether the Senate will take a look at this evidence now that Panetta is up for another sensitive post and senators have to act on his confirmation.

A column of this length does not permit me to go into all aspects of what we have discovered about Panetta. But suffice it to say that the relationship with DeLacy is something that stands out. In a sense, Panetta did not hide it. Back in 1983 he inserted a tribute into the Congressional Record, recognizing DeLacy and his wife Dorothy, another communist, for their commitment to “social justice” and resisting “the dark forces of McCarthyism.” The latter strongly indicates that Panetta was aware of their involvement in the communist cause and that not only did it not matter to him, it was evidence of their courage and bravery. We knew about the tribute from press reports, but I found a copy of this tribute in the Congressional Record at a local library.

Trevor Loudon writes, “The couple, Hugh DeLacy and his wife Dorothy Baskin DeLacy, both had long histories with the Communist Party USA and were very active in the Santa Cruz ‘progressive’ movement that had helped nurture Congressman Panetta’s career. Phrases like ‘social justice’ and ‘dark forces of McCarthyism’ rolled from Rep. Panetta’s pen, in a piece that would not have been out of place in the Communist Party’s Peoples Daily World.”

He adds, “The DeLacys were not merely Panetta’s constituents—they were close personal friends. Hugh DeLacy was also a longtime correspondent, with whom Panetta regularly discussed defense and foreign policy issues.”

Loudon knows this because he took the time to examine the Hugh DeLacy papers at the University of Washington. They include a series of “Dear Hugh” and “Dear Leon” exchanges in which then-Rep. Panetta promised DeLacy several apparently sensitive documents. Not only did Panetta insert a tribute into the Congressional Record, he spoke at DeLacy’s memorial service after his death in 1986. One wonders if the FBI was ever made aware of this.

In addition to this evidence, we have congressional hearings, information about a communist cell active in Santa Cruz, and Panetta’s own record as a member of Congress, where he fought during the 1980s to protect communist advances in such countries as Nicaragua and Grenada and worked feverishly to undermine President Reagan’s anti-communist foreign policy and military defense build-up. Incidentally, back then Panetta was a foe of CIA covert action to protect America’s vital interests, which makes Obama’s selection of him as CIA director even more interesting. We know that Panetta’s CIA director of public affairs, George Little, was listed as a dinner guest of Al-Jazeera at a Radio and TV Congressional Dinner, and that Panetta has issued no public warnings about a Muslim Brotherhood takeover of the Middle East. The evidence indicates the CIA may be on the side of radical forces in the region. His only apparent success as CIA director has been the killing of Osama bin Laden, an impressive operation that has nevertheless backfired in the sense of sending a nuclear-armed Pakistan into the arms of Communist China.

Veteran journalist Wes Vernon has seen our evidence, as it has been released over the last several days, and has marveled at the cover-up so far. In a column titled, “Media blackout: CIA director accused of links to Communist spy contact—scandal ignored,” he notes that “…DeLacy was not only a prominent member of the Communist Party USA, but also a personal contact of identified Soviet spies Solomon Adler and Frank Coe and accused spy John Stewart Service, and one has to wonder: What was there about DeLacy’s background and record that attracted the friendship of the man who is now CIA Director and has been nominated to assume an even higher national security post—Secretary of Defense?”

He concludes, “If Panetta’s nomination for Secretary of Defense makes it through the Senate Armed Services Committee—and barring indications to the contrary, it would appear “the skids are greased”—then what? Is there not one conservative senator prepared to raise this issue on the floor when the confirmation is up for debate? Not one? Why?”

Leon Panetta – Communist Stooge

In 1983, then Congressman, Leon Panetta, placed a tribute in the Congressional Record to two of his Santa Cruz, California constituents.

The couple, Hugh DeLacy and his wife Dorothy Baskin DeLacy, both had long histories with the  Communist Party USA and were very active in the Santa Cruz “progressive” movement that had helped nurture Congressman Panetta’s career.

Phrases like “social justice” and “dark forces of McCarthyism” rolled from Rep. Panetta’s pen, in a piece that would not have been out of place in the Communist Party’s Peoples Daily World.

Panetta makes it very clear he sympathizes with his constituents’ world view in the last paragraph.

Find out more at New Zeal

Wake up USA, you are treading a political path toward communist oblivion. Pressure must be applied by conservative sources to keep this man away from your CIA secrets or you will pay the price for years to come. Here is what you can do

 

 

Boy Wonder – Jacob Barnett

Jacob Barnett appeared on Glen Beck last night with claims he wants to set out to expand the Theory of Relativity and that the ‘Big Bang’ is a crock of nonsense.

Wikipedia says: Jacob “Jake” Barnett (born 1997) is a purported child prodigy and genius. Diagnosed with mild Asperger syndrome, Barnett showed an early interest in astronomy and mathematics. Barnett is said to have a tested math IQ of 170, the highest that can be tested for in the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children.

View what others are saying at New American

Graham

Bill O’Reilly’s Islamic Ignorance

Watching the O’Reilly Factor last night on a segment regarding the rape and beating of the young woman Ms. Imam in Libya in recent days, I could not believe my ears to hear the ‘No Spin’ guy spout off this ignorant statement;

“I find it hard to believe the prophet Mohammad would preach a doctrine, a religious doctrine where women can be abused at anytime by any Muslim man and be, you know, not held accountable in heaven or hell.”

O’Reilly is as ignorant as the rest of the ‘liberal loons’ he likes to castigate regarding the truth behind the Moon-god worshipers. As Wafa Sultan. MD, the woman he was interviewing said, people need to do some honest research into what this evil religion is all about.

To top it off, O’Reilly said he would welcome on any Muslim on the show who would defend Sharia Law and deny the claims made by Ms Sultan. Yeah, like we are going to take the word of a follower of a raving lunatic who was responsible for the rape and murder of thousands in the 7th Century all in the name of the Moon-god, Allah.  Give us a break, mate!

By the way, latest reports are now saying the young woman at the centre of this horrific example of the so-called peaceful religion at work is to charged with defamation against Islam.

It is about time the truth needs to really stand up, O’Reilly and live up to your self-proclaimed slogan.

Graham

“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time to wake up”

Geert Wilders recent speech in Rome at the Magna Carta Foundation should stir you into action or you will eventually face the sword of Allah.

Read that speech here

 

The Timaru Herald, 22 Feb 2011. Page1


The Timaru Herald
22 Feb 2011
Questions have got to be asked as to why the “Flagship” course has been threatened?  Isn’t it funny these problems have arisen since the appointment of the new CEO and Operations manager, new Chairman of the council.  How many more courses are going to be let go like the Journalism course transferred to Dunedin etc before the community stands up and says enough is enough.

Come on, Timaru. Last year we had the Alan Hubbard/SFO debacle(still not resolved). Then we have the putrid stench coming from the Stanford fish factory and now the largest employer in the town is under threat in my opinion due to sheer managerial incompetence.  This has got to be resolved.

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