Australian Parliament Passes Counterterror Laws
Myanmar Awards First Licenses to Foreign Banks
Chinese Web Censors Struggle With Hong Kong Protest
Protesters Are Targets of Scrutiny Through Their Phones
Sinosphere Blog: To Beat China Censorship, Hong Kong Protesters Flock to Off-Grid Messaging App
Bits Blog: Readers Debate Online Piracy and the Future of Digital Entertainment
Times Insider: On the Trail of an Online Pirate
DuckDuckGo is another in a long line of search engines or Web properties to be banned in ...
Still trust DuckDuckGo?
Gmail scanning becomes censorship
PRISM - Where do we go from here?
In light of the shocking revelations regarding the United States surveillance machine (the National Security Agency) and their PRISM initiative - one has to ask how do we move forward? Read more
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In light of the shocking revelations regarding the United States surveillance machine (the National Security Agency) and their PRISM initiative - one has to ask how do we move forward? Read more
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European Commission should revoke US Safe Harbour status immediately.
Given the news over the past 24 hours of the activities of the US National Security Agency, it is critical that the EU Commission immediately revoke the Safe Harbour status of the United States of America under the Data Protection Directive. Read more
the EU Commission have started a review of the safe harbour agreement with the US due to finish by the end of the year.
Given the news over the past 24 hours of the activities of the US National Security Agency, it is critical that the EU Commission immediately revoke the Safe Harbour status of the United States of America under the Data Protection Directive. Read more
the EU Commission have started a review of the safe harbour agreement with the US due to finish by the end of the year.
Bits Blog: Nominee for European Digital Job Explains Positions in Hearing
Bits Blog: Cisco: The Internet Needs More Control
Doctors Find Barriers to Sharing Digital Medical Records
Digital Health | Better Health Together
COMIC-CON 2014 COSPLAY GALLERY
http://www.tested.com/art/makers/462936-comic-con-2014-cosplay-gallery-750-photos/
Welcome to Pottersville 2 (Blogging Against Fascism!): (The New Improved Perfectly Uneducated U.S. Employee) Who Hates the U.S. Enough To Pursue Victory Over Sh...http://welcome-to-pottersville2.blogspot.ca/2014/10/the-new-improved-perfectly-uneducated.htmlIt's always good to know that many people are aware of how the U.S. is led (over and over again) into war.
Against infidels.
Some 120 Muslim religious scholars this week published an open letter refuting the Islamic State’s claim to be a religious political movement, joining a series of high-profile condemnations of the extremist group by Islamic religious and political leaders.
The letter, signed by current and former grand muftis of Egypt, the former grand mufti of Bosnia, and the Nigerian Sultan of Sokoto, along with many other prominent Muslim leaders from around the world, offered a thorough, 24-point condemnation of the Islamic State’s behavior. But it still left the question of how a group that calls itself the “Islamic State” and uses religious scripture to justify its actions can possibly be described as not Islamic.
The answer is complex, but boils down to the fact that while the Islamic State is superficially and opportunistically Islamic, it owes at least as much to secular revolutionary ideologies as to its claimed religion, and borrows heavily from Western systems of organization and pop culture as well.
The letter, signed by current and former grand muftis of Egypt, the former grand mufti of Bosnia, and the Nigerian Sultan of Sokoto, along with many other prominent Muslim leaders from around the world, offered a thorough, 24-point condemnation of the Islamic State’s behavior. But it still left the question of how a group that calls itself the “Islamic State” and uses religious scripture to justify its actions can possibly be described as not Islamic.
The answer is complex, but boils down to the fact that while the Islamic State is superficially and opportunistically Islamic, it owes at least as much to secular revolutionary ideologies as to its claimed religion, and borrows heavily from Western systems of organization and pop culture as well.
How ISIS Actually Works
In their “Open Letter to Baghdadi” the scholars – who hail from the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, Africa as well as North America – provide their own critical examination of the group’s practices from a purely theological standpoint.
According to their view, the self-proclaimed Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is flagrantly un-Islamic in its behavior. ISIS’s treatment of women, religious minorities, non-combatants, as well as its employment of gratuitous violence and aggression, is found by the scholars to be fundamentally out of step with traditional Islamic belief and practice.
In providing a thorough critique of the group’s behavior, the signatories note: “everything said here … reflects the opinions of the overwhelming majority of Sunni scholars over the course of Islamic history.”
This letter is only the latest in a string of ISIS condemnations by Islamic leaders andordinary Muslims. But to casual observers, it raises the question of what the Islamic State actually is, if not a religiously grounded group earnestly trying to create a new Caliphate.
The answer starts with the fact that ISIS is at least superficially Islamic. Similar to any other belief system, Islam is not a monolith, but rather a discourse subject to interpretation. ISIS was created during the U.S. occupation of Iraq and revived by the brutality of the Assad regime. Unsurprisingly, its religious worldview is a merciless, fanatic and supremacist one.
But while their religious convictions are no doubt sincerely held, like extremists everywhere ISIS inevitably has a utilitarian view of religion which seeks to manipulate the norms of the prevailing society in order to win legitimacy for its actions. In Muslim-majority countries this means employing religious rhetoric and symbolism to help appeal to the local population. Making use of cherished political symbols like the Flag of the Prophet Muhammad and the historic Muslim Caliphate is simply one aspect of this strategy.
Oil & Gas Toxics Detected Near Playgrounds across the Barnett Shale
According to their view, the self-proclaimed Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is flagrantly un-Islamic in its behavior. ISIS’s treatment of women, religious minorities, non-combatants, as well as its employment of gratuitous violence and aggression, is found by the scholars to be fundamentally out of step with traditional Islamic belief and practice.
In providing a thorough critique of the group’s behavior, the signatories note: “everything said here … reflects the opinions of the overwhelming majority of Sunni scholars over the course of Islamic history.”
This letter is only the latest in a string of ISIS condemnations by Islamic leaders andordinary Muslims. But to casual observers, it raises the question of what the Islamic State actually is, if not a religiously grounded group earnestly trying to create a new Caliphate.
The answer starts with the fact that ISIS is at least superficially Islamic. Similar to any other belief system, Islam is not a monolith, but rather a discourse subject to interpretation. ISIS was created during the U.S. occupation of Iraq and revived by the brutality of the Assad regime. Unsurprisingly, its religious worldview is a merciless, fanatic and supremacist one.
But while their religious convictions are no doubt sincerely held, like extremists everywhere ISIS inevitably has a utilitarian view of religion which seeks to manipulate the norms of the prevailing society in order to win legitimacy for its actions. In Muslim-majority countries this means employing religious rhetoric and symbolism to help appeal to the local population. Making use of cherished political symbols like the Flag of the Prophet Muhammad and the historic Muslim Caliphate is simply one aspect of this strategy.
Bob Tisdale – Climate Observations
The Obvious Failures of Climate Science That Mainstream Media Ignores
( I should apologize to Bob for the size of these excerpts. But they give you a good idea why he is a 'climate skeptic' [a b.s. term ] especially worthwhile reading. )
As I was reading Anthony Watts excellent post about Swain et al. (2014), Claim: Cause of California drought linked to climate change – not one mention of ENSO or El Niño, a number of reoccurring thoughts replayed, thoughts that have struck me numerous times as the Western States drought unfolded last year and intensified this year.
The realistic blame should be the focus of climate science in general under the direction of the IPCC. In the opening paragraph of the IPCC’s History webpage, they state (my boldface and caps):
Today the IPCC’s role is as defined in Principles Governing IPCC Work, “…to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant tounderstanding the scientific basis of risk of HUMAN-INDUCED climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
The fact that the IPCC has focused all of their efforts on “understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change” is very important. The IPCC has never realistically tried to determine if natural factors could have caused most of the warming the Earth has experienced over the past century. For decades, they’ve worn blinders that blocked their views of everything other than the possible impacts of carbon dioxide. The role of the IPCC has always been to prepare reports that support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels. As a result, that’s where all of the research money goes. The decision to only study human-induced global warming is a political choice, not a scientific one. In efforts to justify agendas, politicians around the world jumped on the climate change stump and funded computer model-based studies of human-induced global warming…to the tune of billions of dollars annually.
Because of that political agenda, the latest and greatest climate models still cannot simulate the basic underlying processes that govern the naturally occurring, coupled ocean-atmosphere processes like ENSO (El Niños and La Niñas), like the Pacific Decadal Oscillation…processes that have strong influences on temperature and precipitation in west coast states. So there is no possible way climate models, as they exist today, could forecast what precipitation might be like in the future there. And that basic problem will persist until there is a redirection of climate-research funding. Yes, funding. Research follows the money.
Climate-change news reports have become echo chambers of the press releases put out by colleges, universities and government research agencies. Individual reporters might provide a more in-depth report by asking the scientist-authors for a few extra word of wisdom.
But why aren’t the media asking the tough questions, like:
- Why weren’t west-coast residents warned 10 or 15 years ago that a severe drought is just a weather anomaly away?
- Why aren’t there enough desalinization plants in place to supplement rainfall deficits?
- Why are the people of the west coast protesting for, and why are state governments funding, more wind farms and solar arrays when they need something more basic to maintain life there, water?
Seems to me we may very soon be seeing a reversal of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, with vast flocks of California residents migrating back to the Midwest, which also is subject to periodic droughts.
Poor planning on the parts of a few—based on politically motivated, unsound science—may make for emergencies for millions.
A former White House science advisor speaks out about “settled science”
Originally posted on Watts Up With That?:
Feeling unsettled? Try new Climate Science™, now with extra certainty!
![HistoryOfSettledScience-big1[1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u4wqa_29MksT7U1ooYjJfJ4Wy0-NWJk5MGzioy5su0NR_oAVXKF83ayzXjmOxUiF4uHlcZ1gPD41WEWMpQFxQ1KJKZ7ETVO5Fyrc2LWvdDqhn_g5JVPyNlJuPNvKfu3WCD5Loy8YGbAxo5NUCzDaA6Z8AJNomhpBw=s0-d)
Climate Science Is Not Settled
We are very far from the knowledge needed to make good climate policy, writes leading scientist Steven E. Koonin
FWIW: Koonin may never have advised Obama himself – he was the chief scientist (deputy secretary) for Steve Chu’s DOE. He was a professor of theoretical and computational physics at Caltech for 3 decades. He was provost for the last decade, a job that is usually to respected scientists with good judgment and character. At the height of the “peak oil” scare in the early 2000’s, he left to become chief scientist at British Petroleum and directed their investments in alternative energy, trying to make “beyond petroleum” more than a slogan. Then he was asked to do the same job for the US government under Steven Chu. (After the Solyndra scandal, he was interviewed by 60 Minutes; you can find some remarks about this experience on the web.)
Originally posted on Watts Up With That?:
Feeling unsettled? Try new Climate Science™, now with extra certainty!
![HistoryOfSettledScience-big1[1]](http://bobtisdale.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/historyofsettledscience-big111.jpg)
Climate Science Is Not Settled
We are very far from the knowledge needed to make good climate policy, writes leading scientist Steven E. Koonin
FWIW: Koonin may never have advised Obama himself – he was the chief scientist (deputy secretary) for Steve Chu’s DOE. He was a professor of theoretical and computational physics at Caltech for 3 decades. He was provost for the last decade, a job that is usually to respected scientists with good judgment and character. At the height of the “peak oil” scare in the early 2000’s, he left to become chief scientist at British Petroleum and directed their investments in alternative energy, trying to make “beyond petroleum” more than a slogan. Then he was asked to do the same job for the US government under Steven Chu. (After the Solyndra scandal, he was interviewed by 60 Minutes; you can find some remarks about this experience on the web.)
About This Blog | Climate Asylum
http://bbickmore.wordpress.com/about-this-blog/
I’ve recently been involved with other scientists and scholars in Utah trying to stop the spread of outright lies, half-truths, abuses of data, and distortions about climate change. Much of this disinformation is coming from (or through) some Republican members of the Utah Legislature, and the other Republican (and some Democratic) members have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. A few local media outlets, like Provo’s Daily Herald,have also been active participants. Climate change is not just a global or national issue–it will also be played out at the state and local levels. Therefore, I see a need for some watchdogging specific to our neck of the woods. (In addition, I’m a Republican myself, and it galls me that my own party has locally fallen for a bunch of conspiracy theories and scientifically incompetent trash. In my opinion, something has to be done to save the party from disaster in the long run.)
This blog is meant to 1) archive a record of the ongoing disinformation campaign in Utah, and 2) examine it in detail. Democracy depends on accurate information being readily available to the public, and I see people who propagate such disinformation campaigns as enemies of Democracy.
If you would like to participate on this blog as a regular contributor or guest poster, or if you would simply like to pass on information, please contact B.R. Bickmore (barry_bickmore AT byu.edu).
B.R. Bickmore, May 2, 2010
Dr Evil (@docktorevil) on June 2, 2014
I assume, all climatologists don’t have a good grasp of environmental thermodynamics. (Perhaps I can recommend a good starter book for you guys.)
CO2 temperature correlation
How about giving me 4 (sensible) points (this time) on why with CO2 flying off the chart, as shown here-
we’re not about to burst into flames? And don’t provide some ridiculous excuse like there’s a time lag. There’s been plenty of time for the lag. And don’t tell me the lag is a 1000 years. We’ve been burning fossil fuels for about 100 years. If there’s a 1000 year lag, then we wouldn’t see the first signs of the temperature rises the last few decades you and your climatologist cult claim are the sole result of man made CO2 for another 900 years at best.
And if it were a 1000 year lag, who the heck are you guys to say we should put as our number 1 priority, when there’s all kinds of immediate things that need addressing, something that’s not gong to happen for another 900 years? Are you nuts? We’re going to run out of fossil fuels in a couple hundred years. We have bigger things to worry about than temperatures 1000 years from now.
But it doesn’t stop there, Harry. If you look at the chart, there were times when the temperatures started to fall long before the CO2 levels started to descend. And they weren’t just blips, but drastic drops in temperature followed by drastic drops in CO2 (which fits my CO2 is a function of temperature, not the other way around hypothesis) like around 125K years ago. Why would the temperatures drop so drastically if CO2 levels were so elevated and temperatures are driven by CO2?
And who was generating all of that CO2 100K, 200K, 300K & 400K years ago to make the temperatures rise? Homo erectus? Is that how he succumbed to extinction? He ignored the homo-climatologists back then and drove his fossil fueled cars irresponsibly and then eventually drowned because the sea levels covered all of the land mass and he didn’t listen to god and build an ark? Is that what you mormons, I mean climatologists believe? Or is it because CO2 levels naturally rise when temperatures rise, not the other way around?
On you points on my point 2.
1. If they know about it, why are they all so intellectually dishonest in the reporting of green house gases to the masses? Because it would put CO2 in it’s proper perspective and they wouldn’t scare the public and clueless presidents like your party leader Obama (yes it’s clear you’re a RINO) and have him run 8% deficits to waste tax payer dollars on things like govt subsidized; inefficient solar panels in the northeastern part of the US, electric cars (that just move the carbon from the street to the power plant), grants so pseudo scientists can sponge off the tax payer dole making up data about “man made global warming”, no wait it’s not really warming like they said, so it’s now called “man made climate change”, corn based ethanol,… and other sky is falling alchemy.
2. Sounds like you’re trying to say that the normal condition for air is a relative humidity approaching 0%. That’s just complete nonsense. In Florida the rh in the summer is in the upper top half of the scale. In Arizona, it’s in the lower bottom half. It doesn’t “condense out” unless the air drops below the dewpoint.
3. Oh I’ve heard of your “feedback loop”. What you’re saying is, although water vapor is the main green house gas in air, and although it eventually “condenses out in a few days” as you stated in 2 above, spiking it with CO2 can cause it to amplify it’s green house gas power and cause temperatures to spiral out of control. THAT’s also pure nonsense. To believe that is to believe in perpetual motion machines. Since you guys don’t appear to get much real science or critical thinking above perhaps physical science, the first law of thermodynamics, the conservation of energy, says you can’t get more energy out of a system than is put in it. (Look it up.) By your “feed back loop caused spiraling temperatures” we could theoretically build a large passive solar panel, fill it with water vapor, add some CO2, let the sun shine on it and we’d have an infinite energy source to solve all of our energy problems. I wouldn’t think “educators” are that stupid, but I guess if you’ll believe in the Book of Mormon, you’ll believe in anything.
4. This might be quite a revelation for you, but NASA does have global images showing the distribution of water vapor and CO2. And it ain’t “well mixed”. The concentrations over the northern hemisphere are much higher than the southern like I said. So if you’re taking you CO2 data from Antarctica and temperatures are supposed to be higher, then the concentrations over NA should cause it to spontaneously combust into flames. But I’m sure your mormon climatologist cult has some good explanation why it hasn’t like,… climatology works in mysterious ways.
I’m sure this won’t make it through your blog page “moderation”, but all 4 of your points indicate you just don’t have a good grasp of the science. And your comment on my “Btw” post is just completely false. I never hear a single climatologist say, “there’s a lot of things that influence earth’s temperature, like the orbit, tilt, perturbations,… but CO2 does contribute a small amount as well.” That would be honest. What they essentially say is “the earth’s temperatures are rising, the poles are going to melt, we’re going to be under water,… and it’s all due to man using fossil fuels and if we don’t panic and waste a bunch of money now, we’re all gonna burst into flames.”
Your whole CO2 based man made climate change cult (really? man is responsible for climate CHANGE? It never changed until man started driving cars?) is nothing but fear mongering the press and the public to scam welfare out of the government to support guys who weren’t smart enough to be real scientists.
Spain's Green Disaster a Lesson for America
First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) reaffirm their opposition to uranium mining on their land
In March 2013, the AFNQL passed a resolution inviting its members to voice their opposition to uranium development and to declare a blanket rejection of the uranium exploration and exploitation on all First Nation territories. This followed a resolution adopted by the Grand Council of the Crees in August 2012 declaring a permanent moratorium on uranium development in Cree territory.
“The exploration and exploitation of uranium constitute major and irreversible threats to our population, our territories and the resources they contain. As First Nations, we have a sacred duty to protect our territories and ensure the sustainable development of our natural resources,” Timiskaming First Nation Chief Terence McBride said.
“Our experience here today has clearly demonstrated that the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador are united in our opposition to uranium development in our territories. We strongly encourage all the First Nations and citizens in Quebec to clearly and publicly express their opposition to uranium development,” Cree Nation Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come added.
In March 2013, Quebec’s Minister of the Environment announced a moratorium on uranium exploration or mining permits until the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) had completed hearings on the uranium industry in Quebec and provided recommendations to the Minister. The BAPE’S mandate began in May.
TO DO
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What is a Caliphate?
A “caliphate” is Islamic Empire led by a political and religious leader known as the “Caliph” the first major Caliphate was the Rashidun Caliphate in 632, the last one was the Ottoman Caliphate which started in 1453, nearly half a century before Columbus’s journey.
The IS / ISIS / ISIL forces calling themselves a “Caliphate” doesn’t remotely make it true. It would be similar to the KKK calling themselves a “North American White Empire” or the Christian terrorist group the Lords Resistance Army of Uganda calling themselves the “Holy Roman Empire Reborn” and the leader naming himself “Emperor Constantine II”.
The coordinated government and media hype surrounding ISIS is highly suspect. From June to August of 2014 we have a group which almost no one had heard of being portrayed as if it was a national level threat to our way of life. As with Al Qaida being presented as a “sophisticated global threat” we have been told in a string of DoD and other official appearances on morning shows and talk radio that ISIS is a danger to us. The actual evidence is scarce. The DoD points to ISISs “ability to adapt”, it’s “effective use of social media” and generic, non-scientific phrases like the Eric Holder stating the prospect of them invading is “more frightening than anything I think I’ve seen as attorney general”.
We don’t see solid, reliable numbers about how many members they have or objective measurements of the threat and how it could reach us in America. We see horrible, although very isolated incidents of murders purported to be by ISIS. These murders number in the hundreds….roughly similar amounts to that caused by gang violence in the US and not statistically relevant.
If we try to remain objective and ask questions like “Why is this group suddenly a threat to the way of life of Americans?” “What mechanism do they have to harm us?” and so on, the answers are often not logic driven but emotion driven. People will point to the horrible atrocities which are credited to ISIS but often fail to answer the bigger picture Constitutional questions. This is a mistake we’ve made before.
Basically the term “caliphate” is being used by the government and media because it inspires fear and gives people the impression they are knowledgeable about the issues.
Overall, it makes a lot of sense to remain cautious about what government says, especially in matters of war. Our recent track record has been poor.
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