The Political Fish

These guys don’t seem to get it. This is some of the better spin I have heard recently as a reaction to the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts. Believe it or not, Howard Dean is suggesting that had Obama been more of a leftist than he already is, he would have won…not the Republican centrist brown. It’s a laughable argument at best, but Dean was able to sit there with a straight face and peddle this garbage.

I suppose the Democrat Party needs to try and spin this any way they can so it does not turn into a full-blown party implosion but this…this is some priceless stuff.

What else can possibly be blamed on global warming? You guessed it, terrorist groups and drug lords. From ABC News, Charlie Gibson feeding the frenzy of global warming, and giving President Obama some cover as he continues to not make a decision on Afghanistan. Win-Win for the state-run media. Roll the tape.

Thanks to Newsbusters for a partial transcript.

Blakemore began his report: This study by eleven U.S. generals and admirals shows how global warming is playing into the hands of terrorist groups like the Taliban in many countries often because of worsening drought.

After some background from one of the CNA study’s supervisors, former Army chief of staff Gen. Gordon R. Smith, Blakemore continued:

BLAKEMORE: Afghanistan, eleven years into a drought with no end in sight. Snows vanishing from mountains that used to pour melt water down into orchards and fields now leaving young men with no money or work. Arian Sharifi worked with ABC News there, and recently in the Afghan government.

ARIAN SHARIFI, GRADUATE STUDENT AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: A lot of more people — young male — who are unemployed with nothing to do, and so the Taliban basically seems an attractive thing for them to join. The Taliban pays most of the fighters. In other ways they are protecting the poppy crops.

BLAKEMORE: And the poppy crops, which the Taliban encourage and tax, are making them and their al Qaeda allies very rich, an estimated half a billion dollars a year. Many farmers say they are now growing opium poppies because they need little water, good in the lengthening drought. So the rising temperatures are helping both heroin traffickers and their Taliban and al Qaeda supporters.

So, according to Blakemore, the problems in Afghanistan — drought, heroin production and trafficking, unemployment, AND the growth in the Taliban and al Qaeda — are directly linked to global warming.

Kind of ironic when you consider the BBC report that came out the same day as this little tidbit from our friends at ABC.

This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might that fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998.

But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.

And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise.

According to research conducted by Professor Don Easterbrook from Western Washington University last November, the oceans and global temperatures are correlated.

The oceans, he says, have a cycle in which they warm and cool cyclically. The most important one is the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO).

For much of the 1980s and 1990s, it was in a positive cycle, that means warmer than average. And observations have revealed that global temperatures were warm too.

But in the last few years it has been losing its warmth and has recently started to cool down.

These cycles in the past have lasted for nearly 30 years.

So could global temperatures follow? The global cooling from 1945 to 1977 coincided with one of these cold Pacific cycles.

In a totally unrelated story, the Major League Baseball playoffs had to be put on hold for a night as snow fell in Denver, postponing game 3 of the Phillies-Rockies playoff series. This of course following one of the coolest summers on record in numerous spots across the United States. I’m sure Nobel Laureate Al Goracle will be able to explain this in the grand scheme of things. I mean, Mother Earth is burning up, this must just be an abberation in the process.

Right, its not a scheme…its real.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped and forced into exile in Costa Rica this morning. The Honduran military surrounded the presidential palace in Tecigualpa in the early hours, and according to Zelaya, kidnapped him as he was still wearing his pajamas.

Allegedly the Honduran Supreme court had the military take the President after the president defied the courts ruling on holding a referendum to change the constitution. Zelaya had been elected to a non-renewable four year term in office, but planned on asking Honduran citizens to vote to extend his term. The Supreme Court rejected his calls for a referendum, but Zelaya planned on pushing forward in defiance.

Protesters took to the streets in the capital to protest the coup. Hundreds of protesters pelted the soldiers with rocks, and eventually the crowds were dispersed with tear gas.

Update: Apparently Hugo Chavez is threatening military intervention. Reports that the Venezuelan ambassador was taken hostage and later released. We will see where this goes…

The UK Guardian is reporting that Iranian authorities have forced the family of Neda Soltani from their home in eastern Tehran.

The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of Neda Agha Soltan out of their Tehran home after shocking images of her death were circulated around the world.

Neighbours said that her family no longer lives in the four-floor apartment building on Meshkini Street, in eastern Tehran, having been forced to move since she was killed. The police did not hand the body back to her family, her funeral was cancelled, she was buried without letting her family know and the government banned mourning ceremonies at mosques, the neighbours said.

The regime is also in full blown damage control over the Neda murder, as she has now become the face of the revolution. The world has seen the horrific video of her death, and the movement was galvanized through it. They have gone as far as to blame British journalist Jon Leyne for the conspiracy to kill her. Insanity.

The government is also accusing protesters of killing Soltan, describing her as a martyr of the Basij militia. Javan, a pro-government newspaper, has gone so far as to blame the recently expelled BBC correspondent, Jon Leyne, of hiring “thugs” to shoot her so he could make a documentary film.

Try as they might, the regime will be unsuccessful in minimizing the death of Neda Soltani. It will not happen. The picture is seared into my mind. I certainly will not forget, and will not allow the readers of this blog to forget.

The Iranian tyrannical government today reached a new low. In their desperate attempt to discredit the protests that continue now into the 10th day, Iran again lashed out at Western countries and in doing so, began treating some of those arrested as propaganda tools. Rueters reports that Iran state TV began airing some of those detained in propaganda pieces reminicent of war-time propaganda. One young man was paraded in front of the camera and let the world know “I think we were provoked by networks like the BBC and the VOA (Voice of America) to take such immoral actions,”. No indication or proof as of yet, but  he was likely forced to  utter these comments under duress of some sort. Another young Iranian woman also paraded in front of the camera stated,“I was influenced by VOA Persian and the BBC because they were saying that security forces were behind most of the clashes. This was after she admitted on camera to carrying a grenade in her purse. The woman continued on (effectively condemning herself in court proceedings) I saw that it was us protesting … who were making riots. We set on fire public property, we threw stones … we attacked people’s cars and we broke windows of people’s houses.

Shocking to me that the Iranian government would treat their own people as war-time propaganda tools.  Given their conduct in the past 10 days, I suppose this should not shock the conscience.

Iranian State TV also was seeking today to discredit the entire story of Neda, the young woman whose death has shocked the world, as we witnessed her being shot through the heart, and dying on a video that has circulated around the globe via twitter, youtube and other social networking. State Tv quoting (go figure) and unnamed source, who stated that she was shot by a bullet that did not come from Iranian security forces. The government obviously understands the symbol that Neda Soltani  has become and is on a damage-control mission to limit her impact. I believe they are too late, as Neda has already become the face of the Green Revolution.

“The presence of police and Basij forces in parts of the city has raised people’s feeling of security,” IRIB said.

Another of Iranian state TV’s ridiculous claims that was pushed forward today. This sort of flies in the face of the hundreds of videos that have been uploaded to the web showing the Basij and other security forces and para-military militia tormenting the citizens of Iran. Insanity for anyone to believe that these government loyalist thugs give anybody a sense of security.

Today, the Supreme Leader of Iran Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke to a large demonstration at the University of Tehran. He called on the crowds to come for Friday prayers, and he would lead. He took the opportunity to address the crowd. It was telling that only one of the disputed presidential candidates was there. Ahmadinejad was reported to be sitting in the front row.

Khamenei demanded an end to the protests which have now gone on for 6 days. He strongly rejected the idea that the vote was fixed asking sarcastically “how can one rig 11 million votes?” He is pressing the idea that it is inconcievable that the Islamic Republic and its ruling heirarchy would do such a thing.
Khamenei proceeded to go on with the normal Iranian government rhetoric that the outside world was to blame once again for stoking the fires of this Revolution. He obviously hasn’t been paying very much attention, as the US in particular has only issued incredibly restrained statements, getting into no specifics. Khamenei targetted in particular the UK government calling them “the most evil of them.”

“Some of our enemies in different parts of the world intended to depict this absolute victory, this definitive victory, as a doubtful victory,”

His words signal in the coming days a harsh crackdown on the protests. He stated that he would hold the leaders of the protests responsible for the violence that may ensue.

Today, he basically put down the line in the sand. In his mind, the Supreme leader has spoken and thats the end of it. Its worrisome to think about where this might go, but if the Iranian people who have shown up en masse to these protests are serious, I expect the truly difficult challenges are waiting around the corner.

The world is watching, and we are with you.

Yesterday the White House issued a pretty vague statement through Press Secretary Robert Gibbs re: the Iranian elections

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            June 13, 2009

Statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the Iranian Election

Like the rest of the world, we were impressed by the vigorous debate and enthusiasm that this election generated, particularly among young Iranians. We continue to monitor the entire situation closely, including reports of irregularities.

At this point in time, I feel that it is appropriate to let the “dust settle” if you would, but I would have been impressed to see some language in the statement in support of the Iranian people who are making their voices heard. Hillary Clinton also offered up a similarly restrained statement as well yesterday. See below.

She stated that we hope the outcome reflects the desire of the Iranian people. I think we have seen that is not the case. There appears to be overwhelming evidence of fraudulently obtained power, certainly not reflective of the will of the people.
Yet another government agency or individual has broken ranks with the rulers, as the election commission has declared the election results invalid. This follows the stepping down of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani yesterday from the Expediency Coucil.

For those not familiar (like myself) who are not all that familiar with the inner workings of Iranian politics or the governing structure, the BBC posted a wonderful article explaining each of the government entities as a reference. See the flow chart below as posted on the BBC website.

The BBC is reporting that North Korea has finally conducted a successful nuclear test.

For the Obama administration, this will pose a monumental problem, as it appears that our good friend Kim-Jong Il has finally been successful in acheiving nuclear capabilities. It also shows the failure of the past two presidents in dealing with the North Korean problem. Kim has shown himself to be a menace to the world, but its not clear whether or not he can be considered a danger.

For the US military it poses another problem, as we still have 30k+ troops in the DMZ, seemingly permanent fixtures of the Korean War Armistice agreement. If weaponized nuclear capability has been acheived, the safety of those soldiers should be our first concern….

Happy Memorial Day all!!

Update: N.Korea completes a second test Monday morning, more powerful than the first.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090525/D98D7MT80.html
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