Careful Thought

The previous post generated some interesting comment and really opened my eyes to the utter despair and self-loathing of the left in our society.  You would have thought that with their recent electoral victories that they would be ecstatic in their newly-gained power, but it was not to be.  They have discovered that (gasp) the planet is being killed.  Unfortunately there appear to be a number of culprits, including:   organized sports , air travel , your lunch , acronyms , bottled water , and of course, capitalism is killing the planet .

The thing that saddens me is the utter despair and lack of hope.  From a Christian perspective it makes sense.  If you have no hope of an eternal life, than this grubby planet is all we have and we’re just dirty monkeys, scrabbling in the muck.  We are given a spirit of hope, not despair, though.  God says in Jeremiah that:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future .   Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.   I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.  ( Jer 29:11-14a , NIV)

Where is your hope?  In political movements?  The environment?  Your own best efforts?

That’s not gonna get it done, bubba.  Try starting in the Book of Romans .  Or leave me a note in the comments and I will help you walk through it.  There is hope, believe it or not.

A Hudson Institute report shows still more evidence that if global warming is occuring, it isn’t our fault. LifeSite has the details:

The general warming of global temperatures in recent decades appears to mostly be the result of a regular, sunspot induced climate cycle that has been occurring roughly every 1500 years for at least the past one million years. Climate physicist S. Fred Singer and Dennis Avery, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, discussed the substantial evidence for their new book “Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1500 Years,” at a Hudson Institute book forum in Washington, D.C. last month.

The book is said to make a very powerful case that the current climate trends we are currently seeing are in fact part of a product of a solar-linked cycle that creates harmless naturally warmer conditions approximately every 1500 years.

Dennis Avery, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, an agricultural economist and former senior analyst in the Department of State, began the discussion noting that the Romans grew wine grapes in Britain in the first century and records indicate grapes were being grown there again in the 11th century, both situations indicating that today’s temperatures are not unprecedented.

Additionally, scientific analysis of ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic found that there is a clear record of a moderate, abrupt 1500-year climate change cycle running all the way through all the major warmings and all the ice ages. Cores taken from the seabed of six oceans, including the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arabian Sea have also revealed the same unmistakable 1500-year cycle.

In all the Christmas hubbub you may have missed the latest al Qaeda video from #2 guy Ayman al-Zawahiri. (Courtesy of Scott Ott at Scrappleface .)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_S74ZDa2EA]

In case you were wondering, peace has not descended upon Israel. The Palestinians are still lobbing Qassam missiles into Israeli territory from occupied Gaza. From Ynet News :

Wednesday Evening: 3 Qassams fired from Gaza

(Shmulik Hadad Published: 12.27.06, 20:07) Three Qassams were fired from north Gaza Wednesday evening toward Israeli territory. One of the rockets, which was apparently aimed at the industrial zone in southern Ashkelon, fell in the sea.

Two more Qassams landed in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council area, but no injuries were reported. Blasts were also heard in Sderot.

At around noon another Qassam landed in the Negev area, but caused no injuries or damage. According to Islamic Jihad sources, the rocket was of a medium-range “Quds” type.

[Meanwhile,] relief spread throughout Sderot on Wednesday as doctors at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon declared that after a nightlong series of operations they have managed to stabilize the condition of 14-year old Adir Basad who was critically wounded from the rocket attack on Tuesday.

Why is the “religion of peace” still at war with Israel? At least the IDF can respond now, sort of:

In accordance with the decision reached by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Wednesday morning, the IDF was instructed to act against Qassam rocket launchers.

According to the new instructions, the IDF will be permitted to strike prior to, during or after the rockets are launched, within certain limitations regarding intelligence, the cells’ proximity to Palestinian population centers and other operational considerations.

The decision formulated Wednesday morning states that the IDF will continue to refrain from attacking Qassam manufacturing plants and make due with striking rocket launching cells.

At around noon the IDF’s Operations Branch informed the Southern Command of the political echelon’s new instructions; army officials said IDF forces identified a number of Qassam cells that were responsible for the rocket attacks on Israel in recent days, adding that these cells will now be targeted.

I’m not a Josh Groban fan, but any time you can get songs of faith on network TV, I’m all for it.  This is my favorite Christmas hymn.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIFH0TUWcBA]

My nephew Nick plays guitar for As I Lay Dying , a screaming metalcore band.  Somebody added their 94 Hours to video of Benny Hinn laying the smack on people with his Holy Jacket of Power.  [Offensive language at the end.]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiNpcRdofz4]

Scene: The Council of Elrond

Elrond : It is decided. The Ring shall be cast into Mount Doom. The Ringbearer and the Fellowship shall journey to Mordor.

Radagast the Brown : ( arrives ) Hellooo! So sorry I’m late. Had a terrible time of it, all sorts of things cropping up at the last minute and all. My advice is never try to drink a Beorning under the table. What’s all this, then?

Gandalf the Grey: The Fellowship is tasked with destroying the One Ring of Power.

Radagast: Ah, good idea, about bloody time if you ask me. How, exactly?

Elrond: The Ring shall be cast into Mount Doom. The Ringbearer and the Fellowship shall journey to Mordor.

Radagast: Journey? You mean on foot ??

Elrond: Well, yes.

Radagast: I can have three Eagles here in 36 hours.

(eyebrows rise around the Circle)

TWO WEEKS LATER: THE SHIRE

Sam: Well, we’re back.

(By way of Haibane )

Many people find that, at the beginning and end of the day, a small lump of fluff has appeared in the navel cavity. The reasons for this have been the subject of idle speculation for many years but in 2001, Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki of the University of Sydney, Australia undertook a systematic survey to determine the ins and outs of navel lint. His primary findings were as follows:

• Navel lint consists primarily of stray fibres from one’s clothing, mixed with some dead skin cells and strands of body hair. The rotting cells can create unpleasant odors.
• Contrary to expectations, navel lint appears to migrate upwards from underwear rather than downwards from shirts or tops. The migration process is the result of the frictional drag of body hair on underwear, which drags stray fibres up into the navel.
• Women experience less navel lint because of their finer and shorter body hairs. Conversely, older men experience it more because of their coarser and more numerous hairs.
• Navel lint’s characteristic blue-gray tint is likely the averaging of the colors of fibres present in clothing; the same color as clothes dryer lint.
• The existence of navel lint is entirely harmless, and requires no corrective action.

(By way of OddPeak .)

At least some folks understand what’s happening. I don’t know Lord Monckton, but he’s on the right track.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 / PRNewswire / — Lord Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley, has sent an open letter to Senators Rockefeller (D-WV) and Snowe (R-Maine) in response to their recent open letter telling the CEO of ExxonMobil to cease funding climate-skeptic scientists. ( http://ff.org/centers/csspp/pdf/20061212_monckton.pdf ).

Lord Monckton, former policy adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, writes: “You defy every tenet of democracy when you invite ExxonMobil to deny itself the right to provide information to ’senior elected and appointed government officials’ who disagree with your opinion.”

In what The Charleston (WV) Daily Mail has called “an intemperate attempt to squelch debate with a hint of political consequences,” Senators Rockefeller and Snowe released an open letter dated October 30 to ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson, insisting he end Exxon’s funding of a “climate change denial campaign.” The Senators labeled scientists with whom they disagree as “deniers,” a term usually directed at “Holocaust deniers.” Some voices on the political left have called for the arrest and prosecution of skeptical scientists. The British Foreign Secretary has said skeptics should be treated like advocates of Islamic terror and must be denied access to the media.

Responds Lord Monckton, “Sceptics and those who have the courage to support them are actually helpful in getting the science right. They do not, as you improperly suggest, ‘obfuscate’ the issue: they assist in clarifying it by challenging weaknesses in the ‘consensus’ argument and they compel necessary corrections … “

“The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1)