Blue skies

I didn't believe it at first.
Could anyone think that the colour of blue paint chosen by a landscape painter a thousand years ago would be used by a so-called scientist today to deny the reality of global warming?
But there it is, via Chet, via Richard, we find the press release that argues today's global warming is just part of a 1500-year "natural cycle", see, because there are "thousands of museum paintings that portrayed sunnier skies during the [supposed] Medieval Warming" period.
Well, their skies were not only blue, but also full of astrological symbols and chariots, so I guess they had pollution of a kind too:



Chet notes that, when indoors, medieval people also apparently played chess sideways while surrounded by little musicians:


And I found that angels supplied medieval doctors with artificial legs for easy and bloodless surgical transplants:


Makes about as much sense as Medieval Warming...

$20

Here's a story about Canadian soldiers being court-martialed for drug trafficking.
The new defense lawyer for one of the soldiers wants a delay because he has to read the 900 pages of disclosure evidence which the investigation has produced.
Over a $20 bag of marijuana.

Betray-Us

Hollywood producer Jon Robin Baitz knows good theatre when he sees it. And he liked the General Betray-Us ad:

I rather liked the MoveOn ad from the Times. It was crass, but these are crass times. It was simplistic, but these are simplistic problems, basic ones -- after all -- the American people have been treated as foolish consumers of a product -- in this case a war -- by an administration that hovers in a bipolar helix between hapless fervor and rank cynicism. Depending on the day . . . I liked the ad because it was cheap and street, and true in spirit.

And contrary to all the hype, The Man Called Petraeus (in Digby's memorable phrase) has apparently been described by his own boss as "an ass-kissing little chickenshit". Ouch!
Apparently CENTCOM commander Admiral Fallon and General Petraeus hate each other's guts. This explains the bizarre story from last week about how the Pentagon had agreed to disagree on Iraq. And may also explain why Bush was so quick to announce he would bring 30,000 US troops home next summer (which means, in reality, that he is leaving 130,000 US troops in Iraq indefinitely) -- Bush didn't want to wait for Fallon's recommendation that three-quarters of the US troops leave Iraq by 2009.
Petraeus may find he has won the battle, but lost the war.

Same old same old

Well, what have we here?
The real Tories are breaking through -- the wheeler-dealer Tories, the play-fast-and-loose-with-the-public-purse Tories, the "rules are for sissies" Tories, the Tories that Canadians have loved to hate for the last 20 years:

. . . it appears the Tories transferred money in and out of local campaigns not just to generate federal refunds, but to hide national expenses that exceed the limit.

Quel suprise! And they were doing this while Harper was raking the Liberals over the coals for corruption.

Alex the parrot

Research parrot dies
In the grander scheme of things, this is, of course, completely unimportant news. But all the same, one could argue Alex contributed more to the world than, say, Paris Hilton ever did ...

Great image of the day

From Alison at Creekside, Humpty Harper defines "consensus"


Alison notes that the "consensus among Canadians" Harper promised before extending the Afghanistan mission has now become "50 per cent plus one" in a parliamentary vote.
And I note that my little prediction back in June is coming true:

MacKay . . . predicted [Canada's] involvement in the rebuilding and redevelopment of the war-torn country will continue for a "very long time."
"That's the exit strategy," MacKay said.
"When the Afghanistan government can take care of its own interests, then we can come home . . . ."

Another F.U., or maybe two

So here's today's headline: Top U.S. commander says 30,000 troops could leave Iraq by next summer.
Yeah . . .
But, darn it, they just won't know for sure until next March.
Which is, of course, AFTER all the Democratic primaries.
So none of the Very Serious Democratic presidential candidates will be allowed to criticize the war in the meantime, because that would Endanger The Troops and Jeopardize The Mission and Unnecessarily Lengthen The War. And that would all be the Dems' fault.
And then, gosh darn it, Bush would have to fight Congress tooth and nail to get Our Boys Marching Home just in time for the Republican Convention.
And Bush is also giving everyone a crystal rainbow pony castle set, too . . .



Gee, I think I'm getting a little cynical in my old age, eh?

The human face of data mining

The F.B.I. data mining revelations seem sort of technological and confusing until you see the human face of Mahar Arar.
It was this kind of "community of interest" thinking -- where guilt by association is assumed and supposedly proven by innocuous contact with someone else who is being watched for no good reason either -- that got Arar shipped off in the middle of the night to a Syrian prison for two years.

Rock 'n roll party

Here's the first of the "story series" songs (at least, these were the first I heard)

It's My Party


Followed by Now Its Judy's Turn To Cry


Then there was Edward Bear's Last Song plus Close Your Eyes, but darn it they're not available on YouTube.
But as a consolation prize, here's this classic:


And this version by Twisted Sister.

If a tree falls in the forest...

So Bush thinks he's going to make big bucks giving speeches after he is finished being president? People won't even come to listen to him NOW:

The event had inauspicious beginnings. Bush started 10 minutes late, so that APEC workers could hustle people [ie, business leaders] out of the theater's balcony seating to fill the many empty portions of the main orchestra section below _ which is most visible on camera. Even resettled, the audience remained quiet throughout the president's remarks, applauding only when he was finished.

Think about it

Professors Keil and Lehrer ask:

Have we arrived at the point where thinking critically has become a dangerous activity?

The answer sometimes appears to be "yes".
If poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads, then social science tries to find the toads in society's gardens -- which turns out not to be a very popular activity these days with some politicians and prosecutors.

Conservativism is just a theory, too

Could somebody please tell John Tory that the economic, social and political beliefs of conservatives could also be described as "just a theory" -- but this is what he expects the people of Ontario to vote for.
Here's the story: Conservative leader muses about creationism in schools

...the Conservatives are promising to give private religious schools $400 million if they opt into the public system, teach the provincial curriculum, hire accredited teachers and administer standardized tests. But that doesn't mean Christian schools couldn't teach creationism on top of the existing provincial curriculum, said Tory, who is embarking on his first campaign as Conservative leader. 'It's still called the theory of evolution,' Tory said ...

I guess this is the kind of dumb stuff politicians say when they are pandering to the religious right.
You know, I was raised in a Christian church and so I had always respected Christianity as a strong and robust religion which had, at its core, a profound respect for truth and truth-seekers. So I really don't understand what has happened in the last decade -- has Christianity now become just a thin and brittle veneer, that its adherents are afraid can be shattered by the simple scientific truth of evolution?

Pavarotti has died

YouTube - Luciano Pavarotti - Ave Maria - Schubert

A commenter on YouTube called him the greatest tenor of our times. He brought his music to millions, too.

Great line of the day

TRex at Firedoglake cheers Teh Craig for announcing he's not resigning (even though he already said he was) because he's not guilty (even though he already said he was) because he's not gay.
Yeah sure, you're not gay -- you just like to have sex with other men, perfectly normal hetro behaviour!
Anyway, TRex talks about how Craig's dithering will screw up Bush and the Republicans:

[from TPM] If Sen. Larry Craig reconsiders and steps all over Gen. Petraeus’ week of surge, Bill Kristol’s head will explode. That Penatagon media war room they set up will be useless in the face of this cable TV zoo.

Wouldn’t that just be delicious? All the millions of dollars worth of spin and PR that the White House and the NeoCons have put into General Petraeus’ Magical September Moment may well be wasted. All the fatuous crap about having it on the anniversary of 9/11, all of it, gone, poof! Because if there is, in fact, one thing on this earth that Big Media loves more than a rich, dead blond, it would have to be the spectacle of a nasty, mushrooming Gay Republican Sex Scandal.

Emphasis mine.

No wonder Harper wanted an election last spring

Canada silent as nuclear energy partnership with US, Australia, others takes shape:

The initiative, called the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, proposes that nuclear energy-using countries and uranium-exporting countries band together in a new nuclear club to promote and safeguard the industry.
Central to the plan is a proposal that all used nuclear fuel be repatriated to the original uranium exporting country for disposal.
That should be big news in Canada, the world's largest uranium producer.
But to date, the Canadian government's response is a closely guarded secret. In fact, there's been virtually no public debate at all . . . Harper's minority Conservative government clearly does not want to engage the Canadian public in any discussion about the initiative.

You can't make this stuff up.